The jump delay makes the platforming easier, not harder. It makes it so if you set the jump up right, she will _always_ jump at the exactly the right time. Otherwise a lot of the jumps would require basically frame-perfect inputs. The controls take some getting used to, but once you get comfortable with them, you realize Lara does exactly what you tell her to do every time.

I'm a weirdo who loves the controls of tomb raider lol. The game is designed around those controls with exact jumps, most people dont know that if you walk to an edge, jump back once, run and jump, that will work every single time provided the jump can be made of course, the game can feel clunky today indeed but having played them all I have no problems at all with the controls going back ha, totally understand how alien they would feel to newcomers though. Really really wish the newer tomb raiders were more like the old ones, old ones were far more challenging too and no not simply because of controls, puzzles were far far harder in the old ones. secrets were far harder to find and hell even levers and switches and items were much harder to find. loved it :D

Secret to tomb raider: standing jump = 2 squares, running jump = 3 squares

Lara was actually such a hilarious character. She needs that back.

I always come back to this channel to re-run these reviews while I am working. So good and on point.

3:00 "Her response time to the jump command is very laggy." This was by design. The PS1 TR games had excellent controls for the time because of this and square grid system. The "lag" that you experience was put in the game so that the player did not have to time their jump; Lara does it automatically as long as she has the 1 backhop runup. The platforming design keeps this concept in mind for the entire game, and that's why Lara always ends up where you intend as long as you use the controls correctly. A good comparison is Mario 64. The controls in that game are also great. When you make jumps, you have time them correctly but those jumps are generally designed so that you don't need frame-perfect inputs. The jumps in TR are much tighter and require much more precision, but "lag" with the running jumps actually makes this easier. The two games are examples of great control schemes done in different ways.

when I was a kid I remember seeing Pierre DuPont pop out and then run around a corner and disappear and that was "strange" but when I grew up I realized that the game terminated his program and that fascinated me

You got something wrong about the controls. The jump only lags when you start running, as she has a set ammount of distance she has to cover before the ability to jump activates, thus making it very consistent when you figure it out. Tapping Dpad down will aways set her on the perfect distance to make any jump from a ledge. Jumping while standing still has no such delay, so it goes off immediatelly.

D-Pad stands for Directional pad, not digital.

I remember the Egypt stages feeling more like survival horror because of the mummies make undead noises

I wouldn't say I'm defending the controls, they are horrid, BUT.... I feel like at this point, that's part of the challenge of the first five games. Like driving stick shift, yeah automatics are nice and innovative, but when you find someone who can do it well, it's almost endearing. I know somewhere, my soulmate can speed run tomb raider II without messing up 😍

I've never made it to the end of Tomb Raider so if you'd have told me there was a boss fight against a skateboarding Mexican in Atlantis I would have thought you were high as a kite. I need to go and beat it now.

20:32 Lara actually doesn’t need a full block’s length to make a running jump. If you’re on the middle of a block, hold the walk button and make her walk one step, then quickly release the walk button while still pressing forward and jump immediately. This will only take her another step before she jumps. It’s a bit hard to pull of sometimes, but it does work :)

I don't agree at all about the jumping controls. I think, apart from them being very consistent with the grid-based level design, it also adds a sort of realism to movement. Even for a stationary jump there's a slight animation of Lara bending her legs to do the actual jump - hence the delay. That's how a regular person would do it, and that's how they decided to design it. She's not a mascot platformer character who jumps at the exact frame the button is pressed. If Lara needs a run-up for longer jumps, the button press tells her at the end of which grid she's supposed to jump and it works consistently. If you miss it, you run off the edge or, if there's room, jump at the end of the next grid. I think it's a very deliberate mechanic that works really well for the type of game it is, and it's easy to grasp, once understood. There are a few things that annoy me about the controls personally. The lack of diagonal movement while maintaining direction (stepping left and right is only done while stationary) - but I think that's mitigated in later games - and the pretty long pickup animations - also made shorter later.

I love the games since 1996. But the new games are terrible (a survivor is born and rise of the tomb raider). I'm crying 😞!

