I only breifly played the original Tomb Raider back in the day for just a bit, as back then I only really delved deep into TR2. Now going back to it with the 2024 Remaster Collection, I can give a much more time forward look at it. The core fundementals of the game play still show in spades. The tight level design really does show in many of the levels and it's expertly crafted prescion platforming does stand apart even like 30 years later. The remaster does a fantastic job with it's updated visuals to keep the intended look of the game while ironing out some outdated polygons and it was a fantastic design choice to be able to switch between updated visuals and the original look with a simple button press. I was constantly switching back and forth between them. The original graphics while super dated does have a nostalgia window completly unique to the graphics of that time period that you don't see too often anymore. New control method's exist for players who refuse to adopt the original controls. Normally this wouldn't annoy me so much but the game is so expertly designed in almost precise grid that the original controls are what defines the gameplay to begin with. I will never complain about more options in a game though and certainly not for a remaster but I do encourage people to try to the original controls.
Having said all that playing Tomb Raider in 2024 the game as much fun as it has been to relive and experiance comes with equal parts of frustrations and design choices that I do not miss. Tomb Raider has really reminded me of a time when some of the biggest hurdles of early 3D gaming lies entirley in the camera. Tomb Raider is a platformer that requires precise jumps and timing and I am constantly trying to battle the camera to be able to see where I am running or going. So many times the camera is centered on Lara's chest or facing directly at her giving me no indication on where my feet are positioned in comparison to where I am looking to jump too. The remaster does try to incorparate a modern style camera flick, but it just doesn't work much of the time and it never stays in place and always seems to snap back to the original view point. Most of the games in this era had button held fixed first person viewpoint to help get a better look at surroundings to which this game has as well. This is sometimes your only way to view whats around you but when you let go of that button it will snap back to that original view. I completly understand this was the norm of the day and experiancing it again after 30 years of modern gaming will certainly irk anybody who goes back but I can't say I entirely can blame the game for the time period it was in.
I also am just not a fan of it's saving system. Whether that be the crystals or unlimited saves. I played TR on the PC back in the day so I'm used to unlimited savings as it is for this series. TR is a game that has a lot of traps and tight jumps that a lot of the time leads to instant deaths. I don't know if it's just modern gaming that has made this more annoying to me know more than anything but I do remember feeling like this back in the day but I feel like the game encourages save scumming. It felt like I was playing on a emulator and was constantly refreshing my save. Because let me tell you, if your going into this game blind for the first time you will die a lot. I mean a lot. There are no checkpoints, even between finishing levels it's all manual saves. You die you go back to your previous save no matter what. It's been quite some time where I have to constatnly remind myself to keep saving becuase I would play do a large amount of stuff then die and have to constantly keep replaying sections over and over again. It's built into my DNA at this point that saving is for quiting my play session or after finishing a level. It took a lot of mindpower to keep myself saving constantly. I always wanna complete sections before savings and I would constantly die and hate myself for not saving. I play a lot of old games but this game really tested my patience when it comes to this. Also towards the end of the game the enemies just are constantly swarming you bum rushing into you and it's extremely hard to deal with. The enemy design at the end was really frustrating.
The level and map design are always these games biggest strenghts and weaknesses. For the most part the games are sharply desigened and are great at rewarding exploration. Their are numerous secrets and things to collect that reward keen eyed players. Platforming feels really great when you get in the groove and still to this day the precise prescion required to make jumps or traverse feels unique even to this day. This is not auto jumping of Uncharted or the reboot franchise for sure that a lot of people are used to for sure. There are few levels in the game that I really was impressed with it's layout and structure. Although we equal amount of priase does come with caveats as well for me. There are some levels where I really couldn't not figure out what to do or where to go. Whether that be an alcove that is just out of view of the camera or a room hidden in the mess of graphic blocks that is hard to see or seeing the door in the distance and just not knowing how the heck do you get over there? One thing to note about the remaster is with the updated look they have taken some liberites to changing how the stage looks and that can be a hamper when traversing the level. Keys are especially hard to see and are so small and blend in to the background. I've skipped numerous keys in stages that were in plain sight, spending so much time looking around only to switch back to the original graphics mode and see a bright key right out in the open. That and having modern lighting in the remastered graphics can some times leave the stages to look rather dark making it hard to naviage compared to how always bright the original mode looks. Also Remasterd graphics sometimes add ceiling and open light sources that were not there in the original and sometimes it takes me a second to realize that those are not areas I can reach and were just added in for atmosphere. Switching between OG and Remaster graphics was fun but almost a straight up gameplay mechanic needed if playing soley in Remastered.
