Well, good thing no one is asking you then

better than the recent tomb raider reboot

I think the game was very good for what it was and when it was released. Yes, it was too easy and too short, but the platforming was very smooth for a 2006 game and the story was awesome. I much preferred this soft reboot from the 2013 one- at least Lara was still her sassy self in Legend. I'm so excited for the classic remasters that are coming out in february 2024 🥵

I remember liking it when I play it way back when, spent several hours just in Croft manor getting all the collectibles

I respect what you're saying but I mostly disagree. The series was in the ground after Angel of Darkness. Tomb Raider as a franchise was irrelevant between 2003 - 2006 because the series didn't move with the times. Introducing more action and a more considered cinematic approach gave Lara new depths as a character. Yeah it took some of the in-depth exploration out of the mix but I'd argue Angel of Darkness did that anyway. Legend is an action adventure movie akin to Indiana Jones with story twists, globe trotting and gameplay beats that push the gamer to fell like they're on a crazy adventure. It's not classic Tomb Raider but then again in 2006 that's not what the series needed. It's a shame that the wrong lessons were learned from Legend and Underworld collapses under its own misdirection. But I did enjoy hearing your thoughts and it's always cool to hear other perspectives.

I wish Legend was longer and the levels had less linearity, but despite that it's still a banger of a game. Definetly not a dull experience.

Wtf are you on about? It’s a masterpiece

Glad I'm not the only one. I played Legend for the first time a few years ago, and was very underwhelmed by it given its reputation. I played Underworld afterwards and found it an improvement in most ways. Maybe it's because I didn't play it back in the day so have no nostalgic attachment. But yeah, dull is the word that sums it up well. Tomb Raider 2 gets a bad rep for too many human enemies and combat, yet this seems to get a free pass for that same issue. That seems a bit odd to me also.

Honestly, with every great joke or smartass comment you would make in the video, that I was trying to remember to comment about, you just would land another zinger and make me laugh and forget what I was trying to remember previously. 😂😂 It's zinger after zinger, dude!! Your TR videos make my day!! Do not stop making TR videos! Buuuut yeaaahh...TR Legend was ABSOLUTELY a shock when it came out, yes. Yet in the end, I adore that game. Crystal Dynamics NAILED that specific reboot, if you ask me. ;) Survivor reboot was GAAAAAAAAAARBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE. (Fight me. Someone. The Queen of Adventure DOES NOT WIELD BOW-AND-ARROW; she wields pistols and rifles. 😋) Also, some specifics of the game were amazing: the soundtrack, Lara's character and personality, new combat system, and the story with Lara searching for her mother throughout the whole game. I DO certainly appreciate the music in the game as it was not just 15-20 seconds of ambience or a few notes made into a nice jingle like classic TR games. TR menu theme as well as the Manor theme were AWESOME!! But on a less enthusiastic note..I suppose my opinion of TR Legend is quite biased now as I feel a certain connection to its Lara.. I grew up playing TR games with my mother, and Lara was our idol. We played TR game after TR game for 20 years until she passed away in 2017 from a glioblastoma. And I could only think about TR Legend and how I wish I could travel the world in search of her just as Lara did so for her mother. For me, TR Legend now has a totally new feel and aura about it. It'll always be one of my favorite TR games. I appreciate Crystal Dynamics for creating it.

1:06 Just like TR4 The visual glitches and crashes are all due to next generation content (except for the Kazakhstan bike section, both modes have transparent textures in different areas), while most gameplay bugs are caused by playing the PC version at an uncapped frame rate. This would still be the developer's fault but it was also rather common practice to have some things tied to frame rate still (even recent games like re4r have more intense waves in water at higher fps). All console versions play at the intended 30fps but the PC version doesn't have any native option to lock it, closest thing is enabling V-Sync (disabled by default too...) from the launcher at 60hz or lower if supported. The door thing seems to be one of those issues, and it is also what makes Lara's hair look so floaty and lightweight in your clips. In fact, the PC version also has other issues like controller camera sensitivity being too high (fixed in PC anniversary), and the change targets feature for the bike sections simply doesn't work (be it controller or the key you can assign to it) I'm hoping eventually we get a re-release for this trilogy like they're doing now with the originals, fixing all of these issues and also doing a better job at improving the visuals cause next gen content here often looks odd or straight up worse than the original graphics (and also include the currently xbox exclusive underworld DLC lol)

One thing that is not an opinion and is a fact. Uncharted came AFTER legend. So uncharted looks like legend. Not the other way around. Yes many of your points are valid but, not on this one and the graphics. You say other games looked a lot better. Name a couple. I for one loved it. But yes it was short, kind of predictable, and very easy but, Lara had so smooth movement i couldn't believe back in the day. It saved the series from dying. Crystal probably wanted to attract a broader audience. Hence it's approach on the difficulty.

Tomb raider legend is basic like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. It is good, but it's not great.

