By Dean Moses
Game: Tomb Raider I-III Remastered
Platform: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Rating: M for Mature
Cost: $29.00
On February 13th, Publisher Aspyr released Tomb Raider I, II, and III remastered. The perfect nostalgic package for gamers who grew-up on the original PlayStation in the 90s, Laura Croft has been the female Indiana Jones—sans the whip—who guided players through deadly tombs, action-packed fights and hidden secrets with her British humor and tough attitude. Now gamers can choose to flip back and forth between lovingly recreated graphics and the original pixels of the 1996 iteration.
Story
The world came to know Laura Croft when she first hit the scene in 1996 for personal computer, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Becoming one of the first female protagonists to garner widespread acclaim, the story follows dual-pistol wielding archeologist Croft as she traverses deadly traps and adversaries in search of an ancient artifact. Croft uses her historical knowledge to capture magical artifacts before the villains obtain it. While the first game focuses on Croft exploring caves, and facing the creatures that live therein, Tomb Raider II and III feature our hero fighting against human adversaries in expanded locales.
The Remaster
While at the time of release, the first Tomb Raider games were truly groundbreaking with their graphics, combat style, and Croft’s acrobatic abilities made, in recent times they have aged like spoiled milk. This gave the developers a change to completely redesign the look of the games. Character models and environments have been completely overhauled with a shiny new look. However, those yearning for the good old days can switch back to the chunky polygons of the original with the click of a button.
In addition to the graphical changes, players are also afforded the ability switch between the original tank controls and a new simplified layout. While the tank controls will certainly be cumbersome to a new generation of gamers, the latest control scheme feels even more clunky. Still, once players get to the grip with the gameplay there will be a lot of fun to be had here.
Conclusion
For less than half the price of other titles, Tomb Raider 1, 2, 3 Remastered provides a lot of bang for your buck thanks to having three games to select from. Not only that, with the revamped graphics and controls, Lara Croft has the potential to find a whole new audience.
