Tomb Raider: Underworld wiki

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Tomb Raider: Underworld
Developer(s)	Crystal Dynamics Nixxes Software (PS3) Buzz Monkey Software (Wii, PS2)[1] Santa Cruz Games (NDS)[2] EA Mobile (Mobile)
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Distributor(s)	NA Warner Bros. Games/Time Warner[3]
Designer(s)	Eric Lindstrom (creative director) Toby Gard (cinematics director)
Writer(s)	Toby Gard Eric Lindstrom
Composer(s)	Troels Brun Folmann Colin O'Malley
Series	Tomb Raider
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Mobile phone[4], N-Gage 2.0[5]
Release date(s)	NA 18 November 2008 EU 21 November 2008 AUS 5 December 2008 PS2 EU 23 January 2009[6] NA 3 March 2009[7][8]
Genre(s)	Platform, Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	BBFC: 12 ESRB: T PEGI: 16+
Media	DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Wii Optical Disc, Nintendo DS game card
System requirements	See Development
Input methods	Keyboard and mouse, Gamepad

Tomb Raider: Underworld, also known as Tomb Raider 8, is the eighth game in the Tomb Raider series, released in November 2008. It is the third game in the series to be developed by Crystal Dynamics. The PlayStation 2 version was released on 23 January 2009 in Europe, and 3 March 2009 in North America. It is also the first Tomb Raider game to be released on the PlayStation 3. Underworld resumes the adventure from where ' left off and addresses elements of the plot left unexplained in Legend and '.^[9]

[edit] Gameplay

Pre-release screenshot of Lara Croft gazing at a ruined temple.

Differences from previous iterations in the series are that Lara's environment will be an "interactive world that reacts and remembers", such that footprints left in the mud or mud transferred to Lara's knee from kneeling on the ground will be washed away by rain, the bodies of the foes she encounters will remain where she killed them, and any destruction to the environment she causes will be permanent.^[10] According to creative director Eric Lindstrom, this is "to not only reward the player for the effect they're having on the world, but to give them navigational aids."^[11] The game uses an animation blending system that allows Lara to interact dynamically with her environment, such as pushing foliage aside with one or two hands, depending on if she is carrying a weapon.^[12] It also features a "hybrid lighting model that combines dynamic lights with carefully created light maps" and a weather system that changes the environment, for example, "If Lara’s negotiating a wet ledge she’s more apt to slip or lose grip," which makes "the environment ... her adversary" for a large part of the game.^[10][13] Previously seen separate aspects of gameplay have been combined for a new experience. Lindstrom explained that "in the past, there was climbing, and there was shooting, and there was puzzle solving. And they often didn't overlap. We've now integrated all of those elements."^[14] This instalment also features a new melee combat system, requiring Lara in some instances to use "direct combat and evasive manoeuvres to distance herself from her attacker". Notably, Lara's bike, among other things, will be a key component in solving the puzzles she will encounter in her adventure.^[10] Pick-ups will have multiple uses as weapons and tools in interaction with the environment, and Lindstrom stated that Lara "can also split up her guns and fire at two different targets simultaneously,"^[11] or hold an item with one hand and fire a gun with the other.^[14] The grappling hook can now be stretched taut and used to pull objects off ledges unlike in previous iterations, illustrating what project lead Rob Pavey said, that "Lara will be able to do anything that you'd expect her to be able to do," which he called "the big theme this year."^[15] Lindstrom describes this as "a philosophy called 'What Could Lara Do?'—WCLD. It's short-hand for having the player be able to use their own intuition about what someone with her abilities should be able to do in an environment such as this, and consistency across the different mechanics and abilities. If she can throw a grenade, then if she can pick up this pole, why can't she throw it?" Crystal Dynamics also aims to make the game non-linear, unlike Tomb Raider: Legend, and eliminate the need for hint icons that indicate the ability to interact with objects.^[11] The interactive cutscenes from previous titles have been replaced with "adrenaline moments". Instead of specific button presses, time slows down and gives the player a chance to get out of harm's way while retaining complete control of Lara.^[16]

[edit] Story

A promotional image of Lara Croft for Underworld.

