Official Review Tomb Raider Collection 1 (Evercade) - No-Frills Emulation Of Lara's Essential Adventures

It's hard to imagine a video game series having quite the same impact as Tomb Raider did back in the '90s. Lara Croft's 1996 debut didn't just attract the attention of gamers the world over; it made her a legitimate cultural icon and (dare we say it?) sex symbol. Sequels, movies, merchandise and much more followed, and while Miss Croft remains a famous face today, her profile in the '90s was arguably much, much higher.

A lot of that has to do with the first three Tomb Raider outings, which have been remastered recently for modern-day platforms. We've also got this collection for the Evercade family of systems, and while it lacks some of the more advanced aspects of the remasters (what you have here is essentially straight emulation of the PS1 originals), it's still a very welcome addition to the Evercade's burgeoning library.

Included here are Tomb Raider (1996), Tomb Raider II (1997) and Tomb Raider III (1998) – yes, we really did get a Tomb Raider game every year at one point (the slightly less acclaimed Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles arrived in 1999 and 2000 respectively, but neither is included here – nor do they have a place on the remastered collection).

It's fair to say that five Tomb Raider games in as many years made the series stale and predictable, but the opening trilogy remains a treat, even after more than twenty years.


Sure, Lara is somewhat awkward to control when you're used to precise twin-stick analogue movement, but those of you who played these games in the '90s might be surprised how swiftly muscle memory kicks in – and how versatile the control system remains, despite its digital-only nature. The remastered collection allows for 'modern' controls for those who cannot get used to digital input, but that sadly isn't possible on Evercade (for now, at least).

There's no shortage of action to be had over these three titles, but the puzzle and exploration elements help break things up significantly. Like all of the most impactful early 3D games, most of the delight in Tomb Raider comes from successfully navigating your way through each location by leaping over platforms, scaling vertical surfaces and flicking switches to open doors; the sense of scale, even in the first game, remains impressive.

The initial load time required to boot each game can become a little annoying, and the need to manually save your game is another relic of the past that is irritating rather than endearing, but even these complaints can't take the shine off what is another brilliant trip down memory lane for Evercade fans. This ranks as one of the platform's most significant releases so far, and we hope to see more high-profile collections of this caliber in the years to come.