The Cairo section is different. Despite a number of great ideas, it's easily the weakest of TLR's hubs. Tellingly, Future Gamer found its gestalt attention wandering while playing this area. We found ourselves coveting other games, and feeling apathetic towards Lara's quest. We cleared it eventually, of course. But it would be difficult to say that we particular enjoyed doing so. Is there a connection between that fact and the area's 'real world' setting? Are the two, perchance, related? We think so.

It goes without saying, too, that while the PC version looks better, loads faster and runs smoother, it 'barely touches the sides', so to speak. A boundary-pushing adventure on the PlayStation, TLR remains a highly impressive, arguably unmissable title on the PC. But it's hard to ignore the moments that could be so much better with machine-specific coding. With the PS as the lowest common denominator, TLR's excesses are geared towards an aging 32bit console with a paltry 2Mb of RAM. That it impresses so much on the PC is testament to the skill of Core's designers. But it could be so much better in so many small, but significant ways. While the PlayStation abides as the most profitable format to develop for, it's naïve to expect more. But it's hard not to...

You want a conclusion? One word: brilliant. And, gratis, we'll chuck in a few qualifiers: best since Tomb Raider, better than Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, better than Prince of Persia 3D. Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation is - excepting the banal Cairo levels and a few minor niggles - just about as good as the Tomb Raider remit can get on the PlayStation. It could (perhaps should) be better on the PC, with improvements to match the processing power of the bigger machine, but we love it regardless.

Mind you, if Core don't totally scrap the current engine and design a truly next-generation vehicle for Lara's next adventure, the bubble won't just burst - it'll flaming well explode. As PoP3D and IJATIM illustrate, other developers haven't quite caught up yet. But, with Toby Gard's Galleon on its way, they're getting closer. Core must consider their next revelation with due care...