The new Tomb Raider is one of the best action-adventure games I've played in a long time. It still plays on the "damsel in distress" storyline, but Lara isn't the damsel - her best friend is. It's a really good story and it honestly is very frightening - to the point where I was literally scared to play the game unless Alli was home. However, it's also very awesome then when you build up your skills to fight back. Actually plot-wise, it's not all that different from Far Cry, in terms of you're exploring ancient ruins on an island you're stranded on, trying to get off the island, etc. Great game. I was lucky enough to get it on sale for xbox. I think I saw it's on sale this week on PSN? Also, I thought it was great that they DIDN'T use the obvious rape plot device on Lara....you expect that's the awful thing that happens to her but really it's so much worse and more horrifying. (but not as horrifying as what you described in Bioshock). The game-makers made a game with a strong female character, whose clearly female, but didn't go out of their way to make the plot different due to that. A male character could have easily fit into the same story.
Far Cry 3 - well, I can't say much for the dude who gets raped being a perpetual victim because he reacts in what I think is a reasonable way (begging you not to tell the other people about it, and then spending all his time sleeping in the tent because he's traumatized) ... but some people complained his character wasn't fleshed out. What i found interesting is - in a background story, you learn that a) he is really into watching p0rn and b) you see a scene (prior to your capture) where he's in a Bangkok club trying to hook up with a hooker. So you see where he participates as the consumer in a world of not necessarily so consensual sex - and then he becomes the object. It's a pretty interesting commentary. The whole game has a lot of interesting commentary, about violence turning you into a different person, about becoming numb to violence, about all sorts of really uncomfortable truths. I'm about halfway through, but as far as I can tell, the game is designed to make the typical male gamer uncomfortable and to turn typical game plots on their heads.
I'm playing Infamous Second Son right now and I'll say for sure the lack of dialogue is bugging me. It's "open world" and I feel like they used that to do "lack of story". But I've only just started - maybe it will pick up. The story starts out as compelling and then suddenly you're just wandering around an open world able to do whatever you want.
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Far Cry 3 - well, I can't say much for the dude who gets raped being a perpetual victim because he reacts in what I think is a reasonable way (begging you not to tell the other people about it, and then spending all his time sleeping in the tent because he's traumatized) ... but some people complained his character wasn't fleshed out. What i found interesting is - in a background story, you learn that a) he is really into watching p0rn and b) you see a scene (prior to your capture) where he's in a Bangkok club trying to hook up with a hooker. So you see where he participates as the consumer in a world of not necessarily so consensual sex - and then he becomes the object. It's a pretty interesting commentary. The whole game has a lot of interesting commentary, about violence turning you into a different person, about becoming numb to violence, about all sorts of really uncomfortable truths. I'm about halfway through, but as far as I can tell, the game is designed to make the typical male gamer uncomfortable and to turn typical game plots on their heads.
I'm playing Infamous Second Son right now and I'll say for sure the lack of dialogue is bugging me. It's "open world" and I feel like they used that to do "lack of story". But I've only just started - maybe it will pick up. The story starts out as compelling and then suddenly you're just wandering around an open world able to do whatever you want.