Tomb Raider Trilogy 2013-2015-2018

[otbr87]

Has anyone else played the newer Tomb Raider Trilogy?? If so, what did you think of them?

I've been out of video games since around 2007 and about a year ago I dove back in and played tons of different franchises(new and old)only to be left with the thought "I didn't really miss much in my 12 year hiatus from gaming". I loved Shenmue 3, as I knew I would. I fell in love with Mortal Kombat 2011, XL and 11 which doesn't come as a surprise cause I did enjoy the older titles back in my gaming days, and GTA 5 is certainly a cool game that has a lot of exploring to do outside of the story. Basically everything else I've played post-2007 is mediocre at best for me, games just aren't pulling me in like they did 20 years ago. Tomb Raider however was not something I expected to enjoy, whatsoever. Back in the 90's and early 00's I couldn't stand the original Tomb Raider games from the lame story, bad controls, lousy oversexualized shallow character development and just the whole package sucked imo. I was in a thrift store the other day and picked up a PS3 copy of Tomb Raider 2013 for $1.90. Three hours later I downloaded the Xbox One version for $5 on sale, the next day Rise of the Tomb Raider for $9 and beat it in one sitting, bought Shadow of the Tomb Raider for $20 and will get into that one in the coming days. I was pleasantly surprised in how good this trilogy is, especially considering they're post-2003 era games which I mostly don't enjoy, and even more so that it has anything to do with the name Tomb Raider.

 

[Your Boy Leroy]

I beat the first one when it originally came out on PS3. I liked it enough to upgrade it when I got a PS4. A few years later I got Rise and Shadow at the same time, probably during a Black Friday sale or something. Since then, I’ve started on Rise, but haven’t even removed Shadow from the shrink wrap yet.

They’re all really well-made games. I found them fun, at least the first one, and they’re gorgeous. But there’s something kind of generic about them. I don’t know what it is, but it’s most likely due to over-saturation of the genre. Tomb Raider just doesn’t mean anything to me anymore, I guess. But that’s just me personally, and I do plan on finishing the last two games at some point.

 

[otbr87]

I beat the first one when it originally came out on PS3. I liked it enough to upgrade it when I got a PS4. A few years later I got Rise and Shadow at the same time, probably during a Black Friday sale or something. Since then, I’ve started on Rise, but haven’t even removed Shadow from the shrink wrap yet.

They’re all really well-made games. I found them fun, at least the first one, and they’re gorgeous. But there’s something kind of generic about them. I don’t know what it is, but it’s most likely due to over-saturation of the genre. Tomb Raider just doesn’t mean anything to me anymore, I guess. But that’s just me personally, and I do plan on finishing the last two games at some point.

Interesting perspective. I can understand thinking games have become bland, that's part of the reason I left them behind in 2007 as a whole and honestly video games as a whole haven't been good since around 2004-ish IMO. Graphics and some of the physics have improved, but the soul of gaming is mostly gone. It's all "let's glorify anti-heroes and darkness" which is so routine. At first I didn't think the action in the new TR Trilogy was going to set itself apart from anything else but I found it had a nice enough balance of violence and problem/puzzle solving but it rides on the back of a lovable relatable character, while not anywhere near the love I have for the Shenmue games, I find a similarity in the spirit that drives Ryo/Shenhua as I do in the current era Lara Croft. Back in the 90's when most games were good and fresh, I found Tomb Raider to be abhorrent starting with the Lara Croft character followed by the controls and lack of story. It felt like a post-2005 era game 10 years ahead of it's time, which is not a compliment in this regard. It came as such a shock that I actually loved the 2013-2018 Trilogy. Lara Croft was easily a hateable character in the pre-2013 era, but became quite a lovable one in the current trilogy IMO. I posted these thoughts on a Tomb Raider forum and was met with a lot of shallow hatred for my opinions on the matter, a lot of old Tomb Raider fans who spent their time pleasing themselves to pixelated "bad-girl" Lara in the 90s that can't perceive the depth and attractiveness of the new character design that is real and three dimensional, whereas 90's Lara was essentially female Duke Nukem, loaded with false bravado, only Duke was kinda cool. I figured I'd have more success talking about it on the Shenmue forums since Shenmue essentially is a spiritual/emotional based game, and to a lesser degree I find the new TR Trilogy to offer some of the same experience.

