Ten Years of Tomb Raider:
Rivendell

I first played TR1 back in December 1996, in a caravan outside my house, when I was 9 years old.

Not only was it my first TR experience, but also my first Playstation experience. It all came about quite suddenly – until that point I had only heard of SNES and Sega. In the space of an hour I was told I’d get to play on a ‘Playstation’, which was pretty exciting!

My bro’s mate arrived with his PS, plugged it in and whipped out a pile of games and demos. I picked up an AvP demo (being fascinated with Alien at that time) and demanded to play it. Fortunately my brother picked up “Tomb Raider” from the pile and said we’d be playing that first.

Well, whatever the hell ‘Tomb Raider’ was I was pretty miffed I had to wait to play AvP.

The game started, I fell in love. Just – like – that.

I picked up the controller, and in my first experience of a game with such real graphics on a new console, I ran Lara down that first tunnel, firing off pistol rounds in hysterical laughter – it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

For the next 5 years I was obsessed with the Tomb Raider franchise. I replayed each game over and over again, loving each second, throughout frustrating moments which taught me patience and that rewarding experience after getting past a tricky bit.

When Lara fell at the end of TR4, I was quite honestly gutted, I couldn’t believe it. After playing this game, I was totally enthralled with learning about Ancient Egypt. That craze lasted the best part of two years, and resulted in me getting a holiday there!

The announcement of TR5 made me excited, and playing segments of Lara’s unknown past was quite appealing. This was the year 2000, and admittedly at that point, other things were taking over my passion for Tomb Raider.

The announcement of ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider : The Angel of Darkness’ raised my hopes a great deal, but only momentarily – at that time there was barely any media about the game. The next couple of years was the ‘calm’ period for my TR fandom, not much went on. I was getting tastes of other games, and I’d started to get into PC games.

Before playing TR6, the only knowledge I had about the game was that it was a lot darker than previous instalments, and Lara had been framed for murder. This game had a profound effect on me and once again made me research topics I’d previously not even considered. I research the same topic today, 4 years after its release.

After playing this game, my obsession for Tomb Raider was still muted. There were other games on the market that were holding my attention much more. The next three years were quiet once again, and the franchise had become a murmer at the back of my mind. A distant memory.

January 2006 arrived and I came across news of ‘Legend’, it looked exciting and stirred up my old memories. I replayed TR1. Those juices started to flow again.

As with TR6, I knew next to nothing about ‘Legend’ apart from the fact that there were new developers, and the game played more like ‘Prince of Persia’ which wasn’t a game I’d ever played.

A few days after playing the new game, feeling disheartened and disillusioned; I wondered if others felt the same way, or whether my memories were just fabricated of the series I once loved so much.

I found TombRaiderForums.com – the site I’d discovered news about Legend on in the first place, and discovered that I wasn’t alone in my feelings.

The next few weeks on TRF rekindled my utter love and passion of the series. Being around so many other fans reminded me of the good old days, and what was so great about this series – and most of all reminded me that there was most definitely a reason I’d held on, and that there still is a good reason.

My obsession arose from deep inside like a coiled serpent, waking up and unravelling itself after a good sleep; ready for action and raring to go. Unlike before, I ebay’d furiously, getting my hands on some TR merchandise – figures, posters, blankets, curtains; I made T-Shirts sporting the brand name, keychains, video after video. For the last 12 months, I’ve pretty much walked, talked, thought, slept, written, watched, played and loved Tomb Raider. That’s no exaggeration.

I’ve not lied that the series currently isn’t in a place I’d gladly have it remain, but TR:A seems to have rectified lots of what I found was wrong with it. If it continues to improve, then I won’t be going anywhere soon – Tomb Raider still has life.