Tomb Raider III takes all of the missteps from Tomb Raider II - that is to say, all of the clunky combat encounters, obscure puzzles and confusing level design - and escalates them from missteps in design to what almost starts to feel like an intentional punishment of the fanbase.
Every frustrating aspect of the Tomb Raider games is exaggerated here, to the point where it feels like an artistic choice, like Tomb Raider III is this avant garde experiment exploring insanity and its relation to the Sony Playstation. I thought it was weird that Tomb Raider II ratcheted up the difficulty, but the level of challenge here is ridiculous. The late game has so many arbitrary solutions to invisible puzzles that it feels un-completable, but even the early levels are problematic, featuring directionless, wide open spaces spackled with messy, illegible textures which hide nonsensically-placed switches and levers. Levels are filled with enemies that poison you, push you off ledges, and rush you down. If the original Tomb Raider was meditative, then this one is the antithesis of meditative, a game designed to intentionally produce madness.
Despite the generally abhorrent level design, you can also feel the new staff at Core Design sinking the shot on some of its wilder ideas. The early Tomb Raider games oftentimes slide from 'adventure game' into 'horror nightmare' without warning, but this game more coherently builds a sense of dread into its levels over time, and the expanded investment in cutscenes and dialogue manages to make this stuff a little more immediately coherent than the haphazard tonal whiplash of the prior games. The climax of this game straight up puts Lara Croft in the movie The Thing without that feeling totally out of left field, which is cool.
In spite of the fact that actually playing these levels feels fucking awful, the London levels are some of the coolest looking areas in a PS1 game, coloring the city skyline in this unreal shade of blue that looks really moody and evocative, while later levels feature bombed out London subway tunnels with authentic (and highly pixelated) WWII propaganda plastered over partially-collapsed walls.
There is some cool stuff here, and the non-linear level select is a nice touch, but I can't emphasize enough that this game is more fun to watch than to play.
Every frustrating aspect of the Tomb Raider games is exaggerated here, to the point where it feels like an artistic choice, like Tomb Raider III is this avant garde experiment exploring insanity and its relation to the Sony Playstation. I thought it was weird that Tomb Raider II ratcheted up the difficulty, but the level of challenge here is ridiculous. The late game has so many arbitrary solutions to invisible puzzles that it feels un-completable, but even the early levels are problematic, featuring directionless, wide open spaces spackled with messy, illegible textures which hide nonsensically-placed switches and levers. Levels are filled with enemies that poison you, push you off ledges, and rush you down. If the original Tomb Raider was meditative, then this one is the antithesis of meditative, a game designed to intentionally produce madness.
Despite the generally abhorrent level design, you can also feel the new staff at Core Design sinking the shot on some of its wilder ideas. The early Tomb Raider games oftentimes slide from 'adventure game' into 'horror nightmare' without warning, but this game more coherently builds a sense of dread into its levels over time, and the expanded investment in cutscenes and dialogue manages to make this stuff a little more immediately coherent than the haphazard tonal whiplash of the prior games. The climax of this game straight up puts Lara Croft in the movie The Thing without that feeling totally out of left field, which is cool.
In spite of the fact that actually playing these levels feels fucking awful, the London levels are some of the coolest looking areas in a PS1 game, coloring the city skyline in this unreal shade of blue that looks really moody and evocative, while later levels feature bombed out London subway tunnels with authentic (and highly pixelated) WWII propaganda plastered over partially-collapsed walls.
There is some cool stuff here, and the non-linear level select is a nice touch, but I can't emphasize enough that this game is more fun to watch than to play.