Even now, not too shabby

Author's Rating:

Pros: length, realistic movements of subjects

Cons: save your games constantly, a crash is coming

Author's Review
You can't say enough about this game. Unfortunately, not all of the things said are good.

This renegade of a pc game transformed the gaming world. You no longer had a popular game in first person (so long DOOM). You played on multi-levels without having to go through a door that makes you wait to load the maze to the next level (Not good if you are scared of heights). All this and it looks good, too (no wire frame).

You have to give Tomb Raider its pat on the back. It definitely excelled. The story was compelling as you went through a plethora of sights: up, down, through water, down cliffs and watch out for all of those pesky animals and ancient artifacts. You're not done in two seconds either. This game goes on for a long time.

It's amazing that even the new versions of this game still have similar graphics. Sure, they have nicer texture mapping and more rounded edges but these are almost unnoticeable to the glance and can you beat seeing Lara Croft pull herself up on a rock face. It is amazingly natural. The grunt helps, too. They really did good research on human body kinematics.

Now, the bad. Using a third person approach leaves a lot of sticky scenes especially when Lara passes through a drape or anything that can become between your screen and her. You lose a lot of sight, and in a fight sequence, this can be pretty irritating. Often what she can see (theoretically), you see much less of.

Also, this program is not very robust. The crash per time ratio is way to high. If this were a normal game, it would have been shunned by the market. Fortunately for the makers, this is not a normal game.

So, go ahead and give it a try if you are one of the ten who hasn't yet. The story is fun, the action is nonstop and you can be the hero you always wanted (even if you are a man).