Tomb Raider Underworld Review

BY Sathya M. | POSTED: 27 Febuary 2009

A nostalgic game with a degrading gameplay.



Being the first original non-remake Tomb Raider game for the Wii, much was expected from the latest Tomb Raider: Underworld, however fans of the series will be slightly disappointed with this installment. The game starts out where the previous series left off, if you don’t recall the previous story or haven’t played the original games, you will find yourself a bit confused, as was I. Essentially the game’s main goal for you is to find Lara’s mother who is being held in Avalon. The search for this fabled place while fighting off her foe Amanda and her goons is the entirety of the plot.  The way the story plays out is pretty interesting and is not one of the game’s major drawbacks; however it does seem to get foolish at some points, don’t expect the story to be something out of an action novel. The first thing that I noticed was that this is actually a decent looking Wii game. Then again, it is a Wii game… so the PS3 and 360 versions of the game are much more gorgeous, but that being said even the Wii has detailed environments that alone are impressive, and I figured that the Wii-mote fun set out for me should make up for the lack of equivalent graphics... I was a tad bit wrong, okay I was downright wrong, but I‘ll get into that later. Before I delved into the actual adventure, I got used to the controls and spent some time using grenades and shooting off my pistols, little did I know that the pistols were going to be stuck in my belt throughout the whole game. The controls take a while to get used to, and oddly enough stay that way throughout the game. A frustrating little adventure awaits you, but if you can overlook the drawbacks or have an intense love for the series, you will actually find something entertaining within this title.



 Jumping, climbing, and swinging using your grappling hook makes up most of the game play. Although the levels are very linear in the sense that there is only one correct way to do things. Watching Lara’s athleticism is initially entertaining, such as seeing her flip up from a ledge, but then it dawns on you that you will be flipping up a thousand or so more ledges and that the animation is the same each time. While moving through the game, you will find yourself occasionally stuck or lost on what to do. It usually gets solved by you noticing this itty bitty ledge on the corner of your screen that you needed to super-humanly jump to, while at first you may not even attempt this feat of strength, eventually you will try this impossibility because you tried all sane alternatives. On the flip side, there are parts in the game where you know exactly what to do but the unfriendly camera angles and odd controls lead to multiple accidental deaths. (Which is not frustrating at all… right?) There is actually a system implemented where you call in your radio for hints on what to do, although often they are unhelpful, occasionally they are godsend. (How was I supposed to know that you can shotgun down a fiery locked door on the very first level?) Impressively enough there are a lot of “adventure” moves such as balancing on a beam, flinging off a pole, or climbing up a pillar. Figuring out which moves to use in order to continue can be pretty fun, and this elongates the experience as you trial-and-error your way through the challenging parts of the levels. Although sometimes you get carried away into the adventure, or get used to the fact that unrealistic maneuvers can actually be the right ones, and end up searching for things to jump on in areas that aren’t intended for jumping, and a few times I found Lara’s head and body being clipped by an enormous gear protruding from the wall. If an area isn’t made for the progression of the game, it isn’t well polished and can be downright glitchy. It really isn’t an adventure if you can’t quench your curiosity without getting punished by getting stuck in a wall.

 This brings me to my next gripe that there is little to no interactivity between objects and Lara (except for the occasional getting stuck in them). For example there are no cans you can accidentally run into. (I understand that there can’t be cans in ancient tombs but at the very least small rocks?) There is also no alternative ways to progress through a level, making the replay value low and it feels like you are being “led” through an adventure instead of actually adventuring. There are also the occasional puzzles that you need to solve before continuing on your Tarzan-like adventure.  The puzzles usually incorporate some pointer function of the Wii; I guess this is their attempt to make this a “Wii” game.  However these puzzles are often brainless and on one occasion I just spammed the ‘A’ button while pointing randomly at the puzzle and it solved within seconds. So much for the Wii-mote fun set out for me, the Wii specific elements of this game are very disappointing, and the improved graphics the 360 and PS3 deliver makes the Wii version the least desirable.



 Some of the other incorporations of Wii-mote functions made me plain confused as to why it was implemented, for example you must violently sway the Wii-mote back and forth in order to shimmy faster while moving horizontally on a ledge, or be suffered to move extremely slow. I mean seriously, how does threatening the safety of civilians beside you with the Wii-mote make the Tomb Raider experience more realistic? (Well I guess there is the extra danger involved… not exactly what I had in mind when I thought of Wii-specific elements.) The aiming system with Lara’s guns is also handled through the Wii-mote pointer, not exactly innovative but a nice, albeit expected, touch. What I didn’t expect was that although a well developed combat system existed, there really was not much combat to be found. I was looking forward to shooting up some baddies but after playing for hours through the first couple of levels, I got to kill two and they both died within one shot. Unlimited grenades are also part of your arsenal, but I have yet to encounter a situation where they had to be really used. In order to give this title a more action feel, they implemented “Situational Adrenaline.” Essentially this is a bullet-time similar slow down sequence in the game where you can perform more precise movements. This mode is actually rather fun however the time of use is predetermined; you automatically go into this mode when you come up to a part in the adventure that requires it. While it is pretty entertaining, it would be much more rewarding if you could actually queue up the adrenaline mode on your own and decide for yourself the parts that require the slow-down of time. There is the occasional epic adventurous music that plays but most of the time you have to play through the levels in musical silence only listening to the environment which is very obnoxious, and a lot of these environmental sounds seem relatively fake. Don’t even get me started on the gunshot sound, when you fire your gun the Wii-mote makes the most horrendous noise and I couldn’t figure out using the game menu on how to turn off the sounds the Wii-mote spits forth. However this is partially saved by the fact that you barely use your guns.



All said and done, this isn’t necessarily a bad game, but I was expecting it to be more polished and fun game given the franchise its coming from. It definitely feels like a Tomb Raider game, but it could have been much better.  If you are a diehard fan of the series or have all the games, definitely try this one out to see if it is to your taste. However, if you are expecting the action from the movies or the true freedom in adventuring, I’d say look elsewhere. This game is a lot more enjoyable when played in doses so you don’t get too used to the gameplay so it starts to be boring.