The story begins with Lara Croft in the lower corridor of Croft Manor where Lara has to escape from a fire. Upon entering the main hall, she is surprised to see the mansion in flames. As she reaches the main door, Zip shoots at her as Winston tries to restrain him. The game flashes back a week into the past, showing Lara in the Mediterranean Sea. Lara is searching for a way to Avalon, the mythical resting place of King Arthur, and the place where Amanda claimed Lara's mother is. Lara finds a temple of "Proto-Norse" origin, leading her to believe that Avalon and the Norse underworld of Niflheim are one and the same. She also finds a gauntlet that belonged to the Norse god Thor. Lara is attacked by mercenaries working for Amanda, who take the gauntlet to Amanda's boat. After pursuing them to their ship, Lara encounters her old nemesis Jacqueline Natla, whom Amanda has in captivity. They began discussing Lara's find and Natla states that Avalon is the same as Helheim, rather than Niflheim as Lara had supposed, and that Lara will need Thor's hammer, Mjölnir to enter. The ship begins sinking due to an explosion caused by one of the mercenaries in a firefight with Lara. Lara shoots at a fleeing Amanda who throws the gauntlet into the sea. Lara quickly jumps to catch it, letting Amanda escape (Amanda lets Lara have the gauntlet as Natla told her it would only work for Lara). Lara travels to coastal Thailand, as Natla had suggested, where she discovers that her father had already been there and took Thor's second gauntlet back to a hidden study beneath Croft Manor. After retrieving the gauntlet, as well as a map showing the location of Thor's belt and hammer, Lara is surprised to find the manor going up in flames. An injured Zip, assisted by Winston, shoots at her as he thought Lara had shot him after taking Amanda's "Wraith Stone" from the vault. Lara and Winston convince Zip it was not her and Lara tells them to get out of the mansion while she goes to view the security video in the computer room. Before she does, however, she is confronted by a doppelgänger resembling herself, apparently created by Natla. The doppelganger shoots and kills Alister, who was trying to escape the flames, then flees. Lara carries Alister's body out of the house, and resolves to continue searching for Mjölnir, which she believes will give her the power to kill Natla. In Mexico, Lara retrieves Thor's belt, which powers the gauntlets needed to wield his hammer. After retrieving the belt, she heads to Jan Mayen Island and finds Mjölnir in Valhalla. She also finds a message from Odin, Thor's father, saying that he will need to perform a ritual before Thor can open the way to Helheim. With the gauntlets, belt and hammer, Lara confronts Natla on Amanda's second ship. Lara reluctantly agrees to work with Natla, who claims to know Odin's ritual. Lara travels to the Arctic Sea and, with Natla's help, opens the entrance to Helheim. She soon encounters her mother, Amelia, who has been turned into a thrall, a deceased individual whose corpse is reanimated by the substance eitr. As the mindless thrall approaches, Lara forces her back into the eitr. Lara kneels in sorrow as Natla appears to reveal that she was using Lara and Amanda to gain access to Avalon, via Thor's hammer. Natla also reveals that she killed Lara's father, Richard, when he refused to cooperate in this task years ago. The doppelgänger appears and restrains Lara just as she was about to attack Natla with Mjölnir. As Lara is about to be killed, Amanda appears and uses her Wraith Stone to defeat the doppelganger. She also holds off the approaching thralls allowing Lara to continue. Lara finds Natla activating a massive, ancient device at the heart of a titanic cavern filled with eitr. Natla explains that Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent, refers to the network of tectonic divisions spread across the world beneath the oceans giving rise to the legendary interpretation and that this device sits right atop where the supercontinent, Pangea, had split apart millions of years ago. The device is designed to bring about Ragnarök, or what Natla refers to as the Seventh Age, by triggering apocalyptic levels of volcanic activity throughout the world. Lara destroys the device with Mjölnir then hurls the hammer at Natla, who is distracted by trying to repair the machine. Natla is struck down and plunges into the eitr. Lara heads back to Amanda, but they discover that the exit is blocked. Lara spots the portal that originally brought her mother to Helheim, realizing that her mother may not have known how the device had worked thus remaining trapped. Lara and Amanda work together and escape. They are teleported back to Nepal, where Lara's mother accidentally teleported herself to Helheim. Amanda attempts to stir up a fight with Lara, who chastises her. Amanda contemplates her choices, before finally limping away. Alone, Lara says goodbye to her mother, and the game ends as she walks away from the portal.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Croft Manor (Prologue)

