Tomb Raider: Underworld Reviews

It's actually not that bad but I still prefer Legend because of the smooth physics engine and the infinite acrobatic combos. This game just feels stiff and stilted compared to Legend, although they did make a lot of improvements, it just does not feel as smooth as Legend

This is the most difficult of the three "06" games to recommend but it's still worth it especially now that it's sold at a reasonable price. They had the least amount of time to work on and polish this one and it shows. The camera is a pain, the story is rushed, and there are less cool locations. Lara also shows some wear as they were experimenting with skin techniques that weren't quite ready. It's a great game and worth the asking price sale or no but be aware that this is the jankiest of the three.

TLDR: Don't play this, just watch a youtube video. The game is incomplete (two exclusive dlcs never got ported) anyways. The game itself could be good. It's movement is pretty alright, and you can definitely figure things out for even more controlled movement. But, as you play, you're going to notice the game steadily decreasing in experience quality level by level. I am now quitting because of xibalba/southern mexico. This whole level is awful and highlights one of the biggest issues I have with this game. The lack of a true save mechanic. In this game, you caaaaan technically save you progress, but it's the same as a checkpoint. So, what happens when you want to reload a save? Get booted right back to the start of a puzzle. For me, no true autosave was made, I messed up, and had to redo an already frustrating puzzle (the 4 tiles in the underground temple in xibalba). I quit here because, unbeknownst to me, I had to bring a motorbike down this tunnel. Now, I thought I heard the entrance close, so I figured I'd reload a save. Only, the save I made, before going in, took me back to the veeeeeery beginning of this whole area. The climbing puzzles are mostly fine, but at times the jank has got some stank. The cutscenes are not skippable, so upon replays you're going to have to sit through every single one (which for puzzles can be a bit annoying, like when you get reset). The combat feels unnecessary as always. It works, but feels very repetitive after the first few encounters. Southern mexico, again, highlights this. Initially, oh, here's a panther. Okay, now two panthers. Now 3 panthers and 4 armed gunmen! It just feels a bit annoying, like the shooting is just a roadblock to getting to the next climbing puzzle, which is all I really want anyways. The game, again, can be good. However the lack of barebones QoL save mechanics is going to screw you over if you mess up or reload for other reasons. No reason not to have that in the game anyways. The combat works, but isn't anything to write home about. And the climbing really gets to be repetative (by that, I mean that xibalba feels like a slightly reskinned thailand in look and feel). I'd recommend tomb raider legend honestly. That game still had a dropoff in quality, but it was still fun most of the time. Plus the saves felt like they worked in that game too. Seriously, if you want to see the conclusion to this storyline, just google the gameplay, you won't be missing much, and you'll save yourself a lot of time and disappointment/frustration.

The game is honestly very average. Comparing it to Legend it's a massive step up in terms of quality with the graphics, gameplay elements, controls, additions etc. However, the level design is horrendous, you never have any idea of where to go and what to do, the amount of times i needed to bring up a guide to show me roughly what I needed to do is insane. There are no markings, some of the puzzles make no sense and the levels at times are enormous. The controls sometimes are awful as well with Lara just jumping wherever she wants and at times whilst playing the levels I just wanted to play something else cause it kept dragging on and the levels made no sense. However, this game for the most part is still really enjoyable and can be finished quite quickly whilst still playing for other parts of the game and finishes the original story before the reboot which this time around ended up being quite fun and the mechanics sometimes being good as well. If this game got a remaster with better maps and a couple of better placed items it would get a much better rating 5 / 10

good graphics, i prefer the level 1 to level 4 and then it becomes less interesting, but overall is a good game for 2008.

I love the story and Character progression of Laura.

best lara croft interpretation imo and right before legend. i lovee that amanda and natla made a comeback, and i love the whole thor's artifact hunting storyline. my god theres a lot like a lot of underwater sequence... and lara's arms oh god graphics are wonderful for a 2008 game, sad that it dont support steam screenshot, i mean good for my memory tho cause i'd be taking tons of screenshots if i could lol oh and the puzzle... i'd say its more complicated than the last two games, ig its bcs the graphics are getting better so its more harder to really see where should i go or the right way to go, cuz they really made it harder to know where to jump and all like the ledges i mean. yeah i definitely got a bit of headache playing this, or maybe im just that dumb

Buggy as hell. Shit mechanics. Too parkour-focused gameplay. Only good thing is Lara's character model.

If you loved Tomb Raider: Legend, Underworld is the perfect follow-up, taking its fluid platforming, epic exploration, and gripping story to the next level. With stunning locations, immersive puzzles, and smooth movement, it’s the ultimate Tomb Raider experience. 10/10

Chronological continuation after Tomb Raider Legend and final entry in Legend trilogy. I enjoyed this more than Tomb Raider Anniversary and a bit more than Tomb Raider Legend. The game is a bit longer than Tomb Raider Legend, but it is still so short. I liked the story and love how they included Tomb Raider Anniversary into this trilogy's canon, so it does not feel like it is excluded from this set and still makes sense in the story. The game feels more polished than Legend and Anniversary, which includes visuals and gameplay. Parkour controls feel more polished than before, although once in a while there are still some oddities. Lara has more weapon options than it was in Legend, she can also use a bike for travelling through the levels and using it for puzzle solving. The game finally got rid of boring and basic quick time events. Instead of clicking a button, now certain sections slow down time and you can play through it, which allows different approaches to dangerous situation. From things that I did not like much are Lara's animations. The game was done with motion capture and in behind the scenes you can see how talented the motion capture actresses are and how it looks so good. Unfortunately it did not translate well to the game, as they have been edited in a way that looks souless, especially swan dive, which looks so stiff and artificially spedup, while Legend and Anniversary had it more graceful. Camera at times is very annoying, zooming on Lara extremely close in tight spaces or going crazy when just doing parkour to traverse the level. Sprint also zooms in on her butt all the time, which is very baffling considering what kind of outfit she is wearing in first level of the game. Fight controls in this game remind of Angel of Darkness, with shooting and strafing. While dual targeting and adrenaline time slow is amazing, combat itself does not feel that good, even though you can roll and dodge like in Legend and Anniversary, but here it is so much stiffer. I am also not a fan of having extremely a lot of secrets in each level. It does not make them special if there are so many of them, especially if it is just some silver object collectible all the time. First half of the game was so cool and pretty and then second one was a bit disappointing, which most likely can be attributed to troubling development. But despite all negatives, I did really enjoy it and it is sad seeing the series ending... until next reboot. Rating: [b]3/5[/b]