Tomb Raider: Legend

With her trademark grace and charm, Lara Croft has completely reestablished herself as the supreme heroine of third-person adventure gaming. Whether solving mind-wracking puzzles, gunning down foes with chilling ruthlessness, or exploring everything from steamy jungle waterfalls in Ghana to a frigid military base in Kazakhstan, the lady who vaulted the PlayStation into stardom has returned to recapture our hearts.

Throughout Tomb Raider: Legend there is a palpable sense of a perfected experience, with the exception of some slow-down during high-action sequences. The early tutorial-style levels are predominantly geared not toward teaching you the controls, but to training you to look for clues to solve the game's myriad puzzles. Still, techniques take a little extra practice in the PC version, as the keyboard makes some moves difficult to execute. Yet Lara is as agile as her occupation requires, and developer Crystal Dynamics' experience with third-person action adventures (Soul Reaver and Whiplash, to name a mere two) is evident in every painstakingly well-animated jump and roll. You will want to plug in a control pad to get the best results, though.

Everything about this game pushes you towards the conclusion of Lara's ever-expanding quest. Each puzzle room has a little hint-movie that pans the camera around, showing off some of the room's points of interest (usually the path you'll need to follow to get out). Ropes, grappling hook attachment points and interactable objects get a shiny sheen to highlight them as possible solution options. Legend wants you to beat it - it wants you to restore Lara Croft to her position at the top of the tomb raiding heap.