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A big Tomb Raider vid has been in the pipeline for monthsÖbut, well, I kept putting it off.
Itís a pretty freaking big project after all ñ thereís, like 10 games to cover! Most
of them are frightfully similar to each other! And thereís just one big characterÖLara
Croft. Love her or hate her, sheís kind of a big deal ñ and if this series does nothing
else, itíll provide a nice look at just how Lara Croft has evolved through the yearsÖsheís
never exactly been a perfect character, but she is one of the most important characters
in the history of video gamesÖdespite being surrounded by the 32-bit era, perhaps the
least well remembered time in all of retro gamingÖyou know the complaints, donít you?
The 3D was ***, the games were bloated, the voice acting, the lousy FMVÖall of that
stuff. Still, Laraís up there ñ and in a time when video gaming was actually kind of
trendy, she was an icon...and so, letís look at the whole freaking Tomb Raider series ñ
all of its hills and valleys, from beginning to end, 1996 right up to the present day!
In this first video, weíll be going back to the glory days and looking at the first
five Tomb Raider games, all of which were released and famous on the PlayStation, but
are shown here on the PC becauseÖyíknow, convenience. You can get virtually the whole
series on Steam for next to nothing, yíknow. But we must go back to a time when Steam was
nowt but a cool Peter Gabriel songÖ.we need to go back to 1995, and the idea ofÖCOOL.
Just how did Laraís main platform of choice, the Sony PlayStation, come to power?
Gaming has, of course, always strived for coolness ñ for total, unconditional acceptance,
to be in with the in crowd, to be taken seriously by people outside the norm. The more zealous
among us can always point at the numbers and say that the games industryís as big as movies
or music or whatever and always has been, but really thereís just a lot of us about
ñ no matter what, itís still the OTHER thing. By my estimation, games become cool ñ truly
cool - every 15 years or so, meaning itís happened precisely three times in the artformís
history, each period lasting for around a couple of years. It happened in 1980, when
Pac-Man was released ñ no question about it, Pac-Man was cool, perhaps the most fashionable
games has ever been. It happened again around 2010, with the Nintendo Wii, the Kinect, and
gaming on smartphones ñ again, everyone was playing, even those who didnít usually playÖthereís
still a bit of that magic in the air. And it happened in 1995, when Sony released the
PlayStation worldwideÖof all these things, the PlayStation is perhaps the only one that
was utterly designed and marketed with a single ambition, to be cool by design ñ that was
the goal. The Playstation hungered for it, was desperate for it more than anythingÖand
you know what? It got it.
Not that this was a new strategy ñ the 16-bit era was full of it. Sega in particular were
DESPERATE to be noticed, to be the alternative, video gameís answer to the grunge scene ñ
just look at the ads for the Sega CD - pure Generation X gobbledygook. The whole thing
screamed of 90ís ëtude, because that was what they believed the people wanted! But
more than that, the CD was always seen as the future ñ games could look like movies!
It was the same way you listened to your music! And practically they were SO much cheaper
to produce than those damn cartridgesÖgaming WANTED the future to happen as soon as possible,
and tried everything they could. The Sega CD was the worthiest attempt, but it was too
early yet. The 3D0 and CD-I were more like high-end home entertainment kits than video
game machinesÖthe Jaguar CD might just have made it, were it not completely broken technicallyÖin
the end, they werenít quite there yet. Coolness through Gen-X style marketing was still a
bit too insular, and a bit too transparent frankly ñ a lot of it was Poochie-level ***,
and seriously uncool. Because when youíre truly cool? You donít even have to try. And
Sony got that! At least, more than most.
