As a rare evergreen tree in the gaming world, the Tomb Raider series from 1996 to the present has accompanied us for 25 years. In this ever-changing industry, not actively innovating and changing means death and decline, and the old IP that can accompany players for decades can still have strong vitality until now, all of which have undergone restarts and changes ("God of War" series, "Fallout" series, "Resident Evil" series). What is the core of the genes of the Tomb Raider series, and what helps it stand out? Let's go back to November 1996 and look back at the past and present lives of this series.
Blockbuster
The Tomb Raider series was developed and produced by the "Core Design" studio founded in 1988, and although the studio closed in 2010, it was talented at the time, relaxed and communicative, and more like a society than a game studio, full of artistic and technical speculation. In 1996, they were acquired by Edios, a company that had just entered the game industry, and took over the development of the first project, which immediately became a global hit, which was Tomb Raider. The original 7 million copies were enough to illustrate how successful the game was at the time, and Laura became the face of the video game.
Eidos has now been acquired by SE
The success of the original Tomb Raider cannot be separated from two main factors:
1. Advanced and excellent 3D expression technology and levels
2. Lara's natural advantage as a female character in the theme of adventure
It's hard to judge what 1996 was, but the times and sales speak volumes for the groundbreaking success of Tomb Raider. In the last century of the horizontal board pass reel, in a 3D game can run, jump, shoot, decrypt and run stably. No other reason is needed, this is a good, avant-garde, highly technical game. You know, at that time, Nintendo had just launched its first 3D Mario game "Super Mario 64". The technical excellence continues to this day, the series of game engines is strong, the optimization is excellent, Tomb Raider: Shadow is also the first game to support light-chasing technology (edios engine does not consider commercialization?). ）。
More importantly, "Tomb Raider" created the first heroine in the history of video games, and the theme was the mainstream theme at that time - adventure decryption. The collision and contrast between female characters and male professions has made the image of Laura an insurmountable peak in the history of video games. For a time, Laura almost became the spokesperson for video games, and also successfully cooperated with magazines and clothing. Edios is also very clever, squeezing the value of Laura's character in the development and cooperation of the ip sequel afterwards. Indeed, there are very few games that, like Tomb Raider, have almost all of their resources focused on one person. In the world of gaming, perhaps only Mario can touch Laura in name only.
▲ The original Laura image, the game is a triangle chest, but the poster is not ~
In short, the above two points laid the foundation of the Tomb Raider series, and are also the tradition and bloodline of the series to this day. The technical ability and level design of the Tomb Raider series have always been in the first echelon, and the classic image of Laura continues to this day. It's normal not to have played Tomb Raider, but it's normal not to hear of LauraCraft.
Stagnant
After the first generation tasted the sweetness, Edios naturally asked the CD to hit the iron while it was hot. Although the construction period was tight, in just one year, CD handed over "Tomb Raider 2: Xi'an Dagger". Compared with the previous game, there is no breakthrough innovation, the basic exploration framework, game mode and combat system have not changed at all, just add bricks and tiles to the props and maps, but thanks to the huge appeal of Laura's character, sales quickly surpassed a generation and achieved success.
▲ Doujin uses the demo of "Tomb Raider 2: Remake" produced by Unreal 4, the process is about 40 minutes, and those who want to taste the old tomb must play it, which has the taste of the original
The work has continued to be the same since then, under the pressure of Edios, the Tomb Raider series has been produced in the form of new year goods until the fifth part, which has overwhelmed the staff of the CD, and their love for Laura has gradually worn away under the pressure of capital. In the fourth generation of Tomb Raider 4: The Final Revelation, CD's initial idea was to write Laura to death (Akira Toriyama directly called the insider) to bring the series to a successful conclusion. But Edios certainly wouldn't agree, and Laura eventually escaped death in Egypt. The fourth part, the final creator of the original Tomb Raider series, combines the action elements of decryption, gunfights and driving, and the plot and performance have reached the peak of the series.
▲ The 4th generation is the collection of the ancient version of the tomb, and if you want to experience the gameplay of the first generation of the tomb, you can play the fourth generation
From the beginning of the series in 1996 to the "Tomb Raider 5: Chronicles" in 2000, the entire series has almost no substantive breakthrough in gameplay, and only the scene has changed. At the same time, although the narrative of the tomb series has accumulated in the past five years and the story has been spread layer by layer, the connection between the works is too little and the depth is too poor. Laura's character is still on the surface, and what people care about about laura is not her inner change and growth in this character, but what clothes she wears and whose voice she changes. Laura's character is still the calm, determined goddess of war. After five years of worldview and characterization, it is still stagnant.
