How the next ‘Tomb Raider’ disempowers women | BGMediaReview

Try to think of a list of strong female leads in video games. There are a scant few, but nowhere near as many as there are strong male leads. The only two that come immediately to mind for me are Samus Aran and Lara Croft. There's also female Commander Shepard, though she tends to be overshadowed in media by male Shepard. There are a handful more, though the point stands; Mario, Sonic, Link, Duke Nukem, Master Chief, Nathan Drake and nearly every other strong, recognizable lead in gaming is a man. With the new "Tomb Raider" game, developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix may be trying to embolden Croft and bring her back to the forefront of gaming. From the way the trailers look and the hype the game received before and after this year's E3, they will probably succeed. However, the new Lara Croft actually looks like she'll damage the credibility of women in gaming even further.