Poll: Tomb Raider reboot, what is your opinion on it now?

[Erttheking]

I might be poking the hornet's nest here, but what does everyone else think about the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot? Sexist or not? I'm curious to see what the popular opinion is now that we've had time to mull things over after the announcements and initial controversy.

I actually kinda like the concept of it, it's not like Other M where the main character has daddy issues like you wouldn't believe and has to have her ass saved and claims up in front of the dragon THAT SHE HAS KILLED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS!

It's a teenage girl trapped on an island with no combat experience, and it's about her stepping up to the challenge and overcoming the hardships put in front of her. She gets beaten up a lot? This may sounds cruel, but good, it builds character. I really don't see how someone getting beaten up a lot is sexist, no one said that Captain Walker getting half of his face burnt off in Spec Ops the line was torture porn. Come to think of it, I haven't played Far Cry 3, but I have read that there is some instances of the male protagonist being tortured, nearly dying in some very horrific scenes, losing a finger, and there is an ACTUAL instance of rape in Far Cry 3...and it's male on male. So yeah, just my opinion, but I really don't think that Tomb Raider is sexist, I don't think that the bad things that are going to happen to her are just because she's a girl, they're happening to her because they're a (very brutal) way to build character

 

[DustyDrB]

Not sure. I've never played a Tomb Raider game and don't really know what they are like gameplay-wise. And I don't know what this one is like either, even after seeing a few trailers.

 

[The Madman]

I don't care about the sexism 'debate'.

I don't care about Lara being 'rebooted'.

And they already did the whole 'make it gritty' idea with Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (Which sucked horribly)

I'm just sad that rather than keeping the unique and entertaining blend of puzzle solving, platforming, and exploration which made the original Tomb Raider so great the developers seem to have decided to turn it into a story focused 3rd person action game more akin to a semi-open world Uncharted than anything else. But it was never the story which made Tomb Raider good, it was never Lara Croft or the characters she encounters. Tomb Raider was at its absolute best when it let the environments do the talking! The Greek level in Tomb Raider and the more recent Tomb Raider: Anniversary for example is easily among the most well designed and clever levels in any game in the industry.

So while the new game might be good. Great even, I don't know. I just can't help but be disappointed knowing that unique style of the original games is very likely gone forever as well.

Pity. Ah well, tis but a game and I can always replay the originals.

 

[Voulan]

I'm really excited for Tomb Raider - that may be a little biased because I've always been a fan of the series, but this game is looking better and better the more I look at it. Regardless of what people may say, it really did need a new formula and a reboot - the way Lara was going after Underworld there was no real way of bringing in a bigger audience.

I wouldn't call it sexist, as a female myself. Seriously, she's the strongest character I know. Of course she'll struggle at first, but then we'll get to see her not just surviving, but overcoming the island. I think that's the aspect we need to focus on more - that's when her real personality will emerge.

 

[DementedSheep]

I don?t know, I haven?t played it yet. I haven?t seen anything that looks particularly sexist. A lightly implied attempted rape is not sexist, it something that would likely happen in that situation and it?s not like that got very far, is done in an exploitative way or is used as excuse to hock her up with a guy that rescues her (which is weirdly common).
It just looks like she isn't going start of being a complete bad ass despite being...what? 20? And having no experience with this sort of thing. Granted it is not an uncommon thing in fiction for the protagonist to be tough as nails and know what they are doing right off the bat despite having no experience but they seem to be trying to be somewhat realistic and make her seem like an actual person.

I'm still not sure it?s a good thing to make this a TR reboot rather than a new IP even though I like the look of it. TR did not need to be dark and gritty.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'm just sad that rather than keeping the unique and entertaining blend of puzzle solving, platforming, and exploration which made the original Tomb Raider so great the developers seem to have decided to turn it into a story focused 3rd person action game more akin to a semi-open world Uncharted than anything else. But it was never the story which made Tomb Raider good, it was never Lara Croft or the characters she encounters. Tomb Raider was at its absolute best when it let the environments do the talking! The Greek level in Tomb Raider and the more recent Tomb Raider: Anniversary for example is easily among the most well designed and clever levels in any game in the industry.

So while the new game might be good. Great even, I don't know. I just can't help but be disappointed knowing that unique style of the original games is very likely gone forever as well.

Yep, this!

The best parts in Tomb Raider were when you walked into a large open area, like a cavern or ruin, and had to figure out how to get from point A to point B, usually involving timed levers and puzzles. Most of your time was spent wracking your brain over how to get to that one ledge, untill finally everything clicked and the greatest sensation of 'EUREKA' washed over you.

The only present game that comes closest that type of hazardous environmental exploration is Dark Souls.

This new Tomb Raider seems to be shapping up to be a poor man's Uncharted. I might end up eating those words, but I just don't have any real faith in Crystal Dynamics. Not anymore at least.

 

[Rawne1980]

I didn't really like the old Tomb Raider games but i'm interested in this one.

As for sexist, I avoid that debate like it had leprosy and wants to fuck.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I think it looks like its going to be the Best Tomb Raider game ever, and we haven't had a good one for a good while now.

As for the Sexism thing, just no. Do people think Lara burst out of the Womb in a slow motion Leap, with a Pistol in each hand? No! I think this will explain how she became the cocky gun totting treasure hunting killing machine.

