There are few fashionable online game icons as influential and nicely often called Lara Croft. Blasting her means onto PlayStation again within the polygonal period of 1996, gaming was by no means the identical after Tomb Raider launched.
Since then, PlayStation has been in lockstep with the British archaeologist-adventurer, with each mainline canon sport getting its time to shine. And with Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 14, now’s the right time to revisit them.
The PlayStation period
Tomb Raider – 1996 – PlayStation – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
Introducing the younger British aristocrat to the world, Tomb Raider set the scene with a quest to find the three items of an historical artifact often called the Scion.
The result’s a world and twisting trek throughout areas equivalent to Greece, Egypt, and Atlantis, with what was then a revolutionary mix of 3D ranges, gun-toting motion, puzzle fixing and acrobatic traversal. And who can neglect that heart-stopping T-Rex encounter?
Available on PlayStation Store as part of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
Tomb Raider II – 1997 – PlayStation – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
Now a extra seasoned adventurer, Ms Croft started the seek for the paranormal Dagger of Xian, mentioned to own the facility to rework its bearer right into a dragon. In an try to assert it earlier than the harmful cultists of the Fiamma Nera, Lara blasts her means throughout Venice, Tibet, and even again at her mansion in England.
Increasing in each means on the already massively profitable method, with new weapons, the flexibility to climb partitions and bigger ranges, Tomb Raider II additionally launched controllable autos equivalent to boats and snowmobiles, marking the beginning of a phenomenal relationship between Lara and virtually something with a motor (and even some with out).
Available on PlayStation Store as part of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft – 1998 – PlayStation – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
4 fragments of an historical, energy granting meteorite. Grisly experiments. Nods to the film traditional, The Factor. Lara’s third outing went huge, pitching her throughout Nevada, the South Pacific Islands, and Antarctica to get the job executed – with the novel choice to play the center locales of the sport in any order.
As with Tomb Raider II, this sequel featured smarter enemies and geared up Lara with a fair wider transfer set equivalent to monkey swings and a stamina restricted dash. It additionally launched dynamic lighting, climate and smoke results, giving the series a severe visible punch.
Available on PlayStation Store as part of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
Tomb Raider: The Final Revelation – 1998 – PlayStation – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
In comparison with its confident prequels, The Final Revelation carried a extra tentative tone as Lara’s try to assert the Amulet of Horus by accident unleashes the malevolent Egyptian God, Set, who possesses her former mentor.
Saving humanity from Set has Lara journey via a better number of indoor and outside areas as she fights throughout the streets, ruins and canyons of Cairo and Alexandria, in addition to the Pyramids of Giza.
Together with a much less polygonal trying Croft, her fourth outing launched extra new strikes and the flexibility to mix objects in her stock to craft puzzle items or create enhanced weapons. We’ll come again to this aspect later…
Coming quickly to PlayStation Retailer as a part of Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered.
Tomb Raider: Chronicles – 2000 – PlayStation – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
Presumed lifeless after the occasions of The Final Revelation, Chronicles featured Lara’s nearest and dearest reminiscing over her previous, revealing her hunt for the Thinker’s Stone in Rome, trying to find the Spear of Future off the coast of Russia, keeping off Hellspawn in Eire as an adolescent, and infiltrating a high-tech facility in New York – full with cyborg assassins.
Coming quickly to PlayStation Retailer as a part of Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered.
PlayStation 2 period
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness – 2003 – PlayStation 2 – Eidos Interactive, Core Design
Having survived the occasions of The Final Revelation, Lara finally resurfaces in Paris, solely to be framed for the homicide of her former mentor.
True to its title, The Angel of Darkness featured a extra tonally sinister story in comparison with earlier video games within the series, with PS2 powered visuals to match its new model and revamped controls. It additionally launched a dialogue system, an upgradable stamina bar, and a second playable character in antagonistic companion Kurtis Trent.
Coming quickly to PlayStation Retailer as a part of Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered.
Tomb Raider: Legend – 2006 – PlayStation 2 – Eidos Interactive, Crystal Dynamics
Rebooting the whole series and balancing Lara’s daring sense of journey with a extra grounded emotional core, Legends noticed Ms Croft trying to find the legendary sword Excalibur as a means to assist discover her lacking mom.
