Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering Tomb Raider I-III Remastered by developers Aspyr and Saber Interactive:
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (The Explanation)
Ah, Tomb Raider, now that brings back some memories. Back in the day when the franchise was still being developed by British game developer Core Design, Tomb Raider first released on PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn in 1996 and was followed up by Tomb Raider II in 1997 and Tomb Raider III in 1998. The latter games were part of an exlusivity deal between the game’s publisher at the time, Eidos Interactive, and Sony Computer Entertainment until 2000.
There has has been plenty of changing hands over the years with different companies picking up the rights to the Tomb Raider series and there have been a many games released featuring Lara Croft along with reboots, spin-offs and subseries. Fastforward to today and we get to experience the original trilogy for the first time on a Nintendo console in the form of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered!
To thank for this remaster, we have Aspyr and Saber Interactive. Both are quite well known these days for works on bringing a variety of classic games to modern consoles. Aspyr has made a name for itself with publishing a number of Star Wars games that were originally developed and published by LucasArts. As for Saber Interactive, There have handled their fair share of games with the likes of Crysis Remastered, Quake Champions, Mortal Kombat, Mud Runner, NBA Playgrounds, and more.
Back to the task at hand, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered allows players to join Lara Croft on her first three ever outings and with fully updated visuals and a choice of classic and modern controls. The modern visuals are default when booting up the game and you may not think there is much of a difference. It looks exactly how you remembered it with the exception that Lara is now a lot less pointier than she used to be. If you press the + button, you will be treated to how the game actually looked and, oh my, there is an exponential difference. There really is a improvement in the visuals department and extra features have been added in this remaster to make the environments look more fuller.
Vine walls actually have vines that you can brush through as opposed to just beig a texture on a wall. There is more foliage on the floor in grassy areas. Paintings and wall sculptures actually have depth and design to them, are not just pixelated messes. One good example of this is in Lara’s Home. You can wander the halls and actually see famous paintings dotted around the place as opposed to obscure pixels that vaguely resemble something. These are just a few examples of the environmental upgrades. Now for the character models themeselves.
Lara’s character model is probably the most noticeable upgrade and just as well because you will be looking at her quite a lot. It is designed to look more like her original character art to be inkeeping with the original games. She has an actual shape with curves as opposed to an assortment of polygons latched together to somewhat resemble a person. Still, if you prefer the original character model, you can always flip back to the OG graphics for a more nostalgic experience.
All the enemies that you will encounter in the game have also been given visual upgrades to look more fuller and realistic. The wolves and dogs in particular look pretty darn good and the human enemies are not to bad either. However, not all enemies have benefitted from the visual overhaul. The T-Rex, for example, doesn’t look nearly as terrifying as I remember it to be but I suppose, there is only so much Saber could do with retexturing and remodelling the T-Rex without breaking the game or having to rewrite the coding completely. I will confess that I know next to nothing about coding but so I am not going to knock the work of someone when I literally can not do any better myself, nor know how difficult it is.
So, the question that is probably on the forefront of everyone’s minds is “how does it play?” Well, like I mentioned earlier, there are the original controls or “Tank Controls” as they are referred to in-game and modern controls. Those who grew up playing the original games will have some adjusting when it comes to the modern controls and may prefer the original control setup when starting out until you adapt to the modern controls. I say this because it was quite challenging for me at first. The platforming in these games are quite precise with some jumps requiring a running start but not before walking up the the edge first, followed by jumping backwards (simply pushing down on the D-pad, not the backflip)Â so you can get the exact distance required to execute the jump.
The modern controls adapt to some of this but you have to use some workarounds. For example, you can’t just jump backwards using a single button. Instead, you have to be holding your weapons first (hold ZL) and then push down to do the back jump. It doesn’t always work either because if you angle the joystick only slightly in a down-right or down-left position, Lara will just rotate that way instead. Sidestepping is also impossible with modern controls, or at least, I was unable to find how to do so. You can still walk by holding the Y button, which is handy for approaching a ledge without falling off it but you will have to put in the extra work if you want to use the modern controls when the platforming is designed around the original control setup.
