Tomb Raider III (1998)

TR I + II work flawlessly, courtesy of dosbox I assume. This fails to initialize on launch

The next entry in the incredible Tomb Raider first years. TR3 was the first time where the old engine started to feel old. It's still a beautiful game with deeply evoking locations. This time, Lara races around the world to gather four artifacts tucked in remote locations. For the first time, you can select which order you play the midgame, all are mandatory anyways regardless of the order. The game starts in India, probably the best looking section. After the mostly artificial and human cities from TR2, this sequel tried to emphazise that sense of wonder and mystery of nature, at least in these first levels. Lara is again mostly fighting against animals and some mythological creatures. Each section ends with a boss fight, with most being just shooting until they drop dead. The mid section features three sections: Nevada, London and South Pacific Islands. They cannot be more different. The deserts of Nevada give place for the infamous Area 51 and its secrets, London features the city rooftops at night and a museum, while the Pacific Islands take place in lost temples deep in an island. They are generally great levels, except for the London ones, which feature some of the hardest and most ridiculous puzzles and exploration of the whole saga. As usual, Lara has a couple of new movements. She can now monkey swing on special roofs, has a dash movement with an energy bar, and very slowly crawl through tight places and vents. These moves were needed for more complex and challenging map design. Also for the first time, the blocky world can now have 45 degree walls. It's still a bit dated, but at least the developers managed to create more realistic locations. This is up to this point the hardest TR made, some will argue that it's the hardest in the whole history including every reboot and spin off. It's a fair warning, the game has no signaling and exploration can be tiresome after wondering for hours in the London abandoned Aldwych station or in Lud's Gate, trying to find a hard interactible spot or a missing item hidden behind what should had been a secret. Still, TR3 works for the most part. It's a very long game, with the last section being in Antarctica. Again, the next to last level is a gauntlet of traps, puzzles and the strongest enemies. Like the previous game, there's now various new vehicles to use: a quad, a kayak, an underwater propulsion unit, a boat and a mine cart. They should be fun to use, but in reality the geography of the levels make them useless or just very hard to maneuver, specially the kayak. Rowing against the current, which is required, and being surrounded by traps is not fun. Expect to save and reload a lot in this game. Special mention to the updated tutorial at Lara's home now filled with secrets, including a very well hidden aquarium and a racetrack. It's a shame they dropped it in the next few games. Again, and I won't stop repeating this: don't get this version, just go for the remastered trilogy which includes the best expansion of them all, the one in TR3 Gold.