Tomb Raider: Underworld demo on XBLM now! Put Animal Cops & PETA on speed-dial

Lunker

Major Nelson wrote:

Content: Tomb Raider: Underworld Demo
Price: Free
Availability: All Xbox LIVE regions
Dash Text: [ESRB: T (Teen) BLOOD,MILD SUGGESTIVE THEMES,MILD VIOLENCE,VIOLENCE] Explore everything. Stop at Nothing. Download the Tomb Raider: Underworld demo now!

As a consummate fan of puzzle-platformers, I really loved both TR: Legend and TR: Anniversary, and I'm really jazzed about Underworld. I saw this this morning and didn't really get a chance to play it before work—just loaded it up and saw Lara's boobies, which were very nice, and then dove into the water and swam around, and everything looked beautiful.

I'll be trying it more tonight when I get home, but anyone else check this out? In the great Puzzle Platformer debate of Fall 08, between this, Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia, where do allegiances lie?

urahonky

Boobs!

...I mean, I can't wait to try this. I have Legends still on my GF queue.

UnbreakableVow

FUCK!

I was going to make the Tomb Raider Underworld thread when the time was right (probably this weekend). It's sad to see that nearly no one is hyped about a series that has risen from near-death as well as Tomb Raider has.

Of course, I'm a die-hard fan of every game in the series (yes, even that one), so I might be a bit biased.

As for allegiances between this and PoP, well, neither one is out yet. I think Prince of Persia may possibly end up the better-crafted game, but I'm almost positive I'll enjoy TRU more. I prefer both Legend and Anniversary over any of the Sands of Time trilogy (not that I don't fucking love TSOT and TTT).

Legend was such a step in the right direction. There were, check this, actual tombs involved, and while many agree that the series should never have gone into urban settings in the first place, that's because (especially with TRIII and AoD) the settings simply served as an empty arena in which to kill enemies, which is not what the series is about at all. Legend fixed this with cooler puzzles (the Tesla-based level) and kick-ass platforming. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that climbing up the side of the Takamoto skyscraper in Legend is easily my "gaming moment" of 2006.

EDIT: Any word on a PS3 demo this Thursday possibly?

UnbreakableVow

http://www.tombraiderchronicles.com/headlines3527.html

No word about a PS3 demo there, and apparently 360 is getting two exclusive downloadable chapters.

Sad face, that's what I did there.

Also, I hope those two chapters aren't very story-driven since they're exclusive to one system. I'm realllly looking forward to the story in this one (especially given the trailer; apparently Zip becomes an enemy?).

Lunker

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

FUCK!

I was going to make the Tomb Raider Underworld thread when the time was right (probably this weekend). It's sad to see that nearly no one is hyped about a series that has risen from near-death as well as Tomb Raider has.

Of course, I'm a die-hard fan of every game in the series (yes, even that one), so I might be a bit biased.

As for allegiances between this and PoP, well, neither one is out yet. I think Prince of Persia may possibly end up the better-crafted game, but I'm almost positive I'll enjoy TRU more. I prefer both Legend and Anniversary over any of the Sands of Time trilogy (not that I don't fucking love TSOT and TTT).

Legend was such a step in the right direction. There were, check this, actual tombs involved, and while many agree that the series should never have gone into urban settings in the first place, that's because (especially with TRIII and AoD) the settings simply served as an empty arena in which to kill enemies, which is not what the series is about at all. Legend fixed this with cooler puzzles (the Tesla-based level) and kick-ass platforming. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that climbing up the side of the Takamoto skyscraper in Legend is easily my "gaming moment" of 2006.

EDIT: Any word on a PS3 demo this Thursday possibly?

It's you and me, buddy. I think the game is going to suffer a bit due to the holiday games crush—if this had come out in the summer or even in September, I think it would get a bit more mindshare. I've heard a lot of generally good feedback here for Legend and Anniversary, but Underworld isn't mentioned much in people's must-have lists for this fall.

Legend was really awesome. I've honestly never been a fan of the original Tomb Raiders but the Sands of Time–ification of the series' controls that happened in Legend turned me on to it quickly, and I've run through the game several times since then. I'm still midway through a run in Anniversary, but I appreciate that the game is much more puzzle-based and open-ended than Legend.

Inzigna

As far as I can remember, Tomb Raider used to be an AAA release in the Playstation days.

Somewhere in the transition to the Playstation 2, it became meh. Maybe the sex appeal wore off, I don't know, but now it's becoming one of those titles that people don't really talk about.

I might be totally wrong here, go ahead and correct me. I'm just speaking from my perspective, so don't shoot me okay?

