Review
Played on: PlayStation
Released: 1996
Released: 1996
In 1996 Core Design finalised and released such a game.
Tomb Raider.
Tomb Raider.
Not only did it spiral upwards on its innovative gaming experience alone, but it also made the main heroine reach even higher levels of fame. Lara Croft wasn’t the first famous female lead but indeed a pioneer to reach this incredible amount of popularity. Girl power of the 90s indeed, Lara became a character synonymous with the industry next to the likes of Mario and Sonic.
All this though, is history and you can read up on how this amazing title came to be elsewhere. I warmly recommend it. This review is about going back to a title I played so many, many years ago.
You see, I’ve played Tomb Raider back in the 90s but I also haven’t played it.
As such, my earlier experience with this title is a patchwork. I never got to play it in one complete playthrough. Sometimes I’d see the start of a level, then go home for supper, returning in the evening only to continue playing or watching where my friend had progressed to. He would replay it many times, so I'd jump in wherever he was at the time.
Sure, it’s copying typical Hollywood tropes all the way back to movies like Indiana Jones, with undiscovered, ancient tombs full of traps, mechanical doors and dangerous animals. It’s a cliché that never stops intriguing. Games may have touched on these ideas prior to Tomb Raider, but none of them made you feel like you were actually there in 3D and surprisingly, still even to this day, does.
There’s this unsettling and eerie underlying tone of entrapment, with distant noises accompanying the atmosphere. Combined with your determination to survive, that triggers all at once into this unique experience. You're curios by nature to explore, yet at the same time vulnerable and scared of what lies around the next corner.
In its international journey along its story, TR visits tombs and caves worldwide. Each one with their subdued but unique colour scheme and rocky stone style. There’s not tons of detail and variation, but every time you discover an ancient building or beautiful interior of an ancient hall, the game shines so brilliantly. The of size of interior halls, caves and buildings is incredibly well done. Large structures look massive and intimidating to climb, the sense of height is spot on.
The usage of enemies is done with care too, never too many at the same time and often jump scare introductions of larger enemies. While the combat is fairly limited with Lara auto locking her guns to enemies, your main job is basically jumping about avoiding attacks while holding the fire button. Combat is used sparingly enough to shake you out of your peaceful exploring at just the right moments.
All this though, is history and you can read up on how this amazing title came to be elsewhere. I warmly recommend it. This review is about going back to a title I played so many, many years ago.
Confused? Well, I believe I played most of it, at least seen most of it. Back then I used to play together with a friend who was a massive Tomb Raider fan. In fact, he introduced me to the whole franchise. I'd go to his place and play it, prior even to owning a PS1 myself. While I never was as good to play it as my friend, I loved experiencing it and watching him play.
As such, my earlier experience with this title is a patchwork. I never got to play it in one complete playthrough. Sometimes I’d see the start of a level, then go home for supper, returning in the evening only to continue playing or watching where my friend had progressed to. He would replay it many times, so I'd jump in wherever he was at the time.
That’s how we played back then and I don't regret it at all. Those were shared, beautiful memories of a young generation of teenagers pulled into the early years of 3D gaming. It was wonderful to share the moments.
In perfect alignment, but not intentional, with the 25th anniversary for TR1 in 2021, released first on Sega Saturn on 25 October 1996, I’m back to play through it all. Finally crossing this title off my list of must play titles in a lifetime. I decided to go for the PS1 version as it runs better than the Saturn one and is the version i first played. I also opted out of the high-resolution PC version, it looked "wrong" compared to my nostalgia.
In perfect alignment, but not intentional, with the 25th anniversary for TR1 in 2021, released first on Sega Saturn on 25 October 1996, I’m back to play through it all. Finally crossing this title off my list of must play titles in a lifetime. I decided to go for the PS1 version as it runs better than the Saturn one and is the version i first played. I also opted out of the high-resolution PC version, it looked "wrong" compared to my nostalgia.
So, I sat down in front of a boxy CRT TV, on a PS1, just like back in '96.
The memories poured in.
Although extremely basic looking by modern standards, the intro FMV is an intriguing watch. Setting off with a bang, depicting a nuke blowing up in 1945, which in turn reveals an artefact beneath the ground. Fast forward to modern day, well modern day in the mid 90’s at least, where Lara is asked by Jacqueline Natla and her corporation to help find the missing Talisman called the Scion. The intro pulls you into a much larger plot than simply Lara doing some tomb raiding.
