Tomb Raider

Lara Croft, star of the Tomb Raider video game series

Tomb Raider is a series of video games based around a fictional British adventurer named Lara Croft. First published in 1996 by Eidos, the game became a phenomenal world-wide hit and resulted in ten sequels, as well as a crossover into books, comics, two major motion pictures, and an entry in the Guiness Book of Records for most real-life stand-ins of a video game character [1].

The term tomb raider, although coined for the game, has since evolved into a mildy-derogatory title for a maverick archaeologist or as a term describing anyone who breaks into tombs or cemeteries for the primary purpose of looting and/or vandalism.

History

Tomb Raider first began as a series of drawings and an idea by Toby Gard, a video game designer for Core Design, a small studio created in 1988 in Derby, England. By 1989, the company had created and sold their first game, Rick Dangerous, a side-scrolling adventure in which the title character goes after hidden artifacts. But the game was meant primarily for computers (the PC and Amiga), and a new game console was making its first appearence in stores: the Sony Playstation. A meeting convened by company founder Jeremy Heath-Smith began with what Core Design could do to take advantage of the Playstation's features and graphics. "Toby stood up and said I've got this idea about doing a game based on pyramids", Heath-Smith recalled. "I've always wanted to do a game based around pyramids to. For some reason I really fancied this idea about pyramids with a Pharaoh, and having to go tunnel under the pyramids. It was just as silly as that. It didn't have characters, it was more just conceptually let's do a game based on pyramids". [2]

Tomb Raider went to the layouts in 1993. Side-scrolling was not considered; they wanted a 3-D perspective. They considered, then tossed out, the first-person shooter concept that was a part of Doom and Wolfenstein 3-D. This meant a "third-person" perspective, allowing the player to see and interact with the character in a 3-D environment. The project would not be with some hurdles. "Although Jeremy liked the idea, there were no programmers that would touch it," Gard said. "They all thought it was too difficult because at the time no one had done anything like it. Nobody in the company had done anything 3D. The whole idea was just terrifying to programmers"[3].

The designers called for a game with elements of puzzle-solving and exploration, fitting in with the "pyramid concept" - naturally, the lead character would be an archaeologist. They also wanted plenty of action and an epic storyline to tie everything together. And the lead character was changed to a woman, after the first initial drafts bore too much of a resemblence to Paramount's "Indiana Jones". At first rejecting "muscle women" and militants with a blond, "Nazi" look, Gard settled upon a tough South American with a long braid he initially named "Laura Cruz". Hitting resistance from Eidos, Core Design's parent company, Gard went with their request that the character be British, and soon, "Lara Croft" - with the riches and pedigree of an English lordship - was created[4]. The addition of in-game cinematics tied to the storyline was another first, and in November 1996 Tomb Raider was released, becoming a number 1 hit within hours and staying in that position for months [5].

Games

Tomb Raider

Released in 1996, Tomb Raider opened with Lara Croft receiving an offer from Jacqueline Natla, head of Natla Industries, about searching a Peruvian tomb for an artifact known as the Scion. While in the act of recovering it, she not only discovers that it's in three pieces in different parts of the globe, but realizes that Natla and her henchmen will stop at nothing to get it, and with it re-create Atlantis.

Subtitled The Scion of Atlantis, the game was soon followed by a gold edition that contained a pair of sequels: "Unfinished Business", where Lara returns to Atlantis to stop alien invaders; and "Shadow of the Cat", in which she has to return to Egypt to retrieve a statue in the city of Khamoon.

The Dagger of Xian

Marco Bartoli is the megalomaniac leader of Fiamma Nera, and Lara discovers in Venice that among the objects he desires is the Dagger of Xian, rumored to be hidden within the Great Wall of China, and rumored as well to give its bearer the power of a dragon.

The Adventures of Lara Croft

While in India searching for the Infada Stone, Lara learns through meeting Dr. Willard that it's one of four artifacts that were crafted from an ancient meteorite (Element 115, The Ora Dagger and The Eye of Isis are the others), and Willard needs them all to do research concerning evolution. Lara discovers in her quest, especially at Area 51, that these experiments may have disasterous consequences, which only highten when Willard steals what she has.

The Last Revelation

The fourth entry in the series takes place in Egypt with Lara opening the tomb of Seth and taking a valuable ankh from the sarcaphogus. Discovering too late that she released Seth himself - an evil god in the Egyptian pantheon - she learns from a friend that the only way to make it right is to return to the tomb with the recovered armor of Horus and reseal it before an apocolypse takes place. Unfortunately, her former archaeological mentor, Werner Von Croy, stands in the way, and he wants the power of Seth for himself.

The Last Revelation also shocked fans with its cliff-hanger ending, leaving them wondering for at least a year whether or not Lara Croft died inside the Great Pyramid.

Chronicles

Chronicles is actually four separate stories, involving an artifact in Rome; one that must be recovered via a Soviet submarine; the story of a search when she was a teen; and an artifact placed within a well-protected highrise. Connecting the four is a story involving those that knew her best, remembering her from Croft Manor (assuming she had died).

Chronicles was not well-received by gamers, due to bugs within the game itself, as well as the ending in the previous game left unresolved. The PC version of the game had a level editor, allowing fans to create their own environments and situations, many of which are available for download.

Angel of Darkness

Lara is alive, and somehow made her way back into Paris; almost immediately she is suspected in the murder of Von Croy, as well as several other grisly murders. The only one with the answers is a mysterious man known as the Alchemist, a man who is desperate to possess five paintings from the 14th century, and part of an alliance shrouded in mystery.

Although the graphics were heavily-improved, Angel of Darkness suffered from bugs as well a poor game play; the control of the character on screen was radically changed and difficult. This, as well as poor sales, led Eidos to end its contract with Core Design.