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A modern yet conservative and impressive remaster | Review - Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
488 View2024-02-15
✨Overview
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is a comprehensive collection that brings together the original three Tomb Raider adventures, complete with all expansions and secret levels, on modern platforms (PC, Xbox, PS, Switch). This definitive collection offers players the chance to experience the classic gameplay of the original titles, now enhanced with modern resolutions, high framerates, and high fidelity textures.
Tomb Raider I, II, and III follow the intrepid archaeologist Lara Croft as she embarks on daring expeditions to uncover ancient artifacts and solve mysteries. In this classic trilogy, players will explore exotic locations, solve intricate puzzles, and face off against formidable foes, all while unraveling a narrative that blended mythology, history, and adventure. This remastered collection preserves the essence of these stories while enhancing them with modern graphics and technology, breathing new life into Lara's legendary exploits.
I have fond memories of the classic Tomb Raider games, especially the first three. Admittedly, as a kid, I would have never finished these complex puzzle games without the assistance of my older cousin, to whom I am grateful for showing me the way. My favorite memory? Locking Winston in the freezer. Now, I get to do that again in full 4K resolution and at 144hz (depending on your monitor).
🟩Pros
+Modern but conservative approach to updating visuals
+Preserves spirit of the classic trilogy in both gameplay and visuals
+Runs at your system’s full resolution and refresh rate
+Seamless switching between retro and modern visuals
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is a comprehensive collection that brings together the original three Tomb Raider adventures, complete with all expansions and secret levels, on modern platforms (PC, Xbox, PS, Switch). This definitive collection offers players the chance to experience the classic gameplay of the original titles, now enhanced with modern resolutions, high framerates, and high fidelity textures.
Tomb Raider I, II, and III follow the intrepid archaeologist Lara Croft as she embarks on daring expeditions to uncover ancient artifacts and solve mysteries. In this classic trilogy, players will explore exotic locations, solve intricate puzzles, and face off against formidable foes, all while unraveling a narrative that blended mythology, history, and adventure. This remastered collection preserves the essence of these stories while enhancing them with modern graphics and technology, breathing new life into Lara's legendary exploits.
I have fond memories of the classic Tomb Raider games, especially the first three. Admittedly, as a kid, I would have never finished these complex puzzle games without the assistance of my older cousin, to whom I am grateful for showing me the way. My favorite memory? Locking Winston in the freezer. Now, I get to do that again in full 4K resolution and at 144hz (depending on your monitor).
🟩Pros
+Modern but conservative approach to updating visuals
+Preserves spirit of the classic trilogy in both gameplay and visuals
+Runs at your system’s full resolution and refresh rate
+Seamless switching between retro and modern visuals
🟥Cons
-Poorly implemented but optional modernized control/camera scheme
-Tank controls has aged poorly
-Lack of graphical settings, including resolution options
⭐️Score: 8/10
-Poorly implemented but optional modernized control/camera scheme
-Tank controls has aged poorly
-Lack of graphical settings, including resolution options
⭐️Score: 8/10
📖Story and Premise
In the first game, players assume the role of Lara Croft, an adventurous archaeologist who sets out to recover the legendary Scion artifact. The game's narrative unfolds as Lara travels to various locations around the world, including Peru, Greece, and Egypt.
The second installment in the series sees Lara embarking on a quest to recover the Dagger of Xian, a powerful artifact with the ability to turn its wielder into a dragon. The game takes players to locations such as Venice, Tibet, and China, as Lara uncovers the secrets of the dagger.
In the third game, Lara is tasked with recovering four pieces of an ancient meteorite scattered across the globe. This installment introduces a more non-linear approach to gameplay, allowing players to choose the order in which they tackle the game's levels.
🎨Visuals and Art
The remastered collection features updated graphics and art styles that breathe new life into the classic games. Textures have been reworked to be more detailed but still faithful to the spirit of the original game. The original geometry has been preserved so we still have a blocky world to explore here, just with better visuals and lighting. The FMV scenes have been slightly upscaled as well (looks done by AI), although they still clearly look dated and low quality compared to the rest of the remastered visuals.