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

I never liked the ps1 games of TR

The new trilogy is great.

For me is:
1. Rise
2. 2013
3. Shadow

They are a must-play and I'll never understand why this new saga is so underrated. Or at least, why people doesn't talk about it that much. Everybody talks about Uncharted, but nobody says anything about TR, and it's awesome too (I won't say it's better, because I didnt play the last Uncharteds)

 

[otbr87]

I never liked the ps1 games of TR

The new trilogy is great.

For me is:
1. Rise
2. 2013
3. Shadow

They are a must-play and I'll never understand why this new saga is so underrated. Or at least, why people doesn't talk about it that much. Everybody talks about Uncharted, but nobody says anything about TR, and it's awesome too (I won't say it's better, because I didnt play the last Uncharteds)

Fully agree on PS1 and PS2 era TR, all really bad. The 06, 07, 08 era was mediocre gameplay but still same bad character design from the 90s.

I haven't finished shadow yet but I loved rise and 2013, rise especially. Definitely a must play franchise, and I think the new TR suffers from the same issue as Shenmue, people don't understand it or don't like it cause it's not edgy, New TR and Shenmue are heroes journeys and most people like being in the dark with their anti-hero characters. The little bit I played of Uncharted I thought it was middle of the road, not bad but nothing caught me and pulled me in. New TR trilogy is definitely the best franchise I've played with guns(Shenmue being the best without, and better overall imo).

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

Fully agree on PS1 and PS2 era TR, all really bad. The 06, 07, 08 era was mediocre gameplay but still same bad character design from the 90s.

I haven't finished shadow yet but I loved rise and 2013, rise especially. Definitely a must play franchise, and I think the new TR suffers from the same issue as Shenmue, people don't understand it or don't like it cause it's not edgy, New TR and Shenmue are heroes journeys and most people like being in the dark with their anti-hero characters. The little bit I played of Uncharted I thought it was middle of the road, not bad but nothing caught me and pulled me in. New TR trilogy is definitely the best franchise I've played with guns(Shenmue being the best without, and better overall imo).

Ps1 games... I couldn't stand those graphics and slow movement back in the day. Nowaday it's almost a type of torture for me. Ps2 seems kinda cool, I will give them a chance someday...

Rise is spectacular. Tho maybe I think this because it was the first I played (then 2013 and finally shadow), still...
The gameplay is so satisfying. You see how improves and how they implement new stuff in every game and it feels like "this feels so natural..."

The graphics are amazing, the landscapes of Rise are a top 5 graphics for me, and it's a game of 2015 I think.

Seems very underrated trilogy for me. Everybody should play them. This should be something really big, like RDR2 or God of War saga.

 

[otbr87]

Ps1 games... I couldn't stand those graphics and slow movement back in the day. Nowaday it's almost a type of torture for me. Ps2 seems kinda cool, I will give them a chance someday...

Rise is spectacular. Tho maybe I think this because it was the first I played (then 2013 and finally shadow), still...
The gameplay is so satisfying. You see how improves and how they implement new stuff in every game and it feels like "this feels so natural..."

The graphics are amazing, the landscapes of Rise are a top 5 graphics for me, and it's a game of 2015 I think.

Seems very underrated trilogy for me. Everybody should play them. This should be something really big, like RDR2 or God of War saga.

PS1 was always second rate to N64 when it came to graphics and even games to a large extent. I do prefer PS1/PS2 era games over PS3/PS4 era games overall outside of graphics, but honestly I can't get into older stuff anymore either unless it's Shenmue or Mortal Kombat. Just not a fan of gaming in general anymore but I am so glad to have discovered the new TR Trilogy. The copy I bought for less than $2 a week or so ago of TR 2013 was for PS3 and I couldn't believe how great the graphics were for it on that machine, I felt like I was looking at early era PS4 graphics, TR 2013 is probably the best looking game I've seen on PS3. I decided to pick it up on Xbox One digitally instead they had it at a dirt cheap price. I never upgrade a game thats on 2 generations just for graphics, but in this case it was cheap enough and I prefer the XB controller over PS so it was a win/win. Bought Rise the next day and Shadow a day or so after that, all on sale on XBone they all came with complete DLC Definitive Editions for less than the price of regular Shadow by itself at Walmart.

