I remember it like it was yesterday, Christmas Day 1997. My father previously borrowed an issue of Gamepro Magazine from my brother and I in order to get the scoop on the hottest games coming out. That Christmas we received Nascar '98, Fighting Force, which I have fond memories of playing even if it didn't hold a candle to my beloved Streets of Rage, and My first introduction to the Tomb Raider Series, Tomb Raider II. I would later acquire original Tomb Raider at a rummage sale, and despite the awkwardness of jumping back from Tomb Raider II to the original, have since come to appreciate the original as probably the best in the original Tomb Raider series, even if the Second one is still my favorite. I have only in recent years acquired the rest of the series on the PS1 and PC, so my main experience with the series revolves around the first two.
Brought up in the comfort of the british aristocracy, at 21 years old Lara's life was forever changed when when her plane went down during a skiing trip to the Himalayas. Forced to survive by herself, Lara would walk into a local village 2 weeks later. After her experience, lara was hooked on adventure, and, not even being disowned, and cut off by her own family would stop her Tomb Raiding adventures, publishing the journals of which would bring her fame and fortune. Though the game's manual makes it seem as if Lara had only ever lived a life of comfort and had never been adventuring before, the story would later have a revision of sorts with the addition of young Lara in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
The opening cinema shows Lara being enticed, by a lady named Jacqueline Natla, into finding an ancient artifact known as the Scion, an artifact rumored to give immense power to the person who wields it. This, however is not going to be an easy task seeing as the Scion has been split into three pieces, and spread throughout the ancient world. The game's story is unfolded through the use of CGI cinemas and in-game sequences. Though storytelling in 1996 gaming had a minimal focus outside of RPG's, Tomb Raider's story is fairly cinematic compared to other games released in that time period.
Lara's quest for the Scion will span fifteen levels in four locations which include ruins in Peru, Greece, Egypt, and ending in the lost city of Atlantis. The game's design is spectacular. The levels, though daunting at first still show some of the best blending of exploration, puzzle elements and action based gameplay of that era of gaming. Core did an exceptional job in the level designs of this game, and the quality still shines through to this day.
I may as well just get it out of the way. The most incessant amount of whining I have heard levied against Tomb Raider by it's detractors over the years pertains to the game's controls. I'll be the first to admit, Lara is insanely hard to control. Her controls mirror games like Resident Evil where pressing up is the only way to move forward, regardless of the camera angle. This “tank” control scheme, as it has been dubbed, has an extremely high learning curve, and her jumping system also has an extremely high learning curve. However, controlling Lara is, obviously, not impossible, and the game does offer a very well made training mode for new players to get a handle on the controls.
Though, when you think about it, going back from modern control schemes to Tomb Raider's controls put you at the same disadvantage those of us who jumped from 2D control schemes we were used to into new 3D control schemes at the dawn of the 3D era. If you are too young to have experienced the 3D revolution, but want to know what it was like, go play Tomb Raider.
One must also take into account that Tomb Raider started development, and was released before analog gaming really took off. That being said, eight way run controls with the D-Pad, or even analog controls like those found in Mario 64 would not work for this game. You may wonder how I could make a claim like that, but you must keep in mind that all the levels in Tomb Raider are on a square-based grid. The control is more formulaic in nature to take advantage of a square grid. By using Lara's ability to look around, and scoping out the jump in front of you, you can determine if you can make the jump with a simple forward jump, or if you need a running jump. This requires a little bit more discernment on the player's part than the average platformer game does, but Tomb Raider, in general requires you to put a lot more thought into everything you do.
The difficult controls also combat a problem that plagued 3D games with a third person perspective for years, bad camera angles. Tomb Raider does have it's share of bad camera angles, but as I stated previously, you don't actually have to see the jump to make the jump. Lara's ability to look around means you can plot out your jump before you even start moving with the confidence that you are going to make it, even if your jumping blind. I'm not excusing bad camera angles, but as an early 3D game, they were still working out simple mechanics that we take for granted in today's gaming. When jumping in Tomb Raider, it doesn't matter what the camera does, because there is only one way to move forward. Even if the camera shifts to a completely different view, mid-jump, Lara will still make the jump. The tank controls may not be ideal, but they do have their advantages.
