Tomb Raider Underworld for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

After playing this game for several hours all I can say is that this game is not even close to being as good as legend. I hated the series up untill playing Legend and was blown away by the perfect blend of action and exploration. Legend had lots of gunfights, explosions, amazing chase scenes, awsome contols and was very good with keeping the pace going with giving Lara the equipment that allows the player to see the next course of action. I rented underworld thinking that Eidos would take legend and expand from that but instead they used the new game play system and reverted back to the old boring tomb raider. I made it all the way to Valhala before I just could not stomach any more. There were almost no gun fights at all. back to shooting bats, bugs and big Cats and then it all went down hill when I started shooting undead vikings. The exploration was still excellent but with the poor controls. awful camera angles and an ungodly amount of gliches this game went from good to terrible fast. I have had at least 8 accounts of falling through the stage while attempting the wall jump resulting in my death and being returned to the begining of a very tedious climbing puzzle. the graphics are still some of the best I have seen but thats the games only saving grace. After playing Drakes Fortune I cant help but feel that this game is pathetic. the hand to hand combat in TRU is pathetic and useless. doing combos on a spider, bat or tiger is not my idea of fun plus its useless! you cant preform hand to hand combat on a tiger or panter in real life let alone in this game the cat wins every time. I have only had two small incounters with actual humans where the hand to hand was useful but it didnt hold a candle to Drakes fortune. Eidos needs to sell the tomb raider franchise to Naughty dog or ubisoft. even the controls and climbing on Assasins Creed were for more superior to this game. In the end my advise is to stick with Tomb Raider Legend or Drakes Fortune.

I've been a big fan of the Tomb Raider games for the past 11 years. Every time a new one comes out, I'm excited, but also very nervous about how it'll live up to Lara's legacy. This newest addition fit right into my expectations by being a fun game, but also being somewhat disappointing.

First, the pros. For me, this was the first Tomb Raider game since the original (excluding Anniversary) that actually managed to make me feel like I was actually exploring ancient ruins. The environments are breathtaking (at times), and certain parts are especially satisfying. The Scuba diving sections felt like I was really in a massive ocean. Diving down into murky water, slowly revealing ruins was a very different, and very cool feeling. Some of the rappelling sections were also very satisfying because it felt very authentic, to rappel down into a hole rather than traversing random ledges and poles.

Unfortunately, this game had a lot of bugs. The camera was really spastic, and at times made me dizzy. Lara also got stuck a lot, although drawing my guns or rolling usually unstuck her.

The other big problem with this game, which many of the other Tomb Raider games have shared, is that it gets very bland as the game goes on. In the later chapters, it starts being more about the combat and less about the environments. While some of the later stages are massive, they don't have the same feeling of awe that the earlier chapters do because of how they're presented. Everything is just grey and blue, and feels very fake.

So ultimately, I really enjoyed the first half of the game, even despite the bugs. However, the second half is fairly disappointing. The story was iffy, but that's not really why I play these games. In the end, I'm glad I rented it, but I definitely wouldn't buy it.