When I first started reviewing Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, I think I got a little carried away. It's been so long since a Tomb Raider game has really blown me away. It was Tomb Raider III to be precise, and everything since has just struck me as a photocopy of the original, with some fancy frills around the edge that, instead of making the game more glamorous/exciting/fun to play, just made it look frilly. I was so eager to be wowed by this new instalment in the now ageing saga of Ms Croft that I leapt at the opportunity to congratulate it on a job well done. I did nothing but compare it to its predecessor, Angel of Darkness, which, let's face it, blew. I marvelled at Lara's newfound athletic ability, her new curves and animations, but along the way I forgot one very important thing; while Lara's been resting and living off her vast fortune (you know, the one she earned from all the advertising deals, movies and duff sequels), other dark children have risen and usurped her throne. Before we measure Lara against them though, lets look upon her sultry form with fresh, untainted eyes.

Lara, it would seem, is back, and in more ways than one. I could have started this review like many before it and chronicled how Lara has become an icon not only in the gaming community, but among feminists and frustrated teenage boys worldwide as well. More often than not, if you see a collective of gaming characters who represent gaming, other than Mario and Sonic you will no doubt see Lara. She has been the object of philosophical debate, psychological discussion and male fantasy for a decade. But we know all about that, we know how important she has been to us; we love and adore her. What we would like to know is how her new game plays and whether, after two not so great movies and a couple of not so great games, she will secure her place once more in our hearts.

Lara's been on a bit of a roller coaster ride for the last couple of years. After three fantastic outings on the PSOne she was cast in stone as the heroine of the Nineties (apart from maybe Sigourney Weaver in Alien 3, but that's just personal opinion). After that though, people started to get a bit experimental with her and tried to take her in different directions. Tomb Raider: The Next Revelation broke away from the traditional game format a little, giving Lara a new inventory system and new moves to play with, but it had lost a little of the simple greatness that made Lara and her tomb raiding escapades so great in the first place. It reminds me of an old proverb - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Then there were movies, and although they picked the absolute perfect woman to play Lara (more of that personal opinion there), it didn't quite hit home with the fans. Then the next generation console came along and Lara had the potential to explode onto our screens in a more dynamic way than ever. The power of the PlayStation 2 should have liberated Lara, yet instead it ensnared her; it put her in claustrophobic, dark environments and restricted her movement to a mind-numbing crawl, with a control system that would make even the most saintly and infinitely patient among us shoot up the local laundrette.

Enough history though, let's talk about the present. What is this mighty morsel that Crystal Dynamics have presented us with? Lara may have been through the wash, but we want to know how she's doing now, right? The first thing you notice about the 'new' Lara, is how damn good she looks. There are polygons coming out of her perfectly rounded ears, her curves are even more seductively curvaceous than ever and her signature ponytail bobs around with a certain playfulness that historically reflects Lara's 'naughty' personality. She moves incredibly well too; it seems she's finally freed herself from her previous blocky, walk slowly to the edge, existence. Angel of Darkness seemed to crawl along as you slowly made your way from meticulous jump to fanatically precise ledge (and no doubt fell off said ledge as the camera spun round wildly). Now, Lara leaps and bounds catlike from surface to surface in a way that's actually, dare I say it, fun again. It's the similar set up we're used to with the Tomb Raider series, but they've identified all the good bits; the hanging from precarious ledges, the leaping over large precipices and the nail biting 'only just made it' sensation, but they've managed to harness it in a way that isn't mind-numbingly slow or ridiculously frustrating.

The standard type of gameplay we associate Lara with, the original anyway, is climbing, leaping, swinging and generally defying gravity as she scales cliffs/military buildings/three hundred foot tall stone monkeys. As I mentioned, Lara has become a lot freer in her movements since she threw away her shackles of darkness. Instead of slowly lining yourself up for each jump, Lara now does most of her raiding on the hoof. You very rarely have to stop at all; you just run and jump and swing and roll and dive your way through the level. Occasionally you'll hit a ledge at an awkward angle and in a fleeting moment of panic you must quickly hit a button to secure her grip. That done, simply pull yourself up via the traditional reverse handstand technique and set off again. She's got a new toy too, and it makes Indiana Jones's bullwhip look like a…well, a bullwhip. She has a magnetic grapple, which extends to ridiculous lengths with the slightest of effort and can either grip secure objects for general swinging purposes, or be used to pull unsuspecting movable objects toward you. This opens up a whole new level of fun, namely pulling explosive barrels into waterfalls and watching them plummet through the water toward obliviously doomed henchmen, or simply pulling similarly unaware henchmen off the top of a roof. Eat that, Indy!

