StridentUK

One of the problems with a twelve year old franchise is the sheer amount of design baggage it brings along. Tomb Raider, a series where the lead character and game mechanics are closely fused together, has probably suffered more than most over the years. Each new iteration has struggled with the difficult balancing act of satisfying hardcore fans whilst also attempting to move the experience forward. Rather than concentrate on the essential elements that made the series popular, each successive game added a collection of new features that eventually resulted in the near death of the franchise and the relocation to a new developer.

Crystal Dynamics’ first outing, Tomb Raider Legend, effectively jettisoned a lot of the superfluous trappings, slimming down Lara’s abilities and refining the control system. It was a breath of fresh air for the series. This new game builds on their earlier work, ditching the familiar computer animated Lara in order to incorporate more fluid, motion captured moves.

Underworld is a continuation of Legend’s story and also makes references to Lara’s original outing (as retold in last year’s Anniversary game). As usual in Tomb Raider, the story is just an excuse for the globetrotting Ms Croft to make full use of her passport, running, leaping, jumping, climbing and swinging her way to access all of the delights that the Ancient Civilisations of the world have to offer.

Touted as the first “proper” outing on the current generation of systems (despite it being the third appearance of the franchise on the 360) they’ve obviously thrown out most of the technology used in the earlier games. As a result, a lot of new glitches show up this time around and the overall package is nowhere near as polished as you’d expect. Throughout the game, Lara regularly runs up against invisible walls and often gets herself stuck in scenery. And it really wouldn’t be Tomb Raider without the game camera having a mind of its own.

Despite those issues, the technology upgrade does pay off when it comes to the range of environments and the sheer scale of the landscapes that the games’ engine is able to deliver. The puzzles are also much bigger in scope and are a little more imaginative than the block pushing and switch throwing we’ve seen in the past. For someone who calls herself an archaeologist, though, Lara still spends an awful lot of time smashing up priceless artefacts (or she will do if you want to collect all the hidden secrets and relics).

It took me quite a while to warm to Tomb Raider Underworld. I thought a few of the earlier levels had too many points where it was unclear what you had to do next or, even more confusingly, where you needed to go. I would imagine this would be very off-putting for newcomers to the series. Even as a Tomb Raider veteran, I sometimes felt like I was just randomly working my way around rooms, solving puzzles by accident, instead of moving with a deliberate purpose. By the time Lara returned to her mansion, though, it felt like proper Tomb Raider once again. Everything kicked up a gear and I was suddenly having a lot more fun.

Combat is still an annoyance, although it does seem to take more of a back seat this time around. Even so, there seems little point in including enemies in several of the areas, particularly when they’re just pathetic distractions like spiders and bats. Even the larger, more dangerous enemies are fairly easily dispatched. There doesn’t seem much point in mastering the complicated “adrenaline” system. Not when you can just jump around and shoot wildly like you’ve always done in the past.

In the levels I’ve played so far, the quick-time button pressing that plagued some of the previous games has thankfully been replaced by sections where you need to respond quickly using the standard game controls. It may be less cinematic but it’s also (arguably) less annoying. The autosave system and is a lot more generous than usual, with plenty of checkpoints, but manually storing your progress is made cumbersome and confusing by the awkward radial menu system.

I can’t see Tomb Raider Underworld converting anyone who wasn’t a fan of the previous games. It’s a decent enough fix for Lara-holics but, due an overall lack of polish and annoying technical issues, doesn’t impress quite as much as Legend did. Even so, it’s still one of the better action adventure platformers around at the moment .

(Second Opinion Review Originally Published on the CGUK Blog)

Tags: Tomb Raider

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