The Tomb Raider in Me...

Some of my friends know that I am a huge fan of the Action/Adventure computer game series, Tomb Raider - starring Lara Croft. If I just say that I like that game, it may be an understatement. I love the game so much that I will do almost anything to get my hands on one of them (I already have all of them) and play them. I even built a website about Lara [I never finished it though]. But there was a time when I browsed through the game reviews me heart really sank [before releasing Tomb Raider Legend]. Even if the first game was a huge success, as the sequels came on, the popularity began going down. And after the fourth in the series, Tomb Raider - The Last Revelation, I was outraged by their [creators] decision to kill such a finest creation of character among all the video games. But on the other side, I have read many gamer reviews screaming for her head after the third game in the series. May be that’s why they killed her. And there was the expansion [as always] Tomb Raider - Chronicles, with the level editor. When they released the level editor, I was sad and happy at the same time. Happy, because I can create and play almost infinite number of custom levels [fan creations also]. Sad, because, I thought that would be the end of it.
To my astonishment, they came again with Angel of Darkness, the 6th in the series. I can’t really say about that game, because, to this day I am not able to fully play it, even if I have the game with me. When it released, I was busy with my studies and career plans and all. Still, somehow I managed to get it, but couldn’t make it to play it. [Its only recently that the computer games are available in India, that too only in cities. In my home place, even now, you won’t be able to find computer games in any store. Back then, in order to get my hands on a Tomb raider game, I had to travel around 500 ~ 700 kilometers to Bangalore or Chennai (~12 hrs - Indian Roads)]

I had been closely watching the tomb raider websites out of my curiosity to know what will happen next. Its then that I saw the ads about Tomb Raider - Legend, the 7th in the series. When I read about the details and expectations and saw the game play trailers, I thought it might be a joke. At the same time I was really excited about it that I bought it at the first chance possible and what to say, it broke all my expectations. Wow! It really was amazing, I couldn’t really believe my eyes first. Eidos did a really wonderful job in bringing back Lara in to the scene. It had almost every element you could hope for in a Tomb Raider game, except that I felt it was a bit easier, even as compared to the first one, that it took only around 8-9hrs to finish the whole game. The graphics, the puzzles, the movements of Lara, the incorporation of mouse to the game play, the environments, the stunt scenes, the music and the list goes on unending.
Now that they have released the latest in the series - Tomb Raider: Anniversary. I started playing it and it is amazing, not just because of its graphics [Legend’s game engine] and game play, but because it is the remake of the first game. Also I was in the middle of playing the first tomb raider game in my N-gage QD (Nokia gaming mobile). So it is much more fun going through the same locations and remembering the first time you played it.
To me, all the Tomb Raider games are so fascinating. At times I asked myself why I love them so much, when my friends say they didn’t like it simply because, it is less in action and more in puzzle solving and at times you get stuck in some unrealistic situations. May be it’s because I like to explore/work alone, the worlds, humans has never set their foot on, like she do, or her boldness that she will do almost anything, just for sport, or the mystic beauty in the music and background sounds they have used, or the locations which coincides with my interests or all of it together. [Sometimes, I did agree to my friends, (only secretly, before Legend), that the game play and graphics are not that good. Also the movies too pictured the ‘relic huntress’ as a super human which I didn’t like much] But the last one is the answer for all their protests against Lara. To all my friends, just play it and you will love the game…
Just refer to this “She’s spent and awful lot of time getting kicked around by her creators. But last year’s Legend went a long way toward redeeming Lara and compensating for the many wrongs done to her and the franchise. Now, Tomb Raider: Anniversary proves that was no fluke.
Gone are the vast black, cubist spaces of the first game, replaced by enormous, gorgeous, detailed levels with plenty of opportunities for vertical movement and vertigo-inducing acrobatics” - Games for Windows Magazine, August 2007, Page 76.
And so my friends, Lara is back in business and she will always remain as a Legend, who hunts for relics and raids the hearts and minds of gamers with her boldness sexiness and her pistols…
http://www.tombraider.com/ [Use your headphones and explore all the pages]