Tomb Raider (1996 video game)

Tomb Raider is a 1996 action-adventure video game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive. First released on the Sega Saturn, it later released for MS-DOS and PlayStation. Later releases came for Mac OS (1999), Pocket PC (2002), N-Gage (2003), iOS (2013) and Android (2015). It is the debut entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game follows archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft, who is hired by businesswoman Jacqueline Natla to find an artefact called the Scion of Atlantis. Gameplay features Lara navigating linear levels, fighting enemies and solving puzzles to progress.

This article is about the 1996 video game. For the 2013 reboot, see Tomb Raider (2013 video game).

Tomb Raider
Developer(s)Core Design[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Eidos Interactive[lower-alpha 2]
Programmer(s)Paul Douglas
Artist(s)Toby Gard
Writer(s)Vicky Arnold
Composer(s)Nathan McCree
SeriesTomb Raider
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, MS-DOS, PlayStation, Mac OS, N-Gage, Pocket PC, iOS, Android
Release
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

The initial concept was created by Toby Gard, who is credited as Lara's creator and worked as lead artist on the project. Production took 18 months, with a budget of £440,000. The character of Lara was based on several influences, including Tank Girl and Indiana Jones. The 3D grid-based level design, innovative for its time, was inspired by the structure of Egyptian tombs. The music was composed by Nathan McCree, who took inspiration from English classical music. Originally announced in 1995, the title went on to receive extensive press attention and heavy promotion from Eidos Interactive.

Reception of the game was very positive, with praising going to its 3D graphics, controls, and gameplay. It went on to win several industry awards. Selling seven million units worldwide, Tomb Raider is one of the best-selling video games for the PlayStation, and remained one of the best-selling Tomb Raider titles until the release of the 2013 reboot. Lara Croft herself became a cultural icon, rising to prominence as one of gaming's most recognisable characters. A sequel, Tomb Raider II, was greenlit and released the following year. A remake set in a new continuity, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, was released in 2007 from new developer Crystal Dynamics.

Gameplay
Lara Croft retrieves the first piece of the Scion in the Tomb of Qualopec

Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game where players take on the role of archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft, who navigates through a series of ancient ruins and tombs in search of an ancient artefact.[7][8] The player controls the archaeologist Lara Croft in search of the three mysterious Scion artefacts across the world.[7] The game is split into four zones, Peru, Greece, Egypt and the lost continent of Atlantis. A training level set in Lara's home of Croft Manor can be accessed from the start menu.[9] The game is presented in third person perspective. Lara is always visible and the camera follows the action by focusing on Lara's shoulders by default, but the player can take manual control of the camera to get a better look at an area.[7] The game automatically switches to a different camera view at key points, either to give the player a wider look at a new area or to add a cinematic effect.[10] In the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions, players save their progress in a level using Save Crystals, while in the Windows versions the player can save at any point.[11] If Lara is killed, the player must restart from a previous save.[12]

The object of Tomb Raider is to guide Lara through a series of tombs and other locations in search of treasures and artefacts. On the way, she must kill dangerous animals and creatures, while collecting objects and solving puzzles.[7] The emphasis lies on exploring, solving puzzles, and navigating Lara's surroundings to complete each level.[10][13] Movement in the game is varied and allows for complex interactions with the environment. Besides walking, running, and jumping, Lara can perform side-steps, hang on ledges, roll over, dive, and swim through water.[12][11][14] Certain button combinations allow Lara to either perform a handstand from a hanging position, and swandive into water.[9]

In a free environment, Lara has two basic stances: one with weapons drawn and one with her hands-free. When her weapons are drawn, she automatically locks on to any nearby targets. Locking onto nearby targets prevents her from performing other actions which require her hands, such as grabbing onto ledges to prevent falling. By default, she carries two pistols with infinite ammo.[10] Additional weapons include the shotgun, dual magnums, and dual Uzis.[9] A general action button is used to perform a wide range of movements in Tomb Raider, such as picking up items, pulling switches, firing guns, pushing or pulling blocks, and grabbing onto ledges. Items to pick up include ammo, small and large medi-packs, keys and artefacts required to complete a stage. Any item that is collected is held onto in Lara's inventory until it is used.[12] Throughout each stage, one or more secrets may be located. Discovering these secrets is optional, and when the player has found one a tune plays. The locations of these secrets vary in difficulty to reach. The player is usually rewarded with extra items.[9]

