Tomb Raider: Underworld

🎮 Game Information

• Developer: Crystal Dynamics (same studio that revived the franchise before the 2013 reboot)
• Publisher: Eidos Interactive / Square Enix
• Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, Nintendo DS
• Release Year: 2008
• Genre: Action-Adventure / Exploration / Puzzle / Platforming
• Mode: Single-Player

🌊 Introduction

Tomb Raider: Underworld wraps up the Legend trilogy with a big, movie-like story that hops around the globe, digging into Norse legends, old tech, and lost civilizations.

I beat the game, raided all the big tombs, survived the driving parts, solved the puzzles, and saw both the good and bad. It feels like Lara Croft finally got the money and scope she needed—but the game's structure still shows its age.

Here's my full review, coming to you after having finished the whole game, with all the dusty relics and opinions to share.

🕹️ Gameplay – 8.7/10

Underworld feels smoother to play than the older games. You have more control when moving, climbing, and fighting as Lara. The game is mostly about getting around – jumping across shaky ruins, moving along cliffs, swinging on poles, climbing fancy stone walls, and going into places that are like deadly traps. The main thing you do is explore, and the game rewards you if you take your time, look around, and think of moving around as a puzzle.

Fighting is okay, but nothing amazing. Shooting with the twin pistols feels pretty good, and there are different weapons like rifles, SMGs, shotguns, sticky mines, grenades, and things in the world you can use. But fighting enemies sometimes feels like it just stops you from exploring tombs. The melee moves look cool, but they don't feel very strong. The enemies aren't super smart – they come at you, go around you sometimes, but don't really do anything unexpected.

The motorcycle and other vehicles make the game feel bigger. Some parts are really fun, especially when you're speeding through jungles or temples while everything is falling apart. But other times, the vehicles feel weird to control, which can turn a cool part into a bit of a fight with the controls.

What makes Underworld great is how much you can do with the stuff around you – shooting anchors to make paths, breaking things to make platforms, starting machines, moving weights, and solving how the ruins work, like an archaeologist who can also fight.

🎨 Visuals & Art Style – 9.2/10

For a game from 2008, this thing looks pretty good. The levels still look great – huge caves, glowing pools, rainy temples, shiny ocean floors, icy coasts, broken statues covered in plants, and old machines frozen in time. The lighting is dramatic and sets the mood. The water looks cool, and the underwater parts were a big deal back then and still look nice.

Lara is one of the best-looking versions of her in those older games – detailed clothes, real-looking movements, good animations, and a polished look that makes every jump look cool. The game feels big and movie-like, like an action movie stuck on an old game disc.

Of course, not everything looks as good now. The bad guys don't look as sharp as Lara or the levels. Some textures are blurry, mostly in the older versions. Also, sometimes the animations jump a bit, which can be annoying for a moment.

But the levels? They're the best part. The art makes up for any technical problems.

🔊 Sound & Music – 8/10

The sound design really makes the trilogy feel like a movie. You've got debris rumbling, echoes in tombs, rain in the jungles, and the growls of old machines. Plus, those classic Tomb Raider orchestral tunes make every discovery feel like it was meant to be.

The music isn't overdone, but it's got impact. Instead of music all the time, Underworld often just lets you hear the natural sounds of the environment. When the music does kick in, it's usually during big moments – like when you find a tomb, grab a relic, almost die, enter ancient places, or fight some old boss-type things.

Lara sounds great, and the main characters are pretty good too. The bad guys? Not so much. They say some pretty generic and sometimes funny stuff during fights. The audio isn't terrible, just not as varied as the graphics.

🏛️ Story & Atmosphere – 7.8/10

The story of Underworld is full of myths, Norse gods, secret passages, conspiracies about artifacts, machines that could end the world, and Lara's personal quest for revenge hidden in world history. The story gets you interested, especially if you've played Legend or Anniversary. Lara's reasons for doing what she does and the stakes in the ruins she explores really hit you in the feels.

The vibe of the story really makes it stand out. Unlike newer stories, Underworld tells most of its story with the size of things, the mystery, and the setting. When you're standing in front of giant machines older than the gods, or finding cities under the sea, it gets across feelings better than any talking could.

But the speed that the story moves at suffers because of what it is trying to do as the end of the trilogy. Some parts of the story feel like they are going too fast, are too over-the-top, or jump around too much. Some characters besides Lara don't always make a lot of sense. The story is better at setting things up than it is at finishing them. But the vibe is old, mysterious, like a movie, and that's sometimes more important than having a story that makes perfect sense.

🐞 Bugs & Technical Performance – 6.9/10

The game does have some issues, especially with its physics:

• Occasional collision bugs where Lara sticks to ledges weirdly
• Camera freakouts in tight areas, especially during combat or platforming
• Some platform triggers or physics objects don't register perfectly the first time
• Physics sensitivity on vehicles can feel unpredictable
• A few animation snaps or clipping, especially when scenery collapses

I didn’t run into any major problems that stopped me from playing, but you can see the quirks of the physics engine used to make it. Sometimes the game world acts a little wonky.

This can be annoying, but it doesn’t ruin the experience. It just keeps the game from being as great as it looks.

🔁 Replayability – 7.2/10

The replay value is okay, but not as high as I'd hoped.

There are secrets to find, relics to grab, optional ruins to check out, and hidden paths to explore. You can also change the difficulty and unlock a few things. Still, it doesn't have the crazy open-ended gameplay or randomness that makes you want to play forever. It's most fun when you're exploring and seeing all the cool stuff for the first time.
 

Still, it’s replayable if:

• you missed secrets ✅
• you want to relive set pieces ✅
• you want nostalgia tourism ✅

Not replayable if:

• you want new run variety every time ❌

🔚 Final Verdict – 8.2/10

Tomb Raider: Underworld is mostly awesome, with a few clunky bits, but it's packed with adventure.

It's not perfect, but it sticks with you. Lara wraps up the trilogy by raiding not just tombs, but myths and sunken cities too. The cool stuff makes you forget the rough edges.

If you like old forests, forgotten gods, underwater stuff, tricky puzzles, traveling the world as an archaeologist, and that feeling of early 2000s games, then this game is a great experience.