E3 2008: Tomb Raider Underworld Hands-On
Lara Croft drops the hammer, Thor's Hammer, this fall.
Deep within the bowels of the Eidos booth at E3 2008, we got our hands all over Lara Croft in her latest adventure, Tomb Raider Underworld. Her adventure begins, appropriately, under the sea in a cave on the floor of the Mediterranean. There, she will eventually learn that the legendary Thor's Hammer is not a myth, but real. Unfortunately, the secrets of the fabled weapon are guarded by a kraken whose giant tentacles block Lara's path. Our only choice is to drop a huge block of spikes on the kraken's head and make calamari. Our apologies to kraken enthusiasts everywhere for our inhumane treatment of krakens.
To accomplish this feat, Lara slyly jumped from platform to platform and shimmied across gaps in typical Tomb Raider fashion. Lara can use a grappling hook to snag onto stone columns, and then rein in the hook to pull down the stone column, this time on a kraken's tentacle. The level serves as a basic tutorial for navigating the increasingly complicated environments in Underworld. This adventure takes place in Thailand, Mexico, and "the far north," said Eidos, and each area will feature a different underworld, such as the Mayan hell known as Xibalba. After gathering clues and items from each of these underworlds, Lara will eventually track down Thor's hammer, which legend holds has the power to destroy even the Gods. If the hammer thing doesn't work out, Lara still has her trusty duel pistols.
Visually, Tomb Raider Underworld has a long way to go. That's good since the game is still in a pre-alpha state, although it must be said that Lara looked especially lovely in her form-fitting wetsuit. Despite a few bugs, expect large, wide-open environments and multiple paths to reaching your objectives, as well as an all-terrain motorcycle outfitted to negotiate snow and ice. Other new gadgets include an active sonar map that emits an active sonar ping that creates an image of Lara's surroundings, and the grappler that allows for wall runs and rappelling.
Tomb Raider Underworld is expected to be released this November, and we'll have more in the coming months.
i want this for the psp
Hoping that this game comes out for ds and wii at the same time as 360 or PS3 I hate how games always come later for Nintendo :(
tomb raider is one of the my favroite game be soon i am always waiting
I interested to see how the motion controls have been integrated for the Wii
This better be on the PS2 >.
This better be on the PS2 >.
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I hope Underworld will come out for ps2 considering all of the Raiders have.
These tomb raider games have awesome adventure but graphics are not impresive. if the fraphics and sound can match encharted the ps3 game, then it'll be a must buy>>>
More jumpy shooty fun! And maybe this time Lara gets too kill demons and fiends too! Maybe even get possessed, corrupted, struggling against certain doom/damnation! Yay for originality!
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Re Fighterguard's comments - personally I preferred Soul Reaver - which is why the first part of my username is Raziel. I prefer using Raziel_uk but GS doesn't like underscores. As for Tomb Raider bring it on...
Give me a thumbs up if you want Crystal Dynamics to stop loafing around and start working on a new Legacy of Kain game!!!! Give us Kain now! I'm tired of Lara Croft!!
Hopefully Eidos will come up with a few new things to keep this game fresh. It's relied on improving boob physics in the past too much.
i saw it in e3 it looks really good
I think this is going to take place after legends. The story didnt quite end in legends and some questions went unanswered.
can`t wait to see this dudes...i mean i` love tomb raider and i love this chick :D anyway...i`ve finished "legend" and almost "anniversary"...god speed gentlemen and hope we won`t be dissapointed!
I was really impressed by the quality of Underworld from what i've seen so far. I can only imagine what the final product will look like. Crystal D has really taken Lara to new heights.
Anyone know if this takes place right after Legend? If I remember correctly the story in Legend didnt quite end.
If this game "visually has a long way to go" - then I'm looking forward to the final results as it already looks very nice.
it's funny when you finish reading this thread and you look to the right of the page, where it says; "Related Games" (Similar) - MGS4, and GTA4... lol, is anyone insinuating that gamers will be sneaking around in a cardboard box (I mean... a barrel) and hijack leopards passing by on all terrain vehicles? well anyway, as long as she keeps wearing that swimming suit you won't see me complaining...
METKRAM: please no underwater game-play all games involving swimming sucks! So what your saying is... God of War Sucks?
well i m going to get it.
Wasn't there supposed to be a sequel to TR:L ?
This game will be awsome it's not only underwater but it's underground and on the ground too i can't whit to finish my lara croft collection
i haven't bought any other tomb raiders but this one looks cool
please no underwater game-play all games involving swimming sucks!
I still need to play Tomb Raider Legend :?
Wii version? Hello?
Hopefully that means soon you'll have more screen shots and media in general. There's not a lot to see now. *sigh*
Hope they give Lara some ground to run on, if its completely underwater I wont touch it with a barge pole. Dont want another Ecco.
Can't wait. this is one of my favorite series ever.
This TR looks promising. I'm looking forward to the underwater parts. The glimps of TR from stage demo looked interesting.
Cool
I'm willing to give it one more shot.. but Lara feels something of a bygone age now.
So we're ignoring the end of Tomb Raider Legend?
Sounds ok
Not that big of a coverage...EGM had a bigger one...but all the same. Can't wait 4 it.
Thanks Eidos.
Good old Lara...
well this one reeaally sounds intriguing for me . I really hope they will create a game that stands out for the name Tomb raider that we loved for so many years . The recent parts were good , but not OUTSTANDING in terms of the game as a story ( very shallow ) in my opinion . I hope they fix the frustrating control system in the game ( specially in the last version ) once and for all !!! Nontheless MY FAITH in this game will never die , because i simply LOVE IT !!!
god its bin years since i waited for a tomb raider game. but this looks great like other people are saying legend brought Lara back
can wait to buy thiz game
Lara croft is awesome
Sounds SweeeT
I agree with darkstreetdev, my faith in this series was reborn with legend and TR: Ani was great too. I can't wait to get my hands on this new game. I like the fact that its seems to be a direct sequel to Legend and that it seems to revolve around these ancient weapons of myth,
Can't wait! My faith has been restored since Legend.
I want to play this game.
@newb16: Not entirely true. Guns can be fired under water. They just lose accuracy due to the bullet having to go against the water. Look at MGS3 as an example. You could shoot underwater, but it took more bullets to kill something due to the bullets losing speed and energy.
I'll be getting it since they really have improved on the series since legend
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Game Info
- Release Date: Nov 18, 2008
- ESRB: TTitles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older.
- Release Date: 2008
- Release Date: Mar 3, 2009
- ESRB: TTitles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older.
Tomb Raider: Underworld
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- Publisher(s): Square Enix
- Developer(s): Crystal Dynamics
- Genre: Action
- Release: Nov 18, 2008 (US)
- ESRB: T
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