Synopsis

Archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft is approached by Larson, who is working for businesswoman Jacqueline Natla. Natla hires Lara to acquire the Scion, a mysterious artefact buried in the tomb of Qualopec within the mountains of Peru. After recovering the Scion from Qualopec's tomb, Lara is confronted by Larson, who reveals that she is holding a piece of the artefact and Natla has sent rival treasure hunter Pierre Dupont to retrieve the other pieces. Breaking into Natla's offices to find out Pierre's whereabouts, Lara discovers a medieval monk's prayer book, revealing that the Scion was divided between the three rulers of Atlantis and the next piece is buried beneath an ancient monastery of St. Francis' Folly in Greece.

Navigating the monastery, Lara finds the tomb of Atlantean ruler Tihocan, where she kills Pierre and recovers the second piece of the Scion. From a mural, she learns that Tihocan unsuccessfully tried to resurrect Atlantis after a catastrophe struck the original land. After joining both pieces of the Scion, Lara sees a vision which reveals the third and final piece of the Scion was hidden in Egypt after the third Atlantean ruler, a traitor who used the artefact to create a breed of monsters, was captured by Tihocan and Qualopec. Making her way through Egypt to the lost city of Khamoon, Lara kills Larson and recovers the third Scion piece.

Emerging from the caves, Lara is ambushed by Natla and her three henchmen, who take the Scion. Lara escapes and stows away aboard Natla's yacht, which takes her to an island holding an Atlantean pyramid filled with monsters. After dispatching Natla's henchmen and making her way through the pyramid, Lara finds the Scion and sees the rest of the vision, revealing Natla to be the betrayer. Lara faces Natla, who reveals that she intends to use her army to push forward humanity's evolution, as she believes both Atlantis and current civilisation are too soft to withstand disaster. Lara decides to destroy the Scion, and Natla's attempt to stop her sends her into a crevasse. After fighting a large legless monster, Lara shoots the Scion, setting off a chain reaction that begins to destroy the pyramid. Lara kills a winged Natla and escapes the exploding island.

Development
Toby Gard at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo.

The initial concept for Tomb Raider was created by Toby Gard, who worked for Core Design, a game development studio based in Derby, England that had established itself developing titles for home computers and Sega consoles.[15][16][17] The initial team was Gard and Paul Douglas who worked on design and pre-production for six months, before the team expanded to six people including programmer Gavin Rummery and level designers/artists Neal Boyd and Heather Gibson.[15][18] The game concept was created before anything else, with the main hooks being its cinematic presentation and being a 3D character-driven experience.[18][19] The team wanted to mix the adventuring style of Ultima Underworld and the 3D characters shown off in Virtua Fighter.[19] The development budget for the game at the time was approximately £440,000.[20] The production atmosphere was fairly informal.[17] Development took only eighteen months,[16] The team endured excessive overtime and crunch during the last stages.[17] During production, Core Design was sold to CentreGold which in turn was purchased by Eidos Interactive in May 1996, who became publisher for the title.[17][20][21]

Speaking about his approach to the concept, Gard noted that he deliberately went against publisher trends when designing both the character and the gameplay.[22] Lara went through several changes before the developers settled on the final version.[23] According to different accounts, the lead protagonist was always intended as a woman;[20][22][24] while others sources cite either two different characters, a man and a woman, or that the original playable character was an Indiana Jones-style male lead.[25][26][27] After Eidos became the game's publisher, they unsuccessfully lobbied for a selectable male lead.[20] The inspirations for the character of Lara Croft included the character Tank Girl, the Indiana Jones series, and the John Woo movie Hard Boiled.[19] Lara's notably exaggerated physical proportions were a deliberate choice by Gard, as he wanted a caricatured personification of women who could be an action icon for the younger generation.[19][26][28] Lara's movements were hand-animated and coordinated rather than created using motion capture. The reason for this was that the team wanted uniformity in her movement, which was not possible with motion capture technology of the time.[24]

From the game's earliest stages, the team wanted the title to involve tombs and pyramids.[9] In the early story draft, Lara would be confronted by a rival group known under the name "Chaos Raiders". During the Greece levels, Lara and Pierre were to have been less hostile rivals, helping each other with puzzles in the first level. Larson evolved from an Afrikaans character called Lars Kruger, who shared a similar role in the original plot.[20] The script itself was written by Vicky Arnold, who joined in 1995 and would work on later Tomb Raider titles.[20][29] Gard and Douglas created the basic story draft alongside the initial game design, then Arnold turned it into a script after joining the project.[20] It was Arnold's job to write the dialogue, and create a cohesive narrative around the locations selected by the team members. While Lara's character design and Gard's initial concept was present, much of the additional detail was worked out by Arnold.[29]

The team kept the project deliberately simple and comparatively modest in scope.[28] The platforming design drew extensively from Prince of Persia, with the Doppelgänger enemy during the Atlantis section being a homage to the Shadow Prince from that series.[20] The high number of animal enemies was meant to ground players in the world before the more fantastical elements appeared, in addition to being easier to animate and program than human enemies. They were also uncomfortable with Lara killing that many humans.[28] The initial concept gave combat prominence, but as production began the focus shifted to platforming and puzzle solving.[20] The team consciously decided to set the story in real archaeological locations from different cultures. Boyd and Gibson immersed themselves in literature and history about each culture for the first three areas, respectively inspired by the Inca, Classical Greece and Ancient Egypt.[30] The Croft Manor training level was built by Gard over a weekend.[9]

Design and platforms

A third-person 3D action-adventure like Tomb Raider was unprecedented at the time, and the development team took many months to find a way to make Gard's vision for the game work on the hardware of the time, in particular getting the player character to interact with freeform environments. Tomb Raider used a custom-built game engine as did many games of the era. The engine was designed and built by Paul Douglas with assistance from programmer Gavin Rummery.[20][25] The title was developed for Sega Saturn, MS-DOS and PlayStation,[11] with all three versions in development simultaneously. Jason Gosling handled programming for the Saturn version.[20][25] Douglas described the game code for each title as identical, with an additional layer of specific coding to tailor the game for each platform.[20] According to Rummery, the decision to build the game levels on a grid was the key breakthrough in making the game possible.[31] It is Core Design's contention that, prior to the development of Tomb Raider, they were "struggling somewhat" with 32-bit development.[32]

The level editor program was designed so that developers could make rapid adjustments to specific areas with ease.[20][24] Another noted aspect was the multi-layered levels, as compared to equivalent 3D action-adventure games of the time which were mostly limited to a flat-floor system with little verticality.[24] The levels were first designed using a wire frame construction, with each area at this stage having only links to other areas of a level and walls. The team then added architecture and gameplay elements like traps and enemies, then implemented the different lighting values.[30] Due to time and technical limitations, planned outdoor areas had to be cut.[22]

The choice of a third-person perspective was influenced by the team's opinion that the game type was under-represented when compared to first-person shooters such as Doom. The 3rd person view meant multiple elements were difficult to implement, including the character and camera control.[24] The camera had four pre-set angles, which seamlessly switched depending on the character's position and the level progress. For standard navigation and combat, the camera was fixed on a particular point and oriented around Lara while focusing on that object.[30] Lara's twin pistol set-up was in place from the early prototypes.[29] The aiming system was designed so that each gun arm had an aiming axis, with a shared "sweetspot" where both guns fired at the same target. For underwater environments, the effects were created using gouraud shading to create real-time ripple and lighting effects.[30]

Sony America initially rejected the game's concept in contrast to Sony Europe who approved the game's concept very early in its development. In response the development team made several changes to the game design documentation and produced a version on Sony hardware which would lead to worldwide approval by Sony for publication on the PlayStation.[26][27] For the Saturn version, Sega negotiated a timed exclusivity deal in Europe, causing the Saturn version to release in that region ahead other versions.[20] Core Design and Sega made the deal during the last few months of development, so the team had to finish up the Saturn version six weeks earlier than they had planned on, forcing them to work even longer hours.[15]

