Topic: Tomb Raider: Underworld

[MysterD]

Okay, about the next TR game -- yes, it will be a sequel to TR: Legend.
That reminds me -- I need to get TR: Legend AND I need to finish my copy of TR: Anniversary.

Tomb Raider Underworld Uncovered
Lara heads to Mayan hell in her latest adventure.
By Philip Kollar, 12/14/2007

The remake was nice, but for the first time in a long time, we've actually been anxious to see what happens to Lara Croft next. The wait is finally over, as PLAY (via Tomb Raider Chronicles) has revealed Tomb Raider Underworld, the next chapter in the long-running series.

The article doesn't seem to reveal too much information on the game yet, but we know that Underworld takes place after Tomb Raider: Legend (for all you story devotees) and will feature Southern Mexico as one of the primary locales. It's a little unclear if there will be a totally new, fully next-gen graphics system in place, but Eidos is boasting about new weather and lighting systems designed for Underworld.

Keeley Hawes will return to the voice acting for Lara Croft, a position she's held since Legend reinvigorated the series almost two years ago. The story in Underworld is said to involve some supernatural elements brought about by the Mayan calendar. Also there will probably be numerous tombs in need of raiding.

Right now we're expecting a 2008 release for the game on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, but we'll watch to see if anything more is revealed in the impending official announcement.

[Quemaqua]

It would be very hard to care less, but I'll let you know if I manage it.

[idolminds]

TR:L and TR:A were both damn fun. Looking forward to this one.



Still looking for TR:A on sale, though...heh. Demo was good.

[Xessive]

I really enjoyed TR:L and TR:A. Crystal Dynamics have really resurrected the series!

Lookin' forward to Underworld!

[gpw11]

I tried out the Anniversary demo, and was amazed at how fun it was.  I've never really played a TR game before, but I don't get why people rag on it so much.

[MysterD]

I tried out the Anniversary demo, and was amazed at how fun it was.  I've never really played a TR game before, but I don't get why people rag on it so much.

I think it's b/c after TR: Original, the game in its numerous sequels (banked out year after year) didn't really offer much of anything new in the gameplay department, really...

Most gamers expect that kind of treatment from expansion packs...

[Xessive]

I thought Core did a great job with the TR1 and TR2, heck even TR3. I'm counting TR3 because it introduced newer graphics and few new ideas, but everything since was a downward spiral. Core's design was getting stale. They tried to be original with TR: Angel of Darkness, but that just kinda back-fired.

Crystal Dynamics had a fresh prespective on the game mechanics and ideas and they revived the franchise. Not to mention that they gave it a little more substance.

I'm happy with the new gameplay style and controls, which is a huge factor for me in any game.

[Quemaqua]

TR3 was garbage, as was everything after it until Anniversary, IMO.

[Xessive]

TR3 was garbage, as was everything after it until Anniversary, IMO.

I think I mainly enjoyed TR3 because at the time I was so awed by 3D acceleration, and I had just bought a Voodoo3 (while not my first 3D card it was one that impressed me at the time).

TR: Legend was good! Sure Anniversary is better, but Legend was definitely a good move in the right direction.

[MysterD]

X-Box 360 Version of TR: Underworld will get two exclusive DLC content releases.

1UP News
Eidos Announces Exclusive 360 DLC for Tomb Raider: Underworld
Two downloadable "chapters" planned to extend Lara's latest adventure after release.
By Kris Pigna, 10/06/2008

Lara Croft will soon be embarking on her eighth major adventure when Tomb Raider: Underworld releases in November, but for Xbox 360 owners at least, the game won't necessarily end when the credits roll. Eidos has announced that they'll release two DLC packs exclusive for the 360 version, which all add new areas and even a new playable character, for a total of six additional hours of gameplay.

The first "chapter," titled Beneath the Ashes, will release this Christmas, and will add a new area to explore with new enemies to battle against.

The second chapter, titled Lara's Shadow, is even more intriguing -- it'll release in early 2009, and add "a new kind of playable character" that will create a "unique Tomb Raider experience."

"We are constantly looking at ways to extend our franchises, whilst developing a deeper relationship with our players," said Sean Vesce, general manager for developer Crystal Dynamics. "The retail release of any videogame is just the start of the player experience; from there it all depends where you want to take the player in terms of ideas and innovation. With these additional chapters and the online reach of Xbox LIVE, we are able to deliver exclusive content to millions of gamers worldwide."