Tomb Raider 1 is still one of my favourites alongside The Last Revelation. The reasons being that they have exploration and puzzle solving as the main focus. If there's one thing that was really bad in the PS1 Tomb Raider games, it's the combat mechanics, it all boils down to repetitive shooting and waiting for the enemies to die with the occasional jumping out of the way. To give praise to both 1 & 4, there wasn't too much combat and it was mostly shooting at animals that only do physical damage. And this is what I found to be very tiring in Tomb Raider 2 & 3. There was too much shooting at enemies (especially humans) and you keep taking cheap hits because the poor controls make dodging a complete pain in the arse. The combat in 2 & 3 was frustratingly tiresome due to how abundant and repetitive it all is, one of the main reasons I found 2 & 3 to be a step down from Tomb Raider 1 overall. There's more I could criticize but I'll save that for another time.

What a fucking masterpiece compared to the reboot. I completed it on the Sega Saturn and still remember a big part of it. I can't remember anything from the generic crap of the reboot.

Whoever complains about the jumping/leaping mechanics in TR1 has no knowledge on gait cycle at all. Lara will NOT leap unless she gains her footing and her max velocity; which, in the first 5 games instance, is exactly 2 strides. It was designed to emulate real life, otherwise you could leap while your support foot is in mid-air. This already was changed in Crystal Dynamics trilogy, and leaping in those games looks and feels disconnected to the actual momentum Lara's body has. edit: changed all "jumps" with "leaps" because that's the correct technical term for what's happening in the game.

I watch your nostalgic TR reviews at least twice a year!

i just played this for the first time in like 10 years still used to the controls

I remember when I played Tomb Raider, my grandpa asked his computer worker, he still plays games ... when does it stop ? computer guy said someday .. someday ... I was ~12 years old, now I am 30 and I still play, but when u have less time after work it means u prioritize your time and play less ... when I gonna be an old fart, I still gonna enjoy time playing all games I have missed :)

These games have a special place in my heart. I played them so much in my childhood and completed all of them. I remember my older brother teaching me the controls lol

People criticize the controls now compared to back then because they are limited in their mental capacity. The controls are actually perfect because you get complete control of Lara. I can pick this up after 20 years of not having played and pick up where I left off. These controls are ingrained in my veins.

I never understand peoples complaints about this game no matter how minor. I really like the controls and the punishment for panicking should be frustration

What the hell, I watched your videos on TV, not being able to see the amount of subs. How the hell do you not have millions of subs. This is literally the best gaming channel ever and your reviews are hilarious, super informative, and just amazing. I've been watching KZfaq for years and this channel is a 10/10. May the KZfaq recommended section be in your favor soon! And please keep making videos forever! 💗

I think you should focus more on the game's atmosphere, visual design, e.g., artwork that appears in tombs, etc., soundscape, music, and the general /feeling/ of the game. These aspects are what fans of these old games actually love and why we don't care about any of the problems which you have mentioned.

there is nothing wrong with the jump mechanic, youre doing it wrong, go to any edge of any ledge, then take a hop back and make your long jump, she will make her 2 step long jump and never fall off the ledge, its as simple as that

A solid 'core' experience eh... ;)

I checked out your underworld review which also had a top 10 level sequence. Great job! Would love a top 10 hardest levels video! By the way, I just beat the game on the PS3 (bought ps1 version from Sony store). Very fun and challenging game, given the save system. However, I will say that they did a solid job of putting a decent amount of save points in each level. It's not 2 or 3 save crystals. Sometimes there are 4 or 5 (or even more), and they tend to be placed at strategically important spots (i.e. Right after you get through a difficult segment). Last 2 levels (Atlantis and great pyramid) were much harder with the save crystal system, but still doable. All in all, a wonderful game, as it reminded me a lot of the Zelda series (which is my favorite series, especially all of the 3D ones). On to tomb raider 2. I'll check out your review on that once I'm a bit closer to beating the game.

I really love it to see in-depth review of one the favorite classic games.

Excellent and thorough review. Would love to see your opinion on top 5 best levels, as well as top 5 hardest levels in the classic tomb raider games. Video on those would be amazing.

I seem to remember the Palace Midas fire jump puzzle brought me to tears as a child.

the new tomb raider games are essentially just the uncharted games, just with lara croft as nathan drake. very disappointing.

I never even finished a single Tomb Raider game so far , but I do appreciate the amount of effort that went into making this .

Besides the wonky jump mechanic, I like that the controls are fairly consistent and simple in these old games. The push blocks made me read a walkthrough because at no point did the game hint what I was supposed to do with them.