The game begins with Lara Croft in the lower corridor of Croft Manor trying to escape from the burning mansion. This area is used as a training area for the player to become accustomed to the controls. When the player reaches the main door, Zip shoots at Lara. The game then flashes back a week into the past in the Mediterranean Sea.

[edit] Mediterranean Sea

Lara must dive to the bottom of the sea and gain access to Niflheim. Here she must defeat a Kraken that is blocking the path. Lara finds Thor's Gauntlet but is attacked by a group of mercenaries who she follows back to a ship belonging to Amanda. Lara finds Natla on board and must find her way off the ship when it begins to sink due to a firefight with the previously seen mercenary. Lara notices and starts shooting at Amanda who is being rescued by helicopter. Amanda throws the gauntlet into the sea which Lara dives after, then escapes to her boat.

[edit] Thailand

Lara travels to Thailand now after following a suggestion from Natla about the second gauntlet. Here, Lara has to solve a puzzle involving the god Shiva, traverse the jungle while fighting Nāga, and explore underground ruins where the second gauntlet should be. Lara discovers her father had visited previously and taken the gauntlet, storing it in a secret study beneath Croft Manor.

[edit] Croft Manor

After finding out that the second gauntlet is somewhere under Croft Manor, Lara travels to her home and with the help of Zip and Alister, discovers a secret passage underneath a chamber. Lara must make her way through the underground passageways and retrieve the gauntlet. When Lara finds her way out, Croft manor is suddenly on fire and she must escape.

[edit] Mexico

Lara now travels to Mexico to find Thor's Belt. This area begins with Lara using a motorbike to traverse through the harsh jungles of Mexico. Lara must manipulate Mayan Calendars to unlock the entrance to Xibalba. Here Lara has to traverse through difficult traps including swinging blades, timed fire bursts, and stone doors to eventually find Thor's Belt.

[edit] Jan Mayen Island

Lara now travels to Jan Mayen Island to retrieve Thor's Hammer, Mjölnir. The motorbike also plays a part in this level, allowing Lara to travel through the first part of the area quickly. Lara must navigate her way through Valhalla making sure to avoid the massive hammers that become active upon her arrival.

[edit] Andaman Sea

Deciding to pay Natla a visit after reading about a ritual in Valhalla, Lara travels to Andaman Sea to access Amanda's second ship. Lara has the option of using Thor's Hammer or her regular weapons to eliminate her enemies on this ship. This area ends when Lara finds Natla.

[edit] Arctic Sea

After finding Natla and setting her free with Thor's Hammer, Natla tells Lara where to go to get to Helheim. After Lara finds her way into the entrance under water, she must battle hoards of Thralls. Lara finally gains entrance to Helheim after Natla uses the ritual, and Lara uses Thor's hammer. Inside, Lara finds out the fate of her mother. Natla turns on her, pursuing the interest of activating Ragnarok and bringing about the Seventh Age. Lara must stop Natla and escape Helheim.

