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It's 1997 and the June issue of trendy British music and lifestyle magazine The Face hits newsstands across England. The front cover, one usually decorated with portraits of Madonna, Prince or David Beckham, now showcases a woman called Lara Croft.

She's not a sexy model in cosplay; she's a CG render of the UK's leading digital lady herself. She's grinning, gripping onto her trusty twin pistols, with the headline reading "bigger than Pammy, wiser than Yoda."

The eight page article is the first of its kind: a piece documenting gaming's most fashionable character and featuring an exclusive 'photo shoot' of Lara adorned with big brands like Gucci, Jean Colonna and Alexander McQueen.

It's only taken a year for Lara to go from bedroom beauty to mainstream magnet, nabbing eye-catching models, lucrative advertising campaigns, and becoming the new face of video games.

Whether you liked Tomb Raider or not, Lara was here to stay.

Fast-forward a handful of console generations and we're now approaching Tomb Raider's 15th anniversary. A lot has changed over the years - not just with Lara's look, but her back-story, her development and her audience. She's gone from being a 12-year old's fantasy to a feminist symbol.

She's moved from the dreary town of Derby in England to sunny California, been on the receiving end of two blockbuster productions and, for better or worse, been rebooted twice.

Original concepts went from a male Indiana Jones rip to a braided South American woman called Laura Cruise, but after a management choice to make her more 'UK friendly,' a British Lara Croft was born.

She was different from most female video game characters: an intelligent, affluent, athletic and, of course, rather well-endowed archaeologist that gamers reveled in playing.

Trekking from Peru to Atlantis, Lara's quest for something called the Scion was an eventful one. From exploration of ancient tombs to being double-crossed by the very people who hired her, Tomb Raider took action-adventure games to a whole new level.

Pointy polygons in place, Tomb Raider became an overnight success, selling 8 million copies worldwide and bringing Eidos Interactive out of a pretty sticky financial situation. The game was praised by critics and fans alike for its revolutionary gameplay, graphics and storyline.

Lara Croft became the poster-child of the PlayStation, with her game becoming one of the first titles to release in PlayStation's Platinum series. The future for Lara was looking bright.

Continuing her tour of the world, Lara ventures to China, Venice and even Tibet in an attempt to track down the Dagger of Xian, a weapon used by an ancient Emperor of China to command his army.

Her enemy, however, becomes the Venetian Mafia, whose leader's obsession with the dagger leaves Lara against some trigger-happy competition.

Lara had become a household name. Now dubbed Tomb Raider II Starring Lara Croft, the second game surpassed Tomb Raider's sales almost immediately - but not all critics were as impressed by Lara's latest adventure as they were the first time around.

Reviews were generally positive, hitting high 8s and 9s and complimenting the story and involvement. Not everyone was impressed, however, with critics questioning Core Design for its decision to focus on cosmetic improvements rather than innovating on Tomb Raider's core gameplay.

It didn't make much difference, of course – Tomb Raider II sold by the bucket-load and Lara Croft was gaining more of a foot in mainstream media than any other video game character had managed yet.

Tomb Raider III was where gamers' love affair with Lara started to dwindle. While the second game had received mostly favorable reviews, many commented on its lack of innovation. Tomb Raider III headed down the same route, with many comparing the third installment to an expansion pack. She had become over-exposed and over-sold.

Everywhere you looked there was Lara's well-known smile and circled-shades staring straight back.

A darker affair, Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft saw Lara on the hunt for Meteorite Artefacts. Starting in the jungles of India, through to Nevada, the South Pacific, Antarctica and even London, Lara eventually discovers the true use of the artifacts before preventing them from being used to accelerate human evolution.

But the introduction of sprinting, monkey swinging, crawling and quad biking wasn't enough to win over Lara's fatigued fans, with questions over why Lara's gunplay seemed to be focusing on armed goons rather than the original's dangerous wildlife starting to roll in. Complaints aside, Tomb Raider III was hailed as the most definitive game in the series.

In a bid to bring Tomb Raider back into the limelight, Lara Croft's name was dropped from the box of The Last Revelation as she was popped on a one-way flight to Egypt.

Delving deeper into Lara's origins, the game opens with Lara and German mentor Werner Von Croy on a trip to Cambodia. Predictably, it all goes horribly wrong, with Werner ending up trapped inside the Angkor Wat temple and presumed dead. Unfortunately for her, he isn't, and upon uncovering an ancient tomb with an Egyptian god inside, she finds a possessed Werner battling against her.

Managing to stop the Egyptian god Set from unleashing the apocalypse, Lara's reluctance to trust Werner saw her trapped in the tomb. Was this finally the end for Lara?

Again, the game received mostly positive reviews, but it was a mixture of 7s and 8s rather than the critical love the first game had received.

Still, the market stood strong. Even with the press criticizing The Last Revelation for being "more of the same," the game still sold millions.

Forums were rife with speculation over Lara's fate, with a vocal audience directing anger and frustration towards Core Design and Eidos over their choice to kill off a much-loved character.

But there was still more to come.

Chronicles was a pinnacle point in the Tomb Raider series. It was the last Tomb Raider to release on the original PlayStation and the last to be built on Lara's original, core foundations.

