Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Eidos/Crystal Dynamics)

Today I recieved STAR WARS The Force Unleashed 2 and have already completed it! The reason I'm not reviewing it this week though is because I want to soak up it completely before I give my very biased opinion. So today I thought I'd share with those who read my reviews my thoughts on the other most recent game I've completed, the new Tomb Raider. Only it's not called Tomb Raider because it's a spin off of the franchise. Which is not something unheard of for the Tomb Raider franchise (Unfinished Business & Golden Mask) though it's been done in a whole new way. But how does our favourite, most gorgeous female action character rank in her new mini adventure?

Story

There's not much build up when it comes to the plot. The game opens with Lara in a temple finding The Mirror of Smoke, an ancient artifact she'd read about and hoped to find. Unfortunately it all turns sour when a group of mercinaries led by a warlord follow her in and take the artifact before Lara can get her hands on it. However they had no idea the mirror was cursed and it brought to life a 2000 year old Keeper of Darkness named Xolotl who aims to use the mirror to take over the world and have revenge on a war he lost 2 milleniums ago. Upon killing the mercs in the room a statue comes to life named Totec, a guardian of the mirror and the very man who imprisoned Xolotl all those years ago. He warns Lara the mirror must be retrieved before the light of dawn or all will be lost. And whether you play alone or in co-op, Lara and Totec will either work together or go seperate ways to stop Xolotl. 

The Mirror of Smoke

Design

Guardian of Light takes a new and different approach to the Tomb Raider series in the fact that it uses an isometric projection, a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions (Or simply put: the camera is far away from the character) and a co-op game too. When playing through single player or with a friend there are a large variety of puzzles to be solved and this is the game's strong point as it is with all Tomb Raider games. Although they can be played alone it's more fun to pull Totec up with Lara's grapple hook, jumping off Totec's shield and working together in other ways in co-op. When the game was announced it was said to have online co-op but unfortunately the development for that was pushed back until only recently and having said that, only 360 users can enjoy that luxury and PS3 and PC owners are still waiting for the patch that enables this missing feature. Until then anyone with the PS3 version will have to have a spare controller and friend to play with. 

 

Gameplay
The gameplay mostly consists of you or you and your partner solving puzzles and killing the enormous waves of enemies with a large inventory of weapons to choose from. By completing certain challenge objectives such as reaching the end of the level in a certain time or aquiring enough points, you can unlock other various weapons, artifacts and relics that give Lara or Totec a boost in defence, weapon, bomb etc. Besides that method there are a number of tombs with puzzles specifically designed to find relics and artifacts hidden in the levels. The controls are easy to get the hang of with a simple aiming system that requires you to hold down the right analog stick in the direction you wish to fire and a shoulder button to pull the trigger. The same control system used in games such as Super Stardust HD minus the shoulder button for firing. There are 14 stages to complete. 4 of those being boss fights. The stages can take time to finish although if you skip enemies and you just want to go for the time limit bonus objective then some levels can be done from 6 minutes to 14 minutes.

Presentation
When I saw the first screenshots of this game and heard it was downloadable only, I had my doubts. It didn't look like a Tomb Raider game and certainly didn't look to feel like one either. When the trial came to the Playstation Store I put it on a 5 hour download and eventually gave it a go. And I must say I was surprised and very impressed with the demo alone. The music keeps you on suspence, the combat was adrenaline fueled and the puzzles were fun to figure out. Graphically it doesn't stand next to say Tomb Raider Underworld but it's not far off and in terms of gameplay I prefere it to Underworld! In Underworld there were too many puzzles and not enough enemies where as GoL has a great balance of both. I hope to see more of this genre in the future whether it be downloadable content or a sequel and if Crystal Dynamics want to make a completely new Tomb Raider game then they should take some ideas and features from this one. I enjoyed it very much and am proud to give it a 9/10.