I recently bought this game on GOG.com because I noticed that it was removed from Steam following the recent release of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. Now I have nothing against there being a remastered version of Tomb Raider, but as with most remasters, it is not the original Tomb Raider.
How long will the original trilogy be available on GOG.com? I don’t know – but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so I bought it while it was available.
My first experience with Tomb Raider was on my old bondi blue iMac running on MacOS 8.5 and a 233Mhz PowerPC CPU. I was stunned by this game because it really felt like the future. And dare I say it: the controls felt fantastic – especially when Lara did all those jumps while shooting wolves and bears!
But that was then, this is now. By modern gaming standards, Tomb Raider has rough tank-like controls. It is hard to get Lara from point A to point B. In Tomb Raider’s defence, it was one of the earliest 3D platforming games, and came out mere months after Super Mario 64.
Nevertheless, unlike the PlayStation version, the saving grace of the PC version is that you can re-assign the button mapping. That means instead of using arrow keys to move, alt to jump, and ctrl for action, you can do WASD to move, space to jump, and “.” for action. This is important because modern keyboards have the Windows key – if you press it accidentally, Tomb Raider shuts down.
Since the version of Tomb Raider sold on GOG.com is the DOS version, it’s important to understand that it is being emulated through DOSbox. That means that, while you can tweak through DOSbox, emulation is still emulation.
While the graphics are all right – far better than the PlayStation version – there are some drawbacks. Tomb Raider was made for CRT monitors with a 4:3 aspect ratio.
The sound is quite spartan, and this is a good thing. Music is only used sparingly. Most of the time, the game is quiet with ambient effects. This actually drives the tension up quite a bit, especially when you encounter an enemy or a trap.
I can’t forget the legacy of Lara Croft. Yes, there had always been games with female protagonists, but never one that was both proudly feminine and badass. Yes, there was Samus Aran – but nobody knew she was a woman until after you beat the original Metroid. And as much as Lara Croft often comes under criticism for catering to the male gaze, the other truth is that she’s now become an icon for generations of girls. Both my wife and my daughter love Lara Croft.
There is one thing, though, that really drives me nuts about this game, and it’s not even the controls. Saves have to be done manually. And trust me, you really have to save often because if you fail at a certain point, Tomb Raider often makes you re-do a task again and again – and that eats away so much time! Also, if you die and forget to save, you have to start from the very beginning.
That said, is Tomb Raider worth playing today? Absolutely. Once you get past the difficult controls and old 3D graphics, what you have is one of the most fun puzzle platformers of the 90s. This is a game that is quite unforgiving, and because of that, it’s rewarding too.
The original game requires a Pentium 60Mhz CPU, 8MB of RAM, and an SVGA card. Because of DOSbox, to run this game on modern hardware, you need a 1.8Ghz CPU, 512MB of RAM, and 2GB of space. Integrated graphics will do fine. While the GOG.com version only officially supports Windows, DOSbox has been ported to Mac and Linux.
In addition to PC, Tomb Raider has been ported to PSX, Saturn, Windows Mobile, N-Gage, PSP, PS3, and PS Vita.
There are no micro-transactions nor DLC.
Core Design developed Tomb Raider, and made all of the games until Angel of Darkness. After which, Crystal Dynamics has made Tomb Raider since then.
On GOG.com, Tomb Raider has a 3.8/5 verified user rating. Most people love this as the classic it was. However, a few others rightfully say that DOSbox may require tweaking.
Do I recommend Tomb Raider? Yes, because despite the awkward controls and dated graphics, this is a classic that has earned its place in gaming history.
However, it might be worth paying the $38.99 for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. It has both the old graphics as well as fresh updated visuals while keeping the controls intact.
Tomb Raider 1+2+3 comes as a bundle on GOG.com, and is C$10.99 – which comes to C$3.66 per game. After you purchase the bundle, you can download and install each game separately. For the price, it’s worthwhile. Because it’s emulated, it is incredibly faithful to the original DOS game even if you might like to tweak things.
