I actually find this pretty compelling, almost relaxing. Played 2.5 stages.
The art and ambience in particular is stunning, I love the use of light and vegetation. Spatially it's like this minimalist take on early FPS shooters... the secrets, the weird score popup at the end of levels. The lack of HUD elements in gameplay and minimal save points, no guidance is really nice.
That being said! The controls are really really bad - and I don't mean the precision and slow pacing, which I think are unique and valuable, but like there's just so much bumping into walls and doing these huge moves I don't expect her to do. It's just a level too unpleasant for the vibe they're going for.
The price for dying or slipping is pretty severe (being set back minutes of tedious traversal).
But if you ignore that what you have is a really interesting 3D platformer that's all about reading the environment. It really feels 'adventure-y', although I can't help but wish for something that was a bit more compelling conceptually other than raiding ancient ruins one after another.
The art and ambience in particular is stunning, I love the use of light and vegetation. Spatially it's like this minimalist take on early FPS shooters... the secrets, the weird score popup at the end of levels. The lack of HUD elements in gameplay and minimal save points, no guidance is really nice.
That being said! The controls are really really bad - and I don't mean the precision and slow pacing, which I think are unique and valuable, but like there's just so much bumping into walls and doing these huge moves I don't expect her to do. It's just a level too unpleasant for the vibe they're going for.
The price for dying or slipping is pretty severe (being set back minutes of tedious traversal).
But if you ignore that what you have is a really interesting 3D platformer that's all about reading the environment. It really feels 'adventure-y', although I can't help but wish for something that was a bit more compelling conceptually other than raiding ancient ruins one after another.
ACABOU!
Só fez sucesso por conta da personagem gasosa, que jogo chato, monótono e com mecânicas muito ruins. Oque se salva é o level designe, mas ainda sim é ruim porque muitas vezes você não faz ideia de onde ir.
Uma das piores experiências que já tive com um jogo, que jogo mid!
06/10.
Só fez sucesso por conta da personagem gasosa, que jogo chato, monótono e com mecânicas muito ruins. Oque se salva é o level designe, mas ainda sim é ruim porque muitas vezes você não faz ideia de onde ir.
Uma das piores experiências que já tive com um jogo, que jogo mid!
06/10.
92
Tomb Raider in a few ways feel like the antithesis of Mario. While Mario is focused on fast and slick movement throughout zany and expansive worlds, Tomb Raider is more slow and methodical with its platforming and is more focused on grounded and atmospheric levels. They are wildly different in their goals, but that doesn't stop the both of them from being fun as hell.
Tomb Raider's style is not for everyone, but I never once thought the game was being too unfair. The most seemingly unfair mechanic that being the combat can be clunky, but as long as you're smart with your jumps and conserve the right ammo most combat encounters won't be that much of a problem. Everything else in this game is perfect, especially the save point placements. The person who placed them deserves a raise and a kiss on the cheek.
Tomb Raider in a few ways feel like the antithesis of Mario. While Mario is focused on fast and slick movement throughout zany and expansive worlds, Tomb Raider is more slow and methodical with its platforming and is more focused on grounded and atmospheric levels. They are wildly different in their goals, but that doesn't stop the both of them from being fun as hell.
Tomb Raider's style is not for everyone, but I never once thought the game was being too unfair. The most seemingly unfair mechanic that being the combat can be clunky, but as long as you're smart with your jumps and conserve the right ammo most combat encounters won't be that much of a problem. Everything else in this game is perfect, especially the save point placements. The person who placed them deserves a raise and a kiss on the cheek.
I got filtered by the controls.
The first cutscene with the wolfs still makes me sh*t my pants.
It is mindboggling how influential this game and its PS1-era sequels weren't. They sold countless copies and embedded Lara as a character into the wider pop culture, yet the number of notable games that take direct design inspiration from how they play can likely be counted on one hand. If it has any true lineage to be found it isn't in the likes of Uncharted or the post-Sands of Time Prince of Persia games but rather the work of indies like Bennet Foddy or Anders Jensen's Peaks of Yore. Works that attempt to reinject the feeling of tension into a player's movement abilities. Keeping the level of friction high at all times. However even those games evoke the same sensations via very different control schemes. I am obsessive about discovering new games. I regularly scroll through the ocean of noise that is the Steam new releases queue, hoping to find something neat in the endless procession of porn games and Vampire Survivors clones. I keep track of a million in-development indie projects. I would confidently say I am about as up on what's being made as a single person can get. Yet I never see anything even close to a 'Tomb Raider Clone'. Which is not to say some don't exist somewhere, deep in someone's itch.io page. But the fact that one of the biggest runs of success a series has ever had hasn't spawned a visible scene^ is remarkable in an age where every possible trend from gaming's history, no matter how archaic, is being explored by both indies and megacorps alike.