Following the release of the Saturn version, a number of bugs were discovered that affected all versions of the game; because of the timed exclusivity, the development team fixed these bugs for the PlayStation and PC versions.[25] Two notable surviving bugs in all versions were the "corner bug", which allowed players to scale architecture by jumping repeatedly against a corner;[20] and a bug which caused the game to not recognise collection of a secret in the final level.[9] In 1997 Core Design opened negotiations with Nintendo to release a Nintendo 64 version of the game, and started work on the port in anticipation of the negotiations being successful.[33] The planning took place between 1996 and 1997, with Douglas wanting to redesign the game mechanics to incorporate the platform's analogue stick controls.[20] The team never received Nintendo 64 development kits,[20] and the port was scrapped when Sony finalised an exclusivity deal to keep subsequent Tomb Raider games exclusive to PlayStation until the year 2000.[11][20]

Audio
Nathan McCree (pictured 2014) acted as composer for Tomb Raider, creating its iconic four-note main theme.

The music for Tomb Raider was composed by Nathan McCree, who at the time was an in-house composer for Core Design.[34] The main inspiration behind the score for McCree was English Classical music.[35] This approach was directly influenced by his conversations with Gard about Lara's character. Based on this, he kept the main theme simple and melodic.[34] The main theme used a four-note motif, which continues to appear through the series.[34][36] The piece "Where The Depths Unfold", used when Lara is swimming underwater, was a choral work.[34][35] They did not have the space or budget for live music recording, which was challenging for McCree as he needed to create the whole thing using synthesisers. To make the choir sound realistic, he inserted recordings of himself breathing at the right points so it sounded like an actual choir.[34] For each track, McCree got a basic description of where the music would be used, then left to create it. Each tune was written once, as there was no time for rewriting.[35]

Unlike most other games of the time, there was not a musical track playing constantly throughout the game; instead, limited musical cues would play only during specially-selected moments to produce a dramatic effect.[37] For the majority of the game, the only audio heard is action-based effects, atmospheric sounds, and Lara's own grunts and sighs, all of which were enhanced because they did not have to compete with music. According to McCree, the game was scored this way because he was allotted very little time for the job, forcing him to quickly write pieces without any thought to where they would go in the game. When the soundtrack was finally applied, the developers found that the tunes worked best when applied to specific places.[31] The symphonic sounds were created using Roland Corporation's Orchestral Expansion board for their JV series keyboards.[38]

English voice actress Shelley Blond provided the voice of Lara. She was given the job after her agent called and had her record some audition lines onto tape. She felt under a lot of pressure at the time, as Core Design had spent three months searching for the right voice.[39] She recalled, "I was asked to perform her voice in a very plain non-emotive manner and in a 'female Bond' type of way. I would have added more inflection, tone and emotion to my voice but they wanted to keep it how they felt it should sound, which was quite right. My job was to bring their character to life."[25]

According to Blond, she spent four to five hours recording the voice for Lara including the grunts, cries and other effort and death sounds.[39]`A different account attributes these sounds to Gibson, Core Design's PR Manager Suzie Hamilton, and sound designer Martin Iveson whose voice pitch was made higher.[9] Blond would not return for any subsequent entries.[11] in a 2011 interview she stated that her departure was due to disagreeing with "some things" within Core Design and Eidos.[39] However, in 2016 she said that when Tomb Raider II was in development, she was asked to reprise her role but had to decline due to other commitments.[25] She gave permission for her effort voice work to be reused while the character's dialogue would be voiced by Judith Gibbins.[11][25]

Release and versions

Tomb Raider was first confirmed in 1995, although details were kept scarce by the developers.[21] There was little attention from press until a demo was run at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo, causing the press and public to pay more attention.[17] There was a huge amount of publicity, much of which did not involve the Core Design team at all, which prompted mixed feelings.[15][17] While the scale of the game's eventual popularity was not in the team's minds, its strong reception at gaming events hinted that it would be a success.[15] To help promote the game, Eidos hired models to portray Lara Croft at trade events. They first hired Natalie Cook, but apparently due to her unsuitability with Eidos's cross-media plans for the character, she was replaced with Rhona Mitra in 1997.[11][18] Mitra served as Lara's model until 1998.[11]

