Tomb Raider III

When a series reaches its third installment within three years, it is clear it is running at full throttle — and Tomb Raider III was exactly such a product of the feverish pace of the late nineties. Core Design churned out another helping of Lara Croft's adventures and bet on what fans knew and loved, only with a higher difficulty bar that became notorious for this installment.

The third game sends Lara after artifacts across four corners of the world — from the Indian jungle through icy Antarctica and Nevada to the streets of London. Structurally, the game offered greater freedom in choosing the order of locations, thereby trying to break the linear feel of the previous installments. Each environment had its own atmosphere and its own trap, which you usually fell for at least once.

The gameplay stayed faithful to the proven formula: precise jumping navigation, hunting for secret places, solving mechanical puzzles and gunfights. New moves and maneuvers were added, among them the famous crouching and sidestepping, along with vehicles that spiced up the pace. But the game is famous above all for its difficulty — Tomb Raider III is among the most demanding installments in the series, with mercilessly placed traps and sections that punished even the smallest mistake. For players of the time, who did not have today's flood of online tips at their disposal, it was often a test of patience as well as reflexes.

Visually, Core Design pushed the engine a little further — more colorful environments, weather effects and more elaborate locations showed just how far older technology could be driven. Meanwhile, Lara Croft had long outgrown the confines of games and become a pop-culture icon, the face of commercials and magazine covers, and each new installment was an event.

Today the third game is a fascinating testament to an era when franchises were released on a yearly rhythm and when difficulty was a badge of honor. For connoisseurs of the series it is a beloved, if uncompromising, notch in gaming history.

Why play it: The most demanding classic Tomb Raider with diverse worlds and a more open structure — a challenge for hardened fans of adventurous action.