Tomb Raider: Underworld

This version works better than the one on Steam, thanks, I wanted to replay this one, but I can not.. now I can! Oh ye.

The final entry in the Legend series is a disappointment, and it's a shame because I loved the prior two releases, especially Anniversary where it felt like platforming was a legitimate challenge. I appreciate some of the improvements CD made here though, such as the animations (when they work), graphics, and larger environments. As always, the ever-illustrious Keeley Hawes is welcome. However, this game is a chore to play. Each combat encounter feels like a needless slog, with enemies both taking forever to kill while still remaining easy to counter. I preferred the puzzle-like bosses in Anniversary. The climbing animations frequently glitch out, which makes managing Lara and coping with the camera feel like you're actively fighting the game while platforming. "The controls are floaty" is a cliché at this point, but no game demonstrates that more than TR: Underworld. To add insult to injury, these puzzles are so boring and simple, there's no hardly any challenge or lateral thinking to challenge you, instead the biggest trouble you'll have is with shoddy pathfinding. Simply navigating a route takes more effort to plan than anything else. I tapped out in Xibalba while trying to navigate the timed puzzles and forcing my bike down cramp corridors with dreadful handling. I'm usually quite open minded and forgiving of older games, but I realised that I simply wasn't having fun with this one at all. I don't think it's an age thing either, I recently beat Anniversary and felt the platforming was tight, polished and highly enjoyable in that title and it released a year earlier. This one could have used a little more dev time.

Ich dachte mir, dass ich nach über 20 Jahren mal wieder Tomb Raider spielen möchte. Einfach installieren und spielen ist schon mal nicht möglich. Über Einträge im Internet habe ich nach langen suchen erfahren, das man im Spieleverzeichnis erstmal rumpfuschen muss, es irgendwie zum laufen zu bringen. Alles mit 32 oder mehr Kernen geht nicht. Halt nur mit dem Trick. Dann hat man es zum starten gebracht und scheitert schon am Anfang in der Höhle. Steine fliegen irgendwohin und/oder prallen an Luft ab. Statue lässt sich nicht ziehen. Da vergeht ein ALLES. Eigentlich ein schönes Spiel, aber GOG kann es auch löchen wenn es eh nicht funktioniert.

Excellent game and graphics

Pros: ++ great scenaries + moderate difficulties on puzzles + best Lara Croft + good lore Cons: -- frustrating combats (especially spiders) - plots stop abruptly - scarce BGM - Amanda