Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Review: The Definitive Lara Croft Experience

Ah, Lara Croft. Even if you’ve never picked up a controller, odds are you know the name. Back in the 90’s, the iconic Ms. Croft took the gaming world by storm, raiding ancient tombs and blasting baddies across three landmark action-adventure games on the original PlayStation. We’re talking Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider III – classics that sold a gazillion copies and cemented Lara’s status as the quintessential badass archaeologist.

Now, these pioneering Tomb Raider titles have been remastered for modern machines in one handy bundle dubbed Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. We’re talking painstakingly updated visuals, a choice between classic tank controls or more intuitive modern controls, and even all the previously console-exclusive expansion packs for the very first time.

So if raiding crypts with a smart-mouthed Brit armed with pistols and wit appeals to you, strap in for a globe-trotting throwback jam-packed with platforming, puzzles, and predators wanting to snack on Ms. Croft. Just don’t call it a blast from the past – with gorgeous new graphics and a few quality-of-life tweaks, this remaster might just convince you that Lara was simply ahead of her time.

A Visual Tour Through Time

It’s tempting to write off remasters as nothing more than a fresh coat of paint slapped on an aging game to make a quick buck. But in the case of the Tomb Raider trilogy, the visual overhaul feels like more of a loving restoration – bringing Lara’s earliest escapades back to their former glory.

Seriously, getting to see these iconic locales in high-def with modern lighting effects is awesome, breathing new life into the likes of the cavernous T-Rex pits or the shimmering halls of the Great Wall. The environments strike a nice balance between showing their age and looking better than ever, retaining enough jagged, blocky edges to feel authentically retro while letting all those rich details the PS1 couldn’t quite handle pop. I’m talking intricate textures, improved water effects, the works – this is classic Tomb Raider served up in widescreen.

And impressively enough, you can swap back to the original graphics with the tap of a button to compare and contrast. It really highlights how spot-on the new art direction is. The devs clearly took painstaking efforts to maintain the core atmosphere and vibe of levels. Lara’s character model is a pitch-perfect upgrade too – nobody’s gonna mistake her for a modern game protagonist, but she looks more like the capable heroine we imagined guiding her through improbable jumps and death-defying shimmies back in the day.

The same love hasn’t been applied to the dated FMVs though. The hilariously melodramatic live-action cutscenes starring real-life models trying their darnedest to emote remain untouched in all their SD glory. We’re talking scenery-chewing snippets that look ripped straight from the 90s because, well…they are. But you know what? I kinda dig the charm of watching actual human beings after exiting the game’s high-def worlds. It’s a time capsule within a time capsule. Just expect a laugh or two if you showing Tomb Raider to your younger cousins.

Getting a Grip on Lara

Look, handling Lara Croft has never been a simple affair. Whether you grew up with the fiddly quirks of tank controls or came in fresh trying to wrangle her with a twin stick setup, guiding gaming’s premier tomb plunderer through intricate ruins requires patience. This remaster provides options catering to both camps, but make no mistake…neither totally smooths out the signature stop-and-go precision the franchise is known for.

Vets can tap into muscle memory by enabling the traditional tank style controls that have Lara handling like a shopping cart, using the d-pad to nudge her around environments one awkward shuffle at a time. It sounds archaic by modern standards, but guarantees she’ll move in those rigid, chess-like steps tailored to intricate tile-based hops. Purists shouldn’t flinch.

The alternative “modern” controls replace the robotic steering of tank with free-roaming analog input, theoretically making movement more intuitive. Emphasis on theoretically. Without changing level layouts designed around fixed steps, reinventing the wheel just leads to oversteering mishaps. Forget about turning on a dime or changing direction once Lara gets moving– she handles like a 16-wheeler now, barreling uncontrollably forward if you breathe on the stick. Be prepared to seesaw between sluggish starts and clumsy cornering in cramped tombs.

Not helping matters is a fussy camera that seems confused by letting Lara move so freely, bouncing around trying to keep up with her. Nothing tanks immersion faster than losing track of your daring heroine thanks to wonky angles. Shifting back to classic visuals amazingly seems to ease camera woes if you run into trouble, but still, flexibility comes at a cost here.