No pricing information was given, but that announcement will probably be made closer to the first chapter's release in December.

[Xessive]

So what? The PS3 and PC players get scrooged?

I'd argue that I'm probably the biggest Tomb Raider fan on these boards (with the obvious exception of Hoob) but even I don't care that much. Can't speak for Hoob though.

[MysterD]

So what? The PS3 and PC players get scrooged?

That's unfortunately what it sounds like.

Though, a lot of the DLC's that have been announced exclusively for the X360 in the past (see R6: Vegas, CoD4), they wound up much later being freely patched into PC versions.

We'll just have to wait and see if that actually comes about being patched into the PC version; but yeah, it doesn't sound too good right now.

[Xessive]

I'm just kinda surprised coz I thought Sony and Eidos had a special bond.

[MysterD]

Just read this.

Looks like more fun stuff b/t Eidos and GameSpot over Cocker's latest review of TR: Underworld (just like what happened with Kane & Lynch over Gerstmann) -- which is going to be held off on being posted b/c of its low score.

 

[Quemaqua]

*sigh*

[gpw11]

I don't know if that's the review I read on gamespot or not, but either way it sucked. That's neither here nor there though.  As for this, eh...I don't really care because I think we all know the only game Crystal Dynamics should be making anyways is a new Legacy of Kain game.

[Xessive]

The following statement is from Simon Byron, one of Barrington Harvey’s directors. In its entirety:

Barrington Harvey is not in the position of telling reviewers what they can and cannot say. We love Tomb Raider and believe it merits a score of at least 8/10, but if someone disagrees that’s entirely their prerogative. No problem at all. Seriously: no problem.

The emphasis on the "no problem" really makes it seem like a passive aggressive gesture making it seem like a big deal. 

A new LoK game would be awesome!!

[Cobra951]

I remember the legal term for that, prior censorship.  It's a big no-no here.  I don't care how shitty the review is.  I don't even care that the publisher put pressure on the online press.  I care very much if some of the press give in.  Not that they would be setting a precedent.  They already did that with the Gerstmann fiasco.

[gpw11]

Exactly, the only possible excuse for prior censorship is if it concerns a new Legacy of Kain game.

[MysterD]

I remember the legal term for that, prior censorship.  It's a big no-no here.  I don't care how shitty the review is.  I don't even care that the publisher put pressure on the online press.  I care very much if some of the press give in.  Not that they would be setting a precedent.  They already did that with the Gerstmann fiasco.

If Eidos is that worried about getting possibly "meh" to "bleh" reviews posted up on game sites (like Eurogamer, GameSpot, IGN, etc etc) before their game hits the "official street date", they just shouldn't ship out copies of the game in advance for review.

Eidos should make sure they ship out copies to reviewers to be received on or sometime after the game's day of release, if they are worried about it that damn much.

[gpw11]

HA.

Anyways, I've played the game for like an hour or so.  It's really fun (I should warn you that I have minimal Tomb Raider experience), but the camera is a bit of a bitch for sure.  It almost feels like only the right analog stick is just too sensitive and there's no control specifically for it - just for mouse sensitivity.  I lowered that and it seemed to help, but it's almost still 'jerky' at times.

[Xessive]

I played the demo and the camera was very jerky. I don't understand how they screwed it up when it was fine in TR Legend and Anniversary.

[MysterD]

Guy Cocker's Gamespot review.
7.0 from GameSpot

[Xessive]

Played TRU. It's pretty good although very short. It fits in with Legend and Anniversary and actually links them, making a trilogy.

Visually, TRU is the best of the TR games. The environments are vast and the ambience can really suck you right in. The animations are very wll done, very smooth and practically seamless. The sound is great and the music is amazing. By far the best TR soundtrack yet.

With great things seemingly in place to make a great game Crystal Dynamics somehow farked the camera and controls. The camera is pretty wonky and often gets into awkward angles. The controls can be jerky at times and Lara will sometimes have trouble picking things up. I understand that clipping is inevitable in games but I don't think it should happen as frequently as it does in Underworld. To compare I loaded up Anniversary and the difference in camera and controls is incredible. I don't understand why they decided to screw with the formula they established in Legend and perfected in Anniversary.

In Anniversary they had added a new "headshot" gameplay mechanic in which you 'infuriate' an enemy and as soon as it charges at you, dodge, and you get a chance to land an instant-kill headshot by shooting when the crosshairs line up.

