Tomb Raider I II III Remastered

[+Cafeman]

I waited until after the first patch before buying this for my PS4. I've played these all in the past, on Playstation.  So,  I played through Tomb Raider and beat it in about 13 hours. It was really cool to switch between the 90s pixelated graphics and the remastered 60FPS visuals.  The retro style looks pretty rough and framey at times depending on the camera and scene, but almost always brighter.  It plays exactly as I remember it.  I had forgotten many of the rooms and puzzles;  some were much more complicated than I remembered, others I tackled more quickly than I expected. The new textures in Atlantis really drive home the feeling of being in a hellish womb for those mutant creatures. Ech!  I laughed to myself, after playing in the bleak and suspenseful environments the other night, I felt a twinge of fear as I walked up the stairs in the dark at 2AM, like I had an urge to look behind me.  The game's mood had affected me.  

 

The OG game Tomb Raider holds up quite well IMO.  What a great team effort, and it is just the right length, not excessively too long.  With this remaster, I could see myself replaying TR1 every year or so. 

 

Here is the real reason driving me to post a thread:  After completing TR, I anxiously began a new game of Unfinished Business, extra levels I had heard of, but never got to try.  Well, the 2 Atlantean levels are CRAP. They seem like a sadistic modder hacked these levels together, with none of the fun of OG Tomb Raider as you guide Lara through the stupidest designs, unclear objectives and most obtuse paths and jumps ever.  Around every corner await multiple mutants which will attack every few steps.   If you want more challenge, it's here.  Even so, because of the easy save system, it didn't take too long to beat the 2 Atlantean levels.  Now I am just starting the Egyptian bonus levels which already seem much better designed and rewarding.  Lara revisits levels from the OG game,  but they are flooded now, totally changing how you tackle each room. 

 

[Video]

I liked tombraider bitd, but as time progressed the "tank controls" and uber slowness of it really kills it for me. This, and resident evil. Even today I get the concept, its great on these games, but why stick to the horrible controls?

[Punisher5.0]

I finished the first game (and Unfinished Business) a few weeks ago and had a blast. It was nice to finally beat another childhood game. This was before the patch to fix the camera and controls. I'm now working on the second one with the updates and its so much better. 

[+Cafeman]

I completed Unfinished Business tonight - Temple of the Cat.  It's also temple of mummies, gators, and panthers. I noticed there is a sky box even in the OG graphics mode, unlike Tomb Raider which just had black as the distant background.  

 

I started Tomb Raider 2 next, I played through The Great Wall (its not very long) and a wee bit of Venice.  Swam around, drove 2 boats, got shot.  The thing is, I am really not looking forward to the ocean floor shipwreck parts, those dragged on too long, I felt. 

 

I also learned there is a photo mode if you click L3 + R3.  This doesn't really interest me much.  I experimented with a dead T-Rex in The Great Wall, but the photo was nothing great. You can use photo mode to look around your current stage, zooming way out and moving the camera around. I will try to avoid this temptation as I play. 

[+Cafeman]

I finally finished Venice just now.  Bartoldi's Hideout and the Opera House.  Even though I've played through this before, the Opera House was once again difficult to figure out. The new visuals and lighting are nice and do help though. Nice textures.   I thought I had soft locked my game at the final room, with 2 tough thugs and 2 Dobermans.  I got there with no health packs, so I tried 15 or 20 times to find a way to kill them all before their sniper shots did me in. It wasn't going well, then I realized I had unused gas grenades. Those quickly took care of the dogs and the thugs, who dropped ammo and a health pack. I hit the switch, exited and jumped onto the sea plane to start the next level, Offshore Rig. 

 

 I noticed in these levels, there were one or two doors that opened just by walking up to them. This was different from the usual rules of the game, which usually require a switch or key.  Also, somehow I beat the watery Venice part without having to drive the boat up a ramp and smash through to the other side, a fondly remembered sequence.  I thought that part was mandatory, but evidently not.  

[+Cafeman]

I got through Offshore Rig and Diving Area levels, more complex than I remembered, lots of back and forth running and hitting switches and opening doors, sprinkled with some gunfights. Don’t let the flamethrowers burn you or Lara will burn up entirely.  I resorted to a guide for parts of these stages to speed things along.  
 

of all the parts of the game so far, I found that I had very little memory of these challenges. I do make it a practice to not save after everything I do, replaying a few jumps or rooms helps me to remember where I am in level and doesn’t take long to retry if necessary. 
 

in the offshore rig part, you initially need to get into the floating sea plane to get your pistols. There is a switch to open a hatch underneath it to enter, but I didn’t find it at first and found a way to jump and enter through the top of the airplane. I thought that was good design, it made the level a bit less linear.

