Tomb Raider Franchise Revamp Due Summer 2005?

Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing a possible date for the relaunch of the Tomb Raider videogame franchise. According to the story: "Top Cow Productions announced they are temporarily halting production of the Tomb Raider comic book. According to the post, the comic 'will relaunch in conjunction with the release of the seventh Tomb Raider video game in the summer of 2005.'" We've previously covered news that "Crystal Dynamics is currently developing the new game with, according to some reports, the input of Ion Storm founder Warren Spector" - what changes would you like to see in a new Tomb Raider title?

Comments

Realism

[supersandra]

What Changes would I liked to see?

Realism... in the form of a breast reduction for Lara.

Re:Realism

[Lord Bitman]

good point.. she should also get a huge package.

EVERYTHING!

[suyashs]

Change everything!!!!!!!!! Gameplay, graphics, controls, the works! I want it to be a sexy grand theft auto + metal gear solid combo! Get Lara some new clothes (or lack thereof)...

Just let it die.

[PocketPick]

When is name-value a bad thing? When your game is called 'Tomb Raider'. While the brand is well recognized, few game players and reviewer circles have anything good to say about the quality of the product since it's second installment. I guess that Eidos never predicted that stale gameplay mechanics that were popular several years ago could ever wear out. It's only fitting now that Eidos is left with a series that is only known for it's big-breasted-heroine and not much else.

Gamers have grown considerably since the early PSX days, and people simply don't care anymore about the Tomb Raider sex-image that captured a number young gamers 7 years ago. I find it hard to imagine that anything else other than a complete overhall of every aspect of the game (including its main character) will salvage this series.

Re:Just let it die.

[curtisk]

that was the same exact thought I had when I read the headline..."JUST LET IT DIE!"

It had its time, now let it die gracefully. Its like when 80's bands try to make a comeback, we had great memories of THEN (LOL if you are in my age range), don't tarnish them for trying to cash in NOW. Please...

Re:Just let it die.

[nine-times]

'Gamers have grown considerably since the early PSX days, and people simply don't care anymore about the Tomb Raider sex-image that captured a number young gamers 7 years ago. I find it hard to imagine that anything else other than a complete overhall of every aspect of the game (including its main character) will salvage this series.'

I don't think this is true. First, I played the original Tomb Raider, and loved it. Though I was a teenage boy at the time, I wasn't all that interested in the supposed 'sexiness' of Lara Croft, especially since I thought that, by making her all out-of-proportioned, she looked cartoonish, and therefore had about as much opportunity to appear 'sexy' as Bugs Bunny when he dressed up as a woman. I did like the twist, though, of having a female character. It opened up the opportunity of a certain level of grace, as opposed to the infamous space-marine who went around shooting everything.

True, the follow-ups went down-hill. The controls got more and more complicated, each sequal adding more complexity to making Lara do what she was supposed to. They moved away, to some extent, from mythic locals and crypts/caves/tombs, and went to places like Venice instead. They had you fighting more people, and fewer bears/lions/bats. The maps got less imaginative and more puzzle-dense (pull this lever, play the jump-from-moving-box-to-moving-box game, and get through the door before it closes and you need to start over).

I suppose these changes were aimed at pleasing the audience- probably as soon as the first one was out, Eidos was flooded with complaints that they didn't get to 'fight it out' with other people. Probably lots of complaints of, "hey, this isn't exactly like Quake, and therefore it's stupid." I don't know where it all came from, but I think the nice things about the game were over-shadowed but a frustrating level of complexity.

If they really want to salvage the series, I think they should go back to the first one, rebuild the engine, and then focus on level design. Sure, they should add new features and gameplay innovation, but don't try to make it a Metal Gear Solid clone. Instead, make big maps that are fun to explore, and go back to an Indiana Jones inspired tone (i.e. mystical objects; exploring neat areas; puzzles here and there; most of your danger coming from falls, traps, snakes, etc.; occasional people enemies).

Hmm, Warren Spector designing a game...

[Cecil]

What would I like from it? How about having it designed for PC not for X-Box. *slaps Warren Spector*

Yeah, right. That'll never happen. It's so much easier to implement DRM and copy-protection and other garbage on a console, it's no wonder everyone is not-so-subtly trying to elbow the PC out of the way. We might as well forget that we once had the ability to do things like take screenshots from games without having a copyright notice splattered on them. (If you think I'm being facetious, try taking a screenshot in Final Fantasy XI)

Tomb Raider 'fixes'

[Marc_Hawke]

If I'm allowed to comment, since I've never actually played any.. :)

It seems the later games devolved into just being a vehicle for Lara. They accomplished their goal of making her a star, but then they didn't know what to do with her. So they dressed her up in new outfits and give her different types of 'extreme sports' to do.

