Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft (1998)
The third game in the Tomb Raider series. Lara travels the world to find four meteorite stones.
First released
Nov 21, 1998
Aliases
Tomb Raider 3: Adventures of Lara Croft
Franchises
Tomb Raider
Developed by
Core Design Ltd., Westlake Interactive
Published by
Sold Out Sales & Marketing Ltd., Eidos Interactive
Platforms
Mac, PlayStation, PlayStation Network (PS3), PC, PlayStation Network (PSP)
Genres
Action-Adventure
Rating
ESRB: T
Releases
- PC - 6 Great Games Windows XP Edition United States
- PC - Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft United Kingdom
- PS1 - Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft United Kingdom
- PS1 - Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft United States
- PS1 - Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft (Collectors' Edition) United States
Community reviews
Worst instalment in the series in my opinion *warning: spoilers*.
I am a big fan of the Tomb Raider series. Solving puzzles, collecting (secret) items, the platforming, it is simply great. But strange enough was Tomb Raider III the absolute worst I have played so far in the series. It has so many problems that it became a real chore to finish. And I never post a review about a game if I did not finish it first.
Tomb Raider III is still a classic game that follows the same format as the first two installments and has all the elements the other games have too. You go on an adventure to collect an ancient artifact while avoiding traps, killing enemies and solve puzzles along the way. But it has too many shortcomings.
To start, Tomb Raider III has too much “everyday live” stuff in it, if that makes sense. Entire levels are just in a city or a military encampment, a secret base, a complex, subway etc. Only the first and last levels take place in actual ancient tombs or ruins, the thing that defined the other games so much. Many of the traps are not mechanical activated spikes or blades, but industrial crushers or rock crushers. The whole purpose for me in Tomb Raider, is raiding tombs. Luckily the fourth game did it absolutely right and is still my favourite.
Second, it has to many cheap deaths, impossible jumps, enemies that spawn out of nowhere, game mechanics that change on the spot and ladder disembarks that must be done in such a way that a normal human would not figure out by themselves unless they used a guide. An example is three instances in which you are on a ladder and need to access a platform directly next to it. You need to let yourself fall, grab the ladder again and immediately go to the left or else Lara will go into her “ladder stance” again. When you activate a switch, the second after that a freaking Raptor spawns out of nowhere, attaches itself to your ass and never let go. You press a button and two angry natives with spears spawn in front of you and maul your ass. When you ride on certain vehicles throughout the game, you can never “jump off” the thing. You need to be standing still, press the arrow key + end and disembark. However, the boat in the last level, Antarctica changes the mechanics around completely. Here you need to get close to a ledge and then jump out on the platform. I spend hours on this part before I realized this.
One special note must be made for the Area 51 levels in the Nevada campaign. Here, your weapons are taken from you. If you collected sooooo much stuff throughout the other campaigns, it is all gone. All that work for nothing. No MP5 (which I never found again), no Desert Eagle, nothing. I thought I was getting it back at the end but no. It is one of the cheapest things I experienced in this game.
But the main reason I did not like Tomb Raider III, was the cryptic nature of the game. Yes, I know you are supposed to solve puzzles and that you must find the right path. But this is not normal. You NEVER know where to go or what to do, every texture looks the same and cannot be distinguished from anything else, the levels are chaotic and repetitive and on top of that, some routes make no sense. Peddling UP a river to reach the correct platform, I mean come on. And then you got the switches you press to open a certain area ten kilometres back and you do not have the slightest clue what it opened. No animation, no screenshot nothing. Later on, in the game you get some indications about what a button, key or switch does, but in the beginning, you can figure that out for yourself my friend. Long story short, it is one big boring mess which does whatever it wants.
Now I know Tomb Raider games are hard, especially the earlier instalments, they do not hold your hand throughout the game like games nowadays. But this is taking it to the next level and I never had so much trouble and anger with any other Tomb Raider game, and I played Tomb Raider I, II and IV as well.
