9 Badass Female Game Heroes That Changed Everything

3. Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)

Of course Lara had to make an appearance, as regardless of how much we cast aspersions on the way she was handled in the 90's and early 00's, ever since Rihanna Pratchett took over on scriptwriting duties it's been a far better, more realistic character all round. Sure the amount Lara gets beaten throughout the game by characters and the environment is a problem, as it often labours the point made in the previews by the development team about "wanting to protect Lara", but in the end the take away is that this new version is a character who doesn't need watching over. Going back to those initial character models though and the balloon-chested artwork that adorned everything from posters to Lucozade ad campaigns, Official Xbox writer Aoife Wilson has since remarked that her 10 year-old self didn't see the ridiculous body proportions or hear the sexual noises - she only noticed there was a woman, where before there had been a man. Although we're yet to see much footage of Rise of the Tomb Raider, along with the rest of this list it seems the new more realistic Lara will serve more positively as inspiration to an entire new generation of gamers.