Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008)

Lara Croft continues in her search for her long lost mother in the legendary land of Avalon.

Writers:

Toby Gard (story), Eric Lindstrom (story)

Stars:

Keeley Hawes, Kath Soucie, Grey Griffin

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Keeley Hawes	...	Lara Croft (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Amanda Evert (voice)
Grey Griffin	...	Jacqueline Natla (voice) (as Grey DeLisle)
Alex Désert	...	Zip (voice)
Greg Ellis	...	Alister Fletcher / Mercenary (voice)
Alan Shearman	...	Winston Smith (voice)

Storyline

After the incident in Bolivia Lara Croft is ready as ever to start her new adventure. She will explore caves, jungles, mountains, and many more locations. To take back what was stolen from her. But it isn't going to be easy because she's not the only one looking for Avalon.

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Plot Keywords:

single player | platform game | playstation 3 | nintendo wii | xbox 360 | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

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Certificate:

T

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Tomb Raider game to be distributed by Warner Bros.

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Goofs

There's a graphical glitch in the Croft Manar level. If you survive the fall on the perimeter of the room where you fight the thralls, you can walk through and off the game graphics.

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Quotes

Jacqueline Natla: I've lived so many times longer than your entire civilization, and I've never seen such delicious irony.
Lara Croft: You seem to forgotten what I would be holding.
[Lara tries to strike Natla with Thor's hammer and is stopped in the process by the Doppleganger]
Jacqueline Natla: When I made this creature for Amanda, she had no idea my true purpose was to have the means to destroy you at this very moment. The two of you never suspected that you were mere actors in my play. And so it ends.

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Alternate Versions

Those who own an Xbox 360 are able to download two additional levels that were excluded from the other console versions of the game. The levels are called "Beneath The Ashes" and "Lara's Shadow". Beneath The Ashes has Lara return to her father's secret study after her mansion has been burnt down, and Lara's Shadow has the player in control of her Doppelganger shortly before, during, and after the event's of Beneath The Ashes.

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Connections

Featured in Outside Xtra: 9 Times We Forged Precious Memories on Outside Xtra in 2016 - Thanks for Watching (2016)

User Reviews

A work of art ... with predictable(?) flaws

As a die-hard fan of the Tomb Raider series I naturally had to have this game, the more so after reading the glowing reviews on Amazon. They turned out to be mostly true -- the game definitely is a feast for the eyes and lavishly rich in detail. Wherever you look, elaborate ruins, statues and vegetation abound. There are only 20 or so "levels" in six distinct areas to explore, but each one of them is spectacular. This is a satisfying reward for me (finally) getting a shader 3.0 video card. The game won't run on older hardware.

More good things first: Lara's interactive capabilities have further improved from her previous two adventures, her movements look more lifelike thanks to motion-capturing and scripted events, like pushing vegetation out of the way. More important is her extended repertoire of useful moves: She can now balance on horizontal poles as well as swing from them, stand on narrow ledges, climb alcoves by jumping from wall to wall and use her grappling hook more effectively (how about enabling her to use grappled objects as jump-off or -up points, once she's reached them?) So I'm happy to say the "next-gen" experience begins to approach something like the natural "feel" of the classic series, where YOU played the game -- Tomb Raider Next-Gen often feels more like the game is playing you! Thankfully there are no "Press this button now"-events, and no boss battles. The developers achieved their goal of re-invigorating the core qualities of Tomb Raider -- exploration and immersion. (But: If you're going to use new action keys, dear developers: Please include a comprehensive training level for newbies -- thank you! It greatly helps with the immersion when you don't have to look up the "throw away-key".)

For the most part, it simply looks & feels gorgeous. But the overwhelming richness in detail seems to have some inherent drawbacks -- the blocks of the world aren't obvious any longer, but they're still there. Just try to stray from the predestined path, and you'll know what I mean -- invisible walls everywhere; things & ledges Lara won't grab, low obstacles she can't jump over and even solid objects she'll fall through. There are some funny videos on Youtube -- but it's not really fun to encounter in a Tomb Raider game. This has been an issue since "Legend", but "Legend" and "Anniversary" combined don't have as much appetizing content as "Underworld", and the player stays hungry like the poor kid in front of the gourmet shop. Right now, all that detail is fake -- maybe we'll need next-but-one-gen computers to really use it? Good looks are a great device to keep players hooked, and I'm definitely saying: This game is a "must-see". But in terms of game-play the "next-gen" approach still has to match the classic series. And maybe it never will.

The story: It's quite good by Tomb Raider standards (meaning: the "meat" of the story is the most convoluted bundle of myths yet), but honestly it's the least I care about. I'm beyond my teen years, I'm used to skipping cut scenes... But in Next-Gen, they can't be elegantly avoided (and they're often great-looking respites from having to go through the motions :-(). To me, the classic Lara was never more than a cool placeholder for the player. Only when the series started to get old, the focus was shifted on Lara as a "personality". And I really, really, don't want to know her IQ or her cup size, but for the sake of the game I wish she'd get over that fixation about Mommy & Daddy for good. I kind of miss the humorous touch.

Some people have claimed the game is too short (true, it's the shortest of the Next-Gen games) and that it looks a bit rushed in terms of hidden objects and replay value -- I still haven't found all of them. But one more or less serious "bug" is the reload-checkpoint system that "forgets" where you moved objects before you died. I wish someone would take the time to make proper savegames possible again. On the other hand, I am getting used to the camera -- it's simply a matter of training. But -- Lara should be conveniently TRANSPARENT again when she blocks the camera! I have no idea why this still isn't implemented.

Conclusion: Go get it, even if it isn't perfect -- it's a great eye-opener. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Let's hope this quality and attention to detail can be sustained or even improved upon, and the Implementors find time & ways to make Lara's paths ever less linear.

Details

Official Sites:

Steam Store Tomb Raider Portal

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend II

Company Credits

Production Co:

Crystal Dynamics

Technical Specs

Color:

Color