 

Now I am on the 40 fathoms level.  Even though a real adventurer would be stupid to reach the ocean floor without any oxygen, I still really like playing this sequence with lack of oxygen, swimming blindly, and avoiding great white sharks.  I remember feeling claustrophobic playing through this part on the old PlayStation.

[+Cafeman]

Lara has made it to Tibet. Snowmobiles and snow leopards. 
 

I got fed up a couple times in the Maria Dora, Living Quarters, and The Deck sunken ship levels, so I read tips at Stella’s TR walkthrough site. 
 

I keep wondering how I figured out some of these puzzles back in the day, especially with low res and dark lighting requiring flares of the PSX era.  It’s a bit too much for my time limits now.  

[+Zeptari]

Ahhh TR2! I loved this game. One of the few PS1 games I beat back in the day. I was hoping this would get a physical release once all the patches and bug fixes happen. 

[Punisher5.0]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:32 PM, Cafeman said:

Now I am on the 40 fathoms level.  Even though a real adventurer would be stupid to reach the ocean floor without any oxygen, I still really like playing this sequence with lack of oxygen, swimming blindly, and avoiding great white sharks.  I remember feeling claustrophobic playing through this part on the old PlayStation.

 

I finally finished this level tonight. I enjoyed it but man was it crazy long. It felt so refreshing to get to Tibet!

[+Cafeman]

I finished Tibet over the weekend. Monks, Ice Palace, Yetis. I remembered one part clearly, in a dark giant room with cages of Yeti, but some of this I didn’t remember at all. I started to wonder if I level skipped some of it, bitd.  
 

I started the Xian Temple stages last night, Lara is back at the Great Wall, and I didn’t remember much here either until I ran into some giant spiders, I did have a vague recollection of that.  It’s lengthy and complicated and good thing you can save anywhere, because there are traps galore. 

[+Cafeman]

This week I played through Xian Temple, Floating Islands, and finally finished Dragon's Lair and Epilogue last night. I was reminded and a bit impressed at the level design and how the paths wrap around each other, getting the most mileage from each room and location.   I had over 30 gas grenades saved for the final level, so I defeated the animated stone soldiers and the dragon pretty quickly.  The soldiers did kill Lara several times as I tried, I'd get stuck in a corner and get impaled on their 2 pole swords.  I had forgotten that you also have to quickly remove the dagger from the Dragon's chest to defeat it, or it heals. 

 

So, I beat Tomb Raider 2, this is likely only the 2nd time I played through the entire lengthy game. On the one hand, Core Eidos gave gamers their money's worth of game play. On the other hand, TR2 levels wear out their welcome several times, some are too long and tedious in my opinion.  But since you can save anywhere and multiple save files, it is more manageable and fair than with TR1's original Save Crystal idea.  The Remaster graphics were quite nice, especially the fire rooms stood out.   I rarely activated the OG uglier visuals for long. 

 

Next up is the TR2 Gold game. I started level 1,  The Cold War, it starts with Lara in arctic water grabbing sunken harpoon ammo to kill a shark. 

[+Cafeman]

I finished the Remaster version of TR2 The Golden Mask, the 1999 expansion.  There are 4 levels taking place in Alaska , on a Bering Sea island.  Evidently there is a 5th unlockable Las Vegas level, but I didn't unlock it.  Anyway, this was a pretty fun expansion, not too hard or unfair, with a mix of new sights and some recycled enemies and some new room puzzles.  Ice platforming, zip lines,  Russian mines, the Furnace of the Gods level with molten golden rivers and waterfalls, and the 4th is called Kingdom featuring treetops and sasquatch.  There is a final guardian who is a giant yeti creature, very very strong and fast. I reloaded and beat him several times. 

 

The toughest section for me occurred in the maze-like rooms of the mines. Lara must defeat 2 machine gun snowmobile riders, in very dark rooms, and there didn't seem to be a safe place to stand so I played cat and mouse over and over until they were finally dead. 