Overall playing Tomb Raider was very nostalgic because it really did show it's warts and all that is totally 100% because of it's era in gaming and while I found it overall frustrating to go back to, I did admire it's design choices and what it accomplished and can see why other games tryied to mimick it's style.
Having said all that playing Tomb Raider in 2024 the game as much fun as it has been to relive and experiance comes with equal parts of frustrations and design choices that I do not miss. Tomb Raider has really reminded me of a time when some of the biggest hurdles of early 3D gaming lies entirley in the camera. Tomb Raider is a platformer that requires precise jumps and timing and I am constantly trying to battle the camera to be able to see where I am running or going. So many times the camera is centered on Lara's chest or facing directly at her giving me no indication on where my feet are positioned in comparison to where I am looking to jump too. The remaster does try to incorparate a modern style camera flick, but it just doesn't work much of the time and it never stays in place and always seems to snap back to the original view point. Most of the games in this era had button held fixed first person viewpoint to help get a better look at surroundings to which this game has as well. This is sometimes your only way to view whats around you but when you let go of that button it will snap back to that original view. I completly understand this was the norm of the day and experiancing it again after 30 years of modern gaming will certainly irk anybody who goes back but I can't say I entirely can blame the game for the time period it was in.
I also am just not a fan of it's saving system. Whether that be the crystals or unlimited saves. I played TR on the PC back in the day so I'm used to unlimited savings as it is for this series. TR is a game that has a lot of traps and tight jumps that a lot of the time leads to instant deaths. I don't know if it's just modern gaming that has made this more annoying to me know more than anything but I do remember feeling like this back in the day but I feel like the game encourages save scumming. It felt like I was playing on a emulator and was constantly refreshing my save. Because let me tell you, if your going into this game blind for the first time you will die a lot. I mean a lot. There are no checkpoints, even between finishing levels it's all manual saves. You die you go back to your previous save no matter what. It's been quite some time where I have to constatnly remind myself to keep saving becuase I would play do a large amount of stuff then die and have to constantly keep replaying sections over and over again. It's built into my DNA at this point that saving is for quiting my play session or after finishing a level. It took a lot of mindpower to keep myself saving constantly. I always wanna complete sections before savings and I would constantly die and hate myself for not saving. I play a lot of old games but this game really tested my patience when it comes to this. Also towards the end of the game the enemies just are constantly swarming you bum rushing into you and it's extremely hard to deal with. The enemy design at the end was really frustrating.
The level and map design are always these games biggest strenghts and weaknesses. For the most part the games are sharply desigened and are great at rewarding exploration. Their are numerous secrets and things to collect that reward keen eyed players. Platforming feels really great when you get in the groove and still to this day the precise prescion required to make jumps or traverse feels unique even to this day. This is not auto jumping of Uncharted or the reboot franchise for sure that a lot of people are used to for sure. There are few levels in the game that I really was impressed with it's layout and structure. Although we equal amount of priase does come with caveats as well for me. There are some levels where I really couldn't not figure out what to do or where to go. Whether that be an alcove that is just out of view of the camera or a room hidden in the mess of graphic blocks that is hard to see or seeing the door in the distance and just not knowing how the heck do you get over there? One thing to note about the remaster is with the updated look they have taken some liberites to changing how the stage looks and that can be a hamper when traversing the level. Keys are especially hard to see and are so small and blend in to the background. I've skipped numerous keys in stages that were in plain sight, spending so much time looking around only to switch back to the original graphics mode and see a bright key right out in the open. That and having modern lighting in the remastered graphics can some times leave the stages to look rather dark making it hard to naviage compared to how always bright the original mode looks. Also Remasterd graphics sometimes add ceiling and open light sources that were not there in the original and sometimes it takes me a second to realize that those are not areas I can reach and were just added in for atmosphere. Switching between OG and Remaster graphics was fun but almost a straight up gameplay mechanic needed if playing soley in Remastered.
Overall playing Tomb Raider was very nostalgic because it really did show it's warts and all that is totally 100% because of it's era in gaming and while I found it overall frustrating to go back to, I did admire it's design choices and what it accomplished and can see why other games tryied to mimick it's style.