Ten Years of Tomb Raider:
Pipolinne

First, Lara Croft was an echo on my mind. I’ve never played a videogame before,I’ve never read games magazines before, but I knew Lara. She was an idea, a concept of exploration, daring, boldness and adventure that I wanted to try!

So, one October day, I decided it was time for this girl to go raiding Amazon. Being the expert Raider and player I was, how could I decide what TR game to buy?! Well, that goes un-asked: the one with the most attractive name: TR: Angel of Darkness

So, in a totally random way, that’s how I started my path in videogames.

And what a path that was! Bas – fond streets, cheap discos, sewers, boxing skeletons, tacky seduction scenes, SPAM, SPAM & SPAM!

Ok, I confess: in the first moments, the game wasn’t to blame: I admired Lara but I really didn’t know how a raider player proceeded: to where should I turn, what was I supposed to do, what’s was the purpose of all that!

In the first moments, I was really unable to have fun, I was too anxious trying to understand how should a TR player act!

What can I say, I hated AOD. And I’m glad I disliked it because the fact I didn’t accept TR was only that guided me to buy another TR game, TR II. This time, I followed a completely different way of choosing: I’ve read reviews and opinions, I checked TRII’s forum at TRF…nah, lol, and I’m lying! I have just chosen it because it featured Venice!

And, now I was decided to be a Raider! Finally, I had a more precise idea about what I should look for, Venice was full of light, left alone all for myself ( there were these baddies, but they did not prevented Lara from walking the streets), Bartoli might have ended a skinny dragon but he possessed a elegant, spacious palazzo, where these magnificent chandeliers were just asking to be raided! And then, after some tourism, some culture…a visit to the Opera was inevitable, though Lara probably opted for the long route in order to watch the show…I understand the baddies, this time: after all, she never paid for the ticket and the building clearly needed some reforms done! Most all the audience sits were destroyed, balconies were falling apart, there were stone balls coming from everywhere, the lifts needed repairing, electric circuits on the water!, rats and lost keys everywhere! And what about those loose dragons…I mean, hidden the way they were it’s no surprise Bartoli felt he had to look for another ones in China!

Though, when watching all those sandbags swaying and glasses all over the floor, it seemed works were already in progress.

And yes, it was special walking through Venice, it was easy to forget we’re actually playing a game, and that was my first TR victory, forgetting I was playing a game!

But the sensation of freedom started at Offshore Rig: though obviously created to provoke us claustrophobia, I felt a sudden feeling I could go wherever I desired. Filled with baddies and flame - throwing baddies, it felt strangely empty, Lara could finally breathe…the machine’s nuisance, the steps echoing, the metal structures, the technology surrounding Lara…ahah, paradise, lol!

Tibet was the first level where I didn’t care about what was the correct track…yes, I relaxed enough for that just appreciating the white, the creative ways of killing the villains, how to try jump on foot a cliff planned to be jumped using a vehicle…ahah, so many good memories! I needed one hours of deaths to understand even for Lara it was impossible to jump such a gap, but I had my fun!

Yes, there was the first China, and dinosaurs and spiders and the sunken ship and those furry psychopaths and the bully chicken, but I want to jump to LSD Isla…I mean Floating Islands. Don’t you think we could truly enjoy that mix between cherry trees and green flying warriors under the influence of some substance…I’m sure there was a whole hidden meaning we simply lost!

Then…Legend! Legend is hard to define: I usually say it lacked atmosphere, the second part of Peru was kind of anguishing, perhaps because all those big statues made Lara feel really lonely. Tokyo was such a ravishing idea, but it finished too early and Kazakhstan was a really original concept for a tomb. I’d say Legend is TR in watercolour, but it allowed me to relax, to simply enjoy the game, to simply make Lara go and walk…nothing to worry about! And that really helped me to finally start taking pleasure from playing TR!

Finally,TR III! It’s simply perfect! India was mysterious, but quiet, dangerous, but always inviting us to go forward! Polynesia…well, Gauguin was right: even with murderous natives, the South is some kind of paradise lost. I’m not able to forget the feeling of being a 20’s traveller, when looking at that hut! London, perhaps because I was so looking forward to it, it was a tad disappointing, but those fashionable “Damned” solved it all…I give it to Core: a train station was as attractive as India’s jungle! And Nevada…the desert, the heat, the lack of proper directions, Lara weaponless, but never defenceless. And those baddies could be really entertaining ;)!

And again the snow…from modern bases, to lost cities, from seal – mutant – men to wasps and blokes transforming themselves into spiders ( let’s forget the part where I didn’t know how to use the mine’s little cars )!

The Desert Eagle is just a special pleasure…its power, knowing it kills the enemies in 4 shots, is just like savouring a chocolate slowly :D!

With TRIII, I finally felt relaxed, I learnt it wasn’t about following the right track, but about getting lost and enjoying it! Those territories belonged to us, therefore we must explore them and get of some annoyances in the way!

For me, TR was indeed a game of exploration: it took me 4 games to get to understand the beauty of pleasantly and calmly, in our own rhythm discovering where to go ( and the actual buildings…don’t they look different after we play TR?!).