GBU Tomb Raider: Underworld

If there is one thing I like just as much as zombies its Vikings.  Which is understandably weird since I’m a Scotch Irish Englishman, which basically means I fight with myself a lot.  So understandably Tomb Raider Underworld set off my Viking alarm almost as hard as VIKING did.  And if you haven’t played Viking I’ll be reviewing that one next week.  So here we go Lara Croft’s 8^th time in a video game and one of the better Tomb Raiders.

 

GOOD:  If crystal Dynamics hit Tomb Raider legend out of the park this pitch they hit off the planet.  The game play was intense.  Shoot a chip off a wall in the maze level to mark which way you are going and how to get back.  The environment is your biggest foe in this game, in fact only two levels where your racing against time to stop the bad guys all while being shot at.  And really the only shooting is in the initial phase of the levels.  The motorcycle levels include puzzles that you need the motorcycle to solve.  Plus it is really fun to ride around on a motorcycle through ancient ruins and up walls and over huge gaping chasms.  The storyline shores up some of the loose ends created in the Legend and Anniversary titles allowing the player to finally get a full picture of what has been happening to Lara and her family.  Also the story of Ragnarok, Mjolnir, and Valhalla are intertwined into the storyline to offer a bit more depth to the puzzles and their meaning.

BAD:  As with most Tomb Raider games of this caliber it was entirely too short, however it was still gripping and kept me entertained for hours on end.

UGLY:  The ending looks like the end of the Tomb Raider storyline, however hopefully Crystal Dynamics will bring a new story line to this franchise and allow the die hard fans such as myself to continue playing these amazing puzzle action games.