TLR's puzzle content is the best the series has offered so far. There are some sneaky tricks, too. The Lost Library level perhaps typifies best the kind of problems players are presented with. (If you're not keen to have a few surprises spoilt, skip to the next paragraph now.) One room you enter has a wide circle of statues, each comprising a switch. Flick one, and it lights a flame on what appears to be a random number of statues. Flick a second, and it turns some flames on, some off. The solution is, in many ways, pretty simple - you flick all in turn, in a circular order introduced by an earlier clue, and the way forward is opened. Another poser, though, sees Lara fetching keys to release globe statues from cages. In this large room, there are circles of varying size, each featuring smaller spheres obviously signifying that something should stand on them. It looks like a diagram of orbital patterns, pre-Copernicus (which is a clue in itself). Sure enough, each globe looks like a planet. Arrange them in the orbital order that you might have learnt in a science class, and nothing happens. The reason is wonderfully elementary - the ancient Greeks widely believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe...

Core's artists have worked wonders with the new, modified engine. TLR's textures are many and varied, with each level possessing an individual appearance. Although some may sneer at the pristine condition of such supposedly ancient environs, there's no disputing the fact that they look lovely. It has a feeling of solidity that is hard to describe; the walls are immutable and solid, rather than basic path-defining boundaries, and that's an important distinction. Visually delightful, it's refreshing not just to see, but to hear that the Tomb Raider series is back on top form, too: its soundtrack is superb.

Annoyingly, though, Core have failed to note one specific flaw of Tomb Raiders 2 and 3, and we now return to the point of the second paragraph. The Tomb Raider engine - highly modified or not - just can't 'do' towns or cities. No matter the quality of the level design, it just looks artificial or just plain crap. Yet on two occasions, TLR attempts to be more worldly than it can hope to be with sections in Alexandria and Cairo. The former isn't too bad; you can clear the town bits in no time, and get on to the excellent maps that follow.