Summary
- The Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection includes all three games and expansions, providing hours of gameplay and an in-depth look at the franchise’s origins.
- The remastered graphics in the gameplay are a significant improvement over the original visuals, but the cutscenes remain mostly untouched.
- The game is plagued with glitches and bugs, making it virtually unplayable at times, and could have benefited from more polish and attention to detail.
Lara Croft is an icon in the gaming world, so the new Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection is something that would naturally capture the attention of many. Lara was one of the first majorly recognized female protagonists and inspired many in the gaming world and beyond, giving rise to movies, television series, and more besides the classic game franchise. This legacy all started with the original Tomb Raider video game in 1996, which is now available alongside the second and third games in a remastered collection.
As a massive fan of the Tomb Raider series, the excitement I had for this set of games has been real. Tomb Raider is known for fun puzzles and adventure through stunning environments, and I was excited to see where it all started in a remastered version. Sadly, the amount of glitches and problems that I experienced while playing it on the Nintendo Switch made it problematic and nearly unplayable at times. This collection feels more like a speedily-made port to new systems with slightly better graphics, where perhaps what Tomb Raider needs, and deserves, is a full remaster rather than remake.
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft
This collection feels much more like a port than anything else.
- Improved graphics do make something of a difference
- Gameplay is buggy and unpolished
- Still looks pretty dated in cutscenes
This Set Includes All The Content Of The First Three Adventures
The Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection includes not only the original three games but also their expansions; Unfinished Business for the first game, Gold Mask for the second, and The Lost Artifact for the third. All this content adds up to plenty of gameplay and allows players to get an in-depth look at the origins of the franchise as Lara Croft travels around the world. This massive set is being released for all major platforms as well, including Steam, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, providing the means for anyone to get to try it out on whatever system they are most comfortable with.
What The Best Tomb Raider Game Actually Is
The franchise can be confusing thanks to its many reboots, but even amidst all the noise, there’s one clear winner for best Tomb Raider game.
Graphics Are Improved In The Game, But Not The Cutscenes
While the remastered graphics aren’t incredible by today’s standards, they are a significant improvement over the original visual quality during the gameplay. Players can easily toggle between the remastered graphics and the classic look at any point in any of the three titles to see the difference. This is also a helpful feature, as the remastered look can sometimes cause problems in just how dark it can make it, and toggling to the classic look can reveal secrets, switches, and even enemies that are masked by shadows.
This graphical overhaul does not carry over to cinematic cutscenes, however. The cutscenes still allow players to toggle between classic and new graphic styles, and reveal that, other than smoothing some fuzzy pixelated edges, they have not been touched. This is a disappointment, as these cutscenes could be an opportunity for developers to show off what modern technology could do, and instead feels as though they have been forgotten.
A Nostalgic Journey That, Sadly, Is Virtually Unplayable Due To Glitches
Ultimately, though the excitement of traveling with Lara Croft through her adventures is real, the game is filled with bugs that even Lara cannot conquer. While playing for the review, there were numerous instances where suddenly the Jump button became mysteriously unassigned and required going into the controls and reassigning it. Other glitches involved Lara being unable to draw her gun, not being able to stand up after crouching, becoming trapped in water when she would not climb out even in areas that she should have been able to, save files disappearing, and not being able to move left or right.
For anyone playing the game, be forewarned that the game starts with controls being set to Classic Controls rather than Modern Controls, which can cause some extra frustrations.
Final Thoughts And Review Score
Tomb Raider as a series is a beloved franchise and one that is sad to ever give a low score to. The problems encountered in this collection were painfully debilitating and would almost be better if one went and played the original game instead. Graphics are improved, but there is so much more that should have been updated that the original Tomb Raider 1–3 games should have had a full remake rather than remaster, or at least a bit more polish and attention given to the glitches and bugs.
ScreenRant was provided with a Nintendo Switch digital download code for the purpose of this review.
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft
- Released
- February 14, 2024
- Developer(s)
- Aspyr , Crystal Dynamics
- Publisher(s)
- Aspyr
- ESRB
- M
