Tomb Raider Rankings
Ranking the Tomb Raider games, having replayed most of them recently. It's generally a consistently good series, with the dips being just generally uninspired minus the one notable exception. The quality gap between the final 3 and the rest is more substantial than the others.
I have had to revise this list as I think I was too harsh on the LAU trilogy while being far too kind to Last Revelation, which upon replay is incredibly mediocre compared to the more solidly built Legend and Anniversary.
I have had to revise this list as I think I was too harsh on the LAU trilogy while being far too kind to Last Revelation, which upon replay is incredibly mediocre compared to the more solidly built Legend and Anniversary.
12 Games
I consider the top 3 here pretty equal in terms of quality. Tomb Raider 96 is just so consistently good that I gotta give it the top.
This one is kind of contentious, but I think Tomb Raider 3, for being monstrously difficult, also focuses the series back into tomb raiding and battling strange creatures and has some good ass levels. I also recently played it while staying with my partner on my vacation so I just feel pretty good about this one : - )
It's a substantially mixed bag. It isn't long, isn't that substantial, and isn't that interesting. But jumping and climbing is fun and this is as good as Crystal Dynamics are going to get at it so we might as well take what we can get.
This could honestly have been the top one if the middle section wasn't such a pointless detour. Plus, fighting Guys With Guns has never been the fun part of Tomb Raider, guess what every entry below this one has a lot of?
A tad cynical in its nature, it's still a very fun game based on Core's rock solid original framework.
The most mechanically solid game of this trilogy, the plot still being just insufferable. An absolutely gorgeous game, more focused on what makes these games fun.
A very buggy, rushed game with Crystal Dynamics' patented bizarro world camera. But pretty decent writing and reliably fun gameplay do a lot to ease its wounds.
So close to being my ideal AAA game, but the interminable combat and nauseating length poison my memory of what was honestly a fun game. It goes on too long, climaxes 4 different times, and continues the Lara Croft Character Assassination.
Playing this is so fun it should honestly be higher, but the tone and story are so nasty, mean-spirited and fucking gross that this plummets to the depths of my list. if the game had no story whatsoever it honestly would have ended up higher.
Play 50 variations on the same level for 10 hours with some really rancid vehicle sections mixed in for variety.
A developer saying "Oh, you WANT more Tomb Raider? Here's more Tomb Raider" and unleashing a barrage of levels that were cut for a reason.
A game that isn't even finished and went through a development hell feels kind of mean-spirited to put at the bottom, but it really is bad.
8 Comments
I gotta know straight from the expert, what is the best way to play Tomb Raider III these days?
@HenryVines Remastered. the remastered graphics aren't amazing and you'll need a reshade pack for the lighting, but the QoL additions make going back to TR3's original PC release or the Ps1 version near impossible.
@HenryVines i do recommend playing 1 and 2 extensively first, as 3 is a sequel that assumes you have those games whipped and are ready for a meatier challenge.
Absolutely will do, the first game kicked me ass plenty when I was a youngin and I don't intend to go any further with the series until I've given it another proper shake. I was just curious if the bugs you describe in your review are to such a detriment that there was a better way to go about it, when I eventually get to 3.
@HenryVines Oh! are you talking about Underworld? That one I'd recommend just picking up on Xbox. Compatability with mid-2000s games on Windows 10/11 is terrible, and the LAU trilogy run fine on the Xbone.
Sorry, I should have been more clear. In your review of the 2024-remaster version of Tomb Raider 3 you mention it being a super buggy / unlikely to be fixed remaster and it just got me wondering what the best version to play is at this point. I really should have asked you under that review!
But thanks for all your advice!
gruel
2 months ago