Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Hands-on Impressions

First off, what’s actually included in this remaster? Well, although it may seem obvious from the title (yes, the first three games are included!) each title's expansion pack is also included! This means that as well as the base games, players also get: The Unfinished Business for Tomb Raider I, The Gold Mask for Tomb Raider II, and The Lost Artifact for Tomb Raider III. Not a bad deal, especially if you played these on console growing up, as these three expansions were originally only available on the PC releases.

Now, it’s important to stress that these do still very much feel like a product of their time, albeit with some greatly improved environments, lighting, and character models. Foliage, for example, looks a lot denser and three-dimensional and the increased draw distance makes each level feel much grander in scale. It’s clear that a lot of love was poured into the collection to make sure that it still retains the original three games’ vision, but also makes them more accessible for modern hardware and newer gamers.

If you’re entirely new to the franchise and are more attuned to modern gaming comforts, then the updated control scheme may be for you. This does away with the occasionally cumbersome tank controls, giving you full control of Lara’s direction. This, unfortunately, didn’t exactly feel like the optimal way to play, especially during platforming sections (Croft Manor’s obstacle course being the most rage-inducing!) as the loss of side-stepping and more intricate movement control often ended in a fatal leap. These can be swapped at any time in the pause menu, so it’s worth comparing the two control options to see which one you prefer, but from our experience, it just felt right with the tank control option.

Speaking of comparing, you can toggle between the original and modern look at the push of a button, instantly transporting you back to the late 90s! These showcases just how much additional detail has been added. Level layout remains the same regardless of which version you play, which ties into why we felt playing with the original control scheme felt more natural. It was a lot more difficult to slide down those perfectly angled 45 degree tree stumps and jump forward that way!