Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered lovingly restores a trio of important artifacts

polygon.com:

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered starring Lara Croft is a collection of lovingly-restored artifacts that showcases why millions of people fell in love with Lara Croft. It’s also a revelation about the numerous ways games have improved and evolved over the past 25 years, and the impact of quality of life features we now take for granted.

Developers Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have taken the first three Tomb Raider games, released between 1996 and 1998, and given them a fresh new coat of paint. Improvements include upscaled high-definition textures, new lighting effects, and upgraded character models. Lara herself looks more lifelike and expressive, with her new model striking a balance between her original in-game appearance and the pre-rendered version that appears on the games’ box art and advertisements. Gameplay-wise, little has changed; Lara still moves and shoots like she did in the late ’90s and the games’ original maps are angular and blocky.

But there are many modern concessions in Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered. Players can choose from the vintage tank-style controls, which were well suited to Tomb Raider’s level designs, but now feel incredibly clunky, or brand-new “modern” 3D controls. The modernized controls work quite well, and make handling Lara and overcoming some previously-difficult platforming segments quite easy. Better still, the remastered collection lets you adjust the modernized controls to your liking, with sensitivity, dead zone adjustments, and remappable buttons.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered is still stuck with some of the original games’ problematic camera issues. When you’re walking near walls, navigating corners, or swimming, the camera can spin in wild directions. I’ve become disoriented a handful of times while playing through the first and third games, but keep reminding myself that this is an authentic experience whenever I accidentally run Lara off a ledge to her death.

Visually, the game is a treat. While levels are still constructed with