I agree, it is absolutely underrated. There is so much hot garbage that's popular in gaming and I've seen tons of hate online towards the new TR games, and worst of all it's coming from fans of the PS1 TR games lol, I really can't believe it! If they decide to do more Tomb Raider games current gen or next gen I hope that no matter what they do as for a direct sequel to Shadow, possibly age Lara 10 years in the future or whatever they do I hope they keep the same character design and plot continuation from the trilogy, I would hate to see them revert back to the classic style character or games.

Can you recommend any other games you enjoy that remind you of the new TR Trilogy?? Console, generation or release year doesn't matter.

 

[Sput Vas Normandy]

Can you recommend any other games you enjoy that remind you of the new TR Trilogy?? Console, generation or release year doesn't matter.

I think the closest games for me are Prince of Persia of ps2 (the two thrones it was excellent imo) and Assassin's Creed saga (because the parkour, I don't think 1, 2, brotherhood, revelations and 3 aged that well, you can try Origins and Odyssey but the parkour it's worst and it's more focus in the action and open world)

 

[Rydeen]

I played Tomb Raider (2013) around the time that was released. I thought it was pretty good, but I felt like it made for a better movie than a video game. I don't generally enjoy 3rd person shooters that much, though. Also, I wasn't much of a fan of the gruesome ways Lara would die all the time. I played the first Uncharted for the first time just a couple years ago, and kind of hated it. So, the Tomb Raider reboot was way better than the first Uncharted, in my opinion.

Prince of Persia

I loved Sands of Time when that came out. I never played the other two from that era, but I did get them on GOG recently.

 

[Revan]

I noticed we don't have a dedicated Tomb Raider thread. OK if I hijack this?

Square Enix has put out two tweets remembering the original release dates of Tomb Raider 2 & Tomb Raider 3 on the PS1/PC. What's interesting is that some eagle-eyed fans have drawn up comparisons to the PC and PS1 versions and noticed some improved textures and an inserted ESRB logo, suggesting its gifs taken from newer ports.


Could this be a tease for a Tomb Raider classics anthology of sorts that was rumoured earlier this summer? As a filthy, disgusting 50p-a-go blow-up whorebag for the classic games, I'll be sooooo happy if this is true.

 

[Nathanial Essex]

Even at the time, the original Tomb Raider games had such bad controls I failed to see what all the excitement was about. The first one I bought was, I think, Angel of Darkness and that near-cemented my lack of interest in the games. Did enjoy the first game in the reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider but then had no interest in the sequels. Just felt Laura fell over and squealed too much. Also seemed very generic.

 

[otbr87]

Anything before TR 2013 isn't worth playing, they were all really bad. The further back into the 90's you go, the worse they get. TR 2013, Rise and Shadow however are some of the most underrated and best games of the last generation, especially coming out during a generation full of generic and low quality 3rd person titles like Yakuza, Horizon Zero Dawn and the Uncharted games.

 

[Revan]

Anything before TR 2013 isn't worth playing, they were all really bad.

How dare you!

 

[xatruio]

Never really got into them, but was always under impression TR1-4 were good, then 5+6 (Chronicles and Angel of Darkness) were uninspired shit. Perhaps they didn't age well especially because of the reboot trilogy.

 

[Revan]

Fresh from the Square Enix event: nice to know that for the Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary we're getting a PS Store bundle of the reboot games already on PS4 (?), a Fortnite skin, and...an official Tomb Raider Cookbook. Because that's what you think of when you think 'Tomb Raider' isn't it? Creating an avocado salad.

And people thought 3D All-Stars was a lame way to celebrate Mario 35th...

 

[9dragons]

I finished all 3 of them on the ps4. The games are decent but nothing special. Never have been a big Tomb Raider fan at all but the old titles were more innovative and unique. The new Tomb Raider games are just Uncharted clones which is really funny because it is likely that Tomb Raider (the the originals) have inspired the Uncharted Franchise.




