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Review: Tomb Raider: The TrilogyReviewed By: Kirk Hiner Review Date: September 8, 2001
I think Lara Croft is running out of tombs. Five computer games, a movie, countless toys, a Saturday morning cartoon (no, wait...that's Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestle, sorry) and who knows what else around the corner; Lara Croft as become the pop culture icon we wish we could get out of an actual living, breathing human. The supposed final chapter in Lara's legacy, Tomb Raider: Chronicles was released for the Mac earlier this year by Aspyr Media. Technologically, it was the apex of the series. Granted, the trip from the original Tomb Raider to Chronicles was not very far. The graphics improved slightly with each game and a couple new features were always added, but they were never enough to strongly distinguish one game from the other. In the end, each was about Lara running around exploring maps and shooting things, and that was enough.
Like Bungie's Mac Action Sack, Tomb Raider: The Trilogy works best as a history lesson, albeit an easier one. Mac Action Sack was about the evolution of an entire company and perhaps of Mac gaming itself; the games included on the CD (Minotaur, Pathways into Darkness, Abuse and the Marathon Trilogy) were arguably the best in their respective genre for both the Mac and the PC. Tomb Raider: the Trilogy is solely about Lara. I won't go into detail on each of these games; full reviews can be found here: Hey, that's almost a condensed history of Applelinks game reviews. Well, a history of 1999 anyway. But let's take a look at Tomb Raider: The Trilogy as the sum of its parts.
Tomb Raider II comes with a little more, at least for those with a slow (or no) internet connection. Available for the first time on CD are the four bonus levels that compose The Gold Mask. If you've finished Tomb Raider II and never bothered to download the bonus levels, they're worth looking into here. Of course, the entire game is worth looking into here. Of the five, Tomb Raider II is still my favorite. Although the graphics seem a bit primitive compared to Chronicles, and certainly to more modern games of similar style such as American McGee's Alice and even Sin Gold, the story, gameplay, and style of Tomb Raider II come together a bit better than in the other chapters. Tomb Raider III gives us the biggest bonus; the previously unavailable six level adventure The Lost Artifact. Aside from being a lot of fun to play, it's also fun to read about these levels on the back of the box...
Cool. Is you is or isn't my Lara.
So we know that Tomb Raiders I, II, and III are great games, but how does Tomb Raider: The Trilogy hold up on its own? Well, buying a compilation such as this is like buying a DVD. You don't want just the movie, the teathrical trailer, and a "collectible booklet" (you know a DVD is going to be a waste of money if one of the listed features is the dreaded "collectible booklet"). These are useful for people who have never seen the movie, but a disappointment to fans who want commentary, a documentary, special footage, featurettes, deleted scenes, and so on. Tomb Raider: The Trilogy gives us more than just the bonus levels. Considering the pop culture phenomenon that Lara Croft has become, it only makes sense Aspyr would also include desktop images (although a paltry few), demos of The Last Revelation and Chronicles, and easy access to some of the audio tracks. These are presented in AIFF format, which is easily converted to MP3 by just about any converter. Most are just snippets that don't stand up on their own, but the Tomb Raider title music may define Lara's character moreso than even her figure.
So, if you've only recently stepped into the Tomb Raider franchise or you just have to have The Lost Artifact, Tomb Raider: The Trilogy delivers...provided you can handle the dated technology that drives it. Forget the movies and the toys and the trading card game, and put Lara back inside your computer where she belongs. She'll be happier there. And dag! How far have we come when Tomb Raider games can be considered ideal as introductory titles to bigger and better things? It's okay, though, as Tomb Raider II was largely responsible in once again making the Mac a legitimate gaming machine; Lara Croft, Aspyr, and this funny little thing called the iMac. They're all still with us, and that's just fine by me. But...what happened to Hulk Hogan' Rock and Wrestle?
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So, perhaps to ride the Tomb Raider: The Movie wave or to maybe just move some old CDs, Aspyr has packaged the first three Tomb Raider games in one box dubbed Tomb Raider: The Trilogy. I'm not sure if you can call the first three parts of a five part series a trilogy, but since I don't even know the official term for five part series (a quintulogy, perhaps?), I won't complain too much.
Tomb Raider contains the Unfinished Business and The Shadow of the Cat bonus levels, but this is no big deal to Macintosh gamers; they were already included in Tomb Raider: Gold. So, nothing exciting here save for the experience. If you've seen the Tomb Raider movie or played the later games without having seen from where Lara came, here's your chance.
Anyway, at six levels, The Lost Artifact feels less like a bonus and more like an entire adventure...and one that may actually be longer than Chronicles. It's also the overall best expansion in both invetiveness and attractiveness. I would have liked for the zoo to have been a much larger part of the full game, and I wonder why we never saw levels more like this in later games.
All three parts ship on their own CD, but installation for them all should take place off the first. This makes it somewhat inconvenient to install just the bonus levels, but better for those looking to get everything on their system in one shot.