The last reason I did not like this instalment in the Tomb Raider series was the boss and ending. It is without doubt one of the cheapest and most unfair boss fights I have ever played out of any game. One hit death, two seconds to react, no breathing time. You fail miserably, you consult a strategy guide, get specific instructions to do exactly in time, it works but you are thinking: “How the hell could people from 1998 figure this out, how did kids stand a chance back then?” And even when you kill the bloody thing, the level still goes on and you need to kill 8 more guards with machine guns and flamethrowers. Holy sh…
All this combined made Tomb Raider III a real chore to finish and I never had this feeling of disappointment and irritation with any other Tomb Raider game.
Do not recommend this one.
Tomb Raider III is still a classic game that follows the same format as the first two installments and has all the elements the other games have too. You go on an adventure to collect an ancient artifact while avoiding traps, killing enemies and solve puzzles along the way. But it has too many shortcomings.
To start, Tomb Raider III has too much “everyday live” stuff in it, if that makes sense. Entire levels are just in a city or a military encampment, a secret base, a complex, subway etc. Only the first and last levels take place in actual ancient tombs or ruins, the thing that defined the other games so much. Many of the traps are not mechanical activated spikes or blades, but industrial crushers or rock crushers. The whole purpose for me in Tomb Raider, is raiding tombs. Luckily the fourth game did it absolutely right and is still my favourite.
Second, it has to many cheap deaths, impossible jumps, enemies that spawn out of nowhere, game mechanics that change on the spot and ladder disembarks that must be done in such a way that a normal human would not figure out by themselves unless they used a guide. An example is three instances in which you are on a ladder and need to access a platform directly next to it. You need to let yourself fall, grab the ladder again and immediately go to the left or else Lara will go into her “ladder stance” again. When you activate a switch, the second after that a freaking Raptor spawns out of nowhere, attaches itself to your ass and never let go. You press a button and two angry natives with spears spawn in front of you and maul your ass. When you ride on certain vehicles throughout the game, you can never “jump off” the thing. You need to be standing still, press the arrow key + end and disembark. However, the boat in the last level, Antarctica changes the mechanics around completely. Here you need to get close to a ledge and then jump out on the platform. I spend hours on this part before I realized this.
One special note must be made for the Area 51 levels in the Nevada campaign. Here, your weapons are taken from you. If you collected sooooo much stuff throughout the other campaigns, it is all gone. All that work for nothing. No MP5 (which I never found again), no Desert Eagle, nothing. I thought I was getting it back at the end but no. It is one of the cheapest things I experienced in this game.
But the main reason I did not like Tomb Raider III, was the cryptic nature of the game. Yes, I know you are supposed to solve puzzles and that you must find the right path. But this is not normal. You NEVER know where to go or what to do, every texture looks the same and cannot be distinguished from anything else, the levels are chaotic and repetitive and on top of that, some routes make no sense. Peddling UP a river to reach the correct platform, I mean come on. And then you got the switches you press to open a certain area ten kilometres back and you do not have the slightest clue what it opened. No animation, no screenshot nothing. Later on, in the game you get some indications about what a button, key or switch does, but in the beginning, you can figure that out for yourself my friend. Long story short, it is one big boring mess which does whatever it wants.
Now I know Tomb Raider games are hard, especially the earlier instalments, they do not hold your hand throughout the game like games nowadays. But this is taking it to the next level and I never had so much trouble and anger with any other Tomb Raider game, and I played Tomb Raider I, II and IV as well.
The last reason I did not like this instalment in the Tomb Raider series was the boss and ending. It is without doubt one of the cheapest and most unfair boss fights I have ever played out of any game. One hit death, two seconds to react, no breathing time. You fail miserably, you consult a strategy guide, get specific instructions to do exactly in time, it works but you are thinking: “How the hell could people from 1998 figure this out, how did kids stand a chance back then?” And even when you kill the bloody thing, the level still goes on and you need to kill 8 more guards with machine guns and flamethrowers. Holy sh…
All this combined made Tomb Raider III a real chore to finish and I never had this feeling of disappointment and irritation with any other Tomb Raider game.
Do not recommend this one.
A decent Lara adventure
From what I remember, the first two 'worlds' were great but I didn't like the futuristic Area 51 at all. Also it still suffers from the old clunky control problem. An enjoyable adventure nonetheless!