In Underworld they changed this completely. This time around you have to make sure your "adrenaline" bar (the yellow Lara silhouette behind the health silhouette), then you run up close (within armsreach of the target), push Grappling Hook button, then you have to manually line up a crosshair into the headshot zone, then fire. Personally I like the latter half of this technique, manually lining up the shot. The first part makes no sense to me though. First you have to have a full adrenaline bar, then you have practically touch nose with your target, then you have to push the grappling hook button?! Why the grappling hook button? They needlessly complicated the headshot system.

I'd say a 7/10 is a fair score. With a whole point deducted for how short it is. I think I finished it in about 5-6 hours, that includes hapless exploring.

[scottws]

I have the TRU demo on my 360.  I thought about buying it on Steam but I ended up getting TRL instead because it was $20 and because I heard this camera control complaint about TRU before.  To be honest I'm scared what TRU could be like in that regard because I constantly find myself fighting with the camera in TRL.

[Xessive]

I have the TRU demo on my 360.  I thought about buying it on Steam but I ended up getting TRL instead because it was $20 and because I heard this camera control complaint about TRU before.  To be honest I'm scared what TRU could be like in that regard because I constantly find myself fighting with the camera in TRL.

The camera in TRL was ok but it had its bad moments. TRA did it best, it also had few moments when it just didn't cooperate but that was much less frequent than TRL. TRU somehow screwed everything up. Although there is one thing the TRU camera has which can be handy at times; if you wait for a few secs the camera will auto adjust to show you a better view of your surroundings which is great for lining up jumps. Sounds good, but imagine having to stand and wait for a few secs everytime you wanna line up a jump; it doesn't work all the time.

One more thing: you can sprint in TRU! However the camera (again) spoils that a little. WHen you start sprinting the camera pans down to the floor and focuses close-up on Lara's legs and ass, making it difficult to see what you're sprinting toward. Kind of a dumbass design choice.

If you're having trouble with the TRL cam you'll really hate the TRU cam.

[MysterD]

Eidos and NVidia are working together to fix the caching issue found in TR: Underworld PC that namely occurs for GeForce 6xxx and 7xxx users.

That fix will likely be in the next NVidia driver update that'll be eventually coming.

[gpw11]

I also finished this.  I eventually got used to the camera, and while it wasn't good, it certainly wasn't the worst camera we've ever had to deal with in a game like this.  Obviously it's no excuse, but I didn't find it game ruining. 

This is my first real experience with a TR game, apart from playing around with Anniversary a couple months ago and I was very suprised by both the production values and the quality gameplay.  The environments, environmental puzzles, and general platforming was really entertaining.  It could certainly benefit from something more akin to a Assassin's Creed control scheme, but it's fun none the less.  It was also kind of short, but to be honest, people complaining about it being short is kind of a testament to how fun it can be.  I don't know how much more of it I personally could have dealt with before it got kind of stale, but I had a great time with it.

Honestly, it's amazing to see how far Crystal Dynamics have come with this sort of thing.  The puzzles were really always the major weak points of the Kain games and they have come miles and miles from moving boxes and mirrors over and over again.  I'd like to see what they could do with the platforming/puzzle elements of the series now, especially after word was leaked a month or so ago that there was another game in development after Defiance that got canceled years ago.
 

[MysterD]

So y'all know...
TR: Underworld for the PC has been patched to Version 1.1

Here is the fix list:

- Inability of users to map the mouse buttons.
- Inability of users to map the ‘center camera’ button.
- Some occasional crash fixes.
- Graphics card stability:
+ A change to re-enable use of some graphics card features on ATI hardware, with their latest drivers.
+ Progress has been made towards addressing stalling on GeForce 6/7 series hardware.
- Fixed compatibility issues with certain Realtek sound drivers which could cause crashes.
- Autosaves now made for each chapter. Number of save slots is increased to accommodate these.
- Bug with ramp not raising in Xibalba.
- Fixed black screen deadlock when skipping doppelganger cinematic.
- Issue with door lever at Kraken room entrance.
- Occasional control issue during headshot move.
- Fixed an occasional problem when entering a save game filename.
- Some PDA fixes.
- Some cinematic subtitle fixes.

[idolminds]

I like how they still need to make "save slots" with a limit on PC. I have a hard drive, let me make as many damn saves as I want.

