The game crashes all the time on new PCs.
OK, it's very old, but the system requirements in the store tell us that the game will even run on Win 8.

I made some experiments with compatibility and graphic settings, but for me it didn't help to avoid the crashes. At least I found out that assigning only 2 CPU cores to the game is quite a simple way to get into the action.

• First start the game. After you are in the menue you press Alt-TAB.
  
• Open the task manager and look for Lithtech.exe *32.
  
• Right click on it and choose the Set affinity function. Only activate CPU 0 and 1.

Now you can start a new game without crash after cutscenes.

Windows does not store this setting after the game has been closed.
You can load a savegame without problems, but after beating a level you will run into the same crash right before the next level starts.
So you need to do the steps above again.