RainbowDespair

I thought the last two Tomb Raider games were both excellent, but there's just so many good games coming out (or recently out) this season, that I doubt that the latest Tomb Raider is going to get purchased from me anytime soon. I think it was a big mistake to release it now; why not release it in February when there's basically no competition?

Dagrabbit

This is my must-have title this year. I adored Legend and most of Anniversary (bought them twice, once for PC, once for 360). If this game plays like Legend, but with better vehicle sections and a couple of St. Francis's Folly style set pieces, I'll be a happy, happy man.

Lunker

So very, very true.

AbsoluteZero

Apparently gabe cant draw feet or teeth anymore. Everyone's got tiny hooves and two gigantic teeth.

Renzo

about the teeth: She's a Brit.

about the feet: I got nothin'

RedDawn

I loved legend, I'll have to grab this demo and check it out. Is Anniversary worth getting?

Klyka

Did anyone mention yet that the landscapes look more organic than Uncharted's?

Someone should,so we can get some good old Dark Warrior posts in here.


Also,this game is beautiful, but still plagued by a few things common in the Tomb Raider series: bad camera, sometimes iffy controls and the great animations sometimes transition badly.

Dagrabbit

RedDawn wrote: »

I loved legend, I'll have to grab this demo and check it out. Is Anniversary worth getting?

Anniversary is pretty good, but different from Legend. It's a much slower game with less action and much more platforming. Since it's a remake, some of the game feels a little archaic (repetitive levels), and it seems much more glitchy/buggy than Legend. I got much more frustrated at the controls/camera in Anniversary than Legend. Despite those issues, it is fun and has some amazing set pieces.

RedDawn

Dagrabbit wrote: »

RedDawn wrote: »

I loved legend, I'll have to grab this demo and check it out. Is Anniversary worth getting?

Anniversary is pretty good, but different from Legend. It's a much slower game with less action and much more platforming. Since it's a remake, some of the game feels a little archaic (repetitive levels), and it seems much more glitchy/buggy than Legend. I got much more frustrated at the controls/camera in Anniversary than Legend. Despite those issues, it is fun and has some amazing set pieces.

I'll see if I can find a copy next time I go to the store. I can dig on some old school platforming.

Mordrack

The PC demo is supposed to be out on Friday.
http://www.gametactics.com/?view=article&article=2080

Also image linked for huge.
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/7833/underwater6ars7.jpg

Cherrn

I liked Anniversary more than Legend, though I will admit much of that probably stems from being a huge fan of the original. The combat in Legends was shoddy at times, the level design wasn't very consistent throughout, and the vehicle bits were terrible. It also had a dumbass plot and characters that were clichéd to the point of parody, but I won't say that Anniversary is a lot better in that regard.

I will say that Anniversary is totally worth getting in any case, if you like Legend. Say what you will about the level design being archaic, but it is also completely fucking fantastic.

Also, Underworld is such a good looking game. I mean, it probably doesn't reinvent the wheel as far as TR games go, but it felt really solid and enjoyable nonetheless. I was not a big fan of Uncharted, so I'm looking forward to this.

mxmarks

I loved the first one on my SEGA SATURN, and have really wanted Anniversary, but haven't gotten around to picking it up yet.

What version is better - Wii or 360?

I know graphics are obviously going to be better on the 360, but how are the extras you can do with the Wii? Enough to warrant a purchase over the 360 version?

Lunker

mxmarks wrote: »

I loved the first one on my SEGA SATURN, and have really wanted Anniversary, but haven't gotten around to picking it up yet.

What version is better - Wii or 360?

I know graphics are obviously going to be better on the 360, but how are the extras you can do with the Wii? Enough to warrant a purchase over the 360 version?

I've played both the Wii and 360 versions, and I ended up keeping the 360 version. The Wii controls were decent for the most part, and the extra puzzles were mildly amusing, but the extras weren't worth the obvious graphical disadvantage of the Wii port. It got to the point that the blocky, smudgy graphics were making it tough for me to figure out what to do next (I got about midway through St. Francis' Folly before giving up). I also felt like since you spend so much time futzing with the camera in a game like Tomb Raider, having the camera on the right analog was much more comfortable than holding a button and using the pointer.

The Wii version of TRA is completely serviceable if you only have a Wii or PS2, but given the choice between Wii or 360 I'd go 360 in a heartbeat.

Fireflash

The only Tomb Raider I've ever played was the first one on ps1 for a few minutes. I started playing the first level but found the controls to be absolutely terrible. At that point I decided that Tomb Raider was a crappy game that relied entirely on miss Bigtits Tightass to make sales.