Once a proposed add-on for the SNES, the PlayStation became king, wiping out the Saturn, the N64
and the Dreamcast to such an extent that all three are barely memories in the grand scheme
of things. And it all started byÖyep, like the two previous examples of Pac-Man and the
Wii, being more casual ñ including everyone. In truth though, what Sony wanted was for
people who played video games as kids to keep playing them as adults ñ which is what Nintendo
and Sega didnít do with their systems, continuing to go for the kid marketÖinstead, Sony wanted
the line to continue ñ you played the Mega Drive and SNES when you were in your teens,
and then you bought a PlayStation for your 21st birthday. The adverts were snippy, the
games sold as visual experiences, and the mood was ñ particularly in Europe ñ one
of something designed for after-pub entertainment. You go out on the lash, grab your mates at
the bell and you all go home and play Wipeout without spilling your Doner kebab over the
carpet. It started working immediately ñ right from the off, PS1 struck a chord with
the grey design, the CDs, and the early stars ñ guys like Crash Bandicoot and what-notÖit
fit right in with 90ís culture, the lad movements, the Britpop sceneÖbut a real icon was needed,
and it would soon come. Over the years, the status of video gameís biggest icon had been
taken by a half-eaten pizza, a cartoonish Italian plumber, a big-eyed elf and a blue
hedgehogÖand what would be the next up to the plate? A woman. No pointy ears, no whacky
sound effects, no power-upsÖjust a woman. A human beingÖLara.
The first Tomb Raider wasnít originally designed that way, of course. In fact, Toby Gard, lead
designer of the game for CORE Design, originally saw Tomb Raiderís hero as a wholly male Indiana
Jones-esque character ñ but as the game developed, with more emphasis gradually placed on puzzling
rather than action, the character developed from a male placeholder, to a more gung-ho
South American woman named Laura Cruz, and finally to an upper-class English woman named
Lara Croft ñ it took quite some time, but that was the version of Lara presented to
the world in October 1996Öright as THIS was taking over the world! Girl power! That was
a stroke of luck, wasnít it? The rise of the Spice Girls and all that ñ yet another
British Invasion ñ meant that this game, on an already cool system, with a woman front
and centre? Yep, it was going to be a big dealÖsometimes, youíve just got to be in
the right place at the right time ñ and thatís what CORE Design managed to do. Tomb Raider
rode the zeitgeist like a demented Shaun White on a golden surfboard, Lara Croft became a
worldwide megastar, and the PlayStation went further up into the stratosphereÖoh yeah,
the game was released on the Sega Saturn too, but frankly nobody gave a *** about the Saturn.
Speaking of the gameÖwell, how was it? Or rather, how is it? Weíve seen how Lara Croft
came to be, but was it actuallyÖyíknow, decent? Well, playing through this old PC
version of the gameÖyes, it does. Unlike a lot of 3D platformers, Tomb Raider has aged
very well ñ Iíve already gone on record as saying that I very much enjoy the rickety
graphics style of a lot of old and primitive 3D games ñ the incredibly high contrasts,
the dirty low-res textures, items made purely out of polygonsÖso that part of Tomb Raider
holds up for me. But the game still plays great too! Mainly because it was, in many
ways, an evolution of the old ìcinematic platformerî ñ Flashback, Another World and
the likeÖLara basically moves on a grid ñ you know how far each stepís going to take
you, how many youíre going to need for a jump and so on ñ so a lot of the time is
spent taking into your surroundings. The camera is such that youíre always going to think
about distance, even on the biggest jumpsÖyou know you usually make it, but will you this
time? And when you do make those big jumps, itís oddÖitís always exciting, because
thereís always that doubt in the back of your mind. The doubt that comes from being
totally alone on this adventure, reliant entirely on your wits, knowing that the only way out
is forwards.
The first Tomb Raider also works because of how much emphasis there is on puzzling ñ
the title ainít no bullcrap. Weíre here, and weíre finding treasure ñ to do so, weíre
going to have to find keys and other objects, push blocks, take on serious jumping puzzles,
and thumb through mazesÖall of that good stuff. Combat is very much secondary, and
is usually simply a case of auto-locking on and shooting a lotÖitís pretty dull and
probably the worst thing about the game, nothing compared to the puzzles, the movement, and
the atmosphere. Itís perhaps like Prince of Persia most of all, only a total evolution
of that, and so much better...you can see a lot of the old rules ñ every level follows
directly on from the last one, for exampleÖthe usage of musical cues and sound effects rather
than a constant soundtrack, and the focus on realistic momentum and movements. Tomb
Raider wasnít the first attempt at making a cinematic platformer in 3D, but it was by
far the best ñ nothing even comes close to itÖit deserves a high place in the pantheon
as one of the most influential platformers ever made, and not just because of Lara Croft.
