The first Tomb Raider video game rocked when it came out in 1996 for the Sony Playstation. Tomb Raider II came out the year after and was good. Then came Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider IV and Tomb Raider Chronicles. Ugh. What a bunch of duds. Lara Croft came on strong but she faded away cuz it was the same old video game and everybody got bored of it. Not even moving to the Playstation 2 game console could save it from being dull.
Why'd that happen? How come Eidos (the maker of Tomb Raider) didn't pull a new trick out of its hat and have Lara Croft's next video game do something totally kewl? It's cuz they didn't have to. They could make the same old game, with a few new levels and the same dull graphics and they knew it'd sell because everybody loves Lara Croft. They raked in the cash with a series of cheap sequels and we got stuck with boring games.
Tomb Raider isn't the only series to pull this bull. The famous Diablo II is just a copy of the original Diablo PC game with a few more things added to it. It's still fun, but it could've been way better. Lucasarts comes out with 'new' Star Wars games all the time - but half of them are duds. Sure, they've got Star Wars characters, lightsabers, Jedi and The Force in them but they're lacking in fun stuff.
This happens cuz of the way companies think. They don't risk money by making kewl new stuff, cuz kewl new stuff doesn't always make money. They stick to stuff that's guaranteed to get them a quick buck. They don't risk their money on making 'weird' new games full of crazy action and kooky characters.
Not every company makes boring games though! Sega makes hugely kewl games packed full of crazy action you won't find anywhere else. Games like Jet Grind Radio, Samba De Amigo and Crazy Taxi are a blast - thanks to Sega. Sega isn't afraid to try crazy new ideas and they end up with some of the hottest games in the world.
The trick to avoiding the boring junk is to do some investigating. Don't just rush out and buy that hot new game that just came out. Spend a few minutes looking up reviews, talking to friends, check out Gary's Reviews - or even rent it first.
