Next Generation
Next Generation (often shortened to Next Gen) is a term used for multiple games.
The first time it was used in the Tomb Raider universe was for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and the PlayStation 2, which were the next generation of the Tomb Raider Games and the PlayStation console.
The term resurfaced for Tomb Raider Legend, the third generation of the Tomb Raider Games and the XBox 360, the second generation of XBox consoles. It was also used for a graphics option within the PC Version of Tomb Raider Legend which, when turned on presented XBox 360-like graphics. (It actually turned on the DirectX 9 Shader Model 2.0, which made the game look more realistic; it was also somewhat buggy and crashed the game repeatedly and consistently in specific locations.)
The following list corresponds almost exactly with the game engines used by Eidos / Crystal Dynamics for those games:
"First" Next Generation
- The Angel of Darkness (The next or second generation of Tomb Raider games after the Classics.)
- PlayStation 2 (The second generation of PlayStation consoles.)
"Second" Next Generation
- Tomb Raider Legend, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Tomb Raider Underworld (also called LAU), the third generation of TR Games, and the first by Crystal Dynamics
- XBox 360 (The second generation of XBox consoles.)
- PlayStation 3 (The third generation of PlayStation consoles.)
Reboot and "Third" Next Generation
- Tomb Raider (2013) and Rise of the Tomb Raider (the reboot of the Tomb Raider Series, and the fourth generation)
- PlayStation 4 (Forth generation of PlayStation consoles.)
- Xbox One (Third generation of Xbox consoles.)
Note that the term "Next Gen" has not been wildly used. There were some references to the new consoles as being "Next Gen" when they were in development, but the term has since fallen somewhat out of use.