Although extremely basic looking by modern standards, the intro FMV is an intriguing watch. Setting off with a bang, depicting a nuke blowing up in 1945, which in turn reveals an artefact beneath the ground. Fast forward to modern day, well modern day in the mid 90’s at least, where Lara is asked by Jacqueline Natla and her corporation to help find the missing Talisman called the Scion. The intro pulls you into a much larger plot than simply Lara doing some tomb raiding.
Perhaps typically of games from this era, after the intro you're very much left to your own demise, with sparse in-game and FMV cutscenes used along the playthrough to explain the main plot. For good or for worse.
When the intro settles and the first level begins, we find Lara locked within a snowy tomb with wolf prints leading into the darkness. Here we realise this larger plot means little for Lara; this is where her curiosity and adventurous side comes to play.
When the intro settles and the first level begins, we find Lara locked within a snowy tomb with wolf prints leading into the darkness. Here we realise this larger plot means little for Lara; this is where her curiosity and adventurous side comes to play.
It’s where you as a player take control and begin an extremely well laid out learning curve throughout the whole experience. This constant, but fair, difficulty curve makes you feel like you’re just as cool, collected and awesome as Lara herself to traverse traps, jumps and puzzles at the end of the game.
Sure, it’s copying typical Hollywood tropes all the way back to movies like Indiana Jones, with undiscovered, ancient tombs full of traps, mechanical doors and dangerous animals. It’s a cliché that never stops intriguing. Games may have touched on these ideas prior to Tomb Raider, but none of them made you feel like you were actually there in 3D and surprisingly, still even to this day, does.
There’s this unsettling and eerie underlying tone of entrapment, with distant noises accompanying the atmosphere. Combined with your determination to survive, that triggers all at once into this unique experience. You're curios by nature to explore, yet at the same time vulnerable and scared of what lies around the next corner.
Tomb Raider is relentless when it comes to Lara’s vulnerability, a large fall, a hidden spike trap or rolling boulder will instantly kill her. This further heightens the sensation of danger that the player engages when controlling Lara.
For someone unknown to the game, it looks very difficult, but for the player which has followed the careful learning curve, it feels natural.
Moments of surprise are thrown at you with no mercy, be it animals, sudden required jumps, spikes, traps or even dinosaurs. The game doesn’t care, you simply must cope, analyse in the moment and survive with what you've learnt so far. Yet, it never feels unfair or cheap.
Moments of surprise are thrown at you with no mercy, be it animals, sudden required jumps, spikes, traps or even dinosaurs. The game doesn’t care, you simply must cope, analyse in the moment and survive with what you've learnt so far. Yet, it never feels unfair or cheap.
The size of Tomb Raider is utilised well: not only are the levels slowly progressive in their difficulty, but they’re also well designed for you to hone all of Lara’s many movements, jumps and interactions in safe environments before throwing you deeper into more complex situations. Sure, it has its small spikes in difficulty here and there, but it’s well-balanced even for beginners.
Same as how the tension of dangers is uniquely built with atmosphere, are its moments of safety too. Those reliefs as you reach the next save crystal, or finally jump to safety after a massive and tricky climb. Accompanied by the beautiful, but cleverly, sparsely used, soundtrack to heighten a victory or moment of breathing out. There are few games that pull you into its world the way TR1 does and makes you feel in its moments of danger, success and awe as you discover incredible worlds beneath the ground.
These days it's a rough looking game visually, built up of square boxes and sharp edges. However, this grid-based design has a purpose: TR1 is a mechanical but precise game to play. It's about learning how high Lara can jump, how far, be it with or without running speed, or how high she can fall.
Same as how the tension of dangers is uniquely built with atmosphere, are its moments of safety too. Those reliefs as you reach the next save crystal, or finally jump to safety after a massive and tricky climb. Accompanied by the beautiful, but cleverly, sparsely used, soundtrack to heighten a victory or moment of breathing out. There are few games that pull you into its world the way TR1 does and makes you feel in its moments of danger, success and awe as you discover incredible worlds beneath the ground.
These days it's a rough looking game visually, built up of square boxes and sharp edges. However, this grid-based design has a purpose: TR1 is a mechanical but precise game to play. It's about learning how high Lara can jump, how far, be it with or without running speed, or how high she can fall.
