REVIEW: Relive the good old days of gaming with the Tomb Raider Remastered I-III Starring Lara Croft collection 

Here comes another compilation of classic games, now starring one of the most iconic characters in video games, Lara Croft, in Tomb Raider Remastered I-III Starring Lara Croft (phew!), launched by Aspyr.

The return of a gaming icon

Long before Nathan Drake began his adventures on the PlayStation 3, Lara Croft broke barriers in the mid-1990s with the Tomb Raider series. Lara was a strong, charismatic and attractive female character to video game audiences, both male and female. It was an explosive combination that gave Eidos immediate success, spawning several titles for more than a decade.

A Aspir, a company belonging to the Embracer group, has been releasing collections of remastered old games, and now it's the turn of the first three Tomb Raider. Complete with redesigned HD graphics, including a new lighting system and a new control scheme, Tomb Raider Remastered I-III Starring Lara Croft It's an excellent choice for nostalgic fans of the series, but for those who have never played the game, the impact will be great, as even though they are more beautiful, they are still difficult and often merciless.

Tomb Raider was a franchise that evolved quickly from game to game, as was the pace of the generation it was part of. The first, from 1996, was absolutely revolutionary, bringing precise gameplay, with huge stages full of treasures to find and many, many traps. Thanks to him, Lara instantly became one of the most beloved gaming characters, and from then on, with each new game, she was the central figure in all advertising campaigns.

If the first game had a more restrained pace that valued exploration, putting combat aside, Tomb Raider II it was the opposite, bringing many enemies to fight with the girl. As the technology for programming the behavior of secondary characters was very basic in 1997, the result was an even more challenging title than the previous one, as in each clash, there was no way to emerge unscathed, with enemies that attacked non-stop.

But it was with Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft things got more interesting. In it, there was a greater balance between the aspects that made Tomb Raider unique, which resulted in an excellent game full of exciting moments. This was considered the peak of the original series, and after it, the franchise suffered a decline in quality until it was interrupted.

A rescue of true relics

The new collection does what it can to make the games more palatable for today's audiences, but there's no denying that their age is evident. The camera movement is blocked, the jumps need to be perfect so that Lara doesn't end up crashing on the ground, and the combat, my brother, is pretty bad. 

Even so, there is an undeniable charm, and with the new graphics, even though they still respect the geometry of the levels, so much so that it is possible to switch to the original serrated look at any time, Lara's first three adventures take on a simple beauty. Oh, and the girl also received a nice touch-up to her look with these remasters and finally looks like the figure that graced the commercials in video game magazines from the 1990s.

Aspyr also made an effort to adjust the controls, which in the original versions of these games are somewhat harsh, following a scheme very similar to the first ones. resident evil, simply nicknamed “tank”. With the ajambrado version of the controls, Lara turns along with the direction of the control and other functions, such as firing her weapons, become more intuitive. However, I ended up preferring to stick with the traditional one, as after just a few minutes of playing my reflexes returned and I felt instantly transported to when I beat these games for the first time. 

Tomb Raider is a series with significant importance for video games and collecting Tomb Raider Remastered I-III Starring Lara Croft is certainly a cool way to familiarize yourself with the roots of the action/adventure genre, recounting one of the most striking steps in the style of game that harks back to the old Pitfall from Atari, reaching Uncharted: Legacy Among Thieves and the awaited Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Conclusion

As dated as these games may be, even remastered, their historical value is absurd, making them worth having in your collection. Aspyr did what it could with what it had, and the end result is the best that can be expected without a total overhaul of all three games. Tomb Raider Remastered I-III Starring Lara Croft is yet another must-have compilation for fans and enthusiasts, a simple, no-frills package worth placing on any digital shelf.

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Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim