They are utterly maddening, and the antithesis of everything Tomb Raider stands for.
Go and play Crystal Dynamics’morerecenttrilogyfrom 2013 instead, or better yet, 2008’s excellent and underratedTomb Raider Underworld.
You’ll have a much better time, I promise.
Not only was she easier to move about, but it drastically reduced the margin for error.
That’s partly because the 90s Tomb Raiders are really games about invisible grids.
With tank controls, this process all feels very familiar.
Press jump and forward and Lara will spring forth, back straight, arms swinging and knees lightly bent.
Press back and she’ll backflip and somersault behind.
Attempt these moves with the modern controls, however, and… they just… don’t work.
I thought I was going mad.
Was I not pressing the right combination of buttons?
That wasn’t even the half of it.
But once again, tapping back with the modern control scheme merely turns Lara around.
It was only when I was fighting a tiger in Tomb Raider 2 that I blundered into the solution.
I couldn’t believe it!
The same held true for attempting a side somersault and backflip, too.
Magnificent work, everyone.
A very slow clap to all involved.
I will persist with this remaster trilogy, but man alive, what a bumbled execution.
But booting up Underworld this week put old and new Tomb Raider into quite stark perspective for me.
Underworld’s Lara isn’t someone who needs a run-up to do big jumps.
But its broken modern controls are very much not a personal preference thing.
I kid you not.