(it's funny, but that's the exact same as the second movie)

If I were making a Lara game, I'd take a look at the new Prince of Persia. I'd also look at a SplinterCell2 type multiplayer, but also try to get a 4 person 'coop' thing going on with 'online' missions that are built for teamwork.

Think big, like Angel of Darkness, but don't rush

[jvmatthe]

While developing Angel of Darkness, Core Design actually quite a lengthy story/script to span three games. Angel of Darkness was just the first part, and by their accounts (as far as you can trust them), not the best part and by no means giving away the scope of the whole. The work put into giving Angel of Darkness a real story was pretty significant, and the characterization of Lara as a person was an important step forward for the series. It's a shame that people got so hung up on the faults of Angel of Darkness that they couldn't see these truly positive things: a good story and finally a three dimensional Lara that was more than just an a pair of adventuring breasts.

So, I say they should stick to the script (or improve it, as needed) and give us the rest of the story, and continue to refine Lara as a character. After the degradation in the second through the fifth games, where Lara becomes more of a mass murderer than an adventurer, let's not lose sight the real benefits of the sixth game just because it was rushed out the door by the publisher, Eidos, in a buggy state.

And, while you're at it, how about having a vision for a series that's larger than a single game? That was part of the Angel of Darkness plan too, and I'd like to see more game developers approaching their franchises a little less like discrete, unrelated points and more like a continuum.

One thing that should be cool...

[blincoln]

The rumour is that this game is being built using the engine from Legacy of Kain: Defiance, which is really excellent for action/adventure games.

The feature I'm most hoping for from it is Soul Reaver-style controls (relative to the camera) as opposed to Tomb Raider-style (relative to the character, turn-in-place and move forward/back like a tank).

I tried playing the first couple of TR games and I couldn't get past the unintuitive control scheme. I was able to squeeze through Silent Hill 2, which used the same type, but only because its pace was so much slower.

Re:One thing that should be cool...

[SablKnight]

Too bad about Silent Hill 2; if you had looked at it a little closer, there's an alternate control scheme (my prefered method) which involves pointing where you want to go rather than steering. It's in the options, just switch the 2D/3D setting. SH3 has it also, if you're planning on playing that.

-SablKnight

Shock! :-)

[milph]

Borrow pages from System Shock. Give lara a Shodan type adversary in the form of some sort of ancient god/goddess. Bring back tension to tomb exploration, and also make inventory manipulation interesting. (Flares, a limited number of climbing spikes, a compass, possibly even a water purifier. Limit ammo.)

iDea

[Kris_J]

I know! They should re-release the old games on portable platforms. That never fails.

Easy....

[MMaestro]

don't make Lara Croft the main character. First things first, shes an overdone character who never really had staying power like Mario or Sonic, so put her to rest. Secondly, give the game a MGS2 move and make the player play as a 'rookie' character. It helps introduce newbies to the series and doesn't give veterans the sense of "ok I'm Lara Croft, I've been through no less than 5 different adventures, by now I should be able to make headshots with my dual welding semi-automatic pistols while vaulting through the air and avoiding plumes of fire above and below me."

Seriously, Lara Croft is an overdone character thats around simply because of the 'boob' factor. Take the series down a new path and watch the money roll in. Worst case scenario they pull a MGS3 and choose another character (maybe Lara Croft's father?) and make it a pre-Tomb Raider series game.

Re:Easy....

[hoferbr]

Secondly, give the game a MGS2 move and make the player play as a 'rookie' character.
Seriously? Playing as Raiden in MGS2 was kind of anticlimatic, IMO.

Lara Croft is an overdone character thats around simply because of the 'boob' factor.
Tomb Raider is popular because of Lara Croft, not the other way around. When it first came out, the game did not have any mind blowing graphics or gameplay. The game success was based on Lara Croft (or her boobs, i don't know...)

askdfjsadkfj

[XO]

I would like to see the ORIGINAL Tomb Raider, done with an engine as advanced as say.. Doom3. The original Tomb Raider was JUST difficult enough to keep me completely enthralled, but not NEARLY as fucking PUZZLERIFFIC as the second or third ones (i didn't even know there WERE 3 others after TR3) .. I finished the first one, after a VERY long time playing with it... the second one, i got most of the way through, before I got stuck in places that were just too difficult.. and the third one, I got about 2 levels into before I was like "ok, fuck this. this is too crazy."

(Return to Castle Wolfenstein single player also was like that, once you got into the super-natural beast levels, it was too fuckin crazy to even think about completeing at a normal difficulty level)