TR's controls were, are, and forever will be, exceptional. Yes, obviously they are somewhat awkward. But they are also also extremely precise with reliable rules about what works in what situation, how many steps you can take before a jump, which button presses have priorities over others, the exact timing for that last-second leap. Each jump feels chunky, weighty. Even just pulling yourself up onto a ledge has serious tactility to it. It all makes cutting corners with your decisions a no-no, instead nudging you to work through the proressions of your movement thoughtfully - often with pre-planning - or face the neck-breaking consequences. From the beginning of the game till the end there is heart-in-mouth excitement in even the simplest of challenges. This is the ideal. This is how it should be. Make no mistake: the controls can be mastered. It's just that 'mastery' here means a confidence in your actions, becoming more fluid in your transitions between movement states. Not an ascension to platforming godhood. I am both terrible at games and easily annoyed yet no fibre in my being would ever consider these controls 'bad'. They achieve exactly what they aim for and, more importantly, what I desire from them.
The problem, then, is that Core Design... Well they didn't understand the core of what they had designed. There are issues in level design and pacing, yes. Some of the puzzles are a nonsense. But all of that is small potatoes. The main downer is that this game and all of its direct successors are plagued by combat that is fundamentally at odds with the rest of its makeup. Lara moves deliberately. Her enemies move quickly, have wonky hit/hurtboxes and are often sprung on the player out of nowhere. Sometimes they have guns which operate on the same laser-accurate rules as Lara's. They are seemingly made for a different game entirely.
It's not that combat is difficult. Health and ammo is plentiful, dying only ever really happens when taken completely offguard. It's that it's stunningly annoying and fuck me there is a lot of it. Running around in circles holding the shoot button, sometimes doing a flip, the height of strategy being to position yourself directly behind your opponent such that they literally just can't do anything because they have to turn towards you before they inevitably do and grind another chunk off your healthbar. Your healthbar outlasts theirs, they die. You feel nothing other than a pissed off sense of 'thank god that's over'. Rinse, repeat for 15 hours. It only becomes tolerable when avoiding it entirely by just standing on a platform where the enemy cant reach Lara.
It's this aspect that makes the lack of extrapolation on the format from other devs even more unfortunate. I don't blame Core Design for how they formulated things. There's still plenty else it did well (the atmosphere, so thick at all times!). They were doing something new out there on their own when the industry was in a more nascent stage. We've a wealth of knowledge now about this type of game is best handled - hell just take out the combat entirely lads, it isn't absolutely necessary - and few out there keen on putting it to use. Here's to hoping the remasters spark a little something.
^I should note that the early TR games have a wonderfully vibrant modding and level-creation community. Amazing work is being done by a super dedicated group. Eg: https://www.pcgamer.com/meet-the-community-creating-classic-tomb-raider-adventures-in-2021/. Probably the most straightforward partial answer to the question 'where are all the new takes on old Tomb Raider' is 'the people who would make them are making them in Tomb Raider'
TR's controls were, are, and forever will be, exceptional. Yes, obviously they are somewhat awkward. But they are also also extremely precise with reliable rules about what works in what situation, how many steps you can take before a jump, which button presses have priorities over others, the exact timing for that last-second leap. Each jump feels chunky, weighty. Even just pulling yourself up onto a ledge has serious tactility to it. It all makes cutting corners with your decisions a no-no, instead nudging you to work through the proressions of your movement thoughtfully - often with pre-planning - or face the neck-breaking consequences. From the beginning of the game till the end there is heart-in-mouth excitement in even the simplest of challenges. This is the ideal. This is how it should be. Make no mistake: the controls can be mastered. It's just that 'mastery' here means a confidence in your actions, becoming more fluid in your transitions between movement states. Not an ascension to platforming godhood. I am both terrible at games and easily annoyed yet no fibre in my being would ever consider these controls 'bad'. They achieve exactly what they aim for and, more importantly, what I desire from them.
The problem, then, is that Core Design... Well they didn't understand the core of what they had designed. There are issues in level design and pacing, yes. Some of the puzzles are a nonsense. But all of that is small potatoes. The main downer is that this game and all of its direct successors are plagued by combat that is fundamentally at odds with the rest of its makeup. Lara moves deliberately. Her enemies move quickly, have wonky hit/hurtboxes and are often sprung on the player out of nowhere. Sometimes they have guns which operate on the same laser-accurate rules as Lara's. They are seemingly made for a different game entirely.
