THE
ANGEL OF DARKNESS ANNOUNCED
A new Lara Croft for
a new generation. Eidos Interactive and
Core Design announce the return of the
world's most famous video game character
in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of
Darkness. The game will be released on
PlayStation 2 and PC towards the end of
2002.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider:
The Angel of Darkness is classic Lara
as both hunter and hunted relying on her
ingenuity, athleticism and a new edge
that has arisen from her dark inner demons.
However, this time she faces more evolved
characters and situations, calling for
more involved decision-making. Lara now
has the ability to interact with characters
and the choice of which path to take.
Upgrading her trademark style and look
and dropping her into a bombshell scenario
calls for a new resourcefulness making
her a stronger and more complex heroine.
Adrian Smith, Operations
Director at Core Design says, "Our vision
is to take the player somewhere dark,
a place they might not necessarily wish
to go, but a place they will have to venture
if they are to bring Lara back. Lara will
have some tough moral choices to make.
It's no longer a clear-cut case of good
versus evil - this is a more complex tale,
which will ask more complex questions
of the player. It will be a new experience
for people who have played Tomb Raider
in the past."
The game employs a brand
new engine built from the ground up to
fully utilise the power of PlayStation
2 and the latest PC graphics cards. Lara
is now made up of over 5,000 polygons
as opposed to just 500 in previous Tomb
Raider games. She must traverse an intricately
detailed world, which takes her from the
back streets of Paris to the hellish depths
of Prague.
Lara has changed since
her experiences in Tomb Raider: The Last
Revelation. She has become darker, harder,
less tolerant and her tomb raiding days
are a distant memory. A desperate phone
call from her former mentor Von Croy leads
her to Paris. Von Croy has been asked
by a sinister client, Eckhardt, to track
down one of five 14th century artworks
- the Obscura Paintings. She arrives in
Paris to find a city in fear. Von Croy
has been the victim of a horrific murder
and framed for the crime, Lara has no
option but to go on the run.
During her exploits
Lara encounters a kindred spirit
in Kurtis Trent, a hardened adventurer
like herself, who is in pursuit
of Eckhardt. In her struggle to
unravel the trail left by Von Croy,
Lara becomes involved in underworld
deals, grotesque murders, the dark
side of an advanced form of alchemy
and a history of blood, betrayal
and vengeance spanning across hundreds
of years.
