Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft came out just in time for Valentine's day last week and here is some gameplay footage of all three games. Now cult classics to anyone who played them back in the days, it's great to see Aspyr's work to bring them back to modern hardware with such respect to Core Design's visual approach. Check out our video of the iconic trilogy inside.
Note: Due to the size of the original video, we couldn't propose a downloadable version for once.
All comments (8)
But well - it's still better looking than the original.
What I really like in the old Tomb Raider games is the difficulty in climbing the whole level. The climbing is difficult but that also makes it satisfying like a Souls game. If you compare it with Uncharted it's the opposite here. Climbing is way too easy. In Tomb Raider the climbing / level geometry is the core gameplay and not the shootouts. In uncharted it's vice versa. The gun play is the core gameplay and the climbing is more a filler. In that sense I think there is lots of improvement for future Uncharted games.
I wonder what's the resolution and frame rate on PS4 and if there is an optimized version for PS4 Pro. Would be nice but I doubt it. Unfortunately Digital Foundry didn't test the PS4 version.
In the meantime I'll give this one a try. :)
Though are the controls slightly different or am I just imagining things? I played the original TR2 on PlayStation 1 for thousands of times with multiple playthroughs from beginning to end, played all the other Tomb Raiders on PS1 as well. Even played that not-so recent fan remake - that's still in oblivion for lack of any updates for years - and still I struggled really hard to use the original "Tank" controls.
It seriously took me almost 30 minutes just to pass that very 1st area before the 1st secret item!!! Even trying the "Modern" controls didn't help. Though after a while and committing to the Tank control scheme, I was starting to get the hang of it.
It truly blew my mind how hard it is to control Lara Croft in those original games - if the controls are 100% exactly the same. No wonder over the years I always heard younger people complain about how hard and frustrating it was to play those original games.
It really made me want to test the original TR2 on a PS1 or PS1 emulator to see if it would be as hard or if the remaster changed a fundamental value in the control scheme - even if slightly by - or + 0.1%.
This might seem small and irrelevant, but I remember the 1st Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Remake/Remaster had this issue, where people noticed that the controls weren't the same as the original PS1 versions. Sometimes that 0.1% changes the feeling, timing and sense of the gameplay.
Other games have had these control issues over the years with new re-releases and/or remasters/remakes. Either way, it's very hard, but satisfying - just like commenter "dc_coder_84" said (paraphrasing): "Like Dark Souls, but for climbing".
Loving the positive reactions to it and this is how low-budget remasters of old games should be made. It's not a remake nor a AA style remaster like those from Night Dive studios, but it's an excellent remaster that preserves the original games' experience in both graphics and controls, while also modernizing those two aspects more than good enough for new generations.
This remaster collection is now the best version to play of these games until a better remaster or remake comes along - which are very unlikely to come any time in the next 10-20 years, if it ever does. Hopefully, this positive reception and sales incentivize them to remaster the other Tomb Raider games on PS1 and PS2. As well as incentivizing other companies to take another look at their older games and how to do a proper remaster job, instead of a soulless cash grab - looking at the GTA trilogy disaster, but there are many other botched remasters out there.