Tomb Raider: background and context
TOMB RAIDER: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
First era: TOMB RAIDER: 1996 (Sega Saturn, PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER II: 1997 (PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER III: 1998 (PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION: 1999 (PC, PS1) 2000 (Mac, Dreamcast)
TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES: 2000 (Dreamcast, PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS: 2003 (PS2)
Second Era: TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND: 2006 (PS2, XBox, XBox 360, PC, PSP)
TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERSARY: 2007 (PC, PS2, PSP, Mac, Wii, XBox 360)
TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD: 2008 (PC, XBox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS)
Third Era: TOMB RAIDER: 2013 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
The Tomb Raider video games have together sold over 35 million units making it one of the best-selling video game series of all time.
The original game, titled Tomb Raider, made its début on the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC. Despite being released on the Saturn first alongside PC, it was one of the titles responsible for the PlayStation's success in the mid 1990s. The games present a world in 3D: a series of tombs, and other locations, through which the player must guide Lara. On the way, she must kill dangerous creatures or other humans, while collecting objects and solving puzzles to gain access to an ultimate prize, usually a powerful artefact.
Tomb Raider, an early example of the 3D genre, uses third-person shooter mechanics. The player's camera follows her, usually over her shoulder or from behind. Each game has introduced new weapons and moves; by the fourth game, Lara could back flip off ropes and turn around in mid-air to grab a ledge behind her. Tomb Raider: Legend introduced an electromagnetic grapple that Lara can attach to metal objects and can, amongst other things, be used to make rope swings and pull metal objects (and enemies) toward her. Standard moves in Lara's range of abilities include the somersault, a roll, climbing techniques, the ability to swim, a swan dive manoeuvre, and a handstand. In Tomb Raider III, a sprinting move was introduced that allowed Lara to quickly speed up while a bar in the lower corner of the screen drained her stamina.
The storyline is usually driven by the quest for a powerful artefact, with Lara in a race against a sinister shadow league who want to obtain the relic for their own purposes. These artefacts usually possess mystical powers and may be of supernatural, or even alien, origin. Often in the series, the antagonist uses the artefact or bits of it to create terrifying mystical monsters, creatures, and mutants which Lara must defeat throughout the journey.
The puzzles that the player encounters across each level vary: pulling specific combinations of levers, a course of timed jumps, avoiding a certain trap or collecting several keystones. Throughout each stage, one or more secrets may be located. Discovering these secrets is optional, and when the player has found one a tune plays. The locations of these secrets vary in difficulty to reach. The player is usually rewarded with extra items.
Development history
Preliminary work on Tomb Raider commenced in 1993, but it was not until November 1996 that the game actually saw the light of day as a retail product. The title was crafted by Core Design of Derby, England, who took 18 months to develop it.
The character of Lara went through several changes: in its earliest conception, Lara Croft was a male placeholder for an as yet undefined character, but as Core decided that puzzles and stealth should be more important to the game than action, they found that these requirements better suited a female character than a classic male action hero.
As such Lara was born under the name Laura Cruz. "Laura" was later dropped in favour of Lara, to appeal more to American audiences. At the same time, her backstory started to shape up and it was decided she should become more English, hence Cruz was changed to Croft to accommodate this. Personality-wise, Lara was a cold-blooded militaristic type in the early concepts. According to Toby Gard, the idea to make her a female Indiana Jones was not present from the beginning, but rather grew naturally out of the development process as the game took its final form.
The front of the Derby Studios building where Core Design worked on the game was later used as the front of Croft Manor.
Originally, the Tomb Raider games were developed by Core Design, and a game was released annually. However, the pressure grew so much on the team that they decided to kill Lara Croft off at the end of the fourth game. Still, a fifth game was released, which consisted of a series of flashbacks with Lara Croft's funeral serving as framing story for the various tales. The sixth instalment Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness revived the character and was to start a trilogy. The game infamously featured a darker more city-based setting and included stealth-elements and also introduced a new playable character for a short time in the game. The game was a failure, thus ending the Core Design era.
Crystal Dynamics, known for their work on the Legacy of Kain series, relaunched the series with Tomb Raider: Legend which brought the character back to its tomb raiding roots. It was the first time since the original Tomb Raider that Lara Croft's original creator, Toby Gard returned to work on a sequel. The game heavily expanded on Lara Croft's background, detailing on the loss of her mother in early childhood and how she followed her father's footsteps to find her (therefore beginning her archaeology career). Tomb Raider: Legend introduced an electromagnetic grapple that Lara can attach to metal objects and can, amongst other things, be used to make rope swings and pull metal objects (and enemies) toward her.
