I'm one of those freaks that never stopped playing (and replaying) the original Tomb Raider games, so I have a very strong familiarity with this series and these three games in particular. So a lot of the typical barriers to entry that these games present to newer fans, and maybe even older fans (the controls, the camera, the grid system etc.) weren't really an issue. I do still recognise that these remasters are probably a hard sell in 2024 and I've read plenty of reviews that support that. Personally though, these remasters delivered exactly what I expected and was hoping for.
Not to speculate but it feels like the devs were given no time at all to get these remasters made. My guess is that they were maybe given a year? We have the updated graphics sure but everything else (aside from the new control scheme) remains untouched. The in-game cutscene use the exact same head- bobby animations from the original when it would have been beneficial to clean those up a bit. The voice acting is the same, the music is the same, there's no extras to speak of... TRIII also chugs quite a bit which supports my theory that these might have been rushed. The FMVs drop frames like crazy, even when they're compressed which is wild to me.
Like, as a piece of video game history/ preservation I think these games are the gold standard for how older games should be made available for modern audiences. But I can't help but wish there was been a way to tighten up the newer versions while leaving the original games as they were, jank and all.
It's insane that they chose to remaster the graphics the way they did, basically just pasting new textures over what was already there. I love this decision even though it doesn't always work from a readability stand point. I'd prefer that the game take a big swing with the art direction and make a mad choice like this then have the games lose their charm striving to match modern graphical sensibilities. Lara's character model is also the best it's ever looked.
The photo mode has the potential to break the game altogether!? The camera isn't tethered to Lara so you can just straight up map out the whole level if you feel like it and get a sense of what lies ahead. Again, a crazy decision that I 100% support. These games are hard!! It's good to give players a useful tool like that. I don't know if that was the intended goal for the camera but regardless, I hope they never patch it.
I really enjoyed revisiting TR I, II and III in this way. I hope that some new fans can get some enjoyment out of them too. I hope we'll get The Last Revelations and Chronicles eventually but maybe that's asking for too much.
Not to speculate but it feels like the devs were given no time at all to get these remasters made. My guess is that they were maybe given a year? We have the updated graphics sure but everything else (aside from the new control scheme) remains untouched. The in-game cutscene use the exact same head- bobby animations from the original when it would have been beneficial to clean those up a bit. The voice acting is the same, the music is the same, there's no extras to speak of... TRIII also chugs quite a bit which supports my theory that these might have been rushed. The FMVs drop frames like crazy, even when they're compressed which is wild to me.
Like, as a piece of video game history/ preservation I think these games are the gold standard for how older games should be made available for modern audiences. But I can't help but wish there was been a way to tighten up the newer versions while leaving the original games as they were, jank and all.
It's insane that they chose to remaster the graphics the way they did, basically just pasting new textures over what was already there. I love this decision even though it doesn't always work from a readability stand point. I'd prefer that the game take a big swing with the art direction and make a mad choice like this then have the games lose their charm striving to match modern graphical sensibilities. Lara's character model is also the best it's ever looked.
The photo mode has the potential to break the game altogether!? The camera isn't tethered to Lara so you can just straight up map out the whole level if you feel like it and get a sense of what lies ahead. Again, a crazy decision that I 100% support. These games are hard!! It's good to give players a useful tool like that. I don't know if that was the intended goal for the camera but regardless, I hope they never patch it.
I really enjoyed revisiting TR I, II and III in this way. I hope that some new fans can get some enjoyment out of them too. I hope we'll get The Last Revelations and Chronicles eventually but maybe that's asking for too much.