We’ve taken a look back over the history of the infamous raider’s representation in our history and found that the iconic characters may be one of the diverse characters of all. Usually, women get type casted into archetypal roles, yet, Lara Croft’s unique enigmatically fierce charm keeps on evolving.
We may have come to love her as a fierce warrior and every teen boy’s dream woman, yet now we may even get to see her as a mother. As her online and video game appearances start to vary, we’re also seeing Lara’s face propping up elsewhere such as with online video game slot machines.
The Changing Faces of Lara Croft
From video game to character, to real-world celebrity, Lara Croft is one of the most prominent faces of the video game industry. As we’ve moved through history and seen new technological advancements, her appearances in film, media, and the videogame industry have always served as a sign of the times.
The first Tomb Raider game was first released back in 1996. Even though the graphics weren’t all too great back in the 90s she still became an international sex symbol in her iconic outfit consisting of the cargo shorts, cropped tank top and aviator shades. Lara Croft was the first ever video game character to feature in Playboy.
In 2001 the character was revived through the Tomb Raider film starring Angelina Jolie as Lara was faced with the daunting task of defeating the Illuminati. Yet, despite her fierce heroism, she was never fully considered as a feminist icon, as many believed that the character was constructed to appease the male gaze. Yet, considering her tendency to end up in warmer climates and has a vigorous workout routine thanks to all the high-intensity action it requires to stay alive, she should have been forgiven for her minimal outfit! Whether it was due to her slightly revealing outfit, or her impossible physical proportions, Lara Croft proved that women were perfectly capable of selling video games. Not many people are aware that Tomb Raider originally starred a male hero, yet, the risky move was worth making, even though the game developers set out with no intention of creating a sex symbol. This is how Lara Croft came to be intelligent, strong, independent and powerful. This didn’t stop players from attempting to get their hands on the code which allegedly gave you the ability to remove Lara Croft’s clothes. The rumour is still in circulation today. Yet, over time female attitudes towards Lara have warmed slightly. Even though gamers are predominantly male, there are still a great number of female gamers who helped Lara on her way to popularity.
After 13 million copies of the first two Tomb Raider games were sold, Croft quickly became an international star. The record-breaking sales happened at the same time as mainstream culture was experiencing a crossover with the gaming industry. Decades on from the original release, we still can’t get enough of the Lara, and there’s plenty of merchandise and special limited edition collectors items to get your hands on. Even Lucozade went into partnership with Tomb Raider to temporarily rebrand their iconic sports drink as “Larazade”. Whilst the video games may have started to impress players less and less over the years, the film franchise has remained ever popular. In the Tomb Raider 2003 reboot, she didn’t quite appear as some fans expected. Instead of her usual fierce and salacious demeanour, she also comes with vulnerability and humanity. They’ve looked past the gadgets and guns whilst coming up with a back story and showed just how the well-educated, aristocratic character came to cut herself off from her health. Even though the creators ditched the cheesy at best one-liners, not everyone responded well to the new reimagining of Croft. The internet became alive with protest as the infallible Lara Croft expressed fear in the face of danger. As mentioned before, Tomb Raider has always been relatable to the times, which is why there was such a strong reaction to one scene in particular. The scene shows the first time Lara kills a man; a pirate who sexually assaulted her. It was slightly disappointing that the writers followed the time old tale through a woman gaining strength through her own injustice. Yet, what was even more disappointing was the reaction to the scene which makes Lara Croft’s vulnerability seen. Maybe fans just weren’t ready for the comfortable, familiar and moral-less landscape of action games to be made all too real? The new 2018 feature film ‘Tomb Raider’ is also getting some very mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, which may just be due to the lack of Angelina Jolie. Rotten Tomato gave the feature a measly 2.5-star rating, yet, for other fans, it moved them closer back to the Lara Croft they came to know and love through the video games.
Alongside the popularity of the main series of the 6 games developed by Core Design and four additional games created by Crystal Dynamics, there have been plenty of multimedia spin offs from, comic books to novels, to mobile games. Lara also has entered a whole new world of slot games with the Tomb Raider online casino game developed by Microgaming. You can expect a very different type of gameplay from the 15-payline game machine which features 5 reels. Whilst most online slot games still feature tired old 2D graphics, the innovation which went into the Tomb Raider game ensures that players get a similar experience to what they’d expect from a console game. All with the added bonus of being able to win a staggering 7500-coin prize on sites such as Money Reels. The online slot game is easier to play, yet, there are plenty of ways to work your way up to the jackpot prize. There’s plenty of notable features to keep the game interesting and immersive, and with a return to player rate of 95.22% players really don’t have all that much to lose.
