Recent reviews by pandamonium

ENCLAVE GAME REVIEW
Also known as: Jack's first experience with a really unbalanced and unfair game.

I'm only five levels into the game, and on Medium, died twelve times so far.
Now, why is that a problem, you ask?
Let's dissect this thing.
Be aware that I have completed this game on Easy before, and even then, I had similar issues just with less dying.

The first major flaw this game has is a checkpoint system, activated only at certain locations on a level. You usually get one or two depending on how long a level is.
This wouldn't be that big of a deal if dying didn't mean losing 10 gold every time (which you DO need for stuff, will explain later).
This respawn does nothing but restore your health to full. All the ammo and healing potions you spent stay spent, and the enemies you met prior to your death are all dead or as damaged as you left them.

Next, the gameplay. Oh boy, this one's a real pain in the ass.
Due to how ridiculously small hitboxes in this game are, you'll find yourself wondering why your reticule was red but you still missed that shot, many times. Well alright, maybe trying to go the archer route is a bit unplayable, let's switch to sword and shield for the Knight, or magic attacks for the Druid.
Nope! The hitboxes are horrible even then. The Knight swings his sword twice in an X motion, and if your enemy starts jittering all around you, this can make the experience feel less like you're in control and more like an RNG decides whether you land the hit or not.

The same rule DOES NOT apply to the enemies. Even your shield barely helps, as half the time, they will still land a hit on you even if you can see that their weapon hit it and not you. Have I mentioned some enemies need 10+ hits to die, and they can kill you with about 3-4?

Ranged enemies will ALWAYS hit you unless you actively hide behind something where at that point they'll be forced to come close for a clear shot. An assassin and goblin archer will have the same bullseye accuracy, even though they're vastly different in terms of skills.

Their movement pattern isn't programmed properly at all, and you'll see assassins and giant armored Orcs alike moving at the same speed, rushing you while sidestepping no matter if you're actively attacking them or not.
Ranged enemies try to keep their distance, while melee ones run into you and mindlessly attack you, fully knowing you don't stand a chance.

The entire game, if you prefer going as an archer, will have you shooting, missing, then backstepping the entire map to take care of 3-4 enemies that you alerted. Again, not fun.

Coins. Every level has a preset amount of coins you can find in it, so dying is out of the question if you're like me and want to 100% a game. Adding salt to the wound is the fact that you need the maximum amount of gold in the entire game to unlock a secret campaign-specific character, which means you actually have a reason to 100% the game but it actively prevents you from doing so.
This means that if you die once and want the 100% coin amount, you'll have to restart the ENTIRE LEVEL which can range from anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes of playtime.

The music, story and graphics of the game are all great, considering the time of release. Unfortunately, without proper gameplay following it, I can see why the planned sequel never happened.

Even though I have some really hard nostalgia with this game, I can't recommend it as a fun and balanced experience at all.

It was my mistake to forget to save my progress to cloud, now I'm back to square one on one PC and on another I'm far into the game.

Still, good one. Check back in after a few weeks to get all the money.

Now, where to begin...
The first entry in the Tomb Raider series has lots to be talked about.

A team of just several people created this game originally for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation 1, which resulted in a massive legacy, with reboots down the line.

The story of Lara Croft began here, in a humble environment. An adventurer hired by Jacqueline Natla (who makes an appearance in the Crystal Dynamics trilogy!), sent to find pieces of an Atlantean artifact known as the Scion.
The story is decent, I'll give it that much.

The engine used to make this game certainly shows its age, with the crisp noises and textures that sometimes move on their own, all with 2D objects that face the camera all the time.
Nevertheless, it was a basis that wasn't in its prime at that time at all. The sequels all use this engine, albeit refined and perfected to the limits.

Lara's model is awkward to look at, with her triangular chest and barely shaded self. Her inventory consists of Small Medipacks, Large Medipacks, her signature Pistols which have infinite ammo, Magnums which are upgraded Pistols, Uzis which have the same power as the Pistols but a faster rate of fire and the Shotgun, a powerful but slow gun which Lara equips in a two-handed manner.

The voice acting is... Decent at best, and can come across as questionably unprofessional and cheesy in the case of Natla, most of the time. This, however, can be overlooked, seeing as it's just the first game, and it will have flaws as such.

The soundtrack in this version of the game is missing, and the game itself runs through DOSBox, an AWFUL emulator that runs at 640x480 resolution.
It also returns an error called "invalid patch module" in my case, which prevents the game from launching even with the patch mentioned under. I still haven't found a fix for that problem.

8/10, great action adventure game, and the seed from which a great franchise sprouted.

