Gard returns to Lara

[Dave Long]

Just saw on G4's news program Pulse that Toby Gard (one of the creators of Lara and the series) was hired back as Senior Designer for the next Tomb Raider game. He's at Crystal Dynamics now.

Pretty cool. The first Tomb Raider is still the best. Could be just what the series needs to come back strong.

--Dave

[Shadari]

And in other news: a Brazilian lumberjack has just cut down the last tree in the rain forest. A spokesman for the Acme Toothpick Company has responded by saying, "Gee, that's too bad."

[RichardC]

Just saw on G4's news program Pulse that Toby Gard (one of the creators of Lara and the series) was hired back as Senior Designer for the next Tomb Raider game. He's at Crystal Dynamics now.

Pretty cool. The first Tomb Raider is still the best. Could be just what the series needs to come back strong.

Yep. In seven years time, anyway...

[Kunikos]

Tomb Raider should just go off and quietly die in the retirement home for beaten-until-blood-comes-out-of-stone-like-niagra-falls games.

Here's to hoping he can create something original for them that will save us the pain of seeing more of Lara Croft.

[Theodore Rex DX]

Anybody played Galleon? Impressions?

[Dave Long]

Actually, having the original designer return is something I applaud from Eidos. The series never should have been run into the ground like it was and any game with the original designer involved takes on immediate significance and gives the series a chance to start over. That's cool IMO.

I've read some good and bad about Galleon. The good things I've heard revolve around the characters, the level design and the unique setting for the game. The bad is that it's now kind of dated because it took them so long to get it out there. It's been available in Europe for awhile.

--Dave

[Thrrrpptt!]

Anybody played Galleon? Impressions?
I haven't, but I have very low expectations given the delays. I just don't think that a project delayed that long could have been handled well in general, which includes QA and general quality.

I'm perfectly willing to be proven wrong, though.

[EvilIdler]

I liked the first two Tomb Raider games. TR2 was TR1 with larger levels
and no more "glass-cutting polygons".

But please, someone cryo-freeze Gard until the world has forgotten that
franchise!

(I seem to recall him also being behind Diggers for Amiga/CD32 - if so,
hold the freeze and force him to make a sequel to *that* instead!)

[Jason Cross]

Pretty cool. The first Tomb Raider is still the best. Could be just what the series needs to come back strong.


Yeah, because Gard sure did make a bangup, kickass, thrill-ride of a game over the last five freakin' years with Galleon. </sarcasm>

Seriously though, it may just be that Toby Gard is not what made the first Tomb Raider game great, and his depature may not be what made the series start to suck. I'm hoping for a great revival with Tomb Raider 7 as well, but I don't look at the return of Gard as any evidence of it happening, one way or the other.

[Dave Long]

Games are all about people. You bring back the people that created something, and knew what they wanted the game to be and it has a much better chance of succeeding IMO.

I'm tired of pessimism in gaming. Everyone's always slagging everything as soon as they hear about it these days. This sounds like something cool and it at least makes the game more interesting than just another Eidos internally developed game.

--Dave

[JosieNutter]

I'm not sure how much I can talk about here, but our goal is to reclaim the "glory" of the first 1-2.

(NO PRESSURE! Heh.)

Hell, that's part of the reason I moved from Seattle to Menlo Park.

[Kunikos]

Dunno. I thought the original games were kinda lame so I guess I'm in the minority here. I just can't get interested by this news...

[Kevin Grey]

Yeah, because Gard sure did make a bangup, kickass, thrill-ride of a game over the last five freakin' years with Galleon. </sarcasm>


Actually, Galleon is a surprisingly good game. The graphics are certainly dated but the gameplay is pretty damn excellent.