By Kieron Gillen on October 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm.
Just about to run out the house to get to do my speech thing at Playful – clearly, I only actually wrote it this morning. Like, obv! – when I noticed the Tomb Raider: Underworld Demo has just gone live. I feel a bit sorry for it. In some ways, I share Walker’s sympathy for the game, thinking it a shame people are dismissing it through over familiarity. Admittedly, that’s not actually going to make it leap-frog spanglier, newer things to my “Actually playing it properly” pile. Anyway – get it from here and you’ll find some videos beneath the cut if you need a reminder of what Lara Croft looks like.
(She’s the one with the bosoms)
31/10/2008 at 13:42 Jonas says:
I’ll probably get this one just to get an idea of the tech Deus Ex 3 will be using. I can be a bit singleminded like that. The moment I meet giant spiders though, I’m out.
31/10/2008 at 13:55 Bobsy says:
Over a gig? Er, no thanks.
Question: where does this come from? Usually I think of video and audio resources, though I suppose hi-res textures would contribute too. But in audio at least, they should be trying to make a saving. Telltale manage to make their episodic games easy to swallow by scraping the fat from the audio quality. Perhaps not the best plan for a full game, but when your demo has gone into four figures you need to start slimming down.
IDEA! How about two demos – one with all the trimmings: full score, high-quality voiceovers, flashy dev logo videos, and all that… and another which has had all the crap trimmed for a quick and easy download. No spoken dialogue, just subtitles, a single jpeg for logos, that sort of thing. But the playable content will be the same in both.
31/10/2008 at 14:08 BC says:
Because people on the whole are idiots.
They’ll think that the trimmed version is going to be the quality of the full game.
31/10/2008 at 14:10 Diogo Ribeiro says:
A Tomb Raider post not by Walker? Shocker! :)
31/10/2008 at 14:19 Ben Abraham says:
Re: Audio content,
The score is done by Troels Folmann and employs some super-new magical music scoring he developed called ‘micro-scoring’. Knowing next to nothing but the name and the fact that it assembles pieces of score ‘on the fly’, I would cautiously suggest that that system is taking up more than its fair share of resources.
But it sounds like it could be a really really cool music system!
31/10/2008 at 14:41 Ginger Yellow says:
“Perhaps not the best plan for a full game, but when your demo has gone into four figures you need to start slimming down.”
The EndWar demo is 2 gigs.
31/10/2008 at 14:43 Heliocentric says:
Big demo’s actually boost sales on high profile but utterly average games.
Think about it, if a game has a demo you assume the publisher has faith in the product, if you then tried the demo and didn’t like it you are back at step one, or worse less likely to buy the game.
But lets say the demo is obscenely big, maybe even larger than the full game (see dreamfall) then you have the best of both worlds. A boost in media attention, you it to appear to act in good faith, also the demo is so big only someone who might be excited enough to buy it anyway will download the demo.
Call me a cynic, but big demo’s are a trick.
31/10/2008 at 14:54 Bobsy says:
@Ben Abraham:
Holy shit… this is what I’ve been wanting in games for years…
Okay, my level of excitement for Underworld is now through the roof. SO looking forward to this game.
But back on demo sizes… I was referring merely to download size. Lots of content = super-yes, but long, ponderous download = super-no. It’s important to balance quality and quantity of content with easy distribution. Giving away gold bricks is pointless if no-one can get at them.
31/10/2008 at 14:55 teo says:
Here’s a fast link:
http://eidos.http.internapcdn.net/eidos_vitalstream_com/tru/trudemopc.exe
I’m liking the demo so far except for the lack of manual grab
At least I can turn off crosshairs and hints!!
31/10/2008 at 14:59 Heliocentric says:
(x/X) = c/(y/Y)
Where x is the size of the demo. X is the size of the full game. c is the percentage of the full game in the demo(1=100%). The quality of the demo y. Y being the quality of the full game.
I’m glad this all breaks down to an equation or opinions might be subjective.
31/10/2008 at 15:01 AbyssUK says:
the big question is however does it alt-tab ??
31/10/2008 at 15:23 Rook says:
It alt-tabs. Runs nicely on my laptop 8600GT as well. Animation is super weird though.
31/10/2008 at 15:44 The Sombrero Kid says:
sub 1gb demos are for the 90s!
