Tomb Raider 2013

Lara Croft

Girl power, what does it mean to you?

To Lara Croft in this year's Tomb Raider, means determination, resourcefulness and courage. In Tomb Raider, young Lara was not a confident girl, she looked soft and naïve. Set off in Endurance with her team of explorers to find the Yamatai, a lost nation formed by the Japanese, they quickly got in trouble amidst a storm in the Dragon's Triangle.

It is clear to the player that Lara Croft only has survival skills, she does not know much about self-defence and fighting; but she makes up for it through improvisation and attacking dirty. While playing Lara, you get the feeling that it is a fight for life, and she does not have much advantage. Your muscles tense for the next appearance for the enemy, and you suddenly find yourself preferring to use stealth instead of head-on combat.

Searching for bows, guns and bullets, you quickly find yourself armed with a nice array of weapons. Alas, the best weapon you have is your quick wit and reflex, for behind you might be a wolf or an enemy bent on erasing your existence. Tomb puzzles aside, getting from point A to point B sometimes will be, as long as you are careful.

While many Tomb Raider games feature the older, more matured and better skilled Lara, this Lara will be a favourite for many gamers. Aside from being pretty and natural looking, she has an air of vulnerability that makes you pity her ordeal in the mysterious island they crashed on. The game is ruthless to Lara, trashing her every chance its got, forcing her to make decisions crucial to her survival.

Being a Croft, her resourcefulness certainly comes to her aid many times. While the puzzles are more straightforward, the game punishes you if you miss time a leap or a run, forcing precision with quick action. So, you might save some time figuring out what you need to do, but you will be spending those trying to complete it. I am not sure which one I hate more...

I feel that Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics had done a good job with recreating Lara, or giving Lara a past that is worth playing. Playing the weak turned to strong card works very well in this story, I find myself rooting for the poor girl every time she faces an adversary (and hoping that I could win). 

There are many game reviewers that will tell you that Tomb Raider is a great adventure open world game worth your time. My focus is on Lara Croft, and how a girl's determination to survive shapes her to become a heroine worth fighting for. She does not have the double guns and multiple accessories in this game, but she has her wits and grit, thus a survivor she became.