 

Unfortunately, there isn't  much of an understandable plot - just get to the end with the Golden Mask, I guess.  But then it appears Lara uses this mask to awaken the guardian, so did she actually keep it? The game abruptly ends once you kill the final guardian.  Perhaps more clarity comes with the hidden Las Vegas level? 

 

My ratings of playing these remastered games, so far.  The improved graphics and ability to save anytime improve the experience over the OG games. 

 

TR1 9/10 (there is a reason it was so popular, the original game is a masterpiece for its time).

Unfinished Business 5/10 (something to play but not especially rewarding).

TR2 8/10 (a great sequel but often too long and tedious).

The Golden Mask. 7/10 (well constructed levels and a good expansion, but no story to invest you). 

[+Cafeman]

I must be a glutton for punishment, because I started Tomb Raider 3.  So far I finished the first 3 (of 4) India levels.  I got stuck 2 or 3 times so referenced Stella's TR guide.  Some of the switches, buttons, and even movable blocks are difficult to spot.  One puzzle would have wasted a lot of time without the guide, you push a block about 4 times forward and enter a chamber with a double rolling boulders trap.  The thing is, if you don't notice  you passed other pushable blocks, which eventually reveal a room-water-filling switch, you can go round and round trying to to figure out what to do. I found I was more annoyed by these India levels than anything I've played so far.  At least Lara gets to battle a few 6-armed sword bearing statues. But mostly you kill giant snakes and little monkeys, ho hum. I don't like the additional mechanism of Lara getting poisoned by snakes or darts, which means you need to waste a medpack.  The devs also added Lara's crouch and crawl, and the speed dash.  I didn't know about the speed dash until I checked  the guide, and you need to use it to get past spike wall challenges.  There is a gruesome scene showing the fate of 2 earlier explorers. The game does not explain how they got into the death positions in which Lara finds them. 

 

I am the least familiar with this game, compared to the first  2.  I know I did not beat TR3 ever, I probably grew tired of it and gave up. But it is cool to revisit it finally after all these years, with the remastered visuals. 

[+Cafeman]

After India, the game allows you to choose one of three other locales. I chose Nevada, and I have to admit I have enjoyed this more unique and fresh feeling TR experience and especially the outdoor visuals. Here Lara is in a desert with rocky cliffs following a river to a dam, with a top secret base inside the mountain. I think it is supposed to be Area 51.  For the 2nd level, she gets arrested so you have no guns and you must free prisoner tough guys to help get past the MPs. 
 

the remastered visuals made a certain ladder texture dark and hard to see, so I was stumped for a while running around in circles. A couple of times a stealth jet booms past Lara in the low overhead sky, I jumped at that every time.  But mostly the sound is a lot quieter than in the first 2 games on this collection, especially the dialog in cut scenes. 
 

 

[+Cafeman]

The 3rd Nevada stage is indeed Area 51, I learned today. I finished it and save at beginning of London.  

 

 Area 51 (Nevada) had some obscure areas, for me. The thing about this levels plot that I don't understand, Lara launches a huge missile in order to make progress. Erm ... what did she blow up?  Also, I thought I'd battle an alien but that never happened.  Lara did slaughter the government's  MP soldiers however.  I know it's just a fantasy game but at this point isn't Lara kind of an evil terrorist? 

 

Well, on to London. 

[+Cafeman]

I’m now on the second level of London. The first is Thames Wharf.  I like the redone graphics with the dark London city, and I had fun trying to figure out many of the level puzzles to find paths across building tops and filling cavernous water tanks, but I had to use Stella‘s TR guide a few times.  
 

But on the second level Auldwich Station, I realized that I would never beat this level without a guide.  Mind you, The new graphics have been brightened significantly compared to the OG graphics, which are often way too dark.  I’d have used up all my flares.  
 

This stage doesn’t give enough clues for where you should go next in it’s labyrinth mazes. For example, the part with a huge drill descending down a shaft as Lara does her slides, grabs and jumps to reach the bottom before getting drilled.  This part is pretty thrilling and because you can save before the sequence, it’s fair. But after you’ve completed this part, you eventually find a switch as you work your way back up and it shows you a trap door in the ceiling opening. This telegraphs that you should next go through that trap door once you’ve refound that room. However, what you are intended to do is loop around to where the drill room a second time, which you can now stand on its top and reach a Solomon key. Then you go to the trap door. It would have taken me much trial and error running around blindly before I realized this on my own. 
 

