Tomb Raider: Legend Unveiled

[Guest Blade]

Today, the public got the first official information about Tomb Raider: Legend. Since the game has the ignominious distinction of following Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, one of the most poorly reviewed games in the series, Eidos began with a lengthy introduction about the new "brand direction" Legend will take.

According to a statement by Eidos, its new developer, internal studio Crystal Dynamics, "embarked on their own quest to rediscover Lara Croft." During its "soul-searching mission," the development team apparently replayed and re-read every review of every previous Tomb Raider game. The team also "listened to lots of passionate pleas and opinions from gamers" while conducting extensive focus testing. They also hired Toby Gard, one of the creators of the original Tomb Raider at Core Design, to "oversee" the project (albeit at a late date).

"In setting the stage for the Tomb Raider franchise moving forward, we took ourselves back to Lara’s origins, asked ourselves the hard questions and challenged ourselves to think differently," said Eidos brand marketing VP Chip Blundell. "Who is Lara Croft? What makes her tick? How is she relevant today? Only by answering these questions could we ensure that gamers get the experience they deserve with the character they love."

After assuring readers that the mistakes of Angel of Darkness would not be repeated, Eidos went on to describe Tomb Raider: Legend--in the broadest terms possible. Besides saying it "reinvigorates the fundamental explore-and-solve adventure experience" that originally made the franchise popular, the statement said nothing about Legend's gameplay or story.

Instead, Eidos focused on the newly redesigned Lara Croft. After describing how she will sport "intricately animated expressions, moves and abilities," the company said the new Lara's "look and movements [will] be an inherent extension of her skills, motivation and personality."

However, knowing that a picture is worth a thousand words, Eidos also release the first character model of the new Lara Croft (pictured). Looking more athletic and less buxom than previous incarnations--and nothing like Angelina Jolie, who played her in the Tomb Raider films--the new Lara also sported a redder shade of hair. Eidos comments that "Lara’s character model features natural structure, realistic textures, [and] detailed facial features" seemed pretty close to the mark. That said, a still picture could not confirm she has the "reactive eyes and fluid motion" the publisher promised.

Lara's arsenal of modern equipment was also on display in the picture. She retains the signature boots, shorts, tank top, and dual pistols, but sports a more detailed belt and backpack, which featured two types of grenades. Also on her belt is a pair of binoculars and a white cylindrical object, which must be either the magnetic grappling device, personal lighting device, or part of the communications equipment Eidos said she will use in the game.

Besides dishing on Lara Croft and the thought process behind the game's development, Eidos also revealed that Tomb Raider: Legend will be released for the current-generation Xbox. Previous references to the game had said it would be released for the PlayStation 2 and PC as well as the PSP and next-generation Xbox. Strangely, the latter two formats were not mentioned anywhere in the statement.

Source: Gamespot

[FunkAsPuck]

I think the Tomb Raider series can be considered dead in terms of appeal, but I think that a good game can turn that all around.

I think the main problem with the Tomb Raider games was that they barely improved in each new title. There are flaws even in the first game that are still in the Angel Of Darkness.

I know people criticise developers like Yukes for not adding a lot in every new version of Smackdown, but what Core did was taking the piss i.e. Not actually fixing any of the flaws whatsoever or adding anything remotely interesting.

Maybe Crystal Dynamics can turn that around.

[ROC]

Considering how well Crystal Dynamics has done with recent titles, including the surprisingly good Project Snowblind, they have a good chance of resurrecting the Croft franchise. Hopefully, they can only go up from the reaction and quality of Angel of Darkness.

[FLiam]

I stopped caring for Tomb Raider games when the 3rd one came out. That was too many in my opinion. They got all the same and boring after that.

If this doesn't have something to appeal more it will flop.

[zero]

IGN had a great article a few months back about saving the franchise and hopefully they took a look at that. If they did, we might actually see a good game in the series for the first time in... well, ever.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I owned Tomb Raider 2 & 3 and completed both.

In my opinion those two games in the series were fantastic.

Very quiet, lonely and creepy.

The opera house level in one of them (2?) and the underwater tanker level with the sharks and creaking hull were full of atmosphere and gameplay was simple to get to grips with but tricky to perfect - as games should be.

Her house with training area, maze etc were great fun to practice in and the final level in one of them where the criminals invaded the house was a great idea.

The vehicles were also good with the speedboat, canoe, quad bike etc all actually useable to decent effect.

I think Tomb Raider as a series suffered when the creators seemed to think that they just has to increase the size of Lara's bazongas and "sex her up" a bit to make more sales.

Also Tomb Raider doesn't port quite so well to next gen consoles because of the rather simplistic point to the game which I think is what made the early games better.

By trying to make her like some kind of female Solid Snake it all went wrong.

If they head back to their roots there's still hope but I've got a feeling Lara belongs in the 90s.

[britneyspearsisgod]

She still looks like a freak. Damnit, they need to model Angelina Jolie!

IThe opera house level in one of them (2?) and the underwater tanker level with the sharks and creaking hull were full of atmosphere and gameplay was simple to get to grips with but tricky to perfect - as games should be.

Her house with training area, maze etc were great fun to practice in and the final level in one of them where the criminals invaded the house was a great idea.

The vehicles were also good with the speedboat, canoe, quad bike etc all actually useable to decent effect.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Those graphics look pretty good...Though her knees are a bit freakily narrow

[britneyspearsisgod]

Her butt sags down one way as well...

She must have back problems.

[AJ]

I never really played the first lot of Tomb Raider games but I bought and enjoyed Angel of Darkness. Could someone tell me what's so bad about it?

[Stevie B]

Ugh i hate the Tomb Raider series. I always found movement sluggish and poor camera angles. I used to find the little wolves annoying and hard to kill since you had to whip your gun out, then use a porr aimer to try and kill them, but the time all that happend i was dead.

I liked Tomb Raider 3 for the assault course in Lara's back yard.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Could someone tell me what's so bad about it?

[AJ]

Ah well that figures. Since I was never really into the Tombraider games up until AoD.

[apsham]

Locking the butler in the freezer > you.

[britneyspearsisgod]

Ahhh... locking the butler in the freezer. Those were good times.

[Cactus Drags]

What was so different about AoD?

[zero]

What was so different about AoD?

←

I think the problem is absolutely nothing was different about it. They had promised a complete revolution of a stale franchise and it turned out to be the same shitty controls and uninspired missions.