When the original Tomb Raider released, my friend and I didn’t have a memory card. We couldn’t save our progress, so we would restart from the beginning every day. We got so good at the first 2-8hrs of the game.
I feel that haha. Didn't do this with TR, we had a Sega Genesis and no memory card, we'd play Sonic 2 this way. We'd have to like schedule the day to make sure we had time to finish it.
Haha I remember those days. Did the same thing with the original Resident Evil. Remember one Saturday playing for about four hours, getting killed and then it was game over. No checkpoints of course!
The ability to flip back and forth between the original visuals and the remastered visuals is a nice addition that I wish more of these remasters would do.
It started with Halo CE anniversary, and then when halo 2 received the same treatment for Halo MCC, they did it again. Then there have been a few other remasters that did this. The monkey island remasters, duke Nukem, grim fandango...
I’m the weirdo who’s nostalgic for the jittery look of ps1 era. Great video never thought I’d be interested in this collection but the way you spoke about the old game design when it comes to platform jumping and exploration made me want to play this.
The sense of isolation is what sold these games for me. I always felt I was actually deep underground or in a tomb somewhere far from civilization. Modern versions just don't get it.
I'm always relieved when games I want to see an analysis of are analyzed by John. You can feel his passion for the medium in every video and he always points out little details that I wouldn't normally think about, but definitely impact the overall experience. Keep up the great work, John.
i adore the newer TR games, i really hope we get another one soon because i played the absolute hell out of Rise and Shadow. Been playing them all since the original on my playstation in 1996.
It’s astounding how this remastered version looks like I remember the original games - it only shows how your brain can fill in the missing details and why most modern games look and feel exactly the same as each other. I miss the old times in gaming so much.
To be fair, while the original graphics are as dated as they appear to be, they still look worse than they did back then because they aren't on a CRT which the original graphics were designed for. Tends to look even more pixelated on modern screens as well as missing some of the depth and details that were produced by the way CRTs worked and which the artists of the time took advantage of.
Tomb Raider 1 was indeed the reason why I bought a PS1 in 1996 back in the days, when I was 16! I was too poor to even afford a memory card, so I used to play non-stop without being able to save. We experienced frequent power outages, which meant I had to restart the game all over again. Those were truly the best days of my childhood! 😊🎮
I was gonna say you could have used the level skip/select cheat instead of saves, but in 1996 you maybe didn't have internet to look those up lol. I know I didn't, I used to just keep paper notes with all the cheats written down on them.
hahaha I did not even recall that was a thing for Tomb Raider :) ! Yes I use to buy some GamesMaster magasines with cheat codes in them! Those were the best for Mortal Kombat moves and fatalities for the Genesis HAHAH :P @@yewtewbstew547
I had the same experience but in the PS2 era, which i don't had money to afford a memory card, So i played San Andreas and others game non-stop every day. Good old days forever in my memory
@@danielposey0620 dude, they couldn't even add a playable framerate to the OG versions in 2024. Steam versions modded are still the definitive versions.
The main menu music slap me 25 years back. This was an era of wonders filled with powerful runes such as 3DFX, Trinitron, MMX printed only on the most costly builds.
@@TheT0nedude Lucky guy, i would have kill back then for a Sli config. I was rocking a Cyrix 6x86MX around 233Mhz with an S3Virge trying to get TR2 over 20FPS. Then i managed to find a Voodoo1 paired with a matrox mystique :D, good time.
I had the 3dfx Voodoo1 in 1996 when this came out. Quake the TR were THE games at the time and I loved Quake for multiplayer but the story, lore and look of TR was soo wonderful. In 1996 though, having perspective correct, filtered textures are playable framerates at home was something to behold, even at 640x480. I had just bought a new PC with a Pentium 200 in 1996 (with MMX 😁) and it was about $2700 or so. I was doing software testing at the time, so my income wasn't great but I was starting to learn more programming so convinced myself it was needed. What really blows my mind is Sega's Daytona USA with their Model 2 board came out in freaking 1993, ran at 60fps and was like magic.
@@RARufus you sir are close to my heart as i was astounded by TR1, a used 24" CRT monitor & a Voodoo 3dfx card...when all that happened in spring of 97'...Quake was also a lotta fun too
First played Tomb Raider when I got my PlayStation for Christmas in 1997 and it was a hell of a great time! Ended up getting II and III afterwards and had many great memories! So excited to revisit them with this remastered collection!
It's better with the remastered version because you can save anywhere. Payback time for those cyclops I guess. I only saw them once in all my gaming. These games are a challenge
I remember getting this game on the PS1 just after its release. I couldn’t afford to buy it alone, being just a simple paperboy. But my pal, also a paperboy, went halves with me. We were blown away with the game.
Great memories, im from Turkey and when i was child there was only a few stores that sell psx games in our town and buying even one was really challenging. But that hardship made amazing friendships towards those games. I remember we were just talking about a game for hours. Swapping games, borrowing games and sharing our passion for them was unprecedented experience for us back in the days. Now i got thousands of games in my library but unfortunately i'm all alone. :)
Well Metal gear was just a re-release of the already remastered HD collection but I actually think both could have been much better. I wish the Devs of tomb raider remastered collection could have used something like Nvidia remix which would have been a massive improvement alone possibly even being able to call them remake. Ps: but the price of Tomb raider being much lower than MGS, they sure did a good job, however all those remasters still don't look any good for a 2024 release...
I chased the experience of playing Tomb Raider, MGS, Soul Reaver, Tenchu ect on PlayStation One from following generations of hardware and games. I never ever found those feelings and experiences again.
For me it was Warcraft 2, Red Alert 1&2, Myst, System Shock 2, Giants Citizen Kabuto, No One Lives Forever, Crusader No Remorse, No Regret, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Gabriel Knight 2, Star Trek Voyge Elite Force, and Tomb Raider.
Absolutely superb video John. Appreciate the depth, attention to detail and cross-comparisons, as well as your fundamental appreciation of the controls and precision these original games required. This remaster feels like a love letter to the 'Core' fanbase. 😉
Very good Review John! I was 14 years old in 1996 and I played them all back then. While watching your video, I immediately felt transported back to those beautiful times and nostalgia hit hard. I will play this Remaster on PS5 at midnight and enjoy the ride back to the past. ♥
The usual astonishing level of detail and commitment from you John. And I never tire of seeing those side-by-sides of Pentium, Saturn and the PSX - man that's a trip! I'm so pleased we got these remasters. I'm 54, got a load of gaming miles at my back, I want to see a lot more of this done before I finally shuffle off my mortal coil and run down the curtain.
I think the parallax effect on the ladder at 5:37 looks weird because it is inverted by mistake - the stone texture and the drop shadow seem to move in the direction opposite to that which would be required to give the illusion of depth. You see it again at 7:43 - from that angle, the shadow on the right of the texture ought to be on the left.
I would argue that it is more an unfortunate optical illusion created by several factors than an inverted shadow. Look at the ends of the lower rungs and you'll see the shadows are correct. I think its a combination of color contrasts and the position of the light source (which looks like it might be radiating from Laura's upper body, if not face). This is evident by shadows on the higher rungs going the opposite direction. The shadows also get longer the farther they are from the center of the source. Its clearly not lit by a sky light. This is just my 2 cents, though. I do think its an odd artistic decision and see what you mean there. I am also just making assumptions based off the first timestamp, so I could just sound like a fool 😂.
Absolutely, the parallax effect is inverted, making it appear as if the ladder is inside the stone rather than sitting on top of it, very disorienting effect. Like seeing a 3D movie with your glasses on backwards.
Commission: travel back in time, with the OG-graphics. Recall memories, like you are living in the past again. Then wonder, how these next-gen 3D-graphics would look on a next-gen-system somewhere in the future. Then, switch to Remastered-graphics. Tadaa! The past, gives you an insight in the future!
John really knows how to appreciate and spread the word about the best ost of a franchise, the edit for the Gears of War 4 Tech Review using the original Gears 1 soundtrack is still stuck in my mind. I wish the motorcycle sequence in Gears 4 actually had the og ost. And using the Angel of Darkness theme here is perfection.
My dad and I used to play the TR games all the time when I was young, he'd solve puzzles that I couldn't figure out and vice versea, we'd take turns exploring the levels and finding secrets, and just immersing ourselves in the weird story but fun gameplay! Great memories I have playing video games with my father. RIP. I really hope the devs also release Last Revelation because that is my favorite title!
It is real annoying you can't purchase those anymore. Kinda surprised you can still buy the original version of 4. I wish they'd put them on GOG or something. Same with the Silent Hills (before 4)
@@HelFrostKara it's extremely annoying. We need a remaster with 4k60 support on current Gen and last gen as well (Xbox one X and PS4 pro) with updates textures and models just like this. It would be absolutely amazing. Yah strange you can buy RE4 but not the rest.
@@HelFrostKaraYou can still buy OG RE4 because it was available digitally in the first place, the originals were only ever digitally available on PS3 (and probably PSP/vita?) by emulating the PS1 versions. Also, those games weren't full 3D so it's much harder to make something as impressive as this TR remaster, unless they somehow still have the source files. That being said I'd love to have them, even if they're essentially the same as the already existing old PC releases
The challenging navigation and traversal is what made it so immersive to me back in the day, having to pay attention and be precise and the game rewarding you for it. Super glad to hear it can still generate similar feelings. Tomb Raider on the Saturn is one of my top 10 gaming experiences.
Pretty sure they will, specially if this ones sell well and they see the potential. Angel of Darkness tho it deserves a remake and be proper finished... also the other 2 from the trilogy that Angel of Darkness was going to be and got cancelled should be brought to life.
Red Dead Redemption’s remaster turned out great it was only GTA trilogy that RockStar really messed up on, but then they didn’t do the remaster themselves, the inexperienced Grove Street Games did those remasters.
This is such a good remaster. Classic graphics whenever you want, which are actually remastered themselves in as close a way to the original while looking as good as possible; modern graphics mode that focuses on retaining the feel of the original but looks beautiful; modern controls to get the old type out of the way of new/modern players, but with the classic controls available for old players who liked them; facial animations added to in-game cutscenes (this was a big surprise); and one of my favorite options for remasters, the ability to toggle between the classic and modern graphics with a button press (I had so much fun with this in the D2 remaster). I hope more classic games can get this treatment (I'd kill for Doom, MGS1, or Ocarina of Time done this way.)
I had no idea this was coming out, and man it looks good. I love seeing remakes of games from this era that actually try to pay homage to the original instead of rip out as many of the original's quirks and oddities as possible as if embarrassed to show off games that put the series on the map.
Beautiful video. Isn't it wonderful to see these beautiful games remastered. I have just finished all the games and they are so beautiful and very well done. The added levels are outstanding and the trophy collection is brilliant. Tomb Raider has been a wonderful series and its so great to see so much positivity for these games. Lets hope for more remastered games. Steve 👍
I remember playing the first Tomb Raider game from a PC demo CD that came with a magazine. It was amazing. My dad won't let me play it cause I might damage the computer. I think now it's the time to finally complete the dream.
Man, I'm definitely buying this! I remember my cousin and I breaking night playing each one of these games on their releases and we wouldn't stop until we beat each game. So many great memories. He's no longer with us and I miss him dearly. Playing these games again is definitely going to be an emotional experience. But I can't wait!
That opening music sent me back to my childhood and being completely blown away by the original TR adventure. It was something I had never seen in gaming before. The 3D world at the time felt so real, lonely, but ultimately packed with content. The music would kick in at the appropriate times but most of the time the vastness of the areas was your soundtrack and it fully put you in the character as if you were on an adventure. Loved the original trilogy so much. Even the couple follow-ups with Revelation and Chronicles. I wish Eidos would go back to remake/remaster/fix Angel of Darkness. I struggled through that one as a fan but if the controls were fixed, it could really be something.
Brilliant review as always. I'm getting a real urge to jump back into my childhood games again. Tomb Raider 2 was my first PSOne game and I played it so much, I could run through levels blindfolded. But it was also hard as nails. I love how respectful they've been with the upgrade and staying true to the original.
Great review as always, thanks John. Also loved the use of the Lara Croft GO soundtrack in the background! So atmospheric. I'll have to play that again as well, since it's been over 8 years! Thanks for reminding me about it, indirectly :)
Similar to Soul Reaver on PS1, the black or gray 'fog' that was used to mask the low draw distance actually helped the game's atmosphere in Tomb Raider during the 1990s.
Wow, very well done in-depth review! Your knowledge of all the technical details really shines compared to a lot of mainstream reviews who just whine about the game not looking good and the controls feeling clumsy... completely ignoring this is a remaster intended to approximate the original experience. Kudos!!!
Looks like that particular era of videogames from the early 2000s, after the PSX generation but before the widespread use of bump and normal maps. This is an era I love, which is around from 2000 to 2003, with Max Payne 2 being the pinnacle of it. Basically very detailed textures and sometimes even geometry, but no weird post process effects like we saw in the early days of the xbox 360 (case in point Gears of War)
i noticed they don't use bump maps..cool! in a way, the look is softer, like what a 1998 Voodoo 3dfx card would do.i like that as i played late 90's games on a Voodoo
I played tomb raider 1 on Nokia Ngage phone in 2007 and was totally blown away by the game. In that era when there were no walkthroughs on internet I remember getting stuck at few points in game for days together as I was unable to find the way or solve the puzzle. Beautiful game
This was an honest review, taking into account the originals by comparison vs your past experience with them highlights the remaster's strengths that I feel many outlets overlook simply because this 'isn't modern' as if it were supposed to be. Not to say 'you're old' as I'm likely older than you, but you truly get it, which I believe most recent reviews are from people born after ps2 era which is hardly their demographic. I believe majority of any bad reviews out for this are by those expecting a modern take or remake, which honestly Crystal Dynamics has tried a few times with mixed results. You don't mess with a classic. I love that you pulled out 3D0 GFX for this comparison and pointed out even then the classic setting is better overall. I was recently watching some retro comparisons on Saturn/PSX/PC and even Dreamcast and your comparison fits nicely on top showcasing the drastic improvements. The tank controls as you said are part of the challenge and level design and I appreciate how much detail they left alone yet also overhauled, it would have been nice to have SOME graphical settings or maybe RTX option for 'wow' factor but as it is they suit nearly all hardware so it doesn't bother me, hell my 7 year old '940mx gaming laptop' will actually run this perfect so I'm pleased. We can expect more from RTX Remix and mods in near future, hopefully a patch or two from Aspyr as well tweaking simple things as you've critiqued. One review I've seen said it didn't run well on their only copy for Nintendo Switch, which sadly they gave it extremely poor score. I think as you said, modern audiences likely aren't used to this type of challenge or being frustrated at all, as anyone having played retro games knows skill is required for classics. IMO The lack of auto save is really another feature for this challenge, planning is crucial, using your brain shouldn't be hard. If you have autosave and too many checkpoints the challenge and point of health packs nearly lose meaning and becomes too cheaty, I prefer the way they have implemented this as I don't think it was flawed decision. Part of the learning curve was that you'd have to start ALL OVER if you failed, which again caused many to rage quit back then, the sensitivities of modern gamers hopefully learn some coping skills that not everything is easy mode. These old games do train you to be more conscious which I feel is yet another thing lost in modern days. This seems like a homage to the heritage of the Tomb Raider franchise more so than anything Crystal Dynamics has released since. I'm truly looking forward to playing this and plan on purchasing on a few platforms, and if Aspyr continues to remaster these classics I'm very well oblige by purchasing those as well. Overall an excellent showcase, thanks for the coverage. I really look forward to playing this again, I downloaded and installed it while watching. *You mentioned auto-aiming was an issue, I believe you have full manual control using 'tank controls' as with the original. It's good you used keyboard as the first game came out before analog sticks were common so it's optimized for D pad. It's great you recommended classic controls, after all, the training mode at Lara's mansion is there for a reason.
I'm glad that they didn't just increase view distance to infinity and kept a bit of a fog effect in some of the levels. While the black fog was present pretty much purely due to a technical limitation, I feel like in some levels it did have a side effect of adding some atmosphere to exploring, you had to move forward to see what was ahead, you couldn't always see into the next room. It added a little bit of mystery when you were trying to reach an open archway or something but couldn't get a proper good look at what was past it until you got there. It seems like they did go a long way to preserving the atmosphere of the original games, which was my biggest concern and I'm glad it doesn't appear to be just a soulless lazy AI upscale like the GTA "remasters" were.
