Nathan McCree<\/a>, it just sits in the background, then rises to a crescendo, giving you just enough time to prepare for impending strife. Possibly in the form of a T-Rex, because of course there\u2019s a T-Rex. Danger lurks around every corner. Sometimes the corner itself is dangerous. I have died. A lot.<\/p>\nEven the first level is a challenge. I\u2019d consider myself a reasonably competent gamer. But the death toll is staggering. I cannot think of another game that has made me want to rage quit this much. Every time you think you\u2019ve negotiated the dangerous bit, there are more spikes, or boulders, or Wolves, Bears, Tigers, or Tyrannosaurs. Or a massive hole in the ground that you didn\u2019t see. A single misstep means death. I could probably explain in an entire podcast series on the myriad ways I have killed Lara Croft by mistake.<\/p>\n
But as annoying as it has been, I am still impressed by what this game has to offer. Enormous, labyrinthine levels to explore. Atmospheric music. The scale of the ambition is impressive. And compared to other games in 1996, it\u2019s pretty easy to see why this has endured. You can sense how Lara may have paved the way for later female protagonists in games.<\/p>\n
She made it acceptable for a main character to be a woman, rather than a plumber, Hedgehog or a Bandicoot. Without her, would we have had games like Perfect Dark, Bayonetta, or Horizon: Zero Dawn? Perhaps we\u2019ll never know definitively, but Tomb Raider certainly helped to give strong female lead characters legitimacy, in a world where gaming was overwhelmingly masculine.<\/p>\n