Rather than answering questions from the ending of The Last Revelation, Chronicles acted as a memorial to Lara's past accomplishments. Taking place a few days after the events of the last game, close friends and colleagues reminisced over Lara's past adventures through Rome, Ireland, New York and even Russia, while mentor Werner Von Croy was heading a desperate search for Lara's body in the collapsed tomb.

Fans enjoyed the insight into the backstory behind Lara's character, but critics found that, yet again, it was the same old story. Review scores were hitting an all-time low with IGN giving Chronicles a 6.3, the lowest score the series had yet seen.

The ending saw Werner Von Croy grabbing Lara's backpack and announcing that they had found her, but again questions remained over her fate.

Angel of Darkness saw Lara Croft's first adventure on PlayStation 2. A massive upgrade to Lara's look – including substantial amounts of eye shadow and a slight downgrade to her ample bosom – Angel of Darkness had gone emo.

This time, Lara was accused of murdering Werner Von Croy and was forced to prove her innocence by following Von Croy's journal and recovering hidden paintings.

It also saw the introduction of Lara's abilities being restricted. She could no longer scale higher walls, push heavier objects or jump larger chasms without obtaining upgrades by completing specific, and sometimes pointless, tasks. (Seeing Lara jump a huge lava pit later in the game, however, was one of Angel of Darkness' most exciting moments, and a decent enough payoff to make up for the slog beforehand.)

Criticism was rife. Complaints about the lack of tombs, Lara's missing iconic dual pistols and being forced to play as new guy Kurtis Trent topped the already overflowing issues with the gameplay, controls and bugs.

Core Design blamed Eidos for forcing them to rush the game, but Angel of Darkness wasn't all doom and gloom. Reviews praised the storyline and soundtrack for being amongst the best in the series, but it wasn't enough to impress critics across the board, with Angel of Darkness going on to score a 5.3 on IGN.

This was Lara's lowest point. She was still a hot IP for Eidos, but with her critical reception and expectation slowly depleting with each release, something needed to be done.

Getting rid of the famous braid and sporting a new pony tail wasn't the only change American developer Crystal Dynamics had in store for Lara for 2006.

While they weren't given complete creative freedom with the buxom brunette, the new studio decided to give Tomb Raider the ol' reboot. Lara was rewriting the rulebook - and the changes were for the better.

Showing a nine-year old Lara and her mother survive a plane crash, Legend tells a far more personal story, with the younger Lara accidentally activating an ancient artifact that pulls her mother into another world.

Years later, Lara encounters a duplicate of the artifact in Bolivia and begins a search to find her mother.

Legend saw far more interaction from other characters in Lara's world, and a far more modernized character. Lara now possessed gadgets and friends with a technical know-how, making the adventure feel far more Bond-like.

Crystal Dynamics had managed to resurrect an old franchise and well-loved character into something relevant, with the game receiving the highest scores the series had seen since Tomb Raider II.

While Anniversary kept the same back-story as Legend, it followed the same plot of the first Tomb Raider game, with Crystal Dynamics taking on the remake that Core Design had planned to work on prior to losing Lara. Using an enhanced version of the Legend engine, Anniversary sold 1.3 million copies.

The first true HD Tomb Raider brought Lara to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Centered around Norse mythology, Underworld sees Lara up against old foe Jacqueline Natla, last seen in the first Tomb Raider game, as well as Amanda Evert, a character introduced in Legend. Lara travels across the world in search of Thor's wristlets and hammer, using them to stop Natla from activating a Doomsday device.

Underworld saw the search for Lara's mother also closed, as the ending featured Lara and Amanda clutching at the artifact from Legend and being teleported back to Nepal.

Underworld pleased fans and surprised critics, who hailed it as the best Tomb Raider to date. Initial sales, however, failed to meet Eidos' expectations, and it wasn't until 2009 that Underworld eventually outsold Legend and Anniversary.
Part of the problem, many suggested, was that the plot left by Legend had been closed, with Lara's rewritten history offering very little drive to continue. Again, there was a need to modernize Lara.

In 2010, Crystal Dynamics revisited Lara Croft with the heroine's first downloadable game.

Guardian of Light was released for Xbox Live Arcade first, then expanded to PlayStation 3, PC and mobile phones. The game didn't carry the Tomb Raider title, and saw Lara fighting alongside a partner, Totec, the titular Guardian of Light.

Guardian of Light featured co-op gameplay, drifting from Lara's traditional solo exploration. While the game was very well received, it still wasn't Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics needed a way to return to the franchise's roots.

The answer? You guessed it: a complete reboot of the series.

Tomb Raider 2012 leads us to a fresh-faced Lara Croft on her first expedition since leaving university, and left stranded off the coast of Japan following a devastating storm that destroyed her vessel.

This will be a more survival-focused Tomb Raider: you'll see Lara collect food and new gear, and watch her unravel the mystery of the island while trying to save any survivors from the wreckage. It will be Tomb Raider like we've never seen before – a fresh, innovative, and breath-taking return of Lara - and one of our most anticipated games of 2012.

In the latest launch trailer, Lara quotes an unnamed famous explorer: "The extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are." Whatever Crystal Dynamics has in mind for Lara Croft, it will surely be extraordinary.