Tomb Raider Underworld Guide: How to Harness Lara's Abilities to Your Best Advantage

Tomb Raider Underworld Guide:  How to Harness Lara's Abilities to Your Best Advantage
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Mastering Lara’s Multitasking Skills

Tomb Raider Underworld is a deep, intense adventure that will require Lara to use all of her skills and abilities in combinations most of the time to successfully complete all levels of the game. Throughout the game Lara will need to perform a number of tasks simultaneously to survive, and usually at lightning speed. Fortunately, the controls provided with the game are instinctive, easy to use and extremely useful. You’ll soon be pressing the right buttons to execute the moves required without thinking about it, and as they become second nature, you’ll find yourself aiming, shooting, and somersaulting simultaneously with impressive ease.

Gamers who are new to the Tomb Raider series may have a little trouble at first getting use to the jumping and running while targeting and dodging. The first level provides a lot of opportunity for practice. This beginning level is perfect for introducing the beginner to the basic moves that you must master in order to successfully navigate through the game.

Let Your Creative Juices Flow

Tomb Raider Underworld screenshot

Perception is one of the keys to success in Tomb Raider Underworld. Observation of the environment around Lara is going to be paramount to your success in navigating the levels and finding all the treasures. Navigating through the wonderfully created environments can be difficult and you might find yourself confused at several points about how to continue. In times like this, the solution is right in front of you but you need to look at the problem from a different angle and look a little closer. Should you find yourself trapped in an area with no obvious means of departure, give the surface of the walls surrounding you a closer look, or try jumping up against a wall to see if Lara grabs onto anything solid that she can use as a leverage point. Greenery or vegetation on a wall or cliff face can often be used to climb up a wall or cliff using Lara’s new Wall Climb move. Most often you’ll find the Wall Jump move is the way out of an apparent dead end. Look up to see how high Lara will have to jump in order to reach an area. Turn on Lara’s Utility Light to inspect any dark areas that might hide a suitable wall jumping area.

Clues to the solution can be gained from many sources, even a detail in a cut scene or an unseen area spotted on the Sonar Map. Also, keep an eye on Lara’s body language at all times, she’ll provide you with hints by the way she responds in situations, and if you’re perceptive enough, you can use it to your advantage.

Health Packs and Treasure

Health Packs appear in Tomb Raider Underworld as the First Aid Kit and Natural Remedies. The First Aid Kit can be recognized by its distinctive symbol and writing, and is found in the field. Lara’s adventures often take her into wilderness areas where she won’t find First Aid Kits, so look for the Natural Remedies. These are depicted as goblets of a medicinal concoction. Both types will add to Lara’s Health Pack inventory and grant 100 percent health to Lara. Lara can carry as many First Aid Kits as she finds, but she won’t carry them over to the next level, so don’t be afraid to use them when Lara’s hurt.

The game is strewn with amazing treasures for you to find as you progress through the levels. On all but one of the levels you can also find a Golf relic, which is always hidden very well, that can permanently increase Lara’s maximum health. You can check how much treasure you have left to find in each level by accessing Lara’s PDA. You may need to play a level a few times before you will find most of the treasure.

References

  • Screenshots created by Sheila Robinson.

This post is part of the series: Tomb Raider : Underworld Game Guide

The Tomb Raider: Underworld Game Guide contains everything a Tomb Raider gamer needs to play Underworld and guide Lara through Underworld’s mysteries. We’ll discuss strategies and tactics, provide hints, tips and ideas on different parts of the game.

  1. Tomb Raider Underworld: Making the Most of Lara’s Abilities
  2. Tomb Raider Underworld: Making the Most of Your Gadgets
  3. Tomb Raider Underworld Game Guide: Combat Situations
  4. Tomb Raider Underworld - Weapon Breakdowns
  5. Tomb Raider Underworld: Analysis of Enemy Types