When I first saw screen shots from the new Tomb Raider I was impressed with the changes to the character design. Lara actually had real pants on! Not only that but she looked like someone who’s been tumbling around ancient ruins fighting tigers and shit. Her clothes were tattered, she was covered in dirt and scrapes, she looked like a genuine bad-ass.
But then I read this review, which featured comments from game producer Ron Rosenberg, and any respect I may have gained for the creative team was instantly lost. I can’t believe they think the only way male gamers could connect to a female character would be though a need to protect. Lara Croft’s not supposed to be helpless, she’s the female Indiana Jones for Christ sake. An origin story that shows how a bad-ass becomes a bad-ass is a great idea, but this is not how you do it. It’s as ridiculous as choosing this for a Mrs Pac-Man re-boot.
Seriously, what’s wrong with the idea that a guy might just want to pretend he’s a gun-toting bad-ass woman running around old dungeons? It worked for Metroid.
I don’t have a clue what the guys who make Tomb Raider actually look like. I suppose I could have asked the Googles, but why bother trying to portray them correctly if they can’t do the same for their own character?
I wish my scanner was better at picking up colored pencil. A lot of my lighter colors were lost in this.
I remember reading a review for the game a while back and the way I remember them describing it was that it was supposed to be her rise to “Bad-Ass”ness.
Coming from past Tomb Raider titles, yeah, Lara Croft don’t need no man to protect her. But coming from a more realistic origin story approach, they’re trying to find the experiences that changed her from a helpless college intern, into a bad ass. The whole point is that at then end of the game after overcoming these life threatening events that she will be a completely different person than when the game started.
And as for protecting the character, isn’t that kind of the point of all games, especially those with 3rd person view? And protecting female characters is a proven characteristic found in A LOT of games. Should they get out of that mindset? Yeah, but since it’s not in the traditional save the princess way, I’m gonna let Tomb Raider creators slide on this one.
Still love the comic, though.