New Tomb Raider out in April

By Ellie Gibson Published 2 February, 2006

For PC and old-gen consoles.

Eidos has announced that Lara Croft, everyone's favourite super-posh extra-athletic giant-breasted explorer, is returning to PC and consoles in April.

It's ten years since Lara first leapt onto consoles, revolutionising videogames forever / kicking off an endless series of ever declining sequels / both, depending on your point of view.

Now she's back in Tomb Raider: Legend, and Eidos bigwig Larry Sparks is jolly excited about it all. "Everyone working on Legend is buzzing right now," he said, presumably whilst buzzing.

"We are all so excited that this totally new incarnation of Lara will capture gamers' hearts, just as her original game did, and challenge their minds like no Tomb Raider they've ever seen."

TR: Legend is out on PC, PS2 and Xbox on April 7th, with the Xbox 360 and PSP versions to follow "shortly after," according to Eidos. And if you're a really big Lara fan, don't forget to vote for her in The Culture Show's design awards.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Drakron #1 6 years ago

    Old gen ... its comming out for PS One and Dreamcast?

  • thehat #2 6 years ago

    Bzzzzzzzzzz

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    "Everyone working on Legend is buzzing right now,"

    I knew some people considered games a type of drug, but getting high off them is a bit ridiculous.

  • Carlo #4 6 years ago

    OK... WTF is old-Gen these days?

    In fact, what's 'now-gen' and 'next-gen'?

  • Kami #5 6 years ago

    Toby Gard is back for this one, and it's the first TR he's been involved with since he co-created the original.

    From what I've seen in videos and what I've heard, this could do for the Action Adventure genre what RE4 did for the Survival Horror genre. It's certainly looking rather special. Then again, it IS Tomb Raider... the proof of the pudding in this case will most definitely be in the eating...

  • bunglebonce #6 6 years ago

    Vote for a sterotypical overtly sexual female lead character? No thanks.

    I voted for the mini-skirt ;)

    [seriously, I went for Power, Corruption & Lies]

  • JonFE #7 6 years ago

    Damn, X360 version to follow later :|

  • alimokrane #8 6 years ago

    Old Gen Hah ? Anyway, the game is shaping up extremely well. previews of the game over at 1up and gamespot and IGN (Where's urs EG ?) are extremely positive and the videos I have seen seem to suggest a return to the glorious days of 1996. Go see for yourself, Tomb Raider Legend will surely give the Prince a headache.

  • TheBard #9 6 years ago

    IF the new one will be like the first, with nice environmental puzzles and good tomb exploring, without too much gunfighting, this will be a must buy.

  • Scientist #10 6 years ago

    I saw Toby Gard drinking cheap Sam Smith's beer with a Japanese girl in a Central London pub. Fascinating, I know.

  • IJ #11 6 years ago

    Toby Gard being the man who spent 7 years making Galleon.
    JR

  • Artemus #12 6 years ago

    I'm rather looking forward to this. I never thought I say that after AoD.

  • Kami #13 6 years ago

    I know Artemus, I think a lot of people are looking forward to this. After AoD, things could only really go one way... it certainly couldn't have gotten any worse!

  • Darren #14 6 years ago

    I always thought it was an ill-omen calling the last Tomb Raider game: Angel of Darkness and it seemed I was right! /lol/

  • Feanor #15 6 years ago

    Can't wait to get this for the Xbox 240 I'll be buying soon.

  • Furbs #16 6 years ago

    Ten years??? Kucf Fof!! Jeezus.

    Hold on, that cant be right? Can it?
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/06 @ 15:55

  • thehat #17 6 years ago

    'fraid so, OLD boy!!!

  • Blerk #18 6 years ago

    I'm curiously looking forward to this one. The latest PS2 vids look gorgeous. Let's just hope they don't bugger up the actual game.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #19 6 years ago

    I have to say, I'm looking forward to this. The problem with other Tomb Raider sequels is that they took Lara OUT of the tombs. How crazy is that? Apparently she's back IN the tombs in this one so, hopefully, it should be back on top form again.

  • Lukus #20 6 years ago

    The original Tomb Raider was awesome. The next gen needs a game with the same impact T.R had. Something that made your jaw drop and heart rate increase with excitement. Something that simply could not have been achieved on previous technology. Obviously this new game won't be that, but still, I'm very much looking forward to it!