Nothing wrong with the new Tomb Raider games in general I am just not that much of a fan.

 

[otbr87]

The TR Survivor collection at $20 is an absolute steal for 3 incredible games and solid DLC!....if you don't already have them. That doesn't do much for those of us that would like to see a new TR game continuing in the reboot trilogy style. What has me worried about future titles is the statue they're making of Lara for this Survivor collection, they're putting her in her PS1 era outfit combined with that awful looking PS1 era inspired Tomb Raider Reloaded free mobile game that is coming out this year I fear the franchise will take the nose dive back to the dumpster fire it was pre-2013. Praying that doesn't happen as I would love to see what they do with an older human-like relatable Lara from the reboot, rather than a false bravado super hero-like Lara from the broken and boring game play era.

 

[Revan]

The TR Survivor collection at $20 is an absolute steal for 3 incredible games and solid DLC!....if you don't already have them. That doesn't do much for those of us that would like to see a new TR game continuing in the reboot trilogy style. What has me worried about future titles is the statue they're making of Lara for this Survivor collection, they're putting her in her PS1 era outfit combined with that awful looking PS1 era inspired Tomb Raider Reloaded free mobile game that is coming out this year I fear the franchise will take the nose dive back to the dumpster fire it was pre-2013. Praying that doesn't happen as I would love to see what they do with an older human-like relatable Lara from the reboot, rather than a false bravado super hero-like Lara from the broken and boring game play era.

I'm pretty sure the statue is just a cute homage to the original 1996 game, I don't think it's indicative of how Survivor Lara will look in the next game. I can see them unifying some elements from both eras like bringing back the twin pistols, but not just plonking the grittier Survivor Lara into the more colourful Classic Lara's world - it would be a pretty jarring transition.

I'd still really like a classics compilation before the 25th anniversary year is out. You have 9 (!) games that haven't been ported since their original release. Slapping those games on the Switch so I don't have to dig out my Dreamcast would be a far better anniversary item than a Fortnite skin and a cookbook.

 

[otbr87]

I'm pretty sure the statue is just a cute homage to the original 1996 game, I don't think it's indicative of how Survivor Lara will look in the next game. I can see them unifying some elements from both eras like bringing back the twin pistols, but not just plonking the grittier Survivor Lara into the more colourful Classic Lara's world - it would be a pretty jarring transition.

I'd still really like a classics compilation before the 25th anniversary year is out. You have 9 (!) games that haven't been ported since their original release. Slapping those games on the Switch so I don't have to dig out my Dreamcast would be a far better anniversary item than a Fortnite skin and a cookbook.

Did you see the Tomb Raider 2 remake some fan is making? It looks professional and like someone they ought to hire to remaster the older titles, if they were to go that direction.

 

[Stiz]

Has anyone else played the newer Tomb Raider Trilogy?? If so, what did you think of them?

I've been out of video games since around 2007 and about a year ago I dove back in and played tons of different franchises(new and old)only to be left with the thought "I didn't really miss much in my 12 year hiatus from gaming". I loved Shenmue 3, as I knew I would. I fell in love with Mortal Kombat 2011, XL and 11 which doesn't come as a surprise cause I did enjoy the older titles back in my gaming days, and GTA 5 is certainly a cool game that has a lot of exploring to do outside of the story. Basically everything else I've played post-2007 is mediocre at best for me, games just aren't pulling me in like they did 20 years ago. Tomb Raider however was not something I expected to enjoy, whatsoever. Back in the 90's and early 00's I couldn't stand the original Tomb Raider games from the lame story, bad controls, lousy oversexualized shallow character development and just the whole package sucked imo. I was in a thrift store the other day and picked up a PS3 copy of Tomb Raider 2013 for $1.90. Three hours later I downloaded the Xbox One version for $5 on sale, the next day Rise of the Tomb Raider for $9 and beat it in one sitting, bought Shadow of the Tomb Raider for $20 and will get into that one in the coming days. I was pleasantly surprised in how good this trilogy is, especially considering they're post-2003 era games which I mostly don't enjoy, and even more so that it has anything to do with the name Tomb Raider.

You missed nothing because all they have been doing is remasters and remakes.