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Tomb Raider I–III Remastered

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Tomb Raider I–III Remastered
Developer(s)Aspyr[a]
Publisher(s)Aspyr
SeriesTomb Raider
Platform(s)
Release14 February 2024
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Tomb Raider I–III Remastered[b] is a 2024 action-adventure video game developed and published by Aspyr. It is a remastered compilation of the first three games in the Tomb Raider series originally developed by Core Design: Tomb Raider (1996), Tomb Raider II (1997), and Tomb Raider III (1998).[1] Remastered was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 14 February 2024.[4] The game received generally mixed reviews from critics.

Gameplay

Main articles: Tomb Raider (1996 video game), Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider III

Tomb Raider I–III Remastered is a collection of remasters of the first three games in the Tomb Raider series: Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider III.[4] Each game features archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft as she travels through a series of ancient ruins and tombs in search of ancient artefacts, and is presented from a third-person perspective.[5][6][7] Like in the original games, Lara is equipped with two pistols with infinite ammo by default and can run, walk (which prevents her from falling off ledges), look around areas, jump forwards and backwards, shimmy along ledges, roll, swim through bodies of water, and move blocks.[6][8] The collection includes new features across all three games, such as options to choose between enhanced and original graphics and classic and modern control schemes, as well as camera lock-on, health bars for boss battles, photo mode, and over 200 achievements.[4][9][10][11]

Development and release

A comparison between the third level in the first game and in the original game (above) and the Remastered version (below)

In 2018, Realtech VR, who had previously developed remasters of the first two Tomb Raider titles for iOS and Android, announced plans to release remasters of the first three games on Steam.[12][13] However, these were cancelled when Square Enix, the franchise owner at that time, stated the PC remasters had never been approved, with videos posted by Realtech VR being pulled in the aftermath, and later the mobile versions.[14] In 2022, after acquiring Tomb Raider among several other assets from Square Enix Europe, Embracer Group expressed interest in sequels, remakes, and remasters of established franchises, including Tomb Raider.[15]

Tomb Raider I–III Remastered was revealed on 14 September 2023 during a Nintendo Direct, and was announced to be released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 14 February 2024 (coinciding with the canonical birthday of the series' main protagonist Lara Croft).[16][17][18] It includes three expansion packs from the original trilogy: Unfinished Business, The Golden Mask, and The Lost Artefact.[4][19] The game was developed and published by Embracer subsidiary Aspyr, who had previously ported the first six Tomb Raider games to macOS in the 2000s, in partnership with current series developer Crystal Dynamics.[20] In January 2024, the developers promised that it would have "plenty more to share soon".[21][22][11] In a 2024 interview, Aspyr has also expressed interest in making more Tomb Raider remasters in the future, including The Last Revelation and Chronicles.[23] Following the announcement of the physical release of The Lara Croft Collection (a collection of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris for the Switch), Crystal Dynamics confirmed in May 2024 that Tomb Raider I–III Remastered would receive a physical release from Limited Run Games,[24] set for release on 24 September 2024.[25]

Aspyr, having wanted to revisit the original Tomb Raider titles but always debated "the right approach", knew they would use the original source code and engine, allowing players to switch between the original look and new visuals for all three games.[11] In late 2022 Aspyr contacted Paul Douglas, Tomb Raider's co-creator, who located original source code and assets to assist with the ports.[26] Product Director at Asypr, Chris Bashaar described I-III Remastered as a love letter to all of their "memories of these games, but it's also truly fascinating to see how far hardware pushed in the '90s to make Tomb Raider work".[11] Timur "XProger" Gagiev, developer of the unofficial Tomb Raider open source engine OpenLara, was brought in to serve as technical director for the remaster, allowing him to "assemble a dream team of true fans" to work on the project, aided by "source code for [Tomb Raider's] Mac ports" provided by Aspyr.[3][27][28] For the modern controller settings, the team took inspiration from Crystal Dynamics' first rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy: Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld.[29] As a result, the way Lara controls in-game changes significantly; the player can rotate the camera with the right stick and the character's movement is direction-dependent based on camera position. The original tank controls are available to players via a menu toggle.[30] The team added health bars for boss fights as the games' minimal UI can be considered "frustrating for tougher bosses with massive amounts of health", as well as replacing 2D sprites of in-game items with 3D models.[31]

For the art of Remastered, Aspyr worked closely with Crystal Dynamics on art updates, such as "baked and real-time" lighting effects, graphics toggle, and adding new models, environments, and enemies.[11] According to Crystal Dynamics, the team used an artificial intelligence program to upscale textures for the remaster.[32] Bashaar further stated, "Our philosophy here was rather straightforward; we want the games to look the way they did in your mind. We knew we were on the right track in our early playtests because some playtesters didn't even know they were playing with the modern art toggled on."[29] A one-time content warning was added by Crystal Dynamics to the start of Remastered, which warns players about what it describes as "offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic stereotypes". The warning explains that rather than "removing this content", they have chosen to present it in its original, unaltered form in the hopes that they may "acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it".[33][34]

Reception

Tomb Raider I–III Remastered received "generally favourable reviews" for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, while the Nintendo Switch and Windows versions received "mixed or average reviews", according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[35][36][37][38]

