Without wanting to dwell on the past too much, I think it’s safe to say that the last Tomb Raider game, Angel of Darkness didn’t exactly do the series justice. In fact I think it’s fair to say it very nearly killed the franchise off in one swoop. The last two TR games on PlayStation weren’t exactly stellar titles, but AoD really messed things up badly, and most people thought that was the end for poor Lara. Luckily for us, after original developer Core Design’s tired effort with AoD, Eidos tasked a different developer with making the latest in the series, and the world is keen to see what they have come up with, and expectations are high for Tomb Raider 7 (yup 7, count them).

Crystal Dynamics have clearly looked at exactly what players loved about the old Tomb Raider games whilst creating ‘Legend, because it really feels and plays very much like old school Tomb Raider. Jumping, swinging and shuffling along ledges feels how it used to be, as is the gun combat and boss fighting. Of course it isn’t exactly how it used to be, because if you remember it was quite awkward at times to set jumps up accurately, and you had the weird grid system where you walked/jumped too – this has been replaced by completely free movement and responsive, fluid and precise animation making it very smooth to control. In addition to this, the developer has taken elements from modern adventure games such as Prince of Persia, Resident Evil 4, Shenmue and even Metroid Prime, which fit in really well with the new game.

You’ll later visit Peru, Japan, England, Russia, Nepal and Africa. The majority of the levels are classic tomb raiding, but two of them, Japan and Russia are set in buildings in a modern environment. All of the levels have some very interesting layouts, and some feature clever puzzles which use the games detailed physics system effectively. Anyone that enjoyed Half Life 2’s physics puzzles will love what Crystal Dynamics have done with Tomb Raider. I think the large outdoor environments still suit the game better than ones which are set within buildings, as they are what sets the game apart from being like just any other old third person adventure game you care to think of.

Alongside her classic moves and abilities, Lara now has a magnetic grapple (think: Batman’s Bathook) which allows her to reach pillars and blocks far away from her, either allowing her to swing from them, or in some cases pull those objects closer to her. It’s used quite heavily throughout the game, and is also used during puzzles and boss fights. Another new piece of equipment is binoculars, which other than their normal use, you can scan certain items Metroid Prime style to look out for objects that can be moved, or if they are a mechanism of some kind. After a while you don’t really need to use them as the puzzles are all fairly logical (obvious, even), but it's a nice addition to Lara’s kit.

The gun combat is very basic too, but you now have a lock-on system that targets the enemy next to you so you generally always shoot accurately. As always seems to be the case with lock-on systems, on occasion it’ll target the wrong enemy or object (either a petrol tank or interactive object like rocks) which can get a little frustrating during big battle sequences or the boss fight in England, but you can switch targets using the L trigger so it’s not too bad. Hilariously, Lara still gets to kill some indigenous wildlife; big cats like Jaguars still take about 15 rounds from a gun to kill, and during these moments if they hit you they take off a huge chunk of ammo – perhaps the enemy trained them up with close combat and gave them invisible bulletproof vests huh? Surely they could have come up with a more convincing or logical predator or hazard? The first level made me chuckle too; Lara risks her life to free-climb up a mountain and dodge traps and big boulders to arrive at the entrance to a tomb, and the enemy arrive at the same time in a couple of SUVs that they simply drove up a road to get there… Something to think about in the future; a local road map maybe Lara?

There are two motorbike sequences in the game in which Lara must race along a road shooting at enemies (also on motorbikes, or in jeeps) and get to a destination at the end. They are very easy sections, and much like the boss fights quite uninspiring, but they break the two levels up well enough and at least do fit in with the story.

Unfortunately if you run your Xbox 360 in either high definition 720p or 1080i you pay the price for it as the framerate takes a serious dip, with some sequences like the motorbike sections and some boss fights suffering from constant slowdown which is a real shame, especially when it starts to affect the controls and aiming. Switch to 480p or standard TV settings and it pretty much stays stable throughout. The game does look a lot better in HD though, so you’ll have to pick your poison with what setting you decide to play with. As the game is effectively a port of the PlayStation2 version with high res texturing and more detailed models I think its fair to say that a constant 60fps display shouldn’t be out of the question on Xbox 360, but perhaps Crystal Dynamics simply ran out of time to try and optimize it.

Crystal Dynamics really have done a fantastic job bringing back Lara Croft, and along with the classic feel that Legend has (a feat in itself if you think about it when you look at many sequels of old classics), and the new things that the developer has added to the game, what you have is basically an incredibly enjoyable adventure game that plays well, has some beautifully designed levels and clever puzzles, and a genuinely interesting story. Finally, Tomb Raider is back, can I have some more please!