Tomb Raider (1996) vs Tomb Raider (2007) vs Tomb Raider (2013) Retro Review

Script written by Ty Richardson Tomb Raider Retro Review Having now completed two games from my childhood, I’ve become more and more curious about some of the classic franchises I never got to play during my youth. I had missed out on a handful of titles that many remember fondly as a significant part of PlayStation’s history. One such franchise was “Tomb Raider”, the adventure series about a gorgeous woman exploring temples and would be heavily criticized for two big...problems. And that’s all I really knew the franchise as. And yet, I’ve somehow managed to obtain the entire franchise between my Steam and PlayStation 4. So, with there being THREE games touting themselves as “the first game” in some manner, which one serves as the best introduction? Which one features the best version of Lara Croft? And has the character deserved the scrutiny she’s received in recent years? Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of the internet! My name is Ty with MojoPlays, and this is a Retro Review of “Tomb Raider”, “Tomb Raider”, and...“Tomb Raiderrrrrrrr ANNIVERSARY”! Ha! Knew one of them was gonna try to stand out with a subtitle! Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long, so be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos! And if you’re curious about what else I’m playing or are looking for more games to discover, gimme a follow on Twitter - @GhostRyderTyler. For this video, I decided to incorporate three games to compare and contrast - the 1996 original “Tomb Raider”, the 2007 remake of the original - “Tomb Raider Anniversary”, and the 2013 prequel reboot published by Square Enix...confusingly titled “Tomb Raider”. Just to help avoid confusion, I will be referring to each of them as “the original”, “the remake”, and “the prequel”. Let’s start by going all the way back to 1996, back when the name Lara Croft was still new to people. The story isn’t exactly well-explained through the cutscenes, but as Lara, you must recover an artifact that’s been split between different regions of what is believed to be Atlantis. After a couple of somewhat lengthy cutscenes, you’re thrown into the game. As someone who has never played a “Tomb Raider” game before (with the exception of “Lara Croft GO”), I can immediately see what made this game so revolutionary. For its time, the environments are eerie and evoke a mysterious atmosphere. Lara is also well-animated between simple actions like walking and climbing, and her jumps provide enough “umph” from launch to impact. Considering what had not yet been achieved in 1996 gaming, this is pretty impressive! I only wish I could say the same about the rest of the game as I continued finding design choices that have made the original age terribly, the controls being my biggest gripe. While running and making simple jumps feel fine, it’s the sections that focus entirely on platforming that make the experience infuriating. Most of the time, you’ll be pressing one button to jump and will have to hold another button down to actually grab onto ledges. While this does make jumps more intense and riskier to connect, there are times where that connection feels too picky. I’m willing to chalk this up to technical limitations, but I’m not about to forgive the game for it, especially since Lara controls so poorly when idle. There were several moments where I had to try and be precise with my movements whether I was trying to line up my jumps properly or simply pick up an object. A simple tap will cause Lara to take a few steps too far or make a short leap backwards, and more often than not, it covers too much distance. This results in the player spending too much time to perform basic tasks, and when trying to overcome some tricky platforming, it can easily send Lara to her death. Combat isn’t all that better either. While I do like the idea of having a single button tied to switching between exploration and combat controls, there isn’t much to help keep you from taking damage from enemies. It all boils down to leaping through the air and mashing CTRL until the thing is finally dead. It's fine by 1996 standards, yes, but that’s all I can really say about it. Audio, on the other hand, I’m a tad conflicted on. Personally, I feel the sound design works for and against itself. The lack of music allowed me to be alone with my thoughts without anything to distract me, and I could quickly identify what enemies were coming around the corner. However, hearing Lara’s footsteps in the calmer moments doesn’t exactly scream “adventure” and “raiding tombs”, does it? Add in some drawn out pacing and level design, and the original kind of falters in the modern age. It seemed as though “Tomb Raider” wasn’t going to be my franchise. ...Until I booted up the remake. I was expecting a one-to-one recreation of the original game with new visuals and character models. My expectations were immediately blown out of the water upon entering Croft Manor. The remake manages to fix just about every problem I had the original while making the decent portions more fleshed out. For starters, Lara handles like a freakin’ dream!! Every movement is fluid, every action is done at a reasonable speed, and you’re even given access to a piece of gear introduced in “Tomb Raider: Legend”. The grappling hook makes platforming feel more treacherous, making it a fantastic substitute for manually grabbing ledges. (Though, if you prefer that mechanic, you do have the option to toggle that on or off.) Levels have seen a massive overhaul as well, giving players a clearer sense of direction and trimming out the many unnecessary