Tomb Raider Underworld

This looked stunning when we first saw it, so has Crystal Dynamics followed through?

	Version PS3, (All Formats)	Developer Crystal Dynamics	Publisher Eidos	Genre Action

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If the broad thrust of the puzzles and exploration is engaging, Crystal Dynamics fumbles the ball a bit from moment to moment. It's a battle at times to turn at an intersection when negotiating a network of girders, and there are a host of tiny flaws - character models lodging inside rocks, Lara leaping over an object when you want her to stand on top of it - which take some of the shine off. These are pardonable in the main, and I wouldn't give them a paragraph were it not for the half-an-hour I spent falling to a scalding death through Lara's obstinate refusal to climb round a corner (the checkpointing, you'll be glad to hear, is extremely generous). As suggested, the camera has its ugly episodes: at one point it got itself wedged under the tail-pipe of the bike as I tried to dismount.

Very much Major-General of the game's small battalion of setbacks is the combat, which really, really needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. Aside from a new roundhouse kick and some bolt-on Wachowski-Brothers-esque special moves, triggered by hitting square once you've built up enough "juice", Tomb Raider's battles are much as they were in 1996. The enemies certainly haven't been taking any night classes: they all spawn from the same spot, seldom retreat under fire and will happily stand and be shot providing you stay out of their sensory radius. I was able to defeat one of the game's very few boss creatures by running circles around it for two minutes with the fire button depressed. Humans are a bit harder to put down, but only by virtue of their implausible accuracy and sheer, grinding weight of numbers.

In past games the combat was somewhat redeemed by the thrill of discovering new weapons. Crystal Dynamics has done away with this aspect: you pick a secondary firearm - shotgun, tranquiliser rifle, Uzis, AK47 or speargun - to compliment Lara's iconic pistols at the beginning of each chapter, and you're then lumped with it throughout. The secondaries lack character, and there's not much incentive to put aside the pistols till you pick up a certain mythological melee weapon, which only makes the throwaway opposition even more so.

All of which is aggravating given how Underworld distinguishes itself elsewhere. Lara has never been so well-lit, or as life-like. She'll push away fronds as you run through the undergrowth, and shield her face against flames; her gait and posture alter depending on whether she's running up or down a slope or through water. Having to fall back on tedious strafe-shoot tactics after watching this paragon complete a series of beautiful acrobatics is, quite frankly, a kick in the teeth.

At ten hours in length the game is no bottomless time-sink, and there's not much point to replay unless you're desperate for more concept art. It's definitely worth that first run-through, but those accustomed to a long tail-end may prefer to rent. Enjoyable though the latest iteration ultimately is, Tomb Raider is sorely in need of a fresh direction - I'd suggest dumping combat entirely and really going to town on the puzzles. Don't leave out the hand-stand pull-up though - a man's got to get his kicks someplace.

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