Favourite Tomb Raider Games (In Reverse Order)
09. Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
I remember when this came out and was shocked at all the negative reviews that the game received. Core Design's final Tomb Raider game before Edios eventually handed over the franchise to Crystal Dynamics. The last British developed Tomb Raider.
08. Tomb Raider: Chronicles
08. Tomb Raider: Chronicles
Chronicles is my least favourite of the first five Tomb Raider games, but still an enjoyable game. It was split up into four different sections from Lara's life. The sections varied from playing as a rather defenceless Lara during her teenage years, traditional adventuring in Rome, infiltrating a submarine and also included a rather Matrix style section (rather fitting, as apparently the elevator scene in the first game, inspired the elevator scene in the matrix - may be or not be true).
Each section of the game was like a mini adventure, but it did not feel very cohesive and maybe a bit rushed, still, I enjoyed the first section in Rome, it had some memorable moments.
07. Tomb Raider: Legend
Tomb Raider Legend was the first Tomb Raider title to be developed by Crystal Dynamics. The game received mostly positive reviews by critics. It was the intention of Crystal Dynamics to go back to Tomb Raider's roots, as it was felt that the Tomb Raider series had shifted its focus too far away from what made Tomb Raider an enjoyable game series.
I really did like the game, but I was also slightly disappointed. It had some great moments, but to me, it felt that it seemed more like a James Bond game rather than a Tomb Raider game. It was very human combat focused and had a strong emphasis on guns and gadgets.
06. Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact
Core Design's third developed Tomb Raider game. The game involves travelling around the world tracking down various artefacts that have been fashioned from a meteorite that crashed onto earth thousands of years ago. The highlights included, riding a mine cart through the RX-Tech mines in the Antarctica, running along the beaches in the South Pacific, river Kayaking in India and infiltrating Area 51 in Nevada. With the exception of the first and last sections the order of which continent Lara visited was entirely up to the player.
The PC version also contains five extra levels which, further adds to the story of Tomb Raider III. In the Lost Artefact Lara learns of the existence of a fifth artefact, which involves locations such as a trap riddled subterranean Laboratory underneath a Scottish castle and the Paris catacombs. The Lost Artefact is a very enjoyable expansion that should be played by all fans of the old style Tomb Raider games.
05. Tomb Raider: Underworld
Crystal Dynamics third Tomb Raider title and newest release (that is, until crystal Dynamics release the long awaited Tomb Raider Reboot). As well as Tomb Raider Anniversary, I felt that Tomb Raider Underworld matched the original Tomb Raider more closely than Legend did. It felt very like the original Tomb Raider game but with more modern graphics and controls.
I like that most areas the player visited seemed to be divided into two parts, the first part of an area was a massive outside area and then the second part would be in some underground ancient temple or 'underworld.' The game included locations such as, the Mediterranean Sea, Thailand and Mexico.
04. Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask
Tomb Raider II was quite a different game from the original, the core elements of the first Tomb Raider were still there, but the game had become a lot more action packed, vehicles could now be driven and modern environments were available to explore.
Now, human enemy thugs littered each level, which put more of an 'action' emphasis on the game compared to the original. It was enjoyable, but I preferred the original's exploring and plat-forming broken up by the occasional action moments.
Vehicles could now be driven in the game, who could forget driving a speedboat around the canals of Venice or driving on a snowmobile around the icy snow covered level of the Tibetan Foothills?
The second Tomb Raider had a wider variety of levels - for better or worse. Levels included, an oil rig, Venice, the snowy mountains, a Tibetan monk monastery, The Great Wall of China and of course that strange but cool Floating Islands level. One highlight of the Barkhang Monastery of Tomb Raider II was when the monks would help you combat the invading terrorists, as long as you did not attack the monks - or they would retaliate!
The PC version of Tomb Raider II is my ultimate version of Tomb Raider II, as it features a new side story and four extra levels which, start on an island in the Bering Sea. Lara's objective is to search for an ancient magical artefact known as The Golden Mask.
03. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the fourth game in the series, is a an underrated game in my opinion, I remember upon original release the game received many positive reviews (at least from British gaming publications). I have heard many gaming critics, speaking in hindsight, stating that the original Tomb Raider games became progressively worse - an opinion which I somewhat disagree with.
Although, enjoyable the previous game in the franchise, Tomb Raider III, felt like Core Design went a bit too silly with some locations - running around Area 51 and the London Underground, were for me, the worst parts of Tomb Raider III. I missed actually raiding tombs and traversing ancient structures that made me enjoy the original game so much.
The Last Revelation was solely set in Egypt (in my opinion probably the most interesting setting for a Tomb Raider game) and in a move that, was possibly inspired by Crystal Dynamics Soul Reaver, the traditional structure of going through a game level by level was dropped.