Why havnt you done an Underworld video!!??... **Looks at upload date (13 hours ago)😂

Always thought the Legend timeline was a good reboot of the series after the failure of Angel Of Darkness and the old tank controls of the older games, yeah might have been short and linear but thought the games locations were creative from ancient temples in Bolivia and Peru to the rooftops of Tokyo to an abandoned Soviet science facility in Kazakhstan If anything Legend saved the franchise from fading into obscurity. Was the 1st Tomb Raider game i ever played and completed myself as a kid, as a slight nitpick though wish they had her wear her classic outfit again or at least have released an expansion pack for it.

Same here. In my opinion, Legend suffers from too much linearity for an action-adventure game/puzzle game and I think it has to do with the popularity of linear FPS shooters of the time (MoH, CoD etc.) where developers were kinda afraid to put more open world into action-adventure titles so it wouldn't be considered open-world sandbox and have a lot more demand for additional content. Also, as you said, they were just testing waters, but still can't figure out why this has better ratings than Anniversary and Underworld. Those last two from the 2000s franchise really fixed the problems with Legend. P.S.: Yes, the bike sections are atrocious and unbalanced.

At least legend tr eventually evolved into the new trilogy, which is a better execution of the same concept

The amount of bugs you encounter are, probably of the infamous PC port of Legend, which yeah, is a pretty bad one... Including graphics, which also doesn't give this game much justice in the PC port, the next generation content is also broken in the PC port. Well, you'll probably start realizing these when you play the Xbox version, and then compare it to the Xbox 360 version. Not the worst of re-boots, specially is way better than the 2013 re-boot, but, yeah, i think it was kinda dull too, a lot of the exploration that made the Core TR games great, are mostly missing in Tomb Raider Legend, and other Crystal Dynamic games.

I know the boss fights in Tomb Raider are a long running thing, but in this game they felt more like a chore than the others. I played all of them except for Angel of Darkness which I'm playing through now after hearing how bad it is so maybe Legend bosses won't be the worst after this. But I didn't enjoy the bosses like that dragon thing with the bells in Tomb Raider Legend at all.

I definitely agree with your criticisms of this game, but I didn't mind them. Gameplay was very watered down, there wasn't even exploration featured in the levels, and it was very linear. However this all made me feel like I was watching a good movie, and made the adventures more believable as the environments and gameplay made a lot more sense than the originals. I still prefer the classics though, and understand anyone who found Legend dull.

I loved the new controls

Well I ain't asking! I do appreciate the answer though. 😊 I finally get to be that guy in the comments " Phoenix down only reverses KO not death"

Hooray! Lovely video as always. I thought that PS2 Lara was HOT in this one, even if more realistic. I liked the globe trotting and the platforming and the combat, and the physics based puzzles were nice. That said, I played it on PS2 when released and haven't got back to it. I do remember thinking at the time it was a bit short. Croft Manor was fantastic, and I think I liked the time trial trophy system too. But Lara in Tokyo, oh my.

Wuhu another Tomb Raider video :D I have had this game on my shelf for years, but I have never played it. Thank you for this great review!

I love Legend but yes Legend sucks. 1. Lara becomes a Killer which fits the old remake timeline but thanks to Legend the new Lara is also a killer 2. Rip pants scene with the Yakuza...why? 3. What happened to independent Lara who rejected Aristocracy, got disowned by her parents, and worked with fellow humans to defeat cool enemies? But I loved Alister and Zip I wished they could come back TwT At this point, Tomb Raider is gonna die out again.....

The LAU era is my favourite. It's still a globe trotting, tomb raiding fun, with a double pistol swinging badass beautiful woman, but with much needed improvement on movement and combat. Also actual overarching story. As for the problems with the game, the Nextgen content is undercooked or poorly ported. Sure it looks nicer most times, but you're better off with turning it off. The other bugs are tied to it being an old game. Frame rates tie to the gameplay, and if you play on more than 30-60 fps, you're gonna have a bad time. You have to enable Vsync at least to avoid glitches and bugs. There are worse examples out there, where you have to set the game in task manager to run on a single core, because they were developed in an era where multicore processors weren't a thing, and these games can't work on them (example: Prince of Persia trilogy)

Well I agree with you. But you are a tad bit on the unfair side. Let's face it the budget was probably (certainly) quite tied. Lara lost her lackluster from the 1990 era. So their margin was "small". In the big cons: This game is bloody linear. You have no exploration And as a 3D game you spend a LOT of time sliding along wall -_- try to compare the bosses in Legend with the bosses in Blood Omen 2... and laugh... In the big pro : Lara's moveset in those games are at their best. When you reach Underworld... my... Lara can shoot from pole, flip on plank. Do gymnastic. Crawl along wall.

well i didn't ask

let me guess old is good news are bad ?

