Tomb Raider: Apocalypse (lost episodic interactive TV platformer; 2002-2003)

Title screen of episode One.

Status: Lost

Tomb Raider: Apocalypse was an episodic 2D platformer developed by Minds Eye Interactive that was created exclusively for Sky Gamestar, the interactive television game portal of pan-European telecommunications conglomerate Sky. The game was published over the course of three episodes between December 2002 and December 2003, with each play session costing 75 pence.

Storyline

The basic plot of the game revolved around Lara Croft's attempts to recover the mythical Eye of Osiris, an object that can communicate between the earth and spirit realm and holds the key to immortality. Episode One, The Eye of Osiris, was released on December 18, 2002, and featured Lara's initial attempts to recover the artifact, with her search taking her through various ancient Egyptian pyramids.^[1] Episode Two, The Shadow Falls, was released on June 16, 2003, and followed on from the story of Episode One, with Lara now having to learn more about the ancient relic, traversing through a highly secure, multi-story warehouse in order to do so.^[2] This storyline was then concluded in Episode Three, The Last Midnight, which was released on December 25, 2003. In this episode, Lara Croft would have to attempt to find the mythical artifact before midnight in order to save the world from certain destruction, traveling through numerous underground crypts and catacombs in order to complete her quest.^[3]

Gameplay

The Sky TV Remote used for controlling the game.

The games were a notable departure from most of the previous Tomb Raider games, as, instead of being 3D platformers, the games were instead 2D platformers (an apparent first for the Gamestar service) in the vein of Prince of Persia. Players controlled Lara with various buttons on their television controllers, with performable actions including running, turning, stepping, crouching, rolling, climbing up and down, shooting, and jumping. Each episode had ten levels in them including a specially designed training area, with each level housing numerous collectibles, lethal traps, and deadly enemies. The games also offered a password system that allowed players to replay completed levels, and Save Crystals that allowed players to jump back into partially completed levels at any time.

Availability

The Sky Gamestar service was discontinued on January 31st, 2015, ^[4] with all the games created for the service going with it. As all the games were digital only, with no possible way to retrieve their contents being known, the chances of any of them, including Apocalypse, being found remains unlikely unless one of the developers shares them online.