Sooo time for a change of review type, thought I would do one a video game and this time I have opted for one of Lara Croft's adventures, Tomb Raider Underworld, which was released back in 2008. So let's do the usual and give this un a look....
Right well here's a bit about the story (don't worry this won't be 50 paragraphs like my usual film summaries!) and it begins with Lara (voiced by Keeley Hawes) who's mansion has been set on fire and it explodes, with Lara desparately trying to escape, as she reaches the exit door, one of her team, Zip, shoots at her. The story then moves back in time to a week before the explosion with Lara having travelled to the Mediterrenean sea, in an effort to try and learn about the disappearance of her mother. Lara travels underneath the sea and finds an ancient temple of Norse legend, and within it she finds one of Thor's gauntlets. After Lara travels to the surface she intercepts the ship of one of her adverseries, Amanda Evert, and onboard she battles with her mercanery soldiers and finds an imprisoned Jacqueline Natla, another of Lara's old enemies. Natla tells Lara that she must locate Thor's hammer and by using it, Lara can then unlock the underworld and find her mother and Natla gives Lara a potential location for the hammer in Thailand, after which Lara escapes the sinking ship, as a result of her battle with Amanda's mercanaries. Lara then travels to Thialand but she doesn't find the gauntlet but does find evidence that her father had been and moved it before he died and Lara soon deduces where he moved it, right back home at the Croft manor.
As Lara returns back to the manor she searches beneath her home and finds her father's secret office in a crypt and she also discovers the other gauntlet as well as tape recording from her father warning her that Helheim contains a potent weapon. However at this point the mansion is set on fire, which leads into the events at the start of the game, and Lara briefly encounters her doppleganger, who also shoots one of Lara's team members, Alister. Zip who believes that Lara shot Alister, fires a few warning shots at her, but Lara convinces Zip that it wasn't her and after a brief fight with her doppleganger who escapes, Alister dies. Lara afterward then decides to continue her quest to find Thor's hammer, which takes her on a dangerous path to where she will eventually learn the truth about what happened to her mother.
Tomb Raider Underworld is another strong entry in the Lara Croft series and it sees the continuation of what made Tomb Raider Legend work so well with a good solid storyline as well as some excellent voice acting from Keeley Hawes, who in many ways is the definitive voice for the chraracter. The game also saw some subtle changes made to Lara's character as she no longer wears her usual turqouise sleeveless top and khaki shorts, but a dark brown top and and black shorts. Lara also like she does in Legend, has a few costume changes throughout the game at different levels, and her movement is now far more realistic as the movement is now fully motion captured and was modelled by an olympic gymnast, Heidi Moneymaker (sounds like a James Bond character!).
Gameplay wise Underworld is also where the game scores very well and there some enhancements to the game effects such as Lara can now be stained with mud when she runs through wet or mucky terrain, which is then washed off by the rain. Lara can also push foilage aside when she runs through environments such as jungles and her movements also feel that bit more immediate and dynamic than before given the motion capture. Lara can also open jugs or pots that contain medicine or valuable items, which she can kick open with her feet and these are spread throughout the game. Lara also uses a motorbike which features more prominently here than it has done in previous games such as Legend and she can use it to navigate traps and obstacles. Another improvement to the game is in the combat system as Lara can now shoot her guns and aim while she is climbing or driving rather than just having to do just statically do it when she is running on the ground. There is also a change to the adrenaline moments where you can take control of Lara during the moments where time is slowed down and she can move out of the way of gunfire. Movement wise Lara can also now in addition to swinging from poles, she can also lift herself up and walk on them side to side as she prepares to jump onto another area. Guns and ammo wise Underworld offers not much in the way of new weapons but you do get the choice of your own weapon before the start of a level such as two submachine guns, an assault rifle or a shotgun, but personally I always go with the submachine guns! However unlike Lara's main dual guns, the other weapons have limited ammo so you need to use them carefully against the bigger more dangerous enemies in the game.
Graphically speaking Underworld is easily the best looking game up to this point in the series so far as the graphics are stunning and the environments are rich and very well detailed, and the environments are once again quite varied. Lara's character model is also the best yet as she looks pretty sexy and they have gotten away from the ridiculous big polygon breats of the original game but if you ask me in this Lara still has a fine pair here which are well in proportion with the rest of her(sorry that was a bit pervy!). The graphics also have much improved environmental effects such as rain, lightning, sun, smoke and also snow effects. Music wise the game is also excellent and it features a fine score, which was composed mainly by Colin O'Malley and it has many passages which are dramatic and atmospheric and suit the game perfectly well.
Getting onto the flaws and niggles of the game.... well Underworld does have a few problems and for starters I would say the combat system, while its good that Lara can fire her guns while she climbs, the auto-aim aspect is a bit unnatural looking in practice as Lara her guns in every direction at ridiculous speed! The adrenaline moments, whilst you no longer need to press a specific button at a given moment, don't feel like they really add anything valuable to the gameplay, and they also feel a bit awkward when you try and move Lara in slow motion. Another issue lies with Lara's movement at certain points in the game where she seems to get stuck when she stops running and hits a wall and you have to make her do a roll to get her unstuck or some such action, which highlights some of the flaws in the game's movement. I also think the game's climactic battle sequence is a bit frustrating where Lara has to use Thor's hammer to knock out the doomsday device, which involves alot of jumping about over a large area, which can easily lead to Lara loosing her footing or jumping off the wrong way and falling to her death, which in short is a real pain in the arse! Some of the game's puzzles are also a little frustrating such as the one where Lara needs to open an underground passage in the Mexican jungle, which is timed and she has to ride her motorbike to get there before it closes on her, and its easy to get lost in the jungle and get there after it has closed! The game also lacks any actual game bosses as such, which can be more fun to deal with (albeit frustrating as well!) when you do and the actual enemies in the game don't really pose much threat to Lara in the end, which makes for a rather disappointing combat experience. The game could also do with some more moments of humour as the tone of the game is fairly serious and its lacks the good mix of humour and drama that Legend had and that is certainly an area for improvement here.
But despite all that Underworld is still an excellent addition to the Tomb Raider series and it remains one of the best in the franchise with its good storyline, terrific graphics, largely excellent gameplay and good voice over cast, which makes it still worth playing.
And with that I shall leave it there and bid you goodnight!
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