Gaming News - April 2005
San Francisco, CA (April 5, 2005) - Eidos today revealed the first
details, including title, in-game character model, and brand direction, of the
next adventure for Lara Croft.
From Eidos:
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend is grounded in Lara Croft’s tomb raiding roots
and built to challenge even the most accomplished serial adventurer.
“In setting the stage for the Tomb Raider franchise moving forward, we took
ourselves back to Lara’s origins, asked ourselves the hard questions and
challenged ourselves to think differently,” said Chip Blundell, vice president
of brand marketing, Eidos Inc. “Who is Lara Croft? What makes her tick? How is
she relevant today? Only by answering these questions could we ensure that
gamers get the experience they deserve with the character they love.”
Eighteen months ago, Tomb Raider team members at Crystal Dynamics embarked on
their own quest to rediscover Lara Croft. During their soul-searching mission,
they unearthed past consumer surveys, conducted new research, re-read every game
review, listened to lots of passionate pleas and opinions from gamers and
re-played through every Tomb Raider product. From this introspection and
open-minded search for a fresh perspective, Tomb Raider: Legend was born.
As a result, Eidos is evolving the brand while building on the original values
of compelling character and suspense-filled adventure gameplay. Crystal Dynamics
has brought together the biggest and most diverse development team in Tomb
Raider history and recruited Lara Croft’s original creator Toby Gard as the lead
character designer.
“Even before the first title launched, Lara Croft had to fight her way into the
Tomb Raider franchise, since at the time most game characters were muscle-bound
blokes,” said Gard. “The Lara Croft character is resilient and totally
unstoppable. In Tomb Raider: Legend, we explore these core personality traits
and reveal the Lara Croft gamers have been waiting to see.”
Tomb Raider: Legend revives the athletic, intelligent and entertaining
adventurer who won the hearts and minds of gamers worldwide. Lara comes alive
with intricately animated expressions, moves and abilities. An arsenal of modern
equipment, such as a magnetic grappling device, binoculars, frag grenades,
personal lighting device and communications equipment, allows gamers to
experience tomb raiding as never before.
Eidos and Crystal Dynamics shaped Lara’s look and movements to be an inherent
extension of her skills, motivation and personality. Lara’s character model
features natural structure, realistic textures, detailed facial features,
reactive eyes and fluid motion, all of which make her part of a living
environment.
New character animations and controls allow her to move through stunning
environments with grace and precision, while an understanding of the game’s
original appeal reinvigorates the fundamental explore-and-solve adventure
experience.
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