Tomb Raider (game, 1996)

Bizarre business lady Jacqueline Natla hires Lara Croft to search for the ancient artifact of Scion. The archaeologist goes on a mountain expedition to Peru, where he finds a secret entrance to the Inca’s home. Lara's guide dies from the attack of the wolves, and then she has to go alone. In the depths of the snowy caves, she finds Vilkabamba - "a city in the rock", where, according to legend, King Kualopeck is buried. His tomb is the location of Scion. At the exit from the tomb, Lara is met by another Natla mercenary - Larson. From him, Lara learns that the found artifact is only an integral part of the key to the gates of Atlantis. Lara goes to Natla’s office, where she finds out the whereabouts of the missing piece.

The second part of Scion is located in Greece, in the medieval monastery of St. Francis. There, Lara meets a rival - Pierre Dupont - the same "tomb raider" as she herself. In the ancient catacombs of the monastery, where the cultures of Christianity, ancient Greece and Scandinavia are intricately intertwined, Lara discovers the entrance to the tomb of Emperor Atlantis Tikhokan, where she deals with Pierre and takes away the second part of Scion. After reuniting the two pieces of the artifact, Lara sees a vision: Tikhokan and Kvalopek at the top of the pyramid judge the third member of the Triumvirate - their sister. So Lara learns that the third part of Scion in Egypt, where he goes in search of.

After finding and connecting all three parts, Lara again receives a vision: Natla turns out to be the sister of Tikhokan and Kvalopek. Each part of Scion - a sign of power - belonged to one of them, but Natla, who wanted to take control of the whole Scion (and therefore the whole world), upset the balance of forces and caused the death of Atlantis. For this, Tikhokan locked her in a block of ice and buried her in what is now New Mexico. Nowadays, during nuclear tests, Natla’s prison was damaged, and she got free.

Together with Natla’s accomplices, she finally finds Lara and takes all three parts of Scion from her, after which she orders her to be killed, but the girl manages to escape and take cover on Natla’s yacht. Arriving on an island in the middle of the ocean, an unarmed Lara tries to find Natla. Searches lead her to the foot of the Great Pyramid - the central structure of Atlantis. Having dealt with the mercenaries of Natla and finding her herself, Lara destroys her plans and breaks the car of Scion. The top of the pyramid explodes, and Lara barely manages to sail away from the island to a safe distance.

• Lara Croft. The first time it can be seen in the introductory video - Lara is in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Calcutta . Here (and further in the game) Lara is still very young - she looks (and in voice) no older than 20-25 years old. It is worth noting that the models of Lara in the commercials and in the game are quite different.
• Jacqueline Natla. One of the "trinity" of the rulers of Atlantis. In ancient times, using the power of Scion, Natla creates an army of bloodthirsty mutants, called, in her mind, to replace the "obsolete" race of people. For this crime, Tikhokan and Kvalopek (see below) deprived her of a piece of the talisman and was sentenced to imprisonment in an “ice prison” - a kind of folding disk. In the 20th century , thanks to the nuclear tests in Los Alamos , the disk prison broke down, and Natla was able to free herself. The story of Natla between defrosting and the moment she became president of Natla Technologies’s own corporation is unknown. Presumably Jacqueline Natla was killed by Lara inside the Great Pyramid in the territory of Atlantis buried under water.
• Larson. Mercenary and mediator Natla. By the manner of conversation, it is not difficult to guess about Larson’s extremely low intelligence, but his goal is not to persuade Lara, but to take away by force what he needs. He was killed by Lara in the Sanctuary of Heritage. Larson also appears in one of the later games in the series, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, which contains episodes of Lara’s past adventures.
• Pierre. Pierre is the same "tomb raider" as Lara, a self-employed - and, accordingly, her competitor. Sent by Natla in search of the second part of Scion to Greece. He was killed by Lara in the tomb of Tikhokan.
• Kvalopeck and Pacific. The rulers of Atlantis, sentenced Natla to imprisonment in an ice prison. The faces of Kvalopek and Tikhokan are hidden under robotic masks.

A feature of the Tomb Raider engine is the division of three-dimensional game space into blocks (squares), which are easy to notice when you carefully examine the levels. Nevertheless, a number of measures were taken by the developers, thanks to which the cubicity of the environment becomes not so noticeable - in particular, texturing, sprites and additional decorations are reasonably used ( English static meshes ). However, the “cubism” of the first Tomb Raider remained the “brand name” of the series until 2001 , since all subsequent games were based on the engine of this game (until Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness ).

The main task of the player in Tomb Raider is through intricate acrobatic techniques, as well as through manipulations with numerous switches and mechanisms to gain access to previously blocked level zones and finally move on to the next stage. In order to achieve this goal, the player is hindered by a variety of enemies (in the English TR- slang - baddies ) and ingenious traps (for example, “classic” pits with spikes, boulders and swinging blades). In addition to the main tasks in each level, an attentive player can find several secrets - well-hidden bonuses (first-aid kits, ammunition, etc.).

