PlayStation 3 Review: Tomb Raider Trilogy

Ever since that fateful moment in 1996 when she first appeared on small screens around the world, Lara Croft has become an iconic piece of video game history. Not only has she (inadvertently) aided many a lonely, nerdy boy through his passage through puberty via her shapely pixelated curves, but she’s also enabled millions of lonely, nerdy boys and girls alike to dive right in to various heights (and depths) of adventure by means of nine video games to date.

There were also two terrible movies starring Angelina Jolie, but let’s not talk about those.

While regular gamers anxiously wait for next year’s Tomb Raider release, they can spend a little of that time by checking out Tomb Raider Trilogy from Eidos Interactive and Crystal Dynamics. Those of you who are looking for new and exciting adventures of the busty British archaeologist, however, may want to continue waiting — as Tomb Raider Trilogy contains nothing new game-wise.

Essentially, this game packs three previously-released games together: two PlayStation 2 titles (Tomb Raider: Legend from 2006 and Tomb Raider: Anniversary from 2007, the latter of which is a “remake” of the original PS1 game) and Tomb Raider: Underworld, which was released to several formats — including the PS3 — in 2008.

As for the content of these games themselves, well, they’re all pretty much the same, there, kids: Lara Croft ventures all over the globe, solves some of the most bizarrely-intricate puzzles ever made by human beings, shoots at competing bad guys and finds some booty even bigger than her own in the process. There are also a lot of cutaway sequences tied to a couple of very vague storylines, but they’re just as noteworthy as those Angelina Jolie movies.

In an attempt to at least make this release worth checking out for those who had already played them on the PS2, Eidos Interactive and Crystal Dynamics have performed a little overhaul on the graphics for those two games. They’ve also included some exclusive content in the guise of developer diaries, trophies and so on.

As I am not one of the millions that caught Lara Croft frenzy ever in the first place, these titles were new to me. Nevertheless, I found it easy to get right into the speed of things, as did my children — who were able to dive right in and have at it like it was nobody’s business.

But then, they’re both nerdy and somewhere in the vicinity of puberty — so perhaps it’s just a phase.

As I said before, Tomb Raider Trilogy really doesn’t offer anything new for you regular Lara Croft fans. Newbies, on the other hand, should enjoy this trio.

Tomb Raider Trilogy is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence.