Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Remastered - PS4
Completed July 15th
I have been playing Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation Remastered in between other games in my backlog. The reason for this is because to help deal with my current backlog I have prioritised the Tomb Raider Remastered to be further down the ladder because technically I have already played the Tomb Raider games in their original non remastered form.
I wanted to show my support of the Tomb Raider remasters by buying the games as soon as they released, but I also decided to prioritise my backlog of games I already own as I have not played them. So in between each backlog completion I played one level or two of one of a Tomb Raider Remastered games and slowly played through the remastered levels until I finished them.
In many ways I am glad I am played the Tomb Raider Remasters in a slower manner as this way I can savour some of my favourite Tomb Raider games with a nice graphical upgrade (and I also appreciate being able to switch to the older graphics).
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, presently, is my second favourite Tomb Raider game of all time (just behind the very first Tomb Raider) and it has been a delight to play through the remastered version included in the 4 - 6 Remastered collection.
The graphical update is very nice and I have spend too much time with photo mode gasping at the details of the world, such as the hieroglyphs etched into the Egyptian iconography that is spread throughout the adventure.
However, sometimes I did find myself switching to the old graphics as, in some areas, I think the lighting is clearer and easier to see in certain environments e.g. such as when swimming through underground tunnels. The remastered lighting looks to be more realistic than in the original, which can look beautiful in most areas, but in other areas the realistic lighting may go against the original artistic intent - so being able to switch between both graphical settings on the fly is very much appreciated.
(Update - as of 18th April the first patch was released and now there is an option to turn up the brightness, which is happily welcomed).
I finally completed The Last Revelation Remastered on the 14th of July. I started playing the game in February and it has taken me about 5 months to complete! Although I have been playing it a few levels at the time in between other backlog completions - savouring (the remastered version) of one of my all time favourite games. Although I will not mark TR 4 Remastered completed until I have finished The Times Exclusive level that is also included with TR 4 Remastered.
The Times Exclusive Level
Originally The Times Exclusive Level (for PC) was included free with the Times newspaper in the United Kingdom, which I did not even realise at the time. I played the non remastered version of the level many years later on the PC as it was available to download on some Tomb Raider fan websites.
I wonder if the level was originally meant to be included in the main game? I say this because the level you play in the Times release appears in the main title screen. I remember originally finishing the game and while I enjoyed it I was disappointed that the level featured in the title screen was not featured in the main game as visually I thought it looked amazing and I just wanted to explore it.
Many years later when I found out about the Times Exclusive Level and played it I was surprised that the level was actually the very same level that was featured in the title for The Last Revelation! I was finally able to experience that level I always wanted to! For years I thought it was just a partial level that was created for the title screen and not fully completed, but to my surprise the level was actually playable, but for some reason it was included only as a free gift in a mainstream newspaper and not a video game magazine.
75th Anniversary of Howard Carter's Tutankhamun Discovery
It turns out there was a reason for Tomb Raider to have a level created for the Times newspaper. It was the 75th anniversary of Howard Carter's 1920s discovery of Tutankhamun's Tomb in Egypt and The Times originally had exclusive coverage of the event in their newspaper. As a celebration the exclusive times Tomb Raider level was created and involved Lara investigating Carter's excavations to see if she could recover any yet to be discovered treasures.
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| Howard Carter inside Tutankhamun's Tomb |
My TR 4 Title Screen Confusion
Another reason I expected to be able to play the level that was featured on the Last Revelation's title screen in the main game actually can be linked to when I played the demo of The Last Revelation before the full game had been released.
When I played the demo of TR4 the title screen was different from the final release and it showed a moving camera flying through the level that featured in the demo. So when I played the final version of the game when the title screen appeared it was a different level that that camera was flying through from the demo.
So I assumed that I would be playing through that the level featured on the title screen and I thought that as I progressed through the game the level I was currently at would be the level that was featured on the title screen and would change to different levels as I progressed through the game. But as I a progressed through the game the title screen stayed the same and then I thought maybe the title screen is only showing that last level as if it was telling the player 'this is your goal.' Well, when I finished the game I was disappointed that the level was not in the game. (But as I said earlier I was happy to finally be able to play the level when I found out about the Times short level).
In hindsight I wish TR 4 did change the levels on the title screen as you progressed - I wonder if this was the developers original intentions? And since that game there have been a number of games that have changed their title screens to depict the progression of the player which can be seen in a title such as Half Life 2.
Tomb Raider 4 Demo Flying Camera Title Screen
Tomb Raider The Last Revelation Title Screen
Tomb Raider The Last Revelation Remastered Title Screen
To sum up the Times Exclusive level it was nice to revisit the level in remastered form although it is it is a shame that it is rather short, but it is very much appreciated that it has been included in the second remastered collection of the original games and now console players can play the once PC exclusive level.
Overall I enjoyed revisiting Tomb Raider 4 in remastered form and it remains my second favourite game in the Tomb Raider series.