Continuing the discussion from Strategic butt-coverings in video-games:
I was trying to compose a response in that thread before you so politely interjected.
I’d like to say a few things.
Firstly, it’s cool seeing people I like and respect dig so deep into a game series I want to love. Not to say I agree with you all, well, I guess I agree with everyone more than I agree with @codinghorror, but I do find it cool how everyone is keeping chill, data-based, and pushing each other to see the other side.
Me? I started playing Tomb Raider at the start. It was one of the first 3D games, same year as Quake. The gameplay isn’t as enduring as Quake has been, but the world/character/story or TR and balance between 3D action puzzles and action has been.
At the time, even my grandmom, who’s PC I played TR on before I owned my own PC, thought TR was risque. TR2, similarly so. The start of this series is such an iconic milestone in objectification of lead characters that it would be biased to cover the topic without discussing TR. I ducked out of TR after that, avoiding it like I avoid Assassin’s Creed games.
Tomb Raider (2013) brought me back. I’d seen the good reviews, reports of improved treatment of Lara, and wanted to revisit the fantasies that Raiders of the Lost Ark first planted. And, for the most part, TR2013 was a solid game. Except for when it made me cringe about the rape threat body horror capture situation at the start or the explicit rape threat or the late game trope of the vulnerable female alone in a body horror abattoir. While I liked the game a lot, I’d not consider it a game to recommend to the feminists in my life.
In my mobile time, I’ve been chipping at Tomb Raider GO. Decent, so far.
I thank @codinghorror for the free copy of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I look forward to discussing the new game with him, with compadre @FunkDaddy, and with everyone else.