Disagree. I found tr legend to be entertaining, despite a few downgrades compared to the previous games (Lara cannot sprint for example) but Peru bike ride or Kazakhstan train chase was good in my opinion. And no, levels don’t end the moment you find the artefact. You have to get out if the tomb, mostly by shooting your way through the enemies. And those bugs you mentioned - they never happened to me. Never had a boss in midair or anything like that. TR underworld was way more buggy, which is a pity as it had the best movements of all franchise. Agree with the linear point - it was a bit underwhelming when it comes to challenges.

Well I didn't

When my sister and I were little we called her Tokyo hair wavey turd hair bc of how it moved before it was in a ponytail. Cursed childhood story sorry for that

Wow, this is a really bad take. Realise this game was made for PS2/XBOX and only got a updated version for XBOX360 and PS3 and PC. And you're comparing it to a game that came 1,5 year later made specifically for PS3? That's really weird. I dunno, it feels more like you want to hatebait by saying weird things that make no sense in the hope a lot of people watch your video and gives you a lot of views. Well.. crap. It worked. Congratulations! :D But in all seriousness, I always have been a Tomb Raider fan since TR1 for PlayStation. (I am so hyped for the remasters!) And I even gave Angel of Darkness a go. Legend was amazing. I 100% that game as wel as Anniversary. Underworld was the least of the 3, but I loved how Lara and the game looked, I loved the story. That first level alone with the tanker sinking was amazing! Legend brought Lara Croft back from the death that Angel of Darkness caused. The controls were on point, the game looked amazing for the time, the soundtrack was amazing (I still listen to it now and again) and the level design was great. If I had to say something I didn't like, it was how many bodies Lara drops, but it was the time of action games. Anniversary did it better. Lara's first big adventure besides capturing Bigfoot and surviving as a child after her mother dissapeared. But Anniversary had it all. Tombs, another great soundtrack, Lara looked amazing, the levels looked amazing and it had a fun story to follow. Underworld had a great start but gets a bit boring later on till the last level, when the story went into overdrive. But it was still fun to play. The game looked amazing. And the opening level with the underwater temple, the tanker and you having to climb out of it was so good. I wish the whole game had levels like that. The Reboot was.. not really that great. I kinda liked the first one that was released 2013 (on my birthday :P), but I didn't like the 2nd and I didn't even finish the 3rd, no matter how amazing the game and Lara looked. I am very curious about the Netflix animated series and the HBO live action series that are coming out, as well as the new reboot they are working on now.

Legend is Beyoncé of the series next to tomb raider 2

I love legend, and the two following games but yeah, your comments feel valid. It's not so much that the game is dull, it's that the puzzles are easy and Zip and Alister talk too much in them. The story is good (the bit at the end when Lara goes full angry at Amanda is an awesome moment) and while new at the time, Lara adventuring to find what happened to her parents is overdone now. I prefer the doing it for the sport, though like I say, at the time, it was a new story element. The levels do feel too short. Fortunately, Underworld and Anniversary are much longer. This game does feel like a 'testing the water with what we can do for our first one'. I have it on the PS2 and never encountered any of those bugs. I must admit though, the default Legend outfit is my favourite of all Lara's outfits from the games.

Fortunately I did not have too many bugs and rather enjoyed the game BUT Kazakhstan bike part made me swear with the words I didn't even know. It lasted forever (20-30 mins), was awfully boring and on hard level made me go nuts. That's why I like this TR not so much. Thanks for the video. 👍

I agree. All she did was cry for mommy while the OG Lara never let her parents dictate her motives, she literally got disowned for not wanting to marry a dude with big pockets, cutting her allowance she made her own income. Modern Lara would cry the whole day whining and sulking about it. I like Legend and Underworld for the atmosphere and places beyond the caves but the story line was very dull

okay i actually watched the video now and it wasn't that bad =p

Shortest, most linear, predictable, scripted, restrictive one-hit wonder ever.

Nobody asked you

Not as dull as Underworld. That, for me, was truly boring, repetitive, unimaginative, cringey. Legend was at least better than Underworld.

you are looking at TR Legend from a 2024 view. in 2006 I was dying to play her. now it's a MEH 😒 I won't play TR legend with enthousiasme like before. the game is short except that. it was good for a 2006 game.

Imagine thinking people are legit mad because you said you didn't like a game they like. Let me be "brutally honest" then. I don't give two fucks and an rat's ass and half a shit about if you don't like a game or not. What? You're gonna come over to my house and take it from me? Am I suppose to cry because some faceless on the web said something I didn't like? If I had a dollar for every "hot take" I see, *I* would the one buying Actitivision and Blizzard and would have cash to spare to buy Square.

This is no Tomb Raider game! This is The Angel of Darkness 2.

Only weak game in the entire series is Angel of Darkness if you ask me. Oh and I hated the 3rd game due to stupid level design / difficulty. Legend is an OK game.

So booooriiiing. Next! Underworld? Nooooooo..