Tomb Raider 1 is by far the best of the series. Released in 96 to critical and commercial acclaim, it was the first to offer a true 3D environment in which one could immerse themselves. I spent many hours exploring every square inch of all 15 levels. Worth noting; TR1 was produced for MS-DOS and had no Direct X API, so you had to setup the sounds IRQ and DMA settings. GOG did a remarkable job getting this game to run in all versions of Windows using DOS-Box. TR2 is a good game, but exploring not set in caves and ancient ruins. TR3 was by far the toughest. Non-linear to the point where users gave up – not for the light of heart.