Change of dynasty
The sixth "Tomb Raider: Dark Angel" was developed for three years before it was released, during which the development process was very chaotic, and the departure of the creator made the positioning of the work unclear. Tomb 6 has an inexplicable mirror and a dull and dull operation feel, and the scene of the whole story also takes place in the city rather than the wilderness tomb. These shortcomings are fatal for this series.
At the same time, we can also see the traces of CD studios' desire to reform. The beginning of the game has the elements of RPG, with a certain growth system, carrying things or pushing boxes can increase Lara's physical strength, and after upgrading, you can climb and jump to some areas. However, the new system is too blunt and mandatory in the game process, but it adds many restrictions to the game, and at the same time it is very counterintuitive. The growth system is always limited to the framework of decryption, and the whole game still does not jump out of the scope of action decryption. This made the sixth installment the most failed in the series, with the game eventually selling 2.5 million copies. The CD reform failed, which was also the last song of the Core Design version of Laura.
▲ Six generations of Laura image
The studio had pinned their hopes of restarting the entire series on the sixth part, planning to produce a new trilogy. But after such a failure, in 2003, Edios handed over the production of the game to another studio, Crystal Dynamics. The Laura we see now is from this studio. The CD didn't have any good work after that until it was disbanded in 2010.
▲ Crystal Power, now also known as CD
Prior to the well-known Tomb Raider 9, the company produced three series of works, namely Tomb Raider 7: Legends, Tomb Raider 1: Remake, and Tomb Raider 8: Underworld, which are interconnected to form Laura's "Mother-Seeking Trilogy.". All three were maintained at a good level, salvaging the reputation of the series that collapsed since six generations. In particular, the remake of a generation has received high praise (but there is a saying that the decryption of this part is really too difficult, and it is basically impossible to pass without looking at the raiders).
▲ The 10th anniversary remake of Tomb Raider adopts the engine reset of Tomb Raider 7, which is very stunning in 2006 and has won unanimous praise from players
Compared with the previous work on THE CD, the most significant change in the work is the deepening of the excavation of the character of Laura, and the most important family and origin can be completed (this setting is still used in the new trilogy and continues to excavate). Laura's image has also changed greatly, the past twist flower has become a medium ponytail, the curve of the face is also soft, no longer as narrow and tough as in the past, Laura in this period has begun to change from "superman" to "human". The market has proved that this direction is correct. Under the condition of ensuring that the operation is optimized and the gameplay remains unchanged, the sales of all three films have reached expectations. Crystal Power eventually completed the characterization of Lara in the girlhood in the new trilogy later, while breaking the pure decryption gameplay framework.
▲ Mother-seeking trilogy
Back to the top
In 2009, after the events of Uncharted 2 winning GOTY and Edios being acquired by SE. Crystal Power finally decided to reboot the series and settled down to develop it for five years, until March 2013, when it came up with the new Tomb Raider 9. The excellence and importance of this work is second only to the first work of the series (the name is not subtitled as in the past, but like the first part, only "Tomb Raider", which shows that the series has restarted and is determined. Players call Tomb Raider 9 just to make it easier to distinguish). In terms of sales, it also created the highest peak of the series, creating 11 million sales worldwide in 2017, and laying the core of the new Tomb Raider's gameplay and plot framework, and the subsequent "rise" and "shadow" continued to unfold on this basis.
▲The media score of the new tomb is also the highest in history
The difficulty and proportion of exploration and decryption in the old tomb period are greatly reduced in the new tomb. The key points of map decryption in the previous game are hidden in the environment, regardless of the materials and puzzles without marker hints, and it is entirely up to the player to discover them. Although the puzzles in the new tomb are also ingenious, the difficulty is greatly reduced thanks to the white markings. At the same time, combat accounts for at least half of the game's time, which is unimaginable in the previous games in the series.
As the highlight of the new work, the battle system of the tomb is undoubtedly very good, and the diversity and strategy of weapons are guaranteed. The feel and characteristics of various weapons have been pinched just right, and the series's signature double guns have been replaced with bows and arrows that are more suitable for desert island environments. With the introduction of the character's growth system, Lara can finally upgrade her skills and modify her weapons. This makes the growth element of the game the same important presence as decryption. Crystal Power, a reform that CD had never done, did, and the series was revived.
