It’s hard to know how to review this game, if you hold it up to modern standards then of course it’s got more than its fair share of issues. But if you take it for what it is and compare it to games at the time it is one of the best games ever made.

At the time of its release we has seen nothing like this, the graphics on both pc and console where fantastic and the game play and level design where fluid and expansive. It really did blow allot of people away. I won’t go into too much detail regarding Lara's history or legacy as we all know the impact she had on the video game industry as well as pop culture its self. So let’s begin.

Tomb Raider puts you in the boots of arceologist Lara Croft who is approached by a rich and powerful business woman known as Natla to recover an artefact in Peru, and that is all that is know when Lara sets off on this adventure. The story on the whole is decent but It can be hard at times to piece together exactly what’s going on, I guess in modern gaming we are so used to incredible cinematic experiences that a handful of short FMV's and in game cut sense don’t quite cut it. The clues are there however and its a decent story that keeps the game moving on nicely. The game itself see's Lara tackle 4 areas that are broken up into 3 to 4 levels each, these are Peru, Greece, Egypt and finally Atlantis. The level design for the time is incredible and really second to none, its the classic Tomb Raider design of platforming, key/switch finding and occasional animal or boss battles but for the time is was fresh and exciting. My Only gripe with the levels is that each areas levels can feel repetitive from a graphical point of view, even though the layout of these levels are vastly different they use allot of the same styles and textures.

From a graphics and sound stand point, for a 1996 game it looks and sounds great. 3D environments bring the world together and Lara’s character model looks good if not a little.....pointy. Only issues are a poor draw distance which can be quite jarring in 2016 and sounds sometimes don’t play when they are supposed too however this is an issue in both PC and console versions of the game. The levels don’t have a soundtrack as such, but more occasional sound bites as you adventure, or sounds play to symbolise and secret being discovered or door opening. Sounds of Lara's movements, gun fire and other NPC's are all good for 1996. Some character models of other humans could be improved however as the difference between them and Lara in quality is quite obvious.

The game play is what we have all come to know, love and find frustrating. It’s the usual fair of run, jump, roll, dodge and shoot. There is allot more emphasis on platforming in Tomb Raider as opposed to the other games in the series and only a few enemies appear in levels. To be honest in 2016 Lara did not feel as "tank" like as I thought she might but it can be a challenge to move her around. More often than not I died because she did not jump when I wanted her too or due to the dated graphics a ledge was not as close as I thought. This was frustraiting in 1996 and is frustraiting in 2016 so be warned before you play. It did however not stop my overall enjoyment of the game and replaying it 20 years after it first came out was a complete joy. The PC version also bennifits from its ability to save wherever you like mid level, PlayStation and Saturn versions of the game had to make use of save cristals scattared thoughout the levels and this became more than a slight annoyance on the consoles.

Over all Tomb Raider is a fantastic game, it blew us away in 1996 and in 2016 it’s not as hard to play as I thought it would be. The story is solid and helps move things forward nicely and the overall presentation for the time of release is top notch. This is all complemented with fantastic level design if not slightly aesthetically repetitive. On a modern PC with windows 10 the games runs well, only issues I had is FMV's stretch to fit the screen which can make them harder to watch and there is also a slight delay between them starting and playing on screen only a second or two but this really does not detract too much.

Overall Tomb Raider is an all time great that will go down as a classic. - 9.2/10 - PC 9.0/10 - PS1/Saturn