Tomb Raider: Underworld

[bullett]

I've just completed this on PS3, so a mini review.

I've been a fan since the 1st game, missed a few out during the wilderness years so coming back to her in glorius HD was nice. It looks fantastic, great visuals, epic architecture and tombs, tombs tombs.

The plot is pretty non-sensical, it does have a previously on Tomb Raider in the video menu which helped but it's not really about the plot it's about the jumping and puzzels. These are pretty good overall, the balance between seeing what you need to do and achieving it is about right.

Combat is rubbish, at least until you work out the headshot system. You also have the choice to take a 2nd gun alongside your pistols, which one you pick is irrelevant because they all seem equally ineffective, and you have to choose before you know what you are going to be tackling. That said when you get the hammer the combat improves beyond frustrating but is really just button hammering.

The classic Lara camera causes a few problems, normally when it switches view as you attempt a tricky jump causing another instant death. I also had a problem with the controls - I play with an inverted right stick (forward is down) I could remap her movement and swimming controls but the camera when riding the bike remained the wrong way around.

There were a few other gliches, my PS3 crashed several times on one level and another was a bit laggy. Never had this before on a PS3 game.

There is a sub game of collecting treasure and relics, sort of side quests. The treasures are usually easy to find but hard to get but the relics are impossible. How can you collect a reward if you can't see it or know it's location?

This all reads a bit negative but I actually enjoyed this game despite it being no more than 10-12 hours long and I didn't cheat or use a guide once. I'd recomend it if you can get it cheap and are a fan of the series.

Edited January 29, 2009 by bullett