moments of climbing rocks before reaching the next major segment. Combat no longer requires a button to switch stances and has made dodging easier thanks to the implementation of a new mechanic. Dodge at the right moment, line up the reticles, and you’ll be able to counter attack the enemy and potentially deal lethal damage. Bonus - Lara looks badass while doing it! Despite me falling madly in love with the remake (seriously, those controls!), the remake comes with its own share of problems. While combat did get exciting at times, the AI isn’t all that bright and can’t seem to figure out how to walk around things some of the time. It’s like once a small pond has made its way between us, they suddenly have the intelligence of a lemming. The camera tends to freak out at certain times. It never got in the way, but it’s still pretty jarring. Even with these problems, the remake was my absolute favorite! Unfortunately, its excellence was partially responsible for my growing apathy towards the prequel. The 2013 “Tomb Raider” prequel reboot is rather...problematic. Don’t get me wrong - I can admire the attempt at telling a new story and trying to reintroduce Lara Croft to the world. I only wish it was done in a light similar to the remake. While the prequel tells a decent story of Lara’s first adventure and controls just as good as the remake, everything else surrounding it feels like it was done so under the pressure of outside sources. The loudest example of this is the overall presentation and set pieces. Much of it feels like it’s trying to compete with the “Uncharted” games and Ubisoft’s lifeless sea of open-world games. The crafting and RPG progression system feels arbitrary, only being in the game because every AAA game was doing it back then. (They still are now, for some reason.) It ends up feeling less like a “Tomb Raider” game and more like “another AAA game”. Of course, there’s always an elephant in the room when the prequel enters any conversation, and that’s the depiction of our Lara Croft. I’m all up for a story that illustrates a younger, less experienced Lara, but personally, I feel some changes were made for the wrong reasons. Prior to the prequel’s release, select outlets had pushed this idea that Lara was the star only for attracting men to the games, that she only exists to objectify women and appeal to “adolescent male fantasies”. To avoid stoking these flames again, Crystal Dynamics would tell the press that “toughness” would define her. As art director Brian Horton stated to Game Informer, “what our version of sexy is - is the toughness through adverse conditions”. Well, if you consider traumatizing and putting this girl through all kinds of hell as “toughness through adverse conditions”, then I guess you accomplished that? To me, this level of brutality was done for the same shock value as a snuff film. Look, if you play games for attractive characters, that’s your prerogative. You do you. Perhaps later games like “Angel of Darkness” (as well as those god awful Angelina Jolie movies) were responsible for the negative perception, but I did not perceive Lara Croft as “a sexual object” during my time with these games. To me, what makes Lara Croft “Lara Croft” is her badass nature. This is a gorgeous woman who boasts an enviable level of athleticism as she traverses through temples and avoids traps and is constantly spitting in the face of danger while fighting wolves, bears, and even freakin’ dinosaurs! Hell, I wish I was Lara Croft!! With the prequel version of Lara, I’m not seeing any of that badass behavior. Yes, I understand that this is a more naive Lara Croft, but if you wanted to go that direction while still maintaining the sense of adventure and excitement the series invokes, why not portray her as a reckless adventurer instead? I fail to see how this form of inexperience is going to shape into the confident, adventurous Lara I witnessed in the previous games. If I had to develop a backstory based on Lara in older titles, I’d assume she was a gun-toting explorer who used to be somewhat careless with her actions in her earlier years, not a timid young lady who’s only trait seems to be getting startled and traumatized around every corner. But I suppose we all have our own idea of Lara Croft. I just wish this version didn’t feel so manufactured to adhere to the overly sensitive. Overall, I think I’ve made it pretty clear which “Tomb Raider” stood out the most. “Tomb Raider Anniversary” was the one I kept coming back to for a handful of reasons: the controls are exceptional, the animation is superb, and it’s a fully realized version of the original with its archaic design. As for the prequel reboot, it’s a product that got intimidated by the presence of Nathan Drake and “Far Cry”, resulting in grit and edge that feels too forced and forgets about what made Lara Croft such a badass in earlier games. She has her moments, but there’s nothing astonishing that you haven’t seen before. As someone who had never played a “Tomb Raider” game before this review, I’m way more inclined to go back to the older games instead of the newer iterations. I’ll resume with the newer games later down the road, but they are not priority for me for the time being, not until the final game’s launch is imminent. No matter which way you look at it, though, Lara’s been dismissed for very unfair reasons over the last several years. If you want a game that feels like a fun adventure, one filled with the same level of danger and excitement as an “Indiana Jones” movie, Lara will certainly show you a good time. NO! Not in that way!!! Dammit, almost made it through without an unintentional innuendo...