Outstanding
I love PC games! Tomb Raider Underworld is giving me all kinds of well remembered days playing other really great PC games (Deus Ex comes to mind). The challenge in Underworld is figuring out how to best accomplish each trick. Lara the humanitarian or Lara the death machine. Graphics are wonderful especially at 1680x1050 (nuts but fantastic "Oh please produce Tomb Raider future games in HD") Its a shame that Crysis and other games don't play this well. Only con which didn't reduce my opinion is were I am stuck trying the Mexico run its really tough even using a Logitech G5. If you like a great story, very nice graphics and panoramic settings you will love this game.

Best yet, me thinks.
... just when I was ready to give this game the highest compliment ever, I ran into a frustrating rerun of the most astounding cinematics I have seen in TR yet, but only to have it repeated so many times that it became frustrating as I could not beat the timing being on the bike and just had to watch over and over until I made the bike run successful. Must have taken 50 tries. Had to stop and continue the next day. Other than that, I found it very comfortable and not many other challenges too steep to keep me from continuing through to the end. I just figure that a computer game should be more relaxing and entertaining, and this seemed to fill that need best yet in the TR series ..... my perspective anyway. Finally no required "head shots" with inadequate controlling aspects, no seemingly impossible feats, and kindly little time challenges that seem to run over again 'til you want to puke. I am playing this over again a second time, right away. Really liked how she could bounce up between walls sometimes with quick grabs, even though it seemed as nothing was there to hold on to, but she found a grip often, but not always. When you absolutely are lost, with seemingly no idea of how you can possibly continue the game I used to have no course but to refer to some kind of "walkthrough" literary help book, where now you can just "Tab-key" into an area now where you can get a vague hint of what to do next, or even a further specific hint, should you want to inquire into her thoughts further ...... I really liked this and found myself doing it often. Then I would feel a bit stupid, but at least was able to flow on with the game and not wander aimlessly for long frustrating hours, Yaaaaa! Something very close to great fun for a change. My question is why did it take so long to arrive at something that is actually fun for a change and not just a challenge! The graphics of the surroundings hug you like a well earned vacation and sometimes seems as if you are actually on vacation. Virtually serene often. The puzzles of course are great, well thought out, and have to admire how it was all put together. You will love this one! For the most part, it should be the template for most games I think! If you can put it down long enough because you need some rest, you are able to do that. You won't be so frustrated that you are unable to get that needed sleep. Just what a game should be ....... healthy for the soul for a change.

Solid, fun, great graphics, but...
I just finished the game last night and after having a day to think about it I have the following impressions.

The good:
* It's pretty. Very pretty. The levels are spectacular in detail.
* I found the game controls really good. I don't get uptight over new actions, or missing abilities.
* No constantly crumbling ledges, falling rocks, and breaking icicles to navigate perfectly or fall to your death because you did not execute 10 perfect moves in a row in a short period of time. I HATE those kind of puzzles as I don't find them fun. I just find I want to slap a level designer. I didn't feel the need to slap any level designers in Underworld.
* They did *NOT* make it into a 'kill the big, mean boss at the end of each level' type of game - this was a great decision in my mind.
* The motorcycle use was clever.
* The cut scenes were good, but I thought the story was lacking too much detail.
* No crashes, no blue screens of death, nothing like that. It even recovered nicely when it ran out of video ram once...and I was able to continue on without problems (only 256 meg of ram in my card).

The bad (or less good) in my opinion:
* I thought the game itself was short and the story fairly unimaginative.
* I have a pretty good machine, 2.4 dual core Dell XPS with an NVIDIA GeForce 7900...all the latest drivers, no viruses, etc. I had to turn off all video options to make it run reasonably.
* The scale of two of the levels are so big, it just takes that 'Tomb Raider' feeling away and replaces it with a 'Only ancient deities could create this'. Their scale seems out of place to me.

Wish list:
* Better Intro.
* More Story and better cut scenes.
* Shorter wait time for the next Tomb Raider.

Overall a very good game and I'm glad I got it. Reasonable price for that many hours of entertainment.

Tomb Raider Underworld- First Impressions
I remember playing all the old Tomb Raider games and I really enjoyed them. However I haven't played some of the later games because they just weren't as good as the beginning ones. Now I can say that Lara is truly back and the game is terrific. The graphics are much improved and Lara is quite the hot chick. Controls are easy to use on the PC and you can turn on aids that help you use the right ones. The puzzles make you think but are not too difficult. If you've played the old TR games then they shouldn't be too hard to figure out. However if you've never played any of her games then they might seem difficult. The treasures that Lara finds are so far not hidden and are out in the open, unless of course there are some I haven't found. This is one of the complaints I had about the game that the treasures are all the same and the game doesn't tell you what you found. The AI could be tweaked some more because the enemies don't really come at you aggressively. If you lay back they leave you alone and there are some areas where they won't follow you. Also, so far using a Windows Vista Quad Chip and a Nvidia 8500gt, the game did crash twice which surprised me since the game had been up to then very stable and easy to use. The puzzles could have been a little harder to solve but you do have to think about ways to do things. There are no issues with DRM and the game automatically resumes to the last game saved. All in all a very good game that relates to the Lara of the past. A definite buy.
After playing the game for a few days now I have to say that it is better than I thought it would be. There are some obstacles I had trouble figuring out and had to go to a website for help. I noticed that there were quite a few people who were stumped. Also there are some controls that you have to learn how to master. So it's not that easy which makes the game even better and more challenging. I'm really enjoying it.

The Best TR yet!
Great game! Fun, stunning graphics, good story. Not only did they keep the same controls from the last game, but they decided to amp up every bit of the game play, action and charactor. No need for the practice trials in the mansion in this one either. (you'll understand as soon as you hit start) This is how all the tomb raider games should be!