For the past twelve years, Lara Croft has been the Hollywood starlet of videogames. When she made her debut in 1996, she was instantly established as a hot new property, an object of desire for male gamers and a welcome role model for gaming’s small but rapidly growing contingent of young ladies. In a very short time she had become a true icon, a figurehead for gaming’s accelerating emergence as a significant aspect of popular culture. Her image appeared on magazine covers and in television advertisements, and her name and likeness were recognisable even to people who had never before played videogames. A Tomb Raider film was released and made more money than any videogame-based movie before or since. But then, as with so many promising young celebrities, things started going wrong.

Continue reading El33tonline’s Xbox 360 review of Tomb Raider: Anniversary.