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Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is a 1996 computer game originally published by Eidos Interactive and developed by Core Design . The game features the fictional character Lara Croft, a buxom female archaeologist in search of ancient treasures, à la Indiana Jones. There have been several sequels.

Contents

Video game

The first game was initially released for the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn and for PC, and was responsible for much of the market dominance by the Sony console during this period.

The game presents a world in 3D, a series of tombs, and other locations, through which the player must guide Lara, killing dangerous animals and other creatures, while collecting objects and solving puzzles along the way. In later games, Lara's targets become predominantly human, which sparked some criticism from gamers who felt the games were becoming too violent.

The game is a third-person shooter, since Lara is always visible. The player's "camera" follows her, usually over her shoulder or from behind. The game play, however, is very reminiscent of older platform games.

Each version of the game has introduced new weapons and moves; by the fourth version Lara can backflip whilst sliding down a rope, turn around in mid-air and grab onto a ledge behind her. All this while shooting her pistols!

This is an earlier example of the 3D genre, characterised by the cubic nature of the world in which Lara inhabits. Every ledge, wall and ceiling sit at 90 degrees to each other, although the game designers used some clever tricks to make this less obvious.


The following versions have been released so far, they are listed in chronological order:

  • Tomb Raider (1996) - PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, N-Gage
  • Tomb Raider 2 (1997) - PlayStation, PC
  • Tomb Raider 3 (1998) - PlayStation, PC
  • Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) - PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, PC
  • Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000) - PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, PC
  • Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness (2003)- PlayStation 2, PC

In addition to these Tomb Raider games, their are 2D versions on the Game Boy Color handheld console:

  • Tomb Raider: The Nightmare Stone (2000)
  • Tomb Raider: Curse Of The Sword (2001)

and one for the Game Boy Advance:

  • Tomb Raider: Prophecy (2002)


"Nude Raider"

A rather unsavoury development in Lara Croft's history is the so-called "Nude Raider" patch. It is alledged that someone within Eidos Interactive created the patch then released it on the Eidos Interactive website back in 1996, where it remained for a few hours until Eidos discovered it and removed the patch. However, many people downloaded the patch and uploaded it to different websites. This program, when added to an existing Tomb Raider game, causes Lara to appear naked, which is unsurprisingly popular among a certain proportion of gamers. In April 2004, an insider from Eidos Interactive reported to a Tomb Raider electronic mailing list that Eidos Interactive had begun suing gamers using the "Nude Raider" patches and sent cease and desist letters to servers hosting the "Nude Raider" patch, enforcing their intellectual property of Tomb Raider. It is also reported that Eidos intend to pursue action against unauthorized "home-made" patches for the game, and indeed any other games that the publisher has ownership rights to. However, the complete accuracy of such reports may be called into question, as it is likely that the rumours are exaggerated to an extent.

Film

Most recently, the idea of Tomb Raider has been extended beyond being just a video game, including the 2001 Tomb Raider and 2003 Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life movies, both starring Angelina Jolie.

A fair percentage of fans of the game argue that the film adaptations are a poor tribute to their video game heritage, though Jolie, after some initial published criticism mostly centered around her being an American playing a British character, was considered an ideal choice for the role of Lara Croft. Plans for a third film were revealed in early 2004, but according to CNN they were cancelled due to the box office failure of Cradle of Life.

Comic book

Tomb Raider has been licensed to Top Cow Productions, which published Tomb Raider stories in comic book form.

Original novels

Ballantine Books, in conjunction with Eidos, began publishing a series of original novels based upon the video game in the spring of 2004, beginning with The Amulet of Power by Mike Resnick, which was followed by The Lost Cult by E. E. Knight in August 2004. These books generally follow the continuity of the video games (particularly Angel of Darkness) rather than the movies, although Lost Cult does contain a couple of oblique references to Cradle of Life.

External links

  • Tomb Raider http://www.tombraider.com/ - Official site.
  • TRComm.Net http://www.trcomm.net/ - Tomb Raider Community - The Raiders' Portal
  • Tomb Raider http://www.tombraider4u.com/ - Unofficial fan site.
  • TRSearch http://www.trsearch.org/ - Unofficial site about level editor
  • tombraidergirl.com http://www.tombraidergirl.com/ - Unofficial site.






Last updated: 02-07-2005 06:32:59
Last updated: 05-02-2005 11:57:57