Tomb Raider: Underworld Hands On

[Brianemone]

Visiting the Eidos booth at E3 I was able to try my hand at the first new  Tomb Raider game that this gen will see. Tomb Raider: Underworld promises to change a few things while still making sure that the loyal fans of the series remain happy with the end result.

Lara's story in Underworld centres around her trying to continue the work her Father had started before dying. He had located some ruins lying on the seabed of the Mediterranean and she decides to check it out. Given that the ruins are so deep underwater Lara has a new item added to her inventory, Scuba Gear, if you are like me you hated the underwater sections in previous games. So while this does come as some relief I did find out that there will be underwater sections of the game where you will not be able to use the scuba gear.

In the level demonstrated at E3 Lara dives off her boat into the water to swim down to the ruins, along the way she encounters some bloody great big Sharks. Insert random movie scene here.

Lara has both a Spear Gun, Pistols and Sticky Grenades.........  an interesting assortment of weapons really. I found that the initial time with the game was not enough to become comfortable with the aiming and use of the weapons. I hope that the beginning of the game starts back at the Croft Manor with plenty of time to practice.

Typical of the Tomb Raider series was the multi tiered puzzle that I was faced with during the demo. You had to unlock a gate by finding keys that were scattered in caves nearby and then unlock the puzzle. I was shown how to do the puzzle in a walk through before I had to play it but some of the things you needed to do seemed to be a little obscure without any type of guide or help/hint system. Navigating is made easier by a 3D map generated using Lara's phone sending out a pulse, as you map areas of the level they are added to the total area viewable in the phone.

Another new feature added to the game is Adrenaline Moments. In a style similar to quick time events that are now over done and not fun, adrenaline moments focus on key points to portray a cinematic feel to crucial points in the game. These moments will not comprise of pushing a certain button within a certain time, players will maintain control of the character as per normal but with more time to react to what is happening. I like the direction that they are taking with this as it is more natural and continues the immersion of the player in the game world.

Lara is as sexy as she has ever been, they have returned to a more classic look with her character design and the art style is a realistic slightly over the top combination that works quite well given the types of situations she finds herself in. My only concern with the way the game looks is the amount of shine applied to everything. A nice little thing that showed the attention to detail that they seem to be taking with the game is that over time Lara gets dirty from the running/jumping and gets cleaned off when in water.

Control wise I found it fairly intuitive with only a few WTF moments involving my lack of knowledge due to no training level being present. I can't say that the animations stuck me as overly polished (ala Uncharted) but they seemed to fit the style of play, the more open style of exploration found in Underworld is something that I did miss in Uncharted and so I think the trade-off is one I am willing to accept for now.

The developers have promised that there will be multiple environments and locations around the world such as Southern Mexico, Thailand and even an Arctic region where she will cover up a little. A variety of locations is something I look forward to seeing.