Tomb Raider 8: Underworld first details and screenshots (for Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Tomb Raider Underworld screenshot
Tomb Raider 8: Underworld is under development at Crystal Dynamics and will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2008. The game’s story will take place after Tomb Raider 7: Legend.

According to the UK’s Play magazine: “Her adventure will be a thrill ride for anyone new to the franchise. The emphasis is on bringing Lara’s world to life, a lush, vast interactive world that reacts and remembers. It’s pure woman versus wild. In the level where Lara explores Southern Mexico, she leaves footprints in the mud, but it’s raining so they wash away [the same effect happens with dirt on her body]. The bodies she leaves behind in combat encounters will stay, however, as will the debris from any destruction she causes.”

Developer Eric Lindstrom comments about the environments and weather system by saying: “We developed a hybrid lighting model that combines dynamic lights with carefully created light maps to make our world look stunning in ways that none of the available methods could achieve alone.”

Tomb Raider Underworld cover
Lara Croft will have new animations. “Lara was given full motion capture to bring a more natural fluidity to her movements, with proper weight and secondary motion,” quotes Tombraiderchronicles. She can also climb and shoot at the same time, as you can see in other screenshots at Tombraiderforums.