9 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 93.2 hrs on record (1.9 hrs at review time)
Posted: 14 Feb, 2024 @ 5:24am

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from this remaster, and after playing it, I have to say, it's a bit of a mixed bag.
I still wanted to support this work, because the original Tomb Raider games, as well as Lara's character in them, are still the best; far better than the reboots developed by Crystal Dynamics.
For the fans of the original games, I would say that it's worth buying.

You can seamlessly switch between the 3 games from the main menu. And during gameplay, you can switch on the fly between the original and the remastered graphics, by pressing F1; you can also switch between the modern and tank (classic) controls while playing as well, from the game's menu.
One downside is that there are absolutely no graphics options; you can play the game in borderless fullscreen, or switch to windowed mode by pressing ALT+Enter.
From what I have played so far, everything from the originals is in there; the content and the level layouts have not been changed.

So, how do the remasters measure up?

The remastered FMVs are not that great; they are too blurry, and some of them are way too dark, to the point where you cannot really see much of anything. Modders have actually done better jobs at upscaling the original ones.

The new visuals are pretty nice, though they are nothing special; there are new textures, new models, new foliage, new lightning, and the old environmental sprites have been replaced by 3D models. Some level art has been slightly changed, but not by much and the layout of the levels has been preserved (for example, in some cases you'll see an open ceiling with light coming through instead of a closed one).
Graphic mods for the original games will net you similar or better results (they also update models, textures, foliage, etc). In addition, if you use an RTX remix mod as well (only if you have a supported Nvidia GPU), you will also get superior lightning, which can result in a vastly improved visual experience.

I expected the modern controls to be fairly bad, but I did not expect them to be abysmal. They don't work well at all with the game's grid based system. You cannot jump back by tapping backwards; you cannot do a back flip; this makes larger jumps, which are very easy using the classic controls, a complete pain to pull off. Positioning Lara in front of objects is also a pain, because she automatically turns to her side when she reaches a wall.
She also has a habit of getting stuck in environments after interacting with objects, like levers; nothing worked to get her unstuck, except switching the control scheme to tank controls.
There are many other gripes I've had with the modern controls, including wonky underwater handling, but those above are the bigger ones.
Thankfully, all is right in the world when you're using the original (tank) controls, and Lara controls like a dream.

What about the actual games?

The best one in this collection, and in the whole series, including both reboots done by Crystal Dynamics, is still Tomb Raider 1.
TR1 was a perfect storm of engaging gameplay, foreboding atmosphere, great exploration, good pacing, and an interesting story.
It perfectly captured the soul of the Tomb Raider - delving into the unknown, discovering lost artifacts, and traces of bygone civilizations. Something that unfortunately has been diluted quite a bit in the rest of the games.
It had great locales and diverse levels, like Peru, Greece, Egypt, and the level design was extremely strong, and consistent throughout the game, both thematically, and from a quality standpoint. There was a strong emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving with the occasional combat sequence, and it all felt great.
The Unfinished Business levels pack didn't really have a story, were quite a bit more difficult, but were enjoyable nonetheless.

TR2 started out pretty strong with the Great Wall level, displaying all of the strengths of a Tomb Raider game, but it slowly started to fall flat on its face. They added way too many human enemies (and combat encounters in general), all veritable health sponges. While in the 1st game, there were only a few human enemies, in the 2nd one there are tons. And with their poor AI, rudimentary hitscan damage, and blatant spawning in front or behind you, killing them is the same bland chore every time.
This is something that the devs themselves acknowledged and rectified to varying degrees in 3 and 4.
Because of this forced shift towards an action game (and not a particularly good one at that), TR2 suffered greatly in terms of the atmosphere, mystery, pacing, exploration, puzzle solving.
The story was somewhat interesting and while it did have some great levels earlier on, the level design was nowhere near as good or as interesting as it was in the 1st game. Later levels were excruciatingly dull and dragged on for way longer than they needed (like the sunken ship).
It is not a bad game, and it has its enjoyable moments, despite some of its dull and tedious parts, but it never managed to reach the heights of TR1.
The Golden Mask bonus levels, were kind of a pain. They were riddled with annoying invisible enemies, poor exploration and puzzles, and ultimately unrewarding.

When the team started TR3, they were already suffering from considerable burnout, and it showed. This one is among the weakest in the series, with a pretty forgettable story. It has less tedious and poorly designed action than TR2, but the level design and pacing are all over the place.
It started out pretty strong, with the India levels, but it slowly and steadily declined from there. The South Pacific levels were decent, while the London ones were simply abysmal (the only redeeming part about them is you had the option to skip large parts of some of those levels), and the rest, somewhere in-between.

Fortunately, TR4 was a return to form of sorts, but that is a story for another day.
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2 Comments
Amelia 7 Oct, 2024 @ 10:40am 
Dang, your review tho! It's packed with so much good stuff. I could never write like that. You're incredible! 🤩👌
SniperOEM 14 Feb, 2024 @ 7:06am 
:steamthumbsup: