There is hardly a gamer these days who hasn’t heard the name “Lara Croft”. However, a name that may not be so familiar is Karima Adebibe (pronounced “add-beeb”). She is the current real world Lara Croft, taking up the role on Lara’s birthday, February 14th, in this her 10th Anniversary. Now, as you can see from the images, she is an attractive woman who definitely resembles Lady Croft, but what you can’t see is just how down to Earth and fun to talk to she is as I found out when I was lucky enough to have a chat with her.First thing she asked us, in her delicate British accent, was if we minded her sitting on the floor. You see the gun belt and pistols she had strapped to her thighs — as cool as they look— were actually a bit uncomfortable when sitting in the director’s chairs, so Karima got down and knelt on the plush carpet in Eidos’ meeting room. What’s it like to be such an inconic figure and the embodiment of many gamers’ fantasies. In a word…”fantastic”. Lara is the ultimate icon and to be associated with her is like a dream come true for Karima. In fact, as a big fan of the series since she was a young lass of ten years old, the honor is a double treat for Karima.
How does one become Lara Croft, though? Well, apart from the God-given beauty that this half-Morrocon, quarter-Greek, quarter-Irish woman was blessed with and general likeness to the character, there is a great deal of training. Gun training, motorcycle training, even helicopter training! Lara has to know how to handle herself when jumping in and out of helicopters and Karima got to do a bit of stunt training. Just to prove she is a real person, however, she admitted that she wasn’t able to do it quite as gracefully as the real Croft and ended up getting quite sick. It was still a blast for Karima, and such a great opportunity.
When she posed for some pictures for us, we got to see the evidence of the gun training first-hand. She definitely knows how to handle Lara’s signature Desert Eagles and, I must admit, it was a bit intimidating when she gracefully and authoritatively whipped them out of their holsters at her side. Then she revealed her lighter side when she jokingly considered filling them with water to possibly spray at some of the over-eager fans that would be waiting for her autograph later in the show.
As stated above, Karima is a big fan of the series and has even completed the latest entry in the franchise Tomb Raider: Legend. However, she still wants to go back to complete the time trials to unlock all of Lara’s costumes. Unfortunately for Karima, she only has Lara’s one Legend costume to wear when representing the heroine, so for players who have seen the Goth costume, you won’t be seeing Karima in such garb.
As the first Lara Croft model to actually give interviews, Karima is at least in the role for the next year. Previous Lara models have all held the position for a single year and she expects her role to be no different. She is having a blast traveling the world going to all sorts of events and signings and there is no break in sight. Karima has a few days of rest after E3 before jetting over to Paris for another appearance. Given the lines we saw for folks waiting for her autograph, we’re sure the French will be just as eager to see Lara Croft. Or perhaps it is Karima they’ll be looking forward to seeing.
I've been playing games ever since I was a wee lad. My favorite games as a child were the classic Pitfall and a game called SNAFU, which was a sort of puzzle game along the lines of Tron Light Cycles. I've had most of the major console systems since the early days and have a wide range of tastes of games and I'm always eager to give a new one a try.