The game first released for Saturn on 25 October 1996.[40] In North America, the Saturn, PlayStation and Windows versions released simultaneously on 14 November.[41] In Europe, the PlayStation and Windows versions released on 22 November.[40][42] The original version was released for MS-DOS, with future patches allowing the game to work on Windows 95.[43] The PC version was released on Steam on 29 November 2012.[44] The PlayStation and Saturn versions were also published in Japan in 1997 by Victor Interactive Software under the name Tomb Raiders. The Saturn version released on 14 January, while the PlayStation version released on 14 February.[5] The PlayStation version was re-released for the PlayStation Network in North America in August 2009, and in Europe in August 2010.[45] An attempt was made by Realtech VR to remaster the first three Tomb Raider titles for Windows, but due to not having asked permission from then-franchise owner Square Enix first, the project was cancelled.[46]

In 1997, four new levels were released in an expansion pack for the Windows version, known under the title Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business. The expansion pack also came with promotional materials for the game's sequel Tomb Raider II.[47] In 1998, the levels were made available as downloadable content for the Windows release, and a budget version was released on 20 March 1998 containing both the original game and the additional levels under the title Tomb Raider Gold.[48][49] The two new areas were dubbed "Unfinished Business", set within the ruins of the Atlantean pyramid; and "Shadow of the Cat", which saw Lara exploring a temple in Egypt dedicated to the goddess Bastet.[49] "Unfinished Business" was intended as an alternate, more difficult finale to the game featuring more mutant enemies and a focus on complex platforming.[50] The concept for "Shadow of the Cat" was born from a cat statue used in the Khamoon level, with the levels being themed after a cat's nine lives.[51] Due to licensing issues, several later re-releases excluded the Gold content.[52]

The game was released for Mac OS on 16 March 1999. Ported to the platform by Aspyr, it was based on Tomb Raider Gold.[1] A port to the Pocket PC was published by Handango in July 2002.[2][6] It released on the N-Gage in October 2003.[53] Both ports were developed by Ideaworks3D.[2][3] Tomb Raider was ported to iOS devices, developed and published by Square Enix. The port was released on 17 December 2013, and includes the additional levels of the Gold release.[4] This version released on Android devices on 1 April 2015.[54]

Nude Raider

An infamous footnote in Lara's history is the so-called Nude Raider patch. This patch was created externally and was never housed on the Eidos or Core websites. The patch, when added to an existing Tomb Raider game (PC-based versions only), caused Lara to appear naked. Contrary to rumour, there is no nude code in any console version of the game. In 1999, Core Design considered taking legal action against websites, which hosted nude pictures of Lara Croft, stating that "we have a large number of young fans and we don't want them stumbling across the pictures when they do a general search for Tomb Raider".[55] In April 2004, it was falsely alleged that an insider from Eidos reported to a Tomb Raider electronic mailing list that Eidos had begun suing gamers using the Nude Raider patches. Eidos sent cease and desist letters to the owners of nuderaider.com who were hosting the Nude Raider patch, enforcing its copyright of Tomb Raider. Sites depicting nude images of Lara Croft have been sent cease and desist notices and shut down,[56] and Eidos Interactive was awarded the rights to the domain name nuderaider.com.[57]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
iOSPCPSSaturn
CVGN/AN/AN/A[58]
EdgeN/A9/10[59]9/10[59]N/A
EGMN/AN/A9.125/10[60]N/A
FamitsuN/AN/A24/40[61]31/40[62]
GameRevolutionN/AA[63]A[64]A-[64]
GamesMasterN/AN/AN/A95%[65]
GameSpotN/A8.5/10[66]8.5/10[67]7.9/10[68]
GameZoneN/A7/10[69]N/AN/A
IGNN/AN/A9.3/10[70]N/A
Next GenerationN/AN/AN/A[71]
TouchArcade[72]N/AN/AN/A
Sega Saturn MagazineN/AN/AN/A92%[73]
Aggregate scores
GameRankingsN/A92%[74]90%[75]87%[76]
Metacritic55/100[77]N/A91/100[78]N/A

