If you’ve been following a long-running franchise for a while, you will probably be familiar with what is referred to as a reboot of the game’s universe and back story. To reboot a franchise basically means to restart from scratch, disregarding all previous influences and changes that had occurred. The characters remain the same, or the main character at least in a major reboot, but the stories and character history will be different.
Comic book collectors will be intimately familiar with this term, and can breathe a sign of relief if their favourite character is killed off, knowing full well that they will be brought back to life somehow or other in a few months or years. Films are also rebooted, with Star Trek, Batman Begins and 2006’s Casino Royale all being examples of recently rebooted franchises.
Tomb Raider, initially released in 1996, has gone through many storylines, and has introduced many characters and flashbacks. Unfortunately, this tends to lead to a rather convoluted history and back-story for the franchise, and so in 2006 the franchise was rebooted with Tomb Raider: Legend. Lara’s whole childhood and relationship with her parents was changed from Lara being disowned to having her mother die and her father raise her on archaeological sites. Legend succeeded in the fact that it broke away from the stigma of the atrocious Angel of Darkness, and managed to stimulate interest in the franchise again. There are rumours that the next game in the series will again be a reboot, thus rewriting the game’s history for a third time.
Another franchise to be rebooted, not just once but twice, is Prince of Persia. The original side-scolling platformer was released in 1989, and spawned two rough sequels; The Shadow and the Flame and Prince of Persia 3D respectively. The franchise got rebooted after that, and we were treated to the Sands of Time trilogy, comprising The Sands of Time, The Warrior Within and The Two Thrones. From there, developers again decided on a reboot, and we got 2008’s Prince of Persia, featuring different characters, a different setting and an entirely new plot. The latest news suggests that the next Prince of Persia game will return to the Sands to Time “trilogy”, adding The Forgotten Sands as an intermediary title between Sands of Time and Warrior Within.
Reboots are commonly seen as a way to re-establish a franchise which no longer interests gamers; or as a way for a new production studio to take the established characters in a new direction. Either way, reboots are generally successful, gaining new audience, receiving critical praise and most importantly selling more units. Just look at the success that Tomb Raider: Legend achieved after the relative failure of Angel of Darkness.
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