Customer Reviews

Tomb Raider: Underworld

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Tomb Raider Underworld is the continuation of a storyline from Legend and to a lesser extent Anniversary. It sees Lara continuing her search for her mother. The theme of the game is as the title suggests, underworld or rather the many underworlds or realms of the dead that exist in many different mythologies.
Lara travels to various locations in search of Thor's hammer. The locations include an underwater temple in the Mediterannean, Thailand, Mexico, and Greenland.

Gameplay - 4/5: The gameplay revolves mostly around solving environmental puzzles. In this respect it is very similar to Legend and Anniversary, the two previous TR games. The main difference lies in the degree of freedom afforded to Lara. She can do many more things and utilize objects such as the grapple or her motorcycle in more creative ways than in the past games. The battle system has been updated too - you can now fight enemies using hand to hand combat as well as weapons. Speaking of weapons, you can now climb and shoot which is nice (only took 'em nine games to figure that one out :D). The levels are large and well designed. The puzzles are not very difficult and mostly involve pushing and pulling levers, and manipulating objects this way or that. Lara now has a sonar at her disposal to map levels (though I confess I never used it) and she also gives hints to help solve puzzles. The game is almost educational at times - you'll learn a lot about different myths and legends. All in all enjoyable if you liked previous Tomb Raider games, Ico, or the more recent Drake's Fortune (though Lara's game concentrates on puzzle solving rather than combat).

Graphics 5/5 - One word: Gorgeous. Lara looks great and so do the environments around her. Large, gorgeous environments, lush vegetation, huge, imposing statues all rendered with loving detail. This is truly a beautiful game. The first level takes place underwater and is truly memorable.

Controls 3/5 - The controls are mostly the same as in Legend, but I confess I found them a little less stellar. There is some collision detection problems too. Basically the controls could have used a little tightening up but otherwise they're bearable and any slight problems that exist don't really detract from the gameplay. In the pre-Legend era Lara had a lot of problems with falling off cliffs accidentally or if you didn't line up a jump exactly so, she would die. Here it's a lot more forgiving. The combat controls are also quite nice - Lara autoaims when fighting melee and with guns so enemies are rarely a problem.

Sound 4/5 - Nice music, good ambient atmosphere, not very memorable but not annoying either. This game is a lot darker than Legend so the witty banter between Lara and Zip and Alister is missing. Mostly Lara narrates and her voice actress is quite decent. The game can be played in English, French (which is how I play), German, Spanish.

Rent or Buy: Hmmm...if you loved Legend, and Anniversary, chances are you'll love this one too. If you prefer the more combat oriented Drake's Fortune, my suggestion is to give this a rental to at least try it out. The game's backstory is told in Lara's journal entries and a cutscene that's immediately accessible so while it helps to have played the previous two games, it's not necessary. All in all this game definitely deserves a look if you're a fan of adventure and puzzle solving games.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Fun (at times) but glitch ridden. In one level the only way we knew how to get out was through a glitch! There were so many glitches it's hard to remember all of them. One glitch at the end of the game, "The Boss" got stuck shooting at a pillar I needed to climb in order to proceed. "The Boss" continued getting stuck throughout the entire level. They also gave Lara all kinds of new climbing abilities, but they did not work out the bugs. She would end up floating in the in mid air, or holding a corner that didn't exist. The enemies also had quirks. With the humans, you could unload both your pistols twice into them and they would not die....but if you kicked them they would die almost instantly!

Pros:

The motorcycle was cool.

Environments were beautiful (when nothing was moving).

Puzzles ok.

Really cool graphics (when Lara wasn't invisible).


Cons:

Bad enemy programing.

Bad enemy graphics.

Grapple problems.

Bad camera (got stuck on Lara's butt often).

Jumping through ledges/pillars.

Stuck in walls, rocks, etc.

Getting stuck halfway through traps & surviving, but unable to proceed.

Having to reload the game because you did the puzzle out of order.

And many more....


Game had promise but was rushed. Almost unplayable due to glitches. Not worth $50.

I've been a light gamer, PS3, since Xmas 2007. I have mastered Legend, played Anniversary up to the dual-centaurs. Can't get the adrenalin head shots thing to save my life. Still trying, and the thrill when I finally do them in will be stupendous. I am a part time gamer. Hour here, hour there.

