Name: Tomb Raider: Underworld
Genre: Action/Adventure
Platform: 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PC, DS (Reviewed on Xbox 360)



The Tomb Raider series has been one of the most prolific franchises in gaming ever since getting its start in 1996. Since then, there have been nine games released on nearly every platform available, in addition to several film and comic book adaptations of Lara Croft’s adventures. However, the once critically acclaimed series has taken a few missteps over the years, and Eidos and Crystal Dynamics have been trying to restore Lara’s good reputation with the last few Tomb Raider titles. Tomb Raider: Underworld, the latest game in the series, is considered the first true next-gen Tomb Raider game, and as such, my expectations may have been a little high. While Underworld isn’t a terrible game by any means, it still has some issues left over from two generations ago that are impossible to ignore.

In Tomb Raider: Underworld, Lara is on another globetrotting adventure, this time to find the gloves, belt, and hammer of Thor, as well as some clues about her mother's disappearance. Her journey brings her to several exotic locales, including Thailand jungles, ruins of Southern Mexico, and underwater caverns, to name a few. The story isn’t entirely original, but still interesting, and I definitely appreciated the variety in the different settings. Underworld is also very visually appealing; both the environments and Lara herself look really good, though I still don’t understand why she wears so much make-up to go traipsing through the jungle or scuba diving.



Unlike some of the earlier Tomb Raider games, Underworld doesn’t place much focus on combat, instead leaving most of the gameplay to puzzle-solving and platforming. As always, there will be many locations filled with strategically-placed poles, ledges, and climbing stones for Lara to navigate, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to do so. Lara also has some new skills, like wall jumping and the use of a grappling hook. It is very fulfilling to make your way through a difficult tomb or cave, especially when you pull off a move like swinging through a pair of rapidly closing stone doors, and I definitely liked the new acrobatic abilities Lara has picked up. There are also some very clever and fun puzzles throughout the game that I enjoyed solving. I just wish that there had been more moments of satisfaction and less moments of blinding frustration throughout the course of the game.

Lara is faced with several types of enemies in Underworld, both human and animal. No matter what she is up against, the basic strategy for combat is the same: aim and shoot until the target is dead. The AI in Underworld is fairly dumb, with human foes standing out in the open like they want to be shot, and bats and spiders emerging one after another from the same location, allowing themselves to be picked off one at a time. Fighting tigers and sharks is a little more challenging, but it’s still fairly easy to keep jumping or swimming while you shoot the creatures in a face with a shotgun. The only time enemies ever present a challenge is when you are cheaply overwhelmed with many of them at once, and they all pounce on you before you can shoot. However, instances like that are pretty rare.



While there were many times when I found Underworld enjoyable and compelling, there were also numerous occasions that made me want to turn the game off and never play it again. These were mostly due to the terrible camera, which is wonky at best and broken at worst. Many times, you will not be able to turn the camera 360 degrees at a critical point, so you will be forced to take a leap of faith and, often, cause Lara to fall to her death. The camera will also sometimes spin around mid-jump for no apparent reason, causing Lara to, once again, plummet into the darkness below instead of making a simple jump. It’s infuriating and unnecessary, and considering that this is not the first time this has been a problem in a Tomb Raider game, nearly unforgivable.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Lara Croft brings several other old issues to the new game. While she no longer misses jumps because her placement wasn’t absolutely perfect, there are still occasions when she will leap to the left or right instead of straight, or dive into the ground instead of climbing to the platform above. While playing Underworld, I flashed back to playing the first Tomb Raider at the age of 13 and having the exact same problems. After over a decade, there is no reason for these issues to still exist in this series, and it’s definitely something that needs to be addressed in the next title. Lara will also sometimes get stuck in textures, once in a while to the point of having to reset the game. Between the camera and these problems, I just can’t ignore the fact that it feels like this game is not a finished, polished product.


The most upsetting thing is the fact that it feels like there really is a good game in Underworld—it’s just masked by all of the game’s technical difficulties. Had the title waited a few more months in development and come out early next year, instead of trying to fight its way among the triple-A holiday games, it probably would have been worth a buy. As it stands, Tomb Raider: Underworld is a fun way to spend a weekend, but not something that will keep you coming back for multiple plays. While the game kept me entertained for the most part, I also never wanted to play it for more than an hour or so at a time, because it simply became too annoying. I was excited to play this game, but the final product left me underwhelmed. Maybe next time, Lara.

 

 

Related Articles:

Tomb Raider Underworld Demo Impressions

Tomb Raider Underworld Features 360 Exclusive DLC

Tomb Raider Underworld Due Out November 4