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Review:
Tomb Raider Underworld
Lewis Denby
wants to have Lara arrested for animal cruelty...
Upon starting Tomb Raider Underworld, one thing
struck me immediately. Actually, that's a lie. Two
things did. Right in the face.
It doesn't bode well, really, does it? There's so
much more potential in the Tomb Raider franchise than
a pair of digital boobs, but it's nice to know where the
priorities lie. Still, what else can we expect from a
new Tomb Raider game? The series has been about
the inexplicable sex appeal of this oddly inhuman-looking
CGI since the spotty teenagers first got hold of the
original back in 1996. A team of new developers was never going
to change that focus, even if they did breathe some
much-needed life back into a stagnating franchise.
Here, this problem is drilled home by a camera
that's disturbingly adept at zooming in on Lara's chest and
arse during cut-scenes, and completely, infuriatingly
unpredictable during the actual game. I can't think of
a single justification, for example, for having the camera
reset itself about two seconds after you've positioned it
where you want to look. I'm not even going to try to
put a number to the amount of times when, having lined up a
jump perfectly, I ended up flying off in the wrong direction
as the camera span around last minute. It's just
insane.
Fortunately, if you do manage to leap in vaguely the right
direction, Lara generally has enough sense to grab hold of
something in that area, instead of just idly waiting for her
untimely demise at the bottom of the cliff. In fact,
the control mechanics are certainly improved in most areas,
with the marine-based sections in particular being far less
hateful than before. Lara can now actually move
underwater without seemingly getting tangled up with
herself, which is an enormous help when trying to, y'know,
not die.
"...very
little consistency to the design..."
The trouble with navigating Underworld,
then, is less a matter of inhuman precision, and more a
matter of actually working out where you're supposed to be
going. The level design functions on an impressively
grand scale, which strikes me as the way Tomb Raider
is meant to be. But it's also clumsily
signposted. Spotting a tiny foothold on a wall,
well-hidden beneath foliage, means the difference between
continuing your exploration, and plain giving up. Some
areas that look traversable or climbable simply
aren't. There's very little consistency to the design,
and very little reason to forgive it. Mirror's Edge,
though similarly lacklustre in its signposting, at least had
the courtesy to colour its path a garish red. While
this tactic would undoubtedly have made Tomb Raider
Underworld look moronic, it does go to show there are
ways around the issue, so long as you put enough thought
into it. Crystal Dynamics simply haven't.
 More
infuriatingly, there were at least five or six occasions
where I just fell off a seemingly ordinary path, thanks to
its sudden narrowing or disappearance at an unpredictable moment. When
the camera is already this stupid, it doesn't help that,
upon turning an innocent corner, you may be faced with a
gaping chasm into the void. Tomb Raider Underworld
is constantly frustrating rather than invigoratingly
challenging. When Lara falls limp in your control,
it's more often the game's fault than your own.
Inexcusable. "... a
gaping chasm into the void..."It's
a shame. It's the most grand, beautiful and interesting Tomb
Raider game since the early days, a great improvement on
Core's later efforts and even the moderately enjoyable Tomb
Raider: Anniversary. The focus this time is,
thankfully, on huge puzzles at an enormous physical scale,
rather than the combat-driven nature of Lara's previous
outings. And Underworld certainly packs the
high-budget sheen that these titles should be exuding.
In the end, though, what matters with a game like this is
whether it's any fun. Underworld can be, but only
in short bursts, or for the remarkably patient.
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