Tomb Raider: Legend was my childhood most favourite game, and here I am, a decade later, playing it and enjoying it just as much. I feel that with over 10+ playthroughs of experience with the game port to PC, i can give my verdict on the game. This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS! So if you are new, only go to the main verdict at the end.

Full on spoiler review:
The story - how does it work? Does it work? Could it be better? Well, personally I still don't fully understand the concept of the stone daises placed around the world, and how the sword can simultaniously connect them between each other, non - dependant on the time at which events occur. For example, we understand at the conclusion of the game, that Lara's mother was influenced by Amanda from the future to remove the sword from the dais, thus setting in motions the actions at which the game base their story. Many have pointed out that the entire story is simply a makeshift story to progress Lara around the beautifully designed areas of the game, which could be true.

Personally, though I feel as the story was a great one. Everything from the King Arthur myth being linked to the Tiwanaku'an empire and many other areas of the world, and how Excalibur, the sword given to Arthur by the lady of the lake, turns out to be an artifact that surpassed even Arthur by milennia. Lara stumbles into a rabbit hole, to attempt to uncover what her father could not, which ruined his reputation as an archeologist. I love how the story takes Lara all around the world.

As for the combat, well the mercs which you fight have different weapons: Grenade launcher, M4A1, submachine gun, and shotgun. However the AI tends to be a bit dumb unless your playing on hard difficulty, and will sometimes be very easy to kill as long as you stand right in front of them and shoot at them point blank.

The major problem with the difficulty system comes with the Kazakhstan level bike race on hard difficulty. This section ALONE is the single - handedly hardest thing in this game on hard difficulty. It is broken beyond anything. Let me explain: The bike section is split into two parts. The first part, which is just like the second part, but easier. Easier in the sense that it only has a couple of enemy waves. The second part SHOULD be only a bit harder. BUT NOPE! To give you some perspective, I have been playing games for upwards of 15 years, and am not bad at them at all. But this section single - handedly took me upwards of FIVE HOURS to complete on hard mode. The second section has 6 waves in total. You MUST begin the segment with 3 medkits, otherwise you might aswell restart the entire level for it is impossible without. In this segment, health is your most important resource. I am labeling it a resource, because it is what you must use to survive this segment. To complete the segment, all 6 waves must be eliminated without falling behind, aka you can only somewhat slow down to pick up medkits so you dont miss them. Which brings me to the next point, the medkit spawns and how you utilize them.

In order to complete the segment, you must have the most optimal spawn of medkits, meaning they all spawn after the 1st/2nd wave, to maximize the amount of medkits you have at your disposal for the 3rd to 6th wave. To kill these waves you will run straight at them from the side, and shoot as close as you can. Imagine your pistols are shotguns, it is the only way you will consistently value trade with the opponent. There is no point in going max range, as your range is terrible, but the AI will still hit you with shotguns from that range, even if you are at "grey" range and barely hit any shots. With perfect medkit spawns, perfect technique of value trading, you can make it through the segment, with your sanity somewhat intact. And this is where my point of difficulty imbalance arises. This is the only hard segment in the game, and everything else is extremely easy on hard difficulty, not even compared to this, it's just easy in nature. I can't help but wonder why in the world this segment was not playtested on hard difficulty?! This leaves a bad mark in my book.

As for the level design: They kept it simple, yet very mysterious and intriguing! I wont describe this for every level, but take for instance Peru: When the mysteryous monster is slaughtering all your fellow archeologists / friends, you can't help but feel a sense of hopelessness and fear, and the level design further brings these feelings out, with gates shaped out of skulls, carass figurines all around, and corridors shaped in a very disturbing way, not knowing what awaits around the corner! This is a giant plus, and only gets better as the game goes on! Especially in Japan, which by the way is my favourite all time level.

The soundtrack and voice acting: It fits perfectly for the given situation and style Lara is going for. The main theme is a masterpiece, and one that I sometimes listen to even when i workout or study. A giant success! As for the voice acting, sometimes it feels a bit wierd, but when it works, you will notice it! An example is in Japan, the dialogue in Japan is so awesome that i to this day have memorized all story voice lines in that level! So overall it isnt a masterpiece, but when it works, it works brilliantly!!

My last point is the collectibles / relics of the game: They arent those types of collectibles where you get insights into the story or maybe develops it. The collectibles are simply there to encourage the player to explore secret areas, and feel a sense of reward doing so. Personally I love these! The bronze relics are scattered around in easily found locations, sometimes having to backtrack and check the corner behind you. The silver ones are a bit more tricky. Specifically one silver in Bolivia and two silvers in Ghana. I wont mention their specific spots, as i don't want to spoil the fun of looking for them, but the one in Bolivia is hinted at during a cutscene, which I really like seeing from the developers! That one did indeed need hinting at. As for the two in Ghana, they aren't hinted at and are quite hard to find, but one does manage after some playthroughs, just dont spoil the fun by looking them up!
As for the golden relics, they are so much fun to hunt down and find! Specifically the ones in Bolivia, Japan, Peru, Ghana, Khazakstan, England, and Nepal. Now, you might be thinking: You just mentioned every level! Yep, thats how good and fun they are! They are usually found from the main puzzle of the level, and recquire some looking around with the binoculars to figure out, or some genious thinking! Specifically the one in Bolivia baffled me when I finally found it! So close, YET SO FAR! GREAT job on the hiding of the collectibles devs, big plus in my book! (Although i wish there was some story development as a result of finding them, but I do realize this was 2006!).

