ver the past few years, Lara Croft went from the gaming equivalent of the girl that every guy wanted to date to the one that people avoided because of her bad reputation. Fortunately, Tomb Raider: Legend was a return to form, as the console game focused on what people originally loved about the series. Sticking as closely as possible to the console template, the PSP version of Legend is nearly as successful, with only a few expected concessions to make it function on the handheld.

By now, everyone who owns the system knows that the major differences between a console game and its PSP port are the loading, camera, and graphics. Legend tackles all three of these areas head on. The notorious PSP load times are handled especially well, with no loading in-game. When you die, it takes about 30 seconds to boot up your last checkpoint, which is the longest the game ever keeps you waiting.

The camera system works almost as smoothly, which does a great job of staying behind you in most situations, and can be rotated freely by holding the square button and using the analog stick. However, sometimes it is difficult to line up a proper camera angle, resulting in botched jumps. While not perfect, it usually works fine, and remains one of the best cameras I’ve yet encountered on the PSP.

As for the graphics, they’re remarkably similar to the PS2, though a bit less detailed. You’d be hard-pressed to point out any huge disparities. In fact, this brings up an important question: Since the PSP version is so similar overall to the console game, do you really need to play both? Not really. But if you like to game on the go, Tomb Raider Legend is a solid little addition to the PSP library, and an adventure that is worth experiencing on any console.