Tomb Raider Out Today: The Long and Winding Road

111 0
Tomb Raider Out Today: The Long and Winding Road

Tomb Raider for PS3

Crystal Dynamics – where the Tomb Raider team works – can be found in a complex at the end of a long road in Redwood City in San Francisco. Without laboring the comparison, Tomb Raider’s journey from inception to being in stores today has some similarities. You exit a freeway – in our case the conventional expectations of what Tomb Raider should be, you negotiate a lengthy curve (securing support for a bold new direction), negotiate through the stop signs of constant testing and second guessing before finally enjoying what appears to be a smooth home stretch.

Here’s where my comparison breaks down however. While the Crystal team has learned to watch their velocity on approach to avoid speed tickets, Tomb Raider on the other hand has hit the gas and enjoyed a breakneck ride in the past few months to launch. It’s a clichéd term but it truly has been a rollercoaster ride for the team – an unforgettable one – to get to this point.

There’s a reason why we have been using the hashtag #Reborn to accompany all our discussion of Tomb Raider at launch. It truly does represent a new beginning for one of gaming’s most beloved franchises and protagonists. We wanted to make Lara Croft a real, relatable person – prone to the doubts and setbacks we all occasionally experience. What truly sets Lara aside from the average Joe on the street isn’t her biceps, her appearance or what firearm she carries – it’s force of will. Absolute power is compelling in theory but boring in execution – especially in a game. Will to power – or more accurately in Lara’s case, will to live – is the distinction we celebrate with in Tomb Raider.

Tomb Raider for PS3

Under the watchful eyes of the Tomb Raider community we’ve created an experience that tells a truly gripping origin story for Lara Croft, while including best of class combat, an elegant control system that makes traversal second nature, and a living breathing island setting that is not only gorgeous to look at, but perilous at every turn. We didn’t forget about exploration either – with tomb raiding being important both in the game’s critical path as well as forming one of the integral parts of multitudes of diversions on offer. But I’ll let you discover that for yourself.

It’s been my privilege to work alongside a truly dedicated and committed team at Crystal Dynamics. There’s an awe-inspiring level of passion that has gone into crafting this game from our home team as well as our valued colleagues at Eidos Montreal, who worked on the game’s multiplayer. So many people have been integral in the game reaching stores, however, it would be remiss of me not to draw attention to our head of studio, Darrell Gallagher, who has driven the game and pushed the Crystal team from day one to deliver something truly special.

Revisiting my analogy up top: Tomb Raider may have reached its destination, but by no means is it the end of the road. As any Crystal staffer can tell you – the road doesn’t end at Crystal – it loops all the way around. The final verdict on whether we’ve succeeded is a more personal one – but the early indications are we might have struck the right chord. The Tomb Raider community would expect no less from us than absolute commitment to excellence, and neither would we as a studio tolerate less.

In addition to all of this, I am delighted to announce that Tomb Raider is a day 1 download on PSN — you’ll be able to grab it as soon as PlayStation Store updates today.

I sincerely hope you enjoy your time with Tomb Raider. Let us know what you think – we’ll be listening.

Comments are closed.

111 Comments

  • This game looks amazing. Counting down the minutes ’til I leave work and get to play it. #REBORN

  • getting naruto :/

  • I’m so excited! Update the store!!

  • put lara croft naked in this and ill change my mind XD Jk jk

  • Thank you Sony!! Can’t wait to download new Tomb Raider! Great news!

  • I love the game play and screenshots of this game it looks amazing hopefully I will be able to play this game soon. It seems like to me at least that the Tomb Raider game has been taken to a whole new direction. It doesn’t look anything like previous Tomb Raiders.

  • I’m getting it on PC since I can carry it over to my new PC, right?

  • So how long do we have to wait for you guys to make a Tomb Raider game instead of just an Uncharted knockoff? Another four years?

    Another Guardian of Light might be nice, too.

  • Day 1 Digital Release!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!

  • Picked Naruto over this but will definitely rent this.

  • Any chance of a bikini Lara Croft DLC? :)

  • And if we buy it on PSN that means we’ll get $10 back April 12th around. Not bad at all.

  • DAY 1 DIGITAL TOMB RAIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONSIDER IT BOUGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Lara Croft for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

    Make it happen!

  • Thanks i will buy!
    How big is the game? I have a limited hard drive as a plus user :)

  • Bought a copy this morning (physical media for me), can’t wait to pop it into the PS3 later tonight!

  • Can u re-release Tomb Raider: Chronicles on the North American PSN. Europe has had it for a long time along with Gex: Enter the Gecko and the two Fear Effect games. Would make a lot of us over here in NA happy.

  • I’m fairly excited for this game. Looks incredibly promising.

    I have to say though: Was it necessary to make it so ungodly violent? I mean, I personally don’t mind gun, or the fact that she gets hurt every now and again. It is a story of “overcoming” after all. But her getting impaled through the neck as a failed QTE-like response just seems so… excessive.