That Lara Croft Go music you use in the video is so good, that game was really cool and captured the spirit of the original games perfectly. But aside from that, I can't wait to play these remasters! 😊
About TR2 and combat of the original games in general. When against melee foes: either jump on a platform (use platforming: which is the more robust of the systems when compared to combat) and gain an advantage since enemies couldn't follow you to higher ground until TR4, and you can shoot them. They will try to avoid your sight but you can bait them, and some times you don't even have to. And about ranged enemies, which are mostly present in TR2 and TR3, you can jump yes, sometimes it does help, but the best is to ROLL behind them like a fucking Dark Souls enemy, the tracking tends to be slow enough to allow you to minimize damage taken, and if you're fast and precise you can avoid it all. Just run towards them with a slight turn angle so that you don't roll into them, and press the Roll button which on keyboard it's END or UP+DOWN and both are very usable and END for me personally is great to use. What with it being so near the arrow keys.
I’ve yet to play any of the Tomb Raider games (original or reboot), but I might start with this package. The remastered visuals look great to me, though I won’t argue with people who dislike the style.
My then girlfriend, now wife, bought me a PS1 with Tomb Raider a loooooong time ago, so I'm definitely picking this up on Steam Deck. I still remember a snowy scene in London where you can hear an underground train and traffic sounds in the background and thinking, wow, games have come on since I first played Tic-Tac-Toe on the Commodore PET! Cheers for the review!
It's great to see these last great cinematic platformers get the love they deserve with this rerelease. Fantastic work on covering all the nuts&bolts as always, John.
Happy to see that Aspyr did a good job with the remaster and I already bought the Switch version. I love the five classic Tomb Raider games and I replay them regularly on PC. The level designs are generally very good and the few weaker levels are still tolerable. I also think the tank controls made the games age rather well. Back then bad 3D cameras were basically a given and the tank controls + tile based level design enabled precise and predictable platforming without actually needing to see what is in front of Lara.
Great Video.. Tomb Raider is one of my favourite series and I'm definitely willing to play it again after watching this video. Stronghold Definitive Edition/Remaster also releasing today. It would be great if you do a detailed video like this one on Stronghold. Its one of the legends in real time strategy games, the best being Stronghold Crusader 2.
I'm afraid this is not going to be appreciated by the many people who didn't play the originals or who don't know about 90s platformers. On the other hand, me and the other fans of the series are definitely going to love it. They kept the magic intact but somehow managed to make it look and play better. To be played with tank controls. Hopefully 4, 5 and 6 get the same treatment as well.
@@Koozwad there's a huge community of fans that still play the originals. To revisit these on console, in 60 fps, widescreen, new graphics, the trophies and with the expansions is a dream of many. I'm surely gonna play them all.
@@VitaAZeroKelvin In my experience, also checking stuff like average hours played and hours played in for example Steam reviews for remakes/remasters shows that most people don't really even touch the games. Some play a little bit and then stop forever and some put it on their backlog forever. Extremely rarely have I seen people actually replaying games that didn't age well.
I think it's fine, we're the ones with jobs anyway, 'modern audiences' have mom and gram (or chat) footing their bill for most everything, millennials is who this was made for. From what I've heard (unofficially) if this sells well they'll continue to remaster the next in series which I think is amazing, I'll be buying a copy for each platform.
Thank you for your section on "How does it hold up today?" I think you made justice to what a lot of us 90s kids and tank control defenders have been saying all along. Given the fact that you had a somewhat fixed camera, tank controls, and the grid based platforming, it makes it so you have a huge amount over the core of its platforming challenge, accompanied by the smooth animation it gives me like this "like the original Prince of Persia, but 3D" kind of vibe to how it thinks about its interconnectedness and its platforming mechanics. FIxed camera already removes the challenge of having to calculate distances over your current camera angle, since the camera is fixed. When measuring a jump, if the Camera is not behind you you can still count tiles easily as well (Lara's jump has a fixed tile length) most of the time. The only times you do have to think about the camera, you can do what the game expects, walk carefully to the ledge.. measure the gap using your dedicated look around button... maybe spot a ledge below or a treasure...? Maybe if you already know how far your jumps take you, you can avoid taking the risk altogether. The tank controls and grid based platforming work together with the fixed camera. Since you're mostly minding the realtime inputs on the directional buttons, and since both platforms and ledges of the tiles are only 4 cardinal directions the rules around platforming are entirely based on that, and importantly there's few rules around the platforming. - First, align to the grid to jump (press left or right) so that you face where you want to jump or grab. You can't grab backwards without breaking something. - Second: choose which type of jump you need based on the distance, the types of jumps you will require most of the time are decided by forward and back + jump (standing f/b jumps, running jumps, stepback) with the outlier that completely removes the tank controls stigma, sidejumps. - Third. For God's sake don't be a nincompoop, you have to GRAB MANUALLY WHEN YOU NEED TO, YES. Just like if you would, you know, in real life, where you GRAB LEDGES WITH YOUR HANDS just like you can press a DAMN BUTTON, WITH YOUR HANDS. Ooh and if I let go, I fall! Like in real life! For christ sakes, I seriously think the 3D platformer genre has regressed by taking that out of games. There's little stuff around that, that is basically "tech" since you're mostly never required to use any of it outside of custom levels. And basically that's it. The original Resident Evils also did it a lot better than the newer ones, and the original Silent Hills too. And they all had limited control like Tomb Raider or none in the camera, and they all had tank controls, and they all applied it all to suit their individual aims as pieces of media, in unique and marvelous ways that work surpisingly well for their gameplay and framing/storytelling purposes. And thinking about controls relative to the player instead of the camera also forgoes the need to know the basics of modern two stick controllers. For non-gamers, they're easier to get into, since it's less inputs at a time to think about. Tomb Raider somehow manages to be fun even today too. Its exploration, its contemplating and almost captivating OST that often contains some tense bangers during challenges, its surprisingly tight platforming, its evil enemy placement that manages to jump scare anyone, its challenging approach to being a raider, its unapalogetic commitment to inmersion through minimal HUD and little talk. It's imagination capturing environments, which are primitive enough to evoke your brain to fill in the blanks.
I'm sure if modern games added the "feature" of holding trigger buttons to hold onto ledges people would go wild "ITS SO IMMERSIVE" 😜 Overall modern games lost their edge, that's why so many people play retro games/emulators. This is such a nice return to good challenging gaming.
I was just happy to have a new port of these games, but damn they really went above and beyond with this. I thought Nightdive was the only way to go but this is brilliant.
John has a well-tuned appreciation for what made the original Tomb Raider games very special. That they require patience and precision. How they are lonely and atmospheric, mysterious and sometimes scary. At times frustrating and janky, sure. But they stay locked in the depths of your memory despite the flaws.
Linneman is genuinely passionate about retro gaming. Having lived through the years in which these original games were released, he understands the nostalgia as well as the technical details!
One thing I’d like to see improved is the water effects even if they made it more blue, cause currently it’s like Lara is floating in thin air rather than swimming.
Ideally it would need a tiny little bit of wobbly/warping effects, plus a little bit of underwater debris and more intense foggy coloring when underwater. It should be easy-ish to implement in a future patch Basically, if the devs sort of "mixed" the best features from TR1 (saturn), TR4 and OpenLara's water effects, they'd absolutely nail it.
Great video as always. Original Tomb Raider was one of my favorite games of that era and I enjoyed both PlayStation and Saturn versions. It's going to be nice to play it again on PS5.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is yet another :) I get why you can't always do it but for these style of remasters/reskins/etc it's always a super cool feature.
In TR1 I always felt like those black skies were night time or maybe a very high ceiling of a cave. When they changed it to a daylight sky dome (like in the T-Rex area) it changed the mood too much IMO. But apart from that I'm very pleased with this remaster.
They had already stated that it was simply a technical limitation that they couldn't sort out in time, it wasn't until TR2 that we'd see proper skyboxes. Aside from the lost valley, you'd also see the mysterious black fog that follows the camera (even if you turn in place slightly) in areas like the coliseum
@@unsavourylittlerunt indeed I've heard that in documentaries of first game. But in the end those technical limitations are important enough to greatly influence the lighting and mood of the final game. I wish the priority in that case was to keep the mood of the original and not to reproduce what the developers wished they could do without the limitations they had. But that's just nitpicking anyways. The job is very well done in those remasters and I'm very glad they were made.
@@vollkerball1 Yes unfortunately not yet.... I pre-ordered the Switch version at a big gaming store in Greece but they send me a text message saying that the preorder been cancelled. But there's a strong possibility that they might release something in the future
@@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomerI'm not sure what you mean - it was the default controls on PC. You moved with the arrow keys, jump was Alt, action Ctrl, walk Shift, holster Space, roll End etc.
Dark Souls and Elden Ring do what John said was possibly un-doable today: modern detailed graphics where you're lost and don't know and can't see the path forward, you walk past an open hole that you didn't notice, you methodically slowly search an environment for shapes and openings. Especially with Elden Ring's addition of a normal jump move. The videos of Tomb Raider reminded me of Souls and Elden Ring.
