Thailand is the port of call this time around. The first thing you notice (and what was pointed out by our presenter) is how gorgeous the game looks. Crystal clear water, blue skies, lush vegetation and white sandy beaches all stand out. There are no moody post apocalyptic wastelands here. Tomb Raider Underground takes place in the most beautiful regions of the world and it’s by far the most graphically accomplished game in the series, even in its current state (Mid-alpha Xbox 360 code). Large open space feature heavily in Lara’s latest outing and it’s a welcome relief after an overreliance on enclosed gloomy tombs. You can take a dip in the ocean, swimming among the fishes or sit idle on your boat. This is a game to be enjoyed visually and there’s no point not to.
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The biggest improvement over past titles is the attention to detail. When you move through the jungle you part the vegetation. There’s no lazy clipping in Underworld, the game’s physics are fully realised. As you play around in the mud, Lara gets progressively dirty. Her clothes pick up dust and grime and jumping in a lake will solve that problem. She’ll emerge gleaming and shiny from the water. It all adds up to an immerse experience on par with rival Uncharted. The localised music is the cherry on top of an impressively looking cake.
The most noticeable difference is the way in which Lara moves. In Underworld she’s fully motion-capped (after a gymnast) so she’s fluid in her movement and realistically pulls off gymnastic moves. Underworld is by far one of the best games we’ve seen for human movement. This would all be pointless if she didn’t have the moves to match the abilities. There’s a new wall hug ability that keeps her safe and Lara’s trusty grapple returns again. It’s been tweaked to allow you to bend it around corners and have a greater number of uses. There’s a tranquilliser gun for those that believe shooting wildlife in a game is inhumane and sticky grenades that cause a nasty amount of damage. Whether it’s shooting from a ledge, balancing on a beam or climbing up a wall, Tomb Raider Underworld is as varied as it could be.
Everything has been enhanced. There’s a snazzy adrenaline system that lets you pull off fancy headshots in slow motion, persistent corpses to add to the game’s realism and a new take on the ‘quick-time-event.’ Combat has been improved with melee attacks, dual pistol aiming and acrobatic dodges. We saw bats, tigers and mythical Nagas and the developers promised countless others.
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Puzzle solving returns (to an impressively larger scale) and there’s a hint / demand system that allows those who are stuck to be given gradually more obvious hints. It’s entirely optional, but is definitely a nice feature to have in reserve.
There’s no loading between levels and a sharing photo mode for the PSN and Xbox Live is included to encourage social gaming. Just as we were getting into it, the lights were turned on and we were off for a Thai meal. It’s looking good and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t turn out to be an impressive game.
