Tomb Raider Underworld Demo

  • What do you expect from a demo? Regardless, expect a review later tonight once I play it enough.

  • Sure but in 99 or 2000 Demos were much longer if you ask me. But the Tomb Raider Underworld Demo gives you a good look of what you can expect so it's okay.

  • I actually thought the demo was fairly lengthy.


    Tomb Raider Underworld Demo
    a summary/review by Catracoth


    Now, I must say, for a demo, they showed a lot, and it kept you wanting more. November 18 cannot come fast enough, it would seem. However, I did not find one flaw in the game. The "squirrel jump" isn't even as bad as fans make it to be. It looks like a realistic jump when you see it for yourself, and Lara runs and walks like a real person would. She climbs/descends stairs like normal people and she reacts to the environment aswell. However, I did notice that the small spiders and bats disappear once you kill them. The tigers stay where they died, though.


    The demo was fantastic, and hopefully I'll be able to take pictures of key parts of the game, providing the pictures come out good. For a final sentence, I was excited when I downloaded the demo, and after playing it, I can finally rest my mind knowing how fantastic the real game will be. Lara Croft, I'll see you in the Underworld!


    Any questions about the demo?

  • What do you expect from a demo? Regardless, expect a review later tonight once I play it enough.

    That's very nice of you, :cat. But don't give us a walkthrough. We want to have some little surprises. :sun:
    I'm so glad we get the demo this weekend. :party: can't wait playing it.
    Btw, how big is the download file and how long did it take for you to download? I hope the queue isn't too long. I just hate being on hold. :ouch:
    Only kiddin' . I'm sure it is worth waiting for.............................. :awe


  • Btw, how big is the download file..


    Even though it is interesting to know, it might be a bit different (larger?) in size for the PC version.


    For the Xbox version it is very clear what is needed, on a PC you could have many different setups (Intel or AMD - single, dual or quad core; Nvidia or ATI graphics card, Direct X 9.xx or 10...) which may require different tweaks.

  • To answer questy's question first, I downloaded it on Xbox 360 - the size was about 1.56MB and it took approximately an hour and a half. Well worth the wait, I'll admit though.


    The Poet, the melee fighting wasn't anything huge, but it was fantastic and did add a new aspect to the gameplay. Lara can swing and throw objects such as those poles you stick into walls to use as a swinging pole - she hits with those and fires from one hand while using it. She can kick any enemy with the (Y button on Xbox 360) melee attack and squish spiders with it as well. Whilst running, if you press the melee button, she'll execute that jump kick we've seen in pictures. That's about it for melee fighting.


    Headshots are accomplished by pressing the appropriate "headshot button", (which is X on the 360 when weapons are equipped). Your adrenaline bar must be filled to complete this. It goes into slow motion and Lara jumps, lands on the tiger's head/neck area, pushes off and leaps backward. You have to line up the reticule (by using the movement control stick) before she lands and fire, the headshot killing the creature immediately.


    The new gear is pretty snazzy. Lara's grapple is an improvement from Legend's - it now handles like a handgun, but you can tell it's a grapple. Lara's done away with her binoculars and replaced them with her Sony camera. I'm yet to use the picture and video capture abilities on the camera since they failed to include that in the demo. Her personal light source is smaller now, and looks a bit like the Ghalali Key - it's small and round. Not too small though.


    The HUD (Heads Up Display) is by far the best - way better than Legend's. It's more polished and easily viewable when enabled and it's a general fantastic sight.


    However, I've tried, and Lara cannot shot while swan diving...unless she can and I'm not doing it right - I tried swan diving and removing the handguns, but no luck. Her cartwheels/gymnastic stunts are different, but for the better. A few are familiar since they were seen in Legend and Anniversary, but they look better. The cartwheel looks much more realistic, and I love the front flip Lara does on the balance beams.


    Oh, and thank God - her breasts look normal sized - about Legend's size, if not a smidge smaller. Finally.

  • I'm so excited! :happyjump I can't wait till Friday...

    Me too................. :happyjump Lets all jump................ :happyjump
    Reading your post I must say it sounds very promising. :-)
    I still think you, Cat , should be a journalist. You've got a great writing style. :thumbsup

  • The Poet, the melee fighting wasn't anything huge, but it was fantastic and did add a new aspect to the gameplay. Lara can swing and throw objects such as those poles you stick into walls to use as a swinging pole - she hits with those and fires from one hand while using it. She can kick any enemy with the (Y button on Xbox 360) melee attack and squish spiders with it as well. Whilst running, if you press the melee button, she'll execute that jump kick we've seen in pictures. That's about it for melee fighting.


    Cool! :D

    Quote

    Headshots are accomplished by pressing the appropriate "headshot button", (which is X on the 360 when weapons are equipped). Your adrenaline bar must be filled to complete this. It goes into slow motion and Lara jumps, lands on the tiger's head/neck area, pushes off and leaps backward. You have to line up the reticule (by using the movement control stick) before she lands and fire, the headshot killing the creature immediately.


    Sounds a bit complicated... But I'll see how it's done in the PC version.

    Quote

    The new gear is pretty snazzy. Lara's grapple is an improvement from Legend's - it now handles like a handgun, but you can tell it's a grapple. Lara's done away with her binoculars and replaced them with her Sony camera. I'm yet to use the picture and video capture abilities on the camera since they failed to include that in the demo. Her personal light source is smaller now, and looks a bit like the Ghalali Key - it's small and round. Not too small though.


    The HUD (Heads Up Display) is by far the best - way better than Legend's. It's more polished and easily viewable when enabled and it's a general fantastic sight.


    I can't wait to try the grapple! :-)

    Quote

    However, I've tried, and Lara cannot shot while swan diving...unless she can and I'm not doing it right - I tried swan diving and removing the handguns, but no luck. Her cartwheels/gymnastic stunts are different, but for the better. A few are familiar since they were seen in Legend and Anniversary, but they look better. The cartwheel looks much more realistic, and I love the front flip Lara does on the balance beams.


    Hmm... I'm looking forward to seen how the shooting while swan diving is done (if it is possible to actually do it, what if it's only possible in cutscenes?), and of course the gymnastic stunts. I like to do them in Anniversary, because they look so awesome. :-)

  • @ tombraidergirl ! You're not saying the file ( demo ) has been removed from the download section ? :shock:
    Doh.... just when you get your hopes up................... :(

  • The Tomb Raider Underworld demo is now officially available from the official Tomb Raider website.


    Thank you :cat . I'll give that one a go. The file is huge, 1.15 gb, and will take 2 days :ouch: to download at a speed of about 10 kb sec.
    Thank god we have a long weekend.

  • Don't play it too much like I did. It gets boring after about fifteen times and you just want the full game even more than ever, and you're ready to track down the trucks bringing the game copies to stores and hijack them.

  • @ the poet. The specs is exactly what I'm worried about. What are the specs on your Pc. I've had no problems running anniversary at all.
    But that means nothing nowadays, does it. :-)


    @ wile.e coyote. I truly hope so. :think:


    @ Catracoth. I just wish I could play it at least once. After getting to 84% it came up with "download complete" so I unpacked it only to be told file incomplete - download again. :ouch: :mad: :shoot: :comp :cry :bird