While Underworld may be more open and accessible to players, as well being more non-linear than ever before, it does seem as though this has come with some technical downsides, which happen to be some of the largest detractors to the gameplay. For one thing, slowdown and framerate drops happen quite a bit within the game. While it occurs more in the PS3 version of the game than the 360, it is distracting enough to break you out of the immersive nature of the visuals and aural presentation, which is generally very good, and the striking scale of the levels themselves. However, another thing that will stand out will be texture pop-in, which will snap into place before your eyes even if you're not moving through the environment. Odd shadows, flicker and lack of specific details will also crop up in some of the linear pathway sections, making some parts and enemies of the game feel like repurposed areas from previous games. For example, spiders and bats look horrible in this game – almost PS2-like. While that can be overlooked for the overall strength of the visuals and the presentation of each environment, as a minor aside, what's with some of the treasures and health packs blending into the background? It can be hard and at times almost impossible to tell what the treasures and the health packs are because they don't stand out, particularly if you have icon prompts turned off or you're in a darker section of a level.
However, these are no match for the two biggest technical issues for the game. The first is that there are a number of clipping and object detection issues that frequently plague the game regardless of the console you play it on. Lara will frequently move into or through walls or blocks, sometimes forcing her into an animation loop as the game tries to reconcile her movement with her location in the game world and an object she shouldn't be in. Coworkers and I have also seen instances where Lara has jumped onto a pillar and landed inside of the column up to her waist, or tried to grab a ledge and phased into a wall – not onto, into. This makes it much harder to gauge your next jump, or even be sure that you're on the part of the game environment you think you are. I've also seen segments where Lara has leapt onto invisible platforms as she's tried to make jumps to other areas, which makes it rather hard to determine whether or not you've got your timing down when you accidentally wind up exploiting a technical hiccup. Similarly, I've also seen sections where enemies have moved cleanly through Lara without any damage caused or explanation as to why
The other serious problem comes with the camera, which is perhaps as infuriating, if not more so, than previous Tomb Raider games. As you move through the environment, the camera will perform zooms, pans and tilts of its own accord, without any instruction or direction from you. Technically, this would be fine if there was a particular thing that it was trying to frame while not hampering the gameplay. But frequently the camera will either lock onto a specific perspective, making it nigh impossible to figure out the right jump angle or location to move to. Other times, the camera will fight you for things that you want to look at, making the screen visibly shake as it tries to reconcile what you are seeing and what it would prefer to show you. The camera can also throw you and Lara off with your jumps, because it can push her away from specific jumps or turn her head at the last second, making it harder to lean and jump in the right direction. This is infuriating, and I hurled many an invective, as well as a controller and furniture, as I fought with the game.
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at the end. I will stand by the secret end time FOREVER!
@ the prize...so you ended up finding one after all huh?
