Time is right to leave Lara, says Gard

By Games Industry.biz Published 16 September, 2009

But he's sorry she slipped from his grasp.

Tomb Raider and Lara Croft co-creator Toby Gard has explained that the time was right for him to leave Crystal Dynamics, as control of the character he originally designed slipped further and further from his grasp.

Gard departed earlier this month to set up his own consultancy business, but admitted he would "definitely, absolutely" like to work once more with a big team, leading a triple-A project.

"It's always difficult doing that but you can get stuck doing the same thing over and over," Gard told GamesIndustry.biz when asked what leaving the iconic Lara Croft behind felt like.

"The only real way that I can really effect Lara Croft is to be in charge of a project. More and more as I was working at Crystal, especially on Underworld where I was just doing cinematic work, the reality is the control of the characters is in the hands of the creative directors and the publisher.

"I think it's just something you have to learn to realise that there's no one person really in charge of what goes on with a character and they have a life of their own in the hands of the team."

Although he still has the passion to work on a traditional videogame blockbuster, Gard doesn't yet see the opportunity, as his ambitions outweigh the reality of his resources.

"I guess the tough thing for me is that when I think about the types of games I like to play and the games I like to make they tend to be the rather expansive ones rather than the smaller ones," he said.

"So although I'm developing in my brain the project I'd like, I don't actually have a team at the moment to create it."

The original Tomb Raider was released in 1996 and kick-started what would become one of the most successful videogame franchises ever. Heroine Lara Croft soon shot to stardom, imprinting her tight-top and hot-pant ensemble on the minds of young men around the world. [And women - Dep Ed.]

Recently the stagnant series has struggled, however, and handed the limelight to punchy newcomers like Naughty Dog's Uncharted.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Shinetop #1 2 years ago

    Shouldn't that be 'affect'?

    Also, if control of the character slipping from his grasp was the reason for him to leave, wasn't the right time to leave several years ago?

  • El-Dev #2 2 years ago

    Tomb Raider really isn't the franchise it once was. Too many crappy games have diluted what was once one of the most important names about.

  • WinterSnowblind #3 2 years ago

    @Shinetop
    He did, he left after the first game when Eidos decided to play up the sex appeal and action elements of the game, instead of the puzzles and adventuring.

    He came back when the series was rebooted with Legend.

  • rhubarbandcustard #4 2 years ago

    Toby Gard - knocking one off to Lara Croft on the hour, every hour, since 1996.

    Dude, its 2009, and it's only now you think its time to move on?

  • metalangel #5 2 years ago

    Certainly, if Lara was real, by now she'd be having to move her boobs out of the way to button her hotpants.
    Edited by 1 at 16/09/09 @ 11:11

  • cymro #6 2 years ago

    the Uncharted 2 ad banner at the bottom of the article speaks volumes.

  • HermitArcader #7 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Doctor_What #8 2 years ago

    I rather enjoyed the last couple of TR games, although the script was dire on the latest one:

    "I need Thor's belt to find his hammer! I need Thor's hammer to kill a god!"

    Pfft.

  • jonsaan #9 2 years ago

    Deja Vu? Galleon anyone?

  • ZuluHero #10 2 years ago

    [And women - Dep Ed.]

    I'm glad that was added. I'm sure this doesn't mean the end of Lara, its a shame that he had to let go of his baby though.

    Sometimes you have to let them go to see them grow up though, Toby!

    And am I the only person in the world that prefers Tomb Raider to Uncharted? Some of the Underworld locations and graphics had me in awe and enthralled me to the very end.

    I will finish Uncharted one of these days... ;)
    Edited by 3 at 16/09/09 @ 11:47

  • rockstar1984 #11 2 years ago

    I thought Galleon was actually quite good, little hidden gem if you pick it up in a bargain bucket.

  • Shinetop #12 2 years ago

    I'd be all over Tomb Raider again if they just got rid of the crappy shooting and made it purely puzzle solving and exploration. The combat always felt as something you had to endure until they'd let you continue with the fun stuff.

