Lisaluisa

* Title: TOMB RAIDER: HANGING DESTINY (2010)
* Rated: M (Mature 15+)
* Plot: Set sometime between 2003-2009, Lara discovers that a New Zealand explorer* named Charles Canterbury is possessed by some sort of ancient God creature he found inside Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia, an unknown monster that is slowly dying and who has ordered Canterbury to find a 'plant of immortality' from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, located in ruins somewhere beneath modern day Iraq.
* Trilogy: there is potential, but the main storyline is fully resolved
* Gameplay style: Large open-world areas
* Locations: Mykonos/Greece, The Amazon/Brazil, New Zealand mountains, Babylon/Iraq, Ayers Rock/Australia
* Level order: Play levels in any order (but certain points of access are restricted until other areas completed***)
* Mythology: Gilgamesh and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Mesopotamian)**, Amazonian river mythology, Aboriginal Dreamtime
* Villain: New villain - Charles Canterbury
* Boss fights: Scorpion men, Gilgamesh's Snake, Charles Canterbury himself, unknown God creature
* Past characters: Anaya (can unlock other characters such as Amanda, Zip, Natla, etc)
* Engine/technical: Totally new and next-gen engine; at least a full year spent on building and testing the new open-world engine code and advanced combat system with all bugs resolved; full interactivity with (and potential destructability of parts of) environment, and no bugs or arbitrary invisible walls
* Control/camera system: Fluent next-gen movements ? la Assassin's Creed, developing and refining the motion-capture technique of TRU, with smoother animations and transitions; emphasis on precision of control with utterly limited scripted actions; several camera options available, can control Lara independently of camera, or depending on camera's position, etc; camera is totally still and unobtrusive and player can revolve camera fully around Lara
* Time/weather system: Cycles through night and day and different weather patterns (similar to GTA), although one can opt to begin a level at any time of day
* Multiplayer: Can play as Lara only, OR as Lara and Anaya (A.I. or human player) (with ability to switch between co-operative and single-player experience between levels) (with ability to unlock additional options/playable characters)
* Other modes: Can play AGAINST other players (local or online) through the single-player version of the game, or WITH other players (local or online) through the two-player version of the game; either separate levels or the full adventure
* Weapons: dual pistols, Uzis, shotgun, Desert Eagle, combat knife, assault rifle, sniper rifle (Iraq only), machete (The Amazon only), environmental objects, others
* Vehicles: helicopter/Cessna aircraft/parachute (travel between levels), motorbike, jeep/car, jet ski, snowmobile, horseback, others
* Manor (Training): The Croft Retreat, on the Isle of Mykonos, Greece
* Lara's look/model: Traditional turquoise outfit for The Amazon, new and revamped outfits for the other locales, traditional white headdress garb for parts of Babylon; model resembles the TR:A and TR:U pre-rendered Lara more than ever
* Interactive cutscenes: None.
* Save system: Option for 'immersive' (soundless checkpoints) OR 'progressive' (save your position anywhere/anytime with checkpoint backups)
* Replay: Can replay from any checkpoint upon completing the game
* Secrets: Culture-specific secret artifacts can be found along the solo adventure and also the two-player co-operative version of the adventure. These unlock new playable characters and gameplay modes, owing to additional replay value
* Difficulty/Help system: TRU's Player Tailoring returns with a broader spectrum of difficulty options, including manual grab-and-hold; no help system available
* Synopsis: The game begins with Lara at The Croft Retreat on the Isle of Mykonos, another of the Croft family mansions built in a similar style to the original, complete with ornate Greek marble touches and handy helicopter and helipad. Mykonos is a large "open-world" island environment where Lara is free to roam by foot or by copter, and this location introduces Lara to (and similar to the opening level of Tomb Raider Chronicles, optionally trains her in) various elements she will encounter, and the basic ways to navigate, throughout the rest of the game.

Lara is to meet her old friend Anaya at the Theoxenia Caf? somewhere on Mykonos. Having not spent much time here prior to her other manor being burnt down, she must travel by foot and ask locals for directions to the caf?. Anaya informs her of an archaeologist friend with whom she has been exploring the underground rivers of the Amazon. This person was connected briefly -- but became disillusioned -- with Charles Canterbury, a dynamic adventurer from Down Under Anaya says is apparently determined to find an ancient source of immortality from the ruins of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. After Lara's bouts with Natla, she is of course thoroughly opposed to those who pursue immortality. Anaya was told of a lair somewhere around or on Mt Cook in New Zealand, and of stories of trips to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia, but her friend gave no specific information in fear of putting anyone on Canterbury's scent. Canterbury is apparently the "vicious, vindictive type of person who would hunt you down and kill you if you got in the way of his plans".

So we are now introduced to the four main open-world locations of the game to which Lara is free to travel by aircraft (insert brief travel cinematics here) in any order so chosen: The Amazon in Brazil, Canterbury's home in the snowy peaks of New Zealand's Mt Cook, ancient Babylon in modern-day Iraq during the Iraq War, and near Ayers Rock in outback Australia, although certain information found in certain areas dictates how to progress in other areas***. According to what Anaya says, it makes the most sense to first travel to the Amazon to find and meet Canterbury's estranged explorer partner who knows the exact location of his hideout on Mt Cook, NZ. Discovering this will lead us to Canterbury himself at the Hanging Gardens dig site set amidst the Iraq War, and ultimately to inside the giant red rock in Australia where the final God creature is located.


(*The New Zealand idea was chosen to fulfill the popular snow setting/component, but any other snowy location and thus villain's nationality could conceivably suffice.)

(**Gilgamesh was a great hero, whose stories are told in Sumerian and Babylonian poems. He is the son of the goddess Ninsun. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a long poem that was composed before 2000 BCE. It tells the story of Gilgamesh and his friendship with Enkidu who search for immortality. Enkidu dies, though, and Gilgamesh finds the fame to be hollow. Gilgamesh goes to Utnapishtim (similar to the Bible's Noah) who tells him about his immortality, a gift he recieved during ‘the great flood’. Gilgamesh learns of a plant of life but the plant is swallowed by a snake. Gilgamesh learns that death is inevitable. This poem was preserved on clay tablets and deciphered much later. (Source))

(***Since we are technically able to travel to the final destination at the outset and skip most of the game, in order to prevent cheating, unique numerical solutions (to door keycodes, puzzle orders etc) are given to each console so that exploration through all of the game's environments is mandatory, and one can't simply Google the answer to the final location.)

I could spend forever elaborating on the final boss God creature and all sorts of other elements but I thought I'd leave them up to your imagination. Would YOU like to play this game? What parts of it would you change? What other ideas do you have?