Tomb Raider: Legend 3D (N95 Edition)

Class struggles in Britain have always been a rich seam of inspiration for art and culture. It's inspired music (Billy Bragg and many others), film and TV (Boys From The Black Stuff – ask your folks) and theatre (the almost bipolar Blood Brothers).

So we wonder: in 20 years' time, will musicals, novels and movies be written about the divide in class of mobile phone gaming?

It's a question we ask quite seriously, because with super-power handsets like the Nokia N95 topping out with 3D PlayStation-esque gaming experiences while other, lesser handsets are stuck in the 2D realm, the gap is, if anything widening.

It's a point that's come up because of this game, Tomb Raider: Legend 3D. While it's not a new game (we reviewed the original back in January), this iteration of it is: it's a souped-up, buffed-and-polished remastered version that's been crafted with the sole intention of taking advantage of all that the N95 has to offer.

Ho-hum, you might be thinking? Well, stop. The N95 is one of the very, very few handsets to boast a dedicated 3D graphics processor, something it shares in common with the Sony PSP and Xbox 360, for example. Additionally, the high-resolution screen means that all this grunt is put to work providing visuals that, quite honestly, wouldn't be out of place on your living room telly.

In short, this version of Tomb Raider: Legend 3D matters because it's the first time that a game has been specifically written for the N95 (we don't count the System Rush Evolution demo because it's exactly that, a demo) and because the N95 is, to all extents and purposes, the future of the N-Gage platform.

And while Tomb Raider: Legend 3D isn't directly comparable to the titles we're hoping for when the next-generation N-Gage platform launches later this year (the game is a Symbian application and is only 3MB; the first-gen N-Gage games that shipped on memory cards typically ranged from 20 to 30MB in size), it gives us a good idea of how the N95 performs as a more hardcore gaming device than is usually the case with rather casual J2ME games.

But first, the game itself. Tomb Raider: Legend 3D still suffers from the flaws that afflicted the original version. The nine levels, while nicely paced (most weigh in at under ten minutes) are repetitive. Split into two varieties, platform and shooting, they could do with being mixed up. So instead of spending an entire level running, jumping and climbing up platforms, then an entire level running down corridors shooting the bad guys, it would be nice if you could combine the two.

Additionally, it's not as free-roaming as Tomb Raider fans would expect – you're channelled along a set path and you can't even turn around and head back from whence you came.

But otherwise it's a very enjoyable action/adventure romp involving your quest, playing as cultural icon Lara Croft, to retrieve the remnants of King Arthur's Excalibur which, it turns out, wasn't returned to the Lady of the Lake. As you travel through Tokyo, Ghana and Cornwall you unravel further elements of the mystery, and it's a more interesting tale than is usually encountered on mobile phone, with a particularly cool ending and final boss battle.

The cut-scenes in between and within the levels that drive the story forward in the Adventure mode (completed levels can be replayed individually) also serve to show off the tremendous visuals.

Firstly, they're detailed, very detailed. Lara herself is looking better than she has in ages and on the odd occasion where the camera zooms in for a close-up, you'll be amazed at the number of polygons that have gone into building her (if you're that way inclined) or at the fact that she's got a recognisable – and pretty – face.

This is, in large part, due to the N95's hardware and it, too, performs well. The landscapes through which you raid are fully 3D, and all trace of the pixelisation in the floors and walls of the original version is gone. In addition, there's enough furniture and décor in each of the levels to make them feel more genuine (don't trust the screenshots above – they're from the original, non-N95 version). There are columns, cupboards, sideboards and the like populating the corridors and rooms you come across, for example, making them feel lived in.

The controls are responsive, a key issue given the precision required when leaping across gaps or hanging off ledges, though our initial concerns with the N95 when we reviewed it, that it would be uncomfortable to hold during longer playing periods, have, to a certain degree, been proved correct.

We resorted to pressing '5' on the keypad to jump and fire rather than the OK button in the centre of the directional pad, something that was still uncomfortable due to fitting two hands around a small keypad. But we'll reserve our final judgement until proper next-gen N-Gage games arrive, because playing with the handset held in a landscape orientation (Tomb Raider: Legend 3D is portrait) may be better.

Overall, then, both the N95 and this special edition of Tomb Raider: Legend 3D are qualified successes. The game is entertaining and certainly worlds away from most mobile phone Java game fare (though inhabiting the same solar system as other polished Symbian titles) and the handset really does pack a punch that's significantly bigger than any other handset currently on the market. The fact that a Symbian game that's just (just!) 3MB in size can be this accomplished has only whetted our appetite for the next-gen N-Gage feast that's yet to come.

Tomb Raider: Legend 3D (N95 Edition)

Not a classic but an essential taster of things to come for N95 owners
Score