Tomb Raider: Underworld

This is the 3rd game in the Crystal Dynamix trilogy of Tomb Raider. It is very similar to the other two - Legend and Anniversary. Controls and everything. Many people have issues with controlling the camera with a mouse in this trilogy, but I found it better than the original series camera that moved wherever it wanted. The main problem with camera control is how Laura reacts based on its position (original series moved her based on the actual character position). Many times doing a climbing or puzzle sequence where she hangs on stuff, grapples, or swings, Laura goes in a direction you do not want her to go. Another thing to consider is that saving your game works differently on the PC since they made this for consoles as well. There are Checkpoints that the game saves every time you reach a new area so it can reload automatically if you die. If you save your game manually, you actually load at the last Checkpoint instead of exactly where you left off. Overall, this is a pretty fun game if you played the other two and know what to expect. It wraps up the story nicely and looks great even today. *The main issue I had with this game was that I could not get past the first level cutscene where Zip is shooting at Lara. It would always freeze at the white screen afterwards that shows the opening credits. Ends up that AMD/ATI video cards have a few more issues crashing this game (the nVidia logo at the start should tell you why). I hate when games were made to run "better" on a specific video card brand. If you run into stuttering/crashing parts in this game, do the following: ------FIX IT------ Go in your registry. (Execute command : "regedit") Go to this location : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Crystal Dynamics\Tomb Raider: Underworld\Graphics There are 2 interesting values there : "DontDeferShaderCreation" and "DisableDynamicTextures". Change their values to "0".

New movement system is laggy and questionable at least. 1 stucking animation loops 2 clipping through objects 3 jumping with 180 degrees midair turn (leads to death btw) 4 camera goes mad in narrow places 5 dead enemies models just stay midair (bats ragdolls) 6 Softlocked the game in the Thor's room (triggered slime to rise, fell down, but not died -> game autosaved -> checkpoint with 5-7 seconds to see how the slime rises and kills me, VERY NICE) + Graphics is awesome and feels more natural and realistic + very cool visual design (really several locations can be used as wallpapers) - epic, beautiful and ancient + most nimble Lara - responsive controls (but implementation is meh-level) ? All guns are available from the start and they kinda ruin the challenge (smg's and shotgun just stomp most enemies with their hit-stun mechanic) ? Final boss "fight" (what the hell she even doing? Random projectiles to random places, no tracking Lara - main menu in console-like style, less options, less user friendly - Doppelganger gameplay is only part of the console version :( - too many 'secrets' that are not real secrets, but more check of you thoroughness (50 per level - its not joke) - I prefer quality over quantity. Feels cheap - press 'e' to kick the jar - no time attack mode - no 'cheats' from 2 previous parts (did not used most of them but it still a content and a bit of fun and relax for some people) - compare greek's trials from Anniversary to Shibalba one's. They are OVERsimplified and feel cheap and lazy - excessive amount of healing items and checkpoints, full hp restoration upon death = broken battle balance and game pacing - Mjolnir is LITERALLY Excalibur from TR-Legend - same moveset (despite of 1 is a sword and 2 is a hammer) - CHEAPEST cutscene instead of epic fight vs doppelganger The main point - the game is average, very unpolished, and could be MUCH, MUCH better. Probably the weakest one of the trilogy, but worth to play once

Overall Underworld left me with many good feelings, but also with just as many bad ones. Since I never played the previous games, I was very confused by some of the characters and stories. That is not the games fault and does as such not influence my view on it. Just know that Underworld is the first of the "old" Tomb Raider games that I have played. I do enjoy the graphics, the puzzles, the exploration of the environments and the varied locations that you visit throughout the game, even though one is literally recycled a second time. Traversal and climbing, which are the central aspect of the game are enjoyable and work very well for the most part. What I absolutely did not enjoy was combat in this game. It is quite terrible and luckily, only a minor part of the overall experience. Especially the camera has a mind of its own sometimes. Enemies are brain-dead and get stuck on object regularly. Lastly I should point out that I had quite a few issues with bugs and glitches, like platforms that disappear for a split-second leaving me to fall to death or object physics going bananas after a save-game reload. Overall I would still recommend the game, especially since its very cheap to get on sale.

Controls and camera angles will lead to death more often than in Legend. I don't know what were they thinking when it was clear that controls were this bad compared to previous games. Lack of playtesting maybe? Anyway, puzzles are fun enough and locations are beautiful, so it's still worth it.

Underworld is the third entry in the Tomb Raider Legend trilogy, and for the most part, it’s a lot of fun: when it comes to platforming, puzzles and exploration, the gameplay is as good as ever. It keeps building on both previous entries’ strengths, and thus has a ton of great sections filled with badass acrobatic feats and well-designed puzzles. However, the camera tends to get crazy and the control scheme is still very much implemented with consoles in mind, so you may want to play with a controller. Much like Legend and Anniversary, it’s a really good-looking and atmospheric game. The music is great, the character models and animations are rock solid, but the environments are the real star of the show here: the vegetation is lush, the architectures are crazy, the wide open spaces are intoxicating. It’s simply... gorgeous. The writing is decent and gives Lara some good lines. And yet, this game is far from perfect, and has issues that seem to point towards a rushed development. The combat is fun overall and lets you use cool slow-mo mechanics, but it’s a bit flat and even annoying at times: the developers seemed to be aware of it, since combats are quite scarce and that there are sadly no actual boss fights. Underworld also pretty much demands you to be familiar with both previous installments: it does little effort to recap their storyline, and even assumes you’re already familiar with the mechanics of the series and doesn’t bother explaining them to you. Among other issues: DLCs were released but are not available on PC, the collectibles are annoying to find and don’t unlock new outfits, and some glitchy physics and occasional crashes are to deplore. To be clear: none of Underworld’s problems are really huge on their own, but their accumulation can definitely have a negative impact on your experience. Still, it’s a good game on its own and a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy. If you enjoyed the other Tomb Raider games, this one is definitely a good pick!