TR underworld my first impression

External Since: Apr 23, 2004 Posts: 119

Paul E Kiefer Jr wrote:
> On Nov 21, 3:05�am, Erik Steffl <ste....TakeThisOut@bigfoot.com> wrote:
>
>> � �what do you guys think?
>>
>> � � � � erik
>
> Yeah, I know, it's been a while, but here I am. To answer your
> question:
>
>
> Cons:
>
> 1. Glass walls definitely encountered. Apparently, this was a rush
> job and they didn't bother to figure out exactly the shape of each
> object encountered. Bad.

yeah, that's really sad,

> 2. At Lara "close up and personal", when she's facing the camera and
> in a tight spot or up close to the wall, the camera got a bit shaky.
> This really throws off one's perspective. Also bad.
>
> 3. McG: In terms of "collision detection", I see her sometimes
> standing off the ground about four inches, and sometimes I see her
> standing with her legs sunk into the ground up to her ankles. Mildly
> annoying, but there you are.

it's not perfect but TRU is by far the most amazingly connected (lara
to environment), grabbing things, climbing, walking/jumping over things
etc. is very precise with lot of animations supporting different
environment and objects. Not sure which other game to compare it to but
compared to previous TRs (incuding TRA) this is a HUGE jump (just watch
closely the little cracks in ledges)

> 4. Gone is the "jump-and-shoot" evasive maneuver. A pity. I liked
> that one.

it's there! you can jump and shoot all you want, that's the only way
to do any of the "floor routine" tricks. Or are you talking about some
very specific move?

> 5. This one also doesn't have the "kick-and-shoot" maneuver. I liked
> that one as well.

hey TR is not supposed to have kicks! none of the REAL TRs had any
kicks...

> 6. Where's the orientation button!?

what's orientation? you mean turn lara around? you can do it with
gamepad (turn her standing in one spot)

> 7. Not quite as smooth at times in the animation. I felt like I was
> watching "NFL Live Super Slo Mo" video; the kind that jerks a little
> at full speed.
>
> 8. Sorry, I'm still old school. I still prefer the all-keyboard
> system. Oh, well...

yes but the gamepad control system is really good for what it is

> 9. Not all the "extra" weapons are accessible. You have to choose
> one weapon and hope that it works for the scenario you're involved
> in. Bad.

you are supposed to use pistols! was that a trick question? Wink

> 10. Sorry, but "relics" and "treasures" don't mean balls and duo-
> decahedrons. Let's try that again, shall we?

yeah, another sad unfinished/ignored part, there should be something
there that rewards player (immediately or almost immediately)

> 11. Medipaks do not restore full health. I preferred the older way
> of doing things, when full medipaks restored full health and smaller
> medikits restored partial health, but that's just me.

given how easy the game is this seems irrelevant but yeah,

> Pros:
>
> 1. More exploration, more randomness in the level mission designs.
> Sure, there's some linear progression, but it's not all linear. I
> like this.
>
> 2. My computer handled the graphics well. I had been concerned
> because the recommended card was the 8800GT or equivalent, and all I
> had was an 8600GTX. Also a plus.
>
> 3. The environment was well detailed and vast when it needed to be.
> Good job there.

specially detailed, IMO they did a pretty good job at that, both
technology and level design,

> 4. The "chimney climb" was new, and that did make things
> interesting. However, I'm not sure that kind of maneuver can be done
> in the real world. It's probably nothing...

see jackie chan movies Smile

> 5. The "last second move" makes for interesting drama. I'm kinda
> neutral about that, though.

the slow motion? not bad, it's used fairly well IMO (not too much and
in places where it makes sense)

> 6. The improved, easy to use acrobatics makes things more accessible.
>
> 7. You can choose different outfits, limited only to what would be
> considered appropriate for the scenario. I would have preferred to
> have all the outfits available, but this is a good start.
>
> 8. Medipaks visually were replaced by some rather interesting looking
> objects appropriate to the scenario. Give 'em points for orginality.

only you never know what you picked up Smile

> Concentrating only on the mission objectives, I completed the game in
> three days and three hours. After completion, there is a "treasure
> hunt" phase that will allow you to grab all the items that you missed
> without actually having to achieve the scenario objective again. It's
> probably going to take me some time to get them all. There is also a
> redesign of the unlockable content. I don't exactly know how that
> works, though.
>
> Overall, I consider this a big improvement.

did you have any crashes/reboots while playing the game?

erik

External Since: Nov 02, 2008 Posts: 14

>> 6. Where's the orientation button!?
>
> what's orientation? you mean turn lara around? you can do it with
> gamepad (turn her standing in one spot)

Camera orientation - make the camera point where you want. TRA has it, TRL
has it, TRU does not. Sucks.