Review
Played on: Xbox Series XReleased: 2024
Original release: 1998 (PS1 & PC)
After my playthroughs of Tomb Raider I & II, reviews here and here, I went ahead and began on the third. Initially, I opted for the PC version on Steam. My thought being that by the time TRIII came out, in 1998, the PC version began having advancements the PS1 hardware couldn't keep up with. Even though this was the first in the series built entirely with the PS1 in mind, the smoothed out textures and better framerate was a thing for higher end graphics cards on PC.
Another factor for choosing the PC version was that it was renowned to be a tough game and the PS1 version has a limited amount of saves throughout it's playthrough, while the PC can save anywhere.
Sadly, I ran into problems running the original PC version. I finally got through a few of the first Indian jungle levels but after swapping to a new PC I was unsuccessful in getting it up and running again. Disappointed, I moved on to something else.
However, a remastered trilogy was announced in late 2023, review of my overall impression of that collection here, and thus I had a new chance of completing TRIII! In this remaster trilogy I warmed up by replaying I & II, easing myself into III's difficulty. Disappointingly, the original graphics look like raw, non-smoothed textures of the PS1 version and run 30fps with stutters. It's neat to switch back and forth between the new and old just to compare, though.
Let's put on our mountain boots and take a closer look at Lara's third adventure!
On release, amidst the 90s craze of Lara Croft popularity, TRIII received praising reviews. One of them I read was in the Official UK PlayStation Magazine. It even came along with a playable demo level of Nevada!
I told a close friend who was really into the franchise, about the 10/10 review, but after a lot of hours into it he reported back his disappointment. His main complaints were the number of modern styled levels and action focus, as well as quickly becoming burnt out on the difficulty. Having finally played through myself, my impression more positive than I expected, but there are issues I have with it.
The opening levels set in India are a great location, bringing a lush jungle into the franchise. The way the light comes down through branches of large trees, with the ancient buildings blended into with the jungle, is impressive. New to the show are triangle shaped boxes too, allowing for more diversity and less box-like level design. There's an iconic warm and yellow colour scheme blended with greens and earthy colours here too.
It's obvious this third entry ups the bar in difficulty, even from these opening levels. Ruthlessly throwing completely off-guard traps at the player, messing you over with repeated dangerous falls, boulders and spikes. It sets the tone for the whole experience; this is Tomb Raider for hardened veterans. Sure, TRII could be quite nasty with surprise traps too, but TRIII is a whole new level of trying to literally kill the player.
After the gruelling beginning, including a tricky but fun quad bike level, the player is left with a choice of where to send Lara. In a radical change from TR I & II's linear progression, TRIII offers a choice between Pacific Islands, Nevada and London as your next destinations on a world map! I recall people positively mentioning the Pacific Islands as the most classic styled location and, on the other end of the scale, I'd heard many complaints about London.
So, I decided to go for the latter first to get it out of the way. A clear mistake, and why the openchoice of world locations might not be as smart as it seems, more on that further down.
In classic 90's style, Lara sports a catsuit as she takes on the London sewer and subway system as some sort of Hollywood spy trope. The remaster has beefed up the backgrounds and lighting, especially on the outdoor parts. Giving it a more believable city vibe, while at the same time it's still the wrong location for a Tomb Raider all together. Modern cities and secret agent stuff belongs in a different genre and it's obvious the game engine isn't suited for the task.
The opening level of London at least sports a lot of verticality, forcing the player to think differently. But the locations layout is confusing and without much logic the further you get into it's other levels. You need to keep your bearings as you backtrack back and forth looking for keys, climbing ventilation shafts, subway rails and confusing mazes of underground corridors.
In classic 90's style, Lara sports a catsuit as she takes on the London sewer and subway system as some sort of Hollywood spy trope. The remaster has beefed up the backgrounds and lighting, especially on the outdoor parts. Giving it a more believable city vibe, while at the same time it's still the wrong location for a Tomb Raider all together. Modern cities and secret agent stuff belongs in a different genre and it's obvious the game engine isn't suited for the task.
The opening level of London at least sports a lot of verticality, forcing the player to think differently. But the locations layout is confusing and without much logic the further you get into it's other levels. You need to keep your bearings as you backtrack back and forth looking for keys, climbing ventilation shafts, subway rails and confusing mazes of underground corridors.