Tomb Raider is the most critically acclaimed game in the Tomb Raider franchise.[79] Upon its release in 1996, the game was widely praised by video game magazines for its variety and depth of control,[67][68][71][73][80] revolutionary graphics,[60][67][71][80] intriguing environments,[60][67][71][73] and use of occasional combat to maintain an atmosphere of tension.[68][71][73][81] Ryan MacDonald of GameSpot summarised, "Take the puzzle solving of Resident Evil, the gory action of Loaded, and the 360-degree freedom most gamers only dream of, and you have Tomb Raider, the closest thing to a 'Super Mario 64 killer' to date."[68] The game tied with the Saturn version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 for Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Game of the Month", with their review team saying it "really stands out from the rest of the pack" and "is the best PlayStation game to date."[60] Next Generation called it "a thought-provoking, riveting action-adventure easily on par in intensity with any of Hollywood's finest efforts" and "a landmark title for this generation, and one that's sure to be imitated many times over."[71]

Some critics rated the PlayStation version better than the Saturn version. MacDonald said that its graphics were sharper,[68] and GamePro scored it a half point higher than the Saturn version in every category (control, sound, graphics, and FunFactor), remarking, "After a solid showing for the Saturn, Tomb Raider scores even higher."[81] However, Next Generation stated that they would not bother to review the PlayStation version because the differences between it and the Saturn version "are negligible."[71] Similarly, Electronic Gaming Monthly only reviewed the PlayStation version, and stated in a feature on the game that Core "has taken special care to ensure that the Saturn and the PlayStation versions of the game play equally well. The graphics certainly look identical."[82]

Tomb Raider received some criticism for minor camera and object glitches.[83] Next Generation reviewed the PC version of Tomb Raider Gold, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "For the two people who don't own Tomb Raider, this is an excellent package. However, for the rest of us, pass on the Gold box and simply download the new levels" from the game's website.[84]

Tomb Raider was Computer Games Strategy Plus's 1996 overall game of the year and won the magazine's award for the year's best "3D Action" game as well.[85] It was a finalist for CNET Gamecenter's 1996 "Best Action Game" award, which went to Quake.[86] Electronic Gaming Monthly named Tomb Raider a runner-up for both "PlayStation Game of the Year" (behind Tekken 2) and "Saturn Game of the Year" (behind Dragon Force), commenting that both versions had been designed to take optimum advantage of each console's capabilities. They named it runner-up for both "Action Game of the Year" (behind Die Hard Trilogy) and "Adventure Game of the Year" (behind Super Mario 64), as well as "Game of the Year" (again behind Super Mario 64).[87] It won "Best Animation" in the 1996 Spotlight Awards.[88]

Less than a year after its release, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the PlayStation version of Tomb Raider the 54th-best console video game of all time, particularly citing its vast and compelling areas to explore.[89] In 1998, PC Gamer declared it the 47th-best computer game released, and the editors called it "tremendous fun to play and a legitimate piece of post-modern gaming history".[90] In 2001 Game Informer ranked it the 86th-best game ever made. They praised it for Lara's appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike.[91]

Sales and accolades

At release, Tomb Raider topped the British charts a record three times,[11] and contributed much to the success of the PlayStation.[92] In the previous year, Eidos Interactive had recorded a nearly $2.6 million pre-tax loss. The success of the game turned this loss into a $14.5 million profit in a year.[93] As one of the top-selling games of the PlayStation console, it was one of the first to be released on PlayStation's 'Platinum' series, and its success made Tomb Raider II the most anticipated game of 1997.[94]

In August 1998, the game's computer version received a "Platinum" sales award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD), while its PlayStation release took "Gold".[95] These prizes indicate sales of 200,000 and 100,000 units, respectively, across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.[96] During the first three months of 1997, Tomb Raider was the ninth-best-selling console game in the United States, with sales of 143,000 units. This made it the country's highest-selling PlayStation title for the period.[97] Tomb Raider sold over 7 million copies worldwide.[79] Tomb Raider, along with its successor, Tomb Raider II, were the two best-selling games in the franchise prior to the 2013 reboot.[98][99]