I'm so used to the old TR controls that it's hard for me to get used to the new games. I don't enjoy the new games much anyway. 💁

Fantastic and thorough review, man. You really put a lot of time and effort to get your footage and commentary, and I hope you know it was a damn fine video. :)

I haven't even finished the video but I feel the need to mention something about her jumping: the large backstep covers a whole block, which is needed for a running jump. But doing a roll doesn't move you the whole block, which means you'll run off a ledge juuuust because of that half-backstep she needs to pull it off. 😅 The controls are easy once you get used to them... Doesn't excuse the tank controls so much though haha.

Still come back to watch this review as it’s the only comprehensive and in depth review that actually has personality. I love the old tomb raiders

I never solved that puzzle at 16:41 but instead skipped it by dropping down into the spike pit. If you land on a certain point in that pit with full health you can survive and skip that puzzle room.

After the first game's success, Gard was no longer given full creative control, and it was stated by development staff that he was both saddened and disappointed by the use of Lara Croft's sex appeal in marketing.

Good review of one of my favorite games! About the controls, I think they are based on what you can see on the original Prince of Persia, but adapted to a 3d environment, where you have the lag for long jumps, you must press a button to grab to borders, you can do slow steps to adjust you position to a border without falling, or for jumping, etc.

Once i found your videos i fell in love, thank you

Been trying to get into tomb raider for years now and your reviews have finally made me wanna make the jump and play through them. Gonna use that openlara source port and play through the first game.

People nowadays are really strange... Lets "kill" Lara Croft old appearance because its "too curvy" Meanwhile every TV show and music video has at least 3 naked girls in it...

i love tomb raider and i like your tomb raider reviews, please tell me you are going to do a remaster review when tomb raider 1, 2, 3 remasters come out in February

It's really interesting to me to hear people bash the control system. Playing the old games is almost automatic for me, because I started playing them when I was like 5, so I never had problems. I could literally play those games with my eyes closed. I found the later titles (like Underworld) WAY harder to control, but hey, I'm old :)

one of the best horror games on ps1

Funny enough there's actually dlc for this game (well more of a "definitive" edition re-release) that adds 4 more levels in 2 areas, one is set right after Lara escapes from the Atlantean pyramid and the other is set some months after the game ends when Lara goes back to city of Khamoon.

When I was younger that jump fire puzzle sucked, then I realized the devs were smart enough to have that line mark on the starting block. Line up with that and just hold forward and jump the whole way. You'll damn near always get it perfect. Also to not miss most jumps do as the tutorial says. Walk up to the edge, line up the jump, then jump back. You won't miss any jumps, but will sacrifice a few seconds.

This game is a masterpiece :)

In the fire room of Palace Midas, if you're too slow to do it in one go, you can hold onto the platform with your hands and wait for the fire to come back on and back out.

The platforming segment at 21:20 is aleviated by both a fact about Lara's movement as well as a little trick the game never explains but is nonetheless very helpful, and plus it works on all first 5 games. The fact is that Lara doesn't need a whole tile to jump again after landing a jump running, so you can chain the running jumps you need by pressing jump again as soon as she lands running on the next platform. This would grant you another jump in about 1/2 to 1/3 of a tile. Then the only challenge here is the midair turning jank. The trick the player doesn't get told about is that if you're short on distance for a running jump, you can start walking forwards and transition that walk into a run. Lara becomes able to jump as soon as she starts running, letting you jump on less than half a tile instead of needing a full tile to do a running jump. The sequence of inputs would be something like this R1 + Up , let go of the R1 and hold jump. As soon as Lara starts running she will do a running jump.

Brilliant video. I subbed over the weekend and watched this today. Looking forward to watching the others too. It's the announcement of the remasters that's got me interested in TR again and searching for videos on the games. Absolutely can't wait for those next year. The first time I played this, I only had 1 or 2 health packs left when I reached Natla, so I had to work hard in that fight. In future runs I was better stocked though. I haven't played the game now though for about 15 years. Is this the one where all the spikes have an equally spaced amount of blood on them? That tickled me back in the day.

Just saw this review and I really liked it. Been looking for an in-depth review like this because I am thinking about going through and playing so my old favorites and the ones I missed when they first came out. Fantastic!