BONUS!
I believe the person who made a patch for this is still in the guides for this game. I suggest you get that mod, as it unlocks the resolution, restores the soundtrack, upscales the cutscenes and restores the forgotten expansion for the game called Unfinished Business, which is missing from this release as well.

This game is a fan favorite, and I can see why.

The engine its using is the same as TR1's, but this time it's enhanced. With support for high resolutions comes the visual flair the game is known for.
With the added darkness, the developers had the smart idea of including Flares as an equipment item, designed to provide some light around Lara. They can be held, or thrown if you need to equip your guns, and you can also hang onto ledges with one equipped.

Lara's model has been updated, finally sporting her signature ponytail and a more realistic figure. Bye bye, triangle chest!
Several outfits also exist through the course of the game, but don't worry.
You start AND end the game with the signature outfit.

Her arsenal is bigger now, adding a grenade launcher, a Carbine rifle and harpoon gun to the growing collection. All weapons have been remodeled, looking more realistic.
It's fun seeing enemies explode when the grenade launcher is used.

For being an almost 21 year old game, it holds up well with its aesthetic backdrops and level design.
Compared to TR1, the levels are more open, giving a feel of open-world exploration if you play this right after you did TR1, the game that relied mostly on indoor levels.

Lara's Home got an overhaul, so you can finally go outside and explore the mansion while listening to Judith Gibbins' beautiful interpretation of Lara Croft. The assault course proves helpful for getting to know how the mechanics of the game work.
Let's not forget that you're not lonely in there anymore: Lara's butler follows you around everywhere. Except ledges, of course. He's old!

New mechanics include rolling in mid-air, and using the two vehicle types provided in the game. The first one is very useful during fights.

The sound design is better, featuring cleaner sounds and a great soundtrack.

9/10, loved it on both PC and mobile.

BONUS!
Since this game lacks The Golden Mask expansion, you need to grab that from a third-party website and follow the instructions on how to use the Steam version of this game to play it.

There is a mod that lets you use the iOS textures, which makes the game look a bit better, if you don't mind seeing style differences with some of them.

I don't understand why this game gets so much negative reviews.
If you are experiencing graphical glitches, I suggest you play it using your processor's integrated graphics! If you have anything equal to or above an Intel i3 processor, you shouldn't get FPS drops.
It just might not be optimized for beefy PCs? Or certain graphics card brands.

It's a true remaster of Worms World Party, all with remastered audio, 60 FPS and high resolution settings.
If you ever get tired of the remastered audio, just turn it off! They left the option open for everyone, so you can switch back to the originals for some nostalgia.

Multiplayer is still seemingly dead, sadly... At least you can play hotseat style.

9/10, great turn-based mayhem appropriate for all ages if you ask me.
Useful for settling arguments, just launch a hotseat game and try to beat them into submission. You'll be the one to pick the food tonight.

Not a lot to say about this one, so the review will be short.
It's a game that serves as a backstory projector, spanning over four/five episodes of Lara's past.

Worth getting all the secrets, they will unlock some extras.

The story continues where TR4 ended. Lara is presumably dead, Core Design wanted her to be, but Eidos said no-no-no, we need the money. So their cash-grab makes a return in the form of "oh Lara is probably dead, let's reminisce about her past on a stormy night, even though the game will take mr significantly longer than a night to complete".
The end is just "you thought she was dead? Guess again. We will never explain how she got out of that pyramid unless you buy the novel that barely anyone knows about because it was marketed with the buggy sequel".
Bad idea.

Definitely less tedious than TR4, though, I'll give it that.

The entirety of the child Lara section felt spooky enough, I guess.
My favorite section is most likely the first one, in Rome. The ambient sounds there are pretty nice.

The new "walking slowly over a tightrope" and "swinging on that weird horizontal pole" mechanics felt way less annoying than the rope swinging from TR4.

8/10, could've been longer.

I tried so hard to get myself to press "not recommended", but I couldn't.

There's a few reasons for that.
First is, hey, it's Tomb Raider, I know I am biased towards this franchise. Then the sound design and the engine limits have been pushed, enabling for smoother animation and look, characters actually open their mouths to talk in cutscenes now, wow!

The lack of Lara's Home in this entry was disappointing, as the engine's graphical update could've done it justice. Instead we get a quite annoying backstory training level with Pedobear Von Croy. The only reason I found it annoying is because cutscenes where he talks are ingame and often can't be skipped.
If they allowed Lara to move, it would feel more like Lara's Home.

