Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review

8.5

Review Score:

Lara Croft returns to your screens once again in her latest epic, The Guardian of Light. But this time, she arrives in the form of a download, loses her traditional moniker of Tomb Raider and brings with her a co-operative partner in the form of Aztec God-warrior, Totec. But does this mark a dramatic departure for the series, or simply another attempt to revitalise the franchise?

The answer is both. Guardian of Light brings another epic tale of historical reference mixed with mythical and supernatural elements, but, in truth, the reason you will be playing through this latest adventure is for the gameplay itself. Whilst the story does work effectively as a plot device to work the puzzles and game mechanics around, it is essentially in the background in comparison to the new, and yet oddly nostalgic feel of solving puzzles, escaping traps, and fighting enemies that make up the core of the title.

Developer Crystal Dynamics has succeeded in fusing the new gadgets and visuals of the Tomb Raider: Legend generation with the older tenets of exploration, deduction, and collection that the original titles brought to the table (or screen). The visuals are certainly impressive unto themselves: undergrowth rustles in the wind, stone crumbles from the Aztec monuments, and the demonic hordes that hunt Lara are suitably grotesque. Those looking for an up close and personal view of our busty adventuress will be disappointed however; Guardian of Light plays out entirely from an elevated perspective – excluding cut scenes – but this heightened view serves its purpose of allowing the co-operative mechanics to function smoothly whilst retaining a fair amount of detail on the character models and environment itself. Red Dead Redemption-level graphics this is not, but they are of a considerably high standard when in comparison to a lot of other downloadable titles.

It’s also worth noting that a proportion of the scenery is destructible, and whilst the remnants of this destruction do not stay around for very long, it adds another visually appealing element. Cutscenes are also satisfying to watch: plenty of detail, textures and life is provided to the characters up close, and whilst some of the script is perhaps slightly cheesy (with some particularly pongy one-liners in there) Miss Croft and her counterparts are, for the most part, well voiced and characterised.

In terms of gameplay, Guardian of Light is versatile in the fact that while it works particularly well as a co-operative adventure, it is also possible to play through perfectly fine in single-player, with only Lara present and the puzzles tweaked to allow for one person to solve it instead of two. The game truly excels however when two players, working in conjunction as Lara and Totec respectively, are present to both fight and decipher puzzles together, with specific techniques shared between both players required to truly conquer the levels. For example, Totec can throw his spear into walls allowing Lara to climb upon it and reach higher positions, or Lara can use her grapple to create a tight-rope for Totec to walk. Such techniques, when in conjunction with the increasingly complex puzzles, really encourage players to work together as a unit rather than two parts of a whole. That’s not to say there are no competitive elements; the large amounts of ability-affecting trinkets, collectible gems, and score tallies will undoubtedly create competition between even the most docile of players.

Reward challenges are also present in every level, with tasks ranging from “cross the river without touching the water” all the way up to “find and kill the giant demon lizard” all providing the players with weaponry or artefacts upon completion. These artefacts and relics provide significant boosts to certain skills, but come with the reprieve of also inducing some hindrance too. There is also a huge amount of weaponry to collect and utilise, from your staple shotgun up to more advanced versions of such hardware, and up to four weapons can be mapped onto the d-pad at a time. Combat itself is very satisfying, with strafing controlled by the left analogue and firing on the right, allowing players to dive around the screen dispatching enemies with ease, and trying out different combinations of weaponry between the pair of you makes for some very dead demons.

Overall, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light marks both an impressive return to form for the original Tomb Raider but also a well conceived revolution for the series. The co-operative gameplay, above-average visuals and satisfying amounts of collectibles means that Miss Croft’s latest adventure will last you a while and allow another player to experience it with you as well. Unfortunately, as of time of writing, online co-op is not available, but this looks set to be fixed alongside the title’s release on the PlayStation Network on September 28^th.

NXT Score: 8.5/10

Pros

• Solid visuals for a downloadable title
• A great co-operative mode that really encourages teamwork
• Many weapons, upgrades, and collectables add plenty of replayability

Cons

• Dialogue can get a bit cheesy
• Currently no online co-op on the Xbox 360 (to be patched in September)