Very cool video!The only thing I missed is a little more elaborate review of "The Cistern", it's one of the highlights of TR1.

Great video, keep up the good work bro!

ePSXe emulator, right? I noticed when Lara turns "invisible", it's due to the special effects being disabled as stock setup, you have to press the insert key to bring up the visual plugin options, then scroll through to keep special effects always active. It also helps to clean the sprites and textures up, as there's an option to smooth the texture mapping, which can make any PS1 game look excellent.

They really need to Remake the Tomb Raider PS1 Games on the PS4,PS5,Xbox Series One X,Xbox One,PC and the Switch

I love your Tomb Raider reviews!

Hope you review the TR1-3 Expansion Packs someday!

The fire jump puzzle took like a half an hour in a row and I enjoyed it at the end!!!! The problem was that I got to this point of the game without knowing that you can move Lara in the air once jumped forward...

Overall a very solid review. Great job although you were pretty harsh on the control mechanisms. At one instance I felt like I was in the 90s again...very cool.

Alas, I find playing the newer Tomb Raiders far more difficult as I grew up playing the originals on a PC. I've tried changing the controls from Legend onwards to be as close to 1-5 as possible, but the camera angles make things tricky (and then there's the damn underwater swimming!). I was happy with the limitations of the block layout because it meant you really had to think about where you were going and how to execute jumps, all using imagination and trial and error. Though beautiful, I consider the content facile, even dull, in the later games, but the actual moves tediously hard - I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing but sometimes I can't do it. I'd far rather have a clunky grid system and interesting content than beautiful new graphics with no imagination. (IMO Barkhang Monastery is one of the most beautiful bits of video game ever, regardless of the outdated graphics.) Also, I'm currently stuck on Anniversary's grapple swings with rotating blades in Egypt. A tedious section where I cannot get through the very obvious sequence because the sudden camera angle changes cause Lara to jump off in all directions. I suppose I'd better get myself a game pad.

⁠ 15:56 this explains my exact experience with this level. lol 😂

I hear the upcoming remaster will give players options for more modern controls. I'll be interested to see how that plays out.

Best review series ever!

I must of watched this review 20 times lol :)

Nice summary of a classic game.

:) the Blocks have ONE bigger issue... this mechanic is NOT shown in the tutorial... therefore i didn't know i could even push / pull blocks....which made me stuck quite a while in the "skull room"

hopefully the remaster will do this game justice, because really the only thing the game needs today in order to appeal to a modern audience. all you need is a nicer code of paint, but keep the classic gameplay in tach and your golden. i doubt they'll do that, it'll probably play more like Anniversary, but considering how some of the fans felt about that game, it would really anger some people if they messed with the original in any way. but we're getting all 3 of the original timeline, so I'll be curious how that'll play out. if it comes out for PS4 or PS5 i might get it, but i need to see some gameplay first before i dive in. I've already heard we won't get to see the cgi cutscenes, or however they did it back then, but it shouldn't be that hard to include that stuff today. the opening cutscene is synonymous with the game, because it's a way to introduce you into what your about to experience.

Great review for one of my favorite series of all time!

I watched all of these years ago and am now coming back for them, I tried playing through all of the classic TRs 1-5, but gave up on all of them half-way through - I'm usually not having problems with older games, but these feel like such massive slogs that I'm VERY excited to watch these instead lmao I loved these reviews back then, and will probably enjoy them even more now, with the new-found perspective

