Tomb Raider: Underworld Comments by Ellie Gibson

@kj66246

Inside the cities YES you can but what happens outside between the cities, what about those rocks out there ? according to Ellie, NOT being able to climb over those is a BIG DEAL by the standards of this review. Besides, Assassins Creed focused on tech stuff and ended up ignoring gameplay completely and you saw how that turned out. in a game like Tomb Raider/Prince of Persia/God of War/Uncharted, you have to strike a balance between all aspects and it's just SO UNREASONABLE to expect a game from this genre to let you climb every single rock/ledge or whatever .....

No Wii review again, ho hum, still, two days till release so there is still time, hopefully we can fit in a Wii review of COD in the meantime

You can totally switch weapons mid-level. It was in the demo.

@hokuto_no_rob

Yup, another point i forgot to mention. Thanks for bringing that up!!!

"you have five secondary guns to switch between if you feel like pausing the game to swap them around, but they're only marginally different in effectiveness"

From, er, another review.

Oh my, Lara's fanboys are coming out of the woodworks aren't they?

Now EG, where's the Sonic Unleashed review?

As a long time fan of TR, this game marks the final nail in the coffin. Tomb Raider is dead in my opinion.
I got the PC version and finished it in exactly the same time it took me to finish Legend, 1 day. Okay, there's a few secrets I missed along the way but, for the first time ever, I couldn't give a shit about going back and getting them.

Well done Crystal, you hyped and hyped, slapped PS3 & PS2 owners in the face, and for what? This pile of shit?

"Underworld is better than Legend; meatier, more challenging, more atmospheric and with less silly nonsense like quick-time events."

This quote is good enough for me! I'll be purchasing this on Friday after work.

@Spong
Surprised it took you this long. Five minutes of TR3 had convinced me ages ago :D

Better than Legend? I thought Legend was awesome (my first TR game, got it cheap preowned). Still, planning to grab Anniversary cheap soon so probably won't play this until after Xmas.

@Pulsar_t
TR3 is the best after the original TR1, I'd have to disagree with you on that ;)

But really, playing Underworld made me want to cry with despair. To me, it's AoD all over again, and this time I won't be coming back.
The plot to Underworld is insultingly nonsensical, the puzzles equally insulting in their lack of difficulty. There is NO exploration, don't believe anything you read. You're pretty much led by the damn hand every step of the way. The old-skool Raiders liked to dump you in at the deep end and then sit back and laugh as you struggled to work out where to go and what to do. Crystal did away with that completely in favour of sign-posting.

Underworld is no more than Tomb Raider with armbands. It's shit.

lara's so yesterday, it's time for a new big-titted heroine.

"lara's so yesterday, it's time for a new big-titted heroine."

Like Jo Brand. Or Anne Widdecombe.

"Someone who basically doesn't like TR reviewing it; that is always going to go well :) "

And a girl to boot ......

I like the pictures of the whore in the Lara cossy in the gallery - is she for sale?

What's the PS3 version like?

What's the PS3 version like?

WHAT'S THE FUGGING PS3 VERSION LIKE?!

Like the 360 version but not as good I imagine ...

why are loads of people saying the reviewer doesn't even like the tomb raider series? I got the impression she liked it alot and was disapointed that this game hadn't really addressed any of the problems that the series has had, whilst still conceding the game was enjoyable and polished anyway...
no matter the protestations, it always boils down to the poster just not liking the fact that a game was criticised that they like and have taken it personally. Big fecking babies. ..

"What's the PS3 version like? "

It's identical to the 360 version in every way. Hence why it costs a fiver more on PS3 LOL

^ just like the st/amiga days :/

You mean people actually used to buy games for the ST & Amiga?

Well I'll be...

I've deliberately extended the playing time to Drakes Fortune to coincide with the release of TR:U So in all it's taken me a good 4 months to complete. I think the new Tomb Raider will take even longer to complete.

I thought the review was very critical. I mean look at Drakes Fortune, it's got the looks, it's quite interesting to play, cheesy as hell, but is a bit buggy especially around objects and the old z-buffer. It was predictable most of the time, but then aren't most films & TV programmes? People like the adventure, solving puzzles and ooohing at the graphics.

