In 1996 I had few points of comparison, and the novelty of vertically layered 3D stages viewed from a third-person camera was compelling enough that I didn’t mind. Yet after three decades of fresh ideas and refinement, game designers have addressed all the control issues this title suffers from.
That’s why the team responsible for the remaster attempted to add an optional modern control layout. Sadly, that approach fails completely for Tomb Raider.
Prince of Persia and grids
When development began on the original Tomb Raider, the creators reportedly drew from a distinct mix of inspirations: the fully 3D, traversable worlds of the pioneering Ultima Underworld, the polygonal fighters of Virtua Fighter, and gameplay cues from Jordan Mechner’s 1989 classic Prince of Persia.
If you’ve experienced Prince of Persia, you know its platforming is exacting and demanding. To clear jumps you needed to place yourself with care—one step forward, one step back—until you hit the ideal launch spot.
The same principle applies to Tomb Raider. Indeed, the whole game—its puzzles, level designs, and platforming obstacles—follows a rigid grid system. Players can accurately anticipate how far protagonist Lara Croft will leap from any grid position. Counting steps to align yourself is essentially mandatory if you want to reliably handle the game’s intricate, exact jumping sequences without annoyance.
With the original tank controls you could move forward or back in predictable increments, sidestep, jump sideways, leap forward or back, and so forth, by pressing the arrow keys a set number of times. The whole game was constructed around that mechanic.
Though tank controls can frustrate modern players, there was a certain exquisite elegance to them.
