A year after the original Tomb Raider trilogy was remastered, Tomb Raider 4 to 6 got the same treatment. These games are far more maligned than the first three, and many fans see Chronicles and Angel of Darkness as the nadir of the series.
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However, Aspyr promised great things in its remaster of these divisive titles, including the cut content of Angel of Darkness being restored. Does the remaster finally allow Classic Lara’s later adventures to shine? Or is the original trilogy still the superior way to play as this dauntless explorer? We’ve got the comparisons laid out for you below.
7
Story
Winner: Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered
The first three Tomb Raider titles have stories in much the same way that Doom games have stories. At best, they serve as a backdrop for Lara Croft to be badass. They’re excuse plots, rich in atmosphere but light on dialogue. The villain is only introduced so that you can have a final boss. Apart from Lara herself, all side characters in the original trilogy are caricatures.
That’s not true at all for Tomb Raider 4-6. These games had substantial storylines, especially the fourth and sixth entries. Even those who dislike Angel of Darkness — of which there are many — admit that the story has a good foundation, although the cut content made it incomprehensible. Does the remaster fix it completely? No. But it makes it somewhat better. The Last Revelation, on the other hand, had a genuinely good story. Chronicles, with its episodic nature, was a good way to flesh out Lara’s character using smaller adventures as well.
6
Controls
Winner: Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered
Tomb Raider 1 featured rather basic controls, as it was among the earliest 3D platformers to achieve mass-market appeal. This was 1996, remember. A lot of design philosophies taken for granted today simply hadn’t been conceived back then. Tomb Raider 2 had some cool vehicular sections, and Tomb Raider 3 introduced a lot of new mechanics, but they still erred on the primitive side.
Despite Angel of Darkness having irredeemably horrendous tank controls, and modern controls being not much better, we’re giving the win to Tomb Raider 4-6 on this one. The Last Revelation and Chronicles are the most satisfying that classic Tomb Raider has ever felt. Just compare how many more fan-made levels were made in the Tomb Raider 4 engine than the previous entries. The Last Revelation is a triumph of precision platforming, provided you have the patience for it.
5
Level Design
Winner: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is often lauded by fans as the biggest game in the series, yet it deserves equal criticism for the same reason. Its mechanic of interconnected levels meant that anyone without a strategy guide handy would be all but forced to give up later in the game due to a lack of environmental feedback. Chronicles has decent level design, while Angel of Darkness’ is downright bad to the point that a remaster can’t fix it.
In comparison, the first two Tomb Raider titles are well-designed. They lack the trial-and-error design and antagonistic, non-telegraphed traps of the following two entries. From Tomb Raider 3 onwards, it felt like Core Design hated its fans. The first two TR titles, however, have great level design: difficult, but intuitive and satisfying.
4
Difficulty
Winner: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
Difficulty is always a part of the equation in classic Tomb Raider. There is a reason that, despite its explosive popularity in the late 90s, the classic Tomb Raider series has never seen the mainstream appeal of its peers like Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid, and the franchise went over multiple reboots. These games are extremely challenging, and only the most dedicated fans can stick it through to the end. You won’t get far in Tomb Raider playing casually.
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The series goes up and down in difficulty, but overall the original trilogy is superior in terms of fairness. Tomb Raider 1 and 2 are extremely difficult, but do not cheat against you all that often. Tomb Raider 3 is filled with difficult and illogical sequences, but The Last Revelation simply went overboard in its second half with trial-and-error segments, instant deaths, and puzzle sections that made no sense.
Chronicles is easy besides its grating last level, and Angel of Darkness isn’t too hard but no one wants to play it because it’s so bad. Overall, the original trilogy has more balanced and fair difficulty.
3
Graphics
Winner: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
Rather than comparing the visuals in and of themselves, we’re going to compare the extent to which they have been overhauled. After all, that is one of the most marketable aspects of remasters: the promise of showing you sights that had only existed in the quantum space between the pixelated textures onscreen and your imagination before.
In that regard, the original trilogy wins. Its visuals have been overhauled to be on par with a late PS2 title. In comparison, the only game in TR 4-6 Remastered to have been substantially touched up is The Last Revelation. It looks great, apart from being too dark and Von Croy’s model looking like something out of a horror film. Chronicles is less impressive, while Angel of Darkness looks much the same as it did two decades ago: it seems more like a port than a remaster, except that it already has a PC port that goes on sale for pennies on Steam.
2
Replay Value
Winner: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
There’s a reason Aspyr started by remastering the original trilogy alone: these are the games everyone knows, and even casual fans have replayed a few times. From The Last Revelation onwards, only the diehard fans stuck with Lara as her adventures grew increasingly obtuse and frustrating.
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Most fans have only beaten The Last Revelation once, if at all. Even fewer think that Chronicles and Angel of Darkness are anything but lame cash-ins on a rapidly weakening brand. The remaster adds in a lot of cut content back to Angel of Darkness, but sadly it can’t fix a game that is bad to its very foundation. All in all, the original trilogy has far more replay value.
1
Verdict
Winner: Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered
It brings us no joy to tell you that the Tomb Raider games that were good before are still the ones that are better now. We would love to see The Last Revelation and Angel of Darkness get remakes from the ground up, because that’s the only way to fix those games. Chronicles, though underrated, is simply the forgotten middle child of the series.
Aspyr had the opportunity to fix Tomb Raider 4 to 6 with this remaster; the strong support for the original trilogy showed that fans wanted Lara to shine the way she deserved. Unfortunately, TR 4-6 Remastered comprises worse games given the same treatment as the better ones. If you’re a hardcore Tomb Raider fan, you’re probably already playing TR 4-6 Remastered instead of reading this. But if you’re new to the series and need to choose between the two compilations, go with the originals.