@@Neb_RaskaAre you maybe thinking about Legend? It has two bike sections, but there's also underworld which uses a bike sometimes and you can get off it at will
@@unsavourylittlerunt Maybe, it's been a while since I've played Legends, Angel of Darkness and Underworld. I do remember a bike section where you get shot at being extra difficult.
Honestly, it might be a tall order, but I would want some original Core members brought on and asked "What did you want out of AoD?" and remake the game as they originally intended. It has so much potential but the issues and cut content really hold it back, which is a real shame.
Aahhh, 3dfx Voodoo card... that brings back memories. Games like Tomb Raider, Shadowman and Nocturne were on my old PC back in 1999. Can't believe the progress of technology. Just been playing Arkham Knight on the Deck OLED... 🤯
@MrZootalores Yep, it was a great game with loads of atmosphere. Controls were a bit janky, but I still loved playing it. Hope John and DF consider doing a retro review of it sometime.
@@simonh5004 Me too, even at the time I remember Tomb Raider looking like a mess, it was a unique looking mess because feel games had that specific atmosphere, but it was still a mess of blurry warped textures.
I thought the same, but I worry that levels might be difficult to understand on the small screen. Then again, they ported the first Tomb Raider to PDAs and even the N-Gage with far smaller displays, so perhaps I'm worrying too much.
@@no1DdC well those were played originally in low res where we saw more pixels than geometry and it was fine so, I don't think high res and smaller screen will be worse.
@@MrPod True, but I first played these at 1600x1200 in 2001/2002 and was still extremely confused by the level design. Must have been an absolute nightmare at 320x240 in software mode.
Lara Croft Go music playing in the background is just beautiful. That game absolutely nailed the feeling of isolation and dread that the old games have is spades.
I know some people would probably call these remasters lazy, but there's something weirdly charming about the super high res textures on the old geometry.
Why would anyone call them lazy? They literally did what they set out to do and even included over 200 trophies and the ability to swap visuals instantly.
I really hope this sells well enough to warrant both a physical release as well as the same treatment to 4 and 5 to finish off the PS1 Core Design Era! Shame about the lack of PS5 platinum trophy though.
I only ever played the classic TR games with a K & M. Sold my Megadrive in the local paper so I could afford Tomb Raider III's big box release back in the day. Cannot wait to revisit these games.
Honestly i wish they'd let aspire make more classic tomb raider games. Hoping this sells well and we get more, maybe even some original adventures in this engine
Dang it, got a couple labels wrong. Wish we could upload a new version in place. At least it’s extremely obvious! Sorry about that. 😢
john like df retro content. can you cover my favorite game terminal reality Nocturne from 99. it look better than ray tracing games still.
haha noticed it, but still a great video nonetheless!
Can't you do one of those TH-cam annotations? or leave a pinned comment? or add it in the description?
🙈 😂
@@LN.2233 I thought they killed annotations
When the original Tomb Raider released, my friend and I didn’t have a memory card. We couldn’t save our progress, so we would restart from the beginning every day. We got so good at the first 2-8hrs of the game.
Literally me with Tomb Raider 2, or every game I used to play on PS1 back in the day lmao
I feel that haha. Didn't do this with TR, we had a Sega Genesis and no memory card, we'd play Sonic 2 this way. We'd have to like schedule the day to make sure we had time to finish it.
@@inthenebula92 Sega Genesis didn't have a memory card
Basically rogue-like then
Haha I remember those days. Did the same thing with the original Resident Evil. Remember one Saturday playing for about four hours, getting killed and then it was game over. No checkpoints of course!
4:10 Original and Remastered graphics seem to be swapped.
Yeah, paused the video to report this too. It's unfortunate. Maybe he will reupload it?
Came here to report the same. It happens at least twice in a row.
@@internetavenger I mean it's just the roman numeral for 1, it's not confusing imo.
Unless you understand roman numerals @@internetavenger
@@internetavengerthat says more about you than about the Roman numeral for ‘one’.
The ability to flip back and forth between the original visuals and the remastered visuals is a nice addition that I wish more of these remasters would do.
Reminds me of the Halo MCC, it’s pretty cool to at the very least see how these games used to look like in these kind of remakes
It started with Halo CE anniversary, and then when halo 2 received the same treatment for Halo MCC, they did it again. Then there have been a few other remasters that did this. The monkey island remasters, duke Nukem, grim fandango...
Its only possible if the remaster uses the original source code, like how this does
Upcoming Braid supports it too, and 2 Monkey Island games supports it.
@@Pedro_The_Neco when did they remaster Duke Nukem ?!??
“We dive into the world of Tomb Raider” follow by an ingame dive. That’s cinema!
I was almost expecting a backhop at 17:34 to go with it
Kino stuff.
Digital Foundry is cinema
DF videos tend to have great artistic flourishes like that.
I’m the weirdo who’s nostalgic for the jittery look of ps1 era. Great video never thought I’d be interested in this collection but the way you spoke about the old game design when it comes to platform jumping and exploration made me want to play this.
Often the puzzle is the platforming itself (and remembering to manually save)
The Old graphics has better lighting than the new graphics but I agree. Nostalgia all the way that's why I play with the OG graphics.
The sense of isolation is what sold these games for me. I always felt I was actually deep underground or in a tomb somewhere far from civilization. Modern versions just don't get it.
I'm always relieved when games I want to see an analysis of are analyzed by John. You can feel his passion for the medium in every video and he always points out little details that I wouldn't normally think about, but definitely impact the overall experience. Keep up the great work, John.
theyr all great, except richard who i have to skip thru.
B O A S T
these hacks have terrible verbiage and writing. you are falling for smoke and mirrors from people who dont know what theyre talking about
Holy Cr*p - it's been 6 years since the last Tomb Raider? That's wild. Hard to believe we haven't seen an Uncharted title either in that span.
At least we'll have the new Indiana Jones game soon
Holy 🅱️rap
i adore the newer TR games, i really hope we get another one soon because i played the absolute hell out of Rise and Shadow. Been playing them all since the original on my playstation in 1996.
Crystal Dynamics is working on a new Tomb Raider game in Unreal Engine 5, so I’ll be curious how that turns out.
It's actually been 16 years since the last tomb raider that was worthy of its name 👀
It’s astounding how this remastered version looks like I remember the original games - it only shows how your brain can fill in the missing details and why most modern games look and feel exactly the same as each other. I miss the old times in gaming so much.
What? lol the original tomb raiders were hot garbage even when they came out
@@drunkhusband6257 no
The dinosaur in the PlayStation Demo disc was photo-realistic. I swear.
@@drunkhusband6257this would explain their lack of success. 😂
To be fair, while the original graphics are as dated as they appear to be, they still look worse than they did back then because they aren't on a CRT which the original graphics were designed for.
Tends to look even more pixelated on modern screens as well as missing some of the depth and details that were produced by the way CRTs worked and which the artists of the time took advantage of.
Tomb Raider 1 was indeed the reason why I bought a PS1 in 1996 back in the days, when I was 16! I was too poor to even afford a memory card, so I used to play non-stop without being able to save. We experienced frequent power outages, which meant I had to restart the game all over again. Those were truly the best days of my childhood! 😊🎮
I was gonna say you could have used the level skip/select cheat instead of saves, but in 1996 you maybe didn't have internet to look those up lol. I know I didn't, I used to just keep paper notes with all the cheats written down on them.
hahaha I did not even recall that was a thing for Tomb Raider :) ! Yes I use to buy some GamesMaster magasines with cheat codes in them! Those were the best for Mortal Kombat moves and fatalities for the Genesis HAHAH :P @@yewtewbstew547
I had the same experience but in the PS2 era, which i don't had money to afford a memory card, So i played San Andreas and others game non-stop every day. Good old days forever in my memory
That's actually amazing. Kudos to you if you ever actually managed to beat it.
@@86BuzzSaw I did actually :)
11:26 Tomb Raider Classic Mode looks like Tomb Raider PS1 Emulated and enhanced to 4K, Disabled Dithering, and removal of banding. Love it, Great Job!
Too bad they couldn’t add in the Saturn version’s cool little water refraction effect.
@@danielposey0620 dude, they couldn't even add a playable framerate to the OG versions in 2024. Steam versions modded are still the definitive versions.
Or the OG PC version back in the day running in software mode...I was there. EDIT: Of course I preferred the Orchid Righteous 3Dfx glide API mode....
