Bear

Bears are enemies that appear in Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider Reloaded. A similar enemy appears in Tomb Raider II: Golden Mask, Polar Bears.

General Description
A hulking carnivoran mammal that quickly rushes to hunt down any potential prey. Common characteristics of these beasts include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.

In the original Tomb Raider, they are the first real living threat Lara will come across, aside from bats and wolves. The first bear is found in the very first level, Caves, down a trap chasm Lara has to jump across. If she falls to its bottom, a bear will quickly come out of the adjacent room and attack her in that enclosed space. The second bear is found in the City of Vilcabamba, inside the stables located in front of the central pool of water, and it won't come out unless Lara ventures inside to investigate. There's yet a third bear that roams the area around the end of level's door.

Despite their size and build, bears are noticeably quick and can easily outrun Lara and traverse long distances in just a few seconds, potentially pinning Lara in a corner or not letting her come out from a body of water. They also can inflict moderate to heavy damage with their bites. They are not remarkably resilient, though, and even though they can sustain more punishment than the other two aforementioned enemies, it will only take a few well placed and constant shots of the pistols to take them down.

In Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the first bear encountered in the game is used as part of the tutorial to teach the player how to perform the adrenaline dodge headshot.

Tomb Raider

 * Caves
 * City of Vilcabamba

Tomb Raider: Anniversary

 * Peru - Mountain Caves
 * Peru - City of Vilcabamba
 * Peru - The Lost Valley

Rise of the Tomb Raider

 * Siberian Wilderness
 * Geothermal Valley
 * The Lost City

Tomb Raider Reloaded

 * Andean Mountain Caves
 * City of Vilcabamba
 * Colosseum

Development
A bear enemy appeared in a 1995 prototype of the original Tomb Raider. Here, its artificial intelligence has not been finalized and the model is less detailed.

Later in the original game's development, an early screenshot shows that a bear was to appear at the end of the Caves level.

Appearances

 * Tomb Raider: Featuring Lara Croft (First appearance)
 * Tomb Raider: Anniversary
 * Rise of the Tomb Raider
 * Tomb Raider Reloaded