Tomb Raider Reboot in the Works?

[Fallingwater]

Two words: normal breasts.
I'm fucking tired of games that would be ignored by most if it wasn't for the perceived sexiness of the main character. I'm fairly sure all TR games would have tanked completely if they didn't have leverage on the hormonal charge of the average teenager.

 

[Therumancer]

The superhuman sex appeal of Lara Croft is part of what defines the character so she definatly needs Pneumatic breasts. All those making pretensions of maturity miss the point that she is supposed to be a sex symbol, and absolutly smoking hot.

As far as retconning the character, I have mixed opinions on the subject. Getting back to the original Tomb Raider where she was a fun little vixen a bit differant from other heroes would not be a bad idea. As Yahtzee pointed out later games (which are doubtlessly connected to her waning popularity on a lot of levels) turned her into a feminist amazon who went from being flirty to someone who seemed like she'd munch more carpet than 20 generations of moth infestation in an abandoned manor.

Not that I mind hawt girl on girl action mind you, this is more about the personality change into what basically seemed like every other "I'm better than men" ultra-feminist character out there.

I will also point out that Yahtzee in a number of his reviews makes an important point about this genere of games, albeit perhaps not the one that he intended to. Half the fun of Lara Croft is that she is a mercenary treasure hunter ultimatly out for herself. We can all empathize with going treasure hunting for your own benefit, and in many cases I personally see the whole Indiana Jones rip-off crowd (it belongs in a museum!) in a bit of a less favorable light.

Yet the idea of treasure hunting like this is not currently politically correct, and I can see why a company might want to move away from the whole Lara Croft/Nathan Drake vibe. It is kind of fun to play the "bad guy" in an Indiana Jones movie though.

Sort of like how Alan Quartemaine and Solomon Kane are cool jungle adventure characters while being diametrically opposed to say a more politically correct character like a Tarzan or whatever. Tarzan protects the rare species from poachers, Alan Quartermaine is that poacher who is out to nail the rare species/monster for the challenge/adventure. Tarzan defends the lost tribes (mostly), Soloman Kane hunts them down and inevitably winds up killing them.

Of course the style is a bit differant. The lost species is typically relatively harmless in Tarzan, where to Quartermaine it's typically what we'd consider a "monster" and getting rid of it benefits everyone including the natives (which is why he's a hero). To Tarzan the natives are oh-so-enlightened and nice guys. To Soloman Kane they inevitably wind up being something like a group of psycho Cthulhu worshippers and he stops them right before they unleash untold darkness upon the planet.



The point of this ramble is, keep Lara Croft right where she is. Gogo relic thief.


>>>----Therumancer--->

 

[A Pious Cultist]

Another sandbox open-world title?
For fuck's sake game developers, for fuck's sake.

 

[Bayushi_Kouya]

When the first Tomb Raider came out, I was 14. I didn't get it because there was a hot chick on it, I got it because everyone and their brother made a big to-do about it being a 'revolution' in 3D action-adventure gaming. And, you know what? They were right. As graphics have improved, it has become a slightly more pleasant task, staring at Lara's ass as you spelunk and gun fight, but I'm not looking at her ass, I'm calculating jump distances, evaluating the amount of clearence I'll have if I dive between the two velociraptors coming straight at me.

The video gaming community has grown at such an exponential rate since the introduction of task games like WOW and console games that any knuckle-dragger can relate to (like HALO), the task of attempting to parse the demographic you, the video game company, intends to market to is astronomically difficult. Little variations can change the tone of a game entirely, and thus alter its target audience. Less than a papers' breadth seperates Uncharted and Tomb Raider, but that's all the difference it takes to polarize people.

Frankly, I've never found anything particularly wrong with Tomb Raider games (at least, nothing that stands out in sharp relief to any other video game, AAR), apart from what happens when you rush them out the door, so the need for a reboot of the franchise is beyond me. James Bond obviously needs it, since each reboot actually results in a good movie (Goldeneye: excellent, Tomorrow Never Dies: average, The World Is Not Enough: bad, Die Another Day: god awful; Casino Royale: good, Quantum of Solace: bad, etc). But, if a reimagining will bring more fans to the series, then good luck and godspeed, Eidos.