  • Hey Crystal Dynamics now that you’re done with this game how about making a Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver game now

  • 360 version got exclusive content. Will it ever reach Playstation owners?

  • Ordered it from Gamestop….Now I Just Gotta WAIT till they deliver it but the wait will be worth it.

  • I hope there is demo…I’d like to try it out before I commit to buy it.

    Looks pretty cool from what I’ve seen so far though. :)

  • WHAT!? If I new it’d be on PSN, I would’nt have bought it from Gamestop, and instead used that 60 bucks on PSN cards. Grrrrrrrrrrr…

  • Playing it know a lot better then any of the other ones.

  • Thank you Karl and the rest of the Crystal Dynamics team! I’m glad you guys kept with continuing Tomb Raider development after TR: Underworld. I can’t wait to play this! The past couple of months really shows I’ll enjoy this. I was worried throughout the course of when the game was announced, but all behind now! Hopefully I’ll have my Collector’s Edition of Tomb Raider in the mail tomorrow. Been spending today playing the past TR games on the original PlayStation, it’s all about PlayStation! :) Thanks again guys!

  • @22 they said no demo because it would reveal to much of the story.

    @23 don’t buy a PSN card, use a credit card and you’ll qualify for a $10 credit. Plus digital purchases have no tax. So it’s almost $20 you’ll save. And it works on 2 systems woot

  • All ready bought Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires and waiting for God of War Ascension. No money for you square , the only game you have put out this gen that is good was just cause 2 .

    Not to mention you still have not put out Final Fantasy Versus 13

  • I picked up my CE of the game, the figure is Awesome, anyways, just waiting for the store to update to play it with my pre- order dlc. ;)

  • The game is far from an Uncharted knock-off.

  • Sweet, buying this as soon as the store updates!

  • This game is going to suck PERIOD

  • Tomb Raider deserves a GOTY nomination spot. It’s seriously good, people :)

  • I have been excited about a new TR since it was announced years ago, long before watching Conan’s hilarious review. Will pick up my pre-order after work today. Although I’m currently building dream homes in Skyrim, Tomb Raider will jump to the front of my very, very big backlog pile.

  • @31 No it won’t

  • I got my CE from Amazon today and I got the dlc codes from the Scavenger Hunt game as well ;).

  • @11 I would be all for that outfit ha ha

  • Enjoy the game, tools. 8]

  • “We wanted to make Lara Croft a real, relatable person – who becomes the perfect killing machine within minutes into the story. What truly sets Lara aside from the average Joe on the street isn’t her biceps – but the killer instinct that compels her to stab, blow brains out, and unscrew heads all in a Tarantino-esque festival of gruesome annihilation of anything that crosses her path.”

    That’s how I read it anyway.

    Oh, and cut the crap already Karl Stewart, you know the game you made.

  • I’ve been a Tomb Raider fan since TR1 on the Sega Saturn, and I’ve been through a lot a crap during the series lifetime (Angel of Darkness, Underworld).

    But this reboot… nope. I feel nothing for it. Looks like a poor man’s rip-off of the Uncharted formula. Definitely not the direction I expected for a Tomb Raider game — you know, a game where you actually explore tombs. Why call it Tomb Raider at all? For the cheap marketing hype?

  • I want the Dead Space 3 DLC!!! UPDATE THE STORE ALREADY!!!

  • @39 it’s not an Uncharted ripoff at all so, you are wrong.

  • SocialClimber_85

    My CE shipped yesterday I hope to have it by tomorrow.

  • Why am I doing over the top execution kills on people in a Tomb Raider game? It’s kinda disappointing. I can tell a lot of work was put into the game but I think the plot was lost a little bit as to just what makes a Tomb Raider game. You’ve created a game that doesn’t do much to set itself apart, it really feels like any other 3rd person shooter now which is just kinda sad. Multiplayer is fine but why is it just death match stuff? Why wasn’t the game built for exploring with Co-Op? How cool would it have been to explore and discover huge tombs with your friends & fight off a t-rex together or something?

  • Read a non-bias review of the game: the story is good, the MP is very repetitive and dull, and the classic Lara Croft blend was replaced as a third person shooter. Maybe I will rent it.

  • @23 Who is your avatar, she is adorable.

  • I pre ordered the PC version, Surviver Edition, so 12 am EST I started playing this morning
    It is a great game, never really got into Tomb Raider til last few games and love this 1
    might get PS3 version also someday
    if anyone has PC and the steam verasion or plan to get Steam version, my steam account is: wildone1969
    maybe we can try the multiplayer on PC or when I get PS3 version

  • HURRY PS STORE. GIMMIE MY GAME

  • Got it on PC and it is AMAZING!

  • T_T …I really don’t like it when Lara’s dramatic death scenes treated like Isaac Clark’s. A lady didn’t grew up with that horrific experiences. My heart aches.

  • @45 That’s Athena from King of Fighters 13.

Please enter your date of birth.

Date of birth fields