Tomb Raider Game Secrets

The world was introduced to Lara Croft, aka "The Divine Pony-tail", with the release of the original Tomb Raider game in 1996, and I, Areala the world has yet to stop worshiping her for the goddess that she is. Oh sure, she's had the occasional makeover from time to time, to smooth out her polygon counts in her more curvy regions, or to increase her resolution to high-definition standards, but make no mistake, this was the Lara the world fell in love with, triangular boobs and all.

This was one of the last guides produced in black and white by Prima; by the time they did their Tomb Raider II book, everything was full-colour. It's a pity they couldn't have done it for this book, since sitting right next to it on the shelf was Dimension Publishing's official guide, which made this one look downright pedestrian with its greyscale gradients. But even in the mid-90's, going full-colour for a strategy guide was a luxury most publishing houses outside of Nintendo were not willing to spring for, except for the occasional mid-book insert like you got with Prima's Super Metroid and Secret of Mana guides.

On the plus side, there is a short interview with some of the Core staff which explains how they developed the game, which is neat from a historical perspective.

Nevertheless, whether you prefer Nick Roberts's stoic British sensibilities in this guide, or Zach Meston's irreverent, American, devil-may-care prose which graced Dimension's offering, you absolutely must download this book, and properly thank your Retromags Goddess for willingly sacrificing her collection of Tomb Raider goodies for your benefit.

Enjoy!