Now, it was structured as one huge environment with different areas which could be revisited by the player (a concept that is now very common in many modern titles). This was the first time Tomb Raider truly did this for the whole game. This was briefly achieved in the first Tomb Raider after the finishing the Tomb of Qualopec level where the player is required to go back to the Lost Valley level.
Each section of the first Tomb Raider game felt like it was structured as one area but it only gave the illusion of this, you could never revisit a previous 'level' (apart from that one time during the Qualpec/Lost Valley section).
02. Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider Anniversary is the second Tomb Raider game developed by Crystal Dynamics and my second favourite Tomb Raider game of all time. Tomb Raider Anniversary is a remake of Core Design's original Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics faced a difficult task, it was only their second Tomb Raider and they had to please fans of the original game and also had to adapt the original and translate it for (then) modern audiences.
In my view, they succeed and Anniversary has become my favourite of the Crystal Dynamic Tomb Raider games (with Underworld coming in at a close second place).
Crystal Dynamics improved greatly on many features that were in the original Tomb Raider. Obviously, the graphics in the remake were greatly improved, puzzles were added in certain levels that did not exist in the original and plat-forming was more intricate.
An example of the improved plat-forming and puzzle solving is the wheel cog puzzle in the Lost Valley area. In the original game, the player was required to find three cogs by exploring the Lost Valley and then inserting the cogs into a wall in specific area and the game required a switch to be pulled in order to start a contraption - this was great during 1996 when the original game came out, but for would have to be rethought in a modern way for the new game. The remake took this idea and turned it on its head, by creating a huge environmental puzzle that involved the player finding the cogs, like the original, but also required the player to traverse giant cogs that needed to be switched on to reach the next part and find the rest of the cogs.
Tomb Raider Anniversary had some nice extra features, one of the most notable extras was the Audio Commentary. After completing the game audio commentary is unlocked. Toby Gard (part of the team that created Lara Croft on the original Tomb Raider) contributed to the commentary, I found this the most interesting extra in the game. It was very interesting to hear Gard recount specific things that happened during the development process on the original game and hear about the development process during the remake.
While overall, Crystal Dynamics improved upon the original, there were some things that the original just did better, and thus my number one Tomb Raider game is ...
01. Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business
Tomb Raider is my favourite Tomb Raider of all time, and possibly my favourite game of all time, yes a lot of this is nostalgia, but no matter how much future Tomb Raider games improve (or games in general), the original Tomb Raider will always mean a lot to me.
It ticked all the right boxes for me when it came out. It was one of the first games that I ever played in 3D, at a time when I was used to playing a lot of 2D games, it is hard to describe how amazing the feeling was when you could go any way you wanted, as opposed to just being able to go left and right in 2D games; It was like playing an Indiana Jones movie, films I was a big fan of as a child (and still am a fan of) and also I was somewhat interested in ancient cultures and myths - so the story of Tomb Raider which was focussed on exploring the ruins of different ancient cultures and the myth of Atlantis also grabbed my interest.
A key moment of the game was the T-Rex encounter where the screen starts to shake, the thunderous music begins to play and then the giant T-Rex is revealed to the player. In later play-throughs, I would not attack the T-Rex and would try to complete the level attempting to avoid being eaten by the T-Rex, thus making it more intense and fun (I am sure I am not the only one that did this).
Some other moments that stood out for me were St Francis Folly, The coliseum, turning to gold in Palace Midas, Larson and Pierre pursuing Lara throughout her journey, facing a grizzly bear in the City of Vilcabamba, discovering each part of the Scion, standing on top of the giant sphinx in Egypt, the first encounter with an Atlantiean guard and the final battle/escape.
The first Tomb Raider also has my favourite music of the Tomb Raider series, other entries in the series also have excellent music, but my favourite tracks are in the first Tomb Raider game. The main theme sets the tone and sends a chill down my spine. To me, the haunting vocals sounded like the remnants of the past lives that once thrived and lived thousands of years ago in the now empty locations.
There was not a lot of music during the first Tomb Raider which helped emphasise the isolation of the character which, was also projected onto the player - as it has to be remembered, Lara/the player was the first human life to step into these locations in thousands of years.
Also, the PC edition features four exclusive levels that were never released on the console version - not even the recent digital Good Old Games releases include the expansion. The expansion pack contains two chapters with two levels each, Return to Egypt and Shadow of the Cat.
Return to Egypt is the first chapter and takes place a few months after the events of Tomb Raider, in which Lara returns to the City of Khamoon to investigate a mysterious statue of the cat deity Bastet. The second chapter actually happens immediately after the last level of Tomb Raider and Lara is tasked with destroying the final inhabitants of Atlantis.
I only played the Unfinished Business section of Tomb Raider a few months ago, for the first time. This was because the only way I could previous play the game was on an older version of Windows and even then I would only be able to control the game with a keyboard (which makes the game unplayable for me). Thankfully, I found out about the existence of a fan made installer that makes the game compatible with Windows 7 (both 32/64 bit) Operating Systems. I was also able to control the game with my Xbox 360 for Windows controller thanks to Xpadder (a program that allows controller buttons to emulate the keys of a keyboard).
So, I managed to recently play extra levels for my favourite Tomb Raider game around 12ish years after its initial release. It was great to finally be able to play those levels, the only problem I had with Unfinished Business was that the chapters were in the wrong chronological order, but in the correct order in terms of difficulty.
The first Tomb Raider is rather slow compared to the other four titles that run on the original PlayStation. I find playing the first Tomb Raider on the PC matches the speed of playing the subsequent releases on the PlayStation.
The original Tomb Raider games have recently been released digitally on the PC, through Good Old Games, for an affordable price and have Windows 7 compatibility - there has never been a better time to pick them up on PC (Just a shame that the expansion packs for Tomb Raider 1 - 3 were not released - maybe one day they will be).
.jpg)
07. Tomb Raider: Legend
I really did like the game, but I was also slightly disappointed. It had some great moments, but to me, it felt that it seemed more like a James Bond game rather than a Tomb Raider game. It was very human combat focused and had a strong emphasis on guns and gadgets.
06. Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artefact
The PC version also contains five extra levels which, further adds to the story of Tomb Raider III. In the Lost Artefact Lara learns of the existence of a fifth artefact, which involves locations such as a trap riddled subterranean Laboratory underneath a Scottish castle and the Paris catacombs. The Lost Artefact is a very enjoyable expansion that should be played by all fans of the old style Tomb Raider games.
05. Tomb Raider: Underworld
I like that most areas the player visited seemed to be divided into two parts, the first part of an area was a massive outside area and then the second part would be in some underground ancient temple or 'underworld.' The game included locations such as, the Mediterranean Sea, Thailand and Mexico.
04. Tomb Raider II: The Golden Mask
Now, human enemy thugs littered each level, which put more of an 'action' emphasis on the game compared to the original. It was enjoyable, but I preferred the original's exploring and plat-forming broken up by the occasional action moments.
Vehicles could now be driven in the game, who could forget driving a speedboat around the canals of Venice or driving on a snowmobile around the icy snow covered level of the Tibetan Foothills?
The second Tomb Raider had a wider variety of levels - for better or worse. Levels included, an oil rig, Venice, the snowy mountains, a Tibetan monk monastery, The Great Wall of China and of course that strange but cool Floating Islands level. One highlight of the Barkhang Monastery of Tomb Raider II was when the monks would help you combat the invading terrorists, as long as you did not attack the monks - or they would retaliate!
The PC version of Tomb Raider II is my ultimate version of Tomb Raider II, as it features a new side story and four extra levels which, start on an island in the Bering Sea. Lara's objective is to search for an ancient magical artefact known as The Golden Mask.
03. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the fourth game in the series, is a an underrated game in my opinion, I remember upon original release the game received many positive reviews (at least from British gaming publications). I have heard many gaming critics, speaking in hindsight, stating that the original Tomb Raider games became progressively worse - an opinion which I somewhat disagree with.
Although, enjoyable the previous game in the franchise, Tomb Raider III, felt like Core Design went a bit too silly with some locations - running around Area 51 and the London Underground, were for me, the worst parts of Tomb Raider III. I missed actually raiding tombs and traversing ancient structures that made me enjoy the original game so much.
The Last Revelation was solely set in Egypt (in my opinion probably the most interesting setting for a Tomb Raider game) and in a move that, was possibly inspired by Crystal Dynamics Soul Reaver, the traditional structure of going through a game level by level was dropped.
Now, it was structured as one huge environment with different areas which could be revisited by the player (a concept that is now very common in many modern titles). This was the first time Tomb Raider truly did this for the whole game. This was briefly achieved in the first Tomb Raider after the finishing the Tomb of Qualopec level where the player is required to go back to the Lost Valley level.
Each section of the first Tomb Raider game felt like it was structured as one area but it only gave the illusion of this, you could never revisit a previous 'level' (apart from that one time during the Qualpec/Lost Valley section).
02. Tomb Raider: Anniversary
In my view, they succeed and Anniversary has become my favourite of the Crystal Dynamic Tomb Raider games (with Underworld coming in at a close second place).
