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Tomb Raider: Legend is the seventh game in the Tomb Raider series. Published by Eidos Interactive, this is the first game in the series not to be handled by British based Core Design, developed instead by U.S. studio Crystal Dynamics. It was released in Europe on April 7, 2006 and was released North America on April 11, 2006 for the PS2, PC, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The PSP version was released on June 20, 2006 and the GameCube, Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS will be released in fall 2006. *

The DVD-ROM is protected with SecuROM 7.

Story

Tomb Raider: Legend begins in Bolivia where Lara is looking for an ornate stone dais. During her stay in Bolivia she encounters several mercenaries. Clueless about who sent them she enters the temple complex of Tiwanaku, the Queen who once ruled here. Evading deadly traps and narrowly escaping an ambush, Lara finds the dais only to find out that it is destroyed. After that she visits her old friend Anaya in Peru.

But their reunion doesn't last very long when suddenly a truck stops and men rapidly open fire. Lara tells Anaya to run and they will meet each other at the dig site. After the fight is over, Lara comes out victorious and she must now protect Anaya against mercenaries whom are chasing her. She takes care of them rather swiftly and the two of them continue their voyage to the dig site.

Once you arrive there, you get to relive one of Lara's memories. Years ago Lara led a team of young archaeologists in a tomb but something went horribly wrong. An ancient evil was released and killed most of Lara's team. Except Lara and Amanda. They find their way to some sort of Throne Room and Amanda innocently activates a switch. The monster disappears, but the room is starting to collapse and is slowly flooding. Amanda gets caught under falling debris and Lara has to leave her if she is to survive. Then we are pulled back to the present where Lara enters the site looking for answers.

"I think Amanda might not have died here..."

Locations

The locations of Lara's latest adventure have been revealed as (in order):
  • Tiwanaku, Bolivia - A pre-Incan civilization currently in ruins. Lara arrives there by scaling the rocky cliffs of Bolivia. Lara is in search of a stone dias, very similar to the dias where Lara's mother mysteriously died.
  • Paraíso, Peru - Lara meets an old friend, Anaya, in the town square, but they soon find themselves under enemy fire. They then revisit the dig site where Lara once lost many friends and she uncovers the secret they had been searching for all those years ago.
  • Tokyo, Japan - A piece of the sword, stolen from Waseda University, is in the hands of the Yakuza boss and Lara wants it back.
  • Ghana, Africa - Another piece of the sword is in the hands of James Rutland, who is currently in Ghana. Lara uncovers a phenomenal temple, set in a lake and hidden from sight by roaring waterfalls.
  • Kazakhstan - Lara's search brings her to a secret testing facility, now abandoned - or is it?
  • Cornwall, England - "As in take the M5 to the A30 Cornwall?" asks Lara dubiously. Could King Arthur's tomb really be hidden beneath a tacky tourist attraction based aroudn the Arthurian legend?
  • Himalayas, Nepal - The artifact that can reforge Excalibur lies in the plane wreck where Lara and her mother once crashed. Lara revisits the crumbling Buddist temple where her mother died.
  • Bolivia Redux - The final confrontation between Lara and Amanda and the truth is revealed about Lady Croft's death.
  • Croft Manor Training Level, England. Here you can explore Croft Manor and behold its many secrets! There are a number of puzzles in the form of hidden passageways, lyrical codes and concealed switches.

