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Confessions of a gaming nerdess

The Augusta

Entry posted by The Augusta

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I haven't blogged for ages - which is something I must rectify. However, I will recommence my musings by admitting to a terrible vice. I AM OBSESSED WITH LARA CROFT. There - I've said it. You must think what you will. As a female I have the inherent ability to multi-task. This means that I will be able to complete my review on Severus; scrape together something vaguely erudite about Dixon's Reading Roman Women; visit the Forum every day to read new posts and contribute to any that take my fancy; stay in touch with certain friends by PM; work, eat, clean bathrooms (a hard task this morning in sweltering heat), shop, and administer affection and basic care to two cats. BUT - I must also find time for Lara. Lara, when she breezes into my life every year or two, leaping her way across chasms, solving riddles and fighting nasty baddies, claims a great part of my heart and my attention. This attention, since yesterday, 1st June 2007, or 'L-Day', has been fractionated once again as I anxiously thrust the disk into the PS2 and get cracking!

 

Tomb Raider: Anniversary. The latest offering from Eidos starring my favourite lady after Livia! Purchased at 9.15am yesterday morning by this very sad middle-aged woman who has had a special relationship with one of the greatest game heroines ever, I salivated all through the working day; the anticipation was almost too much, but eventually, at about 7pm last night, I settled down to send Lara off on her latest adventure. It's not a new adventure, of course: Anniversary is Lara's farewell to PS2 before she steps prettily over to the new PS3 next year. So, Eidos have put out a total remake of the very first Tomb Raider, which was one of the best games ever devised. Therefore, we know the storyline and the levels - more or less - but everything has been enhanced with the new game engine and gorgeous graphics that have turned the original landscapes into sheer wonderment. Those pesky velociraptors(?sp) are much more troublesome this time round - especially as I, as a veteran Raider, set the game to 'difficult'. Even those silly bats can hurt my Lara. For the first level - those gorgeous caves in Peru - I struggle to get back into analogue stick mode! Lara was a D-pad girl when she was in all her glory, but I know times must move on. A few tumbles off high cliffs later and I am back in the swing of things, especially as I get my fingers working in tune with the 'jump and grapple'. I happily find all secrets and complete the level after a few stumbles and little or no damage to health. Thankfully, Eidos and Crystal Dynamics have abandoned the ridiculous headset worn by Lara in the last game, Legend, and she is back to the lonely tracking through endless ruins, where eerie background music sends a tingle down the spine. Just Lara alone, meeting up with her wolves and bears. When we finally arrive at 'The Lost Valley', our old friend the T. Rex has become a real boss. No longer can we hide behind rocks and sneak out to fire at him; he is a real piece of work this time and takes a lot of skill to despatch. But I finally do it, and feel the old adrenalin rush and that sense of achievement when he lies dead. This is what Tomb Raider was always about, and Eidos have triumphed once again.

 

So, going to bed at 2.10am last night/this morning, I asked myself: just what is it about Tomb Raider that attracts me like no other game? I love the Caesar games - constructive, thoughtful etc.; I love other 'puzzle' and adventure games such as Prince of Persia or even the earlier Silent Hills (the latest two were rubbish). I have never been a 'shoot-em-up' fan, nor a driving fan, and although I'm a fan of football, the soccer games bore me rigid. But Lara rules supreme for me. It could be because she is female, and everything we all want to be. It could be because she raids tombs and ruins, which fits with my love of the ancient world. It may even be because Tomb Raider 2 (my ALL TIME favourite) was the very first game I ever played on a Play Station when my son got one for Christmas (he was 6!). I don't really know what magic Lara holds, but her charisma infects me yet again with each new game - even the bad ones like Angel of Darkness and the ridiculously easy and short Chronicles. I play my favourite ones over and over again when I find myself bored. She is incredibly therapeutic when I want to kill someone.....

 

So, thank you Miss Croft. I may flirt with Persian princes and build Roman cities, but you will always be my number one girl!

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docoflove1974

One Rx for the addiction: Go out and play with nature. Do it all day long, along with any other chores. Come nightfall, you'll be dead tired! No more gaming! hehe

 

(She says this, as she can't get enough of hidden-object games herself...)

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The Augusta

Well, now back in the land of the living, having seen off two very tricky centaurs with Medusa shields; an enormous, cute T-Rex (it was a pity to kill him); old Torso mutant who got his hands shot off; and our end-of-game Natla - harder than she was in the original but still a breeze for a vet raider like me. That game was tough, and I played it on 'Hard' mode throughout. Probably the best TR since the classics of the 90s - good puzzles, tricky timed sequences. Her new bullet-time dodge and wall run. Wall run? Gods - she's not fit to kiss the tip of Prince's dagger with that! She has to use a grapple! Don't talk to me about that damned grapple! One level took 30 tries with that bloody thing! All good fun. Time to put on my serious head again....

 

And now back to business - I have to finish Signor Severo for the Forum. The Augusta dons her stola again, citizens.

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