As Lara Croft navigates a series of underwater ruins in an impossibly revealing thong inspired wetsuit, it takes a grain of salt to accept the developer’s claim that, this time around, the archaeologist/adventurer/pinup girl will spend most of the game in environmentally appropriate attire. In a continuing effort to restore the heroine to her proper place among gaming icons, there will be even less cheesecake and more action star – even the promise of long pants later in the game.

It’s all part of Crystal Dynamics’ plan to take out things that gamers found annoying or immersion breaking in previous games. Her inventory management is now focused on the use of items to make her job easier and not simply as annoying mini-games. When Lara is underwater, she sometimes has access to a scuba tank so say good-bye to hunting for air pockets. Flashlights will be used to find your way around ruins and ancient sites, not to test your battery rationing skills. The grappling hook has additional functionality for puzzle solving. Even her motorcycle will be an item intended to facilitate quick travel, not just be part of a driving mini-game.

The plot is your usual pseudo historical Indiana Jones claptrap. Lara traces secret coordinates left to her by her father, and finds herself in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. With a spear gun to drive off sharks and a sonar device to map the 3D environment, she begins an adventure that will take her to the standard locales. There is an arctic stage and a jungle stage as well as the open underwater level. Other levels have not been confirmed.

The demo took time to show off how open the world is. You can freely roam the area (until you run into a closed door) and solve puzzles in whatever order you like. There is a lot of running and jumping and some nice balance beam work for the Olympic caliber gymnast. The “adrenaline moment” is Underworld’s nod to the now expected bullet-time mechanic. Time slows down in certain dangerous moments, but you never lose control of Lara as you perform the action. She gets dirty as she climbs around the grimy settings and can use almost the entire environment to her advantage, part of the new philosophy of freeing the player to do whatever he or she thinks Lara should have as an option. With fewer cutscene action segments and reducing the mini-games and quick time stuff, the developers are taking advantage of new technology and higher gamer expectations to deliver an adventure saga worthy of the legend of Lara Croft. More tomb raiding, less fussing around. Everybody can appreciate that.