Tomb Raider Underworld trailer

Commented on 2008-10-27 10:27:11

Nice! This really does have that "old school" Tomb Raider look about it. Cannot wait for it :) although its becoming even harder now to juggle time to play all the games that have just come out/about to come out, still, not complaining, this fall is a great time for gamers!!

In reply to

squarejawhero

Commented on 2008-10-27 10:29:17

Oh, so there's an actual reason for the bike now? Still unsure about biking in TR but at least they found a way to make it relevent to the rest of the game.

In reply to

This message and account have been deleted at the user's request

Megido

Commented on 2008-10-27 11:51:25

I must say i found this trailer immensely underachieving in the dramatics department. The music was dramatic but the animation and stuff happening on screen was just boring, slow and terrible for all i care. Really vanilla for me. Though hopefully the game will deliver anyways, since Legends was great.

In reply to

GriftGFX

Commented on 2008-10-27 11:53:57

Oh great, bikes.

:/

In reply to

S1kkZ

Commented on 2008-10-27 12:22:50

demo will be out tomorrow. (only 360)

In reply to

omniscient

Commented on 2008-10-27 15:07:43

The first thing I realised was how immersive and almost epic using the bike appeared, but upon second viewing of the trailer I realised how uninspiring and cumbersome it would appear wothout the musical score. Sadly the motorbike would now break the tension but it also seems to be an innapropriate tool to be navigating a tomb with. Bike with no music seems a liitle insufficient, bike plus a musical backdrop makes it appear epic simply put they need to make, especially tomb navigation with the bike appear as interactive cinemas as appose to mandotary puzzle solving instances, because otherwise it just makes the experience appear disjointed, case in point is that existing games would have required her to use a grappling hook or a ledge extruding out of the wall to cross that gap, instead, from what was witnessed in the trailer Lara had to use a motorcycle which abrupts the fluidity of navigation (getting on and of the bike), instead of the bike helping her get across as a ledge or grappling hook would have it appears she has to help the bike, which is what makes it seem unnesecary anyways it's a small gripe but when a trailer is provided for a feature, it appears in my mind that it will be pretty prevailent throughtout the course of the game.

In reply to

The first thing I realised was how immersive and almost epic using the bike appeared, but upon second viewing of the trailer I realised how uninspiring and cumbersome it would appear wothout the musical score. Sadly the motorbike would now break the tension but it also seems to be an innapropriate tool to be navigating a tomb with. Bike with no music seems a liitle insufficient, bike plus a musical backdrop makes it appear epic simply put they need to make, especially tomb navigation with the bike appear as interactive cinemas as appose to mandotary puzzle solving instances, because otherwise it just makes the experience appear disjointed, case in point is that existing games would have required her to use a grappling hook or a ledge extruding out of the wall to cross that gap, instead, from what was witnessed in the trailer Lara had to use a motorcycle which abrupts the fluidity of navigation (getting on and of the bike), instead of the bike helping her get across as a ledge or grappling hook would have it appears she has to help the bike, which is what makes it seem unnesecary anyways it's a small gripe but when a trailer is provided for a feature, it appears in my mind that it will be pretty prevailent throughtout the course of the game.

SimonM7

Commented on 2008-10-27 15:32:26

I thought the bike stuff in Legend were a nice inclusion with somewhat flawed execution. Uncharted does the on rails vehicle/shooting bit aswell but it's a more robust experience. I don't believe in cutting variety out to play it safe with working monotony, so it's great - to me at least - that they're giving it another shot.

It remains to be seen whether it works well in the game, of course.

In reply to

GriftGFX

Commented on 2008-10-27 15:35:44

You.. liked the bikes in Legend? I didn't think that portion of the game added anything but frustration to the experience. Hell, it might as well have been a playable cutscene. There was no particular challenge, and the bike handled like crap. The mandatory vehicle chase level in these types of games should go. Sure, if they're well implemented and fun, I've got no problem with a little extra variety.... but that doesn't seem like it's often the case at all.

In reply to

SimonM7

Commented on 2008-10-27 16:02:33

You're absolutely right. And no, I barely liked them. I like the gesture of trying to do it though, and it took a bunch of tries before developers got 3D platforming right.. every type of gaming experience has gone through the same process of trial and error.

That kind of secondary sequence in games are almost always terrible, but on the idea stage the thought of catching up to a train and jumping on top of it with your bike.. there's no reason that shouldn't work in this context. I think the reason it doesn't is because when things like it is being included it's too apologetic, too "oh hey pardon me I'm just gonna be doing my spazzy thing here for a bit and you'll be able to randomly stumble past it eventually. Again I'm terribly sorry for the inconvenience!".

If they can sit down with an element like that and make it worthwhile, ie not give up on it because it wasn't executed well before, that can totally make it worth it in the end. At least for me.

In reply to

donkeyman

Commented on 2008-10-27 17:09:11 In reply to GriftGFX

Posted by GriftGFX

You.. liked the bikes in Legend? I didn't think that portion of the game added anything but frustration to the experience. Hell, it might as well have been a playable cutscene. There was no particular challenge, and the bike handled like crap. The mandatory vehicle chase level in these types of games should go. Sure, if they're well implemented and fun, I've got no problem with a little extra variety.... but that doesn't seem like it's often the case at all.

