Like Beyoncé dropping her new album on the hapless planet, today the original Tomb Raider I appeared on the Apple store for iPhone and iPad with absolutely zero fanfare or announcement from Square Enix.
The game, originally released in 1996 for the PlayStation, was the beginning of a legend and a video game phenomenon. English archaeologist Lara Croft became the central figure of an enormous franchise spanning games, comic books, novels, theme park rides and two movies – the first of which is still the highest-grossing film adaptation of a video game ever released in the US. Lara has made it into the Walk of Game and the Guinness Book of World Records, and now on to iTunes:
That’s right, Tomb Raider I is now available for your iPad and iPhone in all its original (and challenging!) glory.
We’ve not messed about with it, so it’s the full, unedited, unadulterated experience from the classic release at a super-low price. How better to find out if you’ve still got what it takes to beat a legendary game than by taking on the lost city of Atlantis and the pyramids of Egypt? It’s probably not for the faint of heart!
Included are two extra chapters that were included in the game’s 1998 re-release, which extends gameplay to a total play time of about 15 hours. It also supports game controllers such as the MOGA Ace Power and the Logitech PowerShell.
Early reviews for the game suggest that default movement controls have not translated well to the touchscreen format, but for a dollar, it is still hard to argue trying.
For those of you who would rather try playing the same adventures but with an updated graphical twist, you can always check out Tomb Raider Anniversary, the 2007 remake by both Crystal Dynamics and Buzz Monkey Software for almost every console under the sun, and PC and Mac OS X as well. It can be found on Steam for about $9, and regularly goes on sale. (Besides, the Winter Steam sale should be just around the corner.)