Unlike many modern arcades and platformers, almost all possible actions in Tomb Raider are carried out by the player manually, without help from the game engine. For example, in order to raise a certain object, use a switch or climb onto a ledge, a player needs to press a certain key or button on the keyboard (gamepad).

A significant difference between the versions for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn is the presence of checkpoints - save points, presented in the form of lilac crystals floating in the air, each of which can be used only once. The PC version allows you to save anywhere.

The Tomb Raider universe is represented by four chapters, each of which has its own atmosphere, color scheme, the nature of traps and opponents. The chapter, in turn, is divided into several independent levels - thus, in total, Tomb Raider contains fifteen unique stages (excluding the training mini-level).

Peru

The first chapter of Tomb Raider , in which Lara will penetrate deep into the ancient city of the Inca civilization - the famous settlement of Vilkabamba , the last refuge of the ancient empire. In addition, the Lost Valley - an isolated ecosystem , the last refuge of dinosaurs, will be an unexpected discovery for an archaeologist. In addition to them, among the enemies are wolves , bears and bats .

Levels:

1. Caves
2. City of Vilcabamba ( Vilkabamba city)
3. Lost Valley
4. Tomb of Qualopec (Tomb of Kvalopec)

Greece

The next scene is a medieval Catholic monastery , built on the ruins of an ancient Greek civilization. The small monastery building is just the tip of the iceberg from the many ancient catacombs hidden by the nearby mountain range. Among the enemies are gorillas , alligators and lions .

Levels:

1. St. Francis' Folly (Monastery of St. Francis )
2. Colosseum (Colosseum)
3. Palace of Midas ( Midas Palace)
4. Cictern (Tank)
5. Tomb of Tihocan (Tomb of Tikhokan)

Egypt

Near the Valley of the Kings, Lara finds the entrance to the poorly studied underground complex of ancient Egyptian structures, the center of which is the shrine of Scion. Here the player will encounter cougars , crocodiles , as well as animated mummies of the Atlanteans.

Levels:

1. City of Khamoon (Kamun Temple)
2. Obelisk of Khamoon (Obelisk Kamun)
3. Sanctuary of the Scion (Legacy Sanctuary)

Atlantis

A small island in the Atlantic Ocean is nothing but the summit of the Great Pyramid in Atlantis. Excavations of Natla allowed to penetrate deep into the dilapidated structure and bring its inhabitants back to life. It is the Great Pyramid - the place of the last confrontation of Lara and Natla.

Levels:

1. Natla's Mines (excavations of Natla)
2. Atlantis (Atlanta)
3. The Great Pyramid

One of the most notable features of the game is the epic instrumental soundtrack, authored by Nathan McCree . The music of Tomb Raider actively uses wind and string instruments (mainly harp ), as well as the choir . The main musical theme was so popular that it became a kind of anthem for the whole series and in one way or another appeared in all subsequent parts of the game (despite the fact that Nathan Makri left the post of composer after the release of Tomb Raider III ).

Preliminary work on Tomb Raider began back in 1995 , but the game saw the light of day only in 1996 . The development was carried out by Core Design (formerly CentreGold) and took a year and a half. Tomb Raider was created by six developers, and in the first place - Toby Garda (now the creator of the title creator Lara Croft) and Philip Campbell (the main level designer).

According to early drafts, the protagonist of the game was to become a classic male hero (examples of such heroes can be found in numerous FPS - for example, Doom , Quake , etc.), but as the development progressed it became clear that the solution-oriented Tomb Raider universe puzzles and performing atypical actions are much better aligned with the female character. As it turned out, the decision of Core to replace the hero with a heroine was fateful and significant.

The name and image of the main character changed during the development - from the original version of the name (Laura Cruz, Eng. Laura Cruz ), the developers refused because of its unattractiveness to the American audience. Lara’s character evolved from a cold, militaristic character to an intelligent but lively archaeologist (the closest analogue is Indiana Jones ).

Initially, the game was developed for the Sega Saturn, but the growing popularity of the Sony PlayStation made this platform a priority. In parallel, the development of the DOS version for the PC was going on. In 2003, the game was ported to the Nokia N-Gage handheld set-top box, and shortly after, the studio developer, Core Design, was closed and disbanded. The source code of the game was considered lost for a long time, but at the end of 2006, the French indie studio Realtech VR gained access to the personal archive of one of the developers ^[1] and in December 2013, by agreement with the publisher Square Enix, released the Tomb Raider port for iOS ^{[ 2]} , and a little later - for Android .

In 1998 , shortly after the release of Tomb Raider II , Tomb Raider was re-released for DOS and for the first time for Mac. This version, called Tomb Raider Gold in North America, and Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business in other countries, in addition to the original game contains four new levels in two additional chapters. These levels were created at the Eidos San Francisco office by Philip Campbell, Rebecca Shearin, and Gary LaRochelle. The first chapter of the game begins in Egypt a few months after the events of the original game. Lara returns to the city of Kamun to explore the mysterious statue of the Egyptian goddess Bast . The second chapter begins after the events of the original Tomb Raider, and ends with the destruction of the last traces of the Atlantean race.

