New Look Lara Headed to PC and Consoles

Tomb Raider is back thanks to a new development team focused on getting inside Lara's pants head.

There was a time in the late '90s when it was hard to avoid seeing Tomb Raider's Lara Croft. The impossibly bosomed brunette was the poster girl for a new era of videogames and, for a while she became bigger than games themselves. A string of poor sequels later, though, and the Tomb Raider franchise isn't as healthy as it should be, which is why publisher Eidos - itself not in the best of health - is taking Lara back to her roots for her next outing - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend for PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2.

Check out those...eyes

After the maligned Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Eidos handed over development duties to Crystal Dynamics. The company also brought in original Tomb Raider character designer Toby Gard to give Lara a new look that better suited the game's more grounded approach.

The reason for Lara's downfall was that the developers at Core lost sight of what the character was all about. So for this game the new team of creators has taken a trip into Lara's past, playing through the earlier games and reading reviews and consumer reports to rediscover who Lara is, what makes her tick and what people like about her.

Gameplay in Tomb Raider: Legend looks to be heavy on the exploration and puzzle elements found in the first game, but Lara will also be kitted out with all manner of gadgets, adding some James Bond to the Indiana Jones.

The big question is whether anyone cares anymore. A lot of damage has been done to the Tomb Raider franchise, but Eidos and Crystal Dynamics seem driven to dredge the series back up from mediocrity.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games