Compared to modern games, the controls themselves also have an open feel to them. Lara does not automatically grab ledges. You have to manually hold a button in order for her to grab them. This can make the complicated controls feel more complicated, especially if you are used to modern games that automatically grab ledges for you. I however, like this aspect, because it lets me have complete control of everything Lara does. I understand the merits of having characters automatically grab ledges, but it sometimes leads to control issues when trying to do things like drop down to a lower ledge in modern games that use it. To let go of a ledge in Tomb Raider, I just let go of the “X” button, and she drops.
In many modern games, sometimes, just trying to fall down to the ledge below is made more complicated, because characters usually turn around and grab the ledge. I realize these design measures in modern games are to prevent you from accidentally plummeting to your death from falling off the ledge which can be a very common occurrence in Tomb Raider, but I still prefer to have complete control. The grab feature isn't perfect in Tomb Raider, but it still works great. Due to the square gird, you nearly have to be lined up perfectly with a ledge to grab it. There is some forgiveness for not being perfectly square to a ledge, but the game is still a lot less forgiving about it than most. This can often times lead to Lara plummeting to her death because you were not lined up just right to the ledge, and again lead to frustrating back-tracking because of the save crystal system.
I've been playing Tomb Raider for a little over 17 years now, and yes, even I sometimes fumble over the controls here and there, however, modern control schemes didn't come to us over night. It took years of refinements and tweaking of established control schemes to get to where we are today. It also took the release of dual analog controllers, not available at the time of Tomb Raider's release, to finally get a good balance of camera, plus movement controls. That being said, this game has an extremely high learning curve when it comes to the controls, it always has, but that's just one of the things one must take into account when going back and playing the original Tomb Raider series. You are forced to learn the tough controls under fire, as the game doesn't let up as soon as you start. If you've been spoiled by the soft touch of analog controls, going back to d-pad controls means you might literally play this game until your thumb bleeds. Not an attack on the controls, but if you've lost your oldschool callus, your thumb will be aching. Plus, there may be other reasons why you'll be gripping your controller tightly which I'll get into later.
The bad thing about Tomb Raider's level designs are that often times, it's not clear what to do, or where to go next. This is one of the biggest complaints against the entire series, the game doesn't hold your hand, and you will find yourself getting completely lost, and backtracking through an entire level, trying to figure out what to do in order to progress. In fact, complaints over this design choice were voiced so loudly, and the backlash against it so great that even to this day, developers have completely sterilized their games of tough puzzle elements, making modern puzzle elements in adventure games so easy, they not only feel insulting to your intelligence, being so watered down, but they practically show you the solution from the second you enter a room, making you wonder why they even bothered adding puzzles to begin with.
But the great thing about Tomb Raider's level designs are that often times, it's not clear what to do, or where to go next. In other words, the bad thing is, the game doesn't hold your hand, but the good thing is, the game doesn't hold your hand. I, myself have spent countless hours being lost in Tomb Raider, probably more than most of those who levied complaints against the series in it's heyday, and while, I do agree, it is frustrating being absolutely stuck in the game, spending hours upon hours trying to figure out where to go next only to have the simple solution pop up, there is something that is still so completely satisfying about finally figuring it out by yourself, without help. It's a tough form of satisfaction, that you rarely see in gaming anymore. And after years of playing Tomb Raider, and learning how to scan and search every inch of a level, I have found that very few games have been able to stump me since. I remember when Uncharted 2 first came out, I had a friend who was stuck on one of the puzzles for a week. I came over, and within five minutes, solved it. I'm not saying that I haven't been stumped since(Shadow Man 2, and Primal come to mind), but because of the complaining, heavy puzzle focus in adventure games is a thing of the past, the exception being games like Zelda.
Another complaint is with the puzzle objectives, yes, there is a lot of key grabbing, switch throwing, and block puzzles. The term and eventual hatred for “Block puzzles” came from the backlash against Tomb Raider. When you understand that Tomb raider has a unique blend of action, adventure, with a heavy puzzle focus and the puzzle elements have tons of thought put into them. It's not the means of unlocking the objective that is important (like throwing a switch or moving blocks a certain way), it's the journey in between. Each lever is itself, a giant puzzle, unlocked through solving smaller puzzles. Core design, took a lot of time designing every level in the game, there are no half hearted puzzle elements in Tomb Raider, they are all well designed, well thought out, and the levels are designed as one big puzzle. Those who would criticize this game for it's objectives being simple switch pulling, key gathering, and block puzzles tend to overlook the sheer amount of thought put into the level designs of this game.
