Dr John Oakland

Now that my working week is over, I've decided to spend a couple of hours with Miss Croft. Have tried the jumping over slopes shortcut in the first level, and gone back through the mud to where the secret is/was, but due to a bit of suffocation on Lara's part, her health meter is flashing at me. So now I'm on the lookout for save crystals in the area with the tiger. Think I'll go the traditional way - India, Nevada, South Pacific, etc. Would it be spoiling it if I said what came after?

I've just remembered what I don't like about the later levels. I don't want to spoil it if you don't know, but this page describes it quite well: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoddamnedBats

Thoughts on Lara's Home: So long since I'd played it it felt unfamiliar going back. I think that'll be a feeling I get on every level (except possibly crash site and maybe the Nevada levels) Getting into Lara's aquarium didn't seem as hard as it used to. Knowing to slow down before taking corners helped on the quadbike course. Thoughts on Jungle: Again, certain parts were unfamiliar, like the raising water area and the bit near the log. No medipacks used (I'm playing the PC version) 4 of 6 secrets won first time. Going to have a look at Stella's walkthrough and see if I can get them by using a "shortcut" and slogging back through the mud. EDIT: What, I missed a secret THERE?!! Looks like I'm going to have to restart!

Ah, Miss Croft. Tomb Raider 3. Possibly my favourite of the series. From what I recall, quite a large game compared to the previous 2, with a lot of variety. More vehicles, including the classic quad bike, and the kayak which at times could be difficult to handle (go back...back...BACK!...yay!). Good weapons, like the desert eagle and rocket launcher. The epic dinosaur battles, and one of the most frustrating bugs ever in Lud's Gate. I think I'm up for this, but I want to see if I can complete GTA San Andreas before I do - 99.4% complete and only the dirt bike race to go, so I'll come back tomorrow.

Hello there. I'm Dr John Oakland. You could call me a Tomb Raider veteran. I have all the CD games of Tomb Raider, from the time they came out. I've played and finished all the games up to Chronicles and including Legend legitimately, but couldn't get to grips with killing Christina Boaz, so I downloaded a patch for that game; and my PC wouldn't let me do the action needed to kill the T-Rex in Anniversary, so I downloaded a save game to get past it. I would play Underworld, but my seven year old PC's not good enough for it. I studied for a couple of years in Derby, and have spent a night practically next door to the building where the first few games were created. I was born and still live in Leeds, the city Nell McAndrew's from, but we've never met. I did once see her, though, at one of the London premieres for the Tomb Raider movies in Leicester Square. I was in the crowds at both. During my other visits to London, I've also seen the outside of Aldwych station, the real Natural History Museum, several artifacts at the British Museum including the rosetta stone and some of the terracotta warriors, and the place Manfred Powell appears to call home. Last year, I went to Hatfield House, Lara's home in the movies. In previous years, I've also been to Paris, Prague, Greece and Venice. During the Venice trip, I also went to Rome and by virtue of having a port of the original game on my N-Gage phone, I'm one of surely very few people who have played the "Collosseum" level in the Colosseum! Back in 1999 I was one of the members of the legendary Croft Times forums, and followed some of the members from there to the K-Files, the Pretend K-Files and finally to the Dark Cafe. I have also been a member of the Eidos forums and the Village of Tokakeriby forums, but life etc. got in the way and I've not been back to either of those two in several years. You may find me on Twitter, and my pseudonym on Facebook.