Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics lay the groundwork for defined Tomb Raider remasters.
The two studios worked side by side to create this love letter to all our memories of tomb Raider. Both point out that it’s a great opportunity to be fascinated to see how far hardware went in the ’90s to make Tomb Raider work. Their goal is to preserve the same type of experience to continue to inspire the engineers of today and tomorrow to make games more immersive and memorable.
Crystal dynamics comments that, from the start, they knew where they wanted to go with these remasters. They decided to use the original source code and engine, Magic by Core Design. A key feature they wanted to preserve was allowing users to choose to play with the original look of the game. Tomb Raider I, II and III.
This meant that the gameplay of Tomb Raider I, II and III would remain similar. For the studio, it’s timeless, and keeping the existing source code meant having the same jumps, secrets, enemies, and puzzles exactly as the original development team designed them.
So much talk about past material made these remasters unappealing, so Cristal Dimanics started working on how to surprise and bring something more into these new releases. Another job has started where new changes have been implemented.
Chart
Among the many changes at the graphic level, we can distinguish the following:
- Alternation of chart – At any point in the game we can switch between original and modern graphics with pre-rendered and real-time lighting effects: these changes increase the immersion and atmosphere of the environment.
- New modelsenvironments and enemies: new models have been added for a more modern look.
- New model of Lara Croft – Their original costumes are impressive. Its silhouette is emblematic.
- Animation updates and textures – Adjustments have been made to Modern Modern mode to be consistent with updated models for a polished final look.
- While the menus of tomb Raider They used 3D models for the medkit and ammo, the game objects were flat 2D sprites. Now everything has been replaced with 3D object sprites.
Gameplay
As for handling, we can choose between classic and modern control options inspired by the Legend, Anniversary and Underworld era of tomb Raider. These changes are particularly visible in the way Lara moves: the right stick has full control of the camera and Lara moves based on the camera’s position.
Just like the approach taken with the graphic aspect, in the controls we can also choose between the new ones or the original tank-style ones. Both are still available via a menu. Boss health bars went hand in hand with one of Tomb Raider’s strong points, its minimal user interface. However, this can be frustrating for tougher bosses with lots of health. So they added a life bar so we know if we should switch to the grenade launcher or continue with the pistol.
Achievements and photo mode
For the cazalogros, it’s great news to have Tomb Raider I, II and III back, so they made sure to include as much content as possible. There are 200 trophies to win, including locking the butler in the freezer. He photo mode This is another of the new additions, ideal for sharing iconic environments and moments. This allows you to freeze the game, switch between classic and modern graphics, and display these environments.
Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered will be released for Xbox Series, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch and PC via Steam on February 14. If you want to know all the news, follow us on Twitter o Instagram. You can also enjoy our videos on the channel Youtube or directly via Tic.
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