The Tomb Raider series of games has been a mainstay on the Mac platform ever since Aspyr Media made it's first big mark on the Mac by porting Tomb Raider II (they eventually released the original Tomb Raider as well). Aspyr then went on to also release Tomb Raider III and last year's Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.

The latest incarnation of Lara Croft is entitled "Tomb Raider: Chronicles" and boasts exciting new levels and locations, OS X support, brand new moves, and a spiffy new level editor. Here's a snippet from the preview:

As a parting gift to fans of the series, Core decided to release the level editor for Chronicles along with the game. While this is common for many FPS titles, it's the first time Tomb Raider fans have been able to make up new places for Lara to explore. It was assumed a Mac version of the level editor would be impossible, since most editors are more work to port than the game itself (ala Unreal or Quake 3). The fact that many companies use heavily Windows-based MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) to get their game tools up and running quickly also usually hinders any porting efforts.

But now Mac users have no excuse. In the case of Chronicles, Aspyr and Westlake decided the project was doable, and they will be shipping a level editor with the Mac version. Mac gamers will be able to express their creativity through new 3D adventures for Lara. It will also be possible to download any of the hundreds of levels already created by PC users. The editor isn't the most user-friendly program, but there is a good PDF manual and tutorial level to help ease the learning curve.

Aspyr Media

Tomb Raider: Chronicles Preview

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