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Eidos Interactive and Core Design give us the return of the world’s most famous video game character: Lara Croft.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

The return of Lara Croft – but is this a new Lara for a new generation? The plot for the latest outing for the English Adventuress Ms. Croft sets her up against terror from the dawn of time.

A series of grisly murders brings Lara into conflict with a sinister alchemist from the past, and a secret alliance of powerful individuals shrouded in mystery. At the centre of this conflict are five 14th century paintings – the Obscura Paintings, which the alchemist is desperate to repossess.

Arriving in Paris to find a city in fear. Lara finds herself accused of the murder of her one time mentor Von Croy and has no option but to go on the run. Pursued by the police, she is drawn into a dark world of blood, betrayal and vengeance spanning across hundreds of years. It falls to our heroine to defeat this unholy alliance and stop them from unleashing their incredible powers on the world.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness sets the player against much more evolved characters and situations than ever before, which also calling for more involved and thoughtful decision-making. The player must traverse an intricately detailed world, from the back streets of Paris to the hellish depths of Prague. The character of Lara has changed somewhat since her experiences in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation , her last adventure. She has become darker, harder, and less tolerant, her tomb raiding days a distant memory.

New Player

Encountering a kindred spirit in the form of Kurtis Trent - a hardened adventurer like herself - who is also in pursuit of Eckhardt. In her struggle to unravel the trail left by Von Croy, Lara becomes involved in underworld deals, grotesque murders, the dark side of an advanced form of alchemy and a history of blood, betrayal and vengeance spanning across hundreds of years. Business as usual for our Lara then!

This latest instalment in the continuing adventures of the gaming world’s most athletic - and certainly most oddly proportioned - archaeologist is classic stuff. This time however, Lara is both hunter and hunted, adding a new twist to the storyline. The game introduces a whole host of new gameplay features - including giving Lara the ability to interact with other characters - and the capacity for players to improve Lara’s abilities depending on how they play the game.

Employing a brand new engine built to fully utilise the power of PlayStation 2 and the latest PC graphics cards, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is Lara’s fastest and most complicated adventure yet. As an example of the increased resolution this gives, Lara Croft herself is now made up of over 5,000 polygons, as opposed to just 500 in previous Tomb Raider games.

Principle Game Features

Character evolution –you can improve Lara’s abilities depending on how you play the game. You are rewarded for puzzle solving and exploration in the form of improvements to Lara’s jumping ability, brainpower, upper body strength etc.

Character interaction – for the very first time in any Tomb Raider game, Lara has the ability to talk to the characters she encounters in the course of her adventures. The choices made in conversations will affect Lara’s route through the game.

Strong narrative that drives Lara through the game, with sub-plots that emerge through the course of the game and detailed character histories.

Cutting edge graphics – The brand new engine has been designed to fully utilise the power of the latest PC graphics cards and of the PlayStation 2 console. A more detailed Lara features alongside spectacular graphical effects, including weather, lighting and highly reflective maps.

A massively improved animation system – Lara now has more than 180 incredibly fluid animations, as opposed to 25 in the previous Tomb Raider games.

Brand new control system – allowing much more direct control over Lara. The previous ‘grid-based’ control system has been replaced with a much more intuitive system.

New range of moves – including hand-to-hand combat, stealth mode, ‘last-chance’ grab etc.

New playable character – Kurtis Trent - with his own distinctive moves and gameplay mechanics.

New Lara, New Attitude!

Adrian Smith, Operations Director at Core Design says, "Our vision is to take the player somewhere dark, a place they might not necessarily wish to go, but a place they will have to venture if they are to bring Lara back. Lara will have some tough moral choices to make. It’s no longer a clear-cut case of good versus evil - this is a more complex tale, which will ask more complex questions of the player. It will be a new experience for people who have played Tomb Raider in the past."

See also on Lifesyle:

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

Readers Of The Lost Archive - Piggyback - publishers of official game guides - have announced it will publish the definitive companion to Eidos's hotly-anticipated new Tomb Raider game.

Lady Croft Returns - The second installment in the cinema incarnation of ace video game series Tomb Raider takes our heroine to the very source of life itself.

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is available to buy from November on PlayStation 2 and PC formats. A Lara Croft live action feature film starring Angelina Jolie - Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is available on DVD now.

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