Tomb Raider Reboot
Walberto Kennedy
Tomb Raider is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix's European branch. It is the tenth main entry and a reboot of the Tomb Raider series, acting as the first instalment in the Survivor trilogy that reconstructs the origins of Lara Croft.[4][5] The game was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on 5 March 2013. Gameplay focuses on survival, with exploration when traversing the island and visiting various optional tombs. It is the first game in the main series to have multiplayer and the first game in the series to be published by Square Enix after the latter's acquisition of Eidos Interactive in 2009.
Crystal Dynamics began development of Tomb Raider soon after the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld in 2008. Rather than a sequel, the team decided to reboot the series, re-establishing the origins of Lara Croft for the second time, as they did with Tomb Raider: Legend. Tomb Raider is set on Yamatai, an island from which Lara, who is untested and not yet the battle-hardened explorer she is in other titles in the series, must save her friends and escape while being hunted down by a malevolent cult. Camilla Luddington was hired to voice and perform as Lara Croft, replacing Keeley Hawes.
Tomb Raider is presented in third-person perspective. Players take control of the series lead character Lara Croft. The game uses an interconnected hub-and-spoke model that combines action-adventure, exploration, and survival elements.[6] Players can traverse between the camps and across the island using footpaths, improvised or already-available ziplines and climbable tracks. Many of Lara's moves are carried over from the previous games created by Crystal Dynamics, with some tweaks added, such as incorporating elements of stealth gameplay. Quick time events are scattered at regular intervals throughout the game, often appearing at crucial or fast-moving points in the game's plot, such as extracting a shard of metal, and escaping a collapsing cave.[7]
The combat of the game borrows multiple elements from Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, with players having the ability to free-aim Lara's bow and the guns she salvages, engage in close-quarter combat and perform stealth kills.[8] Players can use Survival Instinct, an ability in which enemies, collectables and objects pivotal to environmental puzzles will be highlighted.[9] The game incorporates role-playing elements: as players progress through the game, they earn experience points from performing certain actions and completing in-game challenges linked with hunting, exploring and combat: this enables players' skills and abilities to be upgraded in specific ways, such as giving her more storage capacity for arrows and ammunition.[7] Players can upgrade and customize weapons using salvaged materials collected across the island. There is a character progression mechanic in the game: better items, weapons and equipment are gained as players progress, though the appearance of most of these items is closely linked to events in the story.[10] In addition to the main story, players can complete multiple side quests, explore the island, revisit locations, and search for challenge tombs.[11]
Alongside the single-player mode is an online multiplayer mode, which allows players to compete in several maps.[12] In each multiplayer match, there are two enemy teams: four survivors and four scavengers,[13] and there are three types of games for multiplayer to compete in, played in five different maps: the modes are Team Deathmatch, Private Rescue and Cry for Help.[14] The first mode is a player versus player (PvP) combat scenario, with teams pitted against each other, and the winning team being the one to kill the opposing team in three separate matches. In the second mode, the "survivors" team must take medical supplies to a specific point on the map, while the "scavengers" must reach a certain number of kills, both within a ten-minute time limit.[13][15] The third mode, "Cry for Help", involves the survivors exploring the maps and retrieving batteries for defended radio beacons while being hunted by the scavengers.[9] Across all three modes, weapons and destroyable environments from the single-player campaign are carried over.
Lara sets out on her first expedition aboard the ship Endurance, intending to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai. By her suggestion and against Whitman's advice, the expedition ventures into the Dragon's Triangle. The ship is struck by a violent storm and sinks, stranding the survivors on the isolated island. Lara is separated from the others and is forced to escape the cave of a deranged savage.
As Lara locates the other survivors, she finds more evidence that the island is inhabited. She finds her friend Sam and a man called Mathias, who claims to be one of the passengers. As Sam tells Mathias the legends of Himiko, Lara passes out; when she wakes, Mathias and Sam are gone. When Lara reunites with the other survivors, Whitman decides to break off from the main party with Lara and search for Roth, who is still missing, while the rest of the group (Reyes, Jonah, Alex, and Grim) look for Sam and Mathias.
