March 22nd, 2002 (12:00am) - By John Gaudiosi
San Francisco-At a lavish party at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, Eidos Interactive unveiled new footage of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and announced that Lara Croft will be an exclusive for PlayStation 2. U.K. developer Core Design is working on four new Tomb Raider games, including two simultaneously. The first game will ship November 15 with three additional sequels hitting store shelves spaced a year apart. Unlike the original five games, which were each developed as one-and-out adventures, Core has developed an intricate story line involving an ancient civilization into the new games.
"We’ve mapped out a complete story book for these new adventures, which will play out episodically, each adventure will have a beginning and an end, but will be part of a larger arcing storyline, similar to how the X-Files mythology works," said Adrian Smith, operations director, Core Design. "The new Lara Croft will be darker and edgier, which will appeal to the older demographic of PS2."
Eidos unveiled a gory teaser trailer that spoke of an ancient evil that’s lived for centuries. The video dripped with blood and featured all types of mutilations. This isn’t your typical Tomb Raider game. Lara’s facing off against the ultimate evil in these games.
"The Last Revelation was the end of the first five games and we wanted to start over with a clean slate," said Smith. "We couldn’t change Lara, because we’ve established her over the years, but we could change the situation she’s in and change the gameplay. And that’s what we’ve done."
Smith wouldn’t go into details about the new gameplay mechanics other than to say that the last third of the game will feature a new playable character, Kurtis Trent, who will aid Lara on her adventures. The new Lara, who’s sexier than ever with 5,000 polygons (compared to 500 in the PSone games), is framed for the murder of a former mentor and on the run in Paris and Prague in Angel of Darkness.
The in-game video footage that Eidos showed to close the presentation set up the story of the new game. Lara travels to Paris in response to a desperate phone call from her former mentor Von Croy, who’s been asked by a sinister client, Eckhardt, to track down one of five 14th century artworks known as the Obscura Paintings. She arrives in Paris to find a city in fear. Von Croy has been the victim of a horrific murder and when she is accused of committing the crime, Lara has no option but to go on the run.
During her exploits Lara encounters a kindred spirit in Kurtis Trent, a hardened adventurer like herself, who is in pursuit of Eckhardt. In her struggle to unravel the trail left by Von Croy, Lara becomes involved in underworld deals, grotesque murders, the dark side of an advanced form of alchemy and a history of blood, betrayal and vengeance spanning across hundreds of years.
The game footage showcased a variety of game mechanics, including Lara’s patented double- handgun action, new stealth techniques that allow Lara to sneak up on an enemy from behind and break his neck, and plenty of dark, moody environments to explore. The whole game has a very cinematic feel that’s completely removed from the comic book atmospheres of previous Tomb Raider games.
"This story line is truly epic, spanning from 14th century alchemists to modern-day Paris serial killers," said Smith. "The first game opens a lot of doors, but does not close all of them."
The development teams working on the first two games are six times larger than any previous Tomb Raider game. Each game will receive two years of development time and the original game engine will be tweaked and revised along the way, providing even more detailed graphics as the arcing story progresses over the next four years.
Eidos President Rob Dyer thanked movie producer Lloyd Levin for the successful Tomb Raider movie, which, along with the best-selling DVD, has generated over 0 million worldwide. The next generation Lara will wear outfits made popular by Angelina Jolie in the first feature. A second film is slated for June 2003 and videogame fans will get a first glimpse of the film this November on a trailer featured on the new game. Eidos is expected to cross-promote the second film’s DVD release with next year’s Tomb Raider installment.
"The Tomb Raider games will run on a parallel track to the movies," said Smith. "We’ll work with Lloyd in helping with the new film in any way possible."
Levin and Smith met before the bash yesterday to brainstorm on game ideas that might work in the theatrical sequel. The film has already opened up a new audience for Lara Croft: Japan.
"Lara had never been as popular in Japan as it was in Europe and North America," said Levin. "We sent Angelina Jolie over there for a week to promote the movie and it made million, which is great for that market. We expect to build on that with the sequel."
Launched in 1996 on the original PlayStation, Tomb Raider and its four sequels went on to sell nearly 17 million units worldwide and became the number one selling franchise in Europe and the U.S. The franchise has sold over 27 million units worldwide when you toss in PC, Dreamcast and Game Boy Color sales. In addition, Lara Croft is the only videogame franchise to successfully translate to a 0 million-plus blockbuster Hollywood feature film.
