Legend is the seventh main game in the Tomb Raider series, produced for the first time by Crystal Dynamics in collaboration with Toby Gard, the original character designer of the game’s protagonist Lara Croft.
Heroine Lara is looking for a South American relic, but her quest is derailed when rogue anthropologist Amanda Evert arrives. Amanda is back with a score to pay as she and the sinister James Rutland Jr. battle to get an ancient item. Amanda and a team of graduate students were presumed dead after a mishap in a tomb in Peru, where Lara was the only one to escape. Many more personalities, allies, and opponents will agitate the situation. The plot transports Lara to several locales worldwide, including the Himalayas, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Bolivia, Japan, and England, as well as her famed mansion loaded with secrets and antiques. In addition to current events, flashbacks show Lara’s backstory. You will learn how she lost her mother and why it is such a burden, among other things.
The normal third-person action-adventure exploration remains, and Lara can travel more freely now that specific jumps do not restrict her. You must run, dive, swim, climb on poles, ladders, and roofs, use zip lines, shimmy, and vault, and perform acrobatic movements such as somersaults and flips as you traverse harsh surroundings. To advance or open up new sections, you must traverse challenging terrain, solve riddles, and participate in combat. A grappling hook, which may be used not only to navigate about but also to haul foes Scorpion-style, binoculars, a PLS (personal light source), flares, a PDA, and a headset to communicate with tech support Zip are among the new gadgets.
Enemies are still hard to come by. Humans and animals will assault you, and the game keeps the auto lock-on mode but with a sliding attack and close combat with both kicks and punches, as well as bullet-time actions, to rapidly get behind foes. Lara has her famous dual-wielded handguns but can also pick up other weapons like a shotgun and grenades along the route. Missions occur indoors and outdoors, with arcade motorbike and jeep scenes interspersed. Lara, like always, dresses up for each site.
The PSP version includes the whole game and a multiplayer Tomb Trials option. You can participate in a timed scavenger hunt for artifacts or race another player through tombs to see who comes out first.
