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I had been anticipating Tomb Raider Underworld for a long time. Ever since the cliffhanger ending in Legend, I don't think there was a Tomb Raider fan alive who wasn't eagerly waiting for the resolve.
A few notes:
If you haven't played Legend, you really need to. This is a direct continuation of its story line. If you don't know what happened in Legend, you'll be lost with the story contained in Underworld. A passing knowledge of what happened in Anniversary would also be advised.
The good:
There was a conscious effort on the programmer's part that if it seems like Lara should be able to do something, she can do it. For the first time the technology was available to let Lara do virtually anything the programmers could imagine. Poles Lara could only swing from before, she can now swing, perch, balance and fire a gun from. By far, this version of Lara can do more than she could in any previous game.
The areas are huge and, for the most part, non-linear. There are a couple sections near the end where you're basically being herded down a single corridor. But for the most part, this is the epitome of what a "go anywhere, do anything" exploration game should be. If you know exactly what you're supposed to do, you can probably breeze through certain puzzles. But if you want to take time to explore and see what the game has to offer, you'll find it has a lot.
The story is also very involving. Like I said, it's a continuation from Legend. So if you've played that, you already have a vested interest in what happens to these characters. Underworld really delivers on finally resolving the story between Lara and Amanda, Lara and Natla...and even Natla and Amanda.
The bad:
As much as I hate to find fault with this game, I have to be honest, there are some faults to be found.
As stated in other reviews, the camera is really buggy. This more than any of the other bugs had me frustrated at times. It never became a game spoiler for me. But many times, you not only can't move the camera to where it would be of utmost advantage, many times it's a challenge just to move it to where it's not utterly useless. This more than anything keeps me from giving this game that fifth star.
While not nearly as irritating as the camera, I also have noticed frame rate issues. But those tend to come and go. There's a brief moment on the part of the player of "what's going on?" But it passes and you're back on your way exploring.
Cinematics are not unlockable like they were in Legend and Anniversary. Once you've gone past them, that's it. Only chance you'll have to see them again is if you either start a new game or go on Youtube.
That brings me to my final point. Since cinematics are no longer unlockable, there's really not much else worth unlocking. There's character concept art, weapon concept art, level concept art and equipment concept art. It's hardly worth going into the "treasure hunter" mode to unlock it all in my opinion. It's a good thing that the levels are so huge and that it should take the average player a good while to finish the game. Because given the lack of anything worthwhile to unlock, that leaves little to nothing in the way of replay value.
Final notes:
This is a fun game. I hate that I had to list so many faults, because really this is a fun game. But you should know before spending the money that this does lack that certain amount of polish. As far as I'm concerned, though the good does outweigh the bad. If you're a Tomb Raider fan, you should get this game. If you're dying to find out how the Legend cliffhanger finally resolves, get this game. Just realize you may need to forgive the game for having a few little quirks.
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I just got the game today and played for a few hours. And these are my opinion on the game.
Bad:
Environment collisions are bad. You could fall quite easily even from a simple ledge, due to bad collision detection. And you often bump into invisible walls, or even stuck on them, in stupid places that they shouldn't be there.
Animations look bad. The poses are alright, but timings and in-betweens are bad and too fast. I feel like watching a speedy Charlie Chaplin's film. Lara looks like a monkey when she does wall-climbing. And too-fast animations also cause very annoying errors in controling the character.
Camera sucks. They make the camera follows Lara too much and track-in too fast. It could cause controling mistakes and a headache. Especially when you stand too close to environment collision, the camera will shake like crazy. I feel dizzy after playing for a few hours.
Combat system are pretty bad. The gunplay doesn't include cover system, which makes you take the bullets too much. Dodging moves don't help much because a lousy camera don't stay still, so you lose track of enemies very easily.
Good:
Well... it's Tomb Raider after all. That means the story and puzzles are still interesting enough to keep you playing, even with lousy controls and camera. The models, textures, shaders, and lighting look great.
In conclusion:
The developers tried to put new things to keep the series fresh. Unfortunately, they don't really work. On the other hand, the weak points destroy what made the past games in the series so great.
I wouldn't recommend this one to anybody new to the series. Judging from this one, you might hate the entire series all together. Tomb Raider Legend and Anniversary are better than this one.
For average fans, you might want to download the demo and try it first, or wait untill the price drop.
For die-hard fans, well, it's still Tomb Raider. If you're dying to collect every Tomb Raider games, it might not be so bad for you. Just don't keep your hope up so high.
Actually, I wanted to give it 3.5 stars.
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This game has it's good notes. If you like treasure hunting or puzzle solving games along with shooting and climbing/jumping, then you will like this game. The only problem is the numerous bugs. I can't believe that they would release a game with this many bugs. The camera sucks at times...sometimes all you can see is black. If you walk towards a wall and try to walk away, she goes into a spastic glitch. You have to wait 2 to 3 seconds to get out of it. There are numerous glitches that the company knows about that you have to go back to a previous level to do something stupid that you would think would never make any difference just to move on! There is one level where the ramp is missing if you died at a certain point 3 levels back. Consider the bummer there, knowing that you will lose all of your progress this far to go back and fix it. It's almost a game killer. There are very high notes on this game though. It is a very fun game to play. The puzzle aspect of it makes it very interesting to play and takes you away from the normal run shoot, run shoot of most games. My 2 cents anyway...
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If you have played Legend on PS2 and loved it... this one is all for you. A full fledged fan service. They have made the puzzles more streamlined and made the game levels bigger. The game continues where it left in the previous game. Lara is now casted by a different British model and all the animations are motion captured. The game difficulty is perfect this time. So far I liked how well it is paced. Lara also carries a PDA that can be used to solve puzzles. No random color matching puzzles, every thing is very organic. The game mainly stress on puzzles and platforming. Combat is mainly there as a diversion. You can always get away with a slow motion head shot.
The game does lack the level of polish. There are frame rate issues, my main complaint is the camera. The textures and polygons doesnt map one to one in some tricky locations. Technically it could have used some time more backing time. But what we have is amazing. If you like adventure, puzzles atleast give it a rent. It is very entertaining.
This game is a eye candy for sure with south Asian beaches and snowy artic caves. Lara craft play ground is jaw droopingly filled with details. A action adventure fans dream come true.
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The best thing about this game has to be the amount of exotic locales and exploration that you do throughout. You have to explore the dense jungles of central Mexico, the tropical and beautiful scenery of coastal Thailand, frozen arctic wastelands, Lara own home(or underneath it), and tombs hidden deep within the Mediterrean Sea. There are almost no boss fights so that is one missing element that should have been added to the game since we have seen it in past Tomb Raider games. As a matter of fact, I think that this is probably the easiest but still most exciting Tomb Raider games that I have ever played. I enjoyed all of the exploring of the different locales and tombs. I almost felt like I was going on my own Indiana Jones expedition. Lara field gear in her PDA, really makes the game easier because she actually tells you what you need to do to progress further in the game, which was lacking from other TR games. Lots of enemies to shoot(people and animals) and the power of Thor's hammer adds a whole new level of excitement for the game. Any fan of action adventure games and exploration should check this game out.