  • Freek #21 6 years ago

    Tomb Raider is in the same catagory as the Aston Martin Db 5,the Mini, the Supermarine Spitfire and Concord.

    There is no way a sane person can vote for Lara given the choices.

  • Carlo #22 6 years ago

    Put Lara back in the isolated places of the first two... Make the puzzles the significant part of the game (and lose 90% of the fighting FFS!)...

    Give it an engaging story with decent clif-hangers and good story-arc.

    I'll buy it... So willl many others

  • freedumb #23 6 years ago

    Tomb Raider 2 was the best. I've never played a game since with such a varied level design and balancing of puzzles. Sunken ocean liner, venice mansions, temple of xian, bahamut monastery (the best level), snow levels with yetis, the great wall of china, and who can forget the floating islands.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/06 @ 16:54

  • Blerk #24 6 years ago

    Tomb Raider 2 was great in all but the combat. Too many goons with guns. Imho.

  • JonFE #25 6 years ago

    While I agree that there were several problems with most TR sequels (AoD in particular), not all of them were out of the tombs. The 2nd and especially the 4th installments were close to the original's atmosphere, IMHO, with the odd human character here and there to break it.

    I do hope that Legend will be up to form tho' and I really look forward its release - but to be sure I will read a trustworthy review before purchase :)

  • drumbaby #26 6 years ago

    Yeah, Tomb Raider 2 was the best, with # 1 a very close second. Opera houses and dinosaurs, submerged wrecks and pyramids...T'riffic.

    I'd love to think this new one can somehow recreate the sense of wonder I felt playing those two games...But I'd be very surprised.

    Not that this jaded 'well go on then, impress me' attitude would help, of course :)

  • Kami #27 6 years ago

    I preferred the original over TR2. And let's not even start on TR3...

  • manic_mouse #28 6 years ago

    I really have my fingers crossed for this one. The original two Tomb Raider games were absolute masterworks, yet the series became more contrived and worse as it went on. With Crystal Dynamics at the helm (Soul Reaver) and Toby back on board it certainly has the talent behind it to be a return to form...

  • Eldritch #29 6 years ago

    "Soul Reaver" was pants though.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #30 6 years ago

    I'm hoping this one will live up to the glory of the original, which was possibly the biggest game-related jaw-drop I've ever experienced..

  • Agent_Llama #31 6 years ago

    I pray this returns the TR franchise to form, and it certainly looks good so far. I want to be amazed like I was the first time the T-Rex attacked in the Lost Valley in TR1, or peering down into the darkness of St. Francis' Folly for the first time thinking 'how the fuck do I get down there?!'

  • Kami #32 6 years ago

    "Back again?"
    "And you? For a grand reopening, I assume..."
    "Evolutions in a rut, natural selection at an all time low. Shipping out fresh meat will incite territorial races again and will strengthen and enhance us... maybe even create new breeds..."
    "Kind of like evolution on steriods?"
    "A kick in the pants. Those runts Qualopec and Tihocen had no idea. The cataclysm set mankind back centuries, plummeting us to the very basics of survival... it shouldn't happen like that..."
    "Or like this..."
    Hatching in thirty seconds
    "Too late for abortions now..."
    "Not without the heart of the operation."
    "No... AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

    ... ok, that's creepy how I can remember the whole of that bit of dialogue, so many years on...

  • manic_mouse #33 6 years ago

    ""Soul Reaver" was pants though."

    ... Well I liked it!

  • Razz #34 6 years ago

    pfft... no DS version then.. :(

    Actually I probably wouldn't buy it anyway.

  • otto #35 6 years ago

    Scientist wrote:

    I saw Toby Gard drinking cheap Sam Smith's beer with a Japanese girl in a Central London pub. Fascinating, I know.

    This thread is useless without pics.

  • darkphoenix #36 6 years ago

    Everytime we discuss the TR games, I always get the clear sense that nobody has actually played beyond the third game...

    The best Tomb Raider is the fourth - "TR: The Last Revelation" - a game that even surpasses the original in its own merits.
    If it wasn´t for the horrible "City of the dead" levels, TR IV deserved a place in the 32bit top-ten.

    TR 2, although a very enjoyable game in its hey-day, did not live to the expectactions, with too much enemies and shooting.

