Ben-DutkaThe upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, which is slated to launch in March, really turned heads at this year's E3.
A pretty invigorating trailer started comparisons to Naughty Dog's vaunted Uncharted franchise, and most were impressed with Crystal Dynamic's new effort. But not everyone likes the new direction the developers have taken with the iconic protagonist.
After executive producer Ron Rosenberg told Kotaku that players are going to want to "protect" Lara, a few gamers expressed extreme displeasure over this move. Rosenberg even says there will be times when scavengers attempt to rape Lara, which certainly didn't go over well, either. Here's part of the first ranting gamer comment:
"Okay, WHAT KIND OF FU**ING BULLSHIT IS THIS?! Seriously? FU**ING SERIOUSLY? Lord where do I fu**ing start, how bout "They're more like 'I want to protect her.' There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her.'
So lets see…let's remove Lara from being fully badass to weak 'Whedon-flavored female hero' bullsh** because you know…that's exactly what I want to see in Lara. Not a confident badass fully aware of her sexuality. Nope, can't have that…"
Then, in response to the part where Rosenberg said Lara will become a "cornered animal" in some situations, and will have to "fight back or die" (in reference to the rape possibility), the gamer just totally freaks out:
"So things she's going to go through that no man will go through or face those 'challenges' are and seemingly ONLY include 'rape' because fu** all, that's how women get character ladies in gentlemen, she has to be raped or attempted raped etc…no way in holy FU**ING hell is she going to gain that development through any other FU**ING means from being shot at, punched, attacked, survive a plane crash, betrayal, set on fire…nope, rape. Perfect, that's the 'Go to' for female development to make her 'Harder and badass.'"
Although harsh, it appears quite a few agree with that viewpoint. It seems to be the underlying "gore/porn" aspect of the game that is really pissing people off, even if such a term or description isn't entirely accurate based on what we've seen. At first, most were intrigued by the new Lara but now, after learning a bit more, it seems a ton of gamers aren't just annoyed, they're legitimately offended.
What's your take?