The other talent we remember Lara for is her ability to shoot people whilst bouncing around like an Olympic gymnast on game day. Once again, she's grown wings. She can bounce, leap, jump and other words that describe her momentary defiance of gravity, in a whole manner of new and interesting ways, whilst never missing an opportunity to shoot at somebody. You can also run up and kick the dastardly enemy fellows in the jaw, sliding kick their ankles out from under them or bounce off their face, jump backward and fill their artificially simulated chest with artificially simulated bullets. In slow motion, of course. There's very little emphasis on 'oh look I have a machine gun' any more. Remember in the early games how it was a big deal to find the Uzis? Well in Legend, you have the trademark twin pistols as standard (obviously), but within minutes you have an automatic rifle strapped to your back and a pocket full of grenades. After a few minutes more you're up to grenade launchers and shotguns. Lara clearly got Ammu-Nation vouchers for her birthday and she's waxed the lot.

The locations in Legend are, as you would imagine, mindblowing, for the most part anyway. The sheer scale of what is currently possible has actually been utilised and some rooms are simply enormous. There are huge temples, statues, waterfalls and more, all there for your exploring pleasure and they are all wonderfully detailed. When the walls close in, the detail in the surfaces and the light effects make it plenty pretty, and give you loads to look at as you are inevitably impaled by a spike that comes out of the wall next to you. It's not all musty caves though; there's a cool Yakuza building level all draped in neon and brushed aluminium, which Lara actually scales in a cocktail dress. On a bit of a down note however, some of the locations Lara finds herself in aren't so attractive or interesting. The military installations and laboratories, and other not so tomblike locales are ever so bland in comparison and do very little to excite the imagination. The problem here is, Lara made her name in those dark dingy tombs; they're mysterious and alien and draped in history. No science lab has mystery like a 4000-year-old pyramid, just Tesla coils and rather unhealthy looking scientists. Apparently Crystal Dynamics were trying to take Lara back to her roots with this sequel; when will they learn that Lara's roots are in tombs, like the title states?

The soundtrack is a work of genius. There's a certain meditative quality to the jungle levels, which almost hypnotises you. With the peaceful surroundings of the jungle itself to lull you, the sunlight glistening through the trees and the subtle tingles of the music combined, you can really find yourself relaxing in this game. That is until some inconsiderate henchmen runs up and starts shooting at you. Then the soundtrack quickly evolves into a trip-tropic mood, upping the tempo but not ruining your well-balanced and karmic state of mind. It's not all hippy love and brown rice though; the music beefs up as the action becomes grittier later on. The sound effects are crisp and clear, the most important of which, in my eyes (or should I say ears) is the beautiful symphony of Lara's fragile neck snapping as you gracefully swan dive from a high ledge onto the unforgiving hard stone floor thirty feet below. I remain, as ever, a sick little puppy.

They seem to have nailed Lara's voice this time; it's changed a fair bit over the years, having been more gruff, more English, more posh, more sadistic. I personally thought they couldn't get it any more right than Angelina Jolie. But it turns out it needed a bit more Keira Knightly to make it perfect. Not that Keira actually did the voiceover, I don't want to mislead you; she's just the best way of describing the ingredient they seem to have added to Lara's already sultry tones. She's playful, naughty, determined, unforgiving and sodding sexy as all hell. I know…she's not real. *sigh*

