NAUTICAL ADVENTURES FOR LARA CROFT
Copyright 2008 www.tombraiderchronicles.com

[June 7th 2008 ]

The July 2008 issue of Playstation magazine (UK) features a spectacular preview of Tomb Raider Underworld and includes information on Lara Croft's forthcoming nautical incursions. Included in the preview are new undersea screenshots and a first look at our feisty heroine in scuba gear.

According to PSM, "Seeing Lara squeezed into a wetsuit, standing on the deck of her luxury yacht anchored in the Med, two things are clear. First, we really need to return 'Into The Blue' to the video shop. Second, the grave-robbing must be going well if she can afford the kind of boat that Donald Trump would dismiss as showy.

"Lara arrives at this new location - the first level of Tomb Raider Underworld - after learning her father found something here shortly before he disappeared. And at the bottom of the sea lies a submerged temple that hides a lot of the answers to Lara's questions."

"This location is hiding a big secret, though. The main chamber is blocked by a Kraken (read: 'big angry octopus') whose tentacles are wound through the door, pulling it firmly shut. Getting rid of the big squid involves leaping from ledges and poles to creaky old switches and mechanisms, finally releasing a large platform suspended over the leggy flesh-sack's head."

"One of the new game-play features in Underworld appears as Lara clambers through the cavern. As she crosses a bridge the Kraken swings one of his tree-sized tentacles, triggering an 'Adrenaline Moment.' Rather than the button matching mini-games from Legend or Anniversary, this causes a flash of slow motion, giving Lara a split second to evade the limb as it crushes the bridge under her feet."

"Perhaps the best demonstration of just how good this all looks in action, however, comes when Lara reaches the last switch and drops the platform onto the creature - crushing it under a huge slab of rock. It's impossible to tell whether squid-face's roaring death throes and thrashing tentacles are a glossy CGI sequence or the in-game engine."

The full Tomb Raider Underworld preview can be collected in the July 2008 issue of Playstation magazine, on sale now across the UK. Thanks to Tomb Raider Forums for the heads-up.