I remember back when it was avaible on first Playstation console, how much I loved this game... this atmosphere of great adventure, puzzles and danger avaiting on every single step. And this beatiful woman... who didn't fall in love with Lara Croft? It was most beatiful gaming female character so far, I even remember her photoshoots were in some "adult only" magazine. Really good times. It's way different from reboot Tomb Raider game and if you ask me, I think original is way more fun. There isn't enought words to describe how mysterious mix of all those things are and trying to look for way out of cave, to find something valuable or even simple medpack. I won't also forget fighting with wolfes, bear or SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER for the first time. It's must play for everyone, worth every price. Also, it doesn't have any problems with working on modern systems, at least I didn't had any trouble running it.

The first Tomb Raider game, released in '96, was original, unique and immersive, and featured a (equipped) female as its protagonist - something fairly rare at the time. Despite being made by a team of a handful of people, Tomb Raider I remains one of the most influential games in history, starting a lengthy series of successful video-games. Like other reviewers have pointed out, the graphics haven't held up too well (even at the time they weren't anything special), the controls are hard to get into -but satisfying in the end- and some of the game's elements can be awkward at times -particularly the shooting and the camera angles. These points do no deter from the quality of Tomb Raider I - they perhaps strengthen it. It is the feeling of total isolation you get while exploring the ancient tombs, the cleverness of the puzzles, the quality of the level design and of the ambient soundtrack and the uniqueness of the gameplay that made Tomb Raider such a good game.I should not forget to mention that this game features a wide variety of animals and atlantean monsters to dispose of, a cliche villain who wants to take over the world, cutscenes, voice-acting and character models of not-so-amazing quality and a series of random locations to explore -I mean raid-: Peru, Greece, Egypt and some island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean (also, I guess you could add Lara's house to that list if you want). If you're willing to get past some of this game's flaws -including its age if you care about that sort of thing-, then I encourage you to buy this game (actually you should buy the whole series - on a sale perhaps). You definitely won't regret it! (unless you're a tasteless CoD player of course, but if that were the case, what are you doing here reading this review that went for far longer than it should have?)

I barely started my gaming "career" by then. Tomb Raider was one of the first games I ever played. Back then it was brilliant. Beautiful. And hard. Lot's of puzzles, difficult enemies to beat. Jumps you had to perform perfectly, or watch Lara plunge into a chasm or ravine, and die. By now this game is a curiosity, and shoud be treated as such. A memoir, a bauble in one's collection. That's what it is for me now. I still have it, fortunately on a CD. It's a fine addition to one's collection.

The original Tomb Raider is somehow still the best one from the PS1 era. The controls are precise, the environments still look great, the action scenes are tense, and the story/world have a very epic feel. It takes some time getting used to the tank controls today, but that goes for many games of its time, and it still flows more smoothly than most.

TR:I, when you put it in the context of 1996 gaming, is okay. But if you only care about modern games [nothing to be ashamed of], you likely won't enjoy this game. I will do my best to review this game from the former point of view. Putting aside the ridiculously "top-heavy" player model for Lara Croft, the game's graphics are okay. A bit polygonal, but not bad overall. I had some issues with DOSbox misplacing renders of non-world objects [e.g. health packs being visible behind walls], but nothing to make it unplayable. The design of the levels is ok as well, but many of the jumping puzzles can end up being rather frustrating. This is because often the required key sequence will not always do what you intended [Trying to run and jump might cause a leap from a standing start, and vice versa]. However, the levels as a whole are generally rather extensive for the era, and there is usually a lot to explore. The game controls primarily with keyboard only, but it can be configured to use a gamepad. I would very seriously recommend not using a gamepad, as it felt very sluggish and unresponsive. The gameplay surrounding gunfights can be ridiculous at times, with both enemies and yourself soaking up bullets like sponges. The game does auto-aim, and doesn't require reloading, so you can run around the map shooting everything with no difficulty whatsoever. Beware bats though, if one gets on top of you and you get stuck in a corner, you're done for. To summarize, this game has flaws. It isn't completely terrible, so if you want to play this game for nostalgic purposes then go ahead, but otherwise don't bother.