Another thing I noticed about TR3 is that there are many switches which do not explicitly show you what they are doing.   Every now and then a switch will show you the door or room, or give you some other indication like the sound of rushing waters, but this is not a consistent or guaranteed thing.  I’ve wondered if it’s a glitch or was intended to be this way.
 

 

[+Cafeman]

Cafeman Jr tried a bit of Tomb Raider 1 tonight, first he ever played it. I suggested he save deep in stage 2, but the first option is Load Game which he instinctively picked, wiping out his progress. He was then done with Tomb Raider. 

 

I watched Critical Drinker do the same thing on any earlier stream of TR1.  What a dumb menu choice. 

[+Cafeman]

Myself, I'm in the 3rd London Stage Lud's Gate.   An interesting bit of plot has popped up, with a mysterious boss woman working on immortality solution, and some ex-test subjects of her underground in the subway.  Lara needs to steal an Egyptian thing for the underground dude to gain his help, exploring the museum above and slaughtering security guards.  I imagine they are all Carl from Family Matters.  

[+Cafeman]

From what I've read and watched, the London levels are commonly viewed as the worst of all 3 TR games, and I can see why.   Dark, long, confusing, and more work than fun.  However, the levels are very much brightened in the Remaster, making the stages more palatable. I can't believe how excessive the darkness and shadows were with the Playstation graphics.  Lud's Gate has a sphinx in its Museum section, but it is more of a "hey! Remember this?" addition than something meaningful, its just another room in a sequence which is not all that fun or special.   Then there is a dark flooded section, back and forth with a submersible craft, to open doors and gates and finally reach a boiler room.  Thankfully using the guide,  using camera mode to scout around, and saving frequently made it not too bad for me.  

 

Then you get the shortest stage, called The City, an admittedly fun boss battle and level scaling sequence against Sophia Leigh, who shoots at Lara with her power scepter.  I played this part a few times because it was brief and was so much more enjoyable than the rest of London. 

 

Now I'm at South Seas and the Coastal Village stage, which has beautiful water, fishes, and sky. In the past I always journeyed here first, so I do recall some of it.  It appears there are 2 paths you can take to the village.  I chose the path with 3 Serpent Stones, and I belive years back I only knew the Smugglers Hut path.  

[+Cafeman]

I stopped playing for a while, I have finished the South Seas with its massive amounts of raptors and the T-Rex nest scene. So far, South Seas levels, and the first Nevada desert level, have been my favorites.  

 

I'm in the 2nd Antarctica stage now, RX Mines.  The first stage was nice, with wintry snow and ice and freezing water that doesn't instantly kill Lara but does activate a cold endurance bar, she can't last long in that water.  In the mines, there are some jump scares and mutated scientists, Lara even called one Brundlefly LOL.  I stopped at the 3 mine carts part which was annoying me. TR3 has a lot of content and I realized I had only skimmed the surface years ago.  Again I'll say that the Remastered version (and a guide to refer to when necessary) makes the game much more sufferable by allowing infinite saves and explore-the-level photo mode.  

[+Cafeman]

I have finished Tomb Raider 3, for the first time.  The game is massive and often is too annoying/ difficult to figure out, for me. That was part of the allure of the series back in the 90s, trying to figure out the room puzzles in ancient tombs. But here, its too much and there keeps being more and more;  if not for using a guide, I'd have tired of the game long ago. 

 

After solving earth, water, fire, air challenges to get masks, I got to fight the final mutated alien spider boss at the end of the 3 Antarctica levels.  The desert eagle gun puts him down pretty fast as he follows Lara, then before he recovers, Lara must sprint down 1 of 4 corridors to take each artifact that is powering him, and not slipping into lava.  It took me about 15 tries before I beat him.  Then it still isn't over, you have to climb out of there and steal a chopper. 

 

There is 1 more thing for me to try, the TR3 expansion called The Lost Artifact.  It appears Lara returns to the castle of the mutated villain Willard, in Scotland.  So, some continuity which I appreciate.   

