So the new Tom Raider is out and the first thing that I heard about it from the women reviewing it is that it is really cool but there is a disconnection between the story and the actions of Miss Croft.
To be specific, the story is about a young woman who is experiencing some harsh stuff and is dealing with it, becoming the bad ass everyone knows and love. In one scene she is crying about killing a deer and twenty minutes later she is killing everything with aplomb.
Some people seem to think that this is somehow inappropriate.
Well, I disagree.
First, it is a videogame. This media is very different from a movie and a lot of unrealistic things must happen so it can be playable and fun. So, if you are gonna really pay attention to this kind of stuff, the progression of Lara abilities in killing will be the least of your problems.
She carries way to much stuff, she endures way too much stuff, she has impossible upper body strength, she fires a bow as quick as an automatic pistol and so on. In the cut scenes, her character progression is consistent and even in the gameplay, she is very self aware of how bad ass she is becoming, with some little snips of commentary that are both fun and functional.
Second, Tomb Raider is not a ?realistic? take on Lara Croft. So, even if it were a movie, you should be thinking Die Hard and Indiana Jones ? the idea is clearly to work the template of an apparently common guy/girl doing impossible things against impossible odds.
The character development stuff is there to enhance the apparent frailty of the character and to make all the cool stuff she does seems even more impossible and exciting ? and the game succeeds on that on several levels ? and maybe it succeeds too much, because when you are saying that Lara is killing everything is sight, you are forgetting that who is actually doing that is you.
My Lara just killed animal life for food (not just XP) and she avoided combat when possible, if your Lara is a psychopath that?s not my problem. Granted, there is a bit of Role playing mentality behind that ? but if you are going to take everything to the letter why are you playing a videogame in the first place?
In any case, I don?t think Tomb Raider breaks its internal consistency. The general story of the game is not that great though, but this is another issue entirely.
I think the game presents a fairly entertaining take on the old trope ?you either become a master killer or you die?. Perspective, folks, perspective.
Also, it is becoming quite common to see games with more focus on story and character development being reviewed as a movie and not as a game. In a game story must be enough to be immersive but too many might get in the way: a lot must be left to the player imagination, otherwise the media is not playing to its strengths.
To be specific, the story is about a young woman who is experiencing some harsh stuff and is dealing with it, becoming the bad ass everyone knows and love. In one scene she is crying about killing a deer and twenty minutes later she is killing everything with aplomb.
Some people seem to think that this is somehow inappropriate.
Well, I disagree.
First, it is a videogame. This media is very different from a movie and a lot of unrealistic things must happen so it can be playable and fun. So, if you are gonna really pay attention to this kind of stuff, the progression of Lara abilities in killing will be the least of your problems.
She carries way to much stuff, she endures way too much stuff, she has impossible upper body strength, she fires a bow as quick as an automatic pistol and so on. In the cut scenes, her character progression is consistent and even in the gameplay, she is very self aware of how bad ass she is becoming, with some little snips of commentary that are both fun and functional.
Second, Tomb Raider is not a ?realistic? take on Lara Croft. So, even if it were a movie, you should be thinking Die Hard and Indiana Jones ? the idea is clearly to work the template of an apparently common guy/girl doing impossible things against impossible odds.
The character development stuff is there to enhance the apparent frailty of the character and to make all the cool stuff she does seems even more impossible and exciting ? and the game succeeds on that on several levels ? and maybe it succeeds too much, because when you are saying that Lara is killing everything is sight, you are forgetting that who is actually doing that is you.
My Lara just killed animal life for food (not just XP) and she avoided combat when possible, if your Lara is a psychopath that?s not my problem. Granted, there is a bit of Role playing mentality behind that ? but if you are going to take everything to the letter why are you playing a videogame in the first place?
In any case, I don?t think Tomb Raider breaks its internal consistency. The general story of the game is not that great though, but this is another issue entirely.
I think the game presents a fairly entertaining take on the old trope ?you either become a master killer or you die?. Perspective, folks, perspective.
Also, it is becoming quite common to see games with more focus on story and character development being reviewed as a movie and not as a game. In a game story must be enough to be immersive but too many might get in the way: a lot must be left to the player imagination, otherwise the media is not playing to its strengths.
