Underworld is the best Tomb Raider yet

[Bildi]

Up to the end of the second level anyway.  I finished Thailand last night and so far am loving the:

- minimal combat, tons and tons of sublime balls-to-the-wall platforming
- awesomely designed and insanely pretty, detailed and awe-inspiring environments
- the lighting, OMG the lighting
- Lara's multitude of new animations, moves, and motion blur

I would like a camera that's a bit less jumpy.  A steadier camera would better show off all the work they put into the animations.

Crystal Dynamics

[Third]

The game was way too easy imo.

The first few Tob Raider games still remain the best.

[Bildi]

That's probably true.  I've played all these new Tomb Raiders on the hardest difficulties and they're not very hard.  I still find the platforming enjoyable though.

[Third]

That's probably true.  I've played all these new Tomb Raiders on the hardest difficulties and they're not very hard.  I still find the platforming enjoyable though.

I definitely enjoyed Underworld. It was better than Legends imo. But I miss the hard puzzles, and the environments have become less hazardous.
But I was glad they went with the more traditional route this time around. I hated killing all those poeple in Legend. I wanted to explore old abandoned ruins with only animals to kill. That's why I liked Underworld more, too.

And the game is way too short. And I also miss the level select Tomb Raider 3 had.

[bork]

CD Tomb Raiders massacre the Core ones. 

Be on the lookout for the Lara's Shadow DLC next week for a more hazardous setting.

[chronovore]

The combat, at least what was on display in the TR:U demo, is not nearly as polished as Tomb Raider: Legend's. Is that true in the retail game as well?

[dark1x]

The game was way too easy imo.

The first few Tob Raider games still remain the best.

By todays standards, I disagree.  Those games have aged terribly and are virtually unplayable at this point.  I think Tomb Raider Anniversary is my favorite in the series as it takes advantage of the more challenging puzzles of the first game while completing fixing all of its problems.

[demi]

It's the best CD Tomb Raider but overall? Not even close. TR2, educate yourself, SON

[dark1x]

It's the best CD Tomb Raider but overall? Not even close. TR2, educate yourself, SON

I was there day 1 for Tomb Raider 2.  I even suffered through it using a Matrox Mystique with 2mb ram which resulted in missing textures.  The game doesn't really hold up (I've messed around with it recently).  I would love to see CD remake TR2, however, as it was far and away the best Core made TR game.

There is less killing in Underworld then in Legend? Sweet.

Yeah.  Fortunately, there isn't a lot of combat present in Underworld and, later on, the game goes all "Force Unleashed", which was kind of fun.

[demi]

You don't hold up, how about that

[Bildi]

I played TR2.  Just not very much because it was shit.

[Bildi]

The combat, at least what was on display in the TR:U demo, is not nearly as polished as Tomb Raider: Legend's. Is that true in the retail game as well?

TRU retail version combat is identical to the demo as far I recall. 

I do seem to remember the slow motion headshot thing happening easier in Legend/Anniversary though.  Triggering it in TRU seems a bit unreliable - I haven't experimented much though since combat is so sparse in TRU so it might be down to me standing in the wrong place or something.

[demi]

I played TR2.  Just not very much because it was shit.

I read this post, but not the rest BECAUSE THEY WERE SHIT

[Bildi]

.....uh huh.

I'm at the start of the rainy level where you're using the bike.  It seems to get a little meh here, hopefully it gets back to being awesome soon.

Mind you, I crapped myself when the panther showed up.

[bork]

.....uh huh.

I'm at the start of the rainy level where you're using the bike.  It seems to get a little meh here, hopefully it gets back to being awesome soon.

Mind you, I crapped myself when the panther showed up.

It will.  That Mexico level part with the bike is just the very beginning of that level.   

[Bildi]

Sweet, I figured it can't suppress the awesomeness for too long.  I think the bike upsets the momentum of the game a little for me - I don't want to miss anything so end up stopping quite frequently or riding very slowly.

[chronovore]

The combat, at least what was on display in the TR:U demo, is not nearly as polished as Tomb Raider: Legend's. Is that true in the retail game as well?

TRU retail version combat is identical to the demo as far I recall. 

I do seem to remember the slow motion headshot thing happening easier in Legend/Anniversary though.  Triggering it in TRU seems a bit unreliable - I haven't experimented much though since combat is so sparse in TRU so it might be down to me standing in the wrong place or something.

At the temple, I honestly could not tell if the controls were less manageable than last time, or if the ledge area on which Lara is made to battle is just too fucking small. It was less than fun.

[Bildi]

I think I find it similar to the other games but I'll have to try playing them back to back.  It might be that battles in Underworld are often in more confined or multi-level areas which makes them more difficult.

[dammitmattt]

So when is Lara's Shadow coming out?!?

[bork]

Heads-up guys, Ply-Asia is selling the (region-free) 360 version for $19.90!

So when is Lara's Shadow coming out?!?

It's supposed to be up now...

[bork]

Okay, there's two new DLC packs up now:

-Lara's Shadow, where you play as the doppleganger on a level level with some new game play mechanics.  800 points.

-Designer costume pack, two new costumes.  Free.

[dammitmattt]

Lara's Shadow is pretty damn fun.  She's much faster and more mobile although I'm still indifferent on the combat.  It's not really any better or worse than what Lara has.  Am I the only one getting a huge Prince of Persia vibe from this so far?

[dammitmattt]

It felt shorter than Beneath the Ashes and you had to essentially redo early sections just with more obstacles, but it was still a pretty good time.  I got all of the achievements except for the two speed runs, which no one seems to know how to get yet.