It's not that combat is difficult. Health and ammo is plentiful, dying only ever really happens when taken completely offguard. It's that it's stunningly annoying and fuck me there is a lot of it. Running around in circles holding the shoot button, sometimes doing a flip, the height of strategy being to position yourself directly behind your opponent such that they literally just can't do anything because they have to turn towards you before they inevitably do and grind another chunk off your healthbar. Your healthbar outlasts theirs, they die. You feel nothing other than a pissed off sense of 'thank god that's over'. Rinse, repeat for 15 hours. It only becomes tolerable when avoiding it entirely by just standing on a platform where the enemy cant reach Lara.
It's this aspect that makes the lack of extrapolation on the format from other devs even more unfortunate. I don't blame Core Design for how they formulated things. There's still plenty else it did well (the atmosphere, so thick at all times!). They were doing something new out there on their own when the industry was in a more nascent stage. We've a wealth of knowledge now about this type of game is best handled - hell just take out the combat entirely lads, it isn't absolutely necessary - and few out there keen on putting it to use. Here's to hoping the remasters spark a little something.
^I should note that the early TR games have a wonderfully vibrant modding and level-creation community. Amazing work is being done by a super dedicated group. Eg: https://www.pcgamer.com/meet-the-community-creating-classic-tomb-raider-adventures-in-2021/. Probably the most straightforward partial answer to the question 'where are all the new takes on old Tomb Raider' is 'the people who would make them are making them in Tomb Raider'
Классика, даже сейчас играется очень кайфово, особенно после сложной четвертой части. По сравнению с ней, первая часть это чилловая прогулка.
На удивление, затупов прям конкретных не было и я смог пройти игру и без гайда. Много моментов мне конечно были знакомы по Anniversary. Вообще, поиграв в оригинал, понял, насколько много изменили в Anniversary. Комнаты богов в Греции сильно расширили, сделали боссов поинтереснее, да и в целом добавили много чего. Правда вместе с этим некоторые моменты в Anniversary сделали душнее.
Всё равно считаю ремейк неплохим, но удовольствия получил больше от оригинала. В нём нету прям душных, сильно сложных моментов, играешь и погружаешься полностью в этот увлекатльный луп: исследуешь локацию, убиваешь монстров, подбираешь предметы, активируешь рычаги, продвигаешься дальше. Из-за этого играется всё очень приятно, и я даже думаю готов поставить игре 5 звёзд.
На удивление, затупов прям конкретных не было и я смог пройти игру и без гайда. Много моментов мне конечно были знакомы по Anniversary. Вообще, поиграв в оригинал, понял, насколько много изменили в Anniversary. Комнаты богов в Греции сильно расширили, сделали боссов поинтереснее, да и в целом добавили много чего. Правда вместе с этим некоторые моменты в Anniversary сделали душнее.
Всё равно считаю ремейк неплохим, но удовольствия получил больше от оригинала. В нём нету прям душных, сильно сложных моментов, играешь и погружаешься полностью в этот увлекатльный луп: исследуешь локацию, убиваешь монстров, подбираешь предметы, активируешь рычаги, продвигаешься дальше. Из-за этого играется всё очень приятно, и я даже думаю готов поставить игре 5 звёзд.
Tank controls
(First time playthrough as part of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered)
The first Tomb Raider is a solid 3D platformer that, while it definitely shows its age in some areas, excels in others. Above all else, it is a unique game that could unfortunately not be made today -- not for any stupid culture war reasons, but because its game design, as compelling as it may be, is decidedly at odds with that of modern action/adventure games. The fact that these games even got a (great) remaster at all is a surprise, but certainly a welcome one.
Like many early 3D games, Tomb Raider is light on story, sending Lara on the hunt for an artifact in Peru after a short introductory cutscene. There's probably about five minutes of dialogue across the entire game, if that -- and most of that occurs in the final level. Still, cheesy as the writing may be, Lara and Natla's personalities come through well, and I imagine Lara is given a bit more development in the later classic games.
With the story almost entirely in the backseat, the clear focus of Tomb Raider is in the gameplay. I had heard the horror stories of the game's tank controls, but as a big fan of the original Resident Evil, I found them quite comfortable, and quickly gave up trying to use the new "modern" control scheme included in the remaster. Unlike the newer Tomb Raider or Uncharted games, platforming is the main source of difficulty. You don't just tap a button to automatically grab the next platform, you have to manually line the jumps up with the D-Pad and the jump button, accounting for distance if necessary. There's little handholding, and jumping too far or too short will usually mean Lara's untimely demise. This might sound miserable on paper, but in practice, it just works; as you practice the platforming and controls, you gain enough confidence to bounce through levels without taking time to line your jumps up. It's a simple system that rewards mastery, and the precision of the tank controls means that any platforming-related death is firmly the fault of the player.
