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For mainstream pundits, Tomb Raider was a classic overnight sensation. One day there was Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog, the next there was Lara Croft - pointy-breasted herald of the 32bit generation. Even within the industry, no-one knew just how big a sensation it would be. But when Play visited Core Design's office in mid-'96, the potential was as obvious as the enthusiasm of its creators.
Resident Evil? - PAH! Core Design has a new game and it's going to wipe the rabid froth from RE's lips and then kick it into touch. To understand why you should be getting excited over this hitherto unknown game, consider this:Tomb Raider is bigger, faster and cleverer than Capcom's spooky classic. It contains more traps and puzzles, has a better looking central character, and is as playable as Mario 64. HELLO, BOYS! Tomb Raider is a 3-D adventure game featuring Lara Croft, an English explorer whose lifelong quest is to find an artefact called The Scion. To do this she must explore ten labyrinths located around the world, ranging from Aztec jungles to Egyptian ruins. It's no place for a girlie you might think, but Lara's made from tougher stuff than most. She also has a pair of rapid firing pistols, a torch and quite the most lethal pointy breasts this side of Madonna. |
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"Not at all – everything was contemporary, although there was a game on the Spectrum that actually used the same perspective as TR. Imagine that, a first person perspective game in the mid Eighties."
"No way," PlayStation programmer Paul Douglas exclaims. "Yeah. It was called, Mask of something. (I Of The Mask was developed in 1985 by Sandy White and Angela Sutherland) Amazing idea, haven't seen it for ages though." |
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The walls in the programming den are plastered with hundreds of sketches, photos and photocopies of many different temples, ziggurats and pyramidal structures spanning every conceivable ancient civilisation. These are the basis of inspiration for the complex labyrinths that make up Tomb Raider's ten levels. The ideas behind Lara Croft are, however, somewhat less elevated. Gard admits one drawback of the game's perspective is "that for most of the game you are looking at the character's backside. I thought it would be more preferable to look at the rear of a nubile young woman than a muscley bloke [hoots of agreement from the rest of the team] and I also wanted the game to stand out from the crowd."
Core Design executives initially resisted this idea- aside from short-skirted, high-kicking beat-'em-up babes, the number of female videogame characters is not extensive - but Gard aped his heroine and stuck to his guns. It was a crucial victory, but what of the inspiration for the look of his fiesty, pointy, athletic woman with a pair of cripplingly tight hotpants and a crop-top. Surely there are hints of Pamela Anderson in there, or even Tank Girl perhaps? "Lara's not based on anyone in particular," explains Gard, "certainly not Pamela Anderson or Tank Girl, although the similarities are there because she's a fit looking girl. I'd say she's more Sandra Bullock than Pamela Anderson; feisty, but with a brain." |
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Apart from the 3-D engine, which conveys the depth and menace of the levels perfectly, the most impressive thing about TR is the animation on Lara and the many creatures/characters she faces. I'm told that the polygon count on Lara is upwards of 4,000 which certainly accounts for the detail and number of moves she seamlessly breaks into, but what's really amazing is that she is not motion captured – it's all animation. Toby Gard started with Lara first and it has certainly paid dividends because the animation is so smooth, you'd swear that it was done using the old ping pong ball in a laser beam trick.
"She doesn't do things that look wrong," Gard is proud of his work, with good reason. "All the animation is entirely realistic. I wanted to give her grace as well as include all the frenetic action of a John Woo movie." Lara runs, side-steps, somersaults, backflips, dives, falls, grabs onto ledges by the tip of her fingernails, and swims with all the fluidity of a real person. Words cannot describe how sensational the effect is, you really have to see it in action to believe it. It all goes to make Tomb Raider one of the best looking games there is. |
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