Tips for Lara

Lara Croft Tomb Raider™ LEGEND is challenging on many fronts: platforming, all-out action, head-scratching puzzles, and a story that will keep you guessing. Minus the plot, a few tried and true tips and tricks help you understand the game better and give you a few tools to progress at your ease.

Examination Time
Platform puzzles must be taken as a whole, not in parts. Don't immediately jump to the ledge in front of you and then wonder what to do next. Instead, take a moment (usually in first person view) to examine the entire environment, and pick out the puzzle as one large progressive sequence. Then, it's less a matter of discovering what to do next, and more about simply executing the proper moves to complete the test.

Survey the scene.

Environmental Hazards
Lara is more than capable of running and gunning, but be sure to ease the burden and use the environmetal advantages whenever possible. Luckily, the game highlights these hazards with a floating Y button icon. When you see it, you know there's a barrel to explode, a rock formation to crack, a trap to trigger, and so on.

Tomb Raider challenges you with action, death-defying
platform elements, and intricate puzzles.

However, don't be too hasty. For example, the exploding barrels during your first motorcycle chase? Don't shoot them on sight, wait for the enemy bikers to draw close to them, and then take them all out with the explosion.

Watch that battery power.

Target Best
Tomb Raideris a lock-on target game, and if you're not careful, it's easy to get fixated on one enemy, but try using judicious use of the left trigger to target the "best" enemy, which, by default, should be the closest one to you. This is especially helpful during the chase sequences, where you find yourself shooting at a biker now far away, but there are two enemies right next to you that require more immediate attention.

Empty Rooms … Aren't
There's not a lot of wasted space in Tomb Raider LEGEND, so if you enter a room with no puzzles, or enemies, and few platforming challenges, it's probably hiding an artifact from you. Take a close look at these seemingly barren rooms and you may find a bronze, silver, or gold treasure hidden in a dusty corner, just waiting to be found.

Up-Close Combat
Many of Lara's effective combat moves requires her to be within jumping/sliding distance of her enemy. Sure, guns can cover most any distance, but to trip, grab hold of with your grapple, knock back, or leap over an enemy, you need to be up close and personal. Also, watch for when the targeting reticule turns grey, meaning you're too far away for an accurate shot.

Shoot, somersault, shoot.

Ledge Death
When shooting at an enemy across a chasm, try latching onto them with your grappling hook and tugging them over the divide. It's, quick, easy, and usually a permanent solution to the problem.

Puzzle Tips
The mind-bending puzzles of Tomb Raider LEGEND are frequent and challenging, but there are a few consistent tips that can help you break through to the other side:

• Intro movie: Each major puzzle is preceded by an intro movie that highlights the key elements. Pay close attention. Anything you see highlighted in the cinematic will be used in the puzzle. Bust out the scanner and scan the highlighted equipment for a clue to its use.
• Extra items: Beyond what's shown in the cinematic, if you find any tool, box, barrel, or other item that seems out of place, it's likely part of the puzzle. For example, early on, you need to put simultaneous weight on three pressure pads to activate some machinery. What the puzzle video doesn't show is the seesaw down below you use to launch a crate to the same level as the pressure pads.
• Physics: The puzzles present in Tomb Raider LEGEND are less obscure and seemingly random than in past versions. With a sophisticated physics engine that includes unique uses for fire and water, many puzzles follow a relatively natural path to their solution.

Tomb Raider LEGEND challenges you with action, death-defying platform elements, and heavily intricate puzzles, but with these tips and a healthy dose of skill and ingenuity, you'll be well on your way to conquering Lara's latest adventure.

Article by Alex McLain