TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY
PREVIEW
Copyright 2007 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ February 21st 2007 ]
Brighton
awoke this morning with a steady yawn, smothered
by low-floating, ominous grey clouds and the imminent
threat of rain, a menace realised en route to
Wimbledon, London, home of Eidos
plc and newly acquired publisher of video-game
entertainment by one SCi Entertainment Plc, a
buoyant and motley crew helmed by Jane Cavanagh.
The order
of business was to demo Tomb
Raider Anniversary Edition, a special celebratory
video-game commemorating ten years of British
archaeologist Lara
Croft, from her inception as a genre establishing,
gun-totting heroine through her rise to fame and
arrival as a modern-day cyber-star of popular
culture.
Eidos
Interactive
Eidos
Interactive stands proud in Wimbledon, London,
and one is immediately reminded of the brands
that have helped the publisher achieve global
success in the video-game market. Hitman
and Lara Croft greet the visitor in reception,
and a collection of magazine covers celebrating
some of the best games Eidos has to offer can
be found proudly hanging in the corridors.
Keir
Edmonds is Eidos’ newest star; although we learn
he’s been with the publisher for almost seven
years. Previously Q&A on games like Championship
Manager and The
Angel of Darkness, Keir is now charged with
liaising with the online community on all future
Eidos plc titles. A personable fellow, Keir met
yours truly and we both embarked on a tour of
the facility before heading to Eidos’ mini-theatre
to demo Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition.
Emily
Britt is probably Eidos’ busiest employee. She
has the behemoth task of orchestrating Eidos’
European public relations in conjunction with
Gareth Ramsey, who – along with Chris Glover –
manages national PR. Emily is also a master of
linguistics, fluent in both Spanish and French,
the latter reducing newly acquired community liaison
manager Keir Edmonds to borderline-hysterics whenever
he hears her on the phone. Keir had a warm glow
and a twinkle in his eye while introductions were
being made. Bless.
Tomb
Raider Anniversary Edition is being produced by
Sarah Van Rompaey, whose booby-trapped desk sits
in an office on the second floor. Sarah is responsible
for the production of Tomb Raider Anniversary
Edition, aided by a solid crew of smiling faces
and cordial handshakes.
Like
all institutions, Eidos hides most of its talent
in the basement. An open plan, subterranean floor
surrenders a steely team of Q&A, divided into
brand teams. Tucked away in the far corner is
international web-cam duo Jason Walker, head of
mastering, and his partner in crime, Ray Mullen.
Both are charged with ensuring that master copies
of game code are produced and dispatched for mass
production. Members of Tomb
Raider Forums can be assured that Jason’s
online persona marries perfectly with his real
life one.
En route
to Eidos’ mini-theatre, we stopped off at Webmaster
HQ, helmed by German magi Olaf Siebert. Olaf is
a code-junkie, and one can clearly see the passion
he invests into his work as he showcased the brand
new Anniversary Edition web site. The web site
– to be officially unveiled soon – is dripping
with character and that stalwart favourite of
mine, polygons, and offers fans a comprehensive
look at both the forthcoming adventure and the
legacy series, reflecting on the winding path
Lara Croft has taken.
Tomb
Raider Anniversary Edition
Tomb
Raider Anniversary Edition is more than just a
trip down memory lane. It is a re-imagining on
a grand scale, sporting the same insatiable goodness
that captured fans the globe over almost ten years
ago, but with so much more to offer. The game
is looking as solid as ever, and with good reason.
The engine has matriculated from Soul Reaver:
Legacy Of Kain, through Tomb
Raider Legend and now Anniversary Edition,
and on the Playstation 2 is looking quite fabulous.
Toby
Gard is back, infusing his own ideals and vision
into a vehicle first realised in 1995 when a small
team at Core Design fashioned an Indiana Jones-style
adventure around a concept essentially conceived
by the slip of a mouse. Gard’s mark is present
once again.
Gareth
Ramsey – master of PR at Eidos plc – brokered
some musings while toiling Lara Croft through
The Lost Valley on an early build of Anniversary
Edition. As the Legend-style checkpoint system
chimed to indicate a save, special edition missives
sailed across the mini-theatre, essentially revealing
that Anniversary Edition is more than just a regular
re-working. Think DVD Special Edition, all those
intrinsic beauties that are arduously excavated
from the movie are now present in video-game form.
Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition is a regular Easter
Bunny.
As we
ventured forth into The Lost Valley, the raptors
– three or four making a brief appearance - took
their leave (some quite involuntarily as their
carcasses were tossed aside) and the Jurassic
T-Rex entered stage right.
Pause
This
reptile is just obscene, truly obscene, and you
have to lean back and just marvel as history unfolds
before your eyes, yet this time with the volume
of polygons you could have only wished for in
1996. The connection is now impermeable. The T-Rex
amalgamates past with present and die-hard fans
of Tomb Raider
- those old enough to remember the original -
will positively delight with glee as the foray
unfolds before them. The cinematic unveiling of
the T-Rex was a marvel to revel in.
Continue
Lara
Croft herself is looking fantastic. Her frame
is dressed in around 7,000 polygons, and this
time round she sports some new moves which will
aid her progress through her adventure. One of
those is a new balancing feature, which enables
Lara to hop from platform or post, land, and then
– with player interaction – find her centre of
balance before proceeding. The much-loved handstand
pull-up is still present, but the side-summersault
is absent this time round.
Anniversary
Edition appears to be anchored honestly to the
past, with a sense of isolation that is positively
omnipresent throughout the cavernous regions we
tramped through. The main protagonist is still
the ‘Rex’ and the inhospitable environments, but
this time on a truly monster scale. The game is
littered with secret areas found only by exploration,
and the maze of different routes Lara Croft can
choose to take makes it anything but linear.
Tomb
Raider Anniversary Edition on the Sony Playstation
2 has been fashioned using the same purge-redundancy
feature as Tomb Raider Legend on Xbox. Only the
immediate region is loaded into memory, which
means Crystal
Dynamics can maximise the polygon count to
positively dripping on a video-game platform gasping
its final breaths before making the long and arduous
trip to console heaven.
Crystal
Dynamics are beating the proverbial hell out of
the PS2 platform, and if Sony’s number 2 gave
up the ghost tomorrow, then it leaves our dearly
departed at the top of its game. I **** you not,
it looks that good. One can only imagine what
delight the Windows PC version holds in store.
Going
for a song
Troels
Folmann – without any shadow of a doubt – knows
how to play with his toys. The Tomb Raider score
is almost overwhelming at times, and ambient audio
fuses transparently into the cavernous environments
Lara Croft peruses as she tracks down the fabled
Scion. The sound effects, down to minute repercussions
through caves, the jingle of her equipment attached
to her belt, and the gentle breathing of the region
creates a locale dripping with inhospitable atmosphere.
Conclusion
Buoyed
by the success of Tomb Raider Legend, Lara Croft’s
rejuvenation marches on without any sign of previous
stagnations. Anniversary Edition, although anchored
to the past, brings with it freshness and potency
only realised on today’s modern video-game consoles.
There is no argument that Core Design left an
indelible mark on the video-games industry, but
Crystal Dynamics – upon receipt of the baton -
have so far met their challenge admirably and
infused new life into the Tomb Raider brand.
Lara
Croft is back, and by the looks of things, she’s
not going anywhere for a while yet.
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