Posted on: December 15, 2017
Sat42
Bestätigter BesitzerSpiele: 395 Rezensionen: 15
TRI, TRII, & TRIII: 7, 7.5, & 8/10 resp.
TL;DR : The original Tomb Raider trilogy is a must-play for fans of the 3D action-adventure genre (which was invented here), and still worth a go for those interested in video game history. You will embark on some pretty epic adventures which will test your mettle. In particular, prepare to be challenged by torturous level design, humbled by perplexing puzzles, and frustrated by unreal platforming sequences. Oh, and you will have plenty of shocking deaths along the way! At times, you will also have to get those Uzis out and start firing away non-stop while back-flipping over a treacherous enemy or two... or three or four or five! Tomb Raider is still good after all these years, but the twenty-year-old Tomb Raider II is a bit better by improving upon its predecessor in more ways than one and by being only slightly worse in one department: story. Tomb Raider III might seem the least original at the end of the day, but objectively (and logically) it is the most accomplished title of the trilogy (with a story on a par with that of the first game) and remains a very good game to this day. Don't play the games back-to-back: they are very similar and not focused on storytelling, so they are best enjoyed one at a time, with breaks between them. Overall, this package is a very good deal, so 4/5 stars! Technical remarks: - 1) the first game was originally released on the Playstation, and as a result the PC version is a port - made by people who had no idea of the importance of such a game: the music, by default, is missing BUT you can add it back in - just search the Web for downloads and tutorials on how to do this, it's indispensable! 2) in my experience, there weren't any problems with Tomb Raider II BUT with Tomb Raider III there is an annoying visual glitch in the main menu: again, search the Web for a solution. 3) expansions for all three games: Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business, Tomb Raider II: Golden Mask, and Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact (initially a stand-alone product); get these by whatever means necessary (they are not available officially anymore), if you want the full experience (especially The Lost Artefact, which is actually a mini-sequel). Given the amount of time I spent playing these games, I am willing to make a review for each title separately: - Tomb Raider (1996): The one that started it all... The game that introduced the 3D action-adventure genre! Does it hold up? Surprisingly perhaps, it does - there is enough complexity on top of the primitiveness that the game still manages to be good nowadays. It was a technical marvel back then but today it has aged and so will only look "quite" good (somewhere between average and good), with low-res, low-poly graphics combining with fairly complex level geometry and impressive vistas. Lara Croft looks unmistakably female, but that's it. Fun fact: the game uses a technical limitation of the time, namely a low draw distance, to its advantage - for example by making some environments look more mysterious as a result, and surprising players by keeping some things "hidden" until the last moment ("fog effect")! The gameplay is rather technical and - importantly - movement is tile-based, although you wouldn't notice at first. This takes some getting used to but a nice tutorial is there to ease new-comers in, and clever level design means you will explore the full set of possibilities (beyond the nominal existence of standard moves, such as walking, running, jumping...) over the course of the adventure. The game definitely took some cues from the cinema, and the adventure is rhythmed by special events that will suddenly trigger a piece of music for dramatic effect. The hardest part of the game is the puzzle-solving: there are some "one-off" mechanics that can be pretty obscure, but occasionally the level progression itself will seem obscure due to the low graphical fidelity. Exploration is central to the experience. The fighting sequences are occasionally tough but mostly they will serve to recapture your attention after you spent time on a potentially mind-numbing puzzle. One thing the game does particularly well is conjuring a strong atmosphere to immerse you in the journey before throwing something at your face that will make you jump in fright on occasion! Even today, Tomb Raider can be a bit scary - and that is in no small part due to the soundscape, with usually excellent use of sound (and music). Of course, the fact that you're spending most of your time raiding tombs participates in building up a somewhat claustrophobic experience. The story is fine - there's just enough to maintain interest, and the CGI cinematics were very impressive at the time (they still look "quite" good today, with Lara at least looking like a stylised hot and badass chick - with a braid and not a lame bun!). The myth of Atlantis works well and there is at least a little bit of character development for the main protagonists. If there is anything original here (at least for the time of the game's release), it's probably the fact that the main protagonists are female. Also, the angle of the story is ultimately more sci-fi than fantasy. Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business (1998): No story here - or so little! Basically, you get 4 new levels - first 2 are part of the Shadow of the Cat episode, which notably adds new textures to the base game incl. an actual (twinkling!) sky, while the other 2 are supposedly an extended ending for the base game that makes no sense given their length. All levels are great by the first game's standards and are particularly challenging. Not indispensable, however, unless you want more of the same type of experience. P.S.: Core Design published this add-on really late due to the workload on main Tomb Raider titles. Tomb Raider II (1997): This one was such a huge success... over 8 million copies sold as of 2003, the best-selling entry in the franchise before the reboots (and in proportional terms - taking into account the existing market at time of release - this title was definitely the most successful in the series)... and it's special to me, as it is the first Tomb Raider game I played (I remember my initial impressions back in the 90s: that this was realistic looking and scary as hell!). Graphically, it is a significant improvement over the previous game: Tomb Raider II actually still looks good, with Lara Croft that for the first time looks like a credible (if stylised) human being in-game - with curvy breasts instead of pointy polygons and a dynamic braid that was a real animation triumph back then and still looks fine - and proper skybox technology as well as dynamic lighting (which allows for new gameplay tricks). The resolution (at least on PC) is significantly higher too. As for the gameplay, it sees some improvements as well: you can now climb ladders, perform mid-air rolls, and roll underwater (a very welcome ability, also