Tomb Raider Legend to hit shelves in early April

Eidos has announced the ship date for Tomb Raider: Legend, the much hyped return of the firm's Lara Croft character and the first title in the franchise to ship since Eidos was acquired by British publisher SCi in mid-2005.

The game will ship on PS2, Xbox and PC in Europe on April 7th, followed by a launch in North America on the same platforms on April 11th - with PSP and Xbox 360 versions of the game to follow later on.

Eidos' new management is hoping that Legends will help to re-establish the series as a key videogames franchise, after the negative critical response to the much-delayed previous game, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness.

It is the first title in the series not to be developed by UK studio Core Design, which created the franchise; after the failure of Angel of Darkness, the next game was handed to US developer Crystal Dynamics.

"Everyone working on Legend is buzzing right now," according to Eidos' brand management boss Larry Sparks. "We are all so excited that this totally new incarnation of Lara will capture gamers' hearts, just as her original game did, and challenge their minds like no Tomb Raider they've ever seen."