Looking forward to it, and I haven't been able to say that about a TR game in quite some time.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

I think it looks like its going to be the Best Tomb Raider game ever, and we haven't had a good one for a good while now.

As for the Sexism thing, just no. Do people think Lara burst out of the Womb in a slow motion Leap, with a Pistol in each hand? No! I think this will explain how she became the cocky gun totting treasure hunting killing machine.

Looking forward to it, and I haven't been able to say that about a TR game in quite some time.

That is a hilarious mental image.

Anyway, I never thought the new Tomb Raider was sexist. Some of the staff might have been, but unlike some people I am capable of divorcing my opinions on a product from the statements of a few people related to that product in some manner.

 

[Zhukov]

Y'know, there are so many ways that something, in this case a game, can be called sexist that the discussion has become a bit meaningless.

As for this game, eh, I'm mildly interested. Tomb Raider as a franchise bores me silly, but they might possibly come up with something decent with this reboot/prequel thing.

I actually like the idea of playing a protagonist who isn't all "Rawr, badass!"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The concept has intrigued me, and I never paid much attention to the sexism debate. A few trailers showing the protagonist who happens to get a pretty raw deal, along with a few offhand comment from one of the devs does not exactly constitute enough proof for me to think flying off the handle about the game (that we won't even get to play until next year) being 'sexist'.

If I have a gripe, it's that this is looking like yet another bloody reboot that didn't need to be a reboot. Like I said, I find the concept interesting, but I'd find it a hell of a lot more interesting if the devs had said "You know what, how about instead of taking an already well established IP that is almost as iconic as Mario in a new and barely recognisable direction, we just, I don't know, make a new bloody IP instead!"

 

[m19]

No. And never was. Not even in the old days. Sexualized =/= sexist.

 

[Legion]

No. And never was. Not even in the old days. Sexualized =/= sexist.

Exactly.

Sexism is about discrimination, not how attractive a fictional female character is. If the game developers had said "We made her hot because nobody would care otherwise" that'd be sexist. If they'd made her attractive because "It's not like girls play games, so who is going to complain" that'd be sexist.

Simply designing her to be physically attractive is not discrimination, and not sexism.

Personally I have not played a Tomb Raider game since the PS1 era, because I got kind of bored of them after a while, seeing as they were pretty similar to one another. This one looks interesting in some areas, but pretty dull in others.

The combat for example doesn't look interesting, and they seem to be trying to go for the whole "cinematic game-play" aspect.

 

[UltraPic]

If I have a gripe, it's that this is looking like yet another bloody reboot that didn't need to be a reboot. Like I said, I find the concept interesting, but I'd find it a hell of a lot more interesting if the devs had said "You know what, how about instead of taking an already well established IP that is almost as iconic as Mario in a new and barely recognisable direction, we just, I don't know, make a new bloody IP instead!"

After tomb raider, the dude that created it left core when they (eidos) wanted to make another tomb raider game.

 

[Blunderboy]

No. And never was. Not even in the old days. Sexualized =/= sexist.

Exactly.

Sexism is about discrimination, not how attractive a fictional female character is. If the game developers had said "We made her hot because nobody would care otherwise" that'd be sexist. If they'd made her attractive because "It's not like girls play games, so who is going to complain" that'd be sexist.

Simply designing her to be physically attractive is not discrimination, and not sexism.

I will say that this is correct.
Also, THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN DONE A BAJILLION TIMES. Move on OP, move on.

 

[lord.jeff]

Why would my opinion have changed, I still haven't played it so my opinion stays cautious optimism as for the sexism I'm sure there are ways you could paint this game to be sexist but most of them would probably be mountains out of mole hills

 

[Savagezion]

As a long time Tomb Raider fan, this reboot is what I have talking about for ages. You can see in the previous Tomb Raiders that they wanted to tell a story but were really bad at it. This reboot is IMO the only way Tomb Raider will be a contender against AAA titles anymore. The original Lara was a very shallow character that was never explored. The whole timeline was contrived and hollow. The only character form any kind of attachment to was shallow Lara. She was so shallow though that it was hard to have sympathy for a character when you never really got the full story. A cutscene would basically display Lara is sad because something vaguely interpreted as "bad" happened to her or her father or both.
The thing I hate about games like this is they make me watch a bunch of cutscenes and don't even bother to tell a coherent story in them. Many games do this and I don't understand why. My best guess is that once upon a time cutscenes were treated as rewards and when tech made them easy to put in, they started getting put in with minimal purpose to make the game look "flashy". But flashy rarely ages well and what you end up with is something that gets more and more shallow or pointless as time goes on and the "flash" wears off.

Straight answer: the reboot never was sexist, people just like to *****. Before the reboot was announced this website would trash talk Tomb Raider as a sexist franchise that echoed male dominance in the industry. (Which is true to an extent) The reboot came out to try and change that image and people saw 'something' controversial vaguely around its presentation and because we were talking about Lara, people assumed it would be sexism and started trying real hard to see it where it wasn't. When the "controversy" was simply suggestive adult themes and generalization of your audience based on what is commonly referred to as beta testers and/or test/focus groups.