7 Reasons Why Lara Croft Is Our Video Game Heroine Of 2013

7. She Survived The Dreaded Reboot

The reboot is always an event veiled in trepidation and anxiety. Will producers be successful in honouring the franchise that has come before this new instalment or will they destroy its memory and anger millions of loyal fans in the process? Many have tried and the reboot has seen the death of some great characters (Jo Dark and Perfect Dark Zero spring to mind). Luckily though, Crystal Dynamics had a pretty good track record of handling the Tomb Raider franchise, with their most recent addition to the series (a kind of spin-off entitled Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, 2010) being well-received and attaining an average 85 out of 100 on MetaCritic. They had also produced a strong trilogy of games (Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary and Underworld) that had essentially saved the franchise from the depths of destruction that Core Designs had left it in after Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. So it was perhaps quite a surprising move for Crystal Dynamics to completely reboot the series with an origin game when they were having relative success with instalments that built on what had passed. Gambling on a reboot could have very well cost the studio their stellar reputation and seen Lara become nothing but a fond gaming memory. It is to the credit of the creative minds behind this reboot that what resulted instead was a game that brought Tomb Raider up to date with the modern gaming world. And what better way to reboot one of gaming's most iconic franchises than with a stylistically gritty origin story that created both a plausible and compelling history to our favourite gaming heroine. If Sound of Music has taught us anything, it's that the beginning is a very good place to start.