While the platforming is great, the rest of the gameplay has not aged so gracefully. There is plenty of combat, especially in the Egypt and Atlantis levels, and it is clunky at best, terrible at worst. There is (thankfully?) no manual aiming: Lara will lock on to targets in front of her and you can blast them apart with ease. The annoyances come in when there are multiple enemies or you have to fight in a tight space; the camera is a mess in combat, and the fact that you have to flip through the air to reliably avoid damage only exacerbates the issues. Some of the later enemies will also jump around you faster than the camera can keep up, leading to some headache inducing fights. I'm not sure how they could have done the combat differently here, but even when you're only dealing with one enemy at a time, it's more tedious than challenging.
Another issue I have with the game is the lack of variety. Although there are 15 levels, this is spread across four different zones, with each level largely having the same aesthetic and challenges as the other levels in the same zone. This is less of an issue in Peru and Atlantis, but Greece and Egypt feel repetitive and samey (Greece, in particular, has no reason to be five levels long). I would have liked to see more locations with fewer levels each for the sake of shaking up some of the monotony. Similarly, although I tend to like the obtuse '90s level design and exploration, it doesn't feel very rewarding once you realize that you're only going to be finding medkits and ammo that, in all likelihood, you won't need. Making ammo and health more rare, or having treasures to loot, may have worked better for me here.
Overall, I enjoyed playing through the first Tomb Raider and look forward to starting the sequels soon. Although there are a number of shortcomings due to its age and being the first entry in the series, I had a good time, and the platforming is fun and unlike anything else on the market today.
The first Tomb Raider is a solid 3D platformer that, while it definitely shows its age in some areas, excels in others. Above all else, it is a unique game that could unfortunately not be made today -- not for any stupid culture war reasons, but because its game design, as compelling as it may be, is decidedly at odds with that of modern action/adventure games. The fact that these games even got a (great) remaster at all is a surprise, but certainly a welcome one.
Like many early 3D games, Tomb Raider is light on story, sending Lara on the hunt for an artifact in Peru after a short introductory cutscene. There's probably about five minutes of dialogue across the entire game, if that -- and most of that occurs in the final level. Still, cheesy as the writing may be, Lara and Natla's personalities come through well, and I imagine Lara is given a bit more development in the later classic games.
With the story almost entirely in the backseat, the clear focus of Tomb Raider is in the gameplay. I had heard the horror stories of the game's tank controls, but as a big fan of the original Resident Evil, I found them quite comfortable, and quickly gave up trying to use the new "modern" control scheme included in the remaster. Unlike the newer Tomb Raider or Uncharted games, platforming is the main source of difficulty. You don't just tap a button to automatically grab the next platform, you have to manually line the jumps up with the D-Pad and the jump button, accounting for distance if necessary. There's little handholding, and jumping too far or too short will usually mean Lara's untimely demise. This might sound miserable on paper, but in practice, it just works; as you practice the platforming and controls, you gain enough confidence to bounce through levels without taking time to line your jumps up. It's a simple system that rewards mastery, and the precision of the tank controls means that any platforming-related death is firmly the fault of the player.
While the platforming is great, the rest of the gameplay has not aged so gracefully. There is plenty of combat, especially in the Egypt and Atlantis levels, and it is clunky at best, terrible at worst. There is (thankfully?) no manual aiming: Lara will lock on to targets in front of her and you can blast them apart with ease. The annoyances come in when there are multiple enemies or you have to fight in a tight space; the camera is a mess in combat, and the fact that you have to flip through the air to reliably avoid damage only exacerbates the issues. Some of the later enemies will also jump around you faster than the camera can keep up, leading to some headache inducing fights. I'm not sure how they could have done the combat differently here, but even when you're only dealing with one enemy at a time, it's more tedious than challenging.
Another issue I have with the game is the lack of variety. Although there are 15 levels, this is spread across four different zones, with each level largely having the same aesthetic and challenges as the other levels in the same zone. This is less of an issue in Peru and Atlantis, but Greece and Egypt feel repetitive and samey (Greece, in particular, has no reason to be five levels long). I would have liked to see more locations with fewer levels each for the sake of shaking up some of the monotony. Similarly, although I tend to like the obtuse '90s level design and exploration, it doesn't feel very rewarding once you realize that you're only going to be finding medkits and ammo that, in all likelihood, you won't need. Making ammo and health more rare, or having treasures to loot, may have worked better for me here.
Overall, I enjoyed playing through the first Tomb Raider and look forward to starting the sequels soon. Although there are a number of shortcomings due to its age and being the first entry in the series, I had a good time, and the platforming is fun and unlike anything else on the market today.