Since there still seems to be plenty of people genuinely enjoying the series I figure I should give it another chance after all these years.

Which of the modern games should I play if I were to only play 1 game in the series?

Lunker

Fireflash wrote: »

The only Tomb Raider I've ever played was the first one on ps1 for a few minutes. I started playing the first level but found the controls to be absolutely terrible. At that point I decided that Tomb Raider was a crappy game that relied entirely on miss Bigtits Tightass to make sales.

Since there still seems to be plenty of people genuinely enjoying the series I figure I should give it another chance after all these years.

Which of the modern games should I play if I were to only play 1 game in the series?

Again, I pretty much hated all of the Tomb Raiders prior to Legend, but now I'm a big fan. The series has gotten a nice kick in the pants after it went sour in the PS2 era, and the crappy grid-based controls were the first thing thrown overboard.

I say pick up Legend; it's on almost every platform now and feels like a spiritual cousin to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in terms of platforming controls. It's a fairly linear experience, as compared to the more open-ended puzzle solving of Anniversary (which is the modern Legend-inspired remake of the original Tomb Raider).

Gyral

Loves me some Tomb Raider. I queued up the demo download at lunch so I hope to play it some tonight.

tastydonuts

Definitely picking this one up. I might even go back and buy Legend for my 360 to get the achievement points for it if I didn't have a stack unplayed new games waiting for me, and no time to play them.

Fireflash

Lunker wrote: »

Fireflash wrote: »

The only Tomb Raider I've ever played was the first one on ps1 for a few minutes. I started playing the first level but found the controls to be absolutely terrible. At that point I decided that Tomb Raider was a crappy game that relied entirely on miss Bigtits Tightass to make sales.

Since there still seems to be plenty of people genuinely enjoying the series I figure I should give it another chance after all these years.

Which of the modern games should I play if I were to only play 1 game in the series?

Again, I pretty much hated all of the Tomb Raiders prior to Legend, but now I'm a big fan. The series has gotten a nice kick in the pants after it went sour in the PS2 era, and the crappy grid-based controls were the first thing thrown overboard.

I say pick up Legend; it's on almost every platform now and feels like a spiritual cousin to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in terms of platforming controls. It's a fairly linear experience, as compared to the more open-ended puzzle solving of Anniversary (which is the modern Legend-inspired remake of the original Tomb Raider).

Now I have a reason to want to play this! Sands of Time is my definition of platforming done right.

Kor

I loved the character definition in Legend, but preferred the gameplay of Anniversary.

So I'm quite happy to see a combination of the 2.

Also, RRoD can fucking blow me, because I should be playing this right now.

Lunker

Fireflash wrote: »

Lunker wrote: »

Fireflash wrote: »

The only Tomb Raider I've ever played was the first one on ps1 for a few minutes. I started playing the first level but found the controls to be absolutely terrible. At that point I decided that Tomb Raider was a crappy game that relied entirely on miss Bigtits Tightass to make sales.

Since there still seems to be plenty of people genuinely enjoying the series I figure I should give it another chance after all these years.

Which of the modern games should I play if I were to only play 1 game in the series?

Again, I pretty much hated all of the Tomb Raiders prior to Legend, but now I'm a big fan. The series has gotten a nice kick in the pants after it went sour in the PS2 era, and the crappy grid-based controls were the first thing thrown overboard.

I say pick up Legend; it's on almost every platform now and feels like a spiritual cousin to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in terms of platforming controls. It's a fairly linear experience, as compared to the more open-ended puzzle solving of Anniversary (which is the modern Legend-inspired remake of the original Tomb Raider).

Now I have a reason to want to play this! Sands of Time is my definition of platforming done right.

It's very, very inspired by Sands of Time, so you'll like it. And as Kor alluded to, the witty banter between Lara and her support team is also very reminiscent of Sands of Time's chat between the Prince and Farah. Legend can also be bought for a song nowadays, so definitely check it out. It was my most played 360 title when I first got the system.

I think another cool part of Underworld is pretty subtle: the Player Tailoring option. It essentially lets you tweak the game's various difficulty options to suit your interests.

Gamasutra wrote:

As part of an in-depth interview with Gamasutra, Crystal Dynamics creative director Eric Lindstrom details Tomb Raider: Underworld's new 'Player Tailoring' feature, which lets players emphasize or tone down action and puzzle elements according to their personal tastes.