in light of the game's extensive underwater sequences). You get new weapons - the grenade launcher is my favourite, and for the first time you can fight underwater too thanks to the harpoon gun - and the advent of dynamic lighting leads to the appearance of completely dark passages which require flares to navigate. Also, the game introduces vehicles (not just in cinematics!) which Lara must use in order to pass certain specific segments: the motorboat and snowmobile. In line with this, some environments are more open than previously and are more varied than in the first game: besides the traditional raiding of tombs and massive underground catacombs, actual outdoors can provide wondrous views and brighter vistas than before, there are urban and tech environments and a significant part of the game takes place underwater, while the still limited draw distance again participates in thickening the atmosphere of the levels. I should point out that the tutorial level exemplifies these improvements and Croft Manor now feels like an actual place. The game's first mission is truly iconic as well: from the level's beautiful composition mixing natural and man-made environments to its amazing sequence of deadly traps which provides a great rhythm to the start of the adventure, the Great Wall is better than any of the levels from Tomb Raider, has one of the best secrets ever in the franchise and generally is one of the best first levels of any game of that era. And suitably, Tomb Raider II benefits from a climax that provided what was at the time the best level of the franchise (a pure Tomb Raider experience), and instead of stopping there the game actually prolongs the finale in a surprising way and even ends with a double ending. One thing to note is that there is much more action to be had here - with gunfights galore - than in the previous entry, so while the puzzles are on the same level as before, the heavier emphasis on fighting makes this title a harder experience. And the gameplay remains fairly rigid (being tile-based). On a side note, for the first time you don't have to kill everything that moves, and you may benefit from allies (first sign of actual dabbling with artificial intelligence in the series). The soundscape is further enriched in this entry with new sounds and music pieces (incl. the ever awesome and eloquently named "Beauty Unfurled", which perfectly suits a moment of discovery and contemplation). Again, the game manages to be a bit scary at times. The story is OK and is mainly held together by the cinematics (incl. the great intro), which are technically better than previously and still look good today. While the use of Chinese mythology combined with Italian mafia tropes is exciting, the overall plot is slightly inferior to that of the first game, due to the virtual absence of character development (Lara is Lara as previously established, and the main antagonist is cool but one dimensional). Of course, in a game like this the story is as much in the player's journey as it is in the script, and conceptually there's plenty of mystery here to stimulate one's imagination. Unlike in the first game, the story here is more fantasy than sci-fi. Overall, Tomb Raider II stands the test of time well and is somewhere between good and very good. Tomb Raider II: Golden Mask (1999): A better expansion to the base game than Unfinished Business was to Tomb Raider, Golden Mask actually has a bit of a plot (even though it gets thrown out of the window after you accomplish the main objective), its own main menu and plenty of new textures, new skies, new skins for enemies and potential allies alike, and besides the 4 core levels of the adventure, there is a secret 5th level that can be unlocked by finding all the secrets in the expansion's main campaign - and boy is it worth it! Very tough, but excellent all around by the base game's standards. Tomb Raider III (1998): A massive game, and the hardest of the trilogy. It takes a good hard look at what the two previous entries did, and pushes the format further: - 1) Gameplay improvements: - you can now duck, crawl, sprint and traverse hand-over-hand monkey-bar style, bringing the overall gameplay to a rather advanced stage of complexity; - new vehicles and more types than before; - new weapons (the rocket launcher is my favourite); - some non-linear levels (which can be huge); - better action sequences. 2) Graphical improvements: - coloured lighting; - particle effects instead of sprites (smoke, fire, explosions, etc.); - weather effects (rain, snow falls...); - triangular polygons leading to more complex level geometry (and allowing for rippling water features); all in all, at its best the game still looks somewhere between good and very good (and closer to very good, it notably impresses with a few actually convincing jungle scenes). 3) New adventure format allows players to choose where to go first on the world map: this acknowledges the very "episodic" style of Lara Croft's adventures and gives players extra agency. The first part and last part of the campaign remain fixed. Cinematics again drive the story (the CGI ones still look good, with animations slightly improved over those from Tomb Raider II). The overall story might not be as focused as the one in Tomb Raider, but it is richer in subplots and more varied, again participating in this sense of embarking on an epic journey. Unlike in Tomb Raider II, the story here is more sci-fi than fantasy (just like in the first game). The game is not even just imitating Indiana Jones now, but also James Bond and... among other things, it takes inspiration from a famous horror movie at one point. It will be scary! 4) New music and sounds (on top of inheriting what came before): despite having more variety, the game in this respect isn't better than Tomb Raider II (but not worse either), due to the occasional random use of its playlist (which can be immersion breaking) which doesn't show as much care as before in this department. At the end of the day, Tomb Raider III manages to raise the bar even higher, with its best levels definitely surpassing the best that came before them, and is still a very good game today. Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact (2000): This is the one expansion in the trilogy that I'd argue is indispensable for completing the base game's experience. The Lost Artefact is actually a mini-sequel composed of 6 new levels, and while it is only slightly more story driven than Golden Mask, it manages to be far more coherent. As usual, all the levels are great by Tomb Raider III standards, but its best level is the first one and it actually is on a par with the best level from the base game! Taking place in Scotland, the level features great design and architecture, plenty of new textures, new skins, a beautiful new sky and even a new 3D model for what is the best secret in the Tomb Raider series along with the one in the Great Wall. Really fantastic stuff. The ending is great if absurd. Thanks for reading! :)
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