Tomb Raider: Underworld for the DS
Previous days' entries can be read HERE.
Previous days' entries can be read HERE.
Early on in 'Gaming the Pandemic' I seemed to mention my penchant for the Game Boy Advance versions of licensed, multi-platfrom games every other week. If you missed it, I basically love that developers had to abandon the half arsed, phoned in efforts on the home consoles and come up with something from scratch thanks to the limited hardware - it would fairly often result in a much better game.
Obviously in the case of Tomb Raider: Underworld this isn’t quite the same thing. The home console version is a spectacular game, a true return to form that, for some reason didn’t sell well and resulted in a second change of developer for the franchise, which subsequently resulted in the melodramatic, gun heavy, auto-platforming trilogy that has recently concluded.
The first attempt at retrofitting Lara to the dual screens was the pretty terrible port of Legend; a horribly animated mix of two and two-point-five dimensional platforming that was almost as horrible to play as it was to look at.
The port of Underworld, however, is from a different developer, and it shows...
The general presentation is as good as anything you’ll see on the DS. Santa Cruz Studios has really pushed the boat out as far as bringing all the trimmings across from the home game is concerned.
Cutscenes are ported, usually in their entirety, and look really great on the small screen. The sound is a bit rough, with the compression causing some serious hiss, but it’s still a pretty astonishing feat considering the limited power at hand.
Due to those limitations, Underworld on the DS features two-point-five dimensional renditions of the levels from the main game. Most of the locations have been recreated in one form or another, although it’s only really the style of the locations that’s present. Levels are actually created from scratch, with all the usual pole climbing, rope swinging, platform jumping elements - just remade for the lack of that third dimension.
Of note though, is the scandalous omission of Lara’s iconic swan dive. I’ve been in love with this move since the original game, where it (along with the hand-stand pull up) was a ‘hidden’ feature that I remember discovering to this day. It’s a fairly pointless flourish, and I’m not sure anyone else would much care about it’s absence, but I was genuinely disappointed to find it was left out.
As you plough into the game you'll find the levels are put together pretty well, and navigating them is responsive and familiar. Unfortunately, though, they are very linear. The act of navigating to the exit of the level is rarely more than a brief inconvenience. Hidden collectables attempt to add some challenge and diversity, but they are often just left in plain sight. The closest the game gets to offering anything like a real challenge is with Treasure Chests. There’s usually one of these fairly well hidden in each level and to open it you have to solve a tangram style puzzle on the touch screen.
The nicest way to put it is that the DS version of the game is the one to play if you're more interested in the story than anything else (if you can handle everyone sounding like they’re talking over a CB Radio with a Darth Vader mask on). To be fair, I couldn’t really blame you; Underworld's mix of Norse and Arthurian legend is probably the best and most interesting plot in the entire franchise.
In game, the sound issues are non-existent, the graphics are among the best on the system, and the controls and their relative actions all perform brilliantly. The only thing missing from this game is challenge, which would usually come about from level design and complexity.
I’m not one of those people who demands that every game should be a ridiculously hard, attritional test of patience masquerading as skill, But I do like to have to think and work a little to find my way through a level. Without challenge there can be no reward, and when that reward is enjoyment, without it, what’s the point?
No comments:
Post a Comment