X05: Lara Steps Closer to Original Vision

A new developer and a new console could mean the best Tomb Raider game in years. Cough.

Things haven't been good for Lara Croft of late. Her latest movie wasn't the success the marquee suggested it could have been and the less said about her recent games the better. But Ms. Croft has since been passed over to new handlers, and they were showing her off for the world to see at Microsoft's X05 conference in Holland this week.

A good deal of the hoped-for return to form is the return of Lara's prodigal creator Toby Gard, who is joining the developers at Crystal Dynamics to make Tomb Raider: Legends put the series on the right path again.

Not surprisingly, that path is lined with high technology. Tomb Raider Legends is very much the next evolutionary step for the series, with bumped graphics and increased realism thanks to better physics simulations.

Crystal Dynamics says the game will feature "organic environment and physics-based puzzles", but whether that simply means the same old box-puzzles just with more realistic friction modelling remains to be seen.

Still, Gard is convinced that the jump to next-gen will allow him and his team to realize the game that's been in his head all this time:

"My original vision for Lara can nearly be realized with the muscle of the Xbox 360. The stunning graphics and scope of how Lara can move and interact with her surroundings will be astounding."

You'll be able to see for yourself next spring if that's rhetoric or a signal that Lara is truly back. The game is coming for Xbox 360 and a host of current-gen consoles.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games