In 1999, Next Generation listed Tomb Raider as number 22 on its "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "Fantastic level design and art direction enabled a real feeling of exploration and accomplishment. When you played Tomb Raider, you felt like a tomb raider."[100] In 2001, GameSpot listed Tomb Raider on its "15 Most Influential Games of All Time", saying it served as a template for many 3D action-adventure games that would follow and helped drive the market for 3D accelerator cards for PCs.[101] In 2004, the Official UK PlayStation Magazine chose Tomb Raider as the fourth-best game of all time.[102]

It won a multitude of Game of the Year awards from leading industry publications.[94] In 1998, Tomb Raider won the Origins Award for Best Action Computer Game of 1997.[103] In 1999, Toby Gard and Paul Douglas won the Berners-Lee Interactive BAFTA Award for best contribution to the industry for their work creating the franchise.[104]

Legacy
Main article: Tomb Raider II

The sequel to the game, Tomb Raider II, was in the concept stage as production of Tomb Raider was wrapping up.[16] Under pressure from Eidos Interactive, Core Design would develop a new Tomb Raider annually between 1997 and 2000, putting considerable strain on the team. Their struggles culminated in the troubled development of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness for PlayStation 2. Releasing to poor critical reception and lackluster sales, Eidos Interactive transferred the franchise to another development studio they owned, Crystal Dynamics, who would reboot the series in 2006 with Tomb Raider: Legend.[26][27][31]

Following the release of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft herself became a gaming icon, seeing unprecedented media cross promotion. These included commercials for cars and foodstuffs, an appearance on the cover of The Face, and requests for sponcership from outside companies.[11][18][26] The level of sophistication Tomb Raider reached by combining state-of-the-art graphics, an atmospheric soundtrack, and a cinematic approach to gameplay was at the time unprecedented.[32][105]

While Gard enjoyed working at Core Design, he wished to have greater creative control, and disliked Eidos's treatment of Lara Croft in promotional material, which focuses on her in poses he felt the character would never assume. Gard and Douglas left Core Design in 1997 to found their own studio, Confounding Factor.[26][28] This prompted mixed feelings from remaining Core Design staff, who were already at work on the next title in the series.[15] Speaking in 2004, Gard said he would have liked to produce a sequel, but noted that Lara had changed from his original concepts for her, leaving him unsure of how he would handle her.[22] Gard would eventually return to the franchise with Tomb Raider: Legend.[15][23]

Remake
Main article: Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Beginning production after the release of Tomb Raider: Legend, Crystal Dynamics created a remake of Tomb Raider using the Legend engine and continuity. Gard acted as one of the story designers, fleshing out both the main narrative and Lara's characterisation.[26][106] The remake was co-developed by Crystal Dynamics and Buzz Monkey Software.[107] Titled Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the game released worldwide in 2007 for PlayStation 2, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 and Wii.[108][109][110]

Notes
  1. Mac OS port developed by Aspyr,[1] N-Gage and Pocket PC ports developed by Ideaworks3D,[2][3] mobile ports by Square Enix.[4]
  2. Japanese Saturn and PlayStation versions published by Victor Interactive Software.[5] Pocket PC version published by Handango.[6] Mobile ports published by Square Enix.[4]

References
  1. "Tomb Raider Gold Is Released For The Macintosh". Aspyr. 16 March 1999. Archived from the original on 1 October 1999. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. "Tomb Raider On Pocket PC Announced". Tomb Raider Chronicles (fan site). 2002. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  3. "IDeaWorks3D - Works". Ideaworks3D. Archived from the original on 1 July 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  4. Welsh, Chris (17 December 2013). "Original 'Tomb Raider' launches on iOS for 99 cents". The Verge. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  5. 電撃スパイク『トゥームレイダー: アニバーサリー』製品情報. Dengeki Online. 2007. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  6. "Play Pocket Tomb Raider". GameSpot. 11 June 2002. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  7. "Tomb Raiders: Lara Croft and the Temples of Doom" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 86. Ziff Davis. September 1996. pp. 88–89.
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