Without Tomb Raider, would we have, say, the Prince of Persia reboot? Assassinís Creed?
Mirrorís Edge? I could even stretch it and say that first-person games like Half-Life
took a few cues from Tomb Raider. In the giant slew of 3D platformers that came at the start
of the 32-bit era, there were basically two games that showed the way forward, and inspired
others for years to come ñ one was Super Mario 64, and the other was thisÖthatís
pretty freaking high praise, and utterly deserved to boot.
But of course, you canít talk about Tomb Raider before you have to bring the focus
entirely on Lara...sheís at the heart of it all, the reason for a lot of the success,
a lot of the praiseÖand a lot of the criticism. Just what can you say about Lara Croft? Opinions
on her are kind of mixed ñ some have said that sheís a feminist icon. Others say that
few characters are more sexist than Lara in the history of video gamesÖboth sides are,
in many ways, absolutely right. Iíve seen it said that the titillation aspect of Lara
Croft didnít come to the fore until the gameís sequels ñ to be honest, thatís not really
the case. Tomb Raiderís always been a killer to study from the male gaze perspective, even
here. The camera loves her through every last cutscene, examining every inch of her bodyÖeven
in game, you can see what the male eyeís drawn towards the most ñ you judge the distance
of jumps primarily through aiming Laraís *** at the platform. Listen to how Laraís
actions are always paired with audible physical exertion, every time she bumps into an object
or pulls herself up from a ledgeÖwhen sheís idle for a moment, she visibly pants, her
whole body moving!...oh, and thereís those incredibly large ***, of course. And the
amount of detail that went into every excellent animation, including several moves that arenít
even necessaryÖdo you need to perform a swan dive into the water? Do you need to perform
an impromptu handstand when climbing a ledge? No! But hey, it looks cool! It shows off COREís
fantastic animationÖand it shows off Lara.
Now before you get your jock-straps in a twist, donít worry ñ Iím not saying that this
is directly sexist, or even all that wrong ñ itís moreÖsexist by design? The male
gaze is something natural, really, and it gets magnified in creationÖitís the idealized
vision, the thing that makes any straight guy tick when they see a good looking woman
walking down the street, the trigger that can turn literally anyone into Federico bloody
Fellini when theyíre given a camera and a subject of the opposite gender. Just look
at a similar platformer from the era ñ Fade to BlackÖyeah, itís a rubbish game ñ but
hell, look at the generic and shoddy way that Conrad B. Hart moves about. Itís clear no-one
cared about him in any way whatsoever, even to the point of making him move realistically.
Lara Croft, on the other hand ñ the designers took steps they didnít even have to do, and
made sure to focus on Lara every step of the way, as much as possible ñ including sticking
her right at the front of the marketing. The end result is first-rate, far more advanced
than anything else at the timeÖbut youíre always aware that even though the game is
about a woman, a man is at the helm, behind the camera so to speak ñ and you wouldnít
be aware of that if this was a game about Conrad B. Hart. Your mileage may vary as to
how much this takes you out of the experience, but itís definitely an interesting way to
look at Tomb Raider, and Iím all about that sort of thing.
There is also another side to Tomb Raider ñ regardless of all that, a lot of woman
games players still identified with her. Cara Ellison wrote a fantastic article about her
experiences playing Tomb Raider, and how she felt, at the time, to be so utterly instep
with the game, feeling as if she was LaraÖfor a lot of people, the first game managed to
create entirely through gameplay what, say, the 2013 reboot of the series tried to create
through story. That feeling of ìI CANíT do this! I want to do thisÖCAN I do this?
