Finished this on the Switch version of the Remastered Collection, but I don't feel like logging the whole collection as only one game. I played it with classic graphics, so it counts.

This was really good! I think it really excels at the planned platforming, deciding what jumps work where and executing that plan. The sense of exploration is also something you don't see in modern games anymore, some would say for the better but I disagree. Tomb Raider doesn't hold your hand, and your sense of curiosity can walk you into an instakill trap. Still, that idea of looking at your surroundings and planning your moves in what feels (but ultimately isn't) a very open ended tomb ultimately nails the premise the game is selling.

Where the game falls a bit flat is the combat. It's too simple to really be engaging, and it's not really dependent on your equipment hording skills since you're given oodles of everything even without looking for too many secret areas. When the game tries to push the combat the most is when it's frustrating, although when you get the uzis and begin just mowing things down it does regain some dumb fun. Quick reaction sections can also be a bit frustrating since the inputs can be somewhat complicated, so doing them on a dime can feel a bit unfair when a boulder rolls at you in the middle of a complicated jump section. That being said, it's still a lot of fun and it really rewards mastery of the platforming with shortcuts and being able to survive those quick reaction encounters on the first try.

Overall I can see how it's a classic, but I am definitely worried about how the formula is pushed in the millions of sequels. There's some room for improvement, but I worry that as I play them the devs may mistake tedious segments for challenging ones. The idea of punishing the player with time is interesting, but wore thin by the final third of the game (as seen by my sudden increase in save scumming... of the 220 saves, 120 were in the last third of levels in the game).

The plot is pretty bare-bones, but for what it is it works well. I do like the twist on the theming of the final level quite a bit.

Overall a fun time, although definitely something difficult to recommend to those not as comfortable with the clunkiness or visual presentation of early 3D games.

Didn't hook me too much, but a neat slow paced platformer - less about quick reaction, more about planning your route in advance. Controls make sense, but might be difficult to figure out at first - for the first 5 levels I didn't realize that running up isn't always a good thing and kept blaming the game for messed up jumps. Also tank controls, probably because the game had to have precise turning without an analog stick.
Either way, holds up really well even today, I bet it was amazing back in '96. Recommend to anyone who enjoys Indiana Jones vibes.

Finishing this game for the first time can give you a bad impression due to the awkward controls and the sometimes cryptic situations. But if you give this game a chance and get used to it's rules, it's one of the most influential action platformers and a codifier of the genere.

The large maps full of passages, secrets and corridors still feel immersive to this day. Graphic limitations are used cleverly to create a dark atmosphere that hide all kind of hazards, which combined to the wide variety of deaths we can get, it turns out as some kind of light horror game.

Doing the tutorial is highly recomended, so we can master Lara's controls and turn her into a professional acrobat instead of feeling like driving a tank.

Combat is very shallow, since it just consists in drawing your guns and shoot. Lara will do the rest and autoaim as we run around and jump while shooting to avoid the enemies. We still can find multiple kind of weapons for the thoughter enemies in the course of our journey.

It is always an exciting and intriguing adventure that will be forever fun to come back to and have a great time doing so.

The original Tomb Raider has so many paradoxical qualities that could only ever have been dreamt up at the time of its release. This game is popularly remembered as a kind of kitschy action/adventure but it also gives us a glimpse into a video game industry future that never actually materialized. Its design philosophy embodies a sort of evolutionary dead-end for 3D level design, especially as it pertains to the movement of the player character. To ask a new player – even a current Tomb Raider fan! – to play this game without any prior context would be like asking them to learn how to walk again, as if from scratch, thanks to the game’s emphasis on momentum and discrete spacing. But those clunky-feeling controls and finnicky platforming mechanics serve a purpose: they slow you down, get you to look before you leap, making this a proactive rather than reactive action game. Despite its crass title, Tomb Raider is a game all about subtlety – that just so happens to also demand you shoot the occasional T-Rex to death.

The highly intentional nature of Tomb Raider’s game design is complimented by the game's sort of diegetic approach to level design. While nothing in Tomb Raider is 'realistic,' per se, there is a coherent logic to the enemies and paraphernalia scattered throughout each level that encourages you to learn about them a little more deeply. Nothing in Tomb Raider feels arbitrary, and so every new area and item feels like progress. There’s a heavy emphasis on discovery and atmosphere – a huge percentage of this game’s big, memorable moments all center around uncovering new areas, like a lost village, an ancient cistern, or a mythical Atlantean burial ground. Because Tomb Raider is a quiet game with a modest soundtrack and sparse dialogue, the moments where you unlock a door and find, say, the fractured remains of King Midas’ Golden Death Memorial Statue feel so much more powerful. The game rarely signposts its ‘big’ moments, and it subsequently feels like a game without guardrails, like the secrets in the game are for you to find rather than be shown. Whereas later Tomb Raider games treat these moments of discovery like diversions along the path of action set pieces, in the original Tomb Raider they are very much the centerpiece of the experience.

All of Tomb Raider’s sequels are attempts to remake this game but without any of the weirdness and with more tertiary mechanics, which is nonsensical, because Tomb Raider is already the most perfect version of itself. I enjoy more of the Tomb Raider sequels than I don’t, but all of them feel are the equivalent of trying to improve the Mona Lisa by making her expression less ambiguous, or adding a man cave into Falling Water. The formula is already a complete! And despite the sequels’ attempts to go bigger in the action department, they always think smaller. As evidenced by the final section of this game, which is a totally bonkers digression into cosmic Geigerian horror, the potential space for what can be imagined in a game like this was already huge.

Tomb Raider '96 has been on my bucket list for a few years, and it feels great to check it off the list! It's a thrilling cinematic platformer, with presentation I honestly feel still stands up overall, and still feels good to play! Platforming is the star, here; the combat is serviceable, though clearly an afterthought. This does sort of feel like Mario 64's estranged older sister. This is Core Design's answer to the "movement in 3D space problem", though with a d-pad, instead of an analog stick. It's honestly way too long for its own good, but other than that, I don't have any major complaints. Not a must play, though if you're curious about games from a historical perspective, I think this one is definitely worth checking out.

really great atmosphere, really difficult controls. kind of an underrated masterpiece in spite of that - i was surprised by how much they did in this game and how memorable some of the levels are for coming out in 1996. it goes a lot further than you think it does. the controls also start to make a strange sort of sense after a certain point, but you can't approach them in the same way as contemporary 3D games.

playing Tomb Raider 2 (dear lord) after also made me realize how much restraint this game has by comparison.