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Trigger Happy
100
naturalistic milieu of the Tomb Raider series, the
bolted-on possibilities of movement that are added in
each sequel only serve to remind the player how odd it
is that Lara can run, swim, crawl and jump, but cannot
punch or kick an assailant, for instance. She cannot
even sit down, although given her lecherously
siliconenhanced curves, it is probably just as well, for
she would never get up again.
This is not to say that expanded physical
possibilities in human characters are bad—in
themselves they are good—but their introduction poses
other problems of design that must be attended to. In
Zelda 64, for instance, Link’s inability to punch or kick
is never an issue, for by the time he is first in danger he
already permanently owns a sword. A sword is better
than a fist, so the player doesn’t feel that anything is
missing. By contrast, Lara Croft often goes about
unarmed among enemies, having had her guns
confiscated, and so her unwillingness to punch and kick
is frustrating.
To complain about these aspects in a game, of
course, is not incompatible with happily accepting that
the heroine must on occasion do battle with a slavering
Tyrannosaurus rex. There is a crucial difference
between axiomatic principles of the fantastical world