Finally played this for the first time on PC with Automated Fix. Not gona lie, I really dig it. The atmosphere kills and I adore the soundtrack. I can't even say I agree this has aged horribly, it's damn well-designed. Basically a cinematic platformer like Prince of Persia or Another World but flipped into the third dimension. And just as unforgiving as its 2D sibllings aswell. I will finish this game eventually, but Sanctuary of the Scion has me kinda stuck right now, so might as well take a break, maybe try some of the other games.
Link to my full review of Tomb Raider: https://www.backloggd.com/u/NovaNiles/review/1411026/
Link to my full review of Tomb Raider: https://www.backloggd.com/u/NovaNiles/review/1411026/
Playing this as a 6 year old was amazing. The sense of adventure and discovery was basically set in gaming by Tomb Raider when this first released.
Today, while still being a fun game, it has some clearly outdated mechanics like it's entire combat, which suck the life out of the game each time you have to fight an enemy.
Tomb Raider SHINES when it is about exploring, platforming and solving puzzles. Thankfully the game is mostly this, which is why 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider was my favorite of the survivor trilogy as it ditched the Uncharted cloniness of the first 2 games and went for more of a focus on puzzles and exploration.
The puzzles in tomb raider aren't really deep. Each puzzles comes down to finding ways to unlock doors, which is mostly trying to find switches or keys in levels that you will need to platform to.
Some people will say the platforming/climbing system is outdated here but it really is the heart of the gameplay. Unlike most modern games where climbing is automated and mindless, here you have to actually think about your jumps and the timings of your jumps as any misstep could lead to your death.
A big strength is the exploration aspect of the game. There are so so many secrets and hidden areas you will need find and platform your way to in order to find weapons, ammo, health kits. And you will really need these to help you get through the game as Tomb raider has somewhat of a survival game aspect to it.
Each level is a cool exploration of a releastic location where you would actually find tombs. Nepal, Greece, Egypt etc. SPOILER: I really really don't like the concept of the final levels though and it really doesn't fit in this game.
With the positives said, there are many negatives. The biggest one which was mentioned before and almost ruin this game for me is the combat. And it's quite abundant and sprinkled out through the levels, especially in the later levels where it's everywhere. There is no rhyme or reason to the combat. Sometimes you will get hit, sometimes you won't. It's all about facing the enemy and pressing shoot, hoping you kill them while jumping and dodging around before they kill you. Just make sure you are playing on PC or an emulator so you can quicksave before each fight.
I won't get into it too much, but the final levels are really awful and made me almost want to drop this game. It doesn't have the soul or spirit of what makes tomb raider good and felt rushed and lazily put together.
Tomb Raider is worth playing through once if you are a fan of classic gaming and history. You will still get a lot of fun out of this if you can put up with some of the outdatedness of it. If anything, it's worth experiencing to see how the iconic adventures of Lara Croft all began.
Today, while still being a fun game, it has some clearly outdated mechanics like it's entire combat, which suck the life out of the game each time you have to fight an enemy.
Tomb Raider SHINES when it is about exploring, platforming and solving puzzles. Thankfully the game is mostly this, which is why 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider was my favorite of the survivor trilogy as it ditched the Uncharted cloniness of the first 2 games and went for more of a focus on puzzles and exploration.
The puzzles in tomb raider aren't really deep. Each puzzles comes down to finding ways to unlock doors, which is mostly trying to find switches or keys in levels that you will need to platform to.
Some people will say the platforming/climbing system is outdated here but it really is the heart of the gameplay. Unlike most modern games where climbing is automated and mindless, here you have to actually think about your jumps and the timings of your jumps as any misstep could lead to your death.
A big strength is the exploration aspect of the game. There are so so many secrets and hidden areas you will need find and platform your way to in order to find weapons, ammo, health kits. And you will really need these to help you get through the game as Tomb raider has somewhat of a survival game aspect to it.
Each level is a cool exploration of a releastic location where you would actually find tombs. Nepal, Greece, Egypt etc. SPOILER: I really really don't like the concept of the final levels though and it really doesn't fit in this game.
With the positives said, there are many negatives. The biggest one which was mentioned before and almost ruin this game for me is the combat. And it's quite abundant and sprinkled out through the levels, especially in the later levels where it's everywhere. There is no rhyme or reason to the combat. Sometimes you will get hit, sometimes you won't. It's all about facing the enemy and pressing shoot, hoping you kill them while jumping and dodging around before they kill you. Just make sure you are playing on PC or an emulator so you can quicksave before each fight.
I won't get into it too much, but the final levels are really awful and made me almost want to drop this game. It doesn't have the soul or spirit of what makes tomb raider good and felt rushed and lazily put together.