How the hell am I going to do this? Iím scared about doing this?î, and so on, leading eventually
up to ìI CAN do this.îÖthe first game makes no attempt to destroy that ñ direction aside,
Lara is quite simply very capable, in a normal way ñ sheís just damn good at what she does,
and has no need to rely on anyone elseÖalthough she doesnít make her independence a defining
part of who she is ñ she just prefers to work alone, and itís all about the adventure,
babyÖit strikes a great balance. And my god, CORE struck gold when they released this game
when Girl Power hit big. Sisters are doing it for themselves, wasnít it? Ok, thatís
an 80ís song, but you get the pointÖLater games in the series would sully the waters
a bit by both playing the loner card up further and turning Lara Croft into your archetypal
ìstrong independent womanî, as well as committing that mortal sinÖyou can picture the production
meeting, canít you? Someone got a dangerous idea, and decided to run with it ñ ìhey,
wouldnít it be a neat twist if Lara Croft, a character who has always succeeded because
she doesnít need anyone, suddenly needs to rely on a companion?îÖand unfortunately
the appropriate response to that ñ a blackboard eraser to the face ñ wasnít deliveredÖbut
weíll save this for another video. Lara had a dual existence ñ the male-driven design
made her the virtual darling of the ladsí magazines, party to all kinds of schoolyard
chatter about positioning her at just the right spot where you can best take down her
particulars. But the character, her independence, and the style of the game made her a powerful
symbol of female empowerment that was perfect for the time ñ not just something that could
be written about in high society as a sign of progression in gaming, but a symbol on
the ground level too, for tons of gamers worldwideÖbecause, hell, what was there before Lara Croft? Basically
Samus Aran and thatís itÖLara Croft might not have been perfect, but she was a pretty
big step forward for the time.
ÖSo, thatís Lara Croft, as a cultural icon, one that could fit damn near any situationÖso
what does the original Tomb Raider have that a lot of the other games in the series didnít?
Itís not as if the sequels were ALL bad, but they never managed to feel quite as specialÖTomb
Raider II, the first of them, is still a damn fine game. Everythingís that little bit bigger
and better, with Lara being sent all over the world this timeÖwe start at the Great
Wall of China, move on to Venice and all of its gondolas, take in the white-hot sights
of Tibet, explore an offshore rigÖitís like a studentsí gap year blog, only with more
guns. The core gameplay hasnít changed much, but there are a few subtle tweaks...Lara is
now one of gamingís foremost icons, and every effort is made her to look like a superstar.
Not only that, sheís Englandís star! Just compare the voice actingÖin the first game,
Lara was certainly plummy, eager and British, but not to the level of secondÖI mean, Jesus.
So much sophisticadoÖit wouldnít be a surprise if we found out that she was tenth in line
to the throne. And of course, thereís many more winks to what the audience of the game
want to see, with the ending of the game being perhaps Laraís most iconic scene from the
whole period. That gaze got ramped up to the nth degreeÖit kinda lacks the first gameís
balance, although that balance was probably unintentional in the first place. As it is,
itís still more Tomb Raider fun.
And that was pretty much how the series continued ñ I could say the exact same about Tomb Raider
IIIÖCore knew what people wanted, and they delivered it. But these sequels did lose a
bit of focus on what made the series great ñ the puzzling, and the raiding of tombsÖitís
perfectly natural for the games to explore a wider range of surroundings, but they were
never quite as memorable as what we saw in the first game. And combat tended to become
more of a factor, with lots more enemies to fight and what-notÖas mentioned, combat has
never been a strong point of this series. The puzzle elements never managed to improve
too much on the first instalment, with many people complaining that theyíd seen these
jumping puzzles and block-pushing conundrums too many times before ñ the additions of
various other elements, such as flashier boss battles and the odd vehicle here and there,
didnít improve matters all that muchÖand it all means that you get tons more of everything!