[demi]

Story summary for Lara's Shadow plz

[dammitmattt]

Lara's evil twin stares menacingly at the camera for a bit.  Oh, and then Lara gives her free will and the shadow kills the blonde chick.

[bork]

It felt shorter than Beneath the Ashes and you had to essentially redo early sections just with more obstacles, but it was still a pretty good time.  I got all of the achievements except for the two speed runs, which no one seems to know how to get yet.

I'm playing through it now.  It feels longer, not shorter, but yeah, having to go back and redo the same thing again is kinda  .  It's been fun though so I don't mind; the game play all revolves around the doppleganger's "shadow power," which lets you speed up/jump higher/jump farther/do super moves/slow down obstacles.  It's limited in use (but recharges almost immediately), so there's no room for error when you're doing the platformin' thing.  You can also punch and kick the shit out of the thralls instead of just shooting them.

The story:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lara's Shadow takes place both before and after Beneath The Ashes.  When it starts, it's at the point at the end of Underworld when

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Amanda saves Lara from the doppleganger and they blast her into that blue watery-stuff below.  Only she didn't hit the water and hit the ground instead.  So she wakes up and you have to go through a modified version of part of the last Underworld stage.  She finds Natla still alive, but badly injured.  Natla commands her to bring her back to the doppleganger's "birth place," which is just another similar area filled with the deadly water-stuff (and of course, lots of thralls).  There's an ancient machine there that can create and heal life, so Natla commands the doppleganger to go and "fix" the machine.  After that, she returns to Natla, who tells her to go and kill Lara, then off herself since Natla never wants to see Lara again.  This pisses the doppleganger off, but she has to follow orders.



It then shifts to the end cut scene from Beneath The Ashes, but with modified dialogue.  Lara talks to the doppleganger and ends up giving her freedom from being under anyone's control (WTF, she killed Allister!), and then the doppleganger returns to Natla to kill her instead. Natla is inside a pod that is beginning to heal her, and the doppleganger can't get to her unless she stops the machine.  (So you have to go back through the same area as before, only harder, and thankfully filled with enough new platforming sections that it doesn't feel too tedious, stop the energy from feeding into the machine, and destroy the "circuits" inside.)  After the doppleganger stops the machine, she returns to the pod room and takes out the two circuits inside there, toppling the pod and Natla with it.

Natla is trapped under a bunch of rubble, slowly melting into a pool of energy-water beneath her.  She demands that the doppleganger help, but the doppleganger just stands there with this twisted smile, watching Natla melt into nothingness.   The end.

So the doppleganger is still alive.  Amanda too.  Will they return in another game?

[close]

Lara's evil twin stares menacingly at the camera for a bit.  Oh, and then Lara gives her free will and the shadow kills the blonde chick.

 

[close]

[bork]

Finished, updated the previous post with the whole story.  Definitely enjoyed this more than Beneath The Ashes...felt more like "real" DLC than just another level made available for download.  Would have been nice if they let you use the doppleganger in the entire game though. 

[Bildi]

That sounds great.

It'll be a while until I get to it though because I'm starting Underworld again.   My saves all got corrupted after I downloaded the update last night.  I even tried clearing the cache and starting a new game, but it can't save properly so I think all TRU data has become corrupted - I'll have to delete the lot.  I suppose I should try running off the disk as a last resort.

I read of a couple of people had the corruption problem previously, so I don't think it's necessarily related to the update.

I guess I'm starting my second treasure-collecting playthrough sooner than I thought...

[dammitmattt]

Fuck these speed runs and the fact that the DLC doesn't create checkpoints like the proper game does makes it a pain in the ass to try to go back and get them since I don't really know WHEN to create my save points since the achievement descriptions are so vague.

I say it felt shorter b/c I ran through it the second time to find my ONE missing treasure (and hoped to get the speed run achievements, too) and it only took about 40 minutes after skipping the cutscenes and running past most enemies.

[Bildi]

Holy crap, I managed to un-corrupt all my save files.  I'll put some info here in case anyone runs onto the same problem:

- Cleared my cache and hence the update - no change
- Deleted a few of my older saves - no change
- Deleted my game install - no change
- Deleted two odd small 40kb save files (these seemed to be from two saves I made when I started a new game after the corruption problem started - each time I would try to save the new game it would fail, but on the second go it would work, but then the resulting files were maked 'corrupted' and wouldn't load.  Seems these two 40kb saves resulted) and also deleted Beneath the Ashes DLC - all my save files now work (I haven't re-applied the update yet).

Since the two save files were only created after my corruption problem, I'm unsure if they were the issue.  I suspect something to do with the update + Beneath the Ashes is what caused the problem.  I recall when I did the update the 360 sat there with a black screen for a long time (maybe 10-20 seconds) so maybe something went wrong there.

[dammitmattt]

I finally beat the speed runs.

1250 bitches

[Bildi]

I finished up Mexico the other night - it does indeed get kick-ass after the initial outdoors bit.  This Tomb Raider really is at its best when you're in a dungeon, and I must say the shadows cast by Lara's light really add to things quite a bit.

Plus, killing things by doing donuts on my motorbike = .

[chronovore]

I got this in the mail finally; don't want to start it until I've finished at least one other game, but I played the intro anyway. The context-sensitive animation, where she's putting her arms up in the direction of the burning fires... very slick.

[Bildi]

The work put into the animations is pretty awesome - lots of neat little touches.

I finished it up the other night, and really enjoyed it all the way to the end.  I think my favourite area was Thailand - some of the areas there are pretty mind-blowing.  But any time I hit the dungeons and lighting model clicked in where your torch casts shadows, I was really impressed.  It adds so much to the atmosphere.