Tomb Raider is worth playing through once if you are a fan of classic gaming and history. You will still get a lot of fun out of this if you can put up with some of the outdatedness of it. If anything, it's worth experiencing to see how the iconic adventures of Lara Croft all began.
retirement home core
Great story, cool game mechanics.
Good beginning of the franchise.
Good beginning of the franchise.
My memory of this is like a fever dream but I watched my uncle play this annnnd I wasn’t interested. But at that time, the graphics were cool. I’m pretty sure my uncle got it though for two blocky reasons.
So it's 1996, and the HDD on my first-ever computer (an Acer Aspire -- check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly5dh5KgVW0) had a grand total of 1000 MB to play with. And maybe 100 MB of that was already taken up with boilerplate stuff. No matter, though -- Tomb Raider installed and I want to say it was 126 MB. I had quite a bit of fun getting into this, but the most fun I had with TR was a year or more down the road when I first played it on a PS1 with those rocking controllers. THAT was truly fun, and I still remember those joyous moments.
This is the same case as Metroid 1, the remake is so much better that it doesn't make sense to start with that one (I only started out of stubbornness), the problem with this game is the graphics that make it look like you're inside a cave made of poop , the camera which is obviously at the beginning of the 3d era and also the textures that will allow you to know what is graspable and what is not,
the game is so ugly that I can't tell what's entry and what's solid (I don't know), the combat is very slow and sometimes it's hard to know what you're doing and, yeah... I dropped this game at one stage boring with running water where I needed to get 3 contraptions to make something work, but it's that thing I already knew what to do,
but imagine me going to the "right path" taking the contraption without knowing about that thing that makes that other thing appear (maybe that broken bridge) and then I ask myself "okay now what? what do I do, where to go?", yeah very enigmatic and the camera as always doesn't help at all, I tried to get these 3, but it didn't work,
I felt tired in the game and look, I continued and was at that stage and if I continue the game and I'm already tired of that stage it's because there's something wrong with it.
Anyway, just like Metroid 1, play the remake (Anniversary Edition), only play this one out of curiosity or difficult access to the remake.
the game is so ugly that I can't tell what's entry and what's solid (I don't know), the combat is very slow and sometimes it's hard to know what you're doing and, yeah... I dropped this game at one stage boring with running water where I needed to get 3 contraptions to make something work, but it's that thing I already knew what to do,
but imagine me going to the "right path" taking the contraption without knowing about that thing that makes that other thing appear (maybe that broken bridge) and then I ask myself "okay now what? what do I do, where to go?", yeah very enigmatic and the camera as always doesn't help at all, I tried to get these 3, but it didn't work,
I felt tired in the game and look, I continued and was at that stage and if I continue the game and I'm already tired of that stage it's because there's something wrong with it.
Anyway, just like Metroid 1, play the remake (Anniversary Edition), only play this one out of curiosity or difficult access to the remake.
a atmosfera desse jogo é fenomenal e nenhum jogo da franquia foi capaz de a replicar até agora
Cultural osmosis is a funny thing. I, like many, only know about Lara Croft and her adventures through the media surrounding her, even though we never really played much if any of the games. I myself always had the firm impression that it was some kind of trashy Indiana Jones knock off with a sexy female lead or something of that nature. Probably a bit outdated, coasting on nostalgia for the original PlayStation titles. I had only ever dabbled in some of the PS2 games, seen the first movie, and got roped into playing the 2013 reboot. Admittedly, of my experiences with the franchise, Anniversary, the remake of this first game, was a game I really fell in love with. It's the starting point where my perception of Tomb Raider started to shift into something I became more and more interested in. Critical in the second phase of that process was discovering Youtube channels like the wonderful Steve Of Warr, seriously underrated creator, check him out. He gave me a good old case of talking so passionately about a topic he cares about, that it started to infect me with the energy to become a fan myself. I now really wanted to know what Tomb Raider was all about and why it left such a deep mark on gaming. Lucky for me, I had previously purchased the entire classic series on GOG for like 5 bucks. So I installed the automated PC fix and started Lara's very first adventure.
And just like I wrote in my first impression, I'm really impressed how much I dig this game. I might even go as far as to say that I love it. There is an absorbing atmosphere to the original Tomb Raider I havent felt in any game before. Exploring these locations feels like you're setting foot in places that hasnt been touched by humans in centuries. Both in a beautiful and unnerving way, when the silence is suddenly puncture by the sound of an enemies roar. I can now feel why so many people have childhood nightmare stories of sitting in front of their PS1 only to turn their TV off in horror as a vicious T-Rex suddenly stomps around the corner in Lost Valley. It even got me, despite the fact I knew it was coming. That really extends to all locations, and I can't say that there was a miss across the entire game atmosphere vise. Be it the structures of St. Francis' Folly or the final home stretch in The Great Pyramid, it was all excellent.
