Tomb Raider - Underworld

Tomb Raider: Underworld for Nintendo DS is a 2008 action-adventure platformer starring archaeologist Lara Croft. Published by Eidos Interactive and developed for the handheld by Santa Cruz Games, this version adapts the Norse-mythology quest of Tomb Raider: Underworld into a self-contained side-scrolling adventure rather than duplicating the larger home-console game. Lara’s search for the legendary hammer Mjolnir takes her through perilous ruins and remote locations as she pursues clues connected to the Norse underworld.

The Nintendo DS game centers on moving Lara safely through compact, obstacle-filled areas. Players run, jump, climb, hang from ledges, swing across gaps, and use Lara’s acrobatic skills to reach routes that are not immediately obvious. Spikes, collapsing hazards, moving mechanisms, and other environmental dangers make careful timing as important as forward momentum. Checkpoints help structure the journey into manageable sections for handheld play.

Exploration and puzzle solving are closely connected. Lara uses the environment, switches, and the grapple to negotiate ancient structures and open the way ahead. The DS touch screen has a practical role beyond displaying menus: it is used for environmental puzzle challenges, inventory access, and selecting weapons. Chests found during the adventure can be kept in the inventory and tackled later, adding optional problems and unlockable bonus material alongside the main route.

Combat breaks up the platforming as Lara faces hostile creatures and other threats in the ruins. Her familiar dual-pistol style returns alongside an arsenal of additional weapons, while the player must choose shots and movement around enemy encounters. The game also supports the Nintendo DS Rumble Pak, giving compatible hardware feedback during play. These elements preserve a recognizable Tomb Raider balance of action, traversal, and ancient-site investigation within the system’s two-screen format.

Underworld’s story draws Lara toward secrets tied to Thor and the underworld, with stages spanning the Thai coast, Mexico’s jungles, and the frozen Arctic Sea. The setting gives the handheld version a globe-trotting progression of temples, caverns, and ruins instead of a single continuous location. Lara’s objective is not merely to survive each stage, but to uncover relics, solve the structures left behind, and continue her hunt for the power behind the Norse legend.

As the ninth main Tomb Raider entry and the closing chapter of the Legend-era trilogy, Tomb Raider: Underworld arrived on Nintendo DS alongside versions for several other platforms in November 2008. The DS release is notable for being built specifically around portable play: its side-view presentation, touch-screen challenges, short area-based layout, and handheld-focused puzzles make it a separate interpretation of Lara Croft’s Underworld expedition. For players looking for a Tomb Raider adventure shaped for the Nintendo DS, it offers a compact take on the series’ mix of athletic exploration, traps, combat, and mythic discovery.