Lara Croft, star of the Tomb Raider games, is a very important game character for many reasons. Along with the WipeOut series, Tomb Raider and Lara Croft have probably done more to make gaming cool than any other games.

Originally appearing on both the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, Tomb Raider featuring Lara Croft took gamers by storm back in 1996 when it was released. At the time there was nothing quite like it, and many’s the hour that was spent shooting and climbing through the levels. The fact that the main character was a woman was a peculiarity, and the animation was simply amazing. When Lara got her twin hand guns out and aimed at the many enemies it really was a sight to behold.


Believe it or not, some body some where was even given the task of making up some “real” credentials for Lara. Apparently she was born in Wimbledon on 14th February 1968 (Valentine’s day, groan!), is 5 feet 9 inches tall and is blood group AB-. And no, I didn’t make that up!

The PlayStation ended up seeing 5 Tomb Raider games in all, and unfortunately as the series progressed the game began to look more and more tired. Although the games were still fun and sold well, each new version bought less and less in the way of new features to the series, as gamers slowly grew tired of the same old formula.

Lara took her time in appearing on PS2, and unfortunately the wait still wasn’t worth it. Again the game looked nice, but many compared it unfavourably to Metal Gear Solid due to the added stealth elements, and the delays in release meant it was lost in the attentions of gamers.

The saddest thing of all is that this game was the nail in the coffin for Core Design, the development house who have created all the Tomb Raider games up until now. Lara was shipped off to the US, and is now in the hands of Crystal Dynamics, creators of Gex and Soul Reaver. One strange twist of fate though is that the original creator of Lara, Toby Gard, has recently joined Crystal Dynamics, so let’s hope he can wave his magic wand and bring us a game fitting of Lara’s credentials.

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