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And what a view it is! It’s almost time for fresh adventures - and a new look - for Eidos games ultra-babe: Lara Croft.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend

Probably the world's best-known digital entertainment icon gets a fresh start from a new team. It’s time for a new look and new adventures for Eidos ultra-babe: Lara Croft.

Eidos, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, today reveals the first details, including title, in-game character model and brand direction, of the next adventure for video gamings' leading lady. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend is grounded in Lara Croft's tomb raiding roots and built to challenge even the most accomplished serial adventurer.

Who is Lara Croft?

"In setting the stage for the Tomb Raider franchise moving forward, we took ourselves back to Lara's origins, asked ourselves the hard questions and challenged ourselves to think differently," said Chip Blundell, vice president of brand marketing, Eidos Inc. "Who is Lara Croft? What makes her tick? How is she relevant today? Only by answering these questions could we ensure that gamers get the experience they deserve with the character they love."

Eighteen months ago, Tomb Raider team members at Crystal Dynamics embarked on their own quest to rediscover Lara Croft. During their soul-searching mission, they unearthed past consumer surveys, conducted new research, re-read every game review, listened to lots of passionate pleas and opinions from gamers and re-played through every Tomb Raider product. From this introspection and open-minded search for a fresh perspective, Tomb Raider: Legend was born.

As a result, Eidos is evolving the brand while building on the original values of compelling character and suspense-filled adventure gameplay. Crystal Dynamics has brought together the biggest and most diverse development team in Tomb Raider history and recruited Lara Croft's original creator Toby Gard as the lead character designer.

"Even before the first title launched, Lara Croft had to fight her way into the Tomb Raider franchise, since at the time most game characters were muscle-bound blokes," said Gard. "The Lara Croft character is resilient and totally unstoppable. In Tomb Raider: Legend, we explore these core personality traits and reveal the Lara Croft gamers have been waiting to see."

Animated Expressions

Tomb Raider: Legend revives the athletic, intelligent and entertaining adventurer who won the hearts and minds of gamers worldwide. Lara comes alive with intricately animated expressions, moves and abilities. An arsenal of modern equipment, such as a magnetic grappling device, binoculars, fragmentation grenades, personal lighting device and communications equipment, allows gamers to experience tomb raiding as never before.

Eidos and Crystal Dynamics shaped Lara's look and movements to be an inherent extension of her skills, motivation and personality. Lara's character model features natural structure, realistic textures, detailed facial features, reactive eyes and fluid motion, all of which make her part of a living environment.

New character animations and controls allow her to move through stunning environments with grace and precision, while an understanding of the game's original appeal reinvigorates the fundamental explore-and-solve adventure experience.

To tie-in with the release of the new game a handbook for players is being published by Piggyback in the UK: Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend – The Official Guide.

Tomb Raider: Legend is slated for release on the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, PC and the Xbox video game system from Microsoft. The former Tomb Raider titles are all still available, including Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation. The release date for the new Tomb Raider: Legend is still to be announced.

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