Having forgotten about the past few Tomb Raider games that took Lara Croft to uncharted territory not worth exploring, the Crystal Dynamics team has breathed new life into the franchise with the excellent Tomb Raider: Legend. Lara’s return to the tombs was very good, indeed, and now the team returns with Tomb Raider: Underground, a sequel that doesn’t update the game but brings us more of the same tomb raiding goodness.

“That’s for calling my movies crappy!”

A direct sequel to Legend, Underground finds Lara attempting to escape her own mansion as it goes up in flames and, to top it all off, a friend turns his firearm on her. Flash forward a few weeks later as Lara is following the lead given to her by Amanda in the ending chapter of Legend. Rumor that her mother might still be alive has Lara continuing her quest for a mythological realm of the Norse variety.

Like Lara’s early adventures, Underground has our favorite treasure hunter seeking legendary items … in this case everything from Thor’s Hammer to other enchanted tools that will help her unlock the mystery of realms such as Niflheim. You’ll also be following her through some gorgeous exotic locales including an underwater ruin, an ancient temple in Thailand and a number of other locations. In fact, the variety of locales makes for a diversity of challenges that will have you not only exploring massive underground tombs but also taking the action outside. At one point, Lara even takes the battle aboard a ship as well as get on a motorcycle again.

The tombs themselves are ripe with a variety of puzzles that aren’t easy to solve and not too overly challenging that you’ll be frustrated by them. Early in the game you’ll be attempting to open a giant door underwater as well as figure out a way to drop a platform filled with spikes down on a gigantic squid guarding the entrance to the tomb’s main chamber. Oftentimes, you’ll be solving smaller puzzles that make up a much bigger puzzle. Lara can even pick up objects, such as stones, to use on platforms or ground switches.

“These Japanese game shows are getting really dangerous.”

Lara’s movements, this time around, are more realistic. She swats away at foliage as she runs throughout the tropics, waves her arms about to catch her balance after a long-distance jump as well as push her weight when she attempts to push off other surfaces. During combat, Lara can perform combat rolls as well as some slick melee attacks. Unfortunately, combat is also one of the weakest elements in the game. Sure, targeting has improved and you can even pull off headshots, but it still takes way too many bullets to bring down a lowly thug even if you do pull off a headshot. It’s like the enemy is wearing invisible armor. I do like that you can now target two different opponents at the same time … that should make a return in the next game.

Other glitches from Legend also make a return, such as the fact that sometimes the animals in the game react unrealistically. How a tiger was able to float above a pillar for a second before landing on Lara is beyond me. Even the bad camera angles are back that will often have you blindly jumping to the next ledge without even seeing it. This is really too bad since the acrobatics in the game are a great improvement and it’s a blast swinging with your grappling hook that is included among your equipment you can pick at the beginning of each level.

Graphically speaking, Underground looks great on the PS3 and the backgrounds are truly one of the games best visual features. From the gorgeous water effects, dimly lit tombs and the lush exteriors, this game looks better than Legends and that game was pretty. Even Lara is looking good, although a bit on the plastic side at times. Still, it’s great to see that her skin gets slick when she comes out of a water and dirty when she’s crawling around in dank caverns. Too bad there are some awful clipping problems as well.

Giant Squid: “Hey, watch where you point those! Indiana Jones was never that rude.”

The game’s sound isn’t bad considering there’s a great score that’s as good as what is found in the Tomb Raider movies. To top it all off, the voice acting in the game is equally good although the dialogue is considerable campy and weak. There’s some decent sound effects as well and the ambient background noises are minimal … and that’s too bad since it really would have given the impression that you’re moving through the various locales.

Tomb Raider: Underground for the PlayStation 3 doesn’t step things up for this sequel but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most enjoyable games in this newly revamped series. Much of the credit goes to the inventive puzzles and huge yet diverse environments Lara gets to explore. While I wish many of the issue that appeared in Legend had been fixed (such as the camera and combat in general), Lara’s latest adventure is one that will have you gladly donning her hot pants again.

Gameplay: 8.2
A few of the issues that plagued Legend hasn’t really been resolved and combat is still problematic in places since it still takes half an ammo clip to take down a human thug. The tombs are the real star of the show with some great puzzles that will not fail to challenge. Still, the new moves are actually good.

Graphics: 8.0
The environments really stand out beautifully in this game and that’s a good thing seeing as there are some detailed exotic locales in this game. Lara is looking better than ever and she moves more realistically this time around.

Sound: 7.5
The soundtrack is wonderfully cinematic and the voice acting isn’t bad at all. I just wish there was more to the background noises and sound effects.

Difficulty: Medium
Combat is actually challenging but not for the right reasons. It’s the game’s puzzles that will give your brain a nice workout … especially the ones later in the game.

Concept: 8.0
Lara’s adventure to discover the fate of her mother is an interesting one with rarely a shortage of action, brain-twisting puzzles or fun acrobatics. There’s some bonus material to unlock along the way and motorcycle riding that’s a lot better than the last time.

Overall: 8.2
While it doesn’t propel the series forward to new heights, Underground is certainly an exciting and challenging Tomb Raider game worthy of Lady Croft’s sizeable talents. Yes, the returning problems from the first game are back but these new tombs make for a rich and rewarding experience for Tomb Raider fans.