31/10/2008 at 15:52 Nick says:
Why is she shooting Cthulhu?
31/10/2008 at 15:53 OldManTick says:
I went over to Fileplanet to get this demo and I saw Vampire:Bloodlines on sale via Direct2Drive for $10, that is a 2GB download. I tried to buy it after so many glowing references I’ve seen here, but because I’m in France I’m not allowed to buy it. Hopefully it will still be half-price tomorrow when I’m back in the US.
Maybe I can proxy through a server in the US and buy it.
31/10/2008 at 15:57 Mike says:
The bears in the last game made me jump so I think the spiders in underground will probably make me cry!
Looking forward to it.
31/10/2008 at 16:07 Rook says:
I wouldn’t be surprised if bloodlines didn’t end up as the weekend sale on steam for $4.99. I’m pretty sure it was cut price last year.
31/10/2008 at 16:31 Bobsy says:
Nick, the question is why wouldn’t she shoot Cthulhu? It’s Cthulhu!
31/10/2008 at 16:42 teo says:
The demo was great
Much much much better than any level in Legend. The only problem I have with it is all the animation glitches
31/10/2008 at 16:48 Rook says:
Yeah, the animation is really ropey, which is odd as it’s the first time it’s been motion capped. Obviously picking Mr Fantastic as the mo capped artist is proving more of a mistake than they realised.
31/10/2008 at 17:23 Mman says:
After playing Anniversary again a few days ago I’m almost surprised by how much more robust the controls feel, the demo doesn’t push it enough for me to be sure but they seem to have fixed the consistency issues that plagued parts of Legend and Anniversary.
I thought the new sprint would be mapped to the “fast movement” function (when shimmying etc) to consolidate things; I’m a little dissapointed it seems to still use the same annoying “hammer use” concept, especially as the demo doesn’t seem to let me map use to the mouse like I could in Legend and Anniversary (hopefully just a demo thing).
There are still some annoying invisible walls, but it generally seems that they’ve worked on the non-linearity; there are various parts you could just fly through if you follow the obvious path but have alternative routes and side areas if you explore.
31/10/2008 at 17:28 Mman says:
Ugh, forgotten stuff.
Unfortunately the camera doesn’t seem to have been changed much from Legend and Anniversary, although movement seems much less tied to it (it seemed like it HAD to be aligned for certain moves in L&A) which helps a lot even when it is doing something a bit dodgy.
I can’t so much for combat, but frankly I just blasted everything with the tranq (it’s a beast for a “non-lethal” weapon) and then threw in some grenades; now that’s animal cruelty!
31/10/2008 at 17:36 Surgeon says:
Nick says:
Why is she shooting Cthulhu?
If you were insane, you’d shoot at him too.
31/10/2008 at 17:59 teo says:
If you think there aren’t any real hidden areas it’s just because they’re quite hidden =)
31/10/2008 at 18:11 DigitalSignalX says:
re: tombraider
“I’m almost surprised by how much more robust the controls feel”
I had to laugh. I am a small, and petty man, but I laughed.
31/10/2008 at 18:28 Mman says:
“If you think there aren’t any real hidden areas it’s just because they’re quite hidden =)”
Was that to me? Because that’s pretty much what I was saying.
31/10/2008 at 19:17 Man Raised By Puffins says:
Had a play of the 360 demo the other day. It’s got a couple of nice new touches (sticky ‘nading Tigers for the win) and the melding of the Legend narrative style with Anniversary’s impressive environments seems to be a winner, but I think I’ll still be saving Underworld for the long dark months which will inevitably follow this release explosion.
31/10/2008 at 19:47 YogSo says:
Ben Abraham said:
Errr… System Shock 1 already did that more than 12 years ago…
31/10/2008 at 20:17 Will says:
At first I thought you were confusingly saying the controls were BUST (i.e. broken), as opposed to robust. Which I thought was a poor pun. But then… heh, I understand, sir.
31/10/2008 at 20:41 The Poisoned Sponge says:
I actually rather enjoyed the demo, apart from the tiger killing. I killed 5 in 15 minutes! That has to be something like 10% of the remaining population or something. It was horrific, and I felt terrible. Stop making me kill cuddly endangered animals Eidos!
