New TR: Legends trailer

Eidos has released a new trailer for Lara Croft's latest adventure, Tomb Raider: Legend.

It's being developed by Crystal Dynamics with the help of Toby Gard, the man who invented Lara and who has since had to watch her painful decline.

"I saw the opportunity to help reinvigorate Lara, who in all truth has ended up in a bit of a mess," said Gard.

"I've always been a fan of the underdog, and many people have said that Lara is no longer interesting. I think that's rubbish; Lara is a fascinating character, and I wanted to be able to help people see that again."

So what can fans expect from the new game? Well, "We're revisiting the best bits from the original games and are working to dynamically evolve that initial Tomb Raider experience... We're making a conscious effort to capture that sense of awe people had when discovering the first game in the series," Gard explained pleasingly.

But: "This TR is much more action based than previous ones. So expect action with an extra side portion of mayhem."

The storyline is yet to be revealed, but Gard did say that TR: Legend "Will be setting the foundations of a cast of recurring characters that will carry on in the series.

"There have been many, many characters who have come and gone, it would be nice to get to know some of them instead of being introduced to them, only to have them immediately get killed off."

Gard declined to comment on previous instalments, claiming: "Haven't played them all unfortunately." However, he did say that "The original will always secretly be my fav." You can read the full interview on the game's official website.

Tomb Raider: Legend is out on PC, PS2 and Xbox in early 2006. And some of us are already so excited we keep coughing up all little bits of sick.