20 Most Powerful Gaming Moments Of All Time

14. Tomb Raider (1996) -€“ St Francis€™ Folly

Eidos Interactive

The Moment: Let€™'s set the scene. It was 1996, and despite having been around for a while now, video games were still relatively unsophisticated. In walks Lara Croft. She is educated, sexy, and powerful, and she was about to take you on a revolutionary journey. This starts in Peru where we encounter wolves, bears and THAT T-Rex.

Now, fighting that T-Rex alone could have made this list but it€™'s what comes next which is truly powerful. The second set of levels begin in Greece with a stage called St. Francis€™ Folly, which is one of the best of its kind in any Tomb Raider game. One room in particular stands out. After solving a number of puzzles involving a series of levers, you are greeted by a room with many levels and a giant infrastructure in the centre. The world of gaming had never seen anything on this grand scale before.

How Is It Powerful? This was the first time we'€™d seen graphics this good. St. Francis'€™ Folly was an absolute triumph of a level that showed us exactly what video games were capable of. It had puzzles, devilishly intricate jumps, and engaging combat. Tomb Raider paved the way for so many great video games with its early innovation. Although it may not look it now, at the time St. Francis'€™ Folly was awe-inspiring.

Contributor
Contributor

Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.