31/10/2008 at 20:54 Mman says:
Use the tranquiliser?
31/10/2008 at 21:03 teo says:
Mman no sorry that was just a general ‘you’ to anybody
31/10/2008 at 21:47 Rei Onryou says:
Tomb raiding: now with added motorcycles.
31/10/2008 at 23:49 mashakos says:
from what I’ve seen of the demo, the quality of the game is far below that of other next gen titles. Notably Uncharted when it comes to the cut scenes and Assassin’s Creed where the climbing is concerned.
01/11/2008 at 00:18 Mman says:
“Notably Uncharted when it comes to the cut scenes…”
Notably? Two minutes maximum of a 20-30 minute+ demo?
01/11/2008 at 00:47 tmp says:
No one is twisting your arm to kill them, you know. Just put down your weapons and let them eat you.
01/11/2008 at 00:51 Rook says:
Assassin’s Creed’s climbing was pretty much hold a button and point in the right direction. I think TR still has the edge in making it fun to play and part of the game.
01/11/2008 at 01:13 mashakos says:
Yup. When it looks like a daytime cartoon series for early teens from the first few minutes, it’s pretty much going to be the same throughout. I guess Core doesn’t have the budget Naughty Dog had to hire great composers and voice actors but what about the character animation? The direction of the cut scene itself? It is not on the same level unfortunately.
it’s the same thing in tr:u. The difference is it’s a lot less fun. Either way, the one button approach has worked really well in the past.
*cough* Zelda + Ocarina + Time *cough*
01/11/2008 at 01:28 Rook says:
cough Ocarina of Time isn’t that good cough.
01/11/2008 at 01:33 mashakos says:
LOL!
01/11/2008 at 02:11 Mman says:
“Yup. When it looks like a daytime cartoon series for early teens from the first few minutes, it’s pretty much going to be the same throughout. I guess Core…”
Oh right, you were just trolling, never mind.
01/11/2008 at 11:50 mashakos says:
not really, but whatever.
01/11/2008 at 16:02 Optimaximal says:
hehe… did someone try to take claim for dynamic music in games?
01/11/2008 at 17:36 Y3k-Bug says:
I didn’t like the feel in the demo.
There are ALOT of animation bugs. Just having Lara run, you can easily see the animation loop. Her left leg jitters and shakes every other step. Is this something that is outright horrible? Of course not. But its distracting and pulls me out of the world.
Also many animation bugs for jumping up on ledges, running into walls, and shooting.
Combat felt really, really hard to me for some reason, much less fluid than Anniversary. Did anyone else get that impression?
01/11/2008 at 18:00 Katsumoto (jvgp100) says:
Can’t say I noticed any of these issues. On my PC at least it looked incredibly smooth and the graphics were lush. I thought this would have to be pushed back to the new year but I may end up getting it on release day on the strength of this demo.
01/11/2008 at 21:00 Theory says:
It’s a shame they’ve dumped the ‘last-gen’ graphics option: I always preferred the cleaner and more colourful world it offered.
I wasn’t as keen on the game in general as I was with Legend, unlike seemingly everyone else here. There were several places where I fell to my death thinking that I could grab hold of something I couldn’t (plus one case where Lara clipped bodily through a grab-able ledge…luckily it worked on a second attempt), and several more when I didn’t realise I could jump onto something I could. The combat is annoying too – pretty much hammering dodge/jump and holding down fire. I’d no idea what was actually happening.
It’s a far cry from leaping about confidently and smoothly in Legend.
01/11/2008 at 21:19 Flubb says:
Not a single wombles reference…. :(
01/11/2008 at 21:21 Mman says:
I kind of wondered whether the title was a reference too…
01/11/2008 at 21:46 The Vile Baron of Infant Torture says:
I’ve had the “UNCLE BULGARIA…” bit blaring triumphantly through my head since this came up too.
RPS shows a blatant disregard for the sanity of its readership again. I wonder why I continue to pay my license fee.
01/11/2008 at 22:06 teo says:
The running animation glitch only happened to me when she was running inside for the first time
Also, use the tranq gun for the tigers
02/11/2008 at 05:31 Mome says:
Core hasn’t been doing the last few Tomb Raider games, they were folded before legend I think. Crystal Dynamics(of Gex fame) is doing the recent TR’s no. I’d honestly love to see another Gex. Just an FYI.
