I've been in a gaming stupor lately, everything I play feel boring and stale, which ends up with me putting them down after 20 minutes and never touching them again.

I believe this problem can be solved by playing something that's fun, not life changing/ amazing/ super high-rated/ genre defining, just something enjoyable I can sink my teeth into.

I was looking through my Steam list lately and saw that I own 3 Tomb Raider games (Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld), and having some hazy memories of the old games back in the day, I though they might help me out, but I'd like to be confirmed first, so I don't just walk into another big pile of disappointment.

Are the Tomb Raider games fun to play at all? Are the puzzles and exploration good enough to hold my interest without making me stressed out and irritated?

They are puzzle/adventure games, so no.

I played Anniversary and loved it. I'm planning on buying the other two you mentioned as they seem to be pretty well received. As for Anniversary, the only times I got frustrated were when I was too dumb to figure out the puzzle or I kept falling. All my fault, but the sense of exploration and solving puzzles was extremely gratifying.

Nope they are shit.

No. That new one looks pretty good though.

The only one I've played to completion was Tomb Raider: Legend. 
I thought that was pretty okay at the time. Whether it's held up or not is a different matter.

Fun? Probably not, especially now.

"Fun"? Definitely.

@egg: @laserbolts: @Landon: It would probably help if you actually explained why.

Like @Claude said, Anniversary is a great game. It takes almost every fun and memorable aspect in the first Tomb Raider and sets it in the new engine. I actually think you should start there, see if you like it, then go to Legend and Underworld. The only gripe I had was the quick time events that were scattered throughout the game, I always found it janky.

I played Legend and had an okay time with it. Couldn't say anything about any of the others.

The controls were never good and have aged far worse than anything like Resident Evil's old tank controls. I always thought the controls made the games a bit frustrating but now I think there are parts of those games that are borderline unplayable. Having to line your character up perfectly to use items it very, very annoying and becomes tedious fast. The combat isn't engaging or really rewarding. Also, some of the levels require a little bit of trial and error when it comes to some of the quick jumps you have to make. Pretty much if you don't know that you will need to jump over this trap then you aren't going to be able to time the jump right due to the characters very slow response time. 
 
I played the first two PS1 games again last year, btw. Those are the ones I am talking about. I can't speak for the newer ones.

yeah, those are good games. I only found one puzzle in underworld that frustrated me.

sure

Just wanted to point out that games are boring and stale now so it's not your fault. Tomb Raider (with the exception of that dual joystick downloadable) games are pretty mediocre and boring they just keep making them because brand recognition = money. Hope this helps.

Never played one. Always have been keen just to try, but could never motivate myself enough to care, even for $10. Maybe one day.