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General / Re: 52 Games Challenge 2024!!!!!
« on: July 09, 2024, 05:51:35 pm »
13. Tomb Raider Underworld (PS2)
Ok... I ended up picking up the PS2 version of the game as I no longer have my PS3 and this game isn't available on modern or even last gen systems. I remember playing and enjoying the PS3 game a heck of a lot more than this "replay" of the PS2 version. Did some searching and apparently the PS2 version has severely cut content, not just in textures but also animations and portions of levels. It was also released 5 months after the other versions so that the developer could demake the game well enough to make it playable. Sadly... it's just passable.
Lara was often not responding to commands which I felt was odd as I had just replayed the PS2 game, Legend, without any problems. I wasn't upset about the lack of graphical quality because I was playing it on the PS2. I'm not expecting HD textures or anything. That said, the game felt hollow in comparison to what I recall the PS3 game feeling and definitely hollow in comparison to Legend. Most the puzzles had the lock and then the puzzle or key item a stone's throw away giving little to no challenge to the puzzles. Corridors in nearly every level were overly long and there was often a push to have her ride her motorcycle in order to pass areas.
Another oddity was the transitions from one section in a level to another. It was so bad that it was jarring at times. You would get to watch a cutscene and Lara would end up nowhere near where the cutscene left her off at, even if she was supposed to be in the same room. In the PS3 game, one of the first levels has you dive off your boat and swim about 250 feet down to where you're supposed to explore. In the PS2 version, you auto-start at the bottom and are not able to surface.
The hardest part of the game was judging where Lara would land when you made a jump and often, there was no way to know as the game would attempt to auto correct at times, making her blink from one space to the next. I took it as a feature instead of a bug.
The one thing that remained mostly consistent to the PS3 version was the story, which was the reason I replayed it after Legend to begin with. Glad I got this for cheap because had I bought this in early 2009 when it released for $50, I'd have been pretty mad. Putting the PS2 specific version of this game only a hair's breadth above the PS2's TR Angel of Darkness, which I consider the worst in the series due to controls, gameplay mechanics, level design and the horrible amount of glitches.
Glad it's over.
Ok... I ended up picking up the PS2 version of the game as I no longer have my PS3 and this game isn't available on modern or even last gen systems. I remember playing and enjoying the PS3 game a heck of a lot more than this "replay" of the PS2 version. Did some searching and apparently the PS2 version has severely cut content, not just in textures but also animations and portions of levels. It was also released 5 months after the other versions so that the developer could demake the game well enough to make it playable. Sadly... it's just passable.
Lara was often not responding to commands which I felt was odd as I had just replayed the PS2 game, Legend, without any problems. I wasn't upset about the lack of graphical quality because I was playing it on the PS2. I'm not expecting HD textures or anything. That said, the game felt hollow in comparison to what I recall the PS3 game feeling and definitely hollow in comparison to Legend. Most the puzzles had the lock and then the puzzle or key item a stone's throw away giving little to no challenge to the puzzles. Corridors in nearly every level were overly long and there was often a push to have her ride her motorcycle in order to pass areas.
Another oddity was the transitions from one section in a level to another. It was so bad that it was jarring at times. You would get to watch a cutscene and Lara would end up nowhere near where the cutscene left her off at, even if she was supposed to be in the same room. In the PS3 game, one of the first levels has you dive off your boat and swim about 250 feet down to where you're supposed to explore. In the PS2 version, you auto-start at the bottom and are not able to surface.
The hardest part of the game was judging where Lara would land when you made a jump and often, there was no way to know as the game would attempt to auto correct at times, making her blink from one space to the next. I took it as a feature instead of a bug.
The one thing that remained mostly consistent to the PS3 version was the story, which was the reason I replayed it after Legend to begin with. Glad I got this for cheap because had I bought this in early 2009 when it released for $50, I'd have been pretty mad. Putting the PS2 specific version of this game only a hair's breadth above the PS2's TR Angel of Darkness, which I consider the worst in the series due to controls, gameplay mechanics, level design and the horrible amount of glitches.
Glad it's over.
