Watching the opening sequences of the newly rebooted Tomb Raider game is painful. The entire demo is painful, with the developers taking delight in putting the 21-year-old Lara Croft through some of the worst situations imaginable. While the game will take place in a number of different locations, the sections we were shown brought to mind films like Sanctum and The Descent. The entire context was weird, as the press sat in front of the televisions eating mini-hamburgers while a young girl was all but tortured on the screen.
Although my stomach was churning through a few of the sections, this looked like one of the more exciting reveals of E3.
The only way out is through
The section of the game began with Croft waking up, and then being hung like a poisoned fly on a spiderweb. There is no way to escape, but as you rock the analog stick you can build up enough momentum to do what the developer described as "the unthinkable," set the bindings—and by extension Lara herself—on fire. The rope snaps and she takes a long, painful fall onto an exposed piece of rebar.
You have to pump the X button to pull it out, and Croft does so with a guttural scream. This is what it's like to watch a girl be reduced to primal survival instincts. Lara finds herself in a cave that's being tended by a crazy, bearded madman. It's unclear why he took her from her grounded ship, and what he wants her for, but the fact that he keeps croaking that he wants to "help her" adds an extra layer of dread to the situation. As Lara tries to escape she's forced to push herself through a tiny cave, with a thin layer of oxygen under the rock. Her eyes are wild, she's gasping for air, and the camera is close to her face. As someone who suffers from heavy claustrophobia—I ask for drugs before an MRI—this part was particularly hard to get through.
Getting through this section requires solving a physics puzzle that involves water, fire, and gravity, and then it's another quick-time event to get out, but not before... well, even without blood in this particular scene it's pretty scary. It's then that you're introduced to the hub world, where you are tasked with keeping another survivor alive while finding a way to escape. When you're asked to go into a wolves' den to recover some equipment, Lara seems almost resigned. "I'm not that kind of Croft," she says, although we all know that she is, in fact, that kind of Croft. Setting the game in Lara's past is an interesting move. We know what she becomes, but watching her begin the game as a young woman to be reborn as a capable adventurer is thrilling.
The problem is the game's apparent willingness to put her through hell in order to make that rebirth possible. "It was either you or me," she tells a wolf she has to kill in one scene. This isn't a situation she was ready for, and she's neither physically nor emotionally prepared for the challenges that will be put in front of her.
There are different ways to explore the rocky mountains in this setting, and you'll find hidden items and extend your range as you find and upgrade your equipment. We didn't see much of the game at all, but what is there leads me to believe that we're in for a treat when there is more available for us to see—and hopefully play.
Lara Croft is back, and it turns out that it took more than a little blood to become the hero we all know. There is nothing wrong with making a character who feels almost like a superhero back into an actual person. It may be painful, but it's also worthwhile.
Tomb Raider is coming to the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC and is expected to be released in 2012.
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