Tomb Raider: Underworld Review
- Posted November 19th, 2008 at 12:05 EDT by Steven Williamson
- 13,475 views
- 42 Comments
Review Score
- PSU Review Score
- 6.0
- Avg. user review score:
- 7.1
Summary
Tomb Raider: Underworld is a lackluster adventure. Lara looks great, but gameplay is predictable and thwarted by camera issues.
We like
- Lara's character model and animations are spot on
- Some beautifully rendered locations
We dislike
- Predictable, bland puzzles
- Poor camera angles makes exploration frustrating
- Combat is lackluster and overly simple
See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings
Can you believe that it’s been over 10 years since the voluptuous Lara Croft began seducing us with her enticing blend of action-packed exploration, treasure hunting, acrobatics and perceptive puzzle-solving?
The success of the series has meant that the foundations laid down by the original title still haven’t changed one bit, with Tomb Raider Underworld following a familiar and predictable blueprint. If you’re a fan of the series then you’ll no doubt take some delight in exploring ancient ruins, underwater chambers, dimly-lit caverns and lush jungle settings all over again. You’ll probably also feel quite at home climbing mountain faces, ledge-hopping, swinging over ravines, pulling levers, pillar jumping, shifting blocks to activate weight mechanisms and solving cog-based puzzles. We, on the other hand, were bored out of our minds. Ever heard of the saying “familiarity breeds contempt?” Well, never has a phrase been more apt than in the case of Underworld.
Furthermore, whilst Miss Croft’s latest outing, which carries on from where it left off in Tomb Raider Legend, looks suitably next-gen, with Lara moving around with admirable poise and grace, ass cheeks wobbling with every step, we spent most of the adventure swearing at the T.V. with sheer frustration. Like spoilt brats - and we feel quite ashamed to admit it - we almost lost the plot at one point, banging our fists with anger onto the table after we fell to our death and then had to scale a cliff face for the tenth time. A videogame hasn’t made us this angry since we hopped on the back of a dragon, took to the skies and wrestled with the motion-sensing functionality of the Sixaxis controller in the disappointingly poor, Lair.
There is some good news though. As far as pixelated videogame heroine's go, Lara does look very sexy. With all the bumps and curves in the right places, her finely chiseled body should certainly appeal to the testosterone-fueled teen brigade and undoubtedly old perverts as well. Crystal Dynamics has cleverly played on her sexuality throughout the game and from the outset, where they place her snugly into a figure-hugging swimming costume for the first ocean-diving level, to the coast of Thailand where you have the opportunity of dressing her up in either jungle pants or jungle shorts, there’s never an opportunity missed to take advantage of her obvious womanly charms.
Wisely, every opportunity has been grabbed by the developer's manly fist in order to show off Lara’s mighty fine cheek-wobbling buttocks up close and personal. Thanks to camera angles that pan in when you’re scaling a mountain face or during cut-scenes you'll get plenty of time to ogle those buns. We’d hazard a guess that this will also be the gameplay footage that is most likely to be sent out to the press or put onto You Tube in a bid to tempt you into the alluring world of Lara and her creamy thighs. Unfortunately, watching Lara parade around in this flirtatious manner is one of the few highlights of an otherwise boring, predictable and irritating jaunt across some familiar locations.
Lara does animate extremely well. It’s clear that the motion-capture technology, which has been used for the first time in the Tomb Raider series, has really paid off. She looks fantastic shimmying down poles, somersaulting through the air, traversing cliff faces, scaling walls with her grappling hook and swimming through the clear blue ocean. Lara has never looked and moved so well as she interacts with the environment, using her arms to push through the overgrown jungle foliage or putting her hands to her face to shield herself from fire. It’s commendable that his level of attention has been paid to the story’s heroine and her impressive range of acrobatic tricks, but the focus on making her look great and move like a medal-winning gymnast feels like it’s been to the detriment of much of the rest of the game, which consistently fails to live up to her eye-catching physique.