  • ZuluHero #13 2 years ago

    doesnt need to mask crap gameplay with polygonal breasts.

    No, it hides it behind polygonal biceps instead...

  • cherryuk #14 2 years ago

    Uncharted does have better gunplay than any Lara games, however the exploration in Uncharted is a little easy and 'on the rails' compared with Tomb Raider Underworld.

  • hiddenranbir #15 2 years ago

    Yeah, but it has had the benefit from following something that laid the working standards for the genre. Not to mentioned priority funded by Sony.

  • Vin #16 2 years ago

    Dug Underworld more than Uncharted - hell, even Lara's animation was ten fold better than Drake's irritating moonwalking.

  • stepneg #17 2 years ago

    Uncharted is an OK game but there's even more mind-numbing combat sections than in any TR, I would rather another TR game in the same mould as anniversary than Uncharted 2.
    Edited by 1 at 16/09/09 @ 14:13

  • WinterSnowblind #18 2 years ago

    Yeah, I'm not sure why there's so much Tomb Raider vs Uncharted going on. Uncharted was never trying to be Tomb Raider, it barley even attempted the puzzle solving and exploration side, save for a few brief moments. For the most part, it was just an action game.

    Underworld had a much bigger focus on the puzzles, I'd much rather see the next TR game try and do more like that, rather than just trying to copy Uncharted.

  • Optimaximal #19 2 years ago

    I've said it before, but the mind-numbing decision to remake Tomb Raider 1 in Anniversary rather than following straight up on the brilliant Legend with Underworld made no sense...

    Executive #1 -
    "We've got some massive hype going, people really did what Crystal did with the series and everyone want to hear the rest of the story"

    Executive #2 -
    "Lets reboot the original Tomb Raider, then make a whole new engine for Underworld (breaking the camera and controls in the process)"

    Executive #1 -
    "Brilliant"

    Shareholders -
    "$$$$$$$$$"

    Everyone else -
    "D'oh!"
    Edited by 2 at 16/09/09 @ 14:24

  • FortysixterUK #20 2 years ago

    Frankly the TR series fell apart about midway through number 3.
    Everything after that was just dross, with occasional flashes of goodness.

  • Mr_Bogus #21 2 years ago

    TR:Legend was a great return to form for the series (surprise surprise, brought on by the return of Mr Gard). Glad he got the chance to make 1 more decent TR game.
    Edited by 1 at 16/09/09 @ 14:37

  • gareth886 #22 2 years ago

    I find it sad that the man who created Lara Croft no longer has any say in what is done with the character. Tomb Raider was (and in many respects, still is) a great franchise, its just a shame that the developers keep moving it a step in the wrong direction with every new Tomb Raider game that they release.

    Fans have been calling out for it to return to a more adventure focused series for years but the developers don't seem to be listening, in-fact they seem to be doing the exact opposite. They just keep adding more pointless combat, bigger guns and more vehicles.

  • metalangel #23 2 years ago

    Forget the games, just give us that mpeg of Petra Verkaik in Lara costume disrobing in an old bus.

  • bodypopper #24 2 years ago

    Lucasarts should have bunged Gard a ton of cash to make a proper Indiana Jones game I reckon to take on Uncharted at its own 'more action than puzzling' game
    Edited by 2 at 16/09/09 @ 17:07

  • davisorle #25 2 years ago

    All I have to say is that thankfully Tomb Raider games started moving the right way cause ever sinceAngel of Darkness we were only greatefull no other game was as bad as that one. I was hoping the PC version would be any better than their first PS2 ( and first Tomb Raider on the console ) yet they managed to release it as buggy and crappy..

    I was more than glad to at least see the Unniversary and even happier when I played the latest one which wasnt bad at all if not also great game. Unniversary made me happy though. Loved the first one. Great memories.

  • jaguarwong #26 2 years ago

    Underworld was better than Uncharted.

    It will be interesting to see where the series goes after the take-over, it's fluxuated from top notch to average and back again so many times it seems impossible to predict the quality of the next project.