E3 06: Tomb Raider: Legend Preshow Report

Released just a short few weeks ago on the Xbox 360, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and the PC, developer Crystal Dynamics' first go at the Tomb Raider franchise, Tomb Raider: Legend, is being heralded by many fans as the first truly enjoyable Tomb Raider game in years. Later this year, just about every other current platform known to man will also get a healthy dose of Lara Croft. Later this month, Legend will make its debut on the PlayStation Portable, and in the fourth quarter of the year, the game will make its way to all of Nintendo's current platforms, namely the GameCube, DS, and the Game Boy Advance. All four versions of the game will be shown at E3 2006 as a part of Eidos' showing.

We had a chance to take a look at the PSP version of Legend a couple of months back, and though we didn't get hands-on time with it, we were able to get a sense of what exclusive features it would include. The PSP version will include three exclusive modes, two of which have been announced. The master circuit mode puts you into a randomly generated obstacle course, either against the clock or against a second player via the Wi-Fi functionality. The other mode, titled raid and seek, is basically competitive hide and seek, where you and a friend compete against one another to hide objects in an environment, and then see who can find the opposing player's objects first. We'll bring you more on the status of the game's visuals and controls from the E3 2006 show floor.

The Nintendo handheld games are not simple ports of the console games, though both will use renditions of the unique environmental designs from the console games, and translate them down. Not a ton has been announced so far on either the DS or GBA games, but we do know that both take on a side-scrolling nature with platforming-heavy gameplay, and both games are set to be around eight hours long. The DS version will use a hybrid of 2D and 3D graphics, whereas the GBA version will stick to 2D side-scrolling and top-down visuals. The DS version will tell the story with rendered movies, and the GBA version will use a slide show. Eidos has said that the DS version will make use of the touch screen, as well as the DS microphone, but it has not yet been announched as to what that functionality will be.

Very little has been said about the GameCube version of the game to date, beyond the fact that it will be a straight port of the version found previously on consoles. We'll be sure to check on things like GameCube-specific functionality when we see it, and the other versions of the game on the E3 2006 show floor. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more.