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LARA CROFT SCORES
MOVEMENT UPGRADE
Copyright 2008 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ January 2nd 2008 ]
Manoeuvrability
remains a key factor for Lara
Croft in Tomb
Raider Underworld, and players can expect
a considerable upgrade in the way Lara moves within
her environment. One such feature is the move
away from grid-based ledge manipulation in favour
of a more non-linear method of scaling walls and
shimmying around corners.
Our feisty
heroine can now slide around corners, rather than
using the more traditional right angle system
present in earlier games. While Crystal
Dynamics are keen to point out that Lara's
immersive world isn't free-roaming, a greater
arsenal of moves adds a more non-linear veneer
to the adventure.
It's
not just Lara Croft who scores an update. Those
dastardly arachnids scurrying after Lara Croft
in the Mexico segment of the game are also more
nimble, now sporting the ability to both scuttle
along the floor and flick their black-legged carcases
onto poles and walls in order to hinder a retreating
Lara Croft. They bite too, hard, and Lara Croft
must keep her wits about her if she wants to unlock
the secrets of the Underworld in one piece.
Much
has already been written on the immersive and
awe-inspiring environments which will now become
Lara's chief adversary. Just how visually stunning
those environments are almost defies belief. A
real-world weather system complete with blinding
rain and lashing winds brings to life the foliage
around Lara Croft.
As thunderbolt
and lightning - very very frightening - illuminates
the cloud-strewn skies, the vegetation below mimics
the scene, creating for a split moment a landscape
snapped by an x-ray machine. All the while, as
the thunder and lightning resonate through Lara's
world, the cackle and clarity of electrically-charged
atmospheric effects sing wistfully around the
player's ears.
It's
this attention to minute detail that puts the
player right next to Lara in a way never experienced
before. Much more information on Tomb Raider Underworld
as we publish our exclusive preview in the coming
days.
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