 

I'd rate TR1 9/10,  TR2 8/10, TR3 7/10.    TR3's devs gave us a lot of content and new moves like sprinting, monkey bars hanging, and crouching - all good for variety,  but I sometimes forgot that hanging was possible and it's frequently incorporated into the puzzles.  But TR3 was more tiresome than the other two , to me. TR3 Antarctica has constantly-spawning annoying giant green wasps, the worst enemy of all 3 games.   It takes too many shots to bring one down, and more are always coming.  Anyway, TR3 did do a good job of stressing me, I rarely felt safe as I explored, and I felt the suspense. It wasn't exactly boring, but it was sometimes tedious. 

 

Despite my complaints, I've enjoyed the Remaster, it is a fine job of showing respect and care for the OG games yet giving us modern sheen and handy options. 

[Punisher5.0]

On 4/20/2024 at 8:56 AM, Cafeman said:

This week I played through Xian Temple, Floating Islands, and finally finished Dragon's Lair and Epilogue last night. I was reminded and a bit impressed at the level design and how the paths wrap around each other, getting the most mileage from each room and location.   I had over 30 gas grenades saved for the final level, so I defeated the animated stone soldiers and the dragon pretty quickly.  The soldiers did kill Lara several times as I tried, I'd get stuck in a corner and get impaled on their 2 pole swords.  I had forgotten that you also have to quickly remove the dagger from the Dragon's chest to defeat it, or it heals. 

 

So, I beat Tomb Raider 2, this is likely only the 2nd time I played through the entire lengthy game. On the one hand, Core Eidos gave gamers their money's worth of game play. On the other hand, TR2 levels wear out their welcome several times, some are too long and tedious in my opinion.  But since you can save anywhere and multiple save files, it is more manageable and fair than with TR1's original Save Crystal idea.  The Remaster graphics were quite nice, especially the fire rooms stood out.   I rarely activated the OG uglier visuals for long. 

I just finished the second game (still have to do Golden Mask) and I agree with what you said. Its a good game but a little rough around the edges. I thought the new weapons would be cool but found them to be annoying. Like why can you fire the uzis forever (until ammo runs out) but the assault rifle stops. Also thought the harpoon was pretty much useless and the grenade launcher too weak.

[+Cafeman]

I took a break but returned to play Tomb Raider 3 The Lost Artifact. 

 

I got through the Scotland locations of Highland Fling (a castle, and I saw what I believe to be real Nessie and a motorized fake?), or maybe the game is saying that Williard and company are behind the myth. Then to Williards Lair, with spike and boulder traps in a dungeon setting.

 

Then to Shakespeare Cliffs and the English Channel setting  (inside industrial mining,  with atv riding ,  and huge fans and drills - it appears that I missed a large optional pump key section and access to a cool volcanic part, as I found the exit before i could return to that part), then Sleeping with the Fishes (underwater sea caves and scuba divers and mutant fish). 

 

Now I'm at a French Zoo level, It's A Madhouse. There aren't any cinematics showing how Lara gets to each new location, but here I is implied she took a motorized radft from the English Channel Tu nel?   I worked my way around Tigers and Monkeys and Piranha,  now I opened a section called The Aviary.  I  will complete this game soon, I bet. 

 

The Lost Artifact seems to be more like a new TR game than just modded expansions.   It's actually quite well constructed!  In fact much of it is straight forward and fun to work through.  A couple times I just casually followed the paths without much thought,  wondering if I missed something, but to my surprise I completed the section without any needed brain stumping obscure parts and backtracking. 

[+Cafeman]

I finished tomb raider 3 The Lost Artifact.  “It’s a Madhouse” was an interesting and not too difficult stage, I know I missed a few secrets here.
Then onto the final stage, called Reunion,  both these levels have creepy sci-fi horror elements which are typical of tomb raider since the first game.
 

The final boss battle against Sophia was also not difficult but initially seems like it will be, and it was fun enough that I saved early and replayed the battle. I enjoyed shooting rockets across the chasm at Sophia Leigh once I got high enough in her cave.  

I need to search for some explanations of exactly what happened and why, though, in this expansion. This is probably my last post as I finished the game and it was well worth the 30 bucks I paid for it.

 

[Punisher5.0]

Ive been playing the 3rd game on and off for like 3 weeks now. Its definitely the hardest and most glitchy of the trio. I've gotten stuck to the ground and couldn't move many times. Also have gone straight through the floor a couple times.

 

Been stuck on that stage that has the crashed plane in the jungle for a while now. The pixel perfect jumps are getting to me but I still want to finish it. Just think it will be played in between other games at this point.