Give Lara a break for gods sake!

This review echoes my views on the demo pretty much exactly. Might buy it when the price drops but there are too many great games out atm. Disappointing as I'm a big TR fan.

To everyone getting worked up about this:

7 is still not a bad score and the last few paragraphs do in fact say it isn't worthless as some people have made out the review did.

No need for harsh attacks on Ellie either. I thought it was well written.

'Brian Topp: What are you playing?
Tim: Tomb Raider 3.
Brian Topp: She's drowning.
Tim: Yeah.
Brian Topp: Is that the point of the game?
Tim: It depends what mood you're in really.
Brian Topp: What sort of mood are you in then?
Tim: Well, I got a letter from my girlfriend this morning three months too late explaining why she dumped me. It was full of you'll always be special and I'll always love you platitudes designed to make me feel better while simultaneously appeasing her deep seeded sense of guilt for running off with a slimy little city boy named Duane and destroying my faith in everything in the world that is good and pure.
Brian Topp: So it didn't really work then.
Tim: No, it made me want to drown things! '

As soon as 'BIG TITTED BITCH' appeared in the intro I KNEW Spaced was here. As it should be.

best and funniest review i've ever read (a little sexist though)

'So in Thailand you explore a Cambodian temple and climb a statue of a Hindu god, while on a quest to obtain a Norse artefact. Which will help you reach the final resting place of King Arthur.'

haha man thats good

Lara>>>>>>>>Ellie

7 isn't a bad score? I think the criticisms here are all valid to mark it down. I don't think she meant that everything should be climbable but more so make the climbable objects more logical?? I'm more pissed about not being able to play gears online. Especially after I stood in HMV for about 20 mins deciding on LBP or gears, only to choose gears because of the multiplayer sounding fun!

Curse you Ellie the first paragraph made me read the whole review.

Im not a tomb raider fan especially - but i liked the demo. What im gettin really sick of is things like "its not the next gen type thing we hoped for". What the heck do people expect from next gen. Theres only so much it can do. Its not gonna wake yuo up in the morning, cook your toast and see you out the fucking door. Its getting a bit menotenous now.

I thought the review came across as bitter and cynical. Ellie's great at reviewing Wii shovelware, but I don't appreciate her reviews for more anticipated titles. She can get away with a lot of things that male journalists can't, but in situations like this it gets in the way of the review rather than adding to it.

I'm not saying the review is wrong (I haven't played the game or the demo), I just didn't appreciate the way in which it was written.

I for one thought this was an excellent review. Everyone complaining about it seem to be the fans who do not want to see any sort of progression in the series. I absolutely think it should be marked down since it still basically plays like a last gen game. This is ok for certain genres, like puzzle games, but for action games, these games need to make steps forward or they will eternally be stuck like this and everyone, no matter how much you love Lara, will eventually get bored of them. I've already reached that point and there's no chance I'll be buying this with everything else that's available at the mo.

So basically, if you want more of the same, get it, if you're getting tired of the series, skip it. Give the Ellie bashing a rest you muppetts.

From what I saw from the demo, a 7 sounds about right.

As for the TR fanboys, chill out.

'Tis a shame as I was really looking forward to this one.

That being said, a lot of Ellie's criticisms seemed rather nitpicky. Mostly the logic stuff regarding collision detection, which is always an issue in these types of game, next-gen or otherwise. I mean Gears of War 2 is full of issues like that, but people don't seem to care, because it's just fun to play. God of War was guilty of these sorts of things too (like how come Kratos has so much difficulty opening up a measly chest?). They're still valid complaints, but very minute ones, in my opinion.

The story sucking is a larger complaint, but one that I fully expected as none of the Tomb Raider games have had good stories to tell. At least Anniversary barely even bothered with plot. Granted it wouldn't be too much to ask for a better yarn.

I am concerned with the easy, repetitive puzzles, and buggy AI. That's the kind of thing that made Legend a 7/10 for me. This sounds like it'll be much in the same vain. Not bad, but a huge missed opportunity. A pity as I loved Anniversary so much.

