Not many game franchises manage to ascend to the status of ‘iconic’, but Tomb Raider is undoubtedly one of them. Despite the original trilogy being released for multiple platforms, Lara Croft quickly became synonymous with the PS1, standing toe-to-toe with Crash Bandicoot as one of the console’s mascots. Since then, of course, Lara has been practically everywhere, yet 2024 marks the first occasion the original trilogy has been fully revamped for modern audiences via Tomb Raider I-III Remastered.
We say ‘revamped’, but these are the same games you know and love from the late ‘90s, albeit with the additional expansions included for the first time on console. What developer Aspyr has done here, however, is give all three titles a much-needed lick of paint, boosting the visuals significantly while adding in an optional modern control scheme for those who might not get on with the ageing ‘tank’ controls — more on that later. Smaller additions include a surprisingly robust photo mode and health bars for boss encounters.
First up, the visuals. This is the biggest change that’s been made to the trilogy, and goodness, is it a welcome one. What’s great is that you can flip between the OG graphics and the modern remaster at the touch of a button, much like 343 Industries’ Halo: Anniversary and Lizardcube’s Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. When you cast your eyes on the revamped graphics for the first time, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is how the games have always looked, but flipping back to the original style demonstrates just how much of an upgrade the compilation has received.
Everything’s been given a touch-up, including character models, environmental assets, textures, lighting, and menu screens. Not only that, but the new visuals also come with an upgraded frame rate, allowing all three games to run at a silky smooth 60fps, while flipping back to the OG graphics halves this. We’re especially appreciative of the frame rate boost, as it makes the somewhat archaic gameplay feel more manageable and fresh.
Granted, the visual upgrade doesn’t always work in the games’ favour; there are some areas where the revamped lighting makes environments appear darker than the original releases, while others come across much brighter. The darker areas can make navigation trickier than it needs to be, and we found that switching back to the original visuals helped us find our way. Had we been unable to do this, we might have had to resort to some glances at a YouTube walkthrough. It’s not ideal and perhaps a bit more consistency across old and new would have been beneficial.
Onto the games themselves, if you’ve got no prior experience with the original Tomb Raider trilogy, it’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into here. These titles represent the genesis of 3D action-adventure games, way before Uncharted came along and introduced some much-needed cinematic flair. With that in mind, there’s less focus on flashy shootouts in Tomb Raider I-III and a lot more on exploration and platforming. Think of them more like puzzle games with a bit of action sprinkled in and you’re on the right track.
A lot of Tomb Raider’s challenge came from the simple act of navigating the environment. Even jumping from one platform to another requires a certain degree of caution so as not to plummet into a pit of spikes. It represents a refreshing change of pace in an age where game difficulty is largely tied to enemy encounters, but those unfamiliar with how Tomb Raider controls may have a tough time getting to grips with it.
Thankfully, there are a couple of ways to make life easier for both Lara and yourself. First up, each game in the trilogy allows you to explore Lara’s mansion home at your leisure via the main menu, so you can practice your moves for as long as necessary (all the while ensuring that her dastardly butler is safely locked away in the freezer, naturally). The second way is to simply switch the original controls for a revamped scheme for newcomers. This swaps out the tank controls for complete, 360-degree movement while also remapping other buttons to bring the games more in line with modern action-adventure games.
So, for example, the original controls require to you press ‘X’ to holster/unholster your guns and ‘B’ to fire, but the modern system remaps this to ‘ZL’ and ‘ZR’ respectively. Admittedly, since we’re familiar with the original games, we stuck with the tank option, but there’s no doubt in our minds that the modernised approach will help newcomers acclimatise.
Upgrades aside, you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck with this collection. Three full games with three additional expansions is nothing to sniff at, and since each title will likely take around 10-15 hours to beat, you’re looking at a reasonable commitment. That said, you can almost certainly add more time if you forget to save your game, and this is one area that we sincerely wish was upgraded alongside the graphics. Manually saving is practically mandatory since there’s no autosave whatsoever, and it’s quite easy to be on a solid streak, make it through a couple of levels before dying, and find yourself right back at the start.
It’s frustrating and this is compounded by the convoluted menu system, which requires you to navigate to a book icon, flip over from the ‘Load Game’ page to the ‘Save Game’ page, and then bookmark your progress (there have been multiple occasions where we’ve accidentally loaded a previous game instead of saving). We hope a ‘Quicksave’ option is added in a later update, or better yet, autosave. It’s not a dealbreaker by any means, but having to manually save your game, especially on console, is a relic we’re happy to leave entombed in the ’90s.
Conclusion
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is one of Aspyr’s most accomplished projects to date, successfully giving three of gaming’s most iconic titles a much-needed lick of paint while upgrading the controls to give newcomers a welcome leg-up. Some of the lighting is a bit off with the new visuals, and the need to manually save your game is a big no-no in 2024, but if you’re curious as to how Lara Croft got her start in gaming, then this is easily the best way to experience the original trilogy.