IN OUR REVIEW OF TOMB RAIDER 2, WE SAID THAT THERE WERE TO BE MORE INSTALMENTS IN THE SERIES, "THE DESIGNERS WOULD BE WELL- ADVISED TO SEND HER BACK INTO ANCIENT TOMBS FULL OF TWISTED TRAPS. SHE SEEMS MORE AT HOME THERE, AND SO DOES THE GAME." HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THAT COMMENT? We'd say that you were definitely right! We've done exactly as you suggested and sent Lara back to the most tomb and trap- infested locations we can think of! Egypt is obviously perfect for this - and for sending Lara back to her real Tomb-Raiding roots. WHAT ARE THE MAIN BENEFITS OF USING ONE LOCALE? DRAWBACKS? Benefits means that instead of using the storyline to link locations on a worldwide basis - we did this for the past 3 games - we can now make the storyline far more integral to gameplay itself and hence focus the player more toward the plot rather than the next location. Egypt is so steeped in mythology and ancient architecture that we've been able to reproduce stunning locations, some of which are influenced but many of which are taken from real history - or buildings, temples etc. still standing there today. Drawbacks - well, a lot of sandy and golden colours and stone textures, but the artists have let their imaginations loose and we've been easily able to produce a lot of variety. ARE THERE ANY OVERRIDING PHILOSOPHIES DRIVING THE GAME'S LEVEL DESIGN? Really a return the original atmosphere, suspense and puzzle-orientation of the original game - with plenty of new and improved twists to keep Lara on her toes. WHAT ARE THE NEW LARA MOVES? To name some: we've introduced ropes (no mean feat). Lara can climb up and down ropes, grab them, swing on them, gain momentum etc. So this means that she's now got a set of completely new options to traverse areas. Since we have ropes, we can also have poles for her to go up and down too.