As one last point, and the reason that this review will NOT get a 10/10, is because of the graphical issues it has as a result of the PC port being the version that steam is basing it on. It's bad. REALLY BAD. In some areas textures just dont show, in others they are literally gamebreaking (cant play kazakhstan or england level with next gen graphics toggled for example). My recommendation is: Play with vsync ON, and turn next gen graphics off. This will leave you with very minor graphical issues, but not very noticeable. The game will be very much play-able this way! Very dissapointed that the devs have not fixed the port to PC, very bad! Although some fans have made mods for this version to update for example the cutscenes to 4K resolution, and fixed some of the graphical issues the game has. So definetly look around for those if you wish the full TR:L experience!

Anyways, I'll wrap it up here. Verdict: 9/10
Should you buy / should you not buy?: BUY IT! And enjoy it! I hope it leaves a mark in your gaming experience as it has in mine!

Stronghold. Hands down my favourite strategy game. I have loved this game since my childhood, and I still love it into my 20's. On a quest to avenge your father, you meet four different opponents. These opponents have interesting backstory, and a very different style of play, adding to their story elements. For a game created in 2001, its character development is amazing. There was not one second I did not enjoy, while destroying the Snake's entire base, or assaulting the Pig, and putting him down. Beating the games final boss, the Wolf, was very exciting and a feeling to be remembered.

As for gameplay mechanics, they are what you would expect in a 2001 game. Extremely simple, but can be used in interesting and challenging ways by the player. Even if it is simple, it has many different ways to play. The popularity system comes into play all the time, and if being cruel increases work efficiency, then it will certainly reduce popularity. Then you must figure out how to increase this popularity, but still work as efficiently as possible, to raise an army before the Wolf arrives to demolish your entire establishment. This is what makes Stronghold fun. Another is the terrain usage in this game. Where you place your production buildings and other types of buildings matters in Stronghold. It matters so much, that it can make or break a mission. If you are playing on the "very hard" setting i would suggest surveying the maps layout first, then planning your building, before attempting to complete the mission on your first playthrough. And since it is a 2001 game, it comes with its fair share of issues. Unfortunately the archer shooting patterns are sometimes flawed depending on the terrain, to the point where they can be heavily abused. I will not spoil how this works or where it is useful, i'll leave this to you, to find for yourself ;)

It is clear that this game was made in 2001, as the difficulty settings are not accurate. Playing on anything lower then "hard" difficulty, is essentially giving yourself a free win. Start with the "hard" difficulty if you are new to the game, and change difficulty to "very hard" if it is too easy. I found myself spawn camping the enemy attack waves on "very hard" as they took so long to spawn, i had time to finish full wood production, food, and an armory with sustained production of weapons. This is not expected on a difficulty labelled "very hard", especially since my strategy and play style are not perfect for the encounter. Granted, there are the very few missions which are a proper challenge on the "very hard" setting. Such as the Pig and Wolf assaults. Essentially, i wish they had added a new "insane" mode or something alike, that doubles the difficulty in which "very hard" is set. Simply a challenge for the ones who have played Stronghold's campaign a dozen times, know every nook and cranny, but want a challenge from a beloved game.

As for replay value, I would say it depends on the person. If you have had a good experience with the game on your first playthrough, the chances of you returning to complete the game again on the max difficulty, or maybe by adding your own challenges or achievements, is heavily increased. I for one played this during my childhood and loved it, as such I have come to play it over and over again every year, even if it becomes easier every time.

The Stronghold HD remake. Well, it adds a few bugs and visual glitches here and there, but I would not say it is game breaking or heavily annoying. Playing this version is much better then the old one, as changing resolution and such on the older version is too much of a hustle for the 4 dollar pricetag on this newer version.

The price. Well i'll be honest. The only reason i bought this game on Steam, was to actually be able to have it on Steam. I could have simply downloaded the old version online, and changed resolution to the most recent one, but i would much rather have the game on my Steam account and profile to display and view how many hours I have sunk into this masterpiece. Of course I am also happy that it helps fund the developers somewhat, as I am excitedly awaiting the release of the new Stronghold Warlords game! So essentially, i would say the price tag is worth it.

For a final score, i rate Stronghold HD a 9/10. It is veeeeeeeeery close to the 10/10, but unfortunately it looses a point due to the HD remake bugs, and bit due to my difficulty disliking.
This review is signed by Ionpatron50.