When Lara Croft first arrived on the scene in 1996, gamers the world over quickly lost their shit. The original Tomb Raider, released for the PlayStation 1 (as well as PCs), wasn’t just near-perfect in design and execution—though that would have been more than enough—it was an outright gaming revolution, offering all the splendors of 3-D platforming, while at the same time delivering a heavy dose of ogle-worthy content for players. A little T&A, even relatively tame in nature, can go a long way in the gaming world, and Ms. Croft—or, more precisely, Ms. Croft’s digital brassiere—was quickly launched into stardom, inspiring comic books, action figures, two feature films, and enough fanboy Underoos squirting to wash out Comic-Con.
Then came the inevitable backlash, fueled, as it usually is, by oversaturation and a series of underwhelming sequels, and by the time Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness arrived for the PlayStation 2 in 2003, gamers had had more than their fill of Ms. Croft and her adventures. Sales for the series’ second-gen leap were bleak, the reviews scathing (it certainly didn’t help matters any that the game was a heaping pile of crap), and the leading lady, once the belle of the ball, headed for the polygon dustbin.
Now comes the clumsily titled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, the seventh game in the series, which is being touted as a return to the franchise’s once-glorious roots. Gone are the wretched controls and lame RPG elements that so thoroughly infuriated players of Angel of Darkness; in their place is a welcome rewind to the heavy platforming, exotic locales, and trial-and-error puzzle work that made the original Tomb Raider such a must-play. Legend once again casts Ms. Croft around the globe in search of dusty artifacts (this time having to do with the King Arthur legend), grappling and grunting her way through a series of increasingly preposterous locations, all the while making a mockery of proper archeology. It’s a welcome return.
Less welcome, however, is the typical Tomb Raider fighting system clusterfuck, an always embarrassing blight that often grinds every game in the series to a halt. Legend is no different, coughing up a legion of dimwitted enemies for Croft to gun down, and even though the system is somewhat improved over previous incarnations, the gun blazing still feels completely unnecessary. Chicks with guns may be a turn-on for the mouth-breathing set, but here, as in every previous installment, all the carnage is pointless.
Thankfully, it’s not enough to sink the entire enterprise. Legend may not blaze any new trails, but it’s solid enough to revive the dormant franchise. Developer Crystal Dynamics obviously went to great pains to nudge the series forward without losing the game’s original elements, and for the most part it succeeds. Lara Croft, once so high, then so low, is finally back from the dustbin.