Reviews// Tomb Raider: Underworld (PS3)

There is no getting around this next bit of the review; Tomb Raider: Underworld is an immensely beautiful game. The engine has been updated into the current generation, but surpasses the 360 versions of Legend and Anniversary with ease. The dynamic lighting and shadowing add so much to the feel of the tombs and lairs that Lara visits that you almost feel as if you are there.

The water effects are some of the best I have ever seen, with the right amount of fogging underwater, the right amount of refraction and discolouration when looking through the water and the single best representation of caustics that I think has ever existed in a game.

The foliage in the Thailand level is fantastic, as is the way Lara interacts with it, pushing leaves aside as she walks past. The weather is well presented too, rain storms in Mexico darken the skies and limit your visibility as well as making ledges more slippery and dangerous.

However, all of this graphical wonder is shown to you by one of the most infuriating, out of control and stubbornly useless camera systems it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. Jumping in combat causes wild camera swings that disorientate you very badly. The camera will zoom in on Lara, just as you need to look behind her to see where she is about to jump to. It gets caught on the scenery almost as much as Lara herself and it even manages to encounter invisible walls that prevent it from moving to the position you want it in.

Scenery catching and invisible walls are something that Lara manages to encounter herself quite a bit. Catching her knee on a stone block will bring her to an instant halt whereas running straight at the block will see her vault it with ease. This isn't much of an impediment to exploration, but when you are avoiding several large tigers it can be quite painful.

However, the worst part of this sorry tale is the set of invisible walls on Lara's motor yacht. You can't guide her into the cabin below, you can't get her to the bridge, you can't even get near the apparently open sofa without running into a transparent barrier. And she doesn't just stop either, she does the full-on slapping-her-hands-against-the-wall routine she does when running into a sheer cliff face. The poor lass looks like a mime in an invisible box.

These are minor considerations in the great scheme of things, but in this day and age, it's all a bit fake and it breaks you out of the experience. Invisible walls shouldn't exist in computer games any more, not even in incidental places like Lara's yacht.

The rest of the game handles like you would expect. Lara has a few new moves and is able to use things she is carrying as weapons should she need to. She can carry weights to keep pressure pads depressed, even throw them if required, instead of always dragging crates and cages around. The grapnel gun makes a reappearance, with the added capability of pulling on objects from around corners.