The main menu music slap me 25 years back. This was an era of wonders filled with powerful runes such as 3DFX, Trinitron, MMX printed only on the most costly builds.
Tell me about it, 2x12Mb voodoo 2's in sli, 96Mb ram and a Pentium II-400. Running TR1 at 1024x768 in Glide (of course)
@@TheT0nedude Lucky guy, i would have kill back then for a Sli config. I was rocking a Cyrix 6x86MX around 233Mhz with an S3Virge trying to get TR2 over 20FPS.
Then i managed to find a Voodoo1 paired with a matrox mystique :D, good time.
I had the 3dfx Voodoo1 in 1996 when this came out. Quake the TR were THE games at the time and I loved Quake for multiplayer but the story, lore and look of TR was soo wonderful. In 1996 though, having perspective correct, filtered textures are playable framerates at home was something to behold, even at 640x480. I had just bought a new PC with a Pentium 200 in 1996 (with MMX 😁) and it was about $2700 or so. I was doing software testing at the time, so my income wasn't great but I was starting to learn more programming so convinced myself it was needed. What really blows my mind is Sega's Daytona USA with their Model 2 board came out in freaking 1993, ran at 60fps and was like magic.
@@TheT0nedude *sweet*! i was cheap & just had 1 Voodoo 3dfx(in 1997) but TR1 looked better/played faster than any other game of that era, no question!
@@RARufus you sir are close to my heart as i was astounded by TR1, a used 24" CRT monitor & a Voodoo 3dfx card...when all that happened in spring of 97'...Quake was also a lotta fun too
First played Tomb Raider when I got my PlayStation for Christmas in 1997 and it was a hell of a great time! Ended up getting II and III afterwards and had many great memories! So excited to revisit them with this remastered collection!
It's better with the remastered version because you can save anywhere. Payback time for those cyclops I guess. I only saw them once in all my gaming. These games are a challenge
I remember getting this game on the PS1 just after its release. I couldn’t afford to buy it alone, being just a simple paperboy. But my pal, also a paperboy, went halves with me. We were blown away with the game.
Great memories, im from Turkey and when i was child there was only a few stores that sell psx games in our town and buying even one was really challenging. But that hardship made amazing friendships towards those games. I remember we were just talking about a game for hours. Swapping games, borrowing games and sharing our passion for them was unprecedented experience for us back in the days. Now i got thousands of games in my library but unfortunately i'm all alone. :)
Those were the days!!!
Are you still made of paper or have you been upgraded to cardboard by now?
@@johnnypopstar I got recycled.
@@orfesanat5898 That’s a nice story. Sorry you are all alone. 😕
This is a slap in the face for the metal gear collection.
Seriously man. The Tomb Raider trilogy clearly received more love and passion.
Well Metal gear was just a re-release of the already remastered HD collection but I actually think both could have been much better.
I wish the Devs of tomb raider remastered collection could have used something like Nvidia remix which would have been a massive improvement alone possibly even being able to call them remake.
Ps: but the price of Tomb raider being much lower than MGS, they sure did a good job, however all those remasters still don't look any good for a 2024 release...
what else can you expect from Konami?
@@guily6669 Except that it runs worse than the HD verions on the PS360. Fucking Konami.
@@residentgrigo4701PS5 version runs great and so far I've never ran into any problems, so I hope you're just referring to the terrible PC version.
I chased the experience of playing Tomb Raider, MGS, Soul Reaver, Tenchu ect on PlayStation One from following generations of hardware and games. I never ever found those feelings and experiences again.
Me too.
For me it was Warcraft 2, Red Alert 1&2, Myst, System Shock 2, Giants Citizen Kabuto, No One Lives Forever, Crusader No Remorse, No Regret, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Gabriel Knight 2, Star Trek Voyge Elite Force, and Tomb Raider.
Oops, forgot Diablo, Half-Life, Caesar III, Civ 2. Heroes of Might & Magic, Ascendancy
I think you’re chasing your youth 😂
I'd give my left testicle for a remake, or even just a remaster of the Legacy of Kain series.
Absolutely superb video John. Appreciate the depth, attention to detail and cross-comparisons, as well as your fundamental appreciation of the controls and precision these original games required. This remaster feels like a love letter to the 'Core' fanbase. 😉
Very good Review John! I was 14 years old in 1996 and I played them all back then.
While watching your video, I immediately felt transported back to those beautiful times and nostalgia hit hard.
I will play this Remaster on PS5 at midnight and enjoy the ride back to the past. ♥
The usual astonishing level of detail and commitment from you John. And I never tire of seeing those side-by-sides of Pentium, Saturn and the PSX - man that's a trip! I'm so pleased we got these remasters. I'm 54, got a load of gaming miles at my back, I want to see a lot more of this done before I finally shuffle off my mortal coil and run down the curtain.
I think the parallax effect on the ladder at 5:37 looks weird because it is inverted by mistake - the stone texture and the drop shadow seem to move in the direction opposite to that which would be required to give the illusion of depth. You see it again at 7:43 - from that angle, the shadow on the right of the texture ought to be on the left.
When I first came across it I thought it was a broken texture.
I would argue that it is more an unfortunate optical illusion created by several factors than an inverted shadow. Look at the ends of the lower rungs and you'll see the shadows are correct. I think its a combination of color contrasts and the position of the light source (which looks like it might be radiating from Laura's upper body, if not face). This is evident by shadows on the higher rungs going the opposite direction. The shadows also get longer the farther they are from the center of the source. Its clearly not lit by a sky light. This is just my 2 cents, though. I do think its an odd artistic decision and see what you mean there.
I am also just making assumptions based off the first timestamp, so I could just sound like a fool 😂.
Absolutely, the parallax effect is inverted, making it appear as if the ladder is inside the stone rather than sitting on top of it, very disorienting effect. Like seeing a 3D movie with your glasses on backwards.
you are right, it was inverted on PS/XB, fix on the way
@@TimurGagiev Unfortunate, but I doubt anyone will be put off buying because of some funky ladders.
I think we will never forgot when we first played tomb raider. Before all the tomb raider mania. Really felt like the ps1 showed why it was next gen.
Commission:
travel back in time, with the OG-graphics. Recall memories, like you are living in the past again.
Then wonder, how these next-gen 3D-graphics would look on a next-gen-system somewhere in the future.
Then, switch to Remastered-graphics.
Tadaa! The past, gives you an insight in the future!
*will never forget
I didn't like the add on feature of memory card but other than that I agree with your statement. Playstation was better than the N64.
John really knows how to appreciate and spread the word about the best ost of a franchise, the edit for the Gears of War 4 Tech Review using the original Gears 1 soundtrack is still stuck in my mind. I wish the motorcycle sequence in Gears 4 actually had the og ost. And using the Angel of Darkness theme here is perfection.
My dad and I used to play the TR games all the time when I was young, he'd solve puzzles that I couldn't figure out and vice versea, we'd take turns exploring the levels and finding secrets, and just immersing ourselves in the weird story but fun gameplay!
Great memories I have playing video games with my father. RIP. I really hope the devs also release Last Revelation because that is my favorite title!
Looking at this really makes me want a RE1-3 remaster!
It is real annoying you can't purchase those anymore. Kinda surprised you can still buy the original version of 4. I wish they'd put them on GOG or something. Same with the Silent Hills (before 4)
@@HelFrostKara it's extremely annoying. We need a remaster with 4k60 support on current Gen and last gen as well (Xbox one X and PS4 pro) with updates textures and models just like this. It would be absolutely amazing. Yah strange you can buy RE4 but not the rest.
@@HelFrostKaraYou can still buy OG RE4 because it was available digitally in the first place, the originals were only ever digitally available on PS3 (and probably PSP/vita?) by emulating the PS1 versions.
Also, those games weren't full 3D so it's much harder to make something as impressive as this TR remaster, unless they somehow still have the source files.
That being said I'd love to have them, even if they're essentially the same as the already existing old PC releases
@@HelFrostKara Remember the last time konami tried it gave us those 'HD' abominations. Def needs to be done by anyone other than Konami
I hate you can only buy them on ps3 and Vita.
Great video John! Thanks for including PC and consoles in a single video. I really hope we'll see that more often on DF!
The challenging navigation and traversal is what made it so immersive to me back in the day, having to pay attention and be precise and the game rewarding you for it. Super glad to hear it can still generate similar feelings. Tomb Raider on the Saturn is one of my top 10 gaming experiences.
Thank you for covering this remaster!!! I’m so excited for them to come out and hope everyone enjoys them. Hopefully we get 4/5/6 remastered too!
