Defining Moment: That T-Rex Encounter Ending the Super Nintendo Love Fest, it's time to turn to the PS1, and the Tomb Raider franchise. Right at the beginning, before it deteriorated in quality (around the third or fourth game.) More specifically, I want to talk about that one specific moment, in the first game. If you've played it, you'll remember. Youve journeyed through the caves and an underground city, killing a bear, around 12 huskies and a species-threatening number of bats in the process. The stone, walled area youve been exploring suddenly gives way to a lush green valley. You walk forwards. That moment was iconic, in that it was the first time that a video game ever made me feel true fear. Like, replay the last half hour of Mass Effect 3 kind of fear. In the third level, you had to face an enemy that was probably bigger than anything youd ever encountered in a video game before, and the only way to do it was by turning around and sprinting the second it appeared on the screen, taking refuge in a tiny cave, closing your eyes and spamming the fire button. This was when video games stopped being mindless ways to kill time and started actually drawing you into them. And after drawing you in, terrifying you. Honourable Mention:Resident Evil, Silent Hill For me it was the Tyrannasaurus in Tomb Raider, for others it was the licker in Resident Evil 2 or literally everything in Silent Hill. And for those who had a N64 instead of a Playstation, apparently Shy Guys were pretty scary. And speaking of deranged serial killers in video games...
Laurence Gardner was born in Canterbury, England. After moving around various cities during his childhood, and spending some time travelling in Europe and America, he studied English Literature at Oxford University. Since then, he’s been living abroad, teaching English, learning a range of languages, and writing in his free time. He can currently be found in Heidelberg, working as an English Tutor and Translator and studying at the University. If you liked this article, follow him on Twitter to get automatic updates on his work.
Defining Moment: That T-Rex Encounter Ending the Super Nintendo Love Fest, it's time to turn to the PS1, and the Tomb Raider franchise. Right at the beginning, before it deteriorated in quality (around the third or fourth game.) More specifically, I want to talk about that one specific moment, in the first game. If you've played it, you'll remember. Youve journeyed through the caves and an underground city, killing a bear, around 12 huskies and a species-threatening number of bats in the process. The stone, walled area youve been exploring suddenly gives way to a lush green valley. You walk forwards. 