Underworld suffers from some frustrating level design, annoying camera angles and tedious puzzles, the likes of which have been regurgitated from the bowels of previous Tomb Raider games and mixed around ever so slightly to try and give you the impression that they’re ... (continued on next page)
Comments
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bilbo_bobbins |
bilbo_bobbins- 12:07pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 1
you think they would of stopped making this game now. It's boring and there are alot more better games out there than this. Including Uncharted... not a surprise.
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IndianaJones1936 |
IndianaJones1936- 12:27pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 2
This is good, but they should stop it now and let Uncharted take over
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jimbo0 |
bravotangosix- 12:52pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 3
After reading this, the XBOX360 can have all the "extra DLC" they want. I'm actually really dissapointed about that score as i was looking forward to get my hands on Lara again. Not this time though! Farewell Lara, it was damn good while it lasted.
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Sryche22 |
Sryche- 1:32pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 5
I'm actually really glad to read this....after my wife had an excruciating time with the camera issues of Pirates of the Carribean, I've been really selective about which games to buy...Unchartered was great...but I think we'll skip this one. Thanks PSU =)
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fareye765 |
fareye765- 2:06pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 6
i played the demo on my friends xbox and i was very dissapointed. i have been a huge fan of tomb raider ever since the 1st on the psone and i have every tomb raider game ever. ANGEL OF DARKNESS WAS TERRIBLE! i was expecting a huge overhaul in the combat for this but it felt too slow and boring. although the graphics are amazing!
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DantheMan_69
- 2:33pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 8
there is trophies for this game. also this is another SH!!TT review
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GunTeng
- 3:56pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 10
TBH, the combat part is what annoys me about the game. Too much human-human combat. But I would not knock it for being simplistic...its an adventure game, not a beat-em-up or shoot-em-up.
Camera angles in the Nintendo version p*ssed me off due to the environment being made so much smaller.
Are we ever going to see a TombRaider that really does get close or exceed the original? Looking at what we are seeing, it would appear we will never get that again. Especially when they listen to the gamers that would prefer they concentrate on shooting/fighting, rather than exploring, puzzles & themes/atmosphere.
Remake TR1 in HD and you will have a great seller.
Remake it as is...no little adjustments or enhancements other than smoother character movement and visuals.
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Odium_Generis_Humani
- 5:02pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 12
Aww. I was going to get this. That stinks. I'm pretty surprised that it wasn't at least an 8. I was actually looking forward to it.
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Intervention
- 6:44pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 15
Aside from Metroid, everygame and movie with a macho woman character is lame. Especially this Trash. Might as well make 3 Ninja's the video game or Ninja Kids.
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NICKKELANIUS |
NICKKELANIUS- 6:58pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 16
you know what i find funny, everyone gets all hyped up and psu always overates before it actually comes out, and everones like looks awesome!! and stuff then this happens.
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happypeoplearegay |
call-me-on-5- 7:43pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 18
@10 They did remake Tomb Raider 1. Its called Tomb Raider: Anniversery and it was released on the XBOX 360 and not the PS3.
They really need to get back to their roots. The Playstation is what made Tomb Raider great, yet they screw us over by being Microsofts B!@#$ -
hvnlyswrd08
- 8:16pm GMT - November 19th, 2008
- 19
WHAT!!!! Im Surprised That This Game Didnt Get At Least An 8 I Like Tomb Raider And Im Still Gunna Buy It...The Review Is Alrite But I Like To Find Out For Myself..
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MephistoSoze
- 1:52am GMT - November 20th, 2008
- 23
Odd... it's very odd. GamesRader gave it a 9 out of 10. I'm not saying that one is more valid than the other, each has its own valid points. I suppose that's why Metacritic is valuable, since it's an average of all published scores.
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v8nnwilder
- 1:55am GMT - November 20th, 2008
- 24
I've never been a fan and thisjust proves it once again that just because someone made a great game it's not always a good idea to keep milking it... At the most a game should be a trilogy and that's it... Okay bar certain games that just keeps getting better... Like the Metal Gear series and the Resident Evil's... And so on.... But at least they make every game more epic than before. that's why it works for them.
Tomb raider NEVER did anything to "Wow" me... Uncharted was better than any Tomb raider game... So i'll stick to that thank you.