Knowing these aspects, and learning the control scheme to navigate it all, ends up in this zen-like state of going beyond the simple struggle of controlling Lara. That’s when you find yourself studying the landscape and finding out routes and ways to traverse heights and falls, never did you love a camera button for viewing the environment like you did in TR. Taking a peek at where you're about to climb or jump!
While generalists will argue that it’s a tank-controlled game, it doesn’t feel as awkward as a classic Resident Evil title does for inexperienced players. The camera is locked behind Lara and rotates with her, as such the tank controls feel surprisingly logical without the weird sensation of left and right being changed around with various static Resident Evil camera angles.
While generalists will argue that it’s a tank-controlled game, it doesn’t feel as awkward as a classic Resident Evil title does for inexperienced players. The camera is locked behind Lara and rotates with her, as such the tank controls feel surprisingly logical without the weird sensation of left and right being changed around with various static Resident Evil camera angles.
Sidesteps let Lara line up perfectly straight jumps and the walk button holds Lara safe from falls and won’t allow Lara to fall off an edge. It’s a subtle but a neat way of letting the player feel some comfort in safety on a ledge far above the ground.
The controls always require interaction to keep Lara alive though, something I can imagine will overwhelm newcomers, even grabbing a ledge requires a button to be held or you'll fall to your certain death below. There’s no automated moves that will keep you safe from falling.
The controls always require interaction to keep Lara alive though, something I can imagine will overwhelm newcomers, even grabbing a ledge requires a button to be held or you'll fall to your certain death below. There’s no automated moves that will keep you safe from falling.
What on paper sounds like a relentless and quick way you can get yourself killed multiple times, makes up for itself with logical and mechanical movements with its controls. A mistake is your fault as a player for not thinking before jumping, lining up Lara correctly or holding on to a ledge. Reload your save and you’ll see that even on your second attempt you're playing more cleverly.
In its international journey along its story, TR visits tombs and caves worldwide. Each one with their subdued but unique colour scheme and rocky stone style. There’s not tons of detail and variation, but every time you discover an ancient building or beautiful interior of an ancient hall, the game shines so brilliantly. The of size of interior halls, caves and buildings is incredibly well done. Large structures look massive and intimidating to climb, the sense of height is spot on.
On the flip side to massive structures, there’s also a fair bit of claustrophobic swimming, often forcing you to really push Lara’s air meter to the end of her breath. Who knew, that in such an early 3D title like this, they absolutely nailed the water physics and swimming controls. Usually I don’t like underwater segments in games, in TR1 however, I was looking forward to them!
The usage of enemies is done with care too, never too many at the same time and often jump scare introductions of larger enemies. While the combat is fairly limited with Lara auto locking her guns to enemies, your main job is basically jumping about avoiding attacks while holding the fire button. Combat is used sparingly enough to shake you out of your peaceful exploring at just the right moments.
There are a few, rare, encounters with human enemies that are far from satisfying due to the way the combat works. Early indications that the series should stick to animals and creatures as enemies, not gun fights against humans.
Sure, the gameplay takes some time to get used to, and it does feel a little robotic at times, there’s nothing that hinders you from building experience and realising they're right for the level design.
Sure, the gameplay takes some time to get used to, and it does feel a little robotic at times, there’s nothing that hinders you from building experience and realising they're right for the level design.
Also, when it comes to the story the limited amount of both CGI and in-game cutscenes and dialogue leave it feeling empty. Without explanation you simply must figure out why you even are in the location in the first place. It can feel a little bare-bones, while I appreciate the main plot, I'd have appreciated more dialogue and explanations. Maybe some story notes along the way would've helped out?
Overall, my reunion to this 90s classic has been a joyful ride and a renewal of my massive respect for this title. From snowy caves, a T-Rex fight, climbing a massive Sphinx, meeting a creepy doppelgänger or discovering a massive indoors pyramid in Atlantis, there are so many memorable places along the way! It’s really made me realise what a landmark and important title this truly was, and still is, for the history of gaming.
An absolute classic and probably one of the best titles ever made in context of its release date. A definitive must play in the vast library of classic titles.
An absolute classic and probably one of the best titles ever made in context of its release date. A definitive must play in the vast library of classic titles.