Thankfully, whatever control scheme you select, all the exhilarating platforming challenges, clever puzzling, and white knuckle run-ins with wildlife you remember remain wonderfully intact after all this time. Lara’s moveset is still a gymnast’s fever dream, clambering up sheer surfaces, shimmying sideways, flipping backwards off ledges into waiting grabs. Stringing her talents together to bypass traps and foes is equal parts tense and triumphant even today. Just know even veterans will have to rewire instincts a bit.

Combat sadly can’t claim the same timelessness though. Those pistols Lara seems so attached to? Still handle like water guns accurate only at point blank, reducing most fights to awkward acrobatics while blasting. The expanded arsenal in later entries helps, but don’t expect anything approaching precision gunplay by modern metrics. Just keep practicing those rolls until enemies stop moving. Satisfaction might have to come more from re-experiencing environments than fluid action.

Staying True to Lara’s Roots

It’d be easy for a remaster collection to forget what made the original so special. Thankfully, authenticity was clearly a priority here – the devs directly ported over the exact same code and data powering Lara’s earliest escapades decades back. We’re talking a mirrors-edge recreation down to the pixel here: level layouts, item placement, hidden secrets tucked away – if you have fond memories scouring levels, rest assured knowing this re-release stays true to Core Design’s vision. I double checked myself by digging up old strategy guides, and sure enough, guides from the late 90s still apply flawlessly today. It’s clear no effort was spared getting these classics running properly on modern hardware.

Expanding that promise of faithfulness beyond the base trilogy, Tomb Raider Remastered also includes every single previously released expansion as well. We’re talking rarities like the Unfinished Business and The Lost Artefact add-ons, console-exclusive chapters with substantial hours of content that PC gamers likely missed originally. It’s not a piecemeal re-release but a genuinely comprehensive compilation – finally a way for everyone to experience Lara’s formative years in one tidy bundle.

And impressively, Aspyr managed to sneak a sprinkle of freshness into the package without compromising the original games’ integrity one bit via premium extras like outfits to dress Lara up, collectible model galleries unlocked through play, and a basic but handy photo capture mode to grab victory screenshots. None of the supplementary content alters core gameplay or progression at all, but offers longtime fans a new way to engage with the Hall of Fame heroine if they please. Consider them thoughtful gestures of fanservice rather than revisionist additions mucking up proven formulas.

So if you’ve been craving a chance to revisit (or discover) the pure, unadulterated tomb raiding that put Lara Croft on the map without modern meddling, Tomb Raider Remastered has your back. Lara may look nicer in high-res surroundings, but make no mistake – this is as authentic of an experience as players could hope for. Every groundbreaking jump, every ridiculous enemy, every pixel is ported over with care. Just like riding a bike after all these years.

Modernizing the Classics

Part of bringing retro classics to modern machines means smoothing out relics from gaming’s crude early days that modern audiences won’t have patience for. To its credit, Tomb Raider Remastered takes efforts to subtly enhance convenience and usability without sacrificing the core old-school vibe. We’re talking small but appreciable changes like the ability to manually save whenever without using consumable save crystals, toggle-able enemy health meters, and intuitive tutorials getting players up to speed on Lara’s toolset. Tiny quality-of-life touches make plunging back into the bold new world of 32-bit gaming less harsh in an era of checkpoint saves and waypoints.

Not every antiquated design choice got spruced up though. The lack of autosaving still encourages manually recording progress between attempts at sadistic platforming gauntlets, lest a mistimed jump force a complete level restart. And while hopefully muscle memory kicks back in quickly, being able to rewind after botched jumps like many modern platformers allow would be a godsend for impatent newcomers to stave off frustration.

Perhaps most glaringly, the infamous Tomb Raider camera remains temperamental at best, wrestling player control and obscuring hazards that used to be par for the course but stick out sorely now. Its insistence on cinematic angles over clear player view leads to more than a few accidental leaps of faith. Modern games might allow swapping vantage points manually to get your bearings – here, you’re at the mercy of automated tracking with all its quirks intact after decades.

But overall, Tomb Raider Remastered toes the line well between remaining true to its roots and softening up elements too archaic for even patient retro fans nowadays, giving players options to tweak their desired experience. This may be as close to a objectively definitive version of Lara’s early chapters as possible.

Braving the Tombs Anew

Let’s be real: 90s gaming ain’t for the faint of heart. Between cryptic design, unrelenting difficulty, and archaic control schemes, retro classics often feel downright hostile to folks weaned on guided waypoints and casual play. And while certain quality-of-life tweaks smooth out the sharpest edges, Tomb Raider’s mechanical growing pains still rear their head frequently. This remaster makes concussions to modern sensibilities, but doesn’t neuter its notorious old-school hardcore spirit. Adjust expectations accordingly.

I’m talking meaty levels with sparse save points that force restarting 30-minute gauntlets from scratch if you slip up once. Pressure plate and timed switch puzzles that allow little margin for error. Platforming across chasms lined with instant-death spikes. Getting ambushed by lions, bears, and dinosaurs with barely a warning, sending Lara to an early grave over and over. We ain’t talking standardized difficulty levels – this is 90s gaming with all its cruel demands intact. Hope you packed your retro reflexes.

Now to its credit, the original Tomb Raider does a decent job training up new raiders through gradually escalating tests of skill interspersed with story beats. But the sequels immediately crank up expectations, dropping Lara into brutal tombs that assume familiarity with all her abilities and test patience with unclear objectives. Playing back-to-back reveals a sharp uphill climb in required aptitude between adventures. If you’re not fluent in old-school gaming grammar, good luck piecing together cryptic goals or mastering unwieldy control without much guidance. Late 90s games left the training wheels behind fast.

So while modernized visuals may seem inviting, the actual meat and potatoes game design here remains staunchly old-school. We’re talking an uncompromising crash course of the retro gaming trial-by-fire school – little hand-holding, checkpoints, or wiggle room as you learn the ins and outs of raiding ruins 90s style. Clear your calendar before strapping in for this expedition.

Hours of Tomb Diving Ahead

Even in their heyday, few games offered the sheer scale and value of the Tomb Raider trilogy, stuffed to the gills with hidden goodies and secrets begging to be uncovered across sprawling multi-hour campaigns. And that only expands tenfold with this remastered collection and its wealth of premium content previously off-limits to console gamers. We’re talking not only all three seminal Lara Croft chapters with their years of globe-trotting, artifact-hunting adventures, but also their oft-overlooked expansions fleshing out backstories and environments further.

To put it plainly: souls brave enough to endure old-school difficulty have their work cut out for them. Gaming today might span 10 hours for a full-priced experience – this compilation multiplied that easily. We’re talking four whole games plus change worth of tomb exploration and white knuckle platforming gauntlets just for starters, with myriad branching paths, side areas, and secrets awaiting dedicated players on subsequent playthroughs. Those itching to micromanage progression will have a field day tallying completion percentages per level trying to see and do it all. It’s a completionist’s fantasy.

And that’s before even touching on the sizable list of trophies per entry, modern gamings badges of honor. We’re talking nearly 300 (!) trophies to unlock between all three adventures, plus their expansions, putting that grind on par with top-tier AAA experiences nowadays. Forget a quick retro cash grab – the sheer breadth promises long lasting value. This tomb raiding excursion should span weeks of daring escapades or more for fortune and glory seekers. Clear your calendar and kiss free time goodbye.

The Definitive Tomb Raiding Experience

At the end of the day, Tomb Raider Remastered is as close to a definitive way to experience Lara Croft’s groundbreaking inaugural adventures as any fan could hope for. By porting the original games code intact while thoughtfully enhancing presentation, Aspyr managed to thread the needle between preserving beloved retro experiences true to their roots and opens the tomb raiding up for nostalgic players and newcomers alike.

That’s not to say scrutinizing modern eyes won’t catch more than a few relics that aged poorly by 2024 standards. But take it from someone who was actually around when Tomb Raider took the gaming scene by storm – warts and all, these classics influenced countless other adventures for good reason. There’s still potent magic to be found venturing through atmospheric ruins and piecing together creative environmental puzzles at Lara’s side that shouldn’t be missed no matter your tolerance for old-school design.

And if occasionally wrestling 90’s era quirks wears too thin, take comfort knowing improved visuals, modernized controls, and overall convenience upgrades are here to smooth the experience without comprimising authenticity and challenge. This is Lara Croft presented at her most accessible without losing what made facing down tigers and raiding tombs special all those years ago. I’d call that quite the remarkable adventure indeed.

So whether you’re eager to revisit a defining chapter of gaming history or craving a crash course on just why Lara endures as an icon, Tomb Raider Remastered succeeds as both an homage to pioneering classics and an inviting entry point to share them with a new generation. Just make sure to pack your pistols – and your patience. Because when it comes to raiding tombs in style, Lara Croft remains one of a kind.

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