Tomb Raider: Underworld

 PC
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 366 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 239 out of 366
  2. Mixed: 91 out of 366
  3. Negative: 36 out of 366
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  1. jorgelin89
    Mar 6, 2013
    4
    En aspecto grafico un 10. Asi como en el modelado de Lara y sus movimientos.
    Sin embargo la historia es para mi una patata. Empieza bastante bien, prometedor pero se va deinflando poco a poco hasta acabar en patata. Los escenarios son excelentes (con alguna excepción). En general es jugable y divertido a ratos (aunque lo terminas en muy pocas horas), sin embargo no es un buen tomb raider    En aspecto grafico un 10. Asi como en el modelado de Lara y sus movimientos.
    Sin embargo la historia es para mi una patata. Empieza bastante bien, prometedor pero se va deinflando poco a poco hasta acabar en patata. Los escenarios son excelentes (con alguna excepción). En general es jugable y divertido a ratos (aunque lo terminas en muy pocas horas), sin embargo no es un buen tomb raider ni define a la saga.    … Expand
  2. Pixelated
    Nov 24, 2008
    4
    We all know Eidos is not the greatest at making games. But after a dozen or so Tomb Raiders you would think they could fix the persistent problems the series has had. What's with the awful camera controls again? I mean this is an issue that goes all the way back to.. well, it goes back years! Just another publisher pushing a game out the door in time for the holidays. They say piracy We all know Eidos is not the greatest at making games. But after a dozen or so Tomb Raiders you would think they could fix the persistent problems the series has had. What's with the awful camera controls again? I mean this is an issue that goes all the way back to.. well, it goes back years! Just another publisher pushing a game out the door in time for the holidays. They say piracy is killing the industry but I think it's just forcing these studios to make good games. If they want to make money they need to release games worth $50, not buggy ports. EA is learning the hard way and a relatively small publisher like Eidos should take notice and polish their games a lot more or risk releasing another flop. Then blaming piracy for their money problems. The bottom line is that good games sell and sorry games get pirated instead.… Expand
  3. DavidP
    Nov 28, 2008
    4
    Whan I saw the trailer I thought TR:U could be worth a test. The demo changed my mind. Lara and the graphics looks better than ever before. Who cares? While trying to adjust the camera you jump through an unreal world, do unreal moves (which means you press a button and Lara does the moves herself) and destroy everything you see, from tigers to sharks, from spiders to vases. No, you dont Whan I saw the trailer I thought TR:U could be worth a test. The demo changed my mind. Lara and the graphics looks better than ever before. Who cares? While trying to adjust the camera you jump through an unreal world, do unreal moves (which means you press a button and Lara does the moves herself) and destroy everything you see, from tigers to sharks, from spiders to vases. No, you dont have to aim yourself, the game does this automatically. Reloading? Nope. Give attention that you dont miss a treasure? No, the game shows you. Smooth movement? No, that would be boring wouldn't it? Nonlinear gameplay? No. Anything else that you dont know from all the other TR? No. So if you like to watch Laras curves while hanging from a cliff with one hand and automatically shooting bats (!) with the other hand you could play this game, but dont expect more.… Expand
  4. DrDecree
    Dec 5, 2009
    3
    For seasoned gamers who are new to the franchise, it's an unbearably old-school, slow snorefest with gameplay, simplicity, and issues that should have been grown out of 10 years ago.
  5. SDSSolaris75
    Nov 6, 2012
    1
    As game Designer this is what I seen in 1 hour of playing that already had me un install this terrible piece of garbage. Graphic and effects anyone with half a brain can do. The game play was beyond horrible, constant button issues that failed to deliver ease of play. Half the time I would press jump and do something else. I would get stuck nearly every ten minutes on geometry. ControlsAs game Designer this is what I seen in 1 hour of playing that already had me un install this terrible piece of garbage. Graphic and effects anyone with half a brain can do. The game play was beyond horrible, constant button issues that failed to deliver ease of play. Half the time I would press jump and do something else. I would get stuck nearly every ten minutes on geometry. Controls and person in charge of allowing this should be murdered in cold blood. Worst waste of money on a game I have played in ten year. WTF happened to this series!!… Expand
  6. [Anonymous]
    Nov 22, 2008
    0
    Gamespot UK journalist Guy Cocker revealed the tactic in a Twitter post on Wednesday that said:
  7. Delta_Assault
    Sep 28, 2011
    2
    I don't think the Tomb Raider games have ever been good. Like, ever. They've never looked like the sort of quality game that I could embrace and point to as something appealing. Which is funny, because Naughty Dog basically took the Tomb Raider theme, made a gender change, and put out 2 really great games. That's kinda sad when you think about, that it had to take some pretenders to theI don't think the Tomb Raider games have ever been good. Like, ever. They've never looked like the sort of quality game that I could embrace and point to as something appealing. Which is funny, because Naughty Dog basically took the Tomb Raider theme, made a gender change, and put out 2 really great games. That's kinda sad when you think about, that it had to take some pretenders to the throne to actually make good games.

    Lara's a sex symbol in gaming, that's quite obvious. But that fact alone has never ever been able to get me to care about the games. Like, I'm as much of a red-blooded heterosexual male as the next gamer, but uh... if I want porn, I can find porn. It's all over the internet. Very easy to find. Even some super kinky stuff. I don't need it in my video games. And that whole idea of trying to sell the games based on Lara's massive boobs, that always turned me off, ironically. It just seemed very shallow and insulting and kinda desperate.

    Now, I've actually only played one Tomb Raider game, and it was the last one, Underworld. Is it fair to judge an entire franchise on one game? If you think about it, the latest game in a series is supposed to have all the improvements and refinements and perfected elements of each previous game, right? So if Underworld wasn't gonna do it, I doubt my opinion would have improved by playing the older ones.