Critics praised the updated visuals, new gameplay features, and overall faithfulness to the original trilogy. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer wrote that the games had undergone remodelling with updated textures, models, and objects while retaining the original geometry; the modern elements blend well, resembling the classic Tomb Raider aesthetic, with Lara Croft reminiscent of her appearance in the first Crystal Dynamics games, upgraded yet maintaining her "fantastical character".[39][50] Tiago Manuel of Destructoid commended the game's photo mode and the option to switch between classic and upgraded graphics.[51] Sammy Barker of Push Square also highlighted Lara's character model, calling it "arguably the biggest achievement".[48] Ellie Gibson of The Guardian wrote that the remaster "preserves enough of the games' treasured elements to keep purists happy."[52]

The game was criticized for its modern control schemes, art direction, and glitches. Barker called the game's modern controls "annoying" and noted its lack of a rewind function as a "glaring oversight".[48] Manuel found some of the enemy models "goofy-looking" which "kills the vibe a bit".[51] Zac Bowden of Windows Central, while calling it "an [almost] perfect return to the 90s era of gaming", noted that the game, in remaining faithful, retained the original sounds with "no further edits", as well as retaining the original full-motion video (FMV) cutscenes which were upscaled with AI for the remaster.[53] Ash Parrish of The Verge also criticized the game's retained tank controls for being "a clunky, awkward mess" but was less critical of the lighting,[54] while Carrie Lambertsen of Screen Rant was very critical of the game, calling it "more of a port than a remaster".[55] John Walker of Kotaku found the new controls "disastrous" and called its updated textures "smoother, but pretty ugly".[56]

Notes

  1. ^ Original games developed by Core Design.[1] Additional development by Crystal Dynamics and Saber Interactive.[2][3]
  2. ^ Also known as Tomb Raider I–III Remastered Starring Lara Croft[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Yin-Poole, Wesley (27 October 2016). "20 years on, the Tomb Raider story told by the people who were there". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b "" Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft Launches Today on PC & Consoles " - Games Press". gamespress.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b Wolens, Joshua (16 February 2024). "Lara Croft modding maestro reveals he's been missing because Saber nabbed him for the Tomb Raider 'dream team', assembling a crack squad 'of crazy people' to put together the remasters". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Aspyr & Crystal Dynamics Reveal Tomb Raider I–III Remastered Starring Lara Croft, Coming to Pc & Consoles Feb. 14, 2024". Crystal Dynamics. 14 September 2023. Archived from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
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  7. ^ Core Design, ed. (1998). "Actions". Tomb Raider III PlayStation Instruction Manual. Eidos Interactive. pp. 7–12.
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  26. ^ Douglas, Paul (17 February 2024). "In late 2022 Aspyr contacted me and I spent a long weekend sorting through old floppies and zip disks so that I could send them what source code and assets I had. Unfortunately we couldn't track down the original FMV source files. Then they just got on with the job". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  27. ^ Dinsdale, Ryan (16 February 2024). "Tomb Raider Fan Remaking Original Games Was Hired for Official Remastered Collection". IGN. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  28. ^ "Community Developers help bring Tomb Raider I-III Remastered to Life". Tomb Raider. Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  29. ^ a b Croft, Liam (16 January 2024). "Big List of Tomb Raider Remastered PS5, PS4 Upgrades Revealed". Push Square. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  30. ^ Zwiezen, Zack (16 January 2024). "Tomb Raider Remaster Fixes The Worst Thing About The Original Trilogy". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  31. ^ "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered PlayStation Blog". Tomb Raider Chronicles. 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.[better source needed]
  32. ^ "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered upscaled textures". Tomb Raider Chronicles. 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.[better source needed]
  33. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (13 February 2024). "Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Includes Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Warning From Crystal Dynamics". IGN. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  34. ^ Extension, Time (15 February 2024). "Poll: Should Retro Game Remasters Carry Warnings About "Offensive" Content?". Time Extension. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  35. ^ a b "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft for PlayStation 5 critic reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  36. ^ a b "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft for Xbox Series X/S critic reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
  37. ^ a b "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft for Nintendo Switch critic reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  38. ^ a b "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft for PC critic reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  39. ^ a b Donlan, Christian (13 February 2024). "Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered review - you were never going to smooth these games out". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  40. ^ Kautz, Paul (13 February 2024). "Test: Für Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered sollte die Altersfreigabe hoch gesetzt werden - auf mindestens 30 Jahre!". GameStar (in German). Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
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  42. ^ Quesada, Daniel (13 February 2024). "Análisis de Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered, el regreso de una trilogía que revolucionó el sector". HobbyConsolas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
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  48. ^ a b c Barker, Sammy (13 February 2024). "Review: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft (PS5) - The New Standard for PS1 Re-Releases". Push Square. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  49. ^ Musgrave, Shaun (13 February 2024). "SwitchArcade Round-Up: Reviews Featuring 'Tomb Raider I-III Remastered', Plus the Latest News and Sales – TouchArcade". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on 13 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
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  52. ^ Gibson, Ellie (16 February 2024). "Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered review – a great remaster of Lara Croft's lost arc". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  53. ^ Bowden, Zac (13 February 2024). "Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered is an (almost) perfect return to the 90s era of gaming". Windows Central. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  54. ^ Parrish, Ash (14 February 2024). "The remastered Tomb Raider trilogy destroyed my nostalgia goggles". The Verge. Archived from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  55. ^ Lambertsen, Carrie (13 February 2024). "Tomb Raider I–III Remastered Review: "More Of A Port Than A Remaster"". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  56. ^ Walker, John (13 February 2024). "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered: The Kotaku Review". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 18 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
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