For twenty-one years, I have been waiting for Tomb Raider I–III Remastered. That's when I started playing the second game in the series, which I received as a "gift" from my mother's boyfriend, who gave me his PlayStation and a few games (without jewel boxes) because he needed to make room in his closet. Enthralled with the action and puzzles of the game, as well as the fact that it was the only game I had ever acquired featuring a female character, I played it nonstop. However, upon revisiting the Tomb Raider II segment of Aspyr's remaster, I find myself questioning: what on earth was 15-year-old Ash thinking?
While playing Tomb Raider II on the Switch (it's also playable on the Xbox, PC, and Playstation), I had a lot of self-loathing moments because of the controls, which caused around 85% of my problems. I don't think I could be any more annoyed with this remake than I am because I'm so used to the tropes of "modern" 3D platformers. Despite the remaster's enhancements, such as the ability to rearrange buttons, select between the tank controls from the original game and the "modern" controls, and adjust finer details like dead zones and sensitivity, Lara still walks in an awkward, ungainly jumble. Frequently, Lara's camera would simply not move in the way my button presses asked, and it seemed to be for no apparent reason. This is a platformer; if I can't see where I'm platforming, I won't be having any fun. Thank you very much!
But even those instances when Lara acted predictably, I could still feel my affection for the game resurfacing. Everything is the same in this remaster, including enemy patterns, crucial item placement, and hidden spots. Even the visuals can stay the same; if you want, you can quickly press a button to switch between the more modern, upscaled textures and the classic PSX visuals.
It was satisfying to take an unexpected detour and discover that one of the three secrets in each level was still there for me, just as it had been when I stumbled upon it more than 20 years earlier. I also got a great kick out of pulling out my pistols and taking out a pair of tigers that used to always catch me off guard when I was a kid.
Tomb Raider II excelled at creating tension, as it still does. The game skillfully creates suspense and dread through music and sound effects, evoking an oppressive aura of danger that a treasure hunter like as Lara Croft should experience. Enemies burst through glass windows, ferocious tigers roar through a cave, or the serene elegance of an opera house is destroyed by tumbling boulders à la Indiana Jones. When I was fifteen, this game terrified the living daylights out of me, and more than twenty years later, it still does. anxiety level. I'm aware that the game's crazily bad lighting will eventually reveal something, yet even so, it still manages to creep in and surprise me.
By alternating between "classic" and "modern" visuals, one can see how much Aspyr improved the terrible lighting in the original trilogy. GIF: Aspyr
As a child, I never really finished Tomb Raider II. It was my first "modern" game on a "modern" platform, and I was unable to finish it because it was too terrifying and hard. That said, I really enjoyed that game. I repeatedly played the first few levels, occasionally using cheat codes to advance to higher levels until the difficulty rise (and the accompanying anxiety) drove me insane.
The video game Tomb Raider II changed me from a girl who was made to play video games with her male cousins to someone who would become a professional gamer because she loved and was passionate about the medium. But now that I'm older, wiser, and have a lot more experience than just a few games Ash had to play at 15, I have to face my inner child's intense, unwavering passion for this game and ask, "Damn, you lived like this?"
Tomb Raider II was all I had remembered it to be, but my love for it did not return.
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