TOMB RAIDER NEXT
GENERATION UPDATE
Copyright 2002 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ January 10th 2002 ]
Tomb
Raider Next Generation is, without doubt, this
year's most anticipated title, propelling Lara
Croft - the most successful video-game character
in the history of the industry - onto the Sony
Playstation II and PC platforms for what promises
to be a highly charged, action packed and digitally
re-rendered adventure penned for a five year incubation
period.
Rumours
surfacing this week add further credence to the
vaguely outlined plotline which, although shrouded
in mystery, has ricocheted around the video-game
circuit like Chinese whispers since Eidos Interactive
confirmed Lara Croft would return following her
involuntary incarceration in the Temple Of Horus
at the end of The Last Revelation.
Lara
Croft, framed for a murder she did not commit
and pursued by the authorities while escaping
from the evil conspirators who seek her doom -
vehemently led by the unscrupulous Eckhardt -
begins a three-part adventure in gay Paris, where
she will be forced to break into the famous Musée
du Louvre to action the theft of artwork to further
her adventures. The second and newly revealed
plotline - still unconfirmed at this time - sees
Lara Croft resurrecting her traditional Tomb Raider
skills as she embarks on an adventure deep within
the bowels of the catacombs rooted beneath the
city. Part three re-introduces the schematics
of high tech industry as Lara finds her adventures
mapped to a mental institution where the first
in a series of episodic adventures looks set to
conclude.
Core
Design have introduced additional playable characters
to the Tomb Raider broth including Kurtis Trent
- whose path will intertwine with Lara's as they
both advance their challenge for beneficial resolution.
Adventures involving the new AI character are
likely to spawn from Tomb Raider Next Generation
in the form of a spin-off video-game series; although
no official confirmation has been made.
Core
Design will expand the interactivity of Tomb Raider
Next Generation by offering downloadable components
such as character development and plot details
via the web, although the studio dispelled earlier
rumors about their internet update strategy by
stating that the games themselves will not be
made available online.
Tomb
Raider Next Generation will also sport more role
playing elements in the form of attribute development,
which awards more diligent players richer content
and improves Lara's skill and dexterity the more
she performs specific actions. Rather than allowing
players to tweak the game's characters to their
liking, certain actions - such as running and
sprinting - will automatically become more effective
the more a player performs them. This allows Core
to include areas in the game that are accessible
only by characters of a certain proficiency level.
The Lara
Croft model has undergone extensive digital surgery
and her current 500-polygon skeleton has been
shed for a 5,000 polygon external chassis, affording
an improved fluid appearance that will provide
gamers with a more organic and human feel. Environmental
architectures and game-play schematics have been
redesigned from the wire frame up with Core Design
gearing up to exploit the PS2's huge terrain-based
polygon capabilities to render more depth, texture
and response to its levels.
Tomb
Raider Next Generation - a working title - has
initially been slated for a November 2002 release,
although we suspect mandatory teasing will see
the game commercially available sometime in December.
During a visit to the Derbyshire-based studios
last year, we noted a Microsoft XBOX Developers
Console in Next Gen Mission Control, but to date
no official confirmation has been made as to whether
this platform will host Tomb Raider. Sony Playstation
II and PC platforms are the only confirmed consoles.
Expect
a Tomb Raider Next Generation media explosion
in the coming months, in the meantime, click HERE
for our Tomb Raider Next Generation media-packed
offering.
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