Tomb Raider 2

Just as she’s a fan of dusty old objects, video game heroine Lara Croft is also rather keen on reconstructive surgery. The protagonist underwent a serious facelift for Crystal Dynamics’ recent Tomb Raider reboot – and for the upcoming PlayStation 4 port, she’s delved under the knife yet again.

Those of you that caught the recent trailer revealing the next generation re-release may have noticed that the hero’s been given a slightly different jaw line and bigger eyes. The big question is: why? “We did start with the idea of updating just her skin or a few extra polygons, but as we started to learn more about the hardware and what was possible, we felt that Lara deserved even more attention,” explained executive producer Scot Amos on the franchise’s official forums. “So we had the same folks who built her for the initial version dedicated to reworking her.”

In addition to the vaunted TressFX hair physics, the adventurer’s new model will also include fancy sub-surface scattering on her skin, which aims to add to the realism of her appearance. But is the character now finished, or will she be paying yet another visit to her favourite plastic surgeon in the future? “I’d say that Lara’s looks are just the start for what we will continue to evolve for all future iterations of Tomb Raider on next-gen,” Amos deflected.

We’re not overly against the new design – the eyes are much more realistic, for starters – but we quite liked the edgier appearance of her previous face. Which form of gaming’s most famous archaeologist are you most fond of? Casually critique the poor girl’s looks in the comments section below.

[source forums.eidosgames.com, via neogaf.com]