The evolution (or some would say devolution) of Lara Croft's adventures throughout the 2000s reflected the industry's move away from puzzle-solving and platforming towards gunplay. This pretty much banished the series into the wilderness until its kind-of revival with 'Tomb Raider' in 2013. Ironically, the best Tomb Raider game to come out of the 2000s was Anniversary, a faithful remastering of the original game, but with more moves, more puzzles, and more rounded breasts for the iconic heroine. Mercifully, the gameplay in Anniversary was refined so that Lara no longer moved with the grace of a triangular-wheeled Reliant Robin. It was a great nostalgic platformer that played as you will have remembered the original game playing back in the late 90s, rather than how the original actually played by 2000s standards (i.e. awfully). The platforming elements and puzzles continue to be challenging, and don't succumb to the simplistic auto-placement that we see in later series like Uncharted and Tomb Raider (2013) - both of which I think of as action-adventures due to their pseudo-platforming and focus on gunplay.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
