Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review

Lara Croft returns outside of the Tomb Raider series and with a new perspective to show that exploring ancient ruins is still great fun.

While not officially a Tomb Raider title, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (LCGOL) combines all the great things about the series and wraps them up into a great arcade experience.  With the reworkings of the Tomb Raider: Legend engine and a new cooperative character, this is a fun and addicting game.  It's too bad that online coop couldn't make it into the initial product, because with a partner the enjoyment steps up a notch.

The story revolves around an ancient mirror that is found by Lara in a Central American temple, the Temple of Light.  Trapped in side the mirror was Xolotl, an ancient evil spirit, and protecting the temple and mirror was Totec, protector of the temple and the person who banished Xolotl to the mirror.  When mercenaries attack Lara and take the mirror from its resting place, both spirits are set free and it's up to Lara and Totec to return the mirror to its rightful place.  In single player you will play as Lara Croft and in cooperative play you both play as either Lara or Totec.

As a download title, this is a big game.  Not only in terms of its size, graphical style and length to complete, but also in terms of the massive 2 GB download.  I was quite impressed with all aspects of the title from its isometric view to the great pacing and impressive level design.  Your toolset is simple, you've got an array of weapons and a spear and grapple are made available in both single player and coop modes to overcome obstacles.  Some levels are all about timing, getting from point A to point B without dying or getting attacked by an enemy, while others are about exploration and even a couple boss battle levels.  This breakup of gameplay keeps everything fresh and exciting as you travel deeper and deeper into the temple and little challenges within each mission let you get as complex or simple as you want about completing tasks.  Simply put, there's a ton of things to do here so your enjoyment with Lara can be as long or short as you choose.