THE CROFT TIMES
THE EDITORIAL
Insert Coin by Joe Funk
There are two big reasons why Lara's become a star.
OK, OK, I know we're going to get a ton of questions and e-mails about our Lara Croft coverage the last two months. Just what is going on here? Are the single guys on the staff not dating enough? Did we not put enough saltpeter in the EGM staff's water supply?
Our reasons are obvious. She's hot. Readers are interested in her. Sports Illustrated doesn't quit covering Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls halfway through the playoffs because it's already been done. You cover a star when it's shooting.
After just one installment in what will surely become a truckload of games featuring her, Lara Croft has become the first lady of video games.
How did this happen? It's simple really - Lara is the proud owner of a pair of assets that have been the key to her success. And they're not quite as obvious as you think.
First is the depth of Lara's character. A lot of it has to do with details, hats off to Eidos for sweating them. In Tomb Raider, Lara displayed an unprecedented variety of moves and animations that gave her an almost lifelike quality. Lara finds herself hanging from cliffs, jumping over broken bridges and taking on a T-Rex. She's also tough. She's athletic. She's got a can-do mentality. And, don't underestimate this, you can see her quite clearly, and learn a lot just by looking at her-you can roughly determine her age, her skin tone, her height, her weight, her eye color, her hair style, her dress size, and even her bra size. It's a tried-and-true Hollywood formula: The more the audience fells like they know the hero, the more people will care for her (or him). With Lara, Eidos has pushed the envelope in video game character development.
The second ingredient is the game she debuted in. Tomb Raider cemented a new genre of video game that is something of a cross between a shooter, an action game, and an RPG. In the copycat mentality of entertainment, TR was a refreshing change, and gamers loved it. A few earlier games attempted the 3-D format in console games (Out of This World, Fade to Black), but the unprecedented fluidity and gameplay of TR established it as a dynamic and permanent new game genre as the evolution of video games continues. Add these two components together, and Lara Croft represents a classic example of thinking outside a box. Eidos has tapped into a fresh vein of excitement, and in addition to the huge reward they have reaped as a result, they have also earned a salute from us here at EGM for taking chances.
Now, let's get to the question I know most of you were wondering about: How much does Lara's super-human measurements feed into this frenzy? Well, it's no secret we're in a testosterone-rich industry. If some guys get a little extra something out of a game by controlling a character because they�uh, like the arrangement of her polygons, that's their business-we'd rather not know about it. It's one of the undeniable and recognizable details of Lara, but unlike Pamela Anderson Lee, by no means is it the sole reason for her celebrity. As for the parents who are in fear that their kids are going to want to control Barbie-doll-type heroines in every future video game they play, I wouldn't worry too much. It's no stranger than controlling an Italian midget plumber or a sneaker-wearin' marsupial. That's the point: Video games are about an escape to somewhere, something and sometimes someone else.
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