Review: Tomb Raider Underworld (Xbox 360/PS3)

 Lara Croft is back on the case, investigating her mother’s disappearance and her father’s death in Tomb Raider Underworld.

The game is one of those that leads to an “on the one hand” type of review.

One the one hand, it looks absolutely beautiful, with lush jungle environs and dreamy underwater visuals.

On the other hand, the controls are iffy at best, with Lara uncooperative at times, and the camera is downright aggravating much of the time.

When you must jump and climb from point to point, the camera positioning is essential in performing the necessary moves.

But then, on the first hand, the story and challenges are top notch for this type of game as Lara plunges into subterranean locales in search of the solution to the mysteries.

On the other hand, sometimes you are faced with situations that are confusing and, although puzzles that confound are stock and trade of this type game, some solutions are so obscure that you’ll be lost. The game does provide a “Field Assistance” section in your personal digital assistant, where Lara wil either give you a hint or just tell you what to do. It is necessary sometimes, because there will be absolutely no indication what to do next. Your PDA also tosses in a sonar map that is rarely of any help.

On the upside, it’s Lara Croft in all her glory, with cutscenes that are frequent enough to power the story along.

But on the downside, the combat is rudimentary at best, with auto weapon aim and unlimited ammo making it routine and mundane, with enemies that are pretty stupid. You also have to kill tigers and panthers and other wildlife (you can choose to tranquilize instead, but if you hang around too long, they come to and attack again).

The bottom line is that Tomb Raider Underworld had a lot of potential, but fails to deliver on much of it. It looks great and has some good ideas, but poor execution.

Rating: Teen

Score: 6.5 lukewarm chilies