[edit] Cast

The following actors are credited in the game as well as the instruction manual.^[17][18]

[edit] Development

In November 2007, Eidos was reported to have filed for a trademark on the phrase, Tomb Raider Underworld.^[20][21][22] Eidos soon after reserved the Tomb Raider Underworld domain name.^[23] In December 2007, Eidos filed for a second trademark for Tomb Raider Underworld, reserving the right to provide "computer games that may be accessed network-wide by network users."^[24] In the January 2008 issue of the magazine Play, details from the "first-ever demo" of the game were revealed.^[10] SCi, which owns Eidos, officially announced Tomb Raider: Underworld on 10 January 2008, and confirmed that all platform versions of the game will be released simultaneously in November 2008.^[25] Play's assertions that this is the "first true next gen Lara" and "one big physics smorgasbord" which "looks altogether photo-real"^[10] led to speculation that Tomb Raider: Underworld might be using a new game engine for its next-generation graphics rather than the system used by ' and '. Later, the Senior Producer and External Designer separately confirmed that Underworld uses an all-new engine that was built especially for it.^[26][27] This new engine will also be used for Deus Ex 3.^[28] Keeley Hawes provided the voice [1] of Lara in this installment, as she did in Anniversary and Legend.^[29] Lara's costume was redesigned and she no longer wears her trademark green sleeveless top and khaki shorts, but instead, a dark brown halter top and black shorts. Additionally, her hair is no longer braided, but worn in a ponytail. According to Play, Lara "moves as good as she looks [and] no longer moves like a video game character" thanks to being fully motion captured.^[10] Olympic gymnast and NCAA Women's Gymnastics champion Heidi Moneymaker was the model used for motion capturing.^[14] Lara Croft is said to have over 2,000 animations. ^[30] The first official video, entitled "Beneath the Surface", was released on 17 July 2008, and featured interviews with members of the development team and showed screenshots, artwork, and several clips of gameplay footage. A teaser trailer was released on 19 July 2008,^[31] and the first gameplay trailer was released on 15 August 2008.^[32] Gymnast Alison Carroll has also been selected as the new official Lara Croft model to promote the game, replacing Karima Adebibe.

[edit] Music

Troels Brun Folmann composed the main theme of the game, and was the music supervisor for Underworld while O'Malley was scoring the bulk of the music. Underworld's music is purely orchestral in style.^[33] There are pieces that do not loop, meaning they will only play one time and will be triggered on specific events. The score is made more of musical fragments, similar to the first five games of the Tomb Raider series, and there is less constant music than in Legend.^[33] The first 4 seconds of the main theme are the last 4 notes of the the well known seven-notes of the first Tomb Raider game main theme. A similar beginning was already used in another track composed by Troels called "Egypt - Cinematic Mix 2". The end of the main theme gets louder than the beginning by adding choirs and percussion. It then drops into a solo performance of the same four-notes reminiscent of the main theme. In addition to gameplay music, Underworld's Theatrical Trailer also uses orchestral music. The featured piece is the 3rd Sequentia: Lacrimosa, from Mozart's Requiem in D minor. This particular theme, by Colin O'Malley, is entitled 'Roll Back Destruction', and features a recorded choir.

[edit] Downloadable content

After an agreement with Microsoft, Eidos announced they will release two new chapters of Tomb Raider: Underworld as exclusive downloadable content on the Xbox Live Marketplace: Beneath the Ashes to be released on 10 February 2009 and Lara's Shadow on 10 March 2009.^[34] According to an MTV Multiplayer blog post, an Eidos spokesperson has stated that there are no plans to release the content for PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Windows.^[35] Following a negative reaction from fans, Eidos released a statement explaining that they were approached by Microsoft, and to confirm "there are no plans for additional downloadable content for PS3".^[36] It was also announced that two new outfits, made by Québec fashion designers, would be available for free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The outfits were chosen by jury and public vote on the Festival Arcadia's Virtually Fashionable on 8 November 2008.^[37] On 15 December 2008, Eidos announced the release of two classic outfits from past Tomb Raider games ("Classic" and "Legend"), which would be released for free exclusively on the Xbox Live Marketplace.^[38] On 30 December 2008, two additional wetsuits for Lara were also released for free on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Beneath the Ashes was originally slated for 10 February,^[39] but was postponed until 24 February due to technical issues.^[40][41] Lara's Shadow was released on 10 March as originally planned,^[39] and the two costumes from the Virtually Fashionable contest were also released on this date.^[42]