Anyway, didnt feel like making a new thread but I just finished Anniversary. I had a blast, but the last couple levels had some severe problems that I'm amazed weren't patched. My save file got corrupted about halfway through the game, which sucked. I went and just downloaded some saves to replace it so I didnt have to restart. Actually, it was a profile with everything already completed, so then I could just go and choose "Replay Level".

That worked fine, but the last few levels had missing parts. Certain movable items, like a crane in Natlas Mines, or a sinking platform in the lava of the last level were just missing entirely. I checked online and it seems like I'm not alone there. The only fix was to find clean save files online and load those. Otherwise without those items you cant finish the level. Hopefully TRU doesnt have such problems.

[gpw11]

I didn't come across anything remotely close to that in TRU so I'd guess that it's fine...but who really knows.

[Xessive]

I had a few of those bugs come up. The one that was really annoying was the Xibalba one where the ramp just doesn't open up.. Luckily it can be resolved.

[gpw11]

Really?  Was this the ramp which was a part of the calender puzzle or was it one of the ones in the tunnels? Because with the calender puzzle there's a time limit to get in that bitch before it closes and it's kind of tight.  If you miss it, you'll run into the arena and just see it closed.

[Xessive]

Really?  Was this the ramp which was a part of the calender puzzle or was it one of the ones in the tunnels? Because with the calender puzzle there's a time limit to get in that bitch before it closes and it's kind of tight.  If you miss it, you'll run into the arena and just see it closed.

It was the calendar. I noticed the torches going out one by one indicating a time limit, but the ramp would just close up as soon as I make a run for it. I tested it by just lining up the calendar and instead of going all the way to the ramp I'd run right back to the blacony and the ramp was gone, only 4 secs after a lined it up. Appreantly a lot of people were experiencing the problem. The fix is simple enough though, just head all the way back to the beginning and line up the first calendar, then repeat.

The other bug was the blackout whgen I tried skipping one of the cinematics.. I can't remember if it was with the doppelganger or not. The bugs seemed minor, nothing game breaking.

I think they could have done a better job with the camera. Compared to the last two TR games I've had the most miss-jumps with TRU.

[gpw12]

Oh, now that you mention it that may have happened to me as well, but I figured it was part of the game and went and reset the first one anyways.  Either that or I'm thinking of something completely different. 

But yeah, I'd say the camera was the main flaw in the game.  I did get used to it, but that's not saying much -I'm one of those people who had the ability to look past the shitty camera in n64 games.  I did thoroughly enjoy the game to be honest.

[Xessive]

Honestly, I think they did a fantastic job of actually implementing a story and tying in the last two TR games, which individually seem completely unrelated.

The gameplay was decent and didn't stray far from TRL and TRA, which is exactly where it should be. I enjoyed it. The combat was fine but not quite as great as in TRA. It seemed like they decided to expierment with this one.

Eidos made a good call by giving the franchise to Crystal Dynamics.

I have the Anniversary collector's edition and the "Making Of" disc shows the story of the rise and fall of the TR series. It was pretty interesting how the creator of Lara had left COre after TR2 because he just hated where they were taking the character and they were just overplaying the sex appeal more than anything else. His original designs of Lara depict her as an athletic, mildly attractive chick but the marketing division had him redesign her with emphasized breasts, shorter shorts etc.

[gpw11]

I think I read somewhere that her giant breasts was a joke in the office during the development of the first game, and then someone higher up saw it and told them to keep it in.  I'd like to believe that was true.

[Xessive]

Just tried the game with the patch. Some decent fixes and I just remembered one more bug I was experiencing that they seem to have worked around rather than fixed entirely.

Occasionally Lara would get stuck in a corner or a among some rubble, and I couldn't get her out until I discovered that if I pull out my guns then holster them I culd break free.. Weird bug. After the patch she still gets caught in some of those places but she breaks free instantly.

[MysterD]

I just want to say this -- this game rocks.
I really wish Eidos would bring the DLC over, dammit.

Anyways....
MysterD's "Jumping Around" Vid from TRU.
In-game footage.
Almost 2 mins here.

[Xessive]

I just want to say this -- this game rocks.
I really wish Eidos would bring the DLC over, dammit.

Anyways....
MysterD's "Jumping Around" Vid from TRU.
In-game footage.
Almost 2 mins here.

That's a link to your FO3 vid

I did find it in your list though. Watching it made me kinda feel like playing the game again