Tomb Raider IV-V-VI Remastered Review - Two Out of Three Ain't Bad
I have always loved Tomb Raider since I was little. I still remember the very first time I brought the original Tomb Raider home (which I had hired for the weekend from Civic Video). I was so excited to finally play a game with a female main character; and a kickass one at that. This leading lady had guns, she was tough, she was brave – she was all the things young Jenn was not – evidenced mere moments into my playthrough when a bear came charging at me and I paused the game and started screaming. And whilst some things in this world have changed, my love for Tomb Raider prevails – which is why I love these remasters so freaking much.
Tomb Raider taught me more about geography and history than I ever learned at school. But it also taught me that scorpions can cop 5 bullets to the face before they die, and endangered tigers aren’t really endangered if they stand between you and treasure. The same can be said for priceless artefacts and infamous legends. Oh, a mummy is walking around which proves people can reanimate after death – should we preserve this miraculous finding, Lara? No? You’re gonna blast it in the gut with a shotgun? Alrighty then.
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation is a wonderful extension of the three games that came before it. This is the Lara we know and love, the one who will stop at nothing to get the treasure she is after, no matter what stands in her way. And yes sometimes that means we shoot mummies in the face or destroy the mystical guardians of Cleopatra, but how else are we gonna get what we’re here for? Outside of mummy blasting, guardian shooting and scorpion stomping, The Last Revelation has a range of wonderfully finessed puzzles, plus just the right amount of action and suspense. The remastered graphics look gorgeous and it’s such a wonderful nostalgia trip.
Out of all the Tomb Raider games, The Last Revelation was probably the one I played least as a kid – and I think this is because I get sick of being in one place the whole time. What I loved about the previous games was that you were constantly hopping across continents and each new area had its own unique vibe and aesthetic. The Last Revelation keeps you in Egypt the whole time, and the fatigue begins to build by the end of the game.
Luckily, Chronicles is a return to variation, and once again we get to travel the world. Chronicles feels like a Tomb Raider clip show; showing bits and pieces of Lara’s adventures over her tomb-raiding career. This is one of my favourite Tomb Raider games; because it had everything I loved. All the modern move sets from the last five games, a host of new levels in all different locations, and the return of Lara wearing cool new outfits at every new continent (definitely an important part of my enjoyment). Chronicles sees Lara adventure around beautiful cities in Rome, the frigid environments of Russia, some really creepy parts of Ireland and the high rises of the USA.
It’s a great mix of classic Tomb Raider mechanics, and doing something a bit different. The levels in Ireland, where you play as 16-year-old Lara, are new, different and creepy as all hell; made worse because you don’t have your dual pistols to blast the enemies away. All you can do is run, pray, and hope for the best. As a kid I found these levels nightmare-inducing. As an adult that hasn’t really changed, but I now have an appreciation for the team trying to do something new.
Chronicles is a good showcase of trying new things without breaking what already exists. Angel of Darkness is a great example of taking what already exists, crapping all over it and forcing something new to be born out of the flames.
The words “Remember, you wanted this” (lovingly spoken by our editor, Matt) kept returning to me as I slogged through this game. I started it with high hopes. Sure, it wasn’t very good when it came out on PS2, but I still managed to finish it, so surely in 2025, all the bugs will be fixed and it will play like a dream, right?
WRONG. SO WRONG. OH MY GOD NEVER BEEN SO WRONG IN ANYTHING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TIME.
For brevity, here’s a dot-pointed list of all the things in AOD that suck. (Yes, there are so many that it was just easier to make a list).
- Frame rate drops throughout the tutorial
- Weird pauses between the dialogue ending and being able to control Lara again
- Hidden skills that build up Lara’s lower and upper body strength (she has been raiding tombs for YEARS, what the hell do you mean she’s not strong enough to MOVE A BOX)
- Between Chronicles and AOD, Lara somehow forgot how to run and now moves so slowly
- The first few levels play more like a point-and-click adventure. A point-and-click adventure that sucks ass. It gives me Broken Sword vibes except that game was actually good and this one is not
- Stealth mechanics. Why are there stealth mechanics? I am LARA FREAKING CROFT, I will just shoot you in the face. Lara didn’t care about popping seventeen bullets into an endangered tiger, but now suddenly she’s worried about killing some security guards.
- Speaking of the security guards, they also suck. They go on the list.
- The superfluous male character, Kurtis. Why are you even here, bro? We’ve been just fine without you in the last five games.
- The controls. Oh GOD, the controls.
- Modern controls, tank controls, it doesn’t make a difference. Controlling Lara in this game sucks a big bag of dicks.
But hey, the game looks pretty, I guess.
All of that being said, I’m glad they remade this game and didn’t leave it off the list. It has some positives (graphics, music, general vibes) and I’m sure a lot of the most egregious bugs will be patched out. Patches can’t fix the fact that the game is inherently awful, but I’d still recommend trying to play it, if for no other reason than being able to experience the tragedy of watching the Tomb Raider legacy be gutted and destroyed.
Angel of Darkness aside, Tomb Raider IV V VI Remastered is truly a great time. The quality of the first two games is astounding. Graphics, musical scoring and gameplay are all absolutely top-tier modern renditions of the originals and done so well. They are more of the Lara Croft we know and love, and that’s all I really wanted out of a remaster.
Tomb Raider IV-V-VI Remastered was reviewed on the PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
