This is an actual screen of the trailer.

Imagine if the 'Michael' trailer from the Sony Long, Live, Play campaign had been done from the perspective of the player, overacted and produced with hand completely devoid of subtlety. Well that's what we're getting here with the just released launch trailer for Tomb Raider. I'm not going to take this space to re-debate the purported positives and negatives of the game. Reviewers are, so far, liking it quite a bit, but I can't help but find this particular trailer pretty hilarious.

Just look at it. The way the actors stare into the camera, the black and white highly contrasted filter. Take out the Tomb Raider clips and this could easily pass as an Abuse Survival campaign. And...well maybe that's what they were going for? I know a big portion of the new Tomb Raider concerns Lara getting over her adversaries and becoming 'The Croft' when she comes through the other side, but this breaking of the 4th Wall we're seeing here might just be taking it a bit too far.  And the result is nothing more than the central idea becoming lambasted by itself.

Tomb Raider comes out next Tuesday, it's apparently VERY serious stuff.



Comments

  • roival3ternal Avatar
    roival3ternal
    11 years, 9 months ago

    i love the "pre order at gamestop!" at the end as well, haha. yeah this is pretty lame. kinda that "for every kind of player" approach.

  • Locked Avatar
    Locked
    11 years, 9 months ago

    "Overacted" Very much so.

  • CyborgMaid Avatar
    CyborgMaid
    11 years, 9 months ago

    My palm left a red mark on my face...

  • Avatar
    pioshfd
    11 years, 9 months ago

    Haha, I loved some of the people they got for this trailer. Aside from that, I'm still unsure whether I'll be picking this up soon or not.

  • Emulatedhype Avatar
    Emulatedhype
    11 years, 9 months ago

    The trailers have certainly been... odd, so far. I don't think I'll ever let Crystal live the 360 mouthguard down. I'd love to see an interviewer walk up to a CD rep at PAX or E3 and while they're mid-sentence just start smiling a shiteating grin with a logo for the interviewer's site on a mouthguard.

  • Zladko Avatar
    Zladko
    11 years, 9 months ago

    That trailer was hilarious, you can edit out the Tomb Raider bits and stick it in an AA commercial.

    But really, I wish I was Lara Croft.

  • dumon Avatar
    dumon
    11 years, 9 months ago

    Hardcore. I didn't realize so many older people played video games. I guess I'm not the target audience? Oh well...

  • Avatar
    Necbromancer
    11 years, 9 months ago

    This entire marketing angle is probably one of the more disturbing campaigns I can recall. They may as well call the game 'Lara Croft: Torture Doll,' because that seems to be the angle they're trying to promote, here.

  • pjunk Avatar
    pjunk
    11 years, 9 months ago

    Though it is a little silly and perhaps takes itself a tad too seriously, I do like the idea behind this commercial. It's an attempt to capitalize on the immersive aspect of video games that allows people to see themselves as their character, an in-your-face reminder that anyone can -be- this hardcore survival expert by playing the game. Kinda reminds me of the old World of Warcraft commercials. I think it's a smart move.

  • Avatar
    WubWub
    11 years, 9 months ago

    All this needed was the sucker punch guy from the ps4 conference to pop up in this vid to show his dramatic face and it would have been perfect.

  • guitars4zombies Avatar
    guitars4zombies
    11 years, 9 months ago

    Uncharted as fuck.