Characters

  • Lara Croft: Countess of Abbingdon and archaeological wunderkind. The new game has Lara searching for a mystical sword that may hold the key to the disappearance of her mother.
  • Lady Croft: Lara's mother. In the beginning of the game, we can see how she disappeared after opening a strange portal in the Himalayan mountains. In the end, we discover that is was in fact future Lara who was talking to her mother, explaining several lines such as: 'What about my daughter?' this is the mother's response to Lara: 'Mother... It's me... Lara... Your daughter.' Amanda tells Lara that her mother is trapped in Avalon (she was teleported there after she pulled the sword from the dais). A possible sequel could be Lara searching for a new dais to re-open the portal and travel to Avalon and save her mother...
  • Richard Croft: Lara's father and Earl of Abbingdon. After his wife's death he taught his daughter archaeology and raised her alone.
  • Anaya Imanu: A South American civil engineer and friend of Lara's. She was with Lara at the tragedy near Paraíso.
  • Amanda Evert: An old friend of Lara's. Her (apparent) death was witnessed by Lara at Paraíso.
  • Kent: One of Lara's university peers. He and his team were mysteriously killed in Peru.
  • James W. Rutland Jr.: A Westpoint graduate, and rival of Lara's, Rutland also grew up in a bubble of wealth. His motives, however, are a little more self-centered.
  • Winston Smith: Lara's butler. He has served the Croft family for generations. He became a live-in servant after his wife passed away.
  • Alister Fletcher: An archaeologist who provides advice and allows for Lara to bounce ideas with via her headset.
  • Zip: A reformed computer hacker who aids Lara on her journey from her mansion in England alongside Alister.
  • Shogo Takamoto: A Yakuza Kamicho, easily identified by his large number of tattoos. His past encounters with Lara have been unsavory.
  • Toru Nishimura: One of Lara's friends. Once a daring investigative reporter, now a wealthy media mogul. Always happy to meet with Lara and fulfil his adventurous desires, but has become more cautious as a result of his new found responsibilities.

Voice cast

Versions

This is the first game in the series that has been released for the PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, and Nintendo DS.

Demo

The PlayStation 2 demo was made available in some regions in the Official PlayStation Magazine. A PC demo was released on March 31 and an Xbox 360 demo was released on April 5.

Cheats

Cheats appear in the Specials menu and the buttons are respective to your version of Tomb Raider: Legend. Cheats are only unlocked when you clear the game or meet the following criteria.

  • Textureless Cheat ... Clear the game (any difficulty).
  • Show enemy health ... Clear Bolivia under 12:30 in Time Trials.
  • Infinite MG415 Ammo ... Clear Peru under 21:30 in Time Trials.
  • Infinite RC650 Ammo ... Clear Japan under 12:15 in Time Trials.
  • Infinite shotgun Ammo ... Clear Ghana under 20:00 in Time Trials.
  • Infinite grenade launcher ... Clear Kazakhstan under 27:10 in Time Trials.
  • Bulletproof Lara ... clear England under 27:00 in Time Trials.
  • One hit deaths ... Clear Bolivia (stage 8) under 4:15 in Time Trials.
  • Unlock Excalibur ... Clear Nepal under 13:40 in Time Trials.
  • Unlock the Soul Reaver ... Complete the game 100%

Reception

Tomb Raider: Legend was released to widely positive reviews:

Trivia

  • The new series Next Generation was to constitute a trilogy, three episodes making a whole. Tomb Raider: the angel of darkness was the first episode of this trilogy. It hasn't gotten the success as hoped, but with the arrival and huge success of Tomb Raider: Legend, one is sure to expect a Tomb Raider 8.

  • On the unlockable costume Goth, the symbols on Lara's vest and belt buckle are for another Crystal Dynamics/Eidos series, Legacy of Kain. They are the symbols for Raziel and Kain's respective clans. Lara's blue sport outfit uses the Soul Reaver symbol of the sound glyph on the shoes. The unlockable Soul Reaver weapon is also a nod to these games.

  • In the last level, Bolivia Redux, the crates bear the Natla Industries logo. Jacqueline Natla was the main enemy in the original game, and Natla Technologies was her company.

  • The game topped the UK game charts at number 1 and remained there for three weeks. *

  • As of May 2006, the game has sold over 2.6 million copies worldwide, has become the fastest selling Tomb Raider game in the series and has helped the series sell over 30 million units. *

  • The main hall of Croft Manor is nearly identical in layout and ornamentation to its counterpart in the first movie.

  • The lyrics to the main theme and other musical cues in the game are from a Gaelic folk song named Ailein duinn.

