QuickTake: TRX now has basic support for TR4 - and it’s already a fun time

TRX, the open-source reimplementation project that’s bringing all six classic Tomb Raider games to modern platforms, including Mac, has announced preliminary support for 1999’s Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation via a new update. You may have heard that a book is coming soon which covers the making of that game, along with other TR titles made between 1997 and 2000.

Having covered TRX in August, I was aware that the team was deep into getting TR4 working, but I was surprised to see update 1.11 introduce the game in an early state. Even so, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it and seeing what could have been.

When Crofts Collide

Although this update also introduces fixes and new options for instant loading, PS1 fog, and the ability to change Lara into TR1 Natla, it's all about TR4. As before, you need the original game files before you can play the game in TRX. But once it gets going, you can play the first two levels - Angkor Wat and Race for the Iris. The TR1-TR3 ring system is also here, replacing the list-like options that TR4 had, as well as the inventory system from previous TR games. It’s oddly refreshing to see it here, even though Core Design created the new screen to let players combine items and have more things display at once.

Part of me would love to see the TRX team merge the two - so you can combine items within the classic inventory system, or even have an option to switch between that and the original TR4 screen. Seeing this on the title screen gives it some added personality to me - some uniqueness instead of the list of options from the 1999 title.

Much of it already works, though the music and voice acting are missing, so you won’t be able to hear the fantastic soundtrack from Peter Connelly as yet.

But I discovered that, using the ‘Level Skip’ cheat that you can enable in the options, you can play the rest of the levels in the game - albeit in a broken state. Desert Railroad, the level with the moving train, features no moving train - and you can even jump off it and run around with no risk of death.

Some of the weapons haven’t been implemented yet either - but there is a funny moment with the Crossbow. Every time it's used, she says ‘No’. Perhaps that could be an Easter egg in the command console - instead of an ammo sound effect, it’s just ‘No’ for every weapon when fired.

Changing Lara’s appearance via the 'Outfits' toggle gave me an idea of how TR2-TR3 Lara could have looked in TR4 before the engine improvements. It’s something I’ve never seen before, but the Lara that I remember most, from TR2, is here, and it works. Once voice support arrives, it'll be interesting to hear actor Jonell Elliott, who voiced Lara in TR4 up to 2003’s The Angel of Darkness, with the playable TR1-TR3 models.

However, playing the first two TR4 levels in TRX is great, and I’m looking forward to playing KV5 and hearing the iconic Jeep Thrills someday.