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By Contributing Writer Rob Pecknold As I look down at the games next to my PlayStation, I see Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider 3, Brave Fencer Musashi, Xenogears, and Final Fantasy 7. These are all great games, but the one getting the most play time in my PlayStation right now is Tomb Raider 3. Why, you ask? Is it because I am aroused by some of the camera angles in the game? Uh... well... no. The truth is, I have been with the Tomb Raider series ever since its birth in November 1996. Tomb Raider 1 was magical in my eyes, and was really a game to showcase the PlayStation's "power" (which has since been dwarfed by the Dreamcast, so whatever supposed strength my beloved system had is now about as believable as Bill Clinton "eating pizza and smoking a cigar" in the oval office with the blinds down as nothing happening). Having played through Tomb Raider 1, a feeling of joy rushes through me just talking about it. My entire family would gather around, solving the puzzles and being thrilled when the sparse, but eventful fights occurred. It didn't matter that the control was bad. It didn't matter that the puzzles were dreadfully out of place. What mattered was the fact that it was a family event, which overshadowed the games weaknesses and made it really, really (for lack of a better word) fun. After the family fun house that was the first game, my family and I eagerly awaited the sequel. Most of my family would come up to me say things like, "Well, Rob, you got the first one, let's go get the sequel" just two months after the original's release. We laugh at that, but they really don't know any better. Poor fools... having lives besides video games... it almost makes me pity them... Anyway, I found Tomb Raider 2 to be a horrible disappointment. The main problem with TR2 was levels like Venice and The Floating Islands (one of the worst levels in any game I've ever played), which especially stunk when compared to the awe-inspiring levels in the original like Atlantis and King Midas' Temple. The magic just wasn't there, and I think there's a logical explanation for that. Tomb Raider 1's lead artist and the creator of Lara Croft, Toby Gard, left Core Design along with Paul Douglas (TR1's lead programmer) to form their own company, Confounding Factor. Core went ahead and still tried to add inspired new ideas to TR2, but the loss of Gard and Douglas was felt in the quality of the game. To me, it was like the nails started to pound down onto the Tomb Raider coffin, and Core needed to do something about it quickly or the series would die just as quickly as it rose to prominence. In my opinion, Tomb Raider 3 is much, much better than TR2, but it still fails to live up the standard set by the original game. Inspired level designs and some fairly hokey, but beautifully animated new moves were put into effect to create a Tomb Raider experience that once again possesses that magical feeling that hasn't been felt since the release of the original game. So while Tomb Raider 3 isn't as good as the first, it is a step in the right direction, and I believe that it rightfully deserves its place in my PlayStation.
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com