Why I don't like Tomb Raider (2012)

I don't like the look of the new Tomb Raider. I didn't from the moment that I saw the "gritty" atmosphere that the game was trying to build. This was before the whole, "defend her from rapists" thing, I just didn't like it. And this isn't to say that I'm some kind of Tomb Raider purist, I've enjoyed them occasionally, never to the point that I was a huge fan or anything, but occasionally enjoyed. And no it isn't because I'm offended by the absurd level of violence, some of which is sexual, aimed at Lara, although I know many who are. No my reason for disliking it is very simple, and yet sort of complex...

The death of "Fun"

The reason that I put fun in quotation marks is because I don't mean fun in an overall sense, you can still have fun when going through a hostile atmosphere of ultra-realistic violence and misery, like in survival horror games, I mean fun as a theme. The old Tomb Raider games weren't about storytelling, they weren't about character development, they were about having fun. The game wanted the player to enjoy themselves, some story and character developing may have happened, but it wasn't framed like this. Yes, Lara wasn't exactly a well-defined character, she was treated and marketed like a pair of breasts with guns, and it was fairly simplistic. But that doesn't have to be a negative, not at all.

For example, lets say that I write a Zelda game, in canon of course, that is a prequel explaining Link's origin story. Now let's say that as a part of that origin story I have him raped by a Gerudo, and then he took up a sword and slaughtered all of that Gerudo's family violently. You would all probably hate me, and you'd have every right to. That isn't to say that the above premise couldn't be done well, but the question is why does it have to be done to this character, and why does a previously light-hearted series have to go all dark. The simple reason is that it doesn't, the character of the new Tomb Raider game doesn't have to be Lara, it doesn't have to bear that name, it can be good without a brand to recognize. Speaking of which...

Re-Branded

The simple fact is that when you go so far in the opposite direction like this, you re-brand the property. And I'm sure that some are arguing that this is a good thing, that they don't like the original Tomb Raider brand and it should be changed. Well aside from the fact that changing something that drastically and alienating your entire original fanbase is something that Square Enix already did, and its part of the reason that most of their original fans Hate them right now, I will approach this from a different perspective, a question. How long can they keep this new image up? It's a simple question, how many times can they create a Tomb Raider game involving Lara being faced with the human heart at its ugliest? Maybe one more? Perhaps? And they really can't go back to the old way can they? Because the two characters are entirely different, so they can't just go back to making Tomb Raider the way that they used to, because then they alienate their new fanbase.

Now this isn't to say that these things cannot go together, but it is very difficult to pull off. And the idea that Square Enix, undoubtedly one of the worst companies in recent memory, thought that they could do it baffles me. Now I also hate to sound like an old man here, but I also just hate the trend of a remake that names itself after the original without change, or by taking off one word that wasn't important to begin with.

Conclusion

So obviously I am going to have to actually play the game to see for myself if any of these complaints are founded. And I plan to, the game is in my GameFly list, up at the top, and its listed as High availability. Again I don't mean to insult everyone's tastes, yet, but I can't help but be skeptical. And considering the financial issues that Square is facing, it may actually be the swan song of the series, whether that is a good or bad thing we will soon see.