For the PC version of Tomb Raider, amateurs released a patch replacing the textures of the model Lara Croft, popularly called Nude Raider. Later, Nude Raider became part of the folklore of the series - many players believed that there were official patches and codes to enable the "naked" mode.

Since the release of Tomb Raider has gained widespread success among players, with a circulation of 7 million copies worldwide ^[22] . In August 1998, the PC version received the status of “Platinum” (over 200 thousand copies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) according to the German entertainment software association Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD), the version for the PlayStation was “Gold” (over 100 thousand copies) ^{[23] [24]} .

The success of the game contributed to the overall success of the PlayStation console, becoming its hit ^[25] . Tomb Raider helped Eidos Interactive cope with financial problems, turning the loss of the previous financial year into profit in the current ^[26] . Having become one of the best-selling games for the PlayStation, Tomb Raider was one of the first to enter the PlayStation Platinum series and provided the release of the continuation of Tomb Raider II and the beginning of the franchise of the same name.

Criticism

Tomb Raider remains one of the most well-received games among the gaming press ^[22] . Critics enthusiastically spoke about the variability of the game and excellent control ^{[13] [14] [17] [27]} , revolutionary computer graphics ^{[6] [13] [17] [27]} , the breathtaking surroundings ^{[6] [13] [17]} and random battles designed to maintain the intensity of the plot ^{[14] [17] [28]} . Electronic Gaming Monthly called Tomb Raider “the best game for the PlayStation at the moment” ^[6] .

Some critics rated the version for the PlayStation higher than for Saturn ^{[14] [28]} , although others rated only the version for one of the platforms, noting that the differences between the PlayStation and Saturn editions are not significant ^{[17] [29]} .

Tomb Raider has received many Game of the Year awards from various publications ^[30] . Tomb Raider was the best game and 3D Action game of 1996 according to " Computer Games Strategy Plus " ^[31] . In addition, the game became a finalist of many awards of various publications: “The Best Action Game of 1996” according to CNET Gamecenter (lost to Quake ) ^[32] , “Game of the Year for PlayStation” (lost to Tekken 2 ) and “Game of the Year for Saturn” ( lost to Dragon Force ) according to Electronic Gaming Monthly ^[33] .

In 1998, Tomb Raider received the Origins Award in the category "Best Action Computer Game of 1997" ^[34] . The main character of the game Lara Croft has gained great popularity, having got on the covers of various non-gaming magazines.

In 1998, PC Gamer placed the game at 47th place on the list of the best computer games ever created ^[35] . In 2001, Game Informer placed the game at 86th place on the list of the best computer games ever created ^[36] . The level of presentation of the plot, combined with atmospheric music and great graphics were unprecedented at that time ^{[37] [38]} .

However, Tomb Raider received some criticism for the inconvenient camera and software errors ^[39] .

Russian Press Reviews

Reviewer of Igromania magazine Alexander Bashkirov, considering the game 15 years after the release, said that the original Tomb Raider does not have many positive features. The critic praised the fully three-dimensional engine and a good level design, as well as an impressive protagonist. The gameplay, the main feature of which was acrobatics, in the opinion of the reviewer, looked very awkward and boring compared to the Super Mario 64 project. In addition, non-obvious cornices and inconveniently located levers are caused, according to the author, by the negligence of the developers. Regarding the graphic component, it was said that “... in our time, we need a certain imagination to see lush tombs, crystal waterfalls and the delights of a polygonal top model in swaying greenish-brown polygons” ^[40] .

Yuri Pomortsev, a columnist for Game Country magazine, said the Tomb Raider game is a hit that will go down in history or at least leave a mark on the computer horizon. In his opinion, the main reason for the success of the project was the genre affiliation of the game - a third-person shooter. The critic also praised the excellent rendering of details, vibrant textures, a colorful, highly detailed game world. The author was extremely impressed by the fact that the main character of the story was the girl Lara Croft - pretty, trained and possessing a “fearless heart”. The reviewer noted the presence of smooth animation, high-quality vector graphics, colorful clips, nice puzzles and convenient controls. “Mysterious” and “romantic” locations were especially praised. The only annoying omission critic considered the lack of multiplayer ^[41] .

Ten years later, a remake of the original game was developed and released. The plot and level design almost exactly repeats the first part, but the new engine gives the graphics of a new generation. Also added some new gameplay elements that do not directly affect the progress of the game. The levels have become shorter, removed many of the moments from the game that do not affect the plot.

This game has become part of the new chronology of the series of games about Lara Croft, along with the previous one - Tomb Raider: Legend and the subsequent game Tomb Raider: Underworld .

• Tombraider.com (English) - the official website of the series
• LaraCroft.ru (Russian) - Lara Croft in Russia
• TombRaider.ru (rus.) - Russian-language site
• CroftNotes.ru (Russian) - Guiding Notes