Edited Legend

It has come to the attention of many Tomb Raider fans that, having tracked Legend from early on, the game seemed to be missing some aspects which featured in the original trailers and official screenshots. There could be a number of possible reasons for this, none of which have been confirmed, only speculated. The inclusion of Toby Gard in the Legend project is one explanation for the exclusion of the anticipated scenes and levels. Some believe Crystal Dynamics had already created a story and some levels for Legend before Gard was invited onto the project. Gard apparently didn't like the original story for Legend and opted to change it, scrapping some levels that could not be worked into the new storyline. Another explanation is that Eidos wanted the developers to make Legend a multi-platform game, rather than restricting it to the previous three consoles (PC, PS2 and XBOX). A heavier work load would have required Crystal Dynamics to drop aspects of the game. On the other hand, Crystal Dynamics might have just wanted to "test the water," so to speak, with Tomb Raider: Legend. They were completely new to the francise, after all, and another commercial failure like The Angel of Darkness may have ended the series for good. Thus, the developers would have been concentrating on the quality of the title and not its length.

Here are some examples of scenes that were originally intended to appear in the game. Many of these have been spotted by fans at Tomb Raider Forums.

  • Missing levels - Early footage and screenshots indicate an entire level was removed from the finished title. It appeared to be a level set deep in the rainforest of Central America and featured three pyramids, possibly from a pre-Colombian civilisation. Images of a puzzle room have also been mentioned. These feature a large chamber including large stone faces set into the walls and a large platform with rope bridges in the center. Part of what appears to be a puzzle is situated on the far wall, consisting of three rotating stone plates. It's possible that the player was required to crack a combination with these plates or something much more elaborate. According to Tomb Raider: Legend producer Morgan Gray, this level was taken out because they felt that there was too many levels set in South America and by cutting this level they had space for the Kazakhstan level. Also, there are images (partly sketched) that suggest that there were more levels intended to be made. These include an image of Lara diving from a rooftop, with one of the Petronas Towers clearly visable on the right-hand side; a picture showing an assault inside the walls of a castle (Carbonek?); Lara running along a small walk-way above water, leading to the entrance of an impressive tomb or temple. The original concept art depicted areas unlike those in the final game. However, these images may just have been inspirational to the developers and there is no evidence they were intended for production.

  • Extended or replaced level - This is believed to be an extension of Kazakhstan level or the orignal Nepal level. Early footage and pictures showed a large chamber covered in stone debris and ice. The deep blue colour to the room indicated a cold climate. Objects in the room included shelves which swayed when Lara ran on top of them, boxes with Japanese caligraphy and, the most prominant feature, a large statue of a many-armed warrior demon.

  • Tokyo Roof Jumps - The original trailer, released in April last year, revealed a very promising motorcycle sequence where Lara was required to jump from one roof to another in Tokyo. It also showed a scene where Lara jumps from the bike, up-ending it. Lara lands in a man-made pond, probably part of a roof-top garden, and the momentum causes her to fall backwards and slide across the water. The motorbike stikes a wall, exploding, sending a tyre flying, narrowly missing Lara's head. This was possibly part of the immediate action sequences which appear in the finished game, where the player is required to press the correct sequence of buttons to save Lara from immediate peril. However, no such scene appeared in the game. It seems it was replaced in favor of a much shorter, less elaborate roof jump scene.

  • Missing weaponry - One known weapon that was excluded from the finished game was the rocket launcher. There are videos and images or Lara being attacked and attacking with a rocket launcher. Old pictures from the Ghana level show Lara using a revolver.

  • Diving - There was several videos showing her swan dive into water in the level, Ghana. She did it more smoothly, and slower, just like in the previous sequels. Whereas in Legend, it was faster, and it wasn't a video.

  • Alternate item setup - Early images show a different item setup in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. The items were largely the same as in the finished game but had different appearances and a different controller configuration.

  • There was a light blue icon of Lara shooting, located at the bottom right of the screen. It appeared 3 times in the game. The manual hadn't mentioned what the players were supposed to do when that icon showed up. However, it is implied by its appearance that the player is required to move and act quickly to avoid death.

External links

2006 computer and video games | Eidos Interactive games | Game Boy Advance games | GameCube games | Mobile phone games | Nintendo DS games | Platform games | PlayStation 2 games | PlayStation Portable games | Tomb Raider series | Windows games | Xbox 360 games | Xbox games

Tomb Raider: Legend | Tomb Raider Legend | Tomb Raider: Legend | 古墓奇兵:不死傳奇

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend".

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