She arrived way back in the mid-90’s and now nearly 21 years later following her first appearance on gaming consoles around the world the tomb raiding heroine Lara Croft is still as popular as ever.
The gaming industry has evolved significantly over the past 2 decades and there’s only a true handful of franchises in the game-based arena that have managed to evolve along with it.
The creative minds behind the world of ‘Tomb Raider’ have constantly strived to find new and exciting ways in which gamers can interact with their leading lady as well as improving all aspects of gameplay, graphics, and storytelling.
All this has meant that Miss Croft has continued to be a prominent figure in the gaming world.
As the industry evolved it bought forth numerous new gaming methods, platforms and devices to the market meaning that the number of gamers out there now is bigger than ever thanks to faster and more convenient ways to play.
As a result, many popular game series have had to develop their predominantly console-based gaming output to include more accessible gaming choices, especially for the mobile gaming market.
There have been 18 different ‘Tomb Raider’ games including sequels, remakes and reboots available on various consoles, platforms and other gaming devices.
Aside from the main series of games there was a direct ‘Lara Croft’-based spin-off released in 2010 entitled ‘Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light’ which concentrated more on cooperative gameplay instead of the typical third-person shooter we had been used to up to that point.
2014 saw the first release of Lara on mobile devices with the endless runner game ‘Lara Croft: Relic Run’ and more recently we’ve enjoyed classic console-styled action from Lara in ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’, released 20 years after the original.
Lara Croft herself has become an iconic gaming figure and in 2001 she made her big screen debut in director Simon West’s ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’.
The feature adaptation starred the Oscar-winning Angelina Jolie who embodied everything we had come to love about the character and due to the film’s success an action-packed follow-up swiftly followed a couple of years later with ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life’.
The movie franchise alone managed to pull in more than $430 billion and next year we’ll see the release of a ‘Tomb Raider’ movie reboot with ‘Jason Bourne’ and ‘Ex Machina’ star Alicia Vikander filling in for Jolie.
The franchise continues to thrive whether it’s on the gaming circuit, in the movie world or through the various branded merchandise and other gaming spin-offs, such as this TombRaiderSlot.net option.
It’s a highly marketable franchise which has often been met with a certain level of mixed responses mostly due to the overly sexualised way in which our leading heroine has been portrayed in the marketing of the games themselves.
However, others see her as a strong, independent female figure to be admired. Either way she herself has become a pixelated legend and there still appears to be plenty of life in the old girl yet.