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1solidsnake |
solid1snake67- 9:59am GMT - November 20th, 2008
- 27
this is the problem everyone thinks uncharted is better. TR games have been around for a long time. i've never played uncharted. there probably the same game
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roper
- 12:03pm GMT - November 20th, 2008
- 28
This has to be one of the most far off reviews I have seen. TRU is incredible, I played for about 3 hours last night and had no problem with the camera, and I like having to actually explore the levels to find things to keep me moving forward. You sounded like a person who can't play a game unless it is very linear or unless you have a walk through to help you along. This game is far superior to Uncharted in basically every aspect that I can see. TRU is very open ended and exploration is a must ( which is what I like ) while Uncharted was pretty linear and exploration didn't really play any part in it. You should stick to the easier games that lead you down a path and leave the games that take some time & skills to play for another reviewer! The game is at least a 8.5 imho.
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Punisher99
- 2:07pm GMT - November 20th, 2008
- 29
Well Uncharted is nothing but a copy cat game from the Tomb Raider franchise in my opinion. Uncharted fans should be thanking the Tomb Raider franchise. Because without the TR franchise, there would not be Uncharted. With that said. This TR game is nothing but an xbox 360 port. So what that means is that its not going to be a great game. It had the potential to be a good game at best, But not great.
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PS3lady
- 12:36am GMT - November 21st, 2008
- 32
the rating should not make u decide on what game to buy,that rating is other peoples opinion about the game not urs(escpecily if u havent even played it)everybody has different tastes of how they think a game should be..they cant please everyone...sooo im still going to get it i think its a good game nomatter what.
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Tonic99 |
Tonic99- 4:40am GMT - November 21st, 2008
- 33
Im sorry but anyone who doesnt like Tomb Raider is either not a true gamer or has just started playing games,it is a game where you have to use your brain to get something done its not just mindless shooting,dont get me wrong I some times enjoy just shooting the crap out of everything but there is too many of that going around and that is why LBP isnt doing as well as every one hoped for(maybe later) its because the kids today,i.e 10-25,dont know how to use there brains.I dont know what's going on with the PSU review because its the second one I read that got a lower score than on the other sites,R2 review was way off compared to most other sites
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illicious |
illicious- 10:46am GMT - November 22nd, 2008
- 37
Played an hour last night and 2 this morning. Changed from 6.0 to 7.5 Now i give it a 8.3! The environments are so beautiful and detailed. You learn how to use Lara better and better as you progress. You have to think or better yet "explore" the area and find out your next step. Dam great so far.
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I_AM_LEGEND246 |
Cilldealga + IAMLEGEND2468- 2:51pm GMT - November 23rd, 2008
- 40
This game has to be the worst game EVER TO BE CREATED. Its boring. They have made too much TOMB RAIDER games. Its just the same thing over and over again. This wont be a buy for me as im focusing more on R2, COD WAW, LBP and FALLOUT 3.
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zbamf
- 10:43pm GMT - November 23rd, 2008
- 41
There's going to be reviews which will be inconsistent. Apparently Eidos has asked all sites who gave a review score lower than an 8 to hold off publishing their review untill the games is out. Eidos have done something similar before for Tomb Raider Legend. When I used to buy PSW mags (those where the days) they said that Eidos aproached them with an offer to get exclusive review of their game Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness if PSW were to give it a perfect 10, the mag declined. Also remeber Eidos are behind the Kane and Lynch game and we know all about the sacking at gamespot of a certain person for a low review score of this Kane and Lynch game.
So how do we know if Eidos isn't throwing their money around in return for high scores. I don't trust Eidos, nor do I trust IGN and Gamespot. This site gave it a poor score, if PSExtreme which I trust to be honest and genuine even if I disagree with some of their reviews, give the new Tomb Raider a low score, then it has to be a bad game.
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Gomersoul |
Gomersoul- 4:20am GMT - November 24th, 2008
- 42
Uncharted was brilliant, no doubt. but i judge each game on own merit and this is quite a good one. it would of been better if tomb raider anniversary was next gen, or they used the same movement engine, it sometimes feels she isn't in you're control, which is probably just because it was ported from the 360. i think a 6 is very harsh, i would give it an 8, easily.
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