Growing the areas that Lara sometimes explored (from Japan and Peru to Nepal and Kazakhstan) however taking a back-to-basics method to her weapons and kit, Legend reformatted the series’ controls, fight, enemy AI, and even crafted a customized physics engine to offer the gameplay a contemporary but acquainted really feel.
Obtainable on PlayStation Retailer and included with PlayStation Plus Premium.
Tomb Raider: Anniversary – 2007 – PlayStation 2 – Eidos Interactive, Crystal Dynamics
By this level the series had hit a fantastic stability between series reverence and new mechanics, remixing the very first Tomb Raider’s story whereas following the occasions of Legacy, in an enhanced engine.
Lara’s weapons cache was given a bump, whereas the long-lasting model of the primary sport was preserved as a lot as attainable, albeit with extra up to date issues throughout the puzzles and degree design to assist combine components from Legend, such because the grapple to traverse the environments.
PlayStation 3 period
Tomb Raider: Underworld – 2008 – PlayStation 3 – Eidos Interactive, Crystal Dynamics
Rounding off the Legend timeline, Underworld noticed Lara seek for Thor’s hammer as a way to enter the Norse underworld, Helheim, and uncover the reality of her dad and mom’ final destiny. The sport neatly used actual world analogues for the mythological areas, taking Lara to locations equivalent to Jan Mayen Island and the Arctic Circle.
Underworld took benefit of the highly effective PS3 {hardware} with extra expansive environments, movement captured animation (by way of Olympic gymnast Heidi Moneymaker) and a raft of latest strikes and weapons, together with… Thor’s hammer. Oh sure.
Tomb Raider – 2013 – PlayStation 3 – Sq. Enix, Crystal Dynamics
The series’ storytelling model took a extra grounded and filmic focus with this second reboot of Lara’s adventures, monitoring her improvement from a frightened younger traveller to a metal nerved survivor. Stranded on a mysterious island off the coast of Japan, Lara has to search out her buddies and escape earlier than the violent Solari Brotherhood cult murders all of them.
Beginning off with rudimentary weapons that may finally be upgraded (fulfilling the promise of The Final Revelation’s early crafting model system), Tomb Raider is all about stealth and survival in a savage, extra open atmosphere, full with changeable climate results and dramatic lighting.
Tomb Raider additionally grew to become the primary sport within the series to characteristic an internet aggressive multiplayer mode, so are you able to develop the hunt to your mates, too…
Obtainable on PlayStation Retailer and included with PlayStation Plus Extra.
PlayStation 4 period
Rise of the Tomb Raider – 2015 – PlayStation 4 – Sq. Enix, Crystal Dynamics
The leap to PS4 meant the sequel to 2013’s Tomb Raider stays one of many series’ most aesthetically spectacular entries, with improved movement seize know-how to incorporate facial animation.
Searching for to complete her later father’s analysis on the legendary metropolis of Kitezh and its immortality granting artifact, Lara finds herself in Siberia in a battle for her life, not simply in opposition to the paramilitary organisation Trinity, however extra hostile wildlife, too. The guerilla model fight was developed additional, albeit with a wider weapons and ability set choice for Lara to utilise.
Obtainable on PlayStation Retailer and included with PlayStation Plus Extra.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider – 2018 – PlayStation 4 – Eidos-Montreal, Crystal Dynamics
Capping off the Survivor trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider noticed Lara trying to forestall a Mayan apocalypse she unwittingly unleashed. Set largely in Mexico and Peru, the story covers a extra philosophical awakening for Lara, exploring the cultural affect of her actions as she evolves into the extra recognisable model of her character.
As the attractive visuals took one other step ahead, so did the sport’s stealth components, with the flexibility to cover within the undergrowth from enemies, or camouflage Lara with mud. Not that she’s hiding anymore – animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft picks up from the place Shadow of the Tomb Raider left off within the series’ continuity.
Obtainable on PlayStation Retailer by way of PlayStation Plus Extra.
With Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered rappelling onto PS4 and PS5 by February 14, the world doesn’t have lengthy to attend earlier than Lara returns as soon as extra. Mud off your inexhaustible twin pistols and seize an uncommonly rugged backpack – it’s time to go adventuring…