Following the success of Legend a remake of the original was produced and released almost a year later, called Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The game expanded on some of the plot lines, further setting up the follow-up Tomb Raider: Underworld, which was released in late 2008. Underworld featured the conclusion of the loose trilogy that forms Anniversary, Legend and Underworld.
On 5 March 2013, Square Enix released Tomb Raider, billed as a reboot of the franchise. In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. In contrast to the earlier games Croft is portrayed as vulnerable, acting out of necessity, desperation and sheer survival rather than for a greater cause or personal gain.
In August of the same year, Square Enix new Western CEO Phil Rogers announced that a sequel for unspecified next-generation consoles was well into production. The exact title is unknown and no more information has been released.
Reception
Upon its release in 1996, Tomb Raider was widely praised by gaming magazines for its revolutionary graphics, inventive gameplay, and involving storyline. The level of sophistication Tomb Raider reached by combining state-of-the-art graphics, an atmospheric soundtrack, and a cinematic approach to gameplay was at the time unprecedented. The resulting sales were consequential, topping the British charts a record three times, and contributing much to the success of the PlayStation. In the previous year, Eidos Interactive had recorded a nearly $2.6 million in pre-tax loss. The success of the game turned this loss into a $14.5 million profit in only a year.
The game's use of a hard edged, female heroine has been both hailed as revolutionary (breaking away from the male perspective of game playing) and derided as sexist for its stereotypical depiction of a woman designed to appeal to teenage boys. Nevertheless, Lara caused a sensation in the gaming world and catapulted her to cyber celebrity status. Aside from game appearances, Lara was featured on covers of magazines, in comic books and movies. The amount of media coverage Lara received at the time was previously unheard of, with many magazines even outside the video game industry printing articles on her. Several large corporations, such as Timberland, and Lucozade wanted to use her as their spokesperson. The image of Lara Croft was used by U2 in their PopMart Tour.
Find out more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4x16kyFF5k
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-tomb-raider/
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/03/01/ign-presents-the-history-of-tomb-raider
http://tombraiders.net/stella/timeline.html
First era: TOMB RAIDER: 1996 (Sega Saturn, PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER II: 1997 (PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER III: 1998 (PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION: 1999 (PC, PS1) 2000 (Mac, Dreamcast)
TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES: 2000 (Dreamcast, PC, PS1)
TOMB RAIDER: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS: 2003 (PS2)
Second Era: TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND: 2006 (PS2, XBox, XBox 360, PC, PSP)
TOMB RAIDER: ANNIVERSARY: 2007 (PC, PS2, PSP, Mac, Wii, XBox 360)
TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD: 2008 (PC, XBox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS)
Third Era: TOMB RAIDER: 2013 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
The Tomb Raider video games have together sold over 35 million units making it one of the best-selling video game series of all time.
The original game, titled Tomb Raider, made its début on the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC. Despite being released on the Saturn first alongside PC, it was one of the titles responsible for the PlayStation's success in the mid 1990s. The games present a world in 3D: a series of tombs, and other locations, through which the player must guide Lara. On the way, she must kill dangerous creatures or other humans, while collecting objects and solving puzzles to gain access to an ultimate prize, usually a powerful artefact.
Tomb Raider, an early example of the 3D genre, uses third-person shooter mechanics. The player's camera follows her, usually over her shoulder or from behind. Each game has introduced new weapons and moves; by the fourth game, Lara could back flip off ropes and turn around in mid-air to grab a ledge behind her. Tomb Raider: Legend introduced an electromagnetic grapple that Lara can attach to metal objects and can, amongst other things, be used to make rope swings and pull metal objects (and enemies) toward her. Standard moves in Lara's range of abilities include the somersault, a roll, climbing techniques, the ability to swim, a swan dive manoeuvre, and a handstand. In Tomb Raider III, a sprinting move was introduced that allowed Lara to quickly speed up while a bar in the lower corner of the screen drained her stamina.
The storyline is usually driven by the quest for a powerful artefact, with Lara in a race against a sinister shadow league who want to obtain the relic for their own purposes. These artefacts usually possess mystical powers and may be of supernatural, or even alien, origin. Often in the series, the antagonist uses the artefact or bits of it to create terrifying mystical monsters, creatures, and mutants which Lara must defeat throughout the journey.