You control Lara through these Levels via tank controls. In 2024, a horrifying discovery for some for sure, but quit genius if you look back on what hardware Tomb Raider originally came out on. The PS1 had yet to introduce dual analog sticks and PC was restricted to keyboard and mouse, so you could easily design controls that work for both. In combination with Core Design's decision to structure levels on a strict grid, the game allows for extreme precision platforming while remaining immensely fair. You know at almost all times where Lara will land or how many steps she will take upon pressing the D-pad. The result is a game that delivers everything promised in the opening cutscene, with more freedom of movement than most games today. Combat sadly doesnt met that high water mark, with the limited camera not being able to keep up with enemies that love to poke Lara to death while she's stuck in a corner somewhere. It's by far the worst aspect of Tomb Raider, and by the time I reached Atlantis I was ready to strangle somebody. Atlantis was also the point where I felt a worrying trend come up, of the devs simply hating my guts. The final stretch is an absurd difficulty spike in my opinion, and not for the right reason. Unfair deathtrap after unfair deathtrap, bad enemie spawns, the lava pits.... the lava pits sucked so fucking bad. I still loved the whole design of Atlantis, the gross flesh covered horror Pyramid making me quite uncomfortable. Atlantis in TR1 is unlike any interpretation I have ever seen. Looks amazing, but I sure went back to Lara's Mansion a couple of times, just to decompress after the 100 times I miss timed a jump trying to dodge a flying demon, face plating Lara straight into the next best lava pit. I miss tutorial levels, Lara's mansion is the shit, bring back tutorial levels you cowards!
Finally, of all the things I loved and hated about TR1, there is one thing I still haven't mentioned yet. The actual story of the game. The story really isn't anything. Aside from giving Lara a very well defined character, it's your typical treasure hunt. Lara gets hired by a mysterious millionaire to recover a lost treasure, millionaire turns out to be evil, you beat the evil millionaire and explode her Island. The End. Probably an unfortunate result of inexperience and a short dev cycle. I don't really blame them too much, but I think it says a lot about how they really didn't know what the story was when your Villains' henchman consist of a Lumberjack, an Evil French Man, a Cowboy and a Kid on a Skateboard ? To be fair: Kid with skateboard sliding around the corner, with his Uzis akimbo drawn like he was on his way to assassinate Tupac and Biggie himself, was hilarious. If anything I hope the next game has more kids on skateboards, I would 100% support it. Anyway on to Tomb Raider 2, really looking forward to that game.
And just like I wrote in my first impression, I'm really impressed how much I dig this game. I might even go as far as to say that I love it. There is an absorbing atmosphere to the original Tomb Raider I havent felt in any game before. Exploring these locations feels like you're setting foot in places that hasnt been touched by humans in centuries. Both in a beautiful and unnerving way, when the silence is suddenly puncture by the sound of an enemies roar. I can now feel why so many people have childhood nightmare stories of sitting in front of their PS1 only to turn their TV off in horror as a vicious T-Rex suddenly stomps around the corner in Lost Valley. It even got me, despite the fact I knew it was coming. That really extends to all locations, and I can't say that there was a miss across the entire game atmosphere vise. Be it the structures of St. Francis' Folly or the final home stretch in The Great Pyramid, it was all excellent.
You control Lara through these Levels via tank controls. In 2024, a horrifying discovery for some for sure, but quit genius if you look back on what hardware Tomb Raider originally came out on. The PS1 had yet to introduce dual analog sticks and PC was restricted to keyboard and mouse, so you could easily design controls that work for both. In combination with Core Design's decision to structure levels on a strict grid, the game allows for extreme precision platforming while remaining immensely fair. You know at almost all times where Lara will land or how many steps she will take upon pressing the D-pad. The result is a game that delivers everything promised in the opening cutscene, with more freedom of movement than most games today. Combat sadly doesnt met that high water mark, with the limited camera not being able to keep up with enemies that love to poke Lara to death while she's stuck in a corner somewhere. It's by far the worst aspect of Tomb Raider, and by the time I reached Atlantis I was ready to strangle somebody. Atlantis was also the point where I felt a worrying trend come up, of the devs simply hating my guts. The final stretch is an absurd difficulty spike in my opinion, and not for the right reason. Unfair deathtrap after unfair deathtrap, bad enemie spawns, the lava pits.... the lava pits sucked so fucking bad. I still loved the whole design of Atlantis, the gross flesh covered horror Pyramid making me quite uncomfortable. Atlantis in TR1 is unlike any interpretation I have ever seen. Looks amazing, but I sure went back to Lara's Mansion a couple of times, just to decompress after the 100 times I miss timed a jump trying to dodge a flying demon, face plating Lara straight into the next best lava pit. I miss tutorial levels, Lara's mansion is the shit, bring back tutorial levels you cowards!
