Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Review
thesixthaxis.comThere are few western gaming icons who can boast the same prestige and cultural impact as Lara Croft. The famed archaeologist turned gun-toting adventurer has a storied mythos spanning multiple reboots and film adaptations, becoming one of the most recognisable faces in video games.
As we approach Tomb Raider’s 30th anniversary, there’s also been plenty of controversy, from ongoing debates surrounding Lara’s sexualisation, counterarguments of female empowerment, and the whole situation with the series’ current developer Crystal Dynamics, and their precarious position within the Embracer Group umbrella.
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered beams us back to a time when it was all much simpler: when the gaming industry wasn’t eating itself in pursuit of infinite growth, and when discourse was far less draining and cacophonous, tucked away in forums and message boards.
As the name implies, this remastered collection includes Lara’s initial trilogy of adventures, released back to back between 1996 and 1999. Developer Aspyr Media are no strangers when it comes to remastering both cult hits and stone cold classics, perhaps best known for their work on restoring Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
When the term “remaster” gets bandied about, we often forget that each and every game that goes under the digital scalpel gets a unique treatment. Where some titles receive a straightforward shot in the arm to boost performance and visual fidelity, other remasters offer quality-of-life improvements, brand new features, sometimes restoring content that was cut from the original release.
Although there have been some pretty obvious revisions, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered leans more towards that traditional remaster label rather than a top to bottom remake. You can near enough play through the trilogy as it was back in the day or, by tweaking a few settings, you can modernise the experience to help soften that shock of turning back the clock by almost a few decades.
Nostalgia – especially for
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