About classic Tomb Raider games

[SvennoJ]

The controls and level design compliment each other perfectly.

It all comes down to learning sequences for the harder platforming sections, and it's all deterministic. Press shift, count the steps backward to line up a perfect running jump and simply enter the sequence step by step. It works better with digital controls, best on PC. It's a digital control scheme for grid based level design. It's a puzzle game through and through. Then you can add style with hand stands etc, turning it into Olympic gymnastic routines lol.

The combat is just a little break in the real game play, navigation, the opposite of modern tombraider games where platforming is just a distraction from the mass murder. Btw I had no issue shooting while jumping / summer saulting around. You get used to it.

The trailing camera of TR1 is still my favorite as well, not immediately seeing what's around the corner, not being able to peek around the corner kept the tension high. What if there's a bear around the corner... A friend watching me play lost his drink from the resulting jump scares lol.

The best was studying the level and coming up with a path to whatever collectible or item you want. No hints, no paint/scratch marks, you see this thing and have to figure out how to string together a path to it. Total opposite of today's games. If you don't make a jump in the early tomb raider games you can see why and fix it or find a different path. Nailing a jump sequence feels great. In the new games it's all just given to you, no sense of achievement navigating the levels.