Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What The Game's About
Lara Croft is back and ready to shake that fine thang of hers in an all new adventure. Traversing through the wilderness of the Mediterranean, Thailand, Mexico, and other locations. What kind of artifact could bring to some many different locations across the globe? Just one. Lara is in search of the legendary and mythical Hammer of Thor. On her journey Lara will encounter mind bending puzzles, exotic locations, and journey to the underworld of the world's most ancient cultures. What kind of destructive power does the fabled Hammer of Thor contain? It's up to Lara to discover the mysteries and unearth the truth behind the almighty Hammer.

What's Hot
Have you seen the new model for Lara Croft. Wow, she is smokin' hot. Much like her, the game is very gorgeous. The landscapes are lush and full of life. With a high amount of detail put into the environments, you'll feel like you are in the most primitive and exotic locations of Mexico, Thailand, etc. yourself. The outdoor world is very bright and has beautiful graphical tweaks to make the world seem more vast and lifelike. You'll hear the chirps of birds in the distance, see sharks swim in the ocean water below you, and even hear the roar of a tiger in the deep jungle. These little sound effects will make you check twice before venturing forth without a well cocked gun on you for protection.

Of course, all this changes once you get into the underworld of an ancient civilization. The tombs are dark, dank, and just plain spooky. Actually, I turned the brightness all the way up to journey through these sections because I found the default setting to be a tad bit too dark for my liking. However, even with the brightness cranked all the way up, the underworld is still a dark place to venture. As you travel through these areas you'll find treasures, artifacts, puzzles, and boss battles. Many of the boss battles consist of your solving a large scale puzzle that ultimately spells doom for the boss hindering your progress. This is also where the classic Tomb Raider gameplay makes a return.

The one thing the Tomb Raider has done that not many other franchise have is stay the same over the years. Every Tomb Raider game is essentially the same in every fashion with minor tweaks here and there. This title is no different. Everything you loved about the previous Tomb Raider titles is here. The shooting segments, platforming, swinging, and much more are all in play again. You'll find yourself shooting tigers, then performing trapeze styled jumps off ancient architecture. She may be a whole lot prettier, but this is the same ol' Lara from the PSOne days.


What's Not
Now for the few blemishes on this beauty. Oddly, the game is very glitchy. Many times throughout the game I found Lara stuck in a wall or against a column. The collision detection is very poor when you have such an open glitch occur. Sadly, you are stuck in this position for a short time. You can jump, kick, shoot, and but still be stuck. I found that throwing a grenade and then jumping got me out of the wall a number of times, but I can't confirm if that'll work every time for everyone.

Aside from a few glitches, the game doesn't offer much to rejuvenate the series or genre. Titles like Uncharted gave the genre new life and showed what can and should be done in this type of action/adventure titles. Sadly, Underworld doesn't incorporate anything to propel the series in the direction of Uncharted or into new territory. Sure, there is a new "bullet time" feature but it is hardly game altering in any fashion. Ultimately, if you find yourself bored with the same old Tomb Raider gameplay, it's best to look elsewhere because this girl doesn't have any new moves to keep you entertained.

Final Word
Tomb Raider Underworld gives us our beloved Lara Croft in her best outing in recent years. Offering the same gameplay from a decade ago, Lara gives us the same routine we have all come accustom to. Sadly, this may put some of us to bed less than satisfied. Underworld sought out to capture the essence of the Tomb Raider franchise and it accomplishes that. What it doesn't accomplish is pushing the series forward. In the end, Underworld is great title for Tomb Raider faithful, but falls short for the rest of us.