The puzzles that the player encounters across each level vary: pulling specific combinations of levers, a course of timed jumps, avoiding a certain trap or collecting several keystones. Throughout each stage, one or more secrets may be located. Discovering these secrets is optional, and when the player has found one a tune plays. The locations of these secrets vary in difficulty to reach. The player is usually rewarded with extra items.
Development history
Preliminary work on Tomb Raider commenced in 1993, but it was not until November 1996 that the game actually saw the light of day as a retail product. The title was crafted by Core Design of Derby, England, who took 18 months to develop it.
The character of Lara went through several changes: in its earliest conception, Lara Croft was a male placeholder for an as yet undefined character, but as Core decided that puzzles and stealth should be more important to the game than action, they found that these requirements better suited a female character than a classic male action hero.
As such Lara was born under the name Laura Cruz. "Laura" was later dropped in favour of Lara, to appeal more to American audiences. At the same time, her backstory started to shape up and it was decided she should become more English, hence Cruz was changed to Croft to accommodate this. Personality-wise, Lara was a cold-blooded militaristic type in the early concepts. According to Toby Gard, the idea to make her a female Indiana Jones was not present from the beginning, but rather grew naturally out of the development process as the game took its final form.
The front of the Derby Studios building where Core Design worked on the game was later used as the front of Croft Manor.
Originally, the Tomb Raider games were developed by Core Design, and a game was released annually. However, the pressure grew so much on the team that they decided to kill Lara Croft off at the end of the fourth game. Still, a fifth game was released, which consisted of a series of flashbacks with Lara Croft's funeral serving as framing story for the various tales. The sixth instalment Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness revived the character and was to start a trilogy. The game infamously featured a darker more city-based setting and included stealth-elements and also introduced a new playable character for a short time in the game. The game was a failure, thus ending the Core Design era.
Crystal Dynamics, known for their work on the Legacy of Kain series, relaunched the series with Tomb Raider: Legend which brought the character back to its tomb raiding roots. It was the first time since the original Tomb Raider that Lara Croft's original creator, Toby Gard returned to work on a sequel. The game heavily expanded on Lara Croft's background, detailing on the loss of her mother in early childhood and how she followed her father's footsteps to find her (therefore beginning her archaeology career). Tomb Raider: Legend introduced an electromagnetic grapple that Lara can attach to metal objects and can, amongst other things, be used to make rope swings and pull metal objects (and enemies) toward her.
Following the success of Legend a remake of the original was produced and released almost a year later, called Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The game expanded on some of the plot lines, further setting up the follow-up Tomb Raider: Underworld, which was released in late 2008. Underworld featured the conclusion of the loose trilogy that forms Anniversary, Legend and Underworld.
On 5 March 2013, Square Enix released Tomb Raider, billed as a reboot of the franchise. In Tomb Raider, the player is confronted with a much younger Lara Croft who is shipwrecked and finds herself stranded on a mysterious island rife with danger, both natural and human. In contrast to the earlier games Croft is portrayed as vulnerable, acting out of necessity, desperation and sheer survival rather than for a greater cause or personal gain.
In August of the same year, Square Enix new Western CEO Phil Rogers announced that a sequel for unspecified next-generation consoles was well into production. The exact title is unknown and no more information has been released.
Reception
Upon its release in 1996, Tomb Raider was widely praised by gaming magazines for its revolutionary graphics, inventive gameplay, and involving storyline. The level of sophistication Tomb Raider reached by combining state-of-the-art graphics, an atmospheric soundtrack, and a cinematic approach to gameplay was at the time unprecedented. The resulting sales were consequential, topping the British charts a record three times, and contributing much to the success of the PlayStation. In the previous year, Eidos Interactive had recorded a nearly $2.6 million in pre-tax loss. The success of the game turned this loss into a $14.5 million profit in only a year.
The game's use of a hard edged, female heroine has been both hailed as revolutionary (breaking away from the male perspective of game playing) and derided as sexist for its stereotypical depiction of a woman designed to appeal to teenage boys. Nevertheless, Lara caused a sensation in the gaming world and catapulted her to cyber celebrity status. Aside from game appearances, Lara was featured on covers of magazines, in comic books and movies. The amount of media coverage Lara received at the time was previously unheard of, with many magazines even outside the video game industry printing articles on her. Several large corporations, such as Timberland, and Lucozade wanted to use her as their spokesperson. The image of Lara Croft was used by U2 in their PopMart Tour.
Find out more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4x16kyFF5k
http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/the-history-of-tomb-raider/
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/03/01/ign-presents-the-history-of-tomb-raider
http://tombraiders.net/stella/timeline.html