Lara Croft VS Nathan Drake

Well this was another battle I in which I was very inexperienced and did not know either character. However, as this was a highly requested matchup I still had a bit of knowledge on the combatants other than the prediction blog so I wasn't going in completely blind.

Analysis

The analysis were more informative than most episodes yet at the same time seemed a bit watered down, compared to other episodes. Both Lara and Nathan's analysis seemed to be the standard background of the characters and then just lists of what the combatants had accomplished. While this did give me a better idea about what they have accomplished, it also didn't leave much room for Wiz and Boomstick's character and didn't hold back as much as most episodes do. As such the outcome of the episode was predictable even if you had no prior knowledge on the combatants. The analysis also used a trap that I've noticed has appeared in many episodes of DEATH BATTLE. To put it simply the trap involves giving the audience one combatant's weakness/es while leaving out the other one's. This is quite evident in this episode due to discussing Lara's recklessness while leaving out Nathan's reliance on luck. As such I give the analysis a 6/10.

Animation

Well Torrian was able to put out another great animation complete with Final Fantasy music to boot. The animation plays out quite similar to Sold Snake VS Sam Fisher in that both combatants are fighting over some item which constantly gets passed between them as the fight progresses. The item (which is the Holy Grail) is supposed to symbolize the advantage ball that gets passed around (though I doubt anyone else sees it that way) during the fight.

The fight goes from a mountain to a car chase (which is surprisingly appropriate unlike the last car chase that occurred on Death Battle) before finally ending up in the desert. The only real problem with this is the ending. Now I don't have a problem with the fact that Nathan tried to flee. He had the Holy Grail and knew that Lara could beat him in a close quarters fight so there was no reason for him to stay. I don't have a problem with Nathan surviving the explosion and the fall. That seems to be par for the course with these combatants. However how Nathan dies is anticlimactic as all hell. Instead of getting into one final showdown where they die, Nathan gets killed by the helicopter rotor falling back down and impaling him. OK putting aside the fact that this fight should not have ended in an accidental murder due to Lara actively trying to murder Nathan, how Nathan died is NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE. The rotor flew upwards and the laws of aerodynamics and physics would not allow it to completely reverse its momentum to embed itself in Nathan's body.

However, other than the ending the animation is pretty good. The voice acting is great and I think the fight choreography is really good (those Lara flips). There's even a sufficient motive to start the fight. So taking all this into consideration I give the fight a 7.5/10.

Conclusion

Well as I said the outcome was quite predictable due to how the analysis were handled. Now they still gave solid reasoning proving that Lara was stronger, tougher, more level-headed and generally more skilled. Sure Nathan is impressive compared to a normal human being but the hosts were right in saying that Nathan typically relied on luck which isn't something you should rely on. There is also the issue that Lara has faced more powerful threats (which is another similarity to Snake VS Sam). So with all this I give the conclusion a 7.5/10. This brings the total rating to 21/30 or 70%.