~Tomb Raider~

Ah yes, a personal all time favourite, Tomb Raider is a legend on earth from my point of view.

Even from the beginning with semi-alright graphics and dinosaurs with rather squared feet, Tomb Raider enabled a larger range of females to star in shoot-em-ups.

So lets take a blast from the past and go game raiding with Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider - 1996

Behold (heavenly music), too dramatic?, the very first Tomb Raider game as some of you may remember. And wow i was only four when this came out and started to play on our old school computer 'system', always shooting the bear that hid below the jump to the blue save crystal. Yes yes anyway, it was brought out for Sega Saturn then shortly after for MS-DOS and finally the Playstation. The game was a commercial success. The story unfolded in Los Alamos County in New Mexico where a nuclear test caused an earthquake that shows a hidden anicient device with a frozen lifeform (Nice). At an antagonist's request (Miss Jaqueline Natla), Lara sets out to discover the ancient mysteries of Scion from the lost tomb of Qualopec. Entering into a very cold atmosphere shooting wolves, bears, bats and dinosaurs (yes i question how dinosaurs could have possibly lived in the game but then wheres the fun in that?). She runs around in places such as Peru, Greece, Atlantis, Egypt (very well travelled eh?) and so on and so forth. The graphics could be slightly slated but who cares? It was great for its time and still is!

Tomb Raider II - 1997

The almighty sequel to the first Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II. Based in China near the Great Wall in search of the Dagger of Xian. When the game first begins an automatic realisation that Lara moves much quicker, shoots faster and the graphics have became..slightly better- The game gives off great vibes. It was originally released for Windows 95, Playstation and Mac in november. Even the Croft mannor had improved visually and Lara was given her signature plait. In this game she scoots around, China, Venice etc. Your introduced to tigers, vultures, spiders (that might i add jump creepily high...dont like that), dogs, men and rats etc so theres enough to keep your guns busy.

Tomb Raider III - 1998

The follow on from Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III begins a new search to find four meteorite stones scattered across the world. The game was originally released for the PC and Playstation in november. As you plunge into a somewhat jungle, with much more animals to shoot, we start to wonder wether to call the 'nspca'. Laras range of abilities stretched even further from the first two games, including moves such as crouch, crawling, sprinting and the ability to monkey swing (fun).

Tomb Raider The Last Revelation - 1999

The sequel from Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider The Last Revelation begins with Lara as a teenager. I have to admit she was rather annoying, bless her, anyway! Shes found galavanting along with Werner Von Croy as they travel to Cambodia in search of the mystical "Iris". A sudden accident leaves Werner trapped in an ancient mechanisim and Lara running off for joy (not really but running off anyway). The games shoots (see what i did there..) into the future as modern day Lara, plunging into a lovely egyptian tomb...awesome. She races against time to prevent an apocalypse on earth from releasing Set. Once again the game featured new moves (hurrah) such as grabbing hold of ropes and dangling from ceilings. Even Laras appearance had became softer on the eyes, maybe they realised we dont like cube people. Lara only explores over two countries, Cambodia and Egypt in this game.

Tomb Raider Chronicles - 2000

Originally released for PC, Sega dreamcast and Playstation, the new sequel was looking quite 'flashy' hence the lightning (ha..). It begins with the thought that Lara is dead and still missing? oh god its my worst nightmare. I can truthfully say that i never played this one, and still have'nt so i need to go educate myself...

Tomb Raider Angel Of Darkness - 2003

Which brings us swiftly onto the more dark and twisted, Tomb Raider AOD. When i first saw the cover i though 'hell yeah' and 'Lara looks exceptionally dark..hm.' I loved this game so much, i spent the whole of a summer playing it until it was completed -Tear-. Werner Von Croy makes a very odd come back into this new game, tracking five obscura paintings for a (crazy) client called Eckhardt (Eekhardt). And so he needs help from our favourite Tomb Raider and she refuses (bam!), which leads us into what appears to be a strange murder scene (Major gasp). This completly stuned me and the fact that Lara is on the run in this game give me a thrill-of-the-chase kind of feeling. This was the first Tomb Raider game that introduced another playable character, Kurtis Trent (drool..oops sorry). And for once you could choose what to say to other characters, in other words be lovely or a total bitch. The game introduced a dark age to the Tomb Raider legacy running around Paris and prague searching for Eckhardt. The game definatley shone a bright light onto the series and the graphics had improved by miles from 'Tomb Raider Chronicles'. I can say one thing at this point, Awesome, okay maybe two, why was the Sanitarium so bloody creepy?! Geez.

Tomb Raider Legend - 2006

And suddenly i was annoyed that they didnt make a sequel to Tomb Raider AOD...broke the chain! but...hear ye, hear ye, Tomb Raider Legend arrived on our gaming shelves and it was pretty marvelous. Once again graphics had been boosted with costume changes and a 'get dirty-stay dirty' Lara (if your into that kind of thing). It was released in 2006 for PS2, Windows, XBox and XBox 360. It was then released in later in the year for Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advanced and Nintendo DS. Lara gets to have two assistants at her Croft Manor, Zip and Alister (Nice blokes) who keep her company on her travels via radio and video feed. Apparently, it was said that Tomb Raider Legend was released before Tomb Raider Anniversary and players who would want to play in chronicle order should play Anniversary first (confusing). For those who just couldnt wait (yours truly), we're thrown into a flash back of Lara as a child on a plane with her mother when it suddenly crashes in the Himalayas. Her mother activates an ancient artefact portal and vanishes into..the unknown (BOO). Lara is then in older form, searching for Excalibur which is then inserted into the portals sword placement in hopes to find her mother. You travel from Bolivia, Tokyo, Peru, Ghana, Kazakhstan etc in pursue of the reminants of the sword. Little fun fact, the game was sponsored by Ducati and even featured one in game for Lara to have a spin on..Great!

Tomb Raider Anniversary - 2007

So then Tomb Raider Anniversary popped onto the shelves of game shops everywhere. It is the remake of Laras first adventure, the original Tomb Raider using an improved version of the Legend game engine (clever). It was released for the usual suspect consoles but also for the Nintendo Wii. Once again i did not play this game therefore (mathmatical terms a go-go) i need to go educate myself, ahem, excuse me..

Tomb Raider Underworld - 2009

And finally, Tomb Raider Underworld (Phew!), the last installment so far and hopefully many more to come. Lara goes in search for her mother, this time with the help of Thors Hammer (was mega fun). Amanda makes a comeback, shockingly, and (spoiler alert) alister is murdered by Laras dopple ganger (who looks very cool with blood red hair). The game had sold 2.6 million copies worldwide, not bad for our Tomb Raider heroine. Lara suddenly has an Adrenaline gauge, no more medi packs Yay! And a very annoying Balance system, shes becoming more and more human watch out. She travels to Helheim, Jan mayen, Valhalla etc in search for her lost mother who (SPOILER) she has to kill because..well she looks a bit like a zombie but im sure that wasnt the only reason.

We'll Tomb Raider has certainly came a long way with eight games in total and it keeps getting better!

I hope you enjoyed my reviews and be safe you trigger happy lunatics (or is that just me?)

Stay tuned for my next review you guys (: