Why not put the Tomb Raider franchise to rest in a tomb of its own already?
Rise of the Tomb Raider improves upon its predecessor, Tomb Raider (2013), most noticeably in replay value. Otherwise, Rise of the Tomb Raider is identical to the previous game for better or worse. Crystal Dynamics has progressed Lara Croft’s character development by unraveling her family secrets and introducing new villains. Yet, we’e seen this all before not only in the previous outing, but in cinema as well.
Camilla Luddington returns as Croft for voice-overs and performs all the motion captures for the character. Crystal Dynamics finally brings Croft to the ranks of James Cameron’s Sarah Connor and even Christopher Nolan’s vision for Bruce Wayne by expanding on her survival exploits from Tomb Raider (2013). The new incarnation of Croft is a well-rounded video game character than previously portrayed. While Croft might be a dominating force in gaming, she is still cookie-cutter in other mediums such as the Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander film adaptions. It’s an odd assessment to relate Croft as feminist considering she enflames hordes of foes with molotov cocktails and variety of other weapons as if she is The Terminator. Similar violent women’s rights demonstrations are occurring in reality so is it really necessary for Croft to continuously use molotov cocktails in every new Tomb Raider video game? In Tomb Raider (2013), the hordes of foes Croft encounters could be justified in that she fights for her survival in the secluded Devil’s Triangle against cannibals. With Rise of the Tomb Raider these encounters are exploited at the expense of introducing the new Trinity organization. Perhaps, it makes sense for Crystal Dynamics to introduce Trinity, the Nazi Stormtrooper equivalent to George Lucas' and Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones films. With that said, sorry Miss Croft, but Harrison Ford fought the Nazis first in Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
The fact that Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix downplays the pin-up Croft of yesteryear is greatly welcomed. Long gone are the sexist overtones deprived from Toby Gard’s infamous caricature doodle and Tank Girl influences from his Eidos Interactive years. Crystal Dynamics has put so much effort into rebooting Tomb Raider that they’ve neglected their most crucial intellectual property, Legacy of Kain. Why not put the Tomb Raider franchise to rest in a tomb of its own already? Perhaps Square Enix should put faith into Crystal Dynamics by rebooting their classic gothic fable instead of continuously reinventing Tomb Raider.