The fact it was probably less than 20 minutes of gameplay for all the hours of plataforming, should make it a non-issue.
When they decide to extend those crappy sequences ( and yes, I agree they weren't fun and added nothing to the overall game) to the +1 hour of gameplay, only then we should start calling names.

Hell, I still don't undestand what was the problem with the car parts in Gears 1.
It could be hard on Insane and just a monotonus bit of the game, but it was so short and gave a diferent kind of gameplay from the 3rd person shooting, I welcomed it.

In reply to

[quote=GriftGFX]You.. liked the bikes in Legend? I didn't think that portion of the game added anything but frustration to the experience. Hell, it might as well have been a playable cutscene. There was no particular challenge, and the bike handled like crap. The mandatory vehicle chase level in these types of games should go. Sure, if they're well implemented and fun, I've got no problem with a little extra variety.... but that doesn't seem like it's often the case at all.[/quote]The fact it was probably less than 20 minutes of gameplay for all the hours of plataforming, should make it a non-issue.
When they decide to extend those crappy sequences ( and yes, I agree they weren't fun and added nothing to the overall game) to the +1 hour of gameplay, only then we should start calling names.

Hell, I still don't undestand what was the problem with the car parts in Gears 1. 
It could be hard on Insane and just a monotonus bit of the game, but it was so short and gave a diferent kind of gameplay from the 3rd person shooting, I welcomed it.

SimonM7

Commented on 2008-10-27 18:23:04

Thing is though that Panzer Dragoon is an entire game based around roughly the same premise. I mean sure they can't just go changing the rules of the game entirely, so it can't be as in depth, but there's no reason it shouldn't be able to be FUN.

With those sections being so brief you have no time to figure out exactly how to play them. It's the equivalent of something throwing a ball at you going REACT FAST!!! and you take it to the face and cry like a baby. It's not that you wouldn't normally be able to catch a ball, you just have no realistic way of preparing.

This is of course a fault of the game, and any game should ease you into whatever gameplay mechanics are at hand. Not necessarily going full on tutorial on you, but establishing mechanics in a cunning way so that when they appear you have a realistic shot at doing what the game tasks you with.

As soon as you started figuring out how things worked, the bike bits got a little less frustrating bit by bit, but that shouldn't be an excercise in dying until you get it right.

To be honest I though the vehicle bit in Gears was more irritating because you totally got how to drive the thing and everything, but even then, you couldn't really tell what you did wrong when you died. At least not so with the TRL vehicle sections.

In reply to

Thing is though that Panzer Dragoon is an entire game based around roughly the same premise. I mean sure they can't just go changing the rules of the game entirely, so it can't be as in depth, but there's no reason it shouldn't be able to be FUN.

With those sections being so brief you have no time to figure out exactly how to play them. It's the equivalent of something throwing a ball at you going REACT FAST!!! and you take it to the face and cry like a baby. It's not that you wouldn't normally be able to catch a ball, you just have no realistic way of preparing.

This is of course a fault of the game, and any game should ease you into whatever gameplay mechanics are at hand. Not necessarily going full on tutorial on you, but establishing mechanics in a cunning way so that when they appear you have a realistic shot at doing what the game tasks you with.

As soon as you started figuring out how things worked, the bike bits got a little less frustrating bit by bit, but that shouldn't be an excercise in dying until you get it right.

To be honest I though the vehicle bit in Gears was more irritating because you totally got how to drive the thing and everything, but even then, you couldn't really tell what you did wrong when you died. At least not so with the TRL vehicle sections.

md99

Commented on 2008-10-27 19:38:48

Can't wait for this one. Been replaying Legend and Anniversary this past week.

Crystal Dynamics have really given the series a shot in the arm.

In reply to

Vonhammer

Commented on 2008-10-27 21:07:22 In reply to SimonM7

Not seen anything to convince me to get this,it looks ok but I can't see it rating well apart from a nostalgic view point

Off Topic

Posted by SimonM7

..it took a bunch of tries before developers got 3D platforming right..

Mario 64

In reply to

Isomac

Commented on 2008-10-27 21:15:11

Bike sections sure were fun on Legend. I mean the handling was so bad that it was sometimes hard to do some of the jumps without dying. I think the train part was the worst... It was so fun to drive 10th time the same area with the same enemies. Ooooh I am driving on some cave now... after the cave, eh am I at the beginning again? Oh autosave, I must be progressing in the level... strange the area looks the same as in the beginning of the level. That's pretty much all I remember about those bike sections. Otherwise it was a good game.

In reply to

WinterSnowblind

Commented on 2008-10-28 12:37:55 In reply to Vonhammer

Posted by Vonhammer

Not seen anything to convince me to get this,it looks ok but I can't see it rating well apart from a nostalgic view point

Off Topic

Mario 64

Anniversary and Legend were good far reasons for beyong the nostalga. As this is the third part in that story, I'm very much looking forward to it. Remember, this isn't being made by the crappy dev's who made all the original TR games after the first one. (Yes, even TR2 sucked)

In reply to