An emotion other than 'badass'

Oh dear. I am so torn right now.

You see, I’ve just seen the new ‘Turning Point’ trailer for next year’s Tomb Raider reboot, and... It actually looks good.

I know, right? You don’t believe me; check it out for yourself here:



I think I made it rather clear before on this site, but I was totally against the reboot. This will be the third one the series has had since its inception in 1996 (and it’s last one was only in 2006), and I just couldn’t help thinking, ‘Why can’t they let it die already?’

Well, they keep ransacking Tomb Raider’s grave (how fitting) because there’s money to be made in that there corpse. People still know who Lara Croft is and there’s still residual good will left over from its glory days. When they announced this instalment, I couldn’t help groaning. Enough was enough, right?



Well, checking out what little we’ve been given on www.tombraider.com, it seems that we haven’t got a case of money grabbing at all. Everything has changed. There’s no Croft Manor, no arsenal of weaponry, no Egyptian mummies, and most importantly, no sodding Bluetooth headset thing. I’ll tell you, there was nothing more irritating in Legend and Underworld than the two ‘experts’ back home yammering at you all the time. If I wanted witty banter, well, I wouldn’t be looking for it here.

Instead, we have an incredibly stripped back Lara (minds out of the gutter, you filth). Our 21 year old protagonist is fresh out of university and on a ship bound to Japan for some unknown reason, when catastrophe strikes, the ship is wrecked and Lara finds herself alone, battered and terrified.

It’s a brave move to make. Traditionally Lara has been portrayed as an entitled rich girl, bouncing around the globe and shooting up all kinds of endangered beasties just for the sheer hell of it. Everything she did was done with aplomb and usually a witty remark. ‘Oh Pierre, you litterbug’, indeed. Whether she was facing down T Rexes or outrunning boulders, she never showed a hint of fear. Some of that can be attributed to 90’s graphics and console limitations, but still.



New Lara however, actually emotes something other than ‘badass’. She’s been beaten up, nearly drowned, and separated from all of her companions. She’s exhausted and terrified, and that’s made very clear in the trailer. It’s a really interesting move, as doing this has humanized what was before a nearly superhuman character. It’s a much better idea than the Legend/Anniversary/Underworld ‘Missing mother’ storyline, too.

It kind of reminds me of the early Silent Hill protagonists. Usually they were just normal people, having been thrust into horrible circumstances beyond their control. The terror came from the fact that you weren’t superhuman, you were trapped and death was around every corner. From eyeing up the screenshots and concept art, this seems to be the direction Tomb Raider is going in. Bodies hang from the ceiling, rickety wooden structures inhabit caves, and hundreds of blood red candles are arranged as if for a shrine. It’s ominous, but in a good way for once.



The only sticking point, however, is that the trailer has shown no gameplay whatsoever. Many viewers have complained about this, but we have to remember that the release date isn’t till Autumn 2012 (I refuse to say Fall. Fall is not a season!). I’d agree that we can’t really judge the game yet until we see some, but come on. You can’t have everything already. If Square Enix are going to start the marketing campaign now, they’re going to have to do it slowly. Treating you mean to keep you keen, as it were.

Needless to say, I’m going to buy this when it comes out. I was all set to be disappointed, but now I’ve had to have a rethink. If Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix pull this off, Tomb Raider will be an amazing game in its own right. The ‘Turning Point’ trailer has given it a lot to live up to, though. I only hope it actually turns out to be good...

All pictures taken from www.tombraider.com