Tomb Raider: Anniversary - Core Design: Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition

Core Design: Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition

A video game trailer showing footage of a new Tomb Raider game was distributed on the Internet on 8 June 2006. The titles and logos of the trailer claimed that the title was Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition, a PSP game by Core Design. The trailer featured Lara Croft in familiar yet remodelled environments from the original, Tomb Raider, complete with new animations, and interactions which were much more elaborate than what was in the original release of the game. The footage from the trailer was running on the PSP hardware, using the Free Running engine. The video is now difficult to find across the Internet, since it infringes copyright and was not supposed to be revealed to the public.

The next week, Eidos Interactive announced that it would be making Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition for PS2, PSP, and Windows. It would be designed by Crystal Dynamics, an American game development company that replaced Core and went on to create the seventh entry in the series, Tomb Raider: Legend. In addition, Buzz Monkey Software would provide the development effort.

When creating the Free Running engine, the team played with a Lara model and suddenly developed the idea of creating a remake of their 1996 classic. They suggested the idea to Eidos, who agreed and allowed them to continue. Early on, Core decided that the game would have to be graphically similar to Tomb Raider: Legend, so they gave the Lara model facial similarities. New to the game was the idea of pole swinging, absent in the original. It also had the concept of 'ledge-hopping', as was seen in Legend. Coincidentally, Core introduced cross-hair targeting, which they later discovered was also being used in Legend. Core were also including a brand new extended final level, where Lara would battle a huge Atlantean war machine as Atlantis crumbled into ruins. As special features, a documentary, concept art, FMVs and character models from the original game would have been included. Nathan McCree would have developed a new score, and Core had originally planned on using Jonell Elliott to voice Lara, though they never reached the recording stage. Core Design is no longer able to legally produce Tomb Raider games.

The game continues to be available in a digital format via Steam, although most of Europe is excluded from this service. However, in the UK and other countries the game had been re-issued under license in a physical format by game publisher Mastertronic Group, under its Sold-Out Software brand for bargain titles.