[edit] Reception

According to the aggregate review site Metacritic, the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions of Tomb Raider: Underworld have met with "generally favorable reviews",^[49][50][51] while the Wii and DS versions are shown to have "mixed or average reviews".^[52][53] Beneath the Ashes and Lara's Shadow received metascores of 60 and 70 respectively, both of which fall under "mixed or average reviews".^[54][55] According to GameStats, Beneath the Ashes averaged a 6.1 based on 8 reviews^[56] and Lara's Shadow averaged a 6.6 based on 8 reviews.^[57] The Guardian newspaper refers to reviews of the game as being "mixed", though only GameSpot's review of the Nintendo DS version is directly cited.^[58] Prior to the game's release, Eidos attempted to prevent any reviews rating the game at less than 8 out of 10 from appearing, with an Eidos spokesman stating "[t]he brand manager in the US that's handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don't put people off buying the game, basically."^[58] In reviews, the environments have been widely praised, many reviewers also praised Lara's motion captured movements and the much less linear style of gameplay, while some criticisms aimed at its "haywire" camera angles and "dodgy" combat system. Tomb Raider: Underworld received a BAFTA nomination in 2009.^[59] For Underworld's story, Eric Lindstrom and Toby Gard received a nomination for the WGA’s Videogame Writing Award.^[60] GamesRadar gave it a 9/10, commenting, "The remarkable architectural vision, coupled with ultra-smart level design, all produced on such a huge scale, makes this as good as Tomb Raider has ever been. It’s still short, it still has annoying combat, and Lara still freaks out and jumps off in the wrong direction far too often. So it still falls short of greatness. But the most exemplary check-pointing we’ve ever encountered forgives a great deal, and the brave decision to ditch the boss fights makes us want to hug all involved. Go explore the Underworld."^[61] Orange gave the game a glowing review and a score of 9/10, the game's "lush" graphics were highly praised as were the environments. Lara's movement was also highly praised and was described as a "sure-footed step forward for the game" while Lara's interaction with her surrounding environments was said to be "incredible". The reduced amount of combat was also praised but the amount of exploration was said to be the highlight of the game.^[62] Nintendo Power gave the Wii version of the game a score of 7/10 in issue 236. Praise was given to the game's graphics and platforming elements, they called the environments some of the "best" in the Tomb Raider franchise, and suggested that the game controlled better than the previous Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Criticisms were directed towards the puzzles, which were described as being ridiculously easy, and combat saying that while combat has never been a large part of the Tomb Raider series, they did wonder why the developers even bothered with the combat in Underworld. IGN gave the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions scores of 8.0, 7.5 and 7.4 respectively, stating that it was an enjoyable game for the story, puzzles, exploration and graphics but was, however, held back by clipping, object detection and combat issues.^[63] Their review of the Wii version praised the environment but criticised the puzzles and opined that that the game was "disappointing for fans of the series".^[64] IGN gave Beneath the Ashes a 5.0, stating that it lacked originality and was not challenging enough.^[65] Lara's Shadow however received an 8.0, was praised for its new gameplay. IGN stated it was "a return to the classic Tomb Raider play elements".^[66] The Guardian also gave the game a highly positive review and awarded it with 4/5 stars. The graphics and story were highlighted and described as "unimpeachable". Lara's motion capture movement was also heavily praised. However, the camera frame was noted to "sometimes go completely haywire". It was also stated that fans of the series will "almost certainly agree that it's the best Tomb Raider game yet."^[67] On 9 January 2009, Eidos announced that Tomb Raider: Underworld sales failed to meet expectations, selling 1.5 million copies worldwide as of 31 December 2008.^[68][69][70] On 27 February 2009, however, Eidos announced that the game has shipped around 2.6 million copies worldwide, and so is more successful than the previous two titles in the series.^[71]

[edit] References