The French PSM3 magazine has an eight page preview of the upcoming 8th game in the Tomb Raider franchise and - you guessed it - we’re treated to some nice new information.

According to the magazine, the game takes place in present day and all the places the player will get to visit and explore in Lara Croft’s first true next-gen outing are brand new and include locations in Australia, Easter Island, Rome, the Vatican, Mesopotamia and the Golden Triangle. There’s also promise of one or more underwater levels.

What mysteriously went missing from a number of previous Tomb Raider games was Lara’s ability to sprint. Well, no more - once again, she will be able to run like mad and jump longer and higher as a result. As for the enemies, you can expect the usual wildlife that you have to get rid of but you’ll also encounter also more intelligent enemies and bosses.

The completely redone Croft Manor will allow Lara to improve her training and techniques and will apparently also have a “Research & Development room like in James Bond” that will hold her gear and vehicles. We have our fingers crossed that the developers will return the training track outside the manor itself as well.

As you can see from the scanned image above, the game looks good. Hopefully Eidos will start releasing high quality screenshots in the coming weeks. But for now, check out this post in the TombRaiderForums for more scans from the PSM3 magazine.