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 Tomb
Raider Underworld (Playstation 3)
Lara Croft returns in fine form with the excellent Tomb Raider Underworld
on the PS3. Her latest adventure offers the challenging puzzles, acrobatic
moves and action sequences the Tomb Raider series has become known for.
Huge, beautifully rendered environments take you to some of the world's
most exotic locations, as you explore ruins and deep caverns that unlock a
series of mysteries. Excellent pacing offers a good balance between
puzzles and action make for a solid installment in the series. Some minor
camera issues and occasionally touchy controls make for some frustrating
sequences, though not enough to detract from its otherwise high quality.
Join us and discover what makes Tomb Raider Underworld such an engaging
experience. |
| Set
after the events in Tomb Raider Legend, Lara Croft's latest adventure
finds her once again exploring a series of exotic locations throughout the
world. Players will find many familiar elements this time around, and
Lara's trademark moves and stunts are very much in evidence as she
explores many exciting and exotic locations. She performs many of her
famous jumps and leaps, hangs from ledges, traverses narrow beams, swings
from bars, climbs on walls, scales high towers, dangles from ledges and
more with a remarkable sense of grace and ease. Controlling her is fairly
intuitive, but it takes some time to get into the flow of things. Most of
her main activities are controlled using context sensitive controls, where
jumping and climbing is assigned to one button, which can be confusing at
first. She has several new moves this time, including new bicycle jumps,
kicking attacks and the ability to climb on walls using the rocks to grip.
It mostly comes together seamlessly, and players who don't rush and think
about things will find the interface works fairly easily. Compared to some
of the previous games, there definitely feels like there's more leeway
while jumping, and the margins for error are larger. Performing large
jumps through areas is a bit difficult at first, but once you learn to
manually adjust the camera before leaping, things get a lot more accurate.
Building your confident is Lara herself. She can perform huge leaps, which
means that Lara can accomplish the seemingly impossible. This makes huge
leaps and jumps feel very possible, and it makes the gameplay more
enjoyable and entertaining.
Tomb Raider Underworld's controls works
well for the most part, though there are still some areas where the angle
becomes awkward, making you plunge needlessly below. However, adjusting
things a little, and observing your environment closely makes things
easier. Most of the time, your paths and settings are fairly easy to see
once you know what to look for. Studying nearby objects and looking for
what looks like a ledge or a rock makes things much easier. There are some
areas that can be quite tricky to traverse, but Tomb Raider Underworld
doesn't penalize you excessively when you make a mistake, with very close
respawns that mean you won't spend a lot of time retracing your steps.
Along the way, Lara will also confront a number of beasts and animals who
will attack her relentlessly. The smaller ones, such as spiders and bats
can be quickly waved off or squashed with the press of a button. She'll
also encounter larger foes like tigers and lizards who will cause a lot of
damage. The combat system in these sequences is fairly easy, and you can
auto-target enemies using the shift button, though you'll still need to
dodge their attacks. If you find yourself stuck in a certain area, Lara
can call up her GPS device which includes two features. The first of these
is a sonar detection device, which gives you a 3D layout of the level,
which can come in handy in finding hidden areas. She can also use her GPS
for some field intelligence, which are audio clues which contain hints on
the area. The system is fairly simple to use and isn't intrusive on the
main gameplay itself. Lara's abilities are fairly simple and those who
played the previous games will find her to be more responsive and easier
to control this time around.
 As
you might expect, most of the game takes place in a series of dangerous
tombs, but there are some sequences where Lara needs to battle human
opponents on ships and boats. The combat system is fairly decent, and most
players should have little trouble targeting and shooting opponents. The
enemy AI for human opponents isn't terribly difficult and Lara has two
ways of dealing with them. She can use her moves to disable them or she
can shoot her guns or throw a timed explosive at them, which takes them
out. While her standard weapons are fairly useful, she also has a number
of other tools she can use, such as a mini flashlight to light up dark
areas. These tools can be called up immediately using the d-pad, allowing
for quick access. The most useful of Lara's new tools, in terms of
actually playing through the levels, is her grappling wire. This is a
handy device that she can use to rappel off the sides of walls, climb up
to high places and more. When she's on the wire, players can also swing
her around and perform huge leaps to reach places should couldn't
otherwise. The levels themselves are huge, elaborate puzzles where you
have to complete multiple smaller objectives in order to reach your final
goal. For example, in one elaborate temple level, you have to climb three
different towers, find the hidden gems in each before you can unlock the
final gate. Each tower in this level is a puzzle in itself and requires
Lara to jump gaps, scale walls, traverse ledges, rappel down to heights,
hang from high platforms and perform other stunts. This approach means
that each level can take quite some time to complete, but is also quite
satisfying when you've beaten it. These interlocking puzzles have become a
series trademark, and this installment doesn't disappoint with its
challenging layouts and excellent level design.
From a visual standpoint, the game looks
fantastic with lush, beautifully rendered environments creating an
immersive and believable world for Lara to explore. Excellent light
sourcing, and a fantastic level of detail throughout makes for an
impressive looking game from beginning to end. Even the smallest details,
such as writing on the walls feels authentic, and the layouts and design
of each of the temples where Lara explores are fantastic in their design
and layout. Lara herself looks spectacular with her elaborate animations
and an impressive array of movements that gives her quite an athletic feel
while never feeling outside the realm of believable. Excellent voice
acting and a decent plot help to keep the storyline moving along, creating
a strong sense of character and motivation for the Lara to keep venturing
deeper into the unknown. The one area where Underworld falls a bit short
of the mark is its camera system, which leads to several awkward sections
that are hard to progress through. It makes for some occasionally
frustrating gameplay, but adjusting the camera manually and looking at
things from another angle generally does the trick, making this problem
not so glaring once you get accustomed to it and learn to compensate for
it.
 Despite
these relatively minor problems with its camera system, Tomb Raider
Underworld is still a high quality gaming experience. It's a solid title
delivers one of the most impressive adventures in the series to date.
Players will find plenty of the elaborate puzzles and challenging
obstacles they've come to expect from the series, along with a few new
twists. Tomb Raider's pacing offers an excellent balance between the
acrobatic stunts, elaborate puzzles and action sequences the franchise has
become famous for along with some fairly impressive visuals. The game's
environments showcase a richness and attention to detail that makes it's
exotic locations feel authentic and elaborate. Lara herself has never
looked or felt better with outstanding animations and new moves, such as
her grappling hook that give her more flexibility than ever. The levels
are expansive and occasionally difficult, but online help and a bit of
persistence pays off. Excellent production values make for an interesting
plot unfolds between adventures as well. Eidos and Crystal Dynamics have
produced another solid installment, making Tomb Raider Underworld a
solidly entertaining title that delivers everything players have come to
expect from the series in a highly-polished, and thoroughly enjoyable
package.
-
Michael Palisano
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