As for the puzzles in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, they are pretty much untouched. At least, that how they seem to me. Some puzzles are relatively straightforward and other are just as obtuse as they used to be. Basically, each level is one big escape room with very little clues and it is up to you to figure out how to get to the next level by solving the puzzles like finding the lever that opens a certain door, collecting a key that will open another door, or picking up cogs and using them so complete a mechanism to shut of the waterflow to a waterfall, etc.
As many of you already know, when it comes to combat, Lara is no stranger to firearms. For all you Tomb Raider veterans out there, you can probably skip this part as I am just going to cover the weapons and items that Lara can use. For those of you who are new to the games, Lara starts of with dual pistols as her default weapon of choice and can find better weapons as she progresses. Weapons can vary somewhat between games but include the shotgun, Uzis, automatic pistols, M16 and more. You can also find flares which are handy for illuminating dark areas but they don’t last for very long so be sure to have plenty to spare for when travelling in dark sections of the game.
For the most part, I am very much enjoying playing Tomb Raider I-III Remastered on Nintendo Switch. I do have a few nitpicks though that are mainly towards the camera, data handling, and limitation of the modern controls setup. firstly, the camera controls are very awkward at times. More often than not, you can find yourself caught up in a very small space with very limited freedom of movement and a single misstep can kill you. This isn’t an exageration, you could be on a high up ledge with a drop below that will kill you upon impact. The camera can get caught up on the environment and not spin around to give you full visibility of your surroundings. I have found this on a good number of instances and am forced to save constantly and even then, that has its flaws if you aren’t concentrating.
Saving and Loading your game is rather straightforward until you are not paying attention. By pressing the – button to bring up the inventory, you can press down to bring up the secondary menu where the controls and data management can be found. The passport is where you can save and load your game and there are more than enough spaces to handle multiple saves. The problem is Loading your game is the default menu that comes up, not saving and there are no prompts either, meaning you will instantly load or save your game at a single press of the button. That sounds great on paper but with the Load game screen being the default, you will have to be extra vigilant when saving your game because it is all to easy to traverse a particularly difficult area or forget to save at all, go to save your game and accidently load up a previous save instead, losing all the progress you just made, D’oh!
As for the controls, I have already covered this gripe, which is the modern controls not having a more simple means of jumping back or sidestepping. It may sound trivial but these are actually more important than one may think and can make the difference between making a complicated jump or having Lara fall to her death again, and again and again. My last gripe is with the cutscenes. I respect the use of the original cutscenes in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered but there are some instances where the visuals are not really that much of an upgrade and are quite muddy at best. While you can swap between the modern and classic cutscenes, I would have preferred the modern cutscenes to be a lot cleaner as they look far to blurry to be fully appreciated.
On the plus side, the expansion content is included in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered and can be accessed straight from the main game menu. The expansions are made up of bonus levels and can be much more difficult than the ones in the main story of each game. You will start off with only your pistols but you can find and abundance of pickups in the form of weapons, medpacks, and ammo to make traversing these levels that little bit easier.
There is also a Camera Mode so you can take screenshots should you well please. By pushing in both the left and right joystick, you can access the camera then you are given the ability to freeze the game so you can take a screenshot. You can also change Lara’s pose, facial expressions and outfit but you are limited with what you can do as you can not move Lara around that would be more fitting for the pose you would like her to reenact.
With all said and done, I am still very much enjoying Tomb Raider I-III Remastered and it is a very commendable game to have on Switch. Although it does have its flaws, I can mostly overlook them for how well the game plays and the ability to use both modern controls that newer players will appreciate more and classic controls for OG series veterans and fans who are well versed in how to use them. Should Tomb Raider I-III Remastered get a physical release, I will most certainly be picking up a copy myself because It is simply a must own on Switch.
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Aspyr, Saber Interactive
Publisher: Aspyr
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Action, Adventure, Puzzle
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: NA| EU: February 24, 2024
Price: $29.99
File Size: 6.1Â GB
Nintendo.com Listing
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