Tomb Raider isn't all puzzles, the game sines in it's action and adventure elements which take place within the puzzle elements. As you may expect, in typical Indiana Jones fashion, the ancient ruins are also filled with all sorts of booby traps, often sprung on you without warning. One can complain that this does lead to many cheep deaths, but the element of surprise adds to the tense atmosphere of the game, and the atmosphere is my favorite part of the game.
Each level, aside from having heavy puzzle focus, is rife with death traps, and all sorts of baddies just waiting to pounce on you at any given moment. Some enemies are easy to see and kill from the beginning of a level, but others are scripted to show up as you accomplish objectives. Pulling a switch or grabbing an item is the easy part, it unlocks the next part of a puzzle. However, it also unlock consequences in the game. Just when you think you're safe, pulling that lever often times brings enemies your way, in areas you thought you had already cleared, or it springs a trap on you. You, honestly, never know what to expect.
Add that with the fact that Lara is completely alone to explore, the game has a sense of tension that rivals games in the survivor horror genre. You honestly, never know what to expect next, and you rarely feel safe in the game. You're alone and you're in a hostile environment with surprises around every corner. I have often found myself staring down a hallway in the game knowing full well that I have to go down the hall way to progress in the game, but telling myself that I don't want to, there's something down there, I know it. A feeling that easily rivals games like Resident, Evil and Silent hill. Sometimes you find yourself holding onto your controller for dear life which adds to the pain to your D-pad thumb.
The there are so many unexpected surprises just waiting around every corner, whether it be an enemy lying in wait; or Pierre, the litterbug, who stalks Lara through most of the levels of the game, popping in at the most inconvenient times and disappearing just as fast; to, and how could I not mention, one of the most memorable scenes of the game, and one of the most iconic scenes in that whole generation of gaming, the Tyrannosaurus Rex popping in to say hello. That's right, we have a T-Rex.
The music and sound effects also add to the tension. Lara is usually surrounded in silence with some ambient sounds. You can hear everything in the environments around you, which adds to the lonely feeling in the game, sometimes you can hear enemies around you, a growl breaking the silence, and causing butt puckering, yes, I did just say that, as you run to the high ground for safety, so you can get a vantage point to see where the sound it coming from. Other times, at selected moments, one of the soothing themes starts to play, and adds almost a sense of wonder as you explore the ancient environments presented in the game. It does really give you the feeling like you're the first person to see these environments in thousands of years. However, generally, when you hear music in Tomb Raider, that means trouble is coming your way. Something bad is happening, and you're filled with a sense of danger and all you can think to do is run and hope you make it to the safety of the high ground. You don't even know what you're running from yet, but the build up of tension is done so well, that fast paced symphony music gets your adrenaline pumping and causes the aforementioned butt puckering.
The voice acting in the story elements is, surprisingly, well done. When you take into account that it was released in the same year as the original Resident Evil which is notorious for it's so-bad-it's-good voice acting. Tomb Raider's voice acting was spectacular for it's time, and still holds up pretty well to this day. The music, composed by Nathan McCree, and performed by an orchestra, can be both soothing, and depending on when it hits in the game, pulse pounding. As stated, it is used sparingly in the game, leaving the player to mostly hear the sounds that Lara makes, and those of the surrounding environments.
With the hordes of baddies thrown your way, Core hasn't left lara defenseless. Though the original Tomb Raider has a smallest arsenal of all the Tomb Raider games, There is still enough fire power provided to take on every enemy the game throws at you. Lara has her default pistols, with infinite ammo to boot, Automatic pistols, uzi's, and the mighty shotgun, the last three mentioned requiring you to collect ammo for throughout the game, often times hidden away in secret areas which are the reward for fully exploring the levels. As the game progresses, the enemies get tougher, and your arsenal, and your dodging abilities become more and more important. Lara will often times find herself surrounded by enemies, and in order to have as little damage possible, the player is required to master, what I call the Lara dance. Jump, dodge, roll, and keep moving while the enemies are swarming around trying to kill you. When you do it right, you take little to no damage, but when you zig when you should have zagged, you'll take more damage than you should forcing you to use a health pack, which you also collect along the way.
