Difference between revisions of "Tomb Raider"

Tomb Raider was the first of the series, the seed of a legacy. It impressed players at the time, with it's 3D graphics, and new player interaction, as well as the third-person perspective that all the games have adopted. This game introduces us to the protagonist of Tomb Raider itself: Lara Croft. An expansion came out in 1998 with a seperate 4-level adventure attached. This expansion was known as Tomb Raider Unfinished Business. A PDA version was also released later on. It was released on Nokia N-Gage in 2003.

Synopsis

Adventurer Lara Croft has been hired to recover the pieces of an ancient artefact known as the Scion. With her fearless acrobatic style, she runs, jumps, swims and climbs her way toward the truth of its origins and powers - leaving only a trail of empty tombs and gun-cartridges in her wake.

Levels

City of Vilcabamba.

• 1 - Caves
• 2 - City of Vilcabamba
• 3 - Lost Valley
• 4 - Tomb of Qualopec

St.Francis' Folly.

• 5 - St. Francis' Folly
• 6 - Colosseum
• 7 - Palace Midas
• 8 - The Cistern
• 9 - Tomb of Tihocan

The Sphinx of Khamoon.

• 10 - City of Khamoon
• 11 - Obelisk of Khamoon
• 12 - Sanctuary of the Scion

A hatchery in Atlantis.

• 13 - Natla's Mines
• 14 - Atlantis
• 15 - The Great Pyramid

Release Dates in Detail

DOS

• 
  United States - 15th November 1996

• 
  United Kingdom - 22nd November 1996

PlayStation

• 
  United States - 15th November 1996

• 
  United Kingdom - 22nd November 1996

• 
  Germany - November 1996

• 
  Australia - 29th September 2000

• 
  Japan - 14th February 1997

Sega Saturn

• 
  United States - 18th November 1996

Nokia N-Gage

• 
  United Kingdom - 7th October 2003

Gameplay

Tomb Raider is third perspective with the camera following Lara. She can run, walk, vault, shimmy, jump, move blocks, swim, swan dive, roll, shoot and perform numerous acrobatic aerial manoeuvres. She automatically locks on to enemies and can run and jump while locked on, giving her the advantage to jump behind the enemy while shooting it in the back. The AI of enemies is mediocre. When confronted with a lion, the lion will run but stop to growl and then run again, and then stopping to growl and so forth. This can be seen as unrealistic, but the overall AI is okay.

When Lara is jumping to another platform, she must produce a well timed jump for longer distances, with simple stationary jumps for shorter distances. Some platforms may require Lara to produce a running jump which causes her to grab the edge of the platform, she must then vault up. To get to another platform, Lara must grab onto the edge of the platform she is standing on, and shimmy across a group of edges before she can vault up. If Lara drops down from a great height she will die. Some heights will only deal damage but not kill her, the damage depends on the altitude. She can also be killed by the actions of enemies and by numerous traps throughout the game.

There are some puzzles in the game but they are more practical than mathematical. For example, some doors may be timed and Lara must use a lever to open it then cross a series of obstacles, usually requiring timed jumps. Some puzzles require the finding of items and keys. The Palace Midas level requires the player to find a magical process in order to complete the level.

In the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Tomb Raider, saving the game is restricted to fixed save points within each level, marked by a floating blue crystal. When Lara touches one of these the option to save is made available. The scarcity of these points, however, means that if the player dies, large portions of each level must be replayed, much to the players' frustration. Following criticism on this system, Core implemented a save anywhere at anytime feature in Tomb Raider II, which, in turn, lead to complaints that the game was made too easy. A compromise was reached with Tomb Raider III under the form of "collectible save crystals." The PC and Mac versions of the game allow the player to save at any time.

Development

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 Europe, who took 18 months to develop it. The team consisted of six people, among them Toby Gard, who is credited with the invention of Lara Croft. The character went through several changes before Core settled on the version she became famous for. 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 favor 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 British, 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.

Lara's famous breast size was in actuality brought about by accident. Toby Gard was fudging around with the model when he accidentally blew up Lara's bosom to 150% of what he intended it to be. As he was resizing it back to normal, the other designers saw what he was working on and told him they loved it and that he should keep the double size.

Interestingly enough, it is Core's contention that the company was struggling somewhat with 32-bit development at that time. It is also rumoured that Tomb Raider's publishing company Eidos was near bankruptcy when Tomb Raider was created. The first glints of the game were seen on Sega Saturn development kits. However, ultimately, it would be the PlayStation rendition that would be known best.

Game Elements

Characters

Jacqueline Natla - The villain of the game. She hired Lara to find the Scion. Her intentions were evil and she only wanted to use the Scion for one purpose.....to finish what she had started thousands of years ago.

Larson - A dimwitted henchman of Natla. He originally made contact with Lara in Calcutta on behalf of Natla. In Peru, he tried to kill Lara but failed. He ultimately met his demise in Egypt. He uses a Revolver.

Pierre Du Pont - Another henchman of Natla. He was sent to find the second Scion piece in Rome before Lara. He usually would play cat and mouse throughout the Midas and Tihocan complex. He was killed by Lara. He uses Magnums.

Cowboy - One of Natla's goon trio. He steals Lara's magnums from her. He is killed in Natla's Mines and Lara reclaims her magnums.

Skater Boy - One of Natla's goon trio. He steals Lara's uzis from her. He is killed in Natla's Mines and Lara reclaims her uzis.

Bald Guy - One of Natla's goon trio. He steals Lara's shotgun from her. He is killed in Natla's Mines and Lara reclaims her shotgun.

The Bear is an enemy in Peru

• Pistols (with unlimited Ammunition)
• Magnums
• Shotgun
• Uzis

Enemies

• Atlantean Flying Mutant
  
• Atlantean Mutant
  
• Bear
• Bats
  
• Black Panther
  
  

  Lara fighting a Centaur
• Centaurs
  
• Crocodiles
  
• Gorillas
  
• Lions
  
• Khamoon Mummy
  
• Rats
  
• T-Rex
  
• Velociraptor
  
• Wolves
  

Walkthrough

For a detailed walkthrough click here