Every few weeks, a new remake or remaster comes out. Sometimes these offer a minor polish on a fairly recent game, likeThe Last of Us Part 2. Sometimes they rebuild the original into something that keeps the tone and plot, but elevates the experience, likeResident Evil 4. And sometimes you get theTomb Raider Remastered Trilogy.
I’ve been playing the trilogy for the past week and a bit, enough time for it to make me ponder the idea of remasters as a whole.As I state in my review, a key selling point is that the original games, in their appearance and control scheme, appear in this game as they were in the ‘90s. If you want to play them that way, it’s a significant plus for the collection to have taken that legacy into account instead of erasing it.
It’s not just for nostalgic players though that this option is important. We tend to replace originals with remakes and remasters in gaming - partly out of necessity if the original versions don’t work on modern systems or part of the original code has somehow been lost. Tomb Raider’s way of doing things ensures the original game remains preserved no matter what happens to the actual original.
It’s notthatcrucal in Tomb Raider’s case, as all of the games are readily available on PC for pennies, but it’s a future-proof move. On principle, I have issues with our industry’s growing reliance on remasters, part of that being the erasure of history. Tomb Raider, to its credit, has its hands clean.
I wrote recently aboutthe long-term problems caused by incessant remakes and remasters. Not only do they take up shelf space from new ideas, they’re often used as training projects for new devs, and when your first job is based on recreating how the job was done 15 years ago, your potential isn’t being utilised. With games getting bigger and more expensive these days too, future generations won’t be able to remake them as easily as studios today can update the 10-25 hour experiences of the PS1-3 era.
Despite all this, when playing the trilogy, I couldn’t help but feel the modernisation fell short.The original and modern graphics can be toggled on and off instantly, so nothing in the levels has changed - no extra detail, no rounding of ugly angles, no attempt to improve at all. Even the animals Lara fights have not been designed with the technology we have now, the ugly and blocky originals have just been given minor face lifts. Lara herself has notably improved with a new character model, but none of the enemies, puzzles, or landmarks get this honour.
This also causes issues for the modern controls. Though they’re much easier to get to grips with thanthe original tank scheme, the levels don’t suit this fluidity, the camera is sluggish and can’t handle walls or corners, and Lara often jumps too late (AKA not at all) when stepping off a ledge, causing her to fall to her doom.
On the one hand, the presence of the original games with the original graphics and original controls gives this collection increased value. On the other, that decision seems to have been taken less for artistic reasons and more because it’s the path of least resistance. With Anniversary already showing us what a fully updated version of the first game looks like, it feels as if the other two deserve their own Anniversary.
Here’s where it gets interesting - would I sacrifice the historical preservation this game offers for a more glitzy and modernised Anniversary-style version of Tomb Raider 2? On a playing level, probably - Tomb Raider 2 is an all-time favourite, and I want the frustrations ironed out. But as a critic, I have to admit even with the original versions readily available, I might have taken issue with history being overwritten this way.
The real answer is this shouldn’t be an either/or situation, but it’s also a reminder to myself to take all of these remakes and remasters in full context. I still don’t thinkNaughty Dogshould bespending so much time on them, for example. Tomb Raider feels like it takes the simplest path to modernisation, underthinking an issue too many studios overthink. Next time there’s a remake or remaster to discuss, I’ll remember the fresh perspective Tomb Raider has brought me.
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
The original trilogy of Tomb Raider games for PS1 have been remastered for modern platforms. The visuals for all three games have been upgraded, all DLC is included, and players can switch between the old and new graphics.
