PLAY Magazine Debuts Next Tomb Raider Game

[Zanzibar]

PLAY magazine has scored! According to Tomb Raider Chronicles (http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com), PLAY will be announcing the next Crystal Dynamics-made Lara Croft adventure...entitled "Tomb Raider: Underworld"! (http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/headlines3364.html) The game will be coming out for X360, PS3 and PC - tentatively scheduled for 2008.

According to PLAY, "Lara's adventure takes place after the events of Tomb Raider Legend. Her adventure will be a thrill ride for anyone new to the franchise. The emphasis is on bringing Lara's world to life, a lush, vast interactive world that reacts and remembers. It's pure woman versus wild."

Takes place after the events of Tomb Raider: Legend. Thank God, that game had QUITE a cliffhanger.

Legend was good, Anniversary was better. Let's hope they don't bite off more than they can chew for their first full next-gen game.

[Mortis]

Legend was great, taking the series away from Core was the best move they could have made for the series. Crystal Dynamics has done a fine job, I have high hopes for the next game.

[WastelandDan]

I thought that Anniversary was the continuation of the cliffhanger from Legend. I have yet to play Anniversary myself, although I'd like to.

[Bingley Joe]

Let's hope the engine doesn't drop frames like crazy.

I really liked Legend on the 360, but I just couldn't abide by how poorly it ran. Haven't played Anniversary yet as a result.

[Zanzibar]

I thought that Anniversary was the continuation of the cliffhanger from Legend. I have yet to play Anniversary myself, although I'd like to.

Nope, Anniversary was a remake of the original Tomb Raider game using the Legend control system and updated graphics. It's a LOT of fun. I'm on the last level, and unless it somehow falls apart, it's a 4-and-a-half-star title.

The only downside is the framerate (sorry Bingley Joe), which does fail occasionally. The framerate issues don't affect gameplay really because Lara is has fluid control throughout the framerate drops, but it's distracting.

There's some screenshots of Underworld here. (http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/underworld/screenshots_01.html) Watch 'em before they get yanked!!

[Goronmon]

It's good to see they made sure to position Lara for the best few of her tits as possible.

[GigaFuzz]

Please don't try and grind out a Tomb Raider title every year. The whole reason the series was yanked away from Core was because it had been run into the ground....

[Dr.Finger]

Man, I hope they have her run around in a variety of skimpy, tight-fitting clothes in this one :D

[YoungAlCapone]

It's good to see they made sure to position Lara for the best few of her tits as possible.

Gotta keep it real.

I have Anniversary sitting here on my desk, I tried playing it once but kept falling off everything. I know I just need to give it a second chance, as it is a remake of a great game, and it is supposed to be better.

[Tyrant]

Please don't try and grind out a Tomb Raider title every year. The whole reason the series was yanked away from Core was because it had been run into the ground....

I think it had more to do with the subsequent games being flat out bad, but too much of anything can become tiring.

There are some tiny screenshots of the game at the forum on the page linked and they look pretty good. It would appear as though Lara can now fire her pistol while hanging on ledges.

[YoungAlCapone]

There's some screenshots of Underworld here. (http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/underworld/screenshots_01.html) Watch 'em before they get yanked!!

Nice, thems some decent pretties.

[Zanzibar]

It's good to see they made sure to position Lara for the best few of her tits as possible.

Could be worse, it coulda been this:
EDIT: Hah! They don't like hotlinking. Check the screenshots I linked above. One of em has Lara in an...uncomfortable position.

[Deadend]

Could be worse, it coulda been this:
http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/images/tombraiderunderworld_screenshots_01/screen002.jpg

...a red x? that would be bad.

[Mortis]

The whole reason the series was yanked away from Core was because it had been run into the ground....

I think it's because they did a fucking terrible job after the 2nd game. They never really advanced things in any way, they just added things that made the game worse. I don't think they were technically adept either, the engine was barely ever upgraded and when they did do a major upgrade/change it ended up a massively delayed buggy mess.

[51|RandoM]

It is about time they've applied next-gen technology to boobs.

[tenchiker]

Legend was good, Anniversary was better. Let's hope they don't bite off more than they can chew for their first full next-gen game.[/I]

I'll have to disagree here. I liked Legend quite a bit more then Anniversary.

[YoungAlCapone]

Were the boobs just removed from the front page?

edit: boobs definitely removed from post.

[ECM]

I thought both were fantastic and here's hoping the new one keeps it, err, up...so to speak.

