Thinking and Writing

Tomb Raider: The Believable Killer

With such stiff competition as Zelda, Samus, and a literal endless number of armor-clad gun-wielding heroines, it’s no small honor that Lara Croft was recognized as the most successful human virtual game heroine by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006. Since the release of the original Tomb Raider game nineteen years ago, the pistol wielding super-woman has paraded her short shorts through eleven video games, two feature films, a number of comic books, and several theme park rides. In March of 2013, Square Enix rebooted the series with the release of the most recent game, titled simply Tomb Raider.

Tomb Raider is not only a reboot of Lara Croft’s storyline, but is also a reexamination of her character. Visually, narratively, and ideologically, Lara Croft has changed from the pixelated fleshy blob of 1996 to a relatable human being. However, Square Enix’s fantastic graphics and candid plotline may unintentionally alarm more than it delights. Tomb Raider invites us to judge this new Lara as a responsible agent as opposed to a morally untouchable oddity, which has its challenges.

The first major change to the Lara of 2013 is a noticeable desexualization. The short shorts, which have stuck with Lara through the preceding seventeen years, have been replaced with more practical work pants. Thanks to sophisticated(and frankly gorgeous)motion capture technology, Square Enix is finally able to present us with a beautiful yet anatomically correct Lara Croft, a drastic improvement from her earlier designs, which were disturbingly over sensualized. One of Tomb Raider’s most unique improvements is its attention to the detailed grime, sweat, and blood which collect on Lara as she works her way through combat filled jungles and caves. The overall effect is a heroine who is not the unrealistically super-powered robot of before, but a real living woman.

This is a welcome development for those bothered with the Tomb Raider Franchise’s oversexualization of women, but the full effect that this realist development has on Tomb Raider as a whole must be carefully considered. Though virtually all encourage embracing realistic representations of capable women as role models, does Square Enix’s humanification of Lara go far enough to make her a fully redeemable character? To answer this question, a closer look at the narrative is required.

Tomb Raider takes place upon an uncharted island, where Lara’s exploration boat has crash landed. Lara must survive in a jungle full of natural dangers and psychopathic cultists. She begins the game, weeping, and wounded, in a position of weakness. Slowly building her confidence, she finds a bow which she uses to defend herself from packs of wolves, but refuses to use her tool as a weapon against human enemies. Up to this point, Lara is extremely easy to relate with. We can see ourselves as Lara, panicking to survive through a situation of intense trauma.

About thirty minutes into the game, Tomb Raider takes a drastic shift, as Lara is accosted by one of her captors, who she must kill with his own handgun. The scene is graphic and appropriately startling, and Lara falls to the ground, dry heaving in shock. At this point, we bond with Lara on a moral level. We can imagine, or at least sympathize with, what she must be feeling. The image of Lara Croft, bleeding, mud splattered, and crying on all fours, is a boldly realistic and arguably positive move for the Tomb Raider franchise.

Unfortunately, what may be the most beautiful moment in all of the Tomb Raider games combined, quickly becomes problematic. Seconds after going into near shock over her first experience as a killer, Lara holsters the pistol and assumes the role like a pro. Within minutes she has more than quadrupled her body count, and as the game progresses she goes on to kill literally hundreds more. By the end of the game, she masters gruesome ‘finishing’ and ‘stealth takedown’ moves using an ice pick, rendered in startling gratuity. The human Lara, who was once so familiar, has become a killing machine.

The effect on the gameplay is disturbing. Lara, who you feel is so much like yourself, is killing with confidence and ease. This differs greatly from most other popular shooting games, where the main character is undeveloped or mostly unimportant(Call of Duty, Battlefield)or is pre-established as an experienced killer(Halo, Assassins Creed). More than these other games, where the main character is either ambiguous or live in such a different world it is excusable, you feel responsible for the killing when you play Tomb Raider. Which in the case of a game which becomes so violent, must be examined and criticized seriously. Tomb Raider, through its strong and remarkable attention to realism, has unfortunately made Lara Croft an unredeemable character.

The reason for the drastic change in style is unclear, as well as the effect it has has had on its players. Video game forums are full of questions about why Square Enix moved Tomb Raider from a fast-paced puzzle game to a full-fledged combat game. Perhaps the recent trend in media to take a more candid approach to war-related trauma inspired Square Enix. Maybe a combination of motion capture technology together with increased demand for video game violence created an unfortunately realistic combination. In any case, Lara Croft’s future does not look much different from her past. A recently released trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider(2015) shows Lara coping with psychotherapy. Though pleasantly realistic, as anyone returning from the hell of Tomb Raider would most certainly need therapy, the preview becomes as problematic as the previous game. Unbeknownst to her therapist, it appears that Lara is coping with her trauma by going on more adventures, which, the preview does not hesitate to remind us, involves more stealth kills. As 21st century gamers, we are finally confronted with video games that give us shockingly realistic representations of life. It’s high time we started thinking about the effect this may have on our previously morally untouchable virtual heroes.