I'm not excited about the sandbox element, because in my personal experience, nothing hurls you out of the experience faster than introducing the bits and pieces necessary to make a sandbox game work (like giant glowing arrows that might as well read 'go here, stupid'). I hate it when I have to download a FAQ just to play the game correctly. I like linear. Linear is good, since that's what 95% of video games are anyways. You might given a scrap or tidbit that perpetuates the ILLUSION of an open world, but it's usually not the case. Most video games need linearity to make sense. Like most movies, books, or anything else with a story.

But whatever, if offering up an illusion is what it takes to get people to buy a game, then I'm all for it. It's clear I don't understand the average gamer (I discovered, after playing BioShock), so I'm not sure what to say, really.

I'll buy it, and play it, because it's a Tomb Raider game. One would assume that the game's makers will stay true to the parts that I actually like about the series, the action and adventure and puzzle-solving parts.

 

[IamQ]

A reboot? What a shock!

 

[Olikunmissile]

Why won't they just let it fucking die?

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Halfbreed13]

If that's true then I'll be first in line to pick up this game.

The only question left to ask is: Are they going with old balloon-breasted Lara or the new, more realistic Lara?

Well, they released a statement saying that Laura would be more "Female friendly", so that probably points to the second option.

 

[Optimus Hagrid]

The picture reminds me of April Ryan off the Longest Journey.

 

[Jamous]

Wow, that could be awesome. If they manage to do it well. Best of luck to Square Enix.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I didn't know that Square-Enix were to take over. First time I might actually take interest in Tomb Raider.

 

[v3n0mat3]

Hm. This might be a good one...

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Interesting, but the main draw of Lara Croft is her iconic figure methinks. This will have to now be based off of the merits of the game, as that figure is now taken away.

This is more similar to Toby Gard's original vision, but now this has to be a quality product or we will be back to square one, hell square zero because this won't be getting sales based on name alone. But that being said, I guess they are, considering they are rehauling an existing series, rather than creating a new IP.

Two words: normal breasts.
I'm fucking tired of games that would be ignored by most if it wasn't for the perceived sexiness of the main character. I'm fairly sure all TR games would have tanked completely if they didn't have leverage on the hormonal charge of the average teenager.

They toned down her cup size since Legend, to be honest. The sex appeal was still there, however, but that's what made her iconic.

 

[nashty13]

"Wow a prequel how original" Already seen what happens when they change the Tomb Raider game play format (Angel Of Darkness *shudder*)approach with caution

 

[Clashero]

If that's true then I'll be first in line to pick up this game.

The only question left to ask is: Are they going with old balloon-breasted Lara or the new, more realistic Lara?

I hope they go for the new one. I prefer her new athletic build. It's more realisitc and more attractive.

But, then again, it's Square Enix, a Japanese company.

 

[johnman]

I like how they are taking a new direction.
I dislike how they have turned her into yet another badass action girl (most probably)

 

[johnman]

If that's true then I'll be first in line to pick up this game.

The only question left to ask is: Are they going with old balloon-breasted Lara or the new, more realistic Lara?

I hope they go for the new one. I prefer her new athletic build. It's more realisitc and more attractive.

But, then again, it's Square Enix, a Japanese company.

So it will have a sword twice the size of Lara's old breasts in it some where.

 

[Xanadu84]

I'm pretty neutral, willing to give it a chance. The only thing that worry's me is the open world aspect. Generally, open world ends up translating to, "We are willing to take a massive hit in our games quality if it means we can put the words open world on the box so it will sell to people into buzz words."

 

[TheEnglishman]

So basically they're making some form of GTA/ Crysis thing. That sounds good. They pretending all previous stuff never existed. That sounds good. This may be promising. I wont get my hopes up though.

 

[Cowabungaa]

So they're making Encharted with a female protagonist and a bit more freedom?

 

[akmarksman]

This series has been stagnating for ages, just let it go!

That's why A new developer is reinventing it. So it won't be the same stagnating game series being milked for cash.

Well at least not for 3 more games.

*coughfinalfantasycough*

The model for the new Lara looks like a cross between Rhona Mitra and Kate Beckinsale..a definite plus in my book.