Ellie like 7/10's much?!
I wonder what games she's really into... (Apart from Wii Fit!)

Excellent review, very amusing.

The Spaced comments earlier in the comments are entirely apposite and go some way to explaining why I (and others no doubt) will purchase this game no matter what - nostalgia.

A shiny new Tomb Raider game that adheres to the *original recipe* will do nicely for me. Increased realism (intelligent bad guys, the ability to scale any likely surface etc. etc.) might improve the "immersion" for some, but I like the idea of a franchise where you know exactly what you're going to get - flaws and all. At the end of the day I don't enjoy a game any less because the clearly defined rules defy reality. Once you've adjusted to the limits of what's possible within the game you just get on with enjoying it, right?

For example, if Square Enix decided to realease a slightly jazzed up Final Fantasy VII for current-gen hardware I'd spunk £40 on it quicker than you can say "hasty preorder".

I thought the review was perfectly well written though, for what it's worth. I hate the mindless obsession with arbitrary scores that you get round here. To me, a score of 7 suggests "A great game whose flaws mean it isn't for everyone".

I really don't get Ellie's review style at all. Two-thirds of the review reads like a 4/10 game then suddenly in the last paragraph she throws in a couple of lines about what she liked and gave it a 7.

I just don't get it. Her points seem valid enough but the review doesn't seem balanced enough to show why she thought it warrented a 7.

Seriously. Considering there are people who found Legend good, was there really any other outcome considering the fact that developers tend to deliver more of the formula that people find good?

As if they'll ever improve combat. People didn't mind in all the previous games, right? So why change course?

Played the demo, will leave it at that.

On a side note, I read a newspaper article about TR:UW today, where the devs boasted about how awesome their story turned out to be, because it so really cleverly mixed factual history and legends. In fact, one of their coworkers who went on a trip to... India if I recall it right, wowed at the fact how awesome one of the jungle levels was. To him, it briefly felt as if he had returned at his holiday destiny.

For a second there, I got misty-eyed and caught in the moment, believed it, but then I remembered the demo and that one little word that made me cringe all out at the first cut scene:

Zip.

Good review. I lol'd at the bit about riding over enemies and breaking their legs off. That's becoming quite the phrase around these parts, isn't it.

It was pretty negative, though. I was probably expecting a six or maybe a five, until Ellie input a few redeeming factors in the closing paragraph.

I quite enjoyed the demo, but they're right, there is absolutely nothing next gen about it. Not one shred of innovation, pure mediocrity. Ahem.

that was a very strange review..

i've seen 3/10 games have better things said in the main body of the article..

then, 'but it's still quite good' right at the end -7/10

bizarre

it was a well written review, despite abitrary comments on here saying otherwise, and i think I may have been the only person here who kind of expected a seven after reading it. I don't know what people on here think constitutes "good" writing but from that review Ellie seems to have a pretty good way with the english word to me...

@creepylizard

The review was well enough written, it just wasn't balanced enough. All her comments are probably valid but she didn't balance it out with the positives that would lead readers to believe that it justifys the score of 7 that she gave it.

Bottom line - stick with the excellent Anniversary.

That was a given.

Jesus fucking christ stop taking Ellies reviews seriously.

Treat them like like Gillens gushing over-praise of PC games. With a massive pinch of salt. Like Yahtzee, would you really not buy a game because he made jokes about it? Its a fucking game most of them are exactly the same.

Noooooo, you can't knock the pushing the plants out of the way feature. It's one of the best damn features this generation.

@ gareth886
I suppose its more to do with the journalists sarky/witty style and how any individual reads into but, again, I would say that on balance the score mirrors the review...I do hate this debate about scores and the whole "reads like a 5" bollocks that seems to be on here more and more...despite my talking about it now ;)
it takes some amount of skill to write something critical and funny though..

I played the demo. Complete shit.

If you dont like a bit of humour in your reviews just read the score and take what you can from it? AMIRITE??

seems like a fair score to me, if they still haven't got anything new after 10 years a 7 is more than enough.

but since you can run things over and break its leg off, i just might get this!