Tomb Raider (1996)

Tomb Raider was, and always will be, a great classic. It revolutionized the platforming adventure and continue to do so to this day.

Sure, you got the Indiana Jones games on the NES and SNES already, something that Tomb Raider shares a resemblance with, but the introduction of a female character in minimal clothing, raiding temples, tombs and crypts was something completely different. Instead of using a piece of rope to whack people with, you got two badass guns to dispose of the many threats you encounter on your journeys.

Story wise, it is not that complicated. You are a famous archaeologist that can handle her own, and for this reason, you are hired by some chick named Jacqueline Natla to find an ancient artifact called the Scion of Atlantis. Four different part of this Scion are scattered in different tombs and it is your job to find them.

On your journeys, you find different weapons, ammo and health packs. Ammo is very scarce in this game so you need to use your resources wisely. Save the strongest weapons for difficult enemies and try to avoid unnecessary damage from falls and obvious traps.
The search for this artifacts goes hand in hand with solving puzzles, go to hard to reach places, exploring environments and overcoming the dangers that guard the artifacts. And oh yeah, also watch out for the wildlife, like a freaking T-Rex for example, that casually walks back and forth in one of the levels.

The graphics in Tomb Raider are advanced for its time and aged fairly well. It is still playable today. Yes, Lara’s front rack can poke your eyes out, but the environments are still beautiful for a game this old.

The controls are a little stiff because they are “Tank Controls” and rotating Lara can be a chore sometimes. Also, when jumping and grabbing, your timing needs to be perfect or your adventure ends right here, on the floor of a eighty feet high cave.

There is no music whatsoever in Tomb Raider and for this game and its play style, it works perfectly. There is some dramatic music when a certain event happens, when you meet the casual T-Rex for example, but other than that, it is ambient sound of wind, birds and water. The sound effects are really nice and enhances the feeling of playing an adventure platforming game. The grunt sounds when Lara grabs on to a ledge, climbing up a ladder, takes damage and when she lands on a platform are just really well done. And then you have the death sounds the makes when falling from too high a platform or gets eaten by ten velociraptors. Just epic.

Tomb Raider is a long game, you don’t finish it in one setting. Only if you know exactly where you need to go can it be done, but the constant searching for the right path or solution to a puzzle, keeps you hooked up for hours.

This game kept amazing me. Just when I thought I had seen everything, I entered the temple of Atlantis and got attacked by half-eaten flesh mummies that jump everywhere and defeated a giant flesh/skeleton abomination. It blew my mind because it just did not fit in and came out of the blue.

That is just the magic of this game. I enjoyed every minute of it, and although it can be a little frustrating and confusing sometimes because of the many death traps this game has, it is just part of its charm.

Definitely recommend playing it.

Game: Tomb Raider I
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer: Core Design
Publisher: Square Enix
System: Steam (PC)
Year of Release: 1996 (2012)
Length of Playthrough: 3 Hours

Total Score: 54/100
Value Score: 5.4/10

• Story: 6/10
• Characters: 5/10
• GamePlay: 3/10
• Graphics: 5/10
• Sound: 7/10
• Music: 2/10
• Length: 6/10
• Replay Value: 5/10
• Player Value: 5/10

Pros
+15 levels consisting of secret areas and puzzles

Cons
-Barely any music
-Have to use mods to fix the resolution and controller support
-Uses DOSBOX emulator
-Frustrating level design
-Very outdated graphics with little to no graphical options due to the emulator
-Controls are heavily outdated and did not age well
-Bland design overall

A classic and the first game in one of my favourite series. I don't think the atmosphere of this title was ever recreated in later Tomb Raiders even the great remake of it. There's a sense of emptiness and genuine fear when something attacks you that is taken away by the later games' abundance of bad guys and man eating animals. My only complaints are the clunky feeling controls and combat system. Besides that this is a true great.