    And uh, I hated Underworld. It really stunk to high heaven. I am really really glad I didn't play any TR games in the days of yore, judging by what I got in Underworld. First of all, the platforming is not that great. It felt pretty damn stiff and clunky. On its face, it's probably the strongest element of Underworld, but compared to contemporaries like Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed, and it really fails. It's just not good enough anymore. Of course, there are people out there who actually dislike the sort of platforming in PoP/AC, so it's all personal preference. But I myself couldn't get onboard with it.

    Now, the combat. That's a really strong factor for me in games. The combat in Underworld is complete **** and far far worse qualitatively then the platforming. First off, manual aim seems almost nonexistent. The level of fidelity isn't there, you absolutely aren't capable of aiming at longer distances at anyone. Either it's too inaccurate or your bullets just seem to phase out of existence past 15 feet. 15 feet! How the hell can a developer only provide gunplay within 15 feet?

    So manual aiming is terrible. I guess they want you to use their lock-on aiming. But again, this only seems to lock-on within 15 feet. You can't fire at enemies at medium ranges. I have no idea why. And the whole idea of lock-on aiming is repugnant to me. I don't need to have the game aim for me. I didn't need it in Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Unreal, Rainbow Six, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Crysis, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Uncharted, etc... I basically haven't needed or wanted it in about 17 years. Yet that seems to be how they want you to aim in Underworld. I hated that, it felt lazy and out of touch with reality.

    And the dual pistols contain infinite ammo. Why would pistols have infinite ammo? How does that make any sense? Where would Lara fit infinite ammo into her clothes? I hated it when Ubisoft gave infinite pistol ammo in Rainbow Six Vegas and SC Conviction and apparently they learned it from the Tomb Raider games. Also, the levels had a lot of peculiarities that really felt unpolished. Near the beginning of the game, Lara is onboard her fancy expensive yacht and is about to go diving for some treasure. Well, you can't actually explore this yacht, because there are invisible walls everywhere. There's some stairs leading up to the controls of the yacht, but you run into an invisible wall right at the stairs. Why would you do that? What the hell is the point of having all these boundaries on this boat? I dunno, but it was lame.

    So yea, all in all, Underworld seemed like a terrible game. I did not finish it. The combat felt awful and the platforming was merely clumsy. Not a good experience, or even a mediocre experience.    … Expand
  8. AngryConsumer
    Nov 28, 2008
    0
    I was all primed to buy this game... prior to eidos having a company artificially alter the metacritic score by lobbying reviewers to delay their scores. Seriously, what possible justification is there for a site like metacritic if publishers just game the system. Thanks, but this one will be a torrent, and I may send eidos a check for 20 bucks if it pass MY personal review. Otherwise,I was all primed to buy this game... prior to eidos having a company artificially alter the metacritic score by lobbying reviewers to delay their scores. Seriously, what possible justification is there for a site like metacritic if publishers just game the system. Thanks, but this one will be a torrent, and I may send eidos a check for 20 bucks if it pass MY personal review. Otherwise, they can suck a lemon. Way to lose a sale, brainiacs.… Expand
  9. RogerVernon
    Dec 22, 2008
    4
    This game sucks so hard not even photons can escape. Seriously. BAD. F'ing BAD. You get to a certain point and your saved games up and F'ing disappear. The code QA was s***canned in India. It crashed on a regular basis. Move along, do not give Eidos any money. They LOOSE.
  10. DalekW
    Dec 7, 2009
    0
    Worst game ever, I can't even get past the 2nd level. The camera controls are all over the place, and it just kicks you into the game without any training. Don't buy this game!
  11. Speed4Runs
    Jan 3, 2013
    4
    Bad Tomb Raider game. Still, it's not the worst one (the worst one will probably be the new Tomb Raider Reboot). Very bad performance, as well as awful longevity. Gameplay is OK, but the graphics are dated and bad, and the plot is basic. They cut off all the best things of Tomb Raider. Graphics and performance: 3 + ½ (3.5); Longevity: 3- (2.75); Gameplay: 5- (4.75); Plot: 4 +Bad Tomb Raider game. Still, it's not the worst one (the worst one will probably be the new Tomb Raider Reboot). Very bad performance, as well as awful longevity. Gameplay is OK, but the graphics are dated and bad, and the plot is basic. They cut off all the best things of Tomb Raider. Graphics and performance: 3 + ½ (3.5); Longevity: 3- (2.75); Gameplay: 5- (4.75); Plot: 4 + ½ (4.5). OVERALL SCORE: 4- [3.88] (3.75 out of 10 [Bad-mediocre]).… Expand
  12. M1kn1C
    Dec 15, 2017
    4
    Bad engine, camera and story. Worst Tomb Raider game. I now know, why Crystal Dynamics restart and create Tomb Raider and Rise of Tomb Raider. I dissapointed in this game.

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Best PC Game of 2008
28
#28 Most Discussed PC Game of 2008
28
#28 Most Shared PC Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. VideoGamer
    80
    A visually stunning, epic adventure that continues Crystal Dynamics' excellent run. We reckon it's the best completely original Tomb Raider (Anniversary was, of course, a remake) we've had in years, and is only let down by the odd control quirk and camera issue.
    Read full review
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    80
    We like the way she moves – Lara excels in both body and environments visuals that are great. It’s still the good old Tomb Raider cliché, but is there anything wrong with that? We don’t think so. Do not underestimate the Underworld! [Dec 2008]
  3. IGN
    80
    While the PC version has much sharper visuals and some tighter control, the camera can still hamper gameplay.
    Read full review
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