Lara Croft’s status as a video game icon was always dubious, due more to her position as a sex symbol rather than the games she appeared in being any good. A good many of us enjoyed watching Lara’s fall from grace, which also happened to crush Core Design, the studio that created the Tomb Raider series. After Crystal Dynamics rescued the franchise with Tomb Raider Legend, it felt like one could admit to liking the series without being labelled a sad polygonal pervert. After a trip back down memory lane in 2007’s remake of the original, Lara is back to make her proper HD generation debut in Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Underworld basically continues on from Legend and the redefined story of Anniversary (a “Previously on Tomb Raider” movie is there to help you catch up if you missed those). Lara’s still trying to determine her mother’s fate, which has her searching for a way to Avalon, the resting place of King Arthur, where antagonist Amanda claimed Lara’s mother is. She finds a temple that leads her to believe that the Avalon and the Norse underworld Niflheim are one and the same. After being attacked by Amanda’s mercenaries, Lara encounters Natla, who confirms Lara’s hypothesis, and informs her that she will need Mjolner, the Hammer of Thor, to enter Nilfheim. Thus the search begins.

Whether it’s just a recent overexposure to hackneyed stories involving Norse mythology, or the fact that Tomb Raider plots have always been inconsequential, players are not going to find themselves too enamoured with Underworld’s storyline. Insufferable writing and half-assed voice acting from a crew of disinterested actors really do not help. Not that it really matters; Underworld offers the same solid action/platforming fun of Crystal Dynamics’ other Tomb Raider efforts, but sadly most of the same shortcomings too.

Lara’s latest journey takes her to a variety of locations across the world. Each environment is much bigger than anything previously seen in a Tomb Raider game, but Crystal Dynamics don’t skimp on the little details. Outdoor locations tend to be the highlight – the lush jungles of Thailand are really impressive, but the underwater sections in the first level of the game are wonderfully atmospheric. There are a few frame rate issues in some of the larger environments, but nothing too serious. Lara’s animation is fantastic, and the way she interacts with the environment makes the game seem slightly more realistic. Of course she’s still designed as a blatant sex object – players even get to choose her kit before the start of a mission.

Underworld plays fairly similarly to the other recent Tomb Raider games. Players get to a location, scout out a way to move from room to room, solve a few rudimentary puzzles, kill a few enemies, grab a treasure, and haul ass out of there. Lara’s got a whole bunch of new moves in this latest game, plus everything she learnt in Legend. The rappel line can now be used for abseiling, Lara can free climb up certain rocky walls, and walk along balance beams. The platforming is still fairly static and linear (despite the developer’s claims to the contrary) – you can see exactly where Lara can climb and where she has to go, and there are few opportunities to go off course to explore on your own. In the rare event that you do get lost or don’t know where to go next, you can simply bring up Lara’s PDA, which will tell you exactly what needs to be done.

The puzzle structure has seen little in the way of refinement continuing to rely on the same old box puzzles and pressure pads that we’ve seen for the last 10 years or so. Havok physics are used in the game – surely Crystal Dynamics could have thought of something fun to do with that. While the puzzles aren’t wholly original, players will still get a degree of satisfaction from solving them before moving on. The camera can be a bit of a nuisance when it comes to space-constrained jumps; the game always feels like you should control the camera except during these situations, which often results in a mistimed jump and a dead Lara. There are also far too many clipping issues in the game – most players will frequently get stuck in the environment and have no choice but to start a level again. It’s purely indicative of a game that was rushed by the publisher to grab those all important Holiday dollars.

Combat continues to feel out of place in Tomb Raider, serving mainly as a brief diversion from climbing and solving puzzles. The collective IQ of your human opponents is the equivalent to that of a gnat; they’ll stand still while you fill them with lead and throw sticky grenades at them. They’re also like bullet sponges, taking a ridiculous number of shots before they go down. Your animal buddies aren’t particularly smart either, but the tigers are fast, strong and like mauling scantily-clad women. There’s also a useless adrenaline based headshot system, which slows down time and allows you to score a critical hit on an opponent, but you have to fire off so many shots to fill the meter that the enemy will be dead before you can even attempt the special move. Being able to fire upon two separate enemies again is handy, though. You’ve also got a melee attack button at your disposal now, which lets Lara do a rather mean looking jump kick.

The stupid motorbike sequences from Legend also return, this time with added shooting. It throws a spanner in the works when it comes to controls, changing the shoot button and not allowing inverted camera control. One would have thought they’d have learnt from the last time; focus on doing what Lara does best, and leave this extraneous crap for other games. On a lighter note, the horrid quick time event sequences have been replaced by slow motion action sequences. The scenes work the same way – you might be escaping a collapsing floor or avoiding an explosion, but rather than a simple button press, you retain full control over Lara. It’s a nice alternative to the wholly overused QTE mechanic.

Lara’s latest adventure will clock in around the 12 hour mark for most players. There are collectible artefacts and treasures to find, and a bevy of achievements to unlock if you are so willing. Xbox 360 owners will be treated to exclusive downloadable content in the future, which is somewhat puzzling given Lara’s association with the PlayStation brand and the higher sales of this game on that format.

Tomb Raider: Underworld is a good action/platformer game at its core, but it’s plagued by far too many problems. The design is too familiar, the camera is horrid, there are many unnecessary sequences, a lack of new material/mechanics, and there are many issues that should have been corrected during the quality assurance stage of development. On the other hand, the game looks great and still plays well enough for players to have a bit of fun. Even so, Crystal Dynamics will have to do a lot more with the next Tomb Raider to stop history from repeating.