Tomb Raider: Underworld Preview

The Little Things

That’s just all the big stuff though – the truth is that it’s the little things that really had an impact on us when we went to see the game. To really appreciate and understand things like persistent, wide-open levels you need to really play the game properly and for long periods of time.

The tweaks and little innovations on the other hand – they stand out. Remember the first time you played Legend and saw that Lara actually got wet and dried slowly when she jumped into a pool of water? Remember how you asked “Why hasn’t anyone thought of that before?!”

Well, it’s that level of thing we’re talking about and, on that topic, you’ll be pleased to know that Lara still gets wet in Underworld. Not only that, but she actually dries at different speeds too depending on her location and environment.

She’ll get muddy too, dirt spraying up all over her when she runs and rolls through the muck. That dirt will then cling to her until she washes it off by either diving into a pool or running about in the rain.


Rain is for more than cleaning yourself up though – Crystal Dynamics' new weather engine is a veritable threat to Lara as she goes through the game and affects how well she can navigate the area she is in. It’s another one of those oh-so-simple touches to the game, but if Lara is soaking wet or if the rain is coming down in a torrent of the non-piratey variety she’ll find it harder to maintain a grip. She’ll slip more often, find it harder to drive the bike and have other problems caused by the general problems of trying to climb up a thousand year old, soaking wet ruin.

Physics have been re-integrated into the world too and, while Lara could previously only use her magnetic grapple to swing across specific gaps, she can now use it to solve puzzles of various types. One example we saw had Lara needing to knock a stone block off the top of a pillar, but with the pillar just out of reach.

The solution was eloquence incarnate. She simply climbed up on a nearby wall, threw a grapple line to anchor on the other side of the room and then walked round the pillar, catching the block with the rope and pulling it off the pillar remotely. The stone fell to the ground, smashing through a trapdoor and breaking spectacularly.

Initial Thoughts

Unfortunately, there are a few problems which could potentially mar the future of Underworld even though the demonstration we were treated to was both jaw-dropping and exciting.

The major worry we have is over the length of the game – with less than ten levels included in the game, it may be over before it’s started despite the more epic approach.

With large levels being used to keep things going longer, there comes the risk of the game needing a substantial amount of padding too. We’d hate to see Lara’s journey ruined by having large, essentially empty areas to navigate time and time again – something which spoiled Phantom Hourglass too as Link had to traverse the central dungeon time and time again.

Of course, that’s all just speculation and the actual message to be had is that we are being forced to speculate here because the level of polish on the demonstration we saw was nothing short of staggering. Whether it’ll be representative of the final game, and whether the game will get lost in the shuffle thanks to the financial problems of Eidos’ parent, SCi, is open to debate. One thing is for certain though and that’s that Underworld is looking to be another fantastic game in one of the most celebrated series’ gamers have ever seen.