Once you finish the remasters, maybye do a re-review love your commentary ❤😉

You should make a side by side longplay with this one and anniversary

I don't agree with the notion that modern action games have better controls. TR's controls are perfectly responsive and precise - which cannot be said about new games. Uncharted, for example, is fast, but it's not precise, and the game has to make up for it. Just jump somewhere near a ledge and you're going to grab the shelf for sure, the animation will "snap" into place if necessary. It's not challenging and it takes me out of the game. TR's controls are slow, but precise, and the levels are built to fully use their potential and to provide reasonable challenge. If you screw up, you screw up, but it's NEVER controls' fault. The long jump works great, because you always know to walk to the ledge and back up - then you're 100% sure you'll make the jump. If you had an instant jump, you'd screw up way more often, especially since it's so important to jump straight towards ledges. You position yourself, start to run and jump. It's a reliable system that makes you fully control the game, the key is just not to hurry and be careful with every jump. The game discourages fast and reckless play. This type of control scheme makes you play slower, think before acting, and it makes for half of the game's pacing and atmosphere. It they hadn't used tank controls, the game would have been be twitchy and frustrating. Controls are always less precise if you don't know if you're going to run in a straight line, or suddenly turn, especially with free or semi-free camera. And it would give the game different pacing - say good bye to the atmosphere of exploring sacred and strange places. The new Lara 2013 jumps like a gummy bear and generally acts like a cartoon - it's something that works in wacky Sly Cooper, but not in Tomb Raider. Controls are perfectly reliable and spot on for the kind of game TR is. I prefer it more than TR 2013 or Uncharted's take on the matter.

I attempted the ps1 version of this recently. Controls were strange and I grew up with the original RE games, Silent Hill, Tenchu and Syphon Filter.

Your "criticism" of the controls system is full of invalid generalizations the kind of players who are used to too much scripted,automatic controls like to always throw around. The grid-system and the tight,consistent controls were inseparable with the level design itself and actually made the Tomb Raider games (1-5) what they were. Their only "flaw" was that they were a bit slow but that was more due to the limitations of the hardware rather than anything else. But their precision was unrivalled and the satisfaction that came from navigating the environments (in the hands of someone who was willing to master them) was trully rewarding.

tomb raider anniversary is a modern remake of this - its actually quite accurate. it has the ps2 era control system which is much more free - similar to god of war climbing mechanics etc. worth a play for sure!

God I loved this game, and Lara's breaking into Natla's office made 21-year-old me realise how gay I was.

Non native here, what does it mean to "inform your purchase"?

Just played anniversary might give the og a play through

An absolute classic in every way.

I still have my Tomb Raider 1 for Sega Saturn (later on PC too with music mods) and is the best Tomb Raider in my opinion.

Holy shit. How do you not have more subscribers? I revisted this game as an adult and couldn't play it at all cuz of the controls. It ruined my elementary school-kid memories of this game. Your video got me to appreciate it again. Thanks.

Magnums were the best it's a crime they didn't make it to future games

But. If Lara has already ran the distance of a block then pressing jump will make her jump immediately.

... Huh? The levers in qualopec need to be pulled in a certain order? Did they? I don't ever remember doing it like that.

I did the fire puzzle my first try lol

classic! ah...the good old days...

I asked my older brother, what are his memories of this game, he said he remembers running in the snow and not knowing where to go or what to do 😂

the story of this game was great however the problem with the game came with the dialogue it was too 1 linery and there needed to be 1 more scene after the ending what does Lara get out of it? sure she saved the world and that's awesome but she is a chaotic good character or chaotic neutral. At the end of the day Larry character is someone who does stuff out of her own interest or if she is hired and her leaving empty handed is just odd. I'd give the game about an 8 out of 10 I thought everything besides some story gripes and the combat were great. I really wish they would have found a way to make tomb raider combat more skill based back then but I couldn't imagine how they could have. also that skate board guy like completely unimmersed me it actually pissed me off that they would put such a stupid thing is a serious toned game. but yeah better combat, no skate board kid and dialogue would have made this game a 10 out of 10 definitely

tbh Skateboarding wasn't that popular overe here in Germany when this game came out... it BLASTED though after Tony Hawks Pro Skater

Awesome review. Love this game.

Finally, a Tomb Raider Review that is not purely fueled by Nostalgia

23:42 Literally the exact situation I was in, up until Sanctuary of the Scion (level 12) I’d only used the pistols but then eventually had to say fuck it cause of those Atlantians.

tomorrow night at midnight the remasters come out homie.

Like commented and subscribed 👍

What is ‘Jenk’?

Revisiting the review after finishing TR 1996. I love how this game's levels are crafted. They are so... gracefully designed that you never don't know what to do. It's not always obvious, you have to figure out a way to achieve your goal, but you always have it within your reach. You're not lost. I started TR3 and this is all gone there. There is no leading the player subtly through the levels. TR3 is brutal, usually you have to know a trap to avoid it. It's all about memorization, and PSX save system doesn't make it easier. But I still love it. Uncharted and TR 2013 seem so shallow, so empty after revisiting TRs. Will you do a review of TR 2013? Because you should.