Considering the potential for a combat-less Tomb Raider, or an experience similar to action-adventure game Ico, Lindstrom explains that gamers can adjust their experiences in Underworld with Player Tailoring to fit what they enjoy most.

"It's not about difficulty. It's about people having different ideas about what they want exploration and discovery to be," he says.

Players who prefer action sequences over puzzle portions will have the option to ask Lara how to solve a particular puzzle, allowing them to move onto the next scene without having to spend 20 minutes to an hour figuring out how to move on. This "help-on-demand" feature is in addition to the difficulty level options that players can choose.

Though there's no option to turn off combat completely, players can conversely turn down the amount of time spent fighting enemies so that they can focus instead on puzzles and exploration.

"We don't have the ability to turn it off completely, because we think those punctuation points are important for the overall pacing," Lindstrom says.

Lindstrom admits, however, that implementing these features was risky, as it could have easily lead to "kitchen sink design" without wise use. "People are not in the business of designing games. They're in the business of playing games," he says, noting that while players might enjoy tailoring their experience, they shouldn't have the role of game designer imposed on them.

"I believe that there should be the latitude for people to be able to personalize it and emphasize the type of play that they wanted," Lindstrom says.

"That will appeal to more fans, because there are plenty of fans out there who have very strong feelings about the combat versus the exploration. To give them the ability to tailor that experience is a part of making people happy with the Tomb Raider game in ways that they couldn't before."

Fireflash

This reminds me of the Silent Hill games (#2 had this I beleive) where puzzle and combat were 2 different difficulty settings.

I hope there are clearly defined "default" settings for this tailoring.. I usually prefer to play games the way they were meant to be experienced on my first playthrough.

AbsoluteZero

I wish I could turn the combat off in Prince of Persia games.

Darlan

Looks you need a Gold Subscription to download the demo...isn't the whole point of a demo getting it out to as many people as possible so that they get interested in the game?

I hate Xbox Live's subscription model so much. So very, very much. Paying to play a game I've already bought online, and now paying to download a demo? Yeah. I'll do that. Get riiiiight on it. :rotate:

Kor

So how is the demo?

cwapfobrains

Darlan wrote: »

Looks you need a Gold Subscription to download the demo...isn't the whole point of a demo getting it out to as many people as possible so that they get interested in the game?

I hate Xbox Live's subscription model so much. So very, very much. Paying to play a game I've already bought online, and now paying to download a demo? Yeah. I'll do that. Get riiiiight on it. :rotate:

Silver members are always 1 week behind on downloadable stuff, if i remember right.

UnbreakableVow

So much hate for the old TR games in this thread.

I absolutely loved the series before Legend, though. And Angel of Darkness? Yes, weakest of the series, but not as bad as everyone says.

Tomb Raider II remains my second-favorite PS1 game (right behind FFVII).

If I had to rank them, it'd go something like this.

Tomb Raider Legend
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

AbsoluteZero

I hated the old TR games. It's like making a tank do fucking acrobatics. Legend and onward? Awesome.

UnbreakableVow

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

It's like making a tank do fucking acrobatics.

Exactly!

Once you start doing acrobatics, you stop being a tank.

AbsoluteZero

Oh, also the grid system pissed me off immensely. It was like doing math. Unless it's number munchers I don't want to do math in my goddamn vidyagames.

UnbreakableVow

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

Oh, also the grid system pissed me off immensely. It was like doing math. Unless it's number munchers I don't want to do math in my goddamn vidyagames.

Uh...press back once to jump back a step, then run forward immediately followed by pressing square to do a long jump? Is that what you mean?

AbsoluteZero

Yes that was one retarded design choice of many that plagued the early games.

Bogart

One jump back for a running start to a big jump isn't exactly long division.

The original TR game was the first thing I played on the playstation, and as such felt like a quantum leap from the games I'd been playing in the previous generation. Obviously the franchise went downhill after II (though I thought III was pretty good and Revelations was decent) before being rescued in Legend, but I can't think of many games that gripped me so utterly from the get go as the first one. Depends on when you played it I guess. Playing it now it's ugly, unresponsive and the combat is 'jump sideways shoot' for the entire game, but at the time it was the most fun you could have on a console.

Rook

Kor wrote: »

So how is the demo?

Atlus Parker

The demo's fun. It's more of Legend. There's some cool thing they've added to combat such as the jump kick, the roundhouse kick, and the sticky grenade. Go ahead and sticky a spider for hilarious results.

Zhaosuke

Renzo wrote: »

about the teeth: She's a Brit.

*Raises Fist In Anger*

...

*Lowers Fist*


...you're so right lol