Lara Croft, much like the terrain she traverses, has had her ups and downs in her twelve years of tomb raiding. After the break-out success of her first adventure, the “Tomb Raider” franchise followed up with a blockbusting sequel that remained the pinnacle of the franchise for many years. After “Tomb Raider 2’s” release, Lara began her slow descent into repetitive and broken gameplay, despite being one of the most recognizable symbols of video gaming next to Pac-Man and Mario. As developers tried tirelessly to make her more relevant in a world of more sophisticated gaming, Lara strayed farther from what made her such a success and even less interesting to play. “Tomb Raider: Underworld” marks her eighth adventure and the game returns to the roots of what made Lara successful: exploration of huge, isolated ruins, environmental puzzle solving, and defending herself from the dangers of the wild (with an occasional pirate or mercenary thrown in for good measure).
“Underworld” continues a reboot of the franchise which started in the sixth game of the series, “Tomb Raider: Legend.” Like “Legend,” “Underworld” gets Lara away from the bright lights of the city and stealthy missions, and puts her back in her short-shorts and climbing boots, dropping her into incredibly-designed forgotten cities and in search of the secret to her mother’s mysterious disappearance.
Admittedly, it has been many years since I played a “Tomb Raider” game, picking up the controller only temporarily for 2006’s “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” which was, in essence, a beautified next-gen version of Lara’s first adventure from 1996, which also happened to be the last “Tomb Raider” I played. “Underworld” captures the feeling I had when playing the original “Tomb Raider”- the isolation of being the only person trekking around giant ruins, listening to the echoes of predators reverberating through dank halls, and crawling through narrow corridors only to come upon massive chambers which required forethought in how to traverse to the other side. In 1996, there was nothing else like it- it launched the adventure-platformer genre.
Since then, adventure-platforming has seen its fair share of innovation, and Lara’s not the only acrobatic wall-crawler on the block any more. So “Underworld” has a lot to live up to, not to mention that it directly competes with the original “Mirror’s Edge” and the rebooted “Prince of Persia” franchise- both released in the same quarter as “Underworld.” “Underworld” succeeds with its varied topography, beautiful colors, and consistently smart environmental puzzles. I’m not a fan of the new art style of “Prince of Persia,” nor do I like it’s delayed control scheme; with “Mirror’s Edge,” though I enjoyed playing it more than “Underworld,” its environments became repetitive and its combat was clunky. As compared to its greatest competitors, “Underworld” is predictable and cinematic- it may not be original, but it does make it palatable.
“Underworld” trips up in its mechanics: the camera, while generally decent, will become an irritation to wrestle with in order to get a good view of where to platform to next; weapon combat involves no strategy except to jump around like a crazed tick to avoid being hit; melee combat is near-suicide; and I had to strain to see in dark tombs, even after ratcheting the brightness up. Again, none of them are deal-breakers, but when balanced against an incredibly similar game like “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune,” it’s easy to see where “Underworld” should be, as opposed to where it is.
Definitely, “Tomb Raider: Underworld” is an enjoyable experience for its short-lived story and fans of the series will be satisfied. But for $60 on the next-gen systems, there are new and/or better action-platforming experiences to be had- but that is not to say that this isn’t worth picking up as a rental or when the price comes down…
After all, “Uncharted 2” doesn’t come out until late 2009.
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