The character models have been redesigned with much more detailed models that look closer to the Legends Timeline graphics. It’s not a full-on remake like Anniversary, nor a remaster that aims to have photorealistic AAA visuals like the newer games, instead, it just updates the classic games to look more modernized and “enough” for players of this day and age. All three games have achieved visual parity and can be treated visually as a single, coherent experience, which is nice.
With a single button, players can seamlessly switch between retro and modern visuals. However, this feature is more of a novel addition to allow players to compare and appreciate both visual styles, rather than serving as an outright avenue to play the game in retro mode. This is because the switch can be jarring, as the retro game runs at a choppy 30fps with occasional visual artifacts.
🎮Gameplay
The gameplay in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered stays true to the original titles, with players navigating Lara through a series of challenging environments, solving puzzles, and engaging in platforming and exploration. It’s essentially the same games through and through, just with updated visuals. All levels are the same, the layout, the controls, the puzzles, secrets, and enemies are all the same. If you have played the original games and still remember it, then you’ll have no problems finding your way again.
Exploration is a key aspect of the gameplay, with players navigating Lara through sprawling, often maze-like environments. Puzzle-solving is another important element, with players encountering a variety of puzzles that range from simple lever-pulling tasks to complex environmental challenges. These puzzles often require players to use their wits and observational skills to progress.
There is no handholding, just like the classic experience. No quest markers, no mini-maps, and no waypoint guidance. The only "modern" feature added to guide players are the optional "Action Indicators," where all interactable items will have an exclamation point on them when nearby.
Platforming plays a significant role in the gameplay as well, with players guiding Lara through precarious jumps, climbs, and obstacles. Precision is key, as mistimed jumps or falls can result in do-overs or even death.
🕹Controls
The game preserves the original tank controls of the classic games and supports both controllers and keyboard for play. The controls are exactly as I remember them for both schemes from when I played these games on my PS1 and Pentium 4 PC back then.
The gameplay also features an alternative modern control scheme, giving players the option to choose between classic Tank controls that mimic the original games and modern controls that offer more fluid directional movement. However, the modern control scheme introduces a host of new problems that were clearly not present in the classic games.
Platforming and precise jumps have become harder in this mode, and you lose the ability to move in small increments going backward and sideways. Combat is also noticeably harder as the auto-aiming conflicts with the modern movement scheme enemy during combat.
In the first game, players assume the role of Lara Croft, an adventurous archaeologist who sets out to recover the legendary Scion artifact. The game's narrative unfolds as Lara travels to various locations around the world, including Peru, Greece, and Egypt.
The second installment in the series sees Lara embarking on a quest to recover the Dagger of Xian, a powerful artifact with the ability to turn its wielder into a dragon. The game takes players to locations such as Venice, Tibet, and China, as Lara uncovers the secrets of the dagger.
In the third game, Lara is tasked with recovering four pieces of an ancient meteorite scattered across the globe. This installment introduces a more non-linear approach to gameplay, allowing players to choose the order in which they tackle the game's levels.
🎨Visuals and Art
The remastered collection features updated graphics and art styles that breathe new life into the classic games. Textures have been reworked to be more detailed but still faithful to the spirit of the original game. The original geometry has been preserved so we still have a blocky world to explore here, just with better visuals and lighting. The FMV scenes have been slightly upscaled as well (looks done by AI), although they still clearly look dated and low quality compared to the rest of the remastered visuals.
The character models have been redesigned with much more detailed models that look closer to the Legends Timeline graphics. It’s not a full-on remake like Anniversary, nor a remaster that aims to have photorealistic AAA visuals like the newer games, instead, it just updates the classic games to look more modernized and “enough” for players of this day and age. All three games have achieved visual parity and can be treated visually as a single, coherent experience, which is nice.
With a single button, players can seamlessly switch between retro and modern visuals. However, this feature is more of a novel addition to allow players to compare and appreciate both visual styles, rather than serving as an outright avenue to play the game in retro mode. This is because the switch can be jarring, as the retro game runs at a choppy 30fps with occasional visual artifacts.
🎮Gameplay
The gameplay in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered stays true to the original titles, with players navigating Lara through a series of challenging environments, solving puzzles, and engaging in platforming and exploration. It’s essentially the same games through and through, just with updated visuals. All levels are the same, the layout, the controls, the puzzles, secrets, and enemies are all the same. If you have played the original games and still remember it, then you’ll have no problems finding your way again.
