Prologue
The Tomb Raider series is one that began its life on the Sega Saturn. It is also what was responsible for the original Playstation’s success in the mid 90’s. Throughout the years it has gone through few development studios and many more changes in her looks and the logo itself. Every entry into the series usually adds more features to her abilities and new weapons. One thing has remained true upon the years. It’s an adventurous platforming, third-person shooter about British archeologist, Lara Croft. Underworld expands on the back-story of Lara and gives the player insight into her inner workings about her family. The game starts off at Croft Manor as its under siege in sort of a prologue mission. Once you escape and learn the basic moves of the game your treated to average level cutscenes. The gameplay is mix of fast paced shooting sections and some slow and somewhat annoying puzzle solving that at times is just no fun at all. The climbing and swinging is reminiscent of recent games such as Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. It’s not as fine tuned as the later game but it works pretty well. You get an Adrenaline meter in this chapter of the series that will let you go into slow motion and aim for vital headshots on beasts and goons you fight. It also features a new melee combat system where you use the face buttons to fight. Crystal Dynamics have also added interactive cutscenes called Adrenaline Moments. For example: you control Lara as she’s running down a hallway as a buildings about to explode. It adds to the feel of the game and fun factor.

This Might Hurt.

Treasure Hunter
Treasure, it’s what Lara is always after. Throughout the game there are hidden treasures scattered about the levels and it’s your job to uncover them (think Uncharted treasures) and collect as many as you can. If you collect them all you will be rewarded with respective trophy/achievement. There are also three hidden swan diving locations throughout the game along with six hidden Artifacts which there are roughly one in each level. There’s enough to collect to keep you busy for an additional four hours of gameplay. To break up what seems to feel like a very boring running, climbing, puzzle, more running gameplay there are segments where you control Lara as she’s riding her motorcycle it’s a very welcomed addition to the series just wish there was more to drive around, it’s very linear and takes a few attempts to get it right. The game contains roughly 7 levels to explore and collect treasures. Each level is rather lengthy clocking in about 1-2 hours depending on how intricate of a playthrough you are doing.

Look Into My Eyes....Hey! I Mean It!

Survival Master
The game is decently lengthy for a linear third-person shooter. The story is decent but it involves zombie-like monsters, killer animals, and a genetic clone of Lara aka The Doppelgänger. It also is a good follow-up for series followers. Now for the not so pretty stuff, Tomb Raider: Underworld is simply put, boring. The story isn’t very captivating sure its fine but I think it could have done more and been a longer game. In this day and age games that are SINGLE PLAYER only should add more to make your money worth something. There is no replay value what so ever, sure there’s difficulties and a treasure hunter mode where you can just look for treasures you missed without the puzzles but still lacking. The glitches happen every so often, as far as camera it can be atrocious at times especially while climbing or doing multiple actions like running and shooting at the same time. Maybe I’m spoiled with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Quick Facts: Third-Person Shooter
Action-Adventure Platformer
Puzzle Solving
Positive: Decent Platforming Mechanics
Graphics Are Pretty Good For A 2008 Title
It Has Trophies Via A Patch So You Can Play It Again!
Negative: No Replay Value
No Online
Some Very Bad Camera Angles
Very Repetative
B-Movie Story
Multiplayer: No

Difficulty: 4/5 (Some Puzzles Can Be Very Frustrating On Harder Difficulties)

Developer: Crystal Dynamics

Publisher: Eidos Interactive

ESRB: T

Length: 8-10 hours

Systems: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC

Release Date:
NA: November 18th, 2008
EU: November 21st, 2008

SCORE: 7.0

Anthony (ShadyDevil) DeCicco