RetroArch has updated the OpenLaura Core with a new version that adds tons more features including first person and local muliplayer modes!
This game engine recreation seeks to allow you to play the original Tomb Raider engine games, from 1 all the way up to 5. Right now, levels can be loaded from any of the first three Tomb Raider games. Tomb Raider 1 is rapidly nearing completion (save for the odd AI routine of some enemies still missing), and Tomb Raider 2/3 levels are just beginning to load, but still have some behavioral issues that prevents them from being fully playable. You will see some instances of that still in this video.
You can see numerous enhancements over the original Tomb Raider games on Saturn/PlayStation/PC. For one, the framerate is no longer fixed to 30fps, and you can now run it at a smooth 60fps framerate. For the libretro port I decided to expose even more framerate options, allowing you to play at 90fps, 120fps or even 144fps. You can also set the internal resolution of the game. What you see here in this video is the game running at a 4K resolution with the internal resolution 7680x4320 (essentially 8K resolution).
But that is not all! There are also lovely new water effects, self-shadowing on all the player models (although this still has some visual anomalies at places), improved lighting effects, including colored lighting (you can see the save crystals emanating a blue light for instance, something which definitely was not in any of the prior Tomb Raider versions), the ability to target two enemies at the same time individually, etc. The graphical enhancements can all be toggled on/off inside the game’s inventory settings screen (toggleable by pressing the Select button).
But there is even more than that! There is also a brand new local multiplayer mode. You toggle the game into splitscreen mode by pressing Start at any one time. From there, you can see a second Lara character, which is only distinguished from the main character by a slightly jerky animation update routine. Player 2 can now take control of this Lara and you can engage in ‘jolly co-operation’. At all times, Player 1 can beckon Player 2 back to his position by pressing the Start button, which resets player 2’s position back to Player 1’s so that Player 2 can always be brought back in case he/she is running too far astray.
See all the details here: https://medium.com/@libretro/openlara-new-core-update-local-multiplayer-mode-and-more-a0586a72fa7d
There is also a first person view that you can toggle into by pressing the Look button (L button) and then pressing the Action button (B button). This gives you a Mirror’s Edge-esque first person view.
