Tomb Raider Review
It's a great game: get it.
To go further in depth, let's talk about Lara Croft. This was the character that made a decent PS1 game stand out from the others simply by the main character's gender. This was when games, while still meant exclusively for males, were starting to cater to teenagers, brought up on games, rather than just boys, so having a third person action/adventure game featuring a buxom lady was a very obvious and successful idea. Remember this was when internet porn was either ASCII art or a three-hour, boner-killing wait to see a woman in a swimsuit (depending on your connection speed) ? or going on AOL and talking to girls who were probably in memory-repressing hindsight old perverted men. So buxom Lara Croft comes around and kids can just buy Tomb Raider off the shelf without a second look from their parents, and keep in mind?this was a time when gaining access to a porn magazine or video meant that it was second-hand (or more correctly, right-hand [and usually off someone's alcoholic uncle]).
So how does an IP reboot its over-sexualized (yes, there's even a free wet-suit DLC for Underworld) female caricature into a female character? I don't know exactly how but they did it. She's still attractive and alluring, but there's something different about her this time. I loaded up Underworld and all I saw was a plastic figure of a woman, but with this game, when I saw Lara Croft I saw a woman. She looks dirty, real, and gross?as anyone would given the story's direction. Every time she lifted up her arm, I half-expected to see a five-o'clock armpit shadow. For one rare occasion, a female videogame character has transcended the adjective female. She's neither defined by her gender nor her sexual appeal, she's just Lara.
OK, enough about that.
The gameplay is a step forward for the action/adventure genre, but not a giant leap. It borrows heavily from the Uncharted series (which of course borrowed from the Tomb raider series), while still retaining much of Tomb Raider's puzzle charm. Overall it felt like a progression; its gameplay was built on many backs; there were times when it even reminded me of Mario 64. So, no, it won't revolutionize gaming, but it's the right step forward. It's an evolution of what Uncharted's thematic bent started. The animation of Lara is bewildering?at times I didn't know whether to turn the camera on her expression or on what she's expressing at. But it has the cinematic capture of Uncharted while still having a sense of openworldness.
Yeah, just buy it.
It's a great game: get it.
To go further in depth, let's talk about Lara Croft. This was the character that made a decent PS1 game stand out from the others simply by the main character's gender. This was when games, while still meant exclusively for males, were starting to cater to teenagers, brought up on games, rather than just boys, so having a third person action/adventure game featuring a buxom lady was a very obvious and successful idea. Remember this was when internet porn was either ASCII art or a three-hour, boner-killing wait to see a woman in a swimsuit (depending on your connection speed) ? or going on AOL and talking to girls who were probably in memory-repressing hindsight old perverted men. So buxom Lara Croft comes around and kids can just buy Tomb Raider off the shelf without a second look from their parents, and keep in mind?this was a time when gaining access to a porn magazine or video meant that it was second-hand (or more correctly, right-hand [and usually off someone's alcoholic uncle]).
So how does an IP reboot its over-sexualized (yes, there's even a free wet-suit DLC for Underworld) female caricature into a female character? I don't know exactly how but they did it. She's still attractive and alluring, but there's something different about her this time. I loaded up Underworld and all I saw was a plastic figure of a woman, but with this game, when I saw Lara Croft I saw a woman. She looks dirty, real, and gross?as anyone would given the story's direction. Every time she lifted up her arm, I half-expected to see a five-o'clock armpit shadow. For one rare occasion, a female videogame character has transcended the adjective female. She's neither defined by her gender nor her sexual appeal, she's just Lara.
OK, enough about that.
The gameplay is a step forward for the action/adventure genre, but not a giant leap. It borrows heavily from the Uncharted series (which of course borrowed from the Tomb raider series), while still retaining much of Tomb Raider's puzzle charm. Overall it felt like a progression; its gameplay was built on many backs; there were times when it even reminded me of Mario 64. So, no, it won't revolutionize gaming, but it's the right step forward. It's an evolution of what Uncharted's thematic bent started. The animation of Lara is bewildering?at times I didn't know whether to turn the camera on her expression or on what she's expressing at. But it has the cinematic capture of Uncharted while still having a sense of openworldness.
Yeah, just buy it.
