While reviews were generally positive for Tomb Raider III, the third chapter of the series marked the first downward trend in both sales and critical assessment. This time around, players found themselves navigating the globe in search of meteorite fragments with a host of new abilities at Lara Croft’s disposal, including a “monkey swing” and sprinting abilities. The game also matched the first installment’s critical achievement, earning positive reviews and ensuring that a third installment would follow.Īnd just as planned, Tomb Raider III arrived on shelves one year later with a new adventure for Lara Croft. These improvements to the original Tomb Raider appeared to pay off, as the sequel topped the impressive sales of its predecessor by moving more than 8 million units worldwide. The difficulty of the game was also tweaked, making the notoriously frustrating puzzles that plagued the original Tomb Raider a bit easier to navigate this time around. Tomb Raider II improved upon the formula that worked so well for the original, with Lara criss-crossing the globe in search of a magical dagger and enjoying a few new abilities (including a mid-air roll and expanding game-saving options), a visual makeover, and to go along with a noticeably improved 3D environment. The game was the product of a significantly larger development team and the decision to optimize the original Tomb Raider game engine instead of creating a new engine for the sequel. Sequel SurgeĪfter the success of Tomb Raider, Eidos pushed to have a new installment of the franchise on shelves every year, with Tomb Raider II arriving almost exactly one year after its predecessor. This prompted Gard to leave the company in 1997 and form his own video-game development company, though he was destined to cross paths with his most famous creation years later. The character’s newfound celebrity didn’t sit well with everyone, though – especially Gard, whose vision for the character cast her as a tough-as-nails, aristocratic heroine who would never agree to lend her image to energy drink advertisements or pose in a skimpy bikini. On top of all this, as a powerful female lead in games, Lara stands out.” “She represents adventure with the passion to explore and discover, the resourcefulness to solve puzzles, the agility to scale anything, and the courage and determination to fight to the end. “There is always some ‘X’ factor that can’t be quantified, but Lara is at the heart of Tomb Raider’s appeal”“There is always some ‘X’ factor that can’t be quantified, but Lara is at the heart of Tomb Raider’s appeal,” said Noah Hughes, Creative Director for Crystal Dynamics, developer of the new Tomb Raider game. Lara Croft’s image adorned the covers of TIME and Newsweek, and Eidos found itself saddled with the pressures of managing a highly sought-after promotional opportunity. Not only did Tomb Raider receive rave reviews from critics, but the game’s heroine – who broke the traditional, male-dominated hero mold in a big way – became an almost instant pop-culture icon. To say that Lara Croft’s arrival was a success for developer Core Design and publisher Eidos Interactive is only the tip of the iceberg. The first Tomb Raider went on to sell more than 7 million units worldwide, and served as both the herald and template for many of the 3D, third-person games that followed. Quick to see the series’ potential, Sony settled on an exclusivity deal for the game’s next two installments that many credit as one of the primary reasons the console was able to establish a foothold in the industry despite the recent debut of the Nintendo 64. While the Tomb Raider series was a mainstay of the Sony PlayStation in the ’90s, the first installment of the franchise debuted on the Sega Saturn in 1996. Looking to put some distance between his game environment and the world inhabited by that famous big-screen archeologist, Gard and the Core team eventually settled on braided, pistol-packing Laura Cruz as their game’s heroine - but only after she received a change in name to reflect the company’s British ownership and became Lara Croft. Former Core Design artist Toby Gard had initially conceived of an Indiana Jones clone for the protagonist of his groundbreaking, third-person adventure in a 3D world filled with puzzles, traps, and treasure. The hero of Tomb Raider wasn’t always the buxom brunette we’re familiar with now, and if any number of decisions had gone a different way during the early ’90s, we might be looking at a very different Lara Croft. Lara Croft may face villain played by Walton Goggins in 'Tomb Raider' reboot ‘Tomb Raider’ Barbie? Mattel’s famed doll gets makeover as adventurer Lara CroftĪlicia Vikander steps into Lara Croft’s boots in first official ‘Tomb Raider’ photos
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