Pretty sure they will, specially if this ones sell well and they see the potential. Angel of Darkness tho it deserves a remake and be proper finished... also the other 2 from the trilogy that Angel of Darkness was going to be and got cancelled should be brought to life.
Giving us the "Halo Toggle" is such a great feature.
Glad they sat somewhere in the middle with it as the difference between the two versions I played (Saturn and 3DFX PC) is huge.
I think you mean “graphics toggle”
He referenced Halo Remasters, they did that feature 1st. @@nicholasnajibi3082
@@nicholasnajibi3082 nah, I meant it as in "the toggle you had in the Halo remaster doing pretty much the same thing". :)
This sounds quite logical considering that it was done by the same studio)
Rockstar should use this as a case study on how to remaster old titles. Great stuff!
Red Dead Redemption’s remaster turned out great it was only GTA trilogy that RockStar really messed up on, but then they didn’t do the remaster themselves, the inexperienced Grove Street Games did those remasters.
That would require spending money which I don’t they like for older games.
Happy to see Aspyr did a good job with these classics. Bought on Steam deck and looking forward to going back to these childhood memories.
This is such a good remaster. Classic graphics whenever you want, which are actually remastered themselves in as close a way to the original while looking as good as possible; modern graphics mode that focuses on retaining the feel of the original but looks beautiful; modern controls to get the old type out of the way of new/modern players, but with the classic controls available for old players who liked them; facial animations added to in-game cutscenes (this was a big surprise); and one of my favorite options for remasters, the ability to toggle between the classic and modern graphics with a button press (I had so much fun with this in the D2 remaster).
I hope more classic games can get this treatment (I'd kill for Doom, MGS1, or Ocarina of Time done this way.)
They could have still put the classic to at least 60, adding proper modern controls.
It's great to have this but it's still messy af!
I had no idea this was coming out, and man it looks good. I love seeing remakes of games from this era that actually try to pay homage to the original instead of rip out as many of the original's quirks and oddities as possible as if embarrassed to show off games that put the series on the map.
Beautiful video. Isn't it wonderful to see these beautiful games remastered. I have just finished all the games and they are so beautiful and very well done. The added levels are outstanding and the trophy collection is brilliant. Tomb Raider has been a wonderful series and its so great to see so much positivity for these games. Lets hope for more remastered games. Steve 👍
I remember playing the first Tomb Raider game from a PC demo CD that came with a magazine. It was amazing. My dad won't let me play it cause I might damage the computer. I think now it's the time to finally complete the dream.
Don't do it. You will damage the computer.
Yeah u can finish off the computer 😅
Man, I'm definitely buying this!
I remember my cousin and I breaking night playing each one of these games on their releases and we wouldn't stop until we beat each game. So many great memories.
He's no longer with us and I miss him dearly. Playing these games again is definitely going to be an emotional experience. But I can't wait!
That opening music sent me back to my childhood and being completely blown away by the original TR adventure. It was something I had never seen in gaming before. The 3D world at the time felt so real, lonely, but ultimately packed with content. The music would kick in at the appropriate times but most of the time the vastness of the areas was your soundtrack and it fully put you in the character as if you were on an adventure. Loved the original trilogy so much. Even the couple follow-ups with Revelation and Chronicles. I wish Eidos would go back to remake/remaster/fix Angel of Darkness. I struggled through that one as a fan but if the controls were fixed, it could really be something.
Brilliant review as always. I'm getting a real urge to jump back into my childhood games again. Tomb Raider 2 was my first PSOne game and I played it so much, I could run through levels blindfolded. But it was also hard as nails. I love how respectful they've been with the upgrade and staying true to the original.
No one does this kind of stuff better than John and DF.
The opening with Angel of Darkness’s theme🔥 Great video John!
Which is funny because AoD damaged the series rep.
Imagine remastering three games in one package and doing an awesome job of it, crazy.
If only small indie companies like Rockstar Games had Aspyr's budget and skills when making stuff like GTA DE 🙂
Rockstar wont unlock the framerate for rdr2 unless you pay for the new remaster on ps6
Don't forget you also get the 3 expansions, Unfinished business, Golden Mask and The lost Artifact.
@@macdealer7936Huh, this is the first time I ever heard of expansions for these games.
@@no1DdC they were exclusive to the pc, it's the first time they were ported to the consoles.
Great review as always, thanks John. Also loved the use of the Lara Croft GO soundtrack in the background! So atmospheric. I'll have to play that again as well, since it's been over 8 years! Thanks for reminding me about it, indirectly :)
Similar to Soul Reaver on PS1, the black or gray 'fog' that was used to mask the low draw distance actually helped the game's atmosphere in Tomb Raider during the 1990s.
Wow, very well done in-depth review! Your knowledge of all the technical details really shines compared to a lot of mainstream reviews who just whine about the game not looking good and the controls feeling clumsy... completely ignoring this is a remaster intended to approximate the original experience. Kudos!!!
Starting the video with the excellent Angel of Darkness theme is an instant thumbs up for me
Tomb Raider 1 and Resident Evil 1 always been my favorite of the series. I might even still want to play the original versions.
1996 was probably the most awesome year in gaming ever. Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Mario 64
We need this version of Lara back!
Hell yeah we do. TR was at its best when it embraced full fantasy (dinosaurs and demons).
Yes, it's a boring Uncharted clone nowadays
I would like also a Legend style gameplay, it was pretty much an action game with puzzles
I agree, this was the best iteration of TR.
I liked TR 2013 LARA , such a great game and design...than it went full John wick..and Lara was little meh...
Looks like that particular era of videogames from the early 2000s, after the PSX generation but before the widespread use of bump and normal maps.
This is an era I love, which is around from 2000 to 2003, with Max Payne 2 being the pinnacle of it.
Basically very detailed textures and sometimes even geometry, but no weird post process effects like we saw in the early days of the xbox 360 (case in point Gears of War)
i noticed they don't use bump maps..cool! in a way, the look is softer, like what a 1998 Voodoo 3dfx card would do.i like that as i played late 90's games on a Voodoo
Im glad they kept it classy and faithful
I played tomb raider 1 on Nokia Ngage phone in 2007 and was totally blown away by the game. In that era when there were no walkthroughs on internet I remember getting stuck at few points in game for days together as I was unable to find the way or solve the puzzle. Beautiful game
Just a few more hours and I can't wait for a TR marathon, all 3 games back to back. It is going to be glorious!
This was an honest review, taking into account the originals by comparison vs your past experience with them highlights the remaster's strengths that I feel many outlets overlook simply because this 'isn't modern' as if it were supposed to be. Not to say 'you're old' as I'm likely older than you, but you truly get it, which I believe most recent reviews are from people born after ps2 era which is hardly their demographic. I believe majority of any bad reviews out for this are by those expecting a modern take or remake, which honestly Crystal Dynamics has tried a few times with mixed results. You don't mess with a classic.
I love that you pulled out 3D0 GFX for this comparison and pointed out even then the classic setting is better overall. I was recently watching some retro comparisons on Saturn/PSX/PC and even Dreamcast and your comparison fits nicely on top showcasing the drastic improvements.
The tank controls as you said are part of the challenge and level design and I appreciate how much detail they left alone yet also overhauled, it would have been nice to have SOME graphical settings or maybe RTX option for 'wow' factor but as it is they suit nearly all hardware so it doesn't bother me, hell my 7 year old '940mx gaming laptop' will actually run this perfect so I'm pleased.
We can expect more from RTX Remix and mods in near future, hopefully a patch or two from Aspyr as well tweaking simple things as you've critiqued. One review I've seen said it didn't run well on their only copy for Nintendo Switch, which sadly they gave it extremely poor score.
I think as you said, modern audiences likely aren't used to this type of challenge or being frustrated at all, as anyone having played retro games knows skill is required for classics.
IMO The lack of auto save is really another feature for this challenge, planning is crucial, using your brain shouldn't be hard. If you have autosave and too many checkpoints the challenge and point of health packs nearly lose meaning and becomes too cheaty, I prefer the way they have implemented this as I don't think it was flawed decision. Part of the learning curve was that you'd have to start ALL OVER if you failed, which again caused many to rage quit back then, the sensitivities of modern gamers hopefully learn some coping skills that not everything is easy mode.
These old games do train you to be more conscious which I feel is yet another thing lost in modern days.
This seems like a homage to the heritage of the Tomb Raider franchise more so than anything Crystal Dynamics has released since.
I'm truly looking forward to playing this and plan on purchasing on a few platforms, and if Aspyr continues to remaster these classics I'm very well oblige by purchasing those as well.