02/11/2008 at 08:56 James T says:
Ditto. It, y’know, works; isn’t really doing anything I’d expect to be in DX3, so who knows how it’ll go there (actually, I played Anniversary — same engine, so I didn’t really need to grab this, did I… well, I was kind of curious anyway). Visually, fairly unremarkable, tending towards old-hat; pleasant lighting, except for the self-shadowing, which is, uh… wow. Not a good wow. More of a “This isn’t the release code, right?” wow. I prefer not having to avert my eyes from my in-game avatar, thanks CD. As for the game itself, well, it’s Tomb Raider, it’s not even interesting, much less great. Lots of tiresome little “you can’t jump JUST here, you had to have been one game-inch to the left, so climb all the way back up here and guess again another three or four times. Quicksave? That’s the Apple movie thing, right? Sorry about the camera, he’s a trainee so you’ll have to be patient; but just you wait, catch him in a few years when he’s not in a Tomb Raider game anymore — he’ll be the best!. Oh no, you didn’t keep moving in the correct direction upon landing, did you? That crazy camera is such a kidder, he’ll turn your sensible walk away from the edge into a perilous straight-off-the-ledge stroll at the drop of a hat! Lara’s a real mischief maker too, she’s happy to walk clean off any ol’ thing. Climb back up a couple more times and have a go. So yeah, why’d you mention the Apple thing?” But thank god, you can scuffle with tiny little health-sapping insects, there’s not enough of that in games.
02/11/2008 at 15:39 Mman says:
“it’s Tomb Raider, it’s not even interesting, much less great”
If you don’t like Tomb Raider you won’t like the demo, who’ve guessed?
02/11/2008 at 15:48 James T says:
Got nothin’, huh?
02/11/2008 at 16:01 Mman says:
When every issue except the camera one was a nitpick anyway?
02/11/2008 at 21:55 Theory says:
As if by magic…
03/11/2008 at 04:07 James T says:
Thought not.
03/11/2008 at 13:57 mashakos says:
I thought Core Design took over from Crystal Dynamics after Crap of Darkness.
03/11/2008 at 14:02 Mman says:
It’s the other way around.
“Thought not.”
You’re right, I don’t; I can tell that you went in with the pretense that you were going to hate the game anyway. Your subsequent responses have confirmed that further.
03/11/2008 at 15:58 Bobsy says:
@Yog-so and Optimaximal
Dynamic music systems that use Midi are easy. Dynamic music systems that use recorded live ensembles, a completely different matter.
03/11/2008 at 16:11 Deuteronomy says:
OK the demo was simply pure unadulterated *fun*. Screw Dead Space, GTAIV and Mirror’s Edge I’m getting this one for December.
03/11/2008 at 16:22 PHeMoX says:
Tombraider: Underworld??
- huge, I say HUGE camera issues
- not that great level design this time around
- collision bugs / issues, sometimes controls won’t respond comfortably to the situations
+ visually improved over the last game
+ it’s Lara, what’d ya need more? Yay.
+ story is pretty interesting, more so than the last 2 games
It suffers too much from the camera and collision issues though as it directly influences the gameplay. Sad!
03/11/2008 at 16:24 PHeMoX says:
- ah, another thing, since it’s the same engine as Assassin’s Creed apparently, I’ve got the same audio issues of sometimes freezing my game.
It’s not scoring higher because of all this in my book for sure… :(
03/11/2008 at 16:51 Rook says:
It’s an inhouse engine from Crystal Dynamix, not AC.
04/11/2008 at 00:08 James T says:
I love wannabe psychics (especially when they pull out their psychic predictions as some pathetic kind of ‘trump card’ when they want to yap-yap-yap at people with opinions they don’t like). I’d also love to know how my ‘subsequent responses’ ‘confirmed’ anything about my SINISTER AGENDA, considering they purely express my disdain for you — camera behaviour and reliable controls are ‘nitpicks’ in a game all about clinging to precarious ledges? That’s comedy.
04/11/2008 at 00:42 Mman says:
“camera behaviour and reliable controls are ‘nitpicks’ in a game all about clinging to precarious ledges?”
Except those were the things I said weren’t nitpicks (though I lumped it under “camera”).