    TR3, its pretty graphics and the India levels were nice. But, too dificult and fustrating, large and uninteresting levels and locations ( Aldwich, Area 51????? )

    TR5, a disaster.

    TR6, better than the 5th, I supose... Or not...

  • Feanor #37 6 years ago

    "The best Tomb Raider is the fourth - "TR: The Last Revelation" - a game that even surpasses the original in its own merits.
    If it wasn´t for the horrible "City of the dead" levels, TR IV deserved a place in the 32bit top-ten."

    TR 4 was easily the worst., though I never played Chronicles or AoD. Backtracking between multiple levels was a enormously frustrating disaster that only the makers of Game Guides benefitted from. No way that TR 3 was more frustrating than TR 4 - at least you could only get lost in one level at a time and not be stuck watching a loading screen till you finished the level.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/06 @ 21:46

  • tengu #38 6 years ago

    Tomb Raider 1 and 3 were awesome, the others weren't imo.

    Oh, and less Soul Reaver slagging please, it too was great.

  • Nikanoru #39 6 years ago

    Please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good please be good.

  • urban #40 6 years ago

    .../me prays for non shittiness

  • Luigi #41 6 years ago

    I have the same opinion of "DarkPhoenix"... TR IV (Last Revelation) was the best TR game that I've played. The set, the puzzles, the overall mood of the game was fantastic. The TR Chronicles... well, there is a level that i can't recall the name that was great... It's in a submarine and I remember that I quite enjoyed at the time. The TR AOD... it's not a bad game but it does not have that TR feeling of the first ones... and as a plus, there's broken gameplay. The visuals were great though. After playing RE4, TR AOD feels lame as gameplay concerns. About this new TR... I have a feeling that it will be great. Nothing of a breakthru, but a very good and enjoyable game. Salut from Lisbon to all Eurogamers.

  • space_ace #42 6 years ago

    with soundtrack by the pussycat dolls

    lara comin' atcha!

  • rinoaMW #43 6 years ago

    "And if you're a really big Lara fan, don't forget to vote for her in The Culture Show's design awards."

    well.. i would vote for her, if i hadn't already used my vote for Mini Skirts! :D

  • drumbaby #44 6 years ago

    I hope Crystal Dynamics can make it more exciting than Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Probably the most suspense/ surprise free game of its kind that I've played in recent years.

  • JonFE #45 6 years ago

    Having finished all TR’s so far, except the original *** don't ask *** I can testify that the ones I enjoyed most were the 2nd & 4th.

    TR2 was the first one I laid my hands on (when the original was released my pc could not handle it and my much-needed upgrade came concurrently with TR2's release) and was a revelation on most parts; I agree, the combat was weak, but compared to the rest 3D affair I didn't notice :)

    The only thing I truly remember of TR3 was an annoying boss fight with a silly woman outside a building. That's all...

    TR4 was a return to form, with tombs (pyramids in this case) getting center-stage attention. The unified environment meant it was less colorful than the rest, but the huge levels and puzzles made up for it. While the back-tracking was a bit PiA, I stayed with it all the way.

    TR Chronicles was just filler, but I remember I enjoyed the hi-tech level, although it was clearly a departure for the series, which, IMHO, could have brought some new blood in Lara's old veins.

    I guess everybody agrees that AoD should have never been released, as it was broken beyond repair...

    As for Legend, well, time will tell... I admit I have played much of the other Crystal Dynamics' offerings and the little I have played left me lukewarm, however I want them to succeed. Lara is a favorite character of mine *much to my wife's dismay* and, with no new PoP in sight, Lara re-claiming the 3rd-person action-adventure throne is indeed welcome...

  • Spanker #46 6 years ago

    I played thru the whole TR4 with a 70yo lady friend obsessed with Lara. It was a nightmare I would never want to repeat.. unfortunately my friend does want to. Fortunately I managed dodge around the question of getting hold of TR5&6, but I have already pre-committed to playing TR7 with her by showing her screenshots and release date... If it's the dog's bollocks I swear I am going to have to leave the country...
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/06 @ 12:40

  • Artemus #47 6 years ago

    Soul Reaver was excellent. Actually the whole Legacy of Kain series was great.

  • warlockuk #48 6 years ago

    It's not being made by the same people as the last game, so it's got a fighting chance not to be shit.