I have tried other games like the recent Spider Man series, Grand Theft series, car races, Ninja, and shooters of the SciFi variety alla "Star Wars". None of them have kept my interest. So I rate Tomb Raider and especially "Underworld" very high for sci-fi mystery loving people like myself whose goal is escapism, where mayhem is incidental, and intrigue is everything. Yes, there are some visual flaws. However, there are no crashes, and I've played too many top games that if you do something, who knows what, down it goes. (To be fair might be PS2 simulator issues omn my PS3.)

The best thing about "Underworld" is that IEDOS has merged all of the skills introduced in its "Legend" and "Anniversary" games into "Underworld". The importance is crucial. If you are new to Tomb Raider and have a PS3, don't start with Underworld, play the Legend and Anniversary first. Each version has grown, and I think you be disappointed if you go in the wrong order.

One person has commented about the dizzying heights, frequent falls, and camera angles as a con. I see them as great, makes my heart thump, just like quiet scenes that suddenly burst into action with attacking beasts of all kinds.

Last point, the videos I've seen on "Drake's World" look like the same kind of grown up quality story-line, puzzle solving, and graphics I've come to love in Tomb Raider. So when Laura's spent I will probably try my dollars on Drake next. He's not much to look at, but that female side-kick is nice enough.

This game has a major game ending bug in one of the levels of the "Southern Mexico" portion of the game. After being stuck and confused, I looked on one of the walkthroughs at a site called Stella's Tomb Raider walkthroughs, it turns out the game has a major bug that will end your game if you did not save manually many times. If you did not play the game yet it can be avoided by using one of the walkthroughs so you do not enable the bug ( I highly recommend Stella's walkthroughs, just google the website). Also make sure you manually save the game as soon as you get to Southern Mexico in case you accidentally enable the bug, there is also another glitch in the same level further on that can be avoided.

However if you already enabled the bug then it can only be fixed in 1 of 3 ways:

A. you happened to save the game yourself manually at a point prior to this (Which hopefully is not too far back)
B. You luckily do not enable the glitch in the game
C. You find a download and install a save game file , but that will not allow you to collect trophies and I've read many files do not work properly.

So, if you have not yet purchased this game, you must look at the walkthrough guides on how to not trigger the glitch!

I don't even recommend buying this game as there are a number of other possible game ending glitches.

The game itself without glitches or bugs involved has nice graphics and was fun up until the glitch point, the camera needs fixing though. I would have continued playing and was enjoying the game up until that point and not rated it this low, but the fact that this glitch is so major and could only be avoided if you just happen to see it on a walkthrough or got lucky is ridiculous.

If you are unlucky like me you will either be attempting to return the game or replaying it from your last save point like I did but use a walkthrough to reference glitch points!! I did this because through all the glitches it is a pretty good game.

I can't believe this bug has been around for as long as it has and Eidos Interactive's only fix it solution is to avoid it in the first place..duh..gee thanks for a waste of time!

So just to review.. if you must own this game, then use the walkthroughs to avoid the glitches, save constantly and hope for the best.
Otherwise rent it and avoid the bugs via walkthrough also.
Hope this helps.

I rented this game and ended up buying it!!! What a mistake!!! Turns out this game is riddled with bugs!!!! And I don't mean those you shoot at. I'm talking about bugs in the programming. Really EIDOS? C'mon. What's wrong with you guys.

The games graphics are downright beautiful. Well, thought out. Sound is amazing. The game play is fun. I like the fact that you can jump and grab onto ledges without having to hold in the X button like on the PS1.

But, now I just can't get past the fact that a bug is keeping me from progressing onto the next level!!!!! I really regret buying the game. If I encountered this bug before I bought it, I would've sent it right back.

I searched on-line and found out that there is a way to avoid the issue. However, this means NOT taking a path in the fork in the road to get a treasure. If you do take that road, turns out when you get to another level and you need to cross a chasm with your motorcycle, guess what? Yep, the ramp is down and you can't cross for the life of you!!!! So frustrating. As much as I LOVE this game. The story, the gameplay, the bugs really annoy me. And so I have to say pass on this game. Or, play the game but, get through the whole game without getting the treasure. Then, the game allows you to play each level selectively to get all the treasure. Looks like I'm going to have to start the game ALL OVER again, and this time, NOT get all the treasures. What a rip off!!!