Tomb Raider

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

Video games

The first game was initially released for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and PC. It was one of the titles responsible for the market dominance by the PlayStation during this period.

Related Topics:
PlayStation - Sega Saturn - PC

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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.

Related Topics:
3D - Tomb

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This is an earlier example of the 3D genre. 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 is characterized by the cubic nature of the world in which Lara inhabits.

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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. A reason for this orthogonality can be explained by the fact the creators took the 2D platform game genre and extended to a 3D world. This is shown through Tomb Raiders game play, which is very reminiscent of older platform games like Prince of Persia, Out of this World, and Flashback that had a heavy focus on timed jumping with interspersed combat with enemies.

Related Topics:
2D - Platform game genre - Prince of Persia - Out of this World - Flashback

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Each game has introduced new weapons and moves; by the fourth game, Lara could backflip off ropes then turn around in mid-air and grab onto a ledge behind her.

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Included with the PC and Mac release of Tomb Raider Chronicles was a level editor which allowed players to create their own levels for use with the previous Tomb Raider game engine, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. Fan-built levels are distributed via Tomb Raider fan sites and forums.

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

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• Tomb Raider (1996) - PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, N-Gage
• Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword
• Tomb Raider II (1997) - PlayStation, PC
• Tomb Raider: The Dagger of Xian (4 quests story)
• Tomb Raider: The Golden Mask (1 quest story)
• Tomb Raider III (1998) - PlayStation, PC
• Tomb Raider: Adventures of Lara Croft (4 quests story)
• Tomb Raider: The Lost Artifact (1 quest story)
• Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1 day Egypt story) (1999) - PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, PC
• Tomb Raider Chronicles (4 quests story) (2000) - PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, PC
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2 days Paris & Praga story) (2003) - PlayStation 2, PC
• Tomb Raider: Legend (scheduled March 2006) - PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC (possibly PSP and Xbox 360)

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

Related Topics:
2D - Game Boy Color - Handheld console

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

and one for the Game Boy Advance:

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• Tomb Raider: Prophecy (2002)

In 1998, Tomb Raider won the Origins Award for Best Action Computer Game of 1997.

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