Crystal Dynamics improved greatly on many features that were in the original Tomb Raider. Obviously, the graphics in the remake were greatly improved, puzzles were added in certain levels that did not exist in the original and plat-forming was more intricate.
An example of the improved plat-forming and puzzle solving is the wheel cog puzzle in the Lost Valley area. In the original game, the player was required to find three cogs by exploring the Lost Valley and then inserting the cogs into a wall in specific area and the game required a switch to be pulled in order to start a contraption - this was great during 1996 when the original game came out, but for would have to be rethought in a modern way for the new game. The remake took this idea and turned it on its head, by creating a huge environmental puzzle that involved the player finding the cogs, like the original, but also required the player to traverse giant cogs that needed to be switched on to reach the next part and find the rest of the cogs.
Tomb Raider Anniversary had some nice extra features, one of the most notable extras was the Audio Commentary. After completing the game audio commentary is unlocked. Toby Gard (part of the team that created Lara Croft on the original Tomb Raider) contributed to the commentary, I found this the most interesting extra in the game. It was very interesting to hear Gard recount specific things that happened during the development process on the original game and hear about the development process during the remake.
While overall, Crystal Dynamics improved upon the original, there were some things that the original just did better, and thus my number one Tomb Raider game is ...
01. Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business
It ticked all the right boxes for me when it came out. It was one of the first games that I ever played in 3D, at a time when I was used to playing a lot of 2D games, it is hard to describe how amazing the feeling was when you could go any way you wanted, as opposed to just being able to go left and right in 2D games; It was like playing an Indiana Jones movie, films I was a big fan of as a child (and still am a fan of) and also I was somewhat interested in ancient cultures and myths - so the story of Tomb Raider which was focussed on exploring the ruins of different ancient cultures and the myth of Atlantis also grabbed my interest.
A key moment of the game was the T-Rex encounter where the screen starts to shake, the thunderous music begins to play and then the giant T-Rex is revealed to the player. In later play-throughs, I would not attack the T-Rex and would try to complete the level attempting to avoid being eaten by the T-Rex, thus making it more intense and fun (I am sure I am not the only one that did this).
Some other moments that stood out for me were St Francis Folly, The coliseum, turning to gold in Palace Midas, Larson and Pierre pursuing Lara throughout her journey, facing a grizzly bear in the City of Vilcabamba, discovering each part of the Scion, standing on top of the giant sphinx in Egypt, the first encounter with an Atlantiean guard and the final battle/escape.
The first Tomb Raider also has my favourite music of the Tomb Raider series, other entries in the series also have excellent music, but my favourite tracks are in the first Tomb Raider game. The main theme sets the tone and sends a chill down my spine. To me, the haunting vocals sounded like the remnants of the past lives that once thrived and lived thousands of years ago in the now empty locations.
There was not a lot of music during the first Tomb Raider which helped emphasise the isolation of the character which, was also projected onto the player - as it has to be remembered, Lara/the player was the first human life to step into these locations in thousands of years.
Also, the PC edition features four exclusive levels that were never released on the console version - not even the recent digital Good Old Games releases include the expansion. The expansion pack contains two chapters with two levels each, Return to Egypt and Shadow of the Cat.
Return to Egypt is the first chapter and takes place a few months after the events of Tomb Raider, in which Lara returns to the City of Khamoon to investigate a mysterious statue of the cat deity Bastet. The second chapter actually happens immediately after the last level of Tomb Raider and Lara is tasked with destroying the final inhabitants of Atlantis.
I only played the Unfinished Business section of Tomb Raider a few months ago, for the first time. This was because the only way I could previous play the game was on an older version of Windows and even then I would only be able to control the game with a keyboard (which makes the game unplayable for me). Thankfully, I found out about the existence of a fan made installer that makes the game compatible with Windows 7 (both 32/64 bit) Operating Systems. I was also able to control the game with my Xbox 360 for Windows controller thanks to Xpadder (a program that allows controller buttons to emulate the keys of a keyboard).
So, I managed to recently play extra levels for my favourite Tomb Raider game around 12ish years after its initial release. It was great to finally be able to play those levels, the only problem I had with Unfinished Business was that the chapters were in the wrong chronological order, but in the correct order in terms of difficulty.
The first Tomb Raider is rather slow compared to the other four titles that run on the original PlayStation. I find playing the first Tomb Raider on the PC matches the speed of playing the subsequent releases on the PlayStation.
The original Tomb Raider games have recently been released digitally on the PC, through Good Old Games, for an affordable price and have Windows 7 compatibility - there has never been a better time to pick them up on PC (Just a shame that the expansion packs for Tomb Raider 1 - 3 were not released - maybe one day they will be).
.jpg)
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment