13 Years Of Lara Croft Box Art Suggest 'Underworld' Packaging Flaw

Sales for "Tomb Raider: Underworld" haven't been so great, and I might have discovered the secret reason that has nothing to do with the game itself: it's one of very few "Tomb Raider" games that didn't prominently feature Lara Croft's name on the front.

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Lara Croft does not have the sales power she used to. "Tomb Raider: Underworld" came and went last November without much noise, resulting in disappointing sales for publisher Eidos Interactive. Their solution isn't to give up on Lara, however, but reboot her from the ground up -- again.

Here's what Eidos chief financial officer Robert Brent told Times Online, via Kotaku:

"We need to look at everything, as we develop the next game. Look at how Batman changed succesfully, from the rather sad character of the Michael Keaton era to the noir style of The Dark Knight.”

Others have already joked that "Tomb Raider" attempted to go dark with the failed "Angel of Darkness" installment from 2003, but Brent is right. "Tomb Raider" does need a reboot if the series wants to stay alive. "Tomb Raider: Legend" was a fantastic new take on the old "Tomb Raider" formula, but it wasn't enough to sustain "Underworld," a deeply flawed platformer.

It'll be some time before we see what Eidos decides to do with Lara -- will Crystal Dynamics still be given the reigns? -- but before that happens, let's look back at how she's evolved over the years, box-art style:

See what disappeared on the most recent boxart? It wasn't just her face.

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