So, We've identified why Lara is great and why this game is a must for all Tomb Raider fans. But there's still something niggling, some whiny voiced cretin whispering 'you forgot something' into my ear. That something that I forgot is the something of mentioning Lara's contenders. If you look at the shelf of your local games retailer you will now see (probably on the pre-owned section for a great value price) two titles that you really should be looking at as well. One is Prince of Persia (we'll assume for now I'm talking about The Two Thrones but we could equally be talking about Sands of Time or Warrior Within) and of course, the simply unforgettable God of War. Both these titles have expanded on Lara's genre, the genre she created, and now it seems she not the innovator any more; she's playing catch up. The dynamic way in which God of War plays, the combat engine, the exploration, the way the puzzles challenge you but don't leave you banging your head against a brick wall for hours on end, the visuals, the epic locations, the music, the story…need I go on?! The whole package is mind blowing and sensational (I know this is a Tomb Raider review, but I get ever so enthusiastic about God of War, can you tell?) It all makes you see Legend in a whole new light - slightly inferior. [I'll second Jim's love for God of War, I'm playing through it at the moment and it is indescribably awesome! Ed].

You'll finish Legend in under ten hours, easy. The levels are beautiful but criminally short and the puzzles never really stop and make you think, more slow you down and go 'hmm'. Everything seems to have been pointed out to you, from the giant symbol above your head when you're supposed to swing from a magnetic roof thingy to the camera showing you which order to solve puzzles in as you walk into a room. The first three Tomb Raiders really got the haemoglobin flowing through the gamer's noggin; hours were spent painstakingly edging through challenge upon challenge and it left you with a sense of accomplishment when you made it through. Now, although Lara's movement has been made more agile and the progress through the levels seems more fluid, it's all over far too quickly as a result and you're left feeling slightly empty inside.

The storyline that weaves these levels together like thread in a medieval tapestry is, to be fair, a bit thrown together and drab. Something about Lara's mother being eaten by a portal when Lara was a little girl and a mystic sword (otherwise known as Excalibur, yawn) found at an ancient dais and some senator's son with henchmen and an old friend who was eaten by a shadow muppet that somebody set on fire and she lost her shoe but came back as a Goth chick and raided Tesla's electric laboratory to steal more bits of the broken sword (oops, can I say that? Sorry, sword that is no longer in one piece) that controls the portal that ate Lara's mum which Lara must replace to bring her back and, oh I'm bored. Drivel. Compared to the tales of The Prince and The Slayer of Gods (Kratos) you can't help but interpret Lara's most recent adventure as mindless rot.

Other moans come in the form of the motorcycle levels which are clearly sponsored by Ducatti; the logo is flashed at every available opportunity. The levels themselves are based on a different engine and involve racing down roads scattered with rocks and trees, being chased by goons with guns on the back of cars or bikes of their own. If you time it right you can almost make the whole run in a straight line, which is just as well, because the handling of the bike is more jittery than a crack addict gone cold turkey. Remember the quad bike along the river Ganges in TR III? Where the vehicle was incorporated into the normal game engine and was needed to solve puzzles? Well, the bike pops up for a criminally short time in this capacity, just long enough to jump over a bridge, then it's gone. To be fair, the bike does break up the levels, but that's not necessarily a good thing; we like running through the tombs as Lara and there's just not enough of that. In a moment of madness the developers seem to have decided to flesh the game out by taking you away from that some more. Not good.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend really isn't all that bad; I mean, the first time I played it I was happy, it's enjoyable, and as an age old Raider fan I felt for a brief moment like I was home. But after a saddeningly short time, reality crept back in and I started to question my newfound joy. The high begins to wear off and the comedown starts. All those flashy little extras become a bit annoying, like a toy on Christmas day, and before you know it you're stuck on the last boss and screaming at the television. In trying to strip away Lara's baggage and go back to basics, they've taken away too much and then like a panicked sculptor who slipped with his chisel they've tried to stick bits back on in a desperate attempt to rescue it. It's fun for a bit, and fans of Lara will welcome this new addition as a breath of fresh air. Fans of the genre who want a bigger and better, more fulfilling package, had better steer toward Prince of Persia or God of War (God of War for personal preference because it has more blood and boobies and, well, Kratos). Let's hope, and pray, that Crystal Dynamics are listening, and that one day they get it totally right again, because, let's face it, who doesn't love Lara?

Reviewed by Jim Powell for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).