Tomb Raider Underworld

In the big gaming market it’s really hard for new icons to appear so it’s up to the old crop however for them to stand out these days they have to be involved in something really special or they will die on there arses.
Take for example poor Sonic back in the early nineties he was a huge gaming star going toe to toe with Mario however over the last few years he seems to have lost all of his gaming credibility and Mario has gone on to shine.

There is however one gaming icon that has stood the test of time even though one of her games nearly killed off her and this icon happens to be the one and only Lara Croft with her last outing cementing her place as one of the only female icons.

Tomb Raider Underworld is one of those typical Tomb Raider games where you are forced to look for artifacts while dodging obstacles, doing a hell of a lot of climbing, balancing on small ledges or poles and don’t forget the constant spinning on poles just so she can reach areas that she wouldn’t be able to jump to, however even though the typical stuff is present it seems that crystal dynamics have tried to make the experience more smoother and easier to do and for the most part this works.

The problem though is that there is one hell of a bad camera in place which stops you for the most part viewing a jump that you need to do thus you dying a lot because you can’t seem to pull of the easiest of jumps and that can become so frustrating as you want to trek on but you can’t because that little ledge you are trying to get to seems out of reach because that camera doesn’t want you to see it.
The camera is not the only problem with this game the combat system is one of the worst i have seen in a game with it taking you ages to kill somebody even though they only take half of the time.

It’s not all negativity though as the graphics are really nice with the sunlight shining through tiny cracks in the trees to give you a glistening feel thus making you see the tress and vistas for what they are and the water/fire effects are also nice with sharks and smaller fish swimming pass you while you see the are shine up for the sunlight hitting the water.
Controlling Lara seems to be fine for the most part with her doing what you tell her however she can become a pain sometime with her not doing as she is told.
Another element that seems to work is the difficult level with you now having a sonar that maps out the area that you are in for you so you can see what ledge you have to go to plus Lara has the help of two hints this time giving her clues as to what has to be done next.

Overall
Tomb Raider Underworld for the most part is a really good game with some lovely graphics showing off the many levels you have to traverse however it’s that awful camera and that terrible combat system that spoils it for me.
I have never been that much of a tomb raider fan however the last few games have turned me around a little and this game only helps if only they could fix that camera and combat system then Lara will be back to her old self giving us that 5 star experience that she use to give us back in the PlayStation days.

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