Overall an excellent showcase, thanks for the coverage. I really look forward to playing this again, I downloaded and installed it while watching.
*You mentioned auto-aiming was an issue, I believe you have full manual control using 'tank controls' as with the original.
It's good you used keyboard as the first game came out before analog sticks were common so it's optimized for D pad.
It's great you recommended classic controls, after all, the training mode at Lara's mansion is there for a reason.
I'm glad that they didn't just increase view distance to infinity and kept a bit of a fog effect in some of the levels. While the black fog was present pretty much purely due to a technical limitation, I feel like in some levels it did have a side effect of adding some atmosphere to exploring, you had to move forward to see what was ahead, you couldn't always see into the next room. It added a little bit of mystery when you were trying to reach an open archway or something but couldn't get a proper good look at what was past it until you got there.
It seems like they did go a long way to preserving the atmosphere of the original games, which was my biggest concern and I'm glad it doesn't appear to be just a soulless lazy AI upscale like the GTA "remasters" were.
They fixed the draw distance issue on the gta trilogy
That Lara Croft Go music you use in the video is so good, that game was really cool and captured the spirit of the original games perfectly. But aside from that, I can't wait to play these remasters! 😊
It’s nice to see a remaster done well for a change.
About TR2 and combat of the original games in general.
When against melee foes: either jump on a platform (use platforming: which is the more robust of the systems when compared to combat) and gain an advantage since enemies couldn't follow you to higher ground until TR4, and you can shoot them. They will try to avoid your sight but you can bait them, and some times you don't even have to.
And about ranged enemies, which are mostly present in TR2 and TR3, you can jump yes, sometimes it does help, but the best is to ROLL behind them like a fucking Dark Souls enemy, the tracking tends to be slow enough to allow you to minimize damage taken, and if you're fast and precise you can avoid it all.
Just run towards them with a slight turn angle so that you don't roll into them, and press the Roll button which on keyboard it's END or UP+DOWN and both are very usable and END for me personally is great to use. What with it being so near the arrow keys.
I’ve yet to play any of the Tomb Raider games (original or reboot), but I might start with this package. The remastered visuals look great to me, though I won’t argue with people who dislike the style.
I’m so glad they handled the remaster the way they did. There’s something about the original controls that I just love
😅😅😅
My then girlfriend, now wife, bought me a PS1 with Tomb Raider a loooooong time ago, so I'm definitely picking this up on Steam Deck. I still remember a snowy scene in London where you can hear an underground train and traffic sounds in the background and thinking, wow, games have come on since I first played Tic-Tac-Toe on the Commodore PET! Cheers for the review!
Forget steam deck I refuse to buy this without a physical copy because it deserves one
I've still got the original physical copies.@@demonletsplays
It's great to see these last great cinematic platformers get the love they deserve with this rerelease. Fantastic work on covering all the nuts&bolts as always, John.
Happy to see that Aspyr did a good job with the remaster and I already bought the Switch version. I love the five classic Tomb Raider games and I replay them regularly on PC. The level designs are generally very good and the few weaker levels are still tolerable. I also think the tank controls made the games age rather well. Back then bad 3D cameras were basically a given and the tank controls + tile based level design enabled precise and predictable platforming without actually needing to see what is in front of Lara.
Aspyr does really good remasters generally along with nightdive being the kings of remasters.
@@jose131991don't forget Bluepoint
@@renofheavens2I think they go above and beyond all other remaster/remake efforts. Can’t wait to see what they’re working on since Demon Souls.
Faithful remastered graphics and the original menus? As a Halo fan, I'm extremely jealous. As a Tomb Raider fan, I'm extremely happy.
The return of 3 certified hood classics!!
Great Video.. Tomb Raider is one of my favourite series and I'm definitely willing to play it again after watching this video.
Stronghold Definitive Edition/Remaster also releasing today. It would be great if you do a detailed video like this one on Stronghold. Its one of the legends in real time strategy games, the best being Stronghold Crusader 2.
I'm afraid this is not going to be appreciated by the many people who didn't play the originals or who don't know about 90s platformers. On the other hand, me and the other fans of the series are definitely going to love it. They kept the magic intact but somehow managed to make it look and play better. To be played with tank controls. Hopefully 4, 5 and 6 get the same treatment as well.
Will people actually play it though? These remastered games didn't age well at all.
@@Koozwad there's a huge community of fans that still play the originals. To revisit these on console, in 60 fps, widescreen, new graphics, the trophies and with the expansions is a dream of many. I'm surely gonna play them all.
@@VitaAZeroKelvin In my experience, also checking stuff like average hours played and hours played in for example Steam reviews for remakes/remasters shows that most people don't really even touch the games. Some play a little bit and then stop forever and some put it on their backlog forever. Extremely rarely have I seen people actually replaying games that didn't age well.
I think it's fine, we're the ones with jobs anyway, 'modern audiences' have mom and gram (or chat) footing their bill for most everything, millennials is who this was made for.
From what I've heard (unofficially) if this sells well they'll continue to remaster the next in series which I think is amazing, I'll be buying a copy for each platform.
If modern gamers can appreciate the Dark Souls series, then I'm sure they can appreciate this.
01:25 Such a nice transition in accordance with the voiceover.
4:11 wow!! The original truly looked magnificent there!! 🤭😅
John is testing us 😂
@@mattlandry Definitely! And that water on the original at 4:30 !! 🥵👌
Wanted to mention as well. 🤣
yeah definitely an editing mistake lol
Actually, both look better than original
The original did not run at such resolution. On PS1, the game looked so pixelated
Gotta love how john uses and gives credit to the "Tomb Raider Go" OST wherever possible
It’s a shame they didn’t do a physical release, but looks fantastic.
I feel the same exact way. I would’ve happily dropped $60.
Limited run games is doing a physical copy now
They do now.
Thank you for your section on "How does it hold up today?" I think you made justice to what a lot of us 90s kids and tank control defenders have been saying all along.
Given the fact that you had a somewhat fixed camera, tank controls, and the grid based platforming, it makes it so you have a huge amount over the core of its platforming challenge, accompanied by the smooth animation it gives me like this "like the original Prince of Persia, but 3D" kind of vibe to how it thinks about its interconnectedness and its platforming mechanics.
FIxed camera already removes the challenge of having to calculate distances over your current camera angle, since the camera is fixed. When measuring a jump, if the Camera is not behind you you can still count tiles easily as well (Lara's jump has a fixed tile length) most of the time. The only times you do have to think about the camera, you can do what the game expects, walk carefully to the ledge.. measure the gap using your dedicated look around button... maybe spot a ledge below or a treasure...? Maybe if you already know how far your jumps take you, you can avoid taking the risk altogether.
The tank controls and grid based platforming work together with the fixed camera. Since you're mostly minding the realtime inputs on the directional buttons, and since both platforms and ledges of the tiles are only 4 cardinal directions the rules around platforming are entirely based on that, and importantly there's few rules around the platforming.
- First, align to the grid to jump (press left or right) so that you face where you want to jump or grab. You can't grab backwards without breaking something.
- Second: choose which type of jump you need based on the distance, the types of jumps you will require most of the time are decided by forward and back + jump (standing f/b jumps, running jumps, stepback) with the outlier that completely removes the tank controls stigma, sidejumps.
- Third. For God's sake don't be a nincompoop, you have to GRAB MANUALLY WHEN YOU NEED TO, YES. Just like if you would, you know, in real life, where you GRAB LEDGES WITH YOUR HANDS just like you can press a DAMN BUTTON, WITH YOUR HANDS. Ooh and if I let go, I fall! Like in real life! For christ sakes, I seriously think the 3D platformer genre has regressed by taking that out of games.
There's little stuff around that, that is basically "tech" since you're mostly never required to use any of it outside of custom levels. And basically that's it.
The original Resident Evils also did it a lot better than the newer ones, and the original Silent Hills too. And they all had limited control like Tomb Raider or none in the camera, and they all had tank controls, and they all applied it all to suit their individual aims as pieces of media, in unique and marvelous ways that work surpisingly well for their gameplay and framing/storytelling purposes.
And thinking about controls relative to the player instead of the camera also forgoes the need to know the basics of modern two stick controllers. For non-gamers, they're easier to get into, since it's less inputs at a time to think about.
Tomb Raider somehow manages to be fun even today too. Its exploration, its contemplating and almost captivating OST that often contains some tense bangers during challenges, its surprisingly tight platforming, its evil enemy placement that manages to jump scare anyone, its challenging approach to being a raider, its unapalogetic commitment to inmersion through minimal HUD and little talk. It's imagination capturing environments, which are primitive enough to evoke your brain to fill in the blanks.