Graphically, even for it's time, the Tomb Raider series was never considered a top tier example of PS1 graphics. The framerate generally moves a a consistent level, with some stuttering in large open areas, but it's not enough to effect the gameplay. The textures are pretty pixelated, and Lara, who's character model in the first Tomb Raider is only made up of roughly 350 polygons has some triangular features. If you're a snob about early 3D graphics, then this game isn't for you, not because you can't deal with the game's visuals, but because I can't deal with the annoying whining of those who put graphics over gameplay. It is design and gameplay that take precedent over visuals, and avoiding a game because it's ugly is not a good reason to avoid a game at all. There are also a lot of clipping issues in the game, however, this can actually be used to your advantage, allowing you to clip the camera through a door to see into a room you can't get to yet. Sometimes this can actually help you when you are trying to figure out where to go next. The Tomb Raider series didn't come into it's own, graphically, by PS1 standards until Tomb Raider III. Blocky ugly textures, pop-in, clipping galore, and a number of glitches, Tomb Raider's Visuals get the job done, but were never top tier graphics on the PS1.
When you take into account that Tomb Raider was in development for three years prior to it's release, putting the start of it's development in 1993, you start to realize exactly how revolutionary it's level designs were. There was next to nothing for Core Design to draw inspiration in the 3D realm of gaming. In fact, Tomb raider was the standard bearer for what used to be dubbed the action-adventure genre of gaming. Despite the fact that Tomb Raider has only been given credit for “cementing women characters as viable lead characters in games” by the mainstream gaming press, Tomb Raider also had a profound effect on 3D gaming as we know it. Was it THE most influential game in 3D gaming? No, but it definitely played it's part, and was one of many games responsible for the 3D gaming revolution.
1996 was a landmark year for 3D gaming, and a year that, arguably, helped shape the games we play today like no other year in gaming history. By 1996, the next generation of home consoles was in full swing with the release of the Nintendo 64 which took analog technology, and shrunk it down into a thumb stick. Id software dropped a bomb on PC gamers with a little game called Quake that one could argue with it's online functionality, use of a Voodoo 3D accelerator (the ancestor of modern graphics cards) in GL Quake, releasing the source code to the average gamer which opened the door to tons of user modifications (like the original team fortress), and licensing of the game's engine to other developers that Quake was probably the the most influential game that year, and one of the most influential games of all time. Tomb Raider is just as worthy to be mentioned in the same sentence as both Quake and Mario 64, because it, as well, had a huge effect on gaming, regardless of the fact that later backlash against the series, and this weird historical revisionism that has been going on as of late, has robbed it from it's rightful place in gaming history.
The Bottom Line: The original Tomb Raider is still and will always be a classic with it's excellent mixture of action, exploration, and puzzle solving in a sometimes wondrous, and often times tense atmosphere. It may not get the credit it deserves, but it's one of those games that every gamer should at least give an honest try. The learning curve is high, and as it should the game gets harder as it goes along, with the final levels being borderline insane with what is thrown at you. You'll die a lot, you'll struggle with the controls, but you may even come to appreciate the masterful design, and the unique atmosphere. If you've never played it, you should, and don't wimp out and play anniversary instead.
Tomb Raider, since it's release has been ported to almost every platform under the sun. From the PS1, to the Saturn, the mac, and the PC (which also had an expanded edition, Tomb Raider Gold), to even the Nokia N-gage (for all five people who ever bought one. You can also still find it on Steam, and with the remaster coming out, you will be able to play an updated version soon.
And if you happen to like heavy puzzle elements in you action games, I thoroughly suggest my favorite Core Design PS2 effort, Project Eden, which also had a PC version. It's not for everyone, has quite a few technical issues, and is more focused on exploration and puzzle solving than action. Most will find it a little boring, and lagluster in the action elements, but gamers with an open mind will be able to appreciate it as will those who still own a PS2 multitap, because it has 4-player coop support. Project Eden is a flawed, yet still very engaging title for those who can get into it.
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