Difference between revisions of "Tomb Raider I-III Remastered"

Latest revision as of 10:28, 3 September 2024

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is the 2024 remastered re-release of the first three Tomb Raider Games and their corresponding Add-Ons. It consists of re-textured versions of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, and Tomb Raider III that otherwise remains faithful to the originals.

The game was released on 14 February 2024, Lara's birthday - according to the classic timeline, she was 56 years old on this day -, for PC (Steam^[1], Epic Games^[2], GoG^[3]), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4^[4], Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One^[5] and Nintendo Switch^[6]. It was developed by Aspyr, a member of the Embracer Group, that took over Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider franchise from Square Enix in 2023. There has as of yet been no physical release; it is a download only game on all supported platforms.

Bundled Games

The download consists of the following games:

• Tomb Raider (1996)
  • Unfinished Business (1998)
• Tomb Raider II (1997)
  • The Golden Mask (1999)
• Tomb Raider III (1998)
  • The Lost Artifact (2000)

• 

  TR Start Screen

• 

  TR II Start Screen

• 

  TR III Start Screen

The add-on games can be selected from the start menu of the corresponding games. Select the passport symbol, then "New Game" and then e.g. "Unfinished Business".

Differences

There are only minor differences in gameplay in the remastered versions, e.g. there are no Save Crystals in the PlayStation versions of the games. They seem to instead be a straight 1-to-1 port of the original PC source code, including even bugs like the Corner Bug.

As for visuals, the games have been re-textured with modern, high resolution Textures. However, instead if these the original textures can be switched on to get the same feeling as back in the 1990s. To switch between old and new textures, press F1 on the PC or the "Options" button on the PlayStation controller. Because of the modern and much improved hardware the games now run on, texture filtering is much better and textures no longer "warp" when changing perspective. On the other hand, character models and object meshes have only been improved to a certain degree in order to keep the look and feel of the old games alive.

There is also a Photo Mode includes where you can position the camera to your liking before taking a Screenshot. On the PC version press F3 to activate it.

Sounds like Lara's voice seem to be a higher quality as well. While the original games were somewhat reduced in resolution because of space constraints and inferior codecs, the remastered version sounds much better. The original FMV Cinematics on the other hand have only been upscaled and de-interlaced, so are basically the same quality as in the original games, because the rendering software and files used in the 1990s have probably since been lost to time. While some players had hoped that the in-game music would have been upgraded to the orchestral versions created be Nathan McCree, this is not the case.

All in all the emphasis of the remastering has been in preserving the original feeling of the classic 1990s games. This leads to an interesting mix of old and new styles in the remastered versions.

Unlike the original games, Trophies and Achievements can now be earned on the supported platforms.

While the controls of the original games have been preserved, the remastered version includes the possibility to switch to a more modern style of controls. The original controls are labelled as Tank Controls, the new ones as Modern Controls. The latter feature, among other changes, the possibility to control the camera independently from Lara with the right analogue stick, while her movements are controlled with the left stick relative to the camera view. Overall, however, the controls remain almost as difficult as in the original games. Both modes feature the possibility to remap inputs (e.g. swap and on the PlayStation). Keyboards are not supported in the console versions. Unlike in the original games on PC where "view" (look around) was mapped to the 0 key of the num pad, you can now find it on V. Also, while F5 remains the short-cut for saving games, loading is now mapped to F9.

Reception

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was highly anticipated by fans of the original games before its release and several social media campaigns accompanied the release.

While remaining true to the roots of the franchise and the original games, this first release on then modern platforms improved the visuals considerably.

System Requirements

PC

The different online stores - Steam, Epic, and GoG - list different system requirements, and some of them list the older hardware as recommended. Whether that is intentional or by error, one cannot say. The list below is a combination of the three stores and should roughly correspond to the real world requirements.

• Minimum:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 7 or later
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4, 3.0 Ghz or Athlon 64 3000+
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: GeForce 6000 Series or Radeon X series
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 5 GB available space

• Recommended:

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 7 or later
• Processor: Intel i3 3240 or AMD FX 4100
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDA GT730 or AMD R7 240
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 6 GB available space

The Minimum Requirements seem to only be restricted by the fact that a 64 bit operating system is required. (There were some Intel Pentium 4 Systems that supported 64 bit mode; on the AMD side, although only listed in the online stores as Athlon (unspecific operating mode), it is not listed as Athlon XP (32 bit) either, so Athlon 64 (64 bit) is assumed.) The game file itself ("tomb123.exe") is reported as a "PE32+ executable (GUI) x86-64". The games run fine on an old Athlon X2 on Windows 10 64 Bit^[7]. Also, a DirectX 12 capable graphics card seems to be necessary to run the games.

Consoles

The games run on all versions of the PlayStation 4 and 5, on Xbox Series X/S, and on the Nintendo Switch. The game seems to be playable on the older Xbox One as well; the Xbox Store has a remark that the game is optimised for the newer generation, but lets the player by the game nonetheless. Before launch the Xbox One was listed in an accompanying Blog Post as supported^[8].

References

1. ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2478970/Tomb_Raider_IIII_Remastered_Starring_Lara_Croft/
2. ↑ https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/tomb-raider-iiii-remastered-538640 Epic Store
3. ↑ https://www.gog.com/de/game/tomb_raider_i_to_iii_remastered?gad_source=1&gogID=GAD_DE_DSA_PURCH_PROD_SMART_ONG&r=true GoG Store
4. ↑ https://store.playstation.com/de-de/product/EP1875-PPSA16902_00-TOMBRAIDER123224 Sony PlayStation Store
5. ↑ https://www.xbox.com/de-DE/games/store/tomb-raider-i-iii-remastered-starring-lara-croft/9N25D4T3L8JX Microsoft Xbox Store
6. ↑ https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/Nintendo-Switch-Download-Software/Tomb-Raider-I-III-Remastered-2441188.html Nintendo Store
7. ↑ Personal experience; Athlon X2 64 3400+, 8 GB Ram, AMD Radeon HD 7850.
8. ↑ https://www.crystaldynamics.com/blog/2023/09/14/aspyr-crystal-dynamics-reveal-tomb-raider-i-iii-remastered-starring-lara-croft-coming-to-pc-consoles-feb-14-2024/ Crystal Dynamics Blog