I used to hate them. Legend was the first huge deviation from what Tomb Raider used to be. Vey easy and linear,white ledges showing you were to go,an idiot NPC constantly talking to Lara and giving her hints (as if the game wasn't easy enough) and ruining any sense of isolation that the classics always focused on,and a sticky,automatic and inconsistent platforming that was the antithesis to everything that Tomb Raider was about (precision,calculation and reflexes). The cringy emphasis on Lara and her momy/dady storyline (that Crystal Dynamics still for some weird reason continues to force into their stories),the slow motion button prompts and quick time events,and the uninspired level designs were all things that fans of the classics hated.
The only good things were the graphics for its time (even on PS2) and the music.
Anniversary was a great example of how important the grid system was in the classics. Even when copying Core Design's iconic level designs like St Francis Folly,Palace Midas and others it was obvious that the essence of the originals was missing due to Crystal's inconsistent platforming as well as due to whole sections of the original levels missing (as well as some levels missing completelly). Anniversary showed very clearly how Crystal never really understood what made Tomb Raider "Tomb Raider" even when they copied Core Design's work.They also showed that they continued to have a love for gimmicky combat and cinematic gameplay that takes away freedom form the hands of the player (like with the T-Rex battle).
Underworld had some levels that i liked more than anything Crystal had made (even if they were still nothing like proper Tomb Raider) but other levels were atrociously bad and the game felt unfinished and rushed.
However after i played the reboot trilogy i started to think more fondly about the LAU trilogy even if i still consider them very bad TR games. Unlike the Reboot trilogy they were at least TRYING to make a Tomb Raider game.
Pretty much hit the nail on the head here with regards to the Crystal Dynamics titles (all of them, really).
And one of the ironies with the reboot trilogy started in 2013 was a hilarious "we're making this as gory as possible!" shock-factor grittiness... coupled with the most dumbed-down, hand holding baby level gameplay imaginable (even cover in their cover-shooter Tomb Raider game was...
automated!). Everything is simply a checklist on a map & environment traversal required zero skill because Lara goes where the game wants her to go,
not where she can go based on her own set of moves (hence why the distance she can jump constantly changes based upon whether the game wants her to get somewhere or not). It feels like a real on rails experience. By & large Crystal Dynamics distorted the entire concept of a Tomb Raider game until the point of not being Tomb Raider at all. Imagine a Dark Souls game where the careful timing & tactical approach to combat is replaced with button mashing? That's how Crystal Dynamics Tomb Raider platforming feels versus the originals. And the less said about Crystal Lara's mommy & daddy millennial issues, the better (puke worthy narratives in all of them).
Tomb Raider was about analysing the distances between jumps, reading the environment (i.e. can I get up there?), learning how to control Lara's moveset & finding keys to unlock areas. Levels could be linear or expansive, the principles of that progression would remain. And every new area had a special sense of awe & discovery (i.e. with a sense of real freedom). It was like a real adventurer simulator where the actual physics of character movement & acrobatic abilities played a role (that's how any prospective reboot of the series should approach the game in any case). No skill tree, no gruesome takedowns, just an athletic adventurer exploring ancient tombs, ruined cities & exotic locations with skills the player understood which defined what Lara could or couldn't do in the environment (i.e. where she could climb etc. based on her programmed abilities).
Appealing to gamers who want to stab enemies in the neck with an army knife... but can't cope with a difficult backflip jump + timed slide & leap to another platform was never a good idea.
I think Anniversary lost some of the sense of scale of the original PS1 game, possibly because the textures were a lot cleaner and therefore left less to the imagination.
