An expanded game of Tomb Raider
The Gold Edition of Tomb Raider adds two new chapters to the original release. The first chapter takes place in Egypt, and occurs several months after the events of Tomb Raider. Lara returns to the city of Khamoon, where she must investigate a hidden temple dedicated to the feline goddess Bast. The second chapter is a prequel to the first, and continues directly the events of the original game, starting with Lara sliding down the slope of the last level, preparing to deal with the remnants of the Atlantean race.
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writing about my time with the Unfinished Business levels here, not the base game. my most recent run of that was logged here.
playing as part of the recent I-III remaster had a sense of freshness in that this was my first time playing the expansion's levels in the intended but ultimately unused order. the Atlantis levels first up makes sense in terms of general cohesion as it picks up directly after the first game. this is all well and good in concept but when playing it was a bit of a nightmare. Atlantean Stronghold and The Hive are already the worst TRI associated levels but it gets even worse coming into the absolute combat overload with none of your weapons and healing built up from the Egypt levels. i can see the appeal to those who like a bigger challenge but i'd rather that not come from the combat/enemies.
Egypt section was a joy as always, thankfully. Return to Egypt is one of the best levels in the series and Temple of the Cat isn't too far behind. with the Unfinished Business material coming after TRIII it feels like they were able to push the level design of I to its absolute limits in terms of complexity even though it was missing moves from II and on for more platforming options.
all of these expansions are honestly so good and i'm glad they've become more accessible.
playing as part of the recent I-III remaster had a sense of freshness in that this was my first time playing the expansion's levels in the intended but ultimately unused order. the Atlantis levels first up makes sense in terms of general cohesion as it picks up directly after the first game. this is all well and good in concept but when playing it was a bit of a nightmare. Atlantean Stronghold and The Hive are already the worst TRI associated levels but it gets even worse coming into the absolute combat overload with none of your weapons and healing built up from the Egypt levels. i can see the appeal to those who like a bigger challenge but i'd rather that not come from the combat/enemies.
Egypt section was a joy as always, thankfully. Return to Egypt is one of the best levels in the series and Temple of the Cat isn't too far behind. with the Unfinished Business material coming after TRIII it feels like they were able to push the level design of I to its absolute limits in terms of complexity even though it was missing moves from II and on for more platforming options.
all of these expansions are honestly so good and i'm glad they've become more accessible.
For my review of the main game, please see here. For Tomb Raider: Gold, I'm reviewing just the expansion pack that came with it in the form of four new levels.
You know when you see someone who's really good at something, and it inspires you to 'git gud' yourself? That's how I felt when watching playthroughs of custom Tomb Raider levels - some on par with the official games - that fans had created using Tomb Raider Level Editor. These guys are crazy, I tell you. They'd created platforming sections that I'd never conceptualized solving before. In fact, that may well be what inspired me to go back and beat the first Tomb Raider game for good.
So when I found out about this expansion pack, with four levels designed for 'expert raiders,' I felt that I was honour-bound to beat them too. I wanna be called an expert raider, even more than I wanna be called mommy's soft submissive boy.
These new levels boast no story or cinematics to speak of, though a fair bit can be inferred from the environmental storytelling. For the first set, titled The Shadow of the Cat, Lara Croft returns to Egypt to... I dunno, maybe she wanted to investigate who keeps leaving magnum ammo in these thousand-year-old tombs. After many trials and tribulations, she finds a giant cat statue - I'm talking so big she can walk on its tongue - that's admittedly pretty cool, and then SHE JUST FUCKING LEAVES. At least have her pick up an artifact! Christ...
These Egyptian bonus levels are exquisitely challenging, and the second one is the longest level in the entire game - base or expansion pack. There is quite a lot of precision platforming to be done, much more imminent risk of an untimely death from fall damage, and enemies are in more inconvenient spots. While a lot of assets are reused from the base game, there are some cool new additions, like the aforementioned cat statue, moving wall carvings (I can't believe the Ancient Egyptians invented .gif images!) and a skybox.