Herein some of TRIII's problems begin to surface. The previous entries felt like a lever or key unlocked your way onwards, a clear sense of progression, albeit with some backtracking exceptions. TRIII, on the other hand, has you unlocking something, to backtrack to unlock another thing, only to find yet another locked door before advancing anywhere at all. The pacing is obnoxious at times, backtracking through intricate level designs, shifting over from exciting exploring to a climbing chore.
Luckily, once London is done it only gets better. Nevada is straightforward and charmingly begins in dusty canyons surrounded by steep mountains. There's lots of exciting climbing which feels natural with a clear sense of where you need to go. There's less confusing paths and overdone backtracking in this location.
Here's where my gripe with the world map is worth mentioning: Nevada should've been the mandatory choice after the opening India location. If only to ease players into a modern setting, without overly intricate level design. That said, even this location ramps up the difficulty towards the end too, although nowhere near London.
While it's hardly a typical looking Tomb Raider level, Nevada at least is interesting with large canyons and kinda unsettling underground facilities in Area 51. Personally, I could've done with it leaning into the creepy atmosphere much further, perhaps throwing in aliens or something, but alas it ends with discovering a UFO and that's it.
Pacific Islands is like putting on a warm pair of gloves again, with old temples and natural environments showcasing TRIII's attempt at diversifying into jungles rather than just stone caves. There's a lot of focus on water, with large areas to explore by swimming and even Lara even gets to use a Kayak. Somehow, they've always managed to make swimming underwater great in this franchise!
Lastly, the story ends with an Antarctica location once the player has completed the other three choices on the world map. This area is fantastic with an unexpected, and scary, turn of events clearly inspired by John Carpenter's "The Thing". As you delve under the icy surfac, discovering ancient ruins, and something more sinister all together, it really shines as an ending level.
It even manages to bring an ancient temple into the mix, with various rooms of weather elements to complete, buried deep underground on a research excavation site. It's a great location, but brutally difficult at times and the end boss is a nightmare unless you save spam him or have tons of the most powerful ammo.
The overall impression of locations are solid, minus London, and I do believe the positive reviews back in the day are indeed deserved. That said, I believe the reviewers were extremely experienced players. My main gripe is the tedious labour to work out the intricate level designs by yourself, while throwing a relentless difficulty at you. It's a sluggish completion of trying and failing, over and over, while being stuck, roaming back and forth wondering where the next unlocked door may be. The pacing is obnoxious and the rewards for progressing are too few and long between.
After two brilliant titles, it was inevitable that by the third release some of the novelty would wear off. While the developers would indeed begin to feel the pressure of yearly releasing Tomb Raider titles when the fourth game began development, I don't feel there's a sense of lack of creativity here. It's more an issue with modern locations and shoot-outs with humans, which stretches what the game engine and core formula was intended to do. In addition to action focus, complex levels are ramped up to a level where I questioned the entertainment value at certain points.
For those that dig their heels in and keep marching on through the campaign you're at least served extremely varied environments and levels. I appreciate the new movements Lara can perform too: crawling, running fast and hanging from overhead railings. Combined with the game engine's new triangle blocks there's a step up of new gameplay elements and level design.
I've tested the PlayStation, PC and the recent remaster version of this title, the latter is the most compatible and easiest way to play it. You can switch between the modern and PS1 graphics at any time. While the game engine of TR didn't change much during its lifespan across the PS1 generation, there are small incremental updates along the way. Most noticeable in increased coloured lighting and the usage of the aforementioned triangle building blocks for the environments.
Of the three titles in the remastered trilogy, I felt the visuals are at their best in TRIII. It works well with the natural environments, spiced up with lots of added foliage to bushes and trees. As well as proper outdoors lighting which looks much better than the darkened distance of the original. Yet, some of the colour schemes, atmosphere and art direction is lost in transition in many of the indoor locations. A recent patch, too late for my playthrough sadly, has at least restored some of the more correct colour to the lighting but it still looks vastly different in scenes to the original.
While it won't outshine the first two releases, TRII is a solid entry in the franchise. I just wish it would feel less like a chore when backtracking about the overly complex level designs. It's clearly aimed at veterans, but sold tons to newcomers at the height of its popularity.
There's a large discrepancy here in how you enjoy TRIII in conjunction with your skill level, but I still feel the overall flow and endless backtracking is overly punishing and breaks the entertainment of rewarding progression. At the end of the day, I'm glad I kept going through the toughest parts, because outside of them it had some excellent moments.
