Jason Botta talks some more about Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Today we managed to score some updates on the upcoming title Tomb Raider: Anniversary, courtesy of GamesRadar.

According to an interview with Crystal Dynamics game designer Jason Botta, the redesigned Egypt level for Tomb Raider: Anniversary is actually quite similar to the original in terms of the puzzles, the scope, and the layout. The developers took a “go back, play look through” method in discerning which of the elements in the original areas worked and which didn’t.

Says Botta, the Tomb Raider: Anniversary team “looked at them and we analyzed are they good, do they work, do we need to add more architecture or realign things to give them a more believable spin, do we layer on extra layering and complexity of the puzzles….”

Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 1Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 2Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 3

The two biggest changes made to the Egypt level were to the open areas that players see when they first enter Egypt. According to Botta, he and the other developers “kept all of the elements that were there and then we spatially laid them out in a way that made more sense around being like the real Egyptian culture and how they laid out the designs for their environments and what-not and just made it feel more grounded in a realistic environment.”

And how long would it take gamers to complete the level? Botta says that it’s pretty long (“I think it takes most people around 5-6 hours to get through.”). As for the whole game itself, current estimates put the gameplay to be around 15 hours. “It’s definitely longer than Legend was. [In the original Tomb Raider] you had to deal with the fact that Lara moved a lot slower and the save system wasn’t as convenient as ours is, so it’s definitely not going to be as long as the original.”

If you’re hankering for more information on Tomb Raider: Anniversary‘s Egypt level, click on the “Read” link below.

Today we managed to score some updates on the upcoming title Tomb Raider: Anniversary, courtesy of GamesRadar.

According to an interview with Crystal Dynamics game designer Jason Botta, the redesigned Egypt level for Tomb Raider: Anniversary is actually quite similar to the original in terms of the puzzles, the scope, and the layout. The developers took a “go back, play look through” method in discerning which of the elements in the original areas worked and which didn’t.

Says Botta, the Tomb Raider: Anniversary team “looked at them and we analyzed are they good, do they work, do we need to add more architecture or realign things to give them a more believable spin, do we layer on extra layering and complexity of the puzzles….”

Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 1Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 2Concept images for Tomb Raider: Anniversary's Egypt level - Image 3

The two biggest changes made to the Egypt level were to the open areas that players see when they first enter Egypt. According to Botta, he and the other developers “kept all of the elements that were there and then we spatially laid them out in a way that made more sense around being like the real Egyptian culture and how they laid out the designs for their environments and what-not and just made it feel more grounded in a realistic environment.”

And how long would it take gamers to complete the level? Botta says that it’s pretty long (“I think it takes most people around 5-6 hours to get through.”). As for the whole game itself, current estimates put the gameplay to be around 15 hours. “It’s definitely longer than Legend was. [In the original Tomb Raider] you had to deal with the fact that Lara moved a lot slower and the save system wasn’t as convenient as ours is, so it’s definitely not going to be as long as the original.”

If you’re hankering for more information on Tomb Raider: Anniversary‘s Egypt level, click on the “Read” link below.

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