The levels really start to feel bloated ñ Tomb Raider IIís levels are almost uniformly
around an hour long right from the off, and Tomb Raider III only enhances the problemÖthe
original certainly had lengthy levels too, but hardly all of them ñ they were a bit
more contained and focusedÖso while Tomb Raiders II and III are both decent games in
their own right, theyíre nowt special, with every single fault magnified by a factor of
ten. Itís that old clichÈ of gaming journalism, that ìfans of the series will love itîÖmeaning
that anyone who isnít a fan of the series wonít have their minds magically changed
by it. Tomb Raider II is certainly the better game of these two sequels, as itís the one
where it at least felt like more stuff was addedÖTomb Raider III, not so much.
So, I guess weíre at around about 1999 nowÖmake no mistake, the series is still flying high.
All three Tomb Raider games were big hits, even if two and three werenít quite as big
as the original. Lara Croft was gamingís most iconic figure, familiar to millions worldwideÖso
familiar, that there was even an official ìLara Croft girlî, used to promote the game
at media events and the like ñ as the first gaming icon to be pretty much totally human
in design, it wasnít exactly a big leap, and the role was taken by people like Rhona
Mitra, Nell McAndrew and the likeÖso, we have Tomb Raider to thank for the whole idea
of Booth Babes! Yeah, cheers for that...but I digress. While Tomb Raider was still big,
CORE werenít all that happyÖthe writing was kind of on the wall, in fact. The pressure
to come up with another Tomb Raider game year after year was beginning to wear them thin,
especially when it was clear that they couldnít expand on the games all that much without
making massive changesÖthere was too much baggage, and things were starting to get a
little stale. Something had to give, in other words.
1999ís Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation is, once again, the same thing weíve seen
before. If, like me, youíre a fan of the series? Then itís good! In fact, The Last
Revelation is notable for being a bit more of a return to the caves, tombs and pyramids
of the first game, as opposed to the attempts at cities, military bases and the like that
were present in II and III. Itís still the same engine, but CORE have made a great deal
of effort into giving Lara as many new moves as possible, and pulling as much as they could
out of the old beastÖand thereís cutscenes and the like that, for the time, were fantastic.
The Last Revelation is easily the best game in the series since the original, no doubt
about it ñ even if it wouldnít change a nay-sayersí mind, itís a goldmine for fansÖbut
of course, itís mainly remembered for the ending, where this happens. Shock! Horror!
And yes, they didÖCORE killed Lara off. She went down the well one too many times, and
finally came a cropper. Itís kind of a shocking way to close the book on the first wave of
Lara, reallyÖbut still, the light was turned off before things got REALLY stale. Having
said that, there was still a fifth game in 2000! However, Tomb Raider: Chronicles was
basically a little extra ñ a mission pack, an epilogue for the series. It wasnít marketed
all that much, and didnít sell particularly well ñ strictly for the fans only...itís
not a bad late-period PS1 title, but the general feeling was that, by this time, *** had gotten
pretty damn oldÖan old engine, old gameplay, and an old characterÖby the year 2000, the
competition was far heftier ñ cutesier games like the Spyro series and Sonic Adventure
on the Dreamcast were doing well, and even on the more realistic front, there were games
like Syphon Filter, and a well-loved series called Legacy of Kain, released by a little
group known as Crystal DynamicsÖweíll come back to them later. And so, with the 32-bit
era drawing to a close, where was Lara going to fit in? Was she going to get lost in the
shuffle? Would Lara Croft-mania die down? On the contraryÖit was just beginning.
And so, that ends the first part of our look at Tomb Raider. Join us in Part 2, when Lara
will move from the console to the big screen! And the resulting success will lead toÖwhat
else? Another game! Yep, CORE Design decided to bring Lara Croft back to the home in 2003!...and
good lord, we all wish that they hadnít bothered. But yes, weíll be going through Tomb Raider:
The Angel of Darkness, as well as seeing what some other guys would be able to do with the
erstwhile British adventure queen ñ a new day dawns with 2005ís Tomb Raider: Legend.
Thatís all to come! But for now, itís time to end the video. Thanks for watching, and
wherever you are, whoever you be ñ have a good one, take care, and Iíll see you next
time.