Exploration is a key aspect of the gameplay, with players navigating Lara through sprawling, often maze-like environments. Puzzle-solving is another important element, with players encountering a variety of puzzles that range from simple lever-pulling tasks to complex environmental challenges. These puzzles often require players to use their wits and observational skills to progress.
There is no handholding, just like the classic experience. No quest markers, no mini-maps, and no waypoint guidance. The only "modern" feature added to guide players are the optional "Action Indicators," where all interactable items will have an exclamation point on them when nearby.
Platforming plays a significant role in the gameplay as well, with players guiding Lara through precarious jumps, climbs, and obstacles. Precision is key, as mistimed jumps or falls can result in do-overs or even death.
🕹Controls
The game preserves the original tank controls of the classic games and supports both controllers and keyboard for play. The controls are exactly as I remember them for both schemes from when I played these games on my PS1 and Pentium 4 PC back then.
The gameplay also features an alternative modern control scheme, giving players the option to choose between classic Tank controls that mimic the original games and modern controls that offer more fluid directional movement. However, the modern control scheme introduces a host of new problems that were clearly not present in the classic games.
Platforming and precise jumps have become harder in this mode, and you lose the ability to move in small increments going backward and sideways. Combat is also noticeably harder as the auto-aiming conflicts with the modern movement scheme enemy during combat.
Lastly, the camera is borderline broken in this scheme, especially during tight spaces; it almost always works against the player, creating a very jarring experience. Switching back to tank controls does away with most, if not all, of these issues, at the trade-off of, well, going back to the antiquated tank controls.
While tank controls in general have aged quite poorly, it's sad to say that they are still the optimal way of playing this collection due to how the game was designed and how poorly the "modern" scheme was implemented. If you treat this game as the original experience with tank controls, then there are no issues.
📊Technical Performance
With its lightweight resource requirements, the game runs flawlessly. I have no problems running the game at full resolution and FPS, although the game doesn’t have any graphical settings to tweak, not even a resolution option if you ever wanted to play at a non-native resolution on your PC. For example in my case where I have an ultrawide resolution and wanted to play at 16:9. That being said, any modern PC can comfortably run this game, making the lack of graphics settings a minor issue. The remastered collection also includes small enhancements such as subtitles and health bars for bosses, improving the overall accessibility for modern audiences.
⚖️Conclusion
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is perhaps one of the better remasters that has come out in recent times, with its modern but conservative approach to updating its visuals while still preserving the spirit of the classics in both gameplay and visuals. It far surpasses the caliber of the half-hearted efforts we have seen with the GTA Trilogy remaster or perhaps the more recent Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1.
While tank controls in general have aged quite poorly, it's sad to say that they are still the optimal way of playing this collection due to how the game was designed and how poorly the "modern" scheme was implemented. If you treat this game as the original experience with tank controls, then there are no issues.
📊Technical Performance
With its lightweight resource requirements, the game runs flawlessly. I have no problems running the game at full resolution and FPS, although the game doesn’t have any graphical settings to tweak, not even a resolution option if you ever wanted to play at a non-native resolution on your PC. For example in my case where I have an ultrawide resolution and wanted to play at 16:9. That being said, any modern PC can comfortably run this game, making the lack of graphics settings a minor issue. The remastered collection also includes small enhancements such as subtitles and health bars for bosses, improving the overall accessibility for modern audiences.
⚖️Conclusion
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is perhaps one of the better remasters that has come out in recent times, with its modern but conservative approach to updating its visuals while still preserving the spirit of the classics in both gameplay and visuals. It far surpasses the caliber of the half-hearted efforts we have seen with the GTA Trilogy remaster or perhaps the more recent Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1.
The attempt at offering a modernized control scheme was poorly implemented, but that's just a failed attempt at a bonus as the game is still playable via the tank controls, which becomes the only barrier of entry in enjoying this game. If you can get past the antiquated controls, the game offers a truly remarkable nostalgic experience for long-time fans while also providing a fresh perspective and a glimpse into a classic for newer players.
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