A big big thank you to Aurelien52 from www.tombraiderforums.com for these scans.

Your very welcome. Now the guys over at www.tombraiderboard.com have been doing some translating for us. Here's the full article in English.

It's a stormy night, the kind you don't ever forget. The rain is pouring heavily on the vegetation, giving it an alien form appearance. Deafening thunder growls and the ground is electrified with lightning bolts. The sky is low and billowing clouds are oppressive. The uninterrupted lightning shafts illuminating the unreal landscape. In this apocalyptic scene there is a shadow, she is alone, immobile like an ancient statue defying the wrath of gods. Within the flashes she appears, perfectly formed body, so natural and a familiar grace.The unbearable sound of the flood has no effect on her. Time has stopped. The path, edged by tropical foliage, leads to distant skyline full of fears and promises. First moves leave no doubt in your mind, that silhouette is familiar. Coming out of the darkness, at last she rises from purgatory. Long is the road to redemption, longer the road to rebirth. She is firmly decided not to leave anything to chance. There will be no room for errors... not this time!

At glance she has all that is needed to succeed. High boots, close-fitting shorts, twin colts on lavish hips and braid gently swaying in the breeze, there she is; The legend is back. Lara quickly, down there a raging fight takes place. A gang of armed men are fighting gigantic panthers. Auto-aim locked on targets, rolling, tumbling and jumps of all kinds, dodging and precision shooting in a blink of an eye, we are in known terrain. If Lara's close combat abilities have never been her strength, what we have seen sadly has not changed in this new brew.

Dissociate aiming was not bad and environment interactivity might make a difference but we must admit we are not there in FPS genre. Even if we can grab pieces of environment to shove in enemies faces, all this serves only one purpose. Clear and secure the zone to get into more serious business. In front of us, in this apocalyptic atmosphere, a vision from another time emerges from the tropical forest.

Welcome to Tomb Raider world, welcome to the Mayan ruins, filled with mysteries and treasures. It's as if it has appeared from nowhere, stones and millennium columns create a noble atmosphere seemingly inaccessible. Lara takes care of it as the accomplished acrobat that she is. Almost everything is now possible, and the variety of animations leave you speechless. Awesome how she jumps and grabs swiftly in the scenery. She jumps, climbs and grab like never before, shooting at annoying critters and beasts at the same time.

That's new business in the tomb kingdom, and we've seen it for sure. From the highest temple terrace, Lara pauses. She methodically scrutinizes the safest path to her goal. Something has changed in her. She has become more mature, more tempered. Her fine traits mirror her behavior. Her face is harder and older. Her eyes speak the knowledge of her 30 years, but her charms and appeal make us drool in pleasure.

Looking down into the pit she see with horror the pouring rain has doubled. She take advantage of the showering rain to clean herself of the mud covering her graceful body from the previous escalate. From there, she can see the water running along the massive stone walls toward an enormous slab on the ground. We have never seen such a mastered control of water in the history of virtual rain. Absolutely fabulous. Moreover, it leads us to believe that the water goes down under the slab, there must be something beneath it.

In front of us there is a large block in equilibrium, just a little higher than us. The move is as easy as logical. The new grapple can be thrown in a manner similar to a pneumatic crossbow. Anchored in the facing wall, the bar acts as a lever on the rock, and after a few moves most admirably animated, the rock tips and falls down to the ground below, cracking open the slab. A deep abyss populated by roots, vines and cryptic creatures blossom before our eyes. The beauty won't fail to hook you.

The darkness of the pit is oppressive, The flashlight pinned to her shoulder barely overcomes the pitch black area. Heavy silence is only disturbed by the sound of rain drops and swarming of creatures startled by the sudden pallid light. Progress is perilous and stones slippery. After a missed jump, our adventurer must quickly grab a ledge, her hand slips on the viscous mosses and she escapes the lethal fall by chance.

At the bottom there is a dim flash of supernatural lighting in a wall cavity. The artifact is there, lying on the ground. The returning path is easier and coming out of the tunnel we realize the weather has calmed. Access to the platform at this height is easier now that the rain has stopped. The complex mechanism that is now revealed in front of Lara looks like a Zodiac wheel pivoting on three levels. Once the artefact is inserted into the plinth, we try to align what looks like planets. In Mayan ruins, the sun eclipse should be something nice. Indeed! An awesome vision of huge columns emerging from the ground and a gigantic stone serpent appears throwing inferno like flames from it's mouth. Beneath it, a staircase open toward the temple depths.

No time to lose, the mechanisms ticking sounds like a timed clock. Since we have previously came here, we parked the motorcycle a short sprint away. Full speed to the target, avoiding stones and making insane jumps, we criss cross toward the closing entrance. Our halt is violent and skiding limited, we must stop centimeters from a pit full of lethal spikes. The Mayas treasure is not far but the traps awaiting Lara Croft are numerous and more deadly than ever.

Lara is as beautiful as ever. Environments are awesome and delightful. These could become a reference for future level design. Cut scenes and animation wonderfully worked. Climatics and lighting stunningly mastered, carefully designed puzzles comfort us, the new opus will be the blockbuster of the year. We have been seduced by what we have seen but it is still too early to tell more at this time.

Lara seems coming back through the great door. Game world has been reworked a lot, particularly enemies. If up until now we have only seen panthers, and not very wise henchmen, the presence of enemies is confirmed. We have even had a glimpse of bosses (still at a very early stage of design though). It seems a mythological slant is in store. Impressive monsters, similar to God of War in aspect, and others more Science Fiction like might well be seen. Epic combats intertwined with puzzles solving simultaneously...

New frontiers. All sites visited in this episodes are new ones. The story takes place in modern times in Australia, Easter Island, Vatican City and Rome. Also Mesopotamia and Golden Triangle might be involved. Many underwater levels await.

.THE MANOR

Substantially reworked, the manor will once more be the training level. It has also been said that a big R&D room in true James Bond style will be created, with vehicles and gadgets in it. One of the big secrets of this new Tomb Raider episode lies in essence of the fact that developers have bet all they had on the total cohesion between environment and progression. It all seems designed as if the scenery leads the gamer toward logical actions. Challenges and puzzles are high level. Study the scenes, think what the architecture offers as possibilities. This all seems straight forward but in fact, we will have to use our brains. Mechanisms are complex and bizarre, and we will have to go to and fro in some places, to access most arduous passage ways. To accomplish this motorized vehicles will be a part of the solution.

Good news for those in a hurry, Lara can now run in sprint mode. Indeed she can run like a hare to accomplish the most vertiginous jumps. At the same time, worry about the use of her new capacities. Objects found in the area can be inserted in some parts of the scenery too. For example: Lara can grab hold of a spear on the ground and insert it in a hole in the wall to use as a pole. For those skeptics, and so that everyone can finish the game, a help system will be implemented to avoid useless frustration and desperation for some players.

The game will probably not be released before the end of 2008 and it's still a work in progress. The engine is finely tuned and nextgen features promise intense and sumptuous adventure.

Source

Thanks to Gaetano for the translation.

Amazing!

wow... I can't wait already... and we still have one full year to wait!

Thanks for that!

BPanther

I read it in French before i saw the translation. silly me

This does look amazing

Edited December 30, 200718 yr by Fusion