Finally, of all the things I loved and hated about TR1, there is one thing I still haven't mentioned yet. The actual story of the game. The story really isn't anything. Aside from giving Lara a very well defined character, it's your typical treasure hunt. Lara gets hired by a mysterious millionaire to recover a lost treasure, millionaire turns out to be evil, you beat the evil millionaire and explode her Island. The End. Probably an unfortunate result of inexperience and a short dev cycle. I don't really blame them too much, but I think it says a lot about how they really didn't know what the story was when your Villains' henchman consist of a Lumberjack, an Evil French Man, a Cowboy and a Kid on a Skateboard ? To be fair: Kid with skateboard sliding around the corner, with his Uzis akimbo drawn like he was on his way to assassinate Tupac and Biggie himself, was hilarious. If anything I hope the next game has more kids on skateboards, I would 100% support it. Anyway on to Tomb Raider 2, really looking forward to that game.
Nostalgia is meaningless to me. Useless at best, poisonous at worst. But I like old games. I like the ways in which they are idiosyncratic, coming into existence before dull, insidious ideas about so-called design best practices could shave off the rough edges. Tomb Raider showcases an ingenious and unique solution to third-person navigation in a 3D environment. Every movement Lara makes is exact and if you take the time to learn the controls they will serve you, and the game's level design, perfectly. That level design is what almost single-handedly makes this game great. It requires you to think for yourself. The environment isn't over-telegraphed and the UI isn't intrusive. But it also isn't inscrutable. You'll get lost but if you've been paying attention you won't get frustrated in that process. Tomb Raider respects and trusts the player enough to demand that you pay attention while playing the game. If you can't do that, then why are you here?
levels designed by monkeys
#KillAllBoars
Waaaay better than I expected. Super super super fun, feels like it was way ahead of it's time when it came out! :3
Tank controls intimidate me. Hopefully I can overcome my fears to enjoy this classic with fresh visuals and remastered controls!
This game brought out some sort of primal, chimp rage within me.
It's pretty neat, the level design for most of the game is overall great until around the final level of the Egypt section where some sections are purely just super stretched out platforming sections with no other sauce to speak of. The Atlantis sections are some really cool set pieces though and I thought the boss fights were alright.
My biggest issue with Tomb Raider 1 is how wonky the tank controls are, especially when it comes to platforming, it can be insanely frustrating and can make the game artificially difficult at points, its a pretty big learning curve. The combat is also not one of the game's strongest aspects either.
Besides that, I love the environments, the music, most levels and I especially love Lara. She's so cool...(and hot).
It's pretty neat, the level design for most of the game is overall great until around the final level of the Egypt section where some sections are purely just super stretched out platforming sections with no other sauce to speak of. The Atlantis sections are some really cool set pieces though and I thought the boss fights were alright.
My biggest issue with Tomb Raider 1 is how wonky the tank controls are, especially when it comes to platforming, it can be insanely frustrating and can make the game artificially difficult at points, its a pretty big learning curve. The combat is also not one of the game's strongest aspects either.
Besides that, I love the environments, the music, most levels and I especially love Lara. She's so cool...(and hot).
Pretty good!, Kinda dated and controls like shit but...yeah it's cool. Pretty decent level design until the last few levels where things get a bit convoluted. I played it when I was a kid but I didn't remember loads about it. Overall a pretty decent game.
The graphics were good for the time but the 3D camera and the tank movement was almost unplayable. Also shooting animals for no reason is a big no for me. 1.5 star for the significance for the industry and for trying something different that created a sub genre of 3d jungle games.
Mon premier Tomb Raider, ma première grande gifle. J’avais un sentiment comparable à lancer son premier Soulslike sans en connaitre le concept, un jeu vertigineux par sa difficulté et son appel à toujours aller plus loin. La surcouche horreur, notamment en Atlantide, a beaucoup marqué mon imaginaire.
One of the first PS1 games I ever saw played (alongside what I'm pretty sure was Star Wars EP 1). I remember the tiger underground level (I may be mistaken about it) and, ofc, the mansion being scary as hell.
I played this game at a glacial pace, but overall I think it's pretty charasmatic and had some interesting ideas about what a 3D platformer should be.
hmmm like.. it's an important game but...
it's just unplayable, that's not even counting the pc port
the tank controls end up being kinda frustrating
it's just pretty annoying, but the ambience and levels are great
it's just unplayable, that's not even counting the pc port
the tank controls end up being kinda frustrating
it's just pretty annoying, but the ambience and levels are great