Tomb Raider III - Reception

Reception

Tomb Raider III received generally positive reviews, with the PC version receiving an average score of 72.89% (indicating "mixed") and the PlayStation version received an average score of 78.01% (generally favourable) on Game Rankings. The game scored over 10 points lower than Tomb Raider II, and nearly 20 lower than the first game. Despite this, it received some excellent reviews, Absolute PlayStation was highly positive, saying "Unable to disappoint her fans, Lara returns for a third instalment that easily surpasses her prior adventures. The action adventure will once again send Lara spanning the globe from the deserts of Nevada to the islands of the South Pacific." They awarded the game a 98/100 rating and added "In gameplay terms Lara's latest adventures are by far the best... but don't expect an easy ride. Core have reached a fine balance between frustration and challenge that should suit most punters." Total Games (today renamed Now Gamer) also praised the game, commenting "Tomb Raider III may essentially be more of the same apart from a few new bells and whistles, but with gameplay as engrossing as this, perhaps that's no bad thing. It still walks all over young pretenders like ODT." and rated the game a 9.2/10.

Games Domain were more lukewarm however, offering the game a rating of 70/100. Whilst praising certain aspects of the gameplay, they felt "Although the gameplay is as involving as it ever was, the lack of innovation means that you feel you're playing an expansion pack for 'Tomb Raider 2' than a completely new version." IGN were mostly positive, awarding the game an 8/10, however, just like many critics, they felt the game had failed to change the same tried and tested formula. They said "The sad thing is that Tomb Raider III solves none of its original dilemmas, and as it stands now, the exploration-adventure genre -- one that was revolutionized by Tomb Raider -- is in the exact spot it was two years ago."

GameSpot echoed something similar, remarking "Tomb Raider III is much like the first two games in the line, which is to say that there's nothing new thematically, although there are a few improvements to this edition." After describing some of the improvements, GameSpot rounded off a mainly positive review by saying "At the end of the day though (and putting all the hype, creepy marketing campaigns, and strange celebrity worship surrounding the series aside), there's no denying that Tomb Raider III is a solid game, worth the time of anyone who enjoys a good puzzle/adventure title. Those who lost interest in the series with Tomb Raider II may want to give it another look with the third."

The game was a bestseller in the UK.