▲ New RPG+ battles, let the series come back to life
Not only that, the performance and plot of Tomb Raider 9 also reached the peak of the series, not only surpassing the previous game, but also higher than "Rise" and "Shadow". Laura's image is so vivid for the first time, and the players play Tomb Raider for the first time are so scared, touched and nervous. Crystal Power deeply portrays how Laura has gradually grown from a college student, experiencing inner struggles and tasting the taste of grief, and gradually growing into a warrior. While this was complained about because Laura killed too many people, the series's excellent performances and the sinister atmosphere of the evil horse platform masked these problems.
▲The scene of the Ninth Generation is more gloomy, and the atmosphere is the most eerie
Two years later, the tenth part was launched, and on the basis of the ninth part, it had better pictures, more tomb exploration and a more complete combat system. However, the sense of plot substitution is quite different from the previous game. In "Shadows", these problems become more and more serious, and the sophisticated pictures and majestic performances form a sharp contrast with the thin and boring plot, which has become the lowest rated work in the trilogy. But in any case, the trilogy more completely presents the character of Lara, from childhood to middle-aged and young adulthood. But the transformation of game content from decryption to combat inevitably creates some problems. This series is undoubtedly in the first-line game echelon, but it has never been able to become a "god work", the main reason is the conflict between the new tomb in the plot setting.
Where is the road
The above-mentioned Lara kills too many people and is complained about, which seems to be a brush stroke, but in fact, it is a very serious position problem, which directly affects the sense of substitution and player evaluation of the "Tomb Raider" series.
There is nothing wrong with the status of archaeologist when expeditions are the main game content, but when the game content becomes combat, this murderous behavior will conflict with Laura's own character position (correspondingly, see the treatment of the archaeologist's image behavior in The Adventures of Jackie Chan). This is especially evident in "Shadows", where Laura kills a large number of people almost in a commotion, inexplicably blackening and inexplicably recovering. The plot has no depth at all. In addition, unlike the treasure hunter Drake, archaeologist Laura does not feel right where to go to the player. It seems that Laura is like a murderous maniac + ruin destroyer in the name of treasure hunting.
▲ Small scenes, brothers
The characters and worldview of the game are very important in the combat game, especially when the act of "killing" is carried out, which means the ultimate contradictory and antagonistic performance, and the explanation of the character and world view must not be lacking behind it. That's why so many games kill monsters (resident evil, DOOM, Dead Space, The Witcher, etc.). In the game of killing, the contradictions and confrontations of people who fight each other are extreme and irreconcilable: FPS has an important background of war; in the "Killer" series, killing is the task of the protagonist; in "Big Cousin", it is the outlaw who shoots and kills; in "Watchdog", it is the judicial sanctioner who robs the rich and the poor; "Far Cry" and "Radiation" These are all apocalyptic backgrounds, and also add a system such as moral value to restrain the player's behavior, and such games often have a deep discussion of social morality and humanistic emotional issues.
▲ The "Fallout" series is also a work that has been reborn after the restart, from CRPG to a future version of the old roll. Such reforms, like Tomb Raider, have caused dissatisfaction among old fans
And Tomb Raider lacks the contradiction of these things. The sense of discord in the ninth generation is not strong precisely because Laura is placed on a desert island and is not bound by morality. In "Rise" and "Shadow", Laura's treasure hunting motives and the opposition of "Holy Trinity" are not so strong and pure, and there is no need to kill at all. Under the condition that the gameplay and map design are becoming more mature, this fundamental conflict of settings has become the core problem of the Tomb Raider series. In Tomb Raider: Shadow, there are many people who hate Laura's approach, which is very dangerous for the entire IP.
▲ New version of the trilogy
In short, the new tomb embarked on the road of game film and television, focusing on the performance of scenes and battles. This is the path that most games have taken, and it is the trend of the times for AAA masterpieces. God of War 4 proves how far this direction can go, but the Tomb series still lacks a solid script to this day, and it has not yet resolved the core contradictions in its own background setting. I'm looking forward to seeing the next work in the series solve this problem, whether it's weakening Lara's social positioning or changing the focus on gameplay, it's up to SE and Crystal to decide.
▲ The ninth generation is also recognized as the most beautiful Laura
Speaking of the history of the series and some shortcomings, overall, the Tomb Raider series is an excellent work and definitely worth the player to experience and play. Perhaps the pure decryption of the past is a bit outdated, but exploring quietly is also a different flavor than suddenly bursting in a tense atmosphere. You can get a feel for the original Laura in the 2nd generation remake. And the new tomb as the epic plus fifteen finale gift, friends who have not played the series of works can take this opportunity to experience the charm of Laura's sister herself who has accompanied us for 26 years (it is estimated that the old player will call her Laura sister). If you don't care about the picture quality, the ninth part must be your best choice, which is also the most real and beautiful Laura in the series.