[Zanzibar]

I'll have to disagree here. I liked Legend quite a bit more then Anniversary.

The crappy motorcycle sequences were really a downer for me in Legend. Plus, I never played the original Tomb Raider beyond the demo, so some of the puzzle designs in Anniversary really made my jaw drop. Freaking brilliant. None of the puzzles in Legend really gave me any 'OMG' moments. Plus I was really turned off by the 'WTF?' cliffhanger ending. Don't get me wrong, I loved Legend, but I haven't really run into any of the same turnoffs in Anniversary.

But I did like Legend's supporting cast of characters a lot more than Anniversary's.

[jromero]

I have a good friend who's working on the Wii version of this game. Said they didn't even know that it was going to be called "Underworld" until they saw the mag.

[GunnyMo]

I had that issue of Play show up in the mail yesterday. I haven't read the full article yet but from what I've seen the game looks to be amazing! I think they're doing their best to bring back to old Lara style ala Anniversary (and the earlier Tomb Raiders, of course)

[Grimmjow]

This Gen of TR games have been really good, can't wait till th next is released.

[Royal Fool]

Legend was great, taking the series away from Core was the best move they could have made for the series. Crystal Dynamics has done a fine job, I have high hopes for the next game.

TR: Angel of Darkness' suckiness was both the fault of Eidos as well as Core. Here (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7851)'s a really good "Making of" that reveals many of the problems the devs faced.

Please don't try and grind out a Tomb Raider title every year. The whole reason the series was yanked away from Core was because it had been run into the ground....

That was Eidos' decision. Core definitely did not choose to do annual sequels.

[Varsity]

Were the boobs just removed from the front page?

Was immediately followed by:

I thought both were fantastic

I make no apologies.

What happened in the end of Legend again? I can remember the clever twist, but not what happened after that.

[Zanzibar]

What happened in the end of Legend again? I can remember the clever twist, but not what happened after that.

That's because NOTHING happened after that.

There's a story synopsis at wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_Legend#Story) that's got some **MAJOR SPOILERS** in it.

[Blog]

Could be worse, it coulda been this:
EDIT: Hah! They don't like hotlinking. Check the screenshots I linked above. One of em has Lara in an...uncomfortable position.Wow, you mean the game features Volkswagens?

[Xerxes]

It is about time they've applied next-gen technology to boobs.

DOA has that down to a science. I think I might start on my Tomb Raider games right after December. Have em both, played none.

[Lutheran]

After finishing the kickass Uncharted Drakes Fortune , they had better do a nice job on this next Tomb Raider because I am going to be hard to please :)

[Micasa]

So they're unveiling the new Tomb Raider in Play magazine...I guess that means it's going to get a 9.5 or better, given their history :D

[Purple Santa]

Is it 2008 yet? I loved Legends and after torturing myself on all the TR games, it cerainly was an awesome experience. This is my game for 2008 if it is released.

[MrSatan]

I love me some Lara Croft. I can't wait for the new one. Let's hope they really push this style of game to the next level.

[DarkDaY]

Was quite impressed by the pics of it, the engine looks to be damn nice. also dig the new model, the musculature.

looking good, now I need to see it move, a cross between assassins and uncharted in the mo cap and animation would be nice.

[pomeroy]

Wow, you mean the game features Volkswagens?

Well played, sir.

[workerbee]

Huh. I swore I saw "Tomb Raider: Underwear" at first....

[Zanzibar]

Well played, sir.

God dammit. I don't get it.

Inside Joke -2
Pop Culture -1
Internet Savvy -1

[pomeroy]

God dammit. I don't get it.

Inside Joke -2
Pop Culture -1
Internet Savvy -1

Uncomfortable, like the back of a Volkswagon?

Mallrats reference. Made me smile.

[mkelehan]

I preferred Legend to Anniversary, but they were both very good. I look forward to this.

[Gorvi]

Awesome news. I should have both TRs for the 360 pretty soon, and I really want to see more games like this being made.

[pomeroy]

Awesome news. I should have both TRs for the 360 pretty soon, and I really want to see more games like this being made.

Sequels? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[LionEyez]

Meh.

The best Tomb Raider I played was part 2...felt like everything went downhill since then.

Didn't the creators 'promise' an end to franchise ages ago?

[Gorvi]

Sequels? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Not exactly sequels, but just more games in this style. I guess you'd call them "Character Adventure". Games like TR, Uncharted, Soul Reaver, ICO, Prince of Persia, etc...