Entries from April 2006 ↓

Well, six hours of game play later and I've finished the story of Tomb Raider: Legend. I still need to collect all the artifacts and do the time trials before the game is 100% but, I doubt I'll bother to do that. I'm a little disappointed that the game was so short and very disappointed with it's "Halo 2" style ending. On the other hand, I don't really have a schedule that it suitable for prolonged gaming sessions so maybe the length is for the best. All in all – pretty solid game for what may be the last in the series.

As I said yesterday the combat mechanics are a bit shoddy. And it gets much more annoying later in the game – I had to consistently run and jump up to where the enemies were standing just to hit them. I always figured Lara for a much better shot then that – I guess I was wrong. The puzzle elements of the game are good and not overwhelmingly difficult to solve. Some of the reviewers didn't like the motorcycle sections of the game but I didn't really mind it. Although, the Kazakhstan (must every game have a Kazakhstan stage these days?) one was a tad to long – made it a bit boring.

I had a good time and was pleased enough that maybe someday I will go back back and 100% it…

Related Links:

• Tomb Raider: Legend at MetaCritic (Xbox)
  
• Tomb Raider: Legend Walkthrough

I received my copy of "Tomb Raider: Legend" yesterday so, I spent a little while this morning working my way through the first level. I haven't played a Tomb Raider game to completion since Tomb Raider 2 – I'm not the biggest fan of the series. So far the game feels like an updated version of the original game. It looks really good on the Xbox, too bad I don't own a 360 to compare the two. The environment looks great, which it should being so late in the life of the Xbox. All of the character animations are incredibly smooth, I didn't notice anything off with the Lara's movement. The game play is very tight – a lot tighter then I expected it to be. There is section of the first level where you have to dodge your way through a trap with "Dragons Lair" type interaction – meaning hit a button when they tell you. I'm guessing that will pop up a few more times throughout the game. The combat seems OK so far, it's nothing great but since this game is supposed to be pretty puzzle/tomb raiding oriented it should do the job. Sorry about the lack of screen shots – my Xbox is hooked up to the TV at the moment, maybe I'll move it back later and take some. Well, I guess I should get back to the tomb raiding…

Yesterday I received my Dreamcast and much to my delight it works just fine.  It came with a copy of “Virtua Fighter 3TB”,  which I could have done without, it also came with two controllers, a couple of VMU’s (memory cards) and the microphone attachment.  I quickly got my hands on a copy of the shmup “Ikaruga” and it is terrific.  I’ve only had a few minutes to play so far (I’ll be sneaking in some more after posting this) so, I can’t really tell you too much other then the game is great.  If you have the means to try it (with a Dreamcast or via an emulator) and like shmups I suggest you take this one for a spin.  I’m going to get some more playing well I have a chance so…

Much to the dismay of my girlfriend I’ve decided that it’s time to take in another stray.  This time – a lonely Sega Dreamcast.  I’ve never owned a Dreamcast – so it’s about time I change that.  I was reading Racketboy’s post about shmups from a couple of weeks ago and I think that’s going to be a good place to start playing.  We’ll see what kind of condition the system is in when it gets here.  In related news, I’ve been eyeing Ebay a lot lately for consoles that I don’t currently have.  The thing is do I really need to buy myself another Genesis?  Or another NES?  I guess I’ll just have to keep an eye on the Ebay, maybe I’ll find a good deal…