Review Tomb Raider Collection 2 (Evercade) - Diminishing Returns, But Lara's Magic Remains

The second Tomb Raider Collection for Evercade only includes two games—Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999) And Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000)—which compares unfavourably to the first pack, which shipped with three full titles. However, there's certainly no denying that both are excellent 3D action adventures packed with challenging puzzles, addictive combat and gripping storytelling.

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation was intended by its developers to be the final game in the series, with Lara's fate seemingly sealed at its conclusion. As you can imagine, publisher Eidos wasn't keen on abandoning its cash cow at this point, and a more open-ended story was eventually established.

Set in Egypt, it boasts some of the most impressive locations in the PS1 Tomb Raider titles, and this Evercade release is blessed with a bonus level that was originally distributed on PC via The Times newspaper in the UK. Evercade maker Blaze has retrofitted it to the original PS1 version, which means this is the first time it has been playable on any platform other than a computer. It's a neat bonus which makes this collection especially interesting for long-standing fans of the series.

Tomb Raider: Chronicles picks up where The Last Revelation left off, with Lara missing and presumed dead. Instead of offering a single, overarching storyline, the game consists of four stand-alone tales involving Miss Croft, each taking place at a different point in her life (she's a teenager in one story, for example).

While it could never be described as a bad video game, Chronicles is very much a case of diminishing returns for the series; it offers very little in the way of innovation when compared to other entries and is now regarded as one of the weakest Tomb Raider titles.

As with the original pack, the emulation here is very straightforward, so don't go expecting the enhanced visuals seen in the Remastered collection on modern-day consoles. The PS1 graphics have aged a little but still look impressive, especially when set alongside other games on Evercade.

Ultimately, Tomb Raider Collection 2 is a lesser release when compared to the original Evercade pack, but it still contains a pair of excellent adventures that stand up well, even by modern standards—and that bonus stage is great news for diehard Tomb Raider completists.