We're re-introducing Lara via level one - so you'll be able to find out a lot more about her history and the reasons why she is the way she is today. This is a training level but it's actually part of the game, rather than being in Lara's home (which is not featured at all this time). You'll have to finish this level in order to play TLR.
We can't say too much about this just now, but the game will also feature a couple of important characters that have influenced Lara's life tremendously. These characters play integral roles through the entire game. Lara herself is also fully skinned so fans will be able to see far more detail in her.
Egypt as a location offers tremendous scope for atmospheric locations, mythological artefacts, tombs and baddies etc. We've really been able to go to town with some weird and wonderful enemies and the AI is now vastly improved due to an almost new game engine. Lots of Lara's enemies will have the same moves as she does so they'll be much harder to dispatch or outwit - it won't be a case of simply standing on a ledge to avoid them...
The storyline itself, as I said earlier, is more straightforward and will really hook the player into the adventure.
Interaction with characters is far greater, puzzles are all-new and Lara has an array of new moves from complex rope swings/climbs to simply kicking down doors.
Graphically we're looking at the most detailed game yet - as well as new environment mapping, we've been able to introduce far greater levels of detail via new lighting and object systems. 3D Objects will be extensively used to populate environments which would otherwise be sparse - and many of the objects are targettable so Lara will be able to shoot / destroy or interact with them etc.
Gameplay will be a lot simpler than TRIII in terms of the player being fully aware of what needs to be done - the difficulty lies in solving the puzzles, rather than spending a long time finding the puzzle components or information.