As Lara and Whitman explore, they discover that the island's inhabitants are worshipping Himiko, confirming that the island is Yamatai. The two are captured by the islanders and taken to a settlement along with other survivors from the Endurance. When the survivors attempt an escape, the captors turn on them. Lara is separated from Whitman and is forced to kill one of her attackers. She locates an injured Roth, and using his equipment, she sets off for a communications relay at the very top of the mountain to contact the outside world and call for aid.
Escaping again, Lara stumbles upon a ritual chamber, where she learns that a "fire ritual" was used to choose the Sun Queen's successor as part of a ceremony called the "Ascension". A terrified Sam manages to contact Lara and informs her that the Solarii intends to put her through the fire ritual, which will burn her to death if unsuccessful. Lara fights her way through the Solarii fortress with help from Grim, who is killed after the Solarii captures him. With Roth's help, Lara infiltrates the palace and witnesses Mathias putting Sam through the fire ritual. Lara tries to save Sam, but she is overpowered by Mathias and his men. Sam is not harmed by the flames, which are extinguished by a great wind, marking her as Himiko's rightful successor.
She meets up with the other survivors, who have evaded the Solarii long enough to secure a boat that can be repaired and used to escape. They are joined by Whitman, who claims to have escaped, though Lara suspects him of working with the cultists. Lara heads for the wreck of the Endurance to meet up with Alex, who had previously gone there to salvage the tools needed to repair the boat. She finds him trapped under the wreckage, but Alex forces her to flee from Solarii cultists and sacrifices himself so Lara can escape with the tools.
After fighting her way through the queen's guards, Lara arrives at the top of the monastery in time to see Mathias start the Ascension ritual. She works her way to Mathias, confronting Solarii and guards alike. Lara kills Mathias when she shoots him from the roof of the monastery using her signature dual-wield style, before destroying Himiko's remains to save Sam. With the storms dispersed, Lara, Sam, Reyes, and Jonah leave the island and are picked up by a cargo ship. As she and her friends sail home, Lara decides that there are many more myths to be found and resolves to uncover them, stating that she is not returning home just yet.
Following Tomb Raider: Underworld, Crystal Dynamics was split into two teams; one beginning work on the next sequential pillar of the Tomb Raider franchise, the other focusing on the newly created spin-off Lara Croft series (debuting with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2010).[16] Following pre-announcement media hype while the game's title was under embargo, in November 2010, Square Enix filed for trademark of the slogan for the new Tomb Raider game; "A Survivor is Born".[17] Square Enix revealed in December that Tomb Raider was in production for nearly 2 years.[18] Studio head Darrell Gallagher said that the new title is unlike anything what was before, describing it as an origin story of Lara Croft and her journey on a new way.[19][5]
In January 2012, when asked if the game would be available on Nintendo's Wii U console, Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart responded that there were no plans to have the game available on that platform. According to Stewart, the reason for this was that "it would not be right" for the game to simply be ported, as the developers built the game to be platform-specific before the Wii U was announced, and also mentioned that if they started building the game for the platform, the team would have build it very differently and with unique functionality.[20] The multiplayer mode was created by Canadian video game development studio Eidos-Montral, known for making Deus Ex: Human Revolution.[13] That May, the game was delayed and was scheduled for the first quarter of 2013. Darrell Gallagher said that they were "doing things that are completely new" for this title and was the reason for delay.[21] The Definitive Edition framerate is unlocked on PlayStation 4, varying from 32 to 60fps (averaging 53.36fps). The Xbox One version is locked to 30fps (averaging 29.98fps); both versions of the game have a resolution of 1080p.[22][23]
Lara Croft's model is animated using compiled performance capture, a technique used in the previous installment Tomb Raider: Underworld.[24] The game was built on Crystal Dynamics' game engine called "Foundation".[25] Lara's face is based on that of model Megan Farquhar. "Turning Point" CGI teaser trailer premiered at the E3 held in June 2011, emphasizing the release date was to be in the third quarter of 2012.[26] The trailer was produced by Square Enix's CGI studio Visual Works.[27]
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