Written by Matt Cabral, 8/12/2008
The leading lady of gaming, Lara Croft, has made an impressive showing for the media this year. Her newest adventure, Tomb Raider: Underworld is being touted as the first next-gen outing for the polygon pin-up. Some of you may be wondering: “Hey, didn’t I play Legend and Anniversary on my Xbox 360?” Yes, technically those two titles appeared on next-gen consoles, however, their gameplay and design were driven by last-gen engines. So, Underworld then, is the first built-from-the-ground-up-for-next-gen-hardware entry in the series—guess that wouldn’t sound as good in the marketing materials, though.
The new engine seems to be doing the trick, too, as Lara’s latest looks fantastic, improving on the previous two entries in a variety of ways. First up, lets look at the girl with the guns, herself; Yup, you guessed it, once again Lara Croft is super hot—what a shocker. But, what's more surprising is her astounding new animations. Tomb Raider’s focus has always been on its sexy star and her impressive agility, but despite her athleticism, Lara occasionally moved like a tank. Addressing this, Lara’s been completely motion-captured--by a professional gymnast/stuntwoman, no less—for the first time in the series’ long history. So, although her moves may be familiar—running, jumping, climbing, swinging, diving--her slick acrobatics now support a natural realism not scene in her previous adventures.
Upping this reality even further are some fun tech effects allowing Lara to appear wet upon exiting water, something that has been in past games but looks better this time around. This cool touch is subtle, but undeniably pretty; Lara dries off after a short time, so it’s not totally realistic, but it’s an obvious improvement over most game characters who go for a swim and don't have so much as a soggy shoe to show for it. Further building on this realism, Lara will also show the affects of traversing the jungle, as mud and dirt will now appear on her flawless skin. Even cooler, a dirtied Laura can clean up quick by taking a dip.
Sure, all these additions are easy on the eyes, but they don’t impact the gameplay in any significant way. Not to worry, though, as Lara’s handlers are extending this sense of realism to the gameplay experience as well. For one thing, the globe-trotting heroine is now equipped with proper scuba gear, allowing her to breath under water without the annoyance of having to search for air pockets to grab a quick breath. Additionally, puzzle-solving is now headache-free; using a 3D sonar map, Lara can get a better grasp on her surroundings and find mission-specific items without frustration. Of course, old school fans that enjoy a little torture can forgo the map feature, as well as the new handholding hint system that pretty much tells you exactly how to solve a puzzle.
The most impressive display of the development team’s new realism-fueled focus is what they’re calling "adrenaline moments"; like the now way overused context-sensitive button-matching sequences originally made famous by God of War and Resident Evil 4, Underworld’s quick-time moments will see Lara pulling off amazing feats that could not otherwise be tackled during normal gameplay. But, rather than flashing annoying button prompts on the screen, Underworld is taking a much simpler, yet affective approach by drastically slowing time. By bringing the action to a near halt, players can assess the situation and react accordingly—that’s the theory, anyway. Rather than frantically bashing buttons and watching a non-playable cut scene unfold, players will be controlling all the action from Lara's regular repertoire of moves. Additionally, without crazy prompts cluttering the screen, gamers will be able to view the action in all its HD glory.
Since Lara’s brimming with improved moves and gadgets, it’s only appropriate she have some adversaries to unleash them on. Aside from a few real-world creatures--sharks, jellyfish--enemies were few and far between during my demo. That said, the developers assured Lara would face off against some human baddies, as well as plenty of wildlife in the final game. And, for the animal-loving gamers, Lara can now fend of her four-legged foes with an eco-friendly tranquilizer gun (you’re welcome, PETA.) Of course, a tranq won’t do the trick for some of Underworld’s more menacing inhabitants. My demo culminated in a boss battle/puzzle that saw Lara take out an enormous squid-like beastie by discovering a way to drop huge stone platforms on its head. This interesting dilemma also hinted at Underworld’s attempt to replace the usual key-finding, lever-pulling quests with some more interesting tasks. While the folks at Crystal Dynamics weren’t ready to divulge all of Underworld’s secrets, they did suggest the franchise’s usual recipe of heavy puzzling interrupted by the occasional baddie beating would be stirred up a bit.
