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Dom Robinson reviews

Tomb Raider: Underworld

for Xbox 360

Distributed by
Eidos Interactive

game pic

  • Price: £49.99 (Xbox 360, PS3); £3 9.99 (PC)
  • Players: 1; system link: 2-16; online multiplayer: 2-16
  • Widescreen: Yes
  • 60Hz: Yes (optional)
  • HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
  • Xbox Live content: Game content downloads
  • Vote and comment on this film:

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Croft Manor is dead. Long live Lara Croft.

Yes, the trailer shows that our big-chested heroine has blown up her home. Why on earth would she do that? And, more to the point, why wouldn't she even sneak a look as it explodes? Anyone would, really.

One week earlier we see Lara in the Mediterranean Sea on her boat looking for Avalon, because she's been led to believe that her mother's alive and well and living there. Naturally, the thing to do once the CGI cutscene is over is to leap off the boat and go towards the island. However, it's amusing to try and run up to the wheel of the boat to drive closer to it, since as you approach the steps inside, Lara grinds to a halt and puts her hands forward to stop herself as if against a wall, but... there's no wall :)

game pic Let's start with the good stuff. From the Mediterranean Sea to Coastal Thailand, taking in Mexico (pre-swine flu), Jan Mayan Island, the Andaman Sea and the Arctic Sea, Lara's movements do feel more fluid than before and you can see as you leap and jump about (as long as you're doing it in the bright sunlight). You can also perform adrenaline shots as before, and the game has stunning visuals which cannot be faulted, and neither can the ear-crunching sound as puzzled are solved and cogs move into place, for example. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound also brings in a hum from the subwoofer that'll wake up the street.

There's a vast number of checkpoints in this title so you really can't go too wrong for long; as you go, you can unlock Environment, Gear and Character Concept Artwork and Storyboards; and there are now two new levels, Beneath The Ashes and Lara's Shadow which are also available at a price 800 credits each. However, now this title is, at the time of writing, since it's now out on the Classics label, a penny under twelve quid on Amazon, do those two extra levels really represent such great value? Perhaps those should be discounted, or now free?

One new clever thing is to move across walls, which only have small areas of support, by manoeuvring across with the left stick. You'll see when you come across this. Makes a nice change from having ledges to shimmy along the same walls. You can also grapple a hook and pull the cord around a nearby pillar to get some leverage.

Mozart's Lacrimosa
Tomb Raider: Underworld has less of a linear feel to it as there are sometimes multiple ways to get somewhere, which does make it rather confusing sometimes. Yes, I know normally linearity brings contempt, but this is a rather a hinder more than a help at times. You still get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing roughly where to go and seeing the graphics play out in front of you.

The opening level is also mostly in the dark which really doesn't help, either. Okay, I guess that's why this game is the Underworld, but it still really only serves to annoy. Perhaps they shouldn't have started with that one, even if it does suit the plot.

There are also the usual camera issues Lara Croft games have when it comes to turning around in tight spaces.

Overall, this just doesn't seem to have the same 'pzzazz' as early Lara Croft adventures, and I think it's down to the more free-play environment rather than going on a set path, which leads to bafflement and then just gets on your wick a bit. I understand the developers were criticised previously for making them too linear, but this one does feel markedly different from the other titles and, as a result, I'm not a fan of the change.

Unfortunately, unlike the previous game Tomb Raider: Anniversary, there is no 50Hz option in which to play this game so I cannot record the footage, : although Rikku4788 has already mapped the game out on his PC here.

Still, all is not lost with this title. Click on the video on the right and you can listen to the music from the trailer, Mozart's Lacrimosa.

GRAPHICS
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ENJOYMENT


OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2009.

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