Author: Luke Boliek

Lara Croft- the Novice Adventurer?

Lara Croft, the titular tomb raider in the infamous Tomb Raider series, is perhaps one of the most famous women in video game history. However, in the 2013 revamp of the series, Lara is not the gritty action hero that … Continue reading →

Lara Croft, the titular tomb raider in the infamous Tomb Raider series, is perhaps one of the most famous women in video game history. However, in the 2013 revamp of the series, Lara is not the gritty action hero that fans know and love. Tomb Raider focuses on Lara’s origins, namely Lara’s first expedition as an archaeologist, when she searches for the lost island of Yamatai. In her search for the island, Lara and her crew encounter a storm that shipwrecks them on a mysterious island. This shipwreck is what truly sets the game in motion. Stranded on an island inhabited by dangerous men, Lara has to develop the skills to survive.

The character quickly switches from a brainy archaeology student planning an expedition to a survivor. This desire for survival coincides with Lara developing skills and abilities to help her survive on the island, including combat skills to battle the dangerous locals. At this point in the game, Tomb Raider relies on a common trope used in action video games from The Legend of Zelda to Kingdom Hearts: as the protagonist advances through the story, they gain more experience which unlocks more skills and abilities that help them battle their way through the game.

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Throughout Tomb Raider, Lara gains abilities, such as shooting a bow-and arrow, that advance her story.

Typically, this narrative decision increases the immersive nature of the game in which it is used. The protagonist gains more abilities as the player becomes more familiar with the game mechanics. New skills are acquired in a way that makes sense within the game world. This could be done by having the protagonist go through a tutorial where a character teaches the protagonist the skill, or could rely on pre-existing facts learned about the character. For example, in The Legend of Zelda series, it makes sense the Link gains more combat abilities as he advances through his quest—he’s the heroic knight of the tale.

In Tomb Raider, however, this decision really made me question the game’s logic, and actually pulled me out of my immersive playing experience. Lara is introduced as an archaeology student, yet in one of the game’s first missions, Lara salvages a bow-and-arrow from a corpse and uses it with ease. Lara also picks up a gun and is able to take out the island’s threatening inhabitants with the ease of an expert marksman. In reality, I have my doubts that an archaeology student would be so well-versed in combat techniques. Especially since there is no mention of Lara ever learning these skills. In the game, Lara simply picks up the weapons and is immediately an expert at them.

Lara (too) quickly transitions from an archaeology graduate into a seasoned killing machine

Image Sources:

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/tomb_raider/b/xbox360/archive/2013/02/25/tomb-raider-review.aspx

http://www.gamesradar.com/tomb-raider-review/

 

The Anti First-Person Shooter

When playing Portal, the most interesting aspect to me was Portal’s status as a first-person shooter game. As a first-person shooter, Portal, therefore, is a game that belongs in a category with fellow shooters such as Call of Duty, Halo, and any game featuring James Bond. However, my experience playing Portal was vastly different than … Continue reading “The Anti First-Person Shooter”

When playing Portal, the most interesting aspect to me was Portal’s status as a first-person shooter game. As a first-person shooter, Portal, therefore, is a game that belongs in a category with fellow shooters such as Call of Duty, Halo, and any game featuring James Bond. However, my experience playing Portal was vastly different than my experience playing these games.

The majority of first-person shooters are action games. The player controls the main character as they battle his/her way through numerous enemies armed with various guns. Throughout the game, the player tries to shoot the majority of the non-player characters (NPCs) before they shoot the protagonist. The game boils down to a test of the player’s reaction time—can you pull the trigger/press the button before the NPCs?

Portal takes this trope and flips it on its head. For starters, the “weapon” that Chell—the main character—is armed with, the Aperture Portal Gun is not even a true weapon. The portal gun does not fire bullets or ammunition, but instead fires non-damaging portals at walls. In a battle, this gun would be worthless, except as a means of escape.

In Portal, Chell uses her gun to create portals rather than kill enemies.
In Portal, Chell uses her gun to create portals rather than kill enemies.

Firing portals is useful to Chell, however, as in this game she is not truly battling. Yes, Chell does take damage periodically from robots controlled by the antagonist GLaDOS, and she does battle GLaDOS at the end of the game, but this “battling” is more about avoidance and relocation than combat. In another break away from the genre, Portal is less of an action game and more of a puzzle game. Instead of trying to shoot first, Portal encourages the player to think strategically. The game is about finding your way out of a predicament rather than simply battling through it. While many first-person shooters are about destroying, Portal is more about creating. The player must use their weapon to create a solution to their problem, as opposed to most first-person shooters which require their players to destroy their problem.