The second section, Unfinished Business, has a decidedly less glamorous set of levels on offer. The good news is that you can skip most of the first level entirely if you so desire, and the second one... there's no good news about the second one. It's a slog. It's also the first, and only, level in the entire game that introduces deliberate softlocks. This final level only drops in quality the longer it goes on, feeling increasingly thoughtless in its design, giving Lara insultingly large piles of ammo only because there's way too much of Tomb Raider's weakest link here: combat. It doesn't border on the ridiculous. It is ridiculous. I kind of wish they introduced a level skip for this one too.
Treat this expansion pack as you would the bonus tracks on an album. It's a pleasant surprise when it's as good as the main package, but not all that disappointing when it underwhelms. The Egypt levels are worth a dedicated Tomb Raider fan's time. The Atlantis levels are inessential.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the Unfinished Business wasn't the friends we made along the way. It's that Lara's gonna fuck all these aliens up so they don't escape and inflict their low-polygon Lovecraftian horror upon the world.
You know when you see someone who's really good at something, and it inspires you to 'git gud' yourself? That's how I felt when watching playthroughs of custom Tomb Raider levels - some on par with the official games - that fans had created using Tomb Raider Level Editor. These guys are crazy, I tell you. They'd created platforming sections that I'd never conceptualized solving before. In fact, that may well be what inspired me to go back and beat the first Tomb Raider game for good.
So when I found out about this expansion pack, with four levels designed for 'expert raiders,' I felt that I was honour-bound to beat them too. I wanna be called an expert raider, even more than I wanna be called mommy's soft submissive boy.
These new levels boast no story or cinematics to speak of, though a fair bit can be inferred from the environmental storytelling. For the first set, titled The Shadow of the Cat, Lara Croft returns to Egypt to... I dunno, maybe she wanted to investigate who keeps leaving magnum ammo in these thousand-year-old tombs. After many trials and tribulations, she finds a giant cat statue - I'm talking so big she can walk on its tongue - that's admittedly pretty cool, and then SHE JUST FUCKING LEAVES. At least have her pick up an artifact! Christ...
These Egyptian bonus levels are exquisitely challenging, and the second one is the longest level in the entire game - base or expansion pack. There is quite a lot of precision platforming to be done, much more imminent risk of an untimely death from fall damage, and enemies are in more inconvenient spots. While a lot of assets are reused from the base game, there are some cool new additions, like the aforementioned cat statue, moving wall carvings (I can't believe the Ancient Egyptians invented .gif images!) and a skybox.
The second section, Unfinished Business, has a decidedly less glamorous set of levels on offer. The good news is that you can skip most of the first level entirely if you so desire, and the second one... there's no good news about the second one. It's a slog. It's also the first, and only, level in the entire game that introduces deliberate softlocks. This final level only drops in quality the longer it goes on, feeling increasingly thoughtless in its design, giving Lara insultingly large piles of ammo only because there's way too much of Tomb Raider's weakest link here: combat. It doesn't border on the ridiculous. It is ridiculous. I kind of wish they introduced a level skip for this one too.
Treat this expansion pack as you would the bonus tracks on an album. It's a pleasant surprise when it's as good as the main package, but not all that disappointing when it underwhelms. The Egypt levels are worth a dedicated Tomb Raider fan's time. The Atlantis levels are inessential.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, the Unfinished Business wasn't the friends we made along the way. It's that Lara's gonna fuck all these aliens up so they don't escape and inflict their low-polygon Lovecraftian horror upon the world.
in consideration of how cool laura croft is this game gets a 1 without her this game is a zero. this is back in the era of gaming where someone who has already played the game has to tell you how to play it or you'll just run around a mansion for hours.
A nice little expansion pack to the first game in the series. Four new levels that pick back up after the ending of the main game, sometimes revisiting previous areas from the levels that came before.
They really stepped up some of the complexity with the level design here which is appreciated but at the same time they really went ham with the combat. The Hive especially gets to be a bit much before it's even halfway through.
Not my favorite expansion pack in the series (that goes to The Lost Artifact) but I'm always glad to play more Tomb Raider.
They really stepped up some of the complexity with the level design here which is appreciated but at the same time they really went ham with the combat. The Hive especially gets to be a bit much before it's even halfway through.
Not my favorite expansion pack in the series (that goes to The Lost Artifact) but I'm always glad to play more Tomb Raider.