• Posted June 17th, 2011 at 12:27 EDT by Mike Harradence
• 7 Comments

Tomb Raider nabbed a fair bit of attention at E3 last week following an impressive showcase during Microsoft’s conference, though one aspect remained largely in the dark – combat.

Aside from a few Quick Time Events, developer Crystal Dynamics has yet to fully lift the lid on how heroine Lara Croft will face off against her pursuers.

This says series global brand manager Karl Stewart, is due to the fact Crystal Dynamics wants punters to “digest” exactly what the studio is attempting to do with the Croft reboot and understand the adventurer as a character.

“If we’re going to re-imagine the franchise, we want to get people to digest why we are doing it and who she is first,” Stewart told Kotaku. “Combat is very, very dear to our hearts. We have built an entirely new combat team at the studio to work on it. It is very competitive.”

“Combat is ambitious. It was ambitious when I first saw it and now it just feels natural to the game.”

Traditionally, Croft has kick started all her adventures with a pair of infinite ammo handguns, though this time around our heroine will have to fight for the right to bear arms.

“We’re not going to start the game and say, ‘Here are two pistols and lets tie her hair up in a braid’ because that doesn’t stand for anything,” explained Stewart. “We hope to bring gravity to those items.”

Apparently, the iconic pistols will pack some emotional punch to them this time around, as they originally belonged to Croft’s mentor, Captain Conrad Roth.

“We use that in a very psychological way. She loves Roth. She’s known him since she was very young. She knows she has to save him,” added Stewart.

“When you start this game you will go off and be the Lara Croft that was defined here. It also defines the future of that franchise,” he added.

Tomb Raider is due out in Q3 2012.