Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is the fourth Tomb Raider game, and was released for, among other systems, the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. As it is the fourth Tomb Raider game it is informally known as Tomb Raider IV, and in Germany and Japan it is actually known by the extended title of Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation (トゥームレイダー4 ラスト レベレーション).
The Last Revelation continues an Eidos Interactive-demanded tradtion of Core Design releasing a Tomb Raider game every year. While choosing to target the PC as the main platform rather than the PlayStation gave the team more flexibility, the short time frame meant that much of Tomb Raider IV is built on the engine which powered its predecessor, Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft (itself an extension of the Tomb Raider II engine, which was built on the original Tomb Raider code).
Lara carries over her moveset from the previous game, but can now grab onto ropes and poles, and "shimmy" around corners. It is also less linear than its predecessors, allowing Lara to revisit levels once they are completed. Unlike previous games, The Last Revelation takes place entirely in Egypt.
History
Legacy
After working on these games continously since 1996, Core Design were suffering from creative fatigue, with the developers choosing to kill Lara at the end of the game (much to the distaste of management), and hence it was to be the last reveleation. However, despite this attempt to pause the franchise, a pseudo-sequel, Tomb Raider: Chronicles was released the following year.
Versions
The Dreamcast version of The Last Revelation was released a few months after its PlayStation and PC counterparts, and contains the same amount of content as both. Screen resolution, texture quality and draw distances are all higher on the Dreamcast compared to the PlayStation. The lighting engine is also simplified on the PlayStation, while on the Dreamcast has a more realistic look as a result.
The assets in the Dreamcast port of the game are a near match for the PC version running on high settings, although if pushed the PC can run in at higher resolutions and frame rates. However, to achieve these feats in 1999, much more expensive PC hardware than a Dreamcast console would have been required - for the average PC user, the differences would have been negligble in these areas.
The only major addition to the Dreamcast version is the inclusion of dynamic shadows. Polygon counts for character models and objects are the same across all versions (with the PlayStation exhibiting rendering problems seen in most 3D games for the hardware).
With fewer buttons on a Dreamcast Controller than on the PlayStation (even before a Dual Analogue or DualShock controller is involved), some actions require two buttons (or triggers) to be pressed.
QA: Eruch Adams, Shiloh Anacleto, Lars Bakken, Chris Bruno, Phil Campbell, Joe Damon, Ryan Ellison, Daniel Franklin, Rich Krinock, Mark Medeiros, Billy Mitchell, Jacob Rohrer, Ken Schmidt, Barbara Smith, Shawn Taylor, Franklin Vasquez, Benny Ventura, Ben Walker
Product Marketing Mgr: Matt Knoles
Public Relations: Brian Kemp, Greg Rizzer
Marketing Support: Paul Baldwin, Chip Blundell, Michelle Bravo, Bryan Davies, Jennifer Fitzsimmons, Gary Keith, Antonia Phillips, Renee Pletka, Li Shen, Randy Stukes, Brandon Suyeoka, Sutton Trout
Special Thanks: Rob Dyer, Nick Earl, Mike McGarvey, James Poole, Robert Barrett, Kevin Weston, Dave Cox, Mike Kelly, JoKathryn Reavis, Katrina Medema
Extra Special Thanks!: Adrian Smith, Jeremy Smith, Troy Horton, Andrew Thompson, Susie Hamilton, Everyone else at CORE DESIGN LTD.