Tomb raider 3 done
TRI>TRIII>TRII
I really don't get why people liked 2 so much. The human enemies sucked to fight and were a bad fit for the series. "OMG VIENNA THOUGH!" Vienna sucked as did most of the levels in 2. Wow, getting shot on a boat and needing to slowly swim through the water to react is such engaging gameplay... The levels being primarily tight manmade corridors was also a terrible decision. 3 has fun gameplay mechanics (though there is unnecessary clunkiness like only being able to hang off a ledge backwards from a crawl and sprinting being all-around awful due to how much it locks you out of controlling Lara) and the level diversity was great outside of Nevada sucking serious dick all-around. (The jungle levels between India and South Pacific could be argued to be the highlights of the original trilogy outside of Atlantis and Temple of Xian, the only good level in TR2) The MP5 is so much fun to use, although I wonder what the point of the Uzis are since they do less damage, have WAY less ammo available throughout the game, and generally don't feel good to use when the MP5 exists. The rocket launcher and grenade launcher also felt a bit too niche. I don't think I used the shotgun a single time in TR3, ammo was too limited for how mediocre it was compared to other weapons. Desert eagle was of course amazing.
Even though TR3 has excellent gameplay and the best level design in terms of grafix and layout, TR1 is still unmatched in terms of ambience and atmosphere. Atlantis is a joy to play through and going from ancient ruins with animals for enemies to fleshy walls and alien threats was a really cool way to wrap up the game. Every level feels unique and fun, where sometimes in 2 and 3 there are levels that feel extraneous, in order to pad the length of the game. All killer and no filler as they say. Well, maybe besides The Cistern. Fuck that level.
I will be starting the nu TR series soon. I wanted to get the original trilogy done to check it off my bucket list. I'm really glad I played them, the movement system is clunky but there is a definite reason for that, with every movement having a unique purpose. I know 4-5 is quite similar to 1-3, but I figured 3 games of pretty much the same stuff is enough. The bonus level in 3 is pretty but feels weird to play, like it's unfinished. I love that the devs give you infinite ammo on NG+, because some weapons are just too fun to bother worrying about ammo.
As an aside, I feel like Lara has become kind of a psychopath by the end of 3. At the end of Antarctica, she hijacks a helicopter where the pilot is just trying to flirt with a pretty woman in Antarctica and she fucking kills the guy immediately. And in India she immediately shoots at the mad researcher on sight even though all he did was say Lara would die in the temple as he ran away harmlessly. (I had to look up the transcript and rewatch the cutscene 3 times to see he had stuck the artifact into his chest. I guess Lara just has eagle eyes?) I read the plot for 4 through to the reboot and man does Lara get bent over in terms of character development. Poor lass... but I must thank her for all the great blender porn she's given us at the end of the day!
I can see why so many guys (and girls!) fell in love with her as a character before it all went downhill.