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?

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.

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.

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[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)

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).