I'm sure if modern games added the "feature" of holding trigger buttons to hold onto ledges people would go wild "ITS SO IMMERSIVE" 😜
Overall modern games lost their edge, that's why so many people play retro games/emulators. This is such a nice return to good challenging gaming.
I was just happy to have a new port of these games, but damn they really went above and beyond with this. I thought Nightdive was the only way to go but this is brilliant.
John has a well-tuned appreciation for what made the original Tomb Raider games very special. That they require patience and precision. How they are lonely and atmospheric, mysterious and sometimes scary. At times frustrating and janky, sure. But they stay locked in the depths of your memory despite the flaws.
Linneman is genuinely passionate about retro gaming. Having lived through the years in which these original games were released, he understands the nostalgia as well as the technical details!
One thing I’d like to see improved is the water effects even if they made it more blue, cause currently it’s like Lara is floating in thin air rather than swimming.
This is my one gripe with the remasters as well. I hope it can be addressed in a patch, but overall I'm extremely satisfied.
Ideally it would need a tiny little bit of wobbly/warping effects, plus a little bit of underwater debris and more intense foggy coloring when underwater. It should be easy-ish to implement in a future patch
Basically, if the devs sort of "mixed" the best features from TR1 (saturn), TR4 and OpenLara's water effects, they'd absolutely nail it.
Great video as always. Original Tomb Raider was one of my favorite games of that era and I enjoyed both PlayStation and Saturn versions. It's going to be nice to play it again on PS5.
Nice to see tomb raider again for modern day consoles and PCs
unfortunately only digital.
i LOVE that like Monkey Island and Halo (and likely others i don't know about) and now this let you switch graphics modes in realtime 🥰
Full Throttle, The Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango remasters also allow it.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is yet another :)
I get why you can't always do it but for these style of remasters/reskins/etc it's always a super cool feature.
In TR1 I always felt like those black skies were night time or maybe a very high ceiling of a cave. When they changed it to a daylight sky dome (like in the T-Rex area) it changed the mood too much IMO. But apart from that I'm very pleased with this remaster.
They had already stated that it was simply a technical limitation that they couldn't sort out in time, it wasn't until TR2 that we'd see proper skyboxes.
Aside from the lost valley, you'd also see the mysterious black fog that follows the camera (even if you turn in place slightly) in areas like the coliseum
@@unsavourylittlerunt indeed I've heard that in documentaries of first game. But in the end those technical limitations are important enough to greatly influence the lighting and mood of the final game. I wish the priority in that case was to keep the mood of the original and not to reproduce what the developers wished they could do without the limitations they had.
But that's just nitpicking anyways. The job is very well done in those remasters and I'm very glad they were made.
Nicely put together John. I never enjoyed these back in the day, but quite liked the 2013 reboot. Might give this a try when it's on sale on Steam
It's an amazing collection overall. I just hope we can get the physical versions of these games
Wait what?
No physical versions!?
@@vollkerball1 Yes unfortunately not yet.... I pre-ordered the Switch version at a big gaming store in Greece but they send me a text message saying that the preorder been cancelled. But there's a strong possibility that they might release something in the future
@@coolgreek79 Until that happens I won´t buy it. Is that simple. I like to actually own my stuff.
@@vollkerball1 My thoughts EXACTLY
🤜❤️🤛
Great that the keyboard controls were mentioned. Back in the day I played TR like that, and it fitted the tank controls perfectly :)
Might you explain: how?
@@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomerI'm not sure what you mean - it was the default controls on PC. You moved with the arrow keys, jump was Alt, action Ctrl, walk Shift, holster Space, roll End etc.
@@Cthulhou What I meant to ask was: How could tank controls on a keyboard feel better than tank controls on a Sega Saturn pad?
@@MicahtheDrumCorpsPseudoboomer Because you use a few different keys/fingers instead of one thumb.
@@Cthulhou (in skeptical, surprised tone) Hmmph!
I mean, I guess that makes sense...
Just the music makes me want to cry with joy.
Dark Souls and Elden Ring do what John said was possibly un-doable today: modern detailed graphics where you're lost and don't know and can't see the path forward, you walk past an open hole that you didn't notice, you methodically slowly search an environment for shapes and openings. Especially with Elden Ring's addition of a normal jump move. The videos of Tomb Raider reminded me of Souls and Elden Ring.
The soundtrack in the beginning is from Angel of Darkness
I wish that gets a remake as well
Yeah COMPLETELY from the ground up!!!
Yeah, I remember that bike mission, pain in the ass lol
@@Neb_RaskaAre you maybe thinking about Legend? It has two bike sections, but there's also underworld which uses a bike sometimes and you can get off it at will
@@unsavourylittlerunt Maybe, it's been a while since I've played Legends, Angel of Darkness and Underworld. I do remember a bike section where you get shot at being extra difficult.
Honestly, it might be a tall order, but I would want some original Core members brought on and asked "What did you want out of AoD?" and remake the game as they originally intended. It has so much potential but the issues and cut content really hold it back, which is a real shame.
The quality of John's videos seems to consistently improve. These are great man 👏🏽
Aahhh, 3dfx Voodoo card... that brings back memories. Games like Tomb Raider, Shadowman and Nocturne were on my old PC back in 1999. Can't believe the progress of technology. Just been playing Arkham Knight on the Deck OLED... 🤯
whoa whoa! I played Nocturne on a Voodoo card & that was the first really creepy game i played. i was almost afraid to see what would happen next.
@MrZootalores Yep, it was a great game with loads of atmosphere. Controls were a bit janky, but I still loved playing it. Hope John and DF consider doing a retro review of it sometime.
@@dvpemberton what's also interesting is that it was the game that lead to the 1st BloodRayne...
This covered absolutely everything I was curious about regarding this remaster and actually dispelled my concerns. Thank you DF team!
This is how I remembered this game looked back in the day
nah the crunchy water textures were too iconic for me to remember them as anything else
@@simonh5004 Me too, even at the time I remember Tomb Raider looking like a mess, it was a unique looking mess because feel games had that specific atmosphere, but it was still a mess of blurry warped textures.
that's the best kind of remake
We really had to use our imagination back then!
Using composite on a console, yeah.. Leaves room to the imagination. But on PC it's kinda hard to remember differently.
I love that you use the soundtrack from Lara Croft GO, its so atmospheric. Highly recommend that game. Its awesome
“No yellow paint here”
Will definitely play this probably on my Steam Deck.
I thought the same, but I worry that levels might be difficult to understand on the small screen. Then again, they ported the first Tomb Raider to PDAs and even the N-Gage with far smaller displays, so perhaps I'm worrying too much.
@@no1DdC well those were played originally in low res where we saw more pixels than geometry and it was fine so, I don't think high res and smaller screen will be worse.
@@MrPod True, but I first played these at 1600x1200 in 2001/2002 and was still extremely confused by the level design. Must have been an absolute nightmare at 320x240 in software mode.
@@no1DdC I don't think so, we were used to play with those resolutions back then.
Lara Croft Go music playing in the background is just beautiful.
That game absolutely nailed the feeling of isolation and dread that the old games have is spades.
Thanks so much for letting us know. It's insane how a company can reveal every single aspect of a game comparison yet not put music credits...
I know some people would probably call these remasters lazy, but there's something weirdly charming about the super high res textures on the old geometry.
We already have a mediocre remake of the first game with (then) modern gameplay and graphics - we dont need another one.
Honestly I prefer the pixelated low res look. These high resolution versions really expose the assets/geometry.
Why would anyone call them lazy? They literally did what they set out to do and even included over 200 trophies and the ability to swap visuals instantly.
John’s editing is just spectacular. I love his videos.
Them thangs thangin in HD now
What a wonderful review! Thanks Diginal Foundry. You understood the remasters!
I really hope this sells well enough to warrant both a physical release as well as the same treatment to 4 and 5 to finish off the PS1 Core Design Era! Shame about the lack of PS5 platinum trophy though.
1:58 Funny you mention that, because the developer of OpenLara revealed he led development of this remastered collection!
The opening music was epic.
I only ever played the classic TR games with a K & M. Sold my Megadrive in the local paper so I could afford Tomb Raider III's big box release back in the day. Cannot wait to revisit these games.
Honestly i wish they'd let aspire make more classic tomb raider games. Hoping this sells well and we get more, maybe even some original adventures in this engine
Would have loved the same graphical treatment for the new metal gear collection. Great video, many thanks