The story is... Something. I found it pretty stupid that Lara would cause a borderline apocalypse because she 'accidentally' revived an Egyptian god (woman, do your research on that amulet! You're an archaeologist!), but the lengths she goes to undo her actions are admirable.
It's funny to think about if she never took out the Amulet, the rest of the game wouldn't even happen.

The pistols now have more boom to them. The inventory has been changed, for worse in my opinion. In the past games you could see where the item you wanted was, here you'll have to remember where stuff is located, due to the wheel now showing only one or two items to the left and right. Believe me, the amount of story items you get makes it feel so cramped.
Another thing: Story and equipment items are no longer separated. Found that pretty annoying.

Level design is more open-world, allowing you to transition between levels at a time, which can get tedious if you don't know what you're looking for, which you often won't when you enter a new area.
Feels like it just wants to make the playtime longer.

I speak for everyone when I say:
F*** the rope swinging mechanic. It's lackluster and the parts where you have to swing from one to another WILL peeve you off if you are unlucky enough to be as bad as I am when moving it to the proper direction.

Don't bother getting all the secrets.
There's no bonus for it, it barely makes a difference in gameplay. Save it for the earlier games, or Chronicles.

7/10, could be better.

BONUS!
Get the expansion from a third-party website, called The Times Exclusive. It reflects a real-life archaeological event that Core Design made a level for.

The modding community, which relies on the TR4/TR5 engine, makes some great levels. Check out TRLE levels whenever you want to play something that is Tomb Raider, but isn't.
They're free, and since the engine is open-source there, you won't need the base game to run them.

I think this is the first TR I ever played, and only recently finished.

A huge improvement over the previous two titles, TR3 feels like it has more freedom.
Immediately after finishing the introduction levelset of India, you're offered a choice of your next adventure. Yes, there is a "right" order in which to do these locations, but in the end, it's all a matter of preference.
I always do Nevada first to ensure that I don't lose valuable weapons later on, due to that section having one of those iconic "you got no weapons for half the level, good luck" levels that every Tomb Raider seems to have.

Next on, is the story. Lara is after a thing, the thing appears to be only one of a set, Lara is given information on locations of the other things in the set, and that concludes India. Three locations later, you're freezing your butt off in Antarctica and, in the vein of The Thing, facing horrors there. Good luck surviving without proper equipment. Trust me, you'll want to do that location order if you want to avoid hard battles.

New mechanics include a freezing meter for being underwater, ducking through small gaps, sprinting, doing a diving roll after a sprint and monkey swinging.
They add charm to the gameplay, and it feels like Lara is a true athlete now.
Don't forget to try holding the walk button while pulling yourself up on a ledge!

Lara's arsenal grows considerably, now including a Desert Eagle, MP-5 which functions the same as the TR2 Carbine, and a Rocket Launcher.
New vehicles have also been added, a Quad Bike, a Canoe, an underwater vehicle and a stationary Rocket Turret.

Lara's Home got a huge makeover, allowing for testing out vehicle controls, trying out the targeting system for the guns and using Lara's skills in both a training and timed training environment. Certain secrets within the house require at least basic knowledge of the new mechanics to get to them.
Still can't kill Winston, though. He acts as target practice.

Cutscenes are pretty same-y compared to TR2, with voice acting being slightly better now. It's a little more dramatic, especially when watching action cutscenes.

The Gamma graphical settings are fun to play with. I suggest playing on 3 for the true experience, as 10 looks like sunlight coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
Playing on 1 feels like going through a horror game.

10/10, I'm biased towards this game.

BONUS!
The expansion for this game is missing from this release, but you can grab it elsewhere and use it with this version, with a cost. Since you will be overwriting the expansion's .exe, you will be unable to beat the final boss, as the final boss in the expansion is the one boss from the base game invulnerable to your weapons.

Someone made a "remastered" version of the soundtrack, available for ingame usage. I suggest you get that, since nothing
has changed apart from some extra tunes and addons like reverb, modern instruments and slightly better note mapping.

I don't even know why I played this for so long, but I did

Something about pixelated casual games is always fun.

Can't go wrong with a classic, but you know what's even better? The classic's seque
l.
Not a lot of replayability unless you wanna go back to finish some achievements, but overall a great game. The Source engine looks aesthetically pleasing to this day.
The voice acting is great and you rarely, if ever, get tired of watching the 'cutscenes'. The reason I call them that is because even in those, you have full control of Gordon.

The friendlies in a squad and the manhacks on Hard are the only bad things I could find about the game, thankfully neither of those annoy me too often.

The modding community is a gem. Nightmare House 2 is a good representative of a horror mod, if I say so myself.