I loved TR and really enjoyed TR2. I tried to get along with TR3, but it was too difficult and we parted ways.

My major gripe with Tomb Raider has always been the controls. It was the first thing I complained about in the first one, and it appeared to me that with each iteration of the game, they only got worse. Those controls were the reason as to why the jumping puzzles sucked so badly, at least in my opinion.

Wasn't Lara the first game heroine or something? I thought that was one of the biggest selling point of the series.

How are the controls of the demo Malor? And more importantly is the camera positioning and movement improved this time around? (I hope there is at least an option for player controlled camera angle)

Interesting, I didn't know that. I just remembered that there was so much talk about Lara being the "first" back when it first came out.

Still, there have been female heroes before Lara, such as Princess Peach (Mario Bros. 2), over Terra in Final Fantasy 3 (6 in Jap). Lara was not the first anything, she was just marketed under the same meme as the Spice Girls. Not a distinguishing mark to my mind.

For its time, Tomb Raider was a step in a new direction, and it played well. Then the developers got lazy, assumed the game succeeded because of its boobs and short shorts, and trashed the franchise.

Why does it matter that you only see Samus's body for five seconds of the game? Does that somehow make her not a woman? Does visible cleavage or the lack thereof somehow affect a heroine's ability to get her job done? I think Samus is a fine example of a heroine: her feminimity is there, but it isn't her defining characteristic. If only more female game heroines were so lucky.

I've always been conflicted about Lara Croft (and not just because people still make fun of me for having a similar name. I came first, dammit, not her.). She certainly is capable, but it seems like she's one of those "I kick ass only because it's sexy" sort of gals. As long as we're comparing the two, at least Samus had revenge and obsession as motives.

Well, I haven't played TR for ten years, and I have no idea how its camera worked anymore. In this one, the camera is in constant freemove, controlled by the mouse. This will actually cause you trouble when dragging boxes... the new dragging system is very sophisticated and lets you place boxes very precisely. If, however, like me, you try to move your camera around to get a better angle, you're going to end up hopelessly frustrated. The dragging is camera-relative, not Lara-relative. I was ready to scream for a few minutes until I figured out that you don't mess with the camera while dragging. Let the game move the camera for you, and everything works fine. If you try to move the camera yourself, god only knows what direction Lara will go with the box.

The ciontrols seem very good to me... she seems to do exactly what I want, exactly when I want. The up/down movements in swimming are a bit awkward, I think I'd have preferred to keep it just WASD and camera-relative movements, but it's not bad. And it can be hard hitting the ropes exactly, which could develop into a problem if they get any harder than they are now. Other than that, it seems excellent.

As far as T&A goes... the original Lara herself wasn't that chesty, it was added by the marketing team on the box. (if you didn't see the first box...well, it was a combination of laughable and pitiful, but apparently it moved product.) This Lara definitely seems chestier, but at least she's not deformed like that stupid box. Weird as it sounds, the T&A added motivation for me. Watching a male character die was no biggie. Watching Lara die bugged me, especially when she fell, screamed, hit the ground, and made the splintery breaking-bones sound. I hated that, and I fought very hard to keep her alive.

There's lots of little touches in this one. It looks promising. When Lara gets out of the water after being completely submerged, she drips quite a bit. The drops aren't that great, but they are there. And she's wet for awhile... her clothes are much darker, her hair is stringy, and her skin has a wet sheen. (the sheen is a bit overdone, it should be toned down a bit.) It looks to me like her top slowly dries... it gradually changes color back to the original, but it does it in the same way a real shirt would. Then her shorts dry out, but they take quite a bit longer. The whole process is stupidly accelerated, takes about five minutes (as opposed to the hour or two it would take in real life), but it's really very good.

Yes, I did spend about five minutes orbiting the camera around Lara Croft. You may jeer when ready.

The increased reality of the graphics made me acutely aware of something I didn't think of in the original TR... that poor girl has bare legs, and she's climbing straight up rocky cliffs. No real person could take that kind of punishment for long. Their skin would be scraped raw in no time. Lara needs kneepads!

Definitely agree regarding the NES and SNES games, but the GBA games (Metroid Prime) significantly expanded upon cutscenes between levels and added some emotional depth to the story and motivation of the character.

Ooh, I like where this is going.

Yes but it's not actually there until the last 5 seconds. If she were a real person, then yeah it's there the whole time. Like a female firefighter covered in a fireproof outfit, she's still feminine under the outfit. But Samus is a fictional character, unless we can see it, it does not exist. So until she takes off her helmet at the very end, it's not a she, it's an it. It could take off it's helmet and be a guy, or a Labrador, or a tree. Until those last 5 seconds, it doesn't really matter.

If you can't tell she is a she, does that even make her an example of a woman? Or just a really great hero, who's gender doesn't exist from the gamer's perspective?

Not entirely true. There was a game mode where you could play through the whole game with Samus sans armor (she had a pink leotard and green hair if I recall?).

I think the point made here is that Lara Croft was flaunted as aggressively feminine I-take-what's-mine-type, hence my comparision to the Spice Girls. Samus Aran certainly does not fall into that category - she may actually be more aggressive and certainly isn't above taking what she needs, but there could be FF's Jayne Cobb below the visor for all that had to do with her gender.
So, Samus certainly does not hold claim to being the first pronouncedly female lead in a computer game. Mrs. Croft doesn't, either, of course, but we already established that.

Would explain the varying bust sizes...

Heh, well, my comments seem a bit uneducated after that, don't they? But it's interesting that she named two of the three characters I consider 'strong female leads' in gaming. Shows just how few there are.