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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft meets up with the Guardian of Light and joins him in one of the best downloadable games of the year so far. Bengt has been swinging and bombing...

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Me, myself and miss Croft. A love affair filled with disappointments, and for once its not my fault. What really sent our relationship spinning out of control was Angel of Darkness - a game I attempted to enjoy on my desktop at the time. But I just wasn't able to look past all the problems, time had passed Core Design by, and I sort of gave up on the lass. I heard rumours that Tomb Raider: Underworld was the turning point, but what really got me going again was when I had a chance to sit down with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light at E3 back in June.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light retains the basic premise of a Tomb Raider title, but turns the gameplay on its head in several ways. I guess that's why they opted not to stick the Tomb Raider name on this game, but rather have the protagonist herself headline the game. Anyway, we're still sort of tomb raiding, but from a top down perspective, and what makes the Guardian of Light even more special is that it has been built from the ground up with co-operative play in mind. Lara is joined by none other than the guardian of light himself, Totec, a spear wielding grumpy defender of all that's good and alive. The story is secondary to gameplay in this one, so I won't bore you with the details, but Lara found herself witnessing as some fool liberated some kind of ancient evil. The result being that she needs to help Totec imprison said evil again.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light combines the basics of a top down shooter where you move around with the left stick and aim with the right. Both Lara and Totec can carry a bunch of different weapons, and you will collect more and more as you go along, but they each have a few special abilities that you need to combine in order to solve puzzles, and negotiate the caves, ruins or tombs. Lara has her handy grappling hook that attaches to golden rings and Totec alike, Totec can walk the line like a tightrope and Lara can quickly save him if he is falling to his death by grappling on to him. In return Totec has a shield that he can hold over his head so Lara can jump on to it and reach high ledges, he also has a magical spear that Lara can also climb onto and the spear is also a quite efficient weapon. Both characters can also plant bombs, and when you add all these mechanics together, and add a rather intuitive puzzle design you get a co-operative experience that never ceases to amuse.

As a co-operative experience the game really excels. The action is fast and fluid, there are lots of enemies, and obstacles and the pace is surprisingly high. At this point there is only co-operative play locally (the online patch will be released next month), which is a shame, but playing it with a friend next to you is a real treat. The fact that you have a few tools that can be combined in different ways to solve puzzles and some obstacles even have multiple solutions, means that you need to communicate throughout the experience. The game is perfectly adapted to different skill levels, and if you're skilled it will take a lot out of you to get all the rewards and unlocks at the most difficult setting.

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I think the true beauty of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, is that it's enjoyable at so many different levels. For casuals without much experience you can pull through a level and feel good about it, but for the hardcore crowd there are lots of extra challenges that require both quick reactions and quick thinking. When you complete a reward challenge, you get an artefact or relic, that you can equip your character with. An artefact will affect your abilities, an example would be a relic that raises your defense, but lowers the damage your bombs do. Relics provide you with bonuses like double shots, and the relic meter fills up as long as you don't take damage. The relics, weapons, and artefacts you collect are persistent to your character and can be used in both single and multiplayer, so it adds an extra layer of replayability to tackle old levels with new and more effective weaponry for better scores.

The problem with games built with co-operative play in mind is usually when you play them on your own. Resident Evil 5 for instance was a totally different experience without a friend by your side as the AI made your life miserable over and over again. Not so in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. If you play it by yourself Totec won't accompany Lara through the adventure, but he will hand her his spear and thus, furthermore many puzzles and obstacles have been redesigned or adjusted for single player and it must be said that the game succeeds in being nearly as addictive and fun when played alone. While, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is meant to be enjoyed with a friend, it's still a lot of fun on your own, and it's a good way to collect to pesky remaining artefacts.

For it's low price (1200 points), Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, provides us with tremendous value. The 15 or so dungeons or boss levels won't take you that long to finish, but there is enough in there in terms of additional challenges and rewards to keep you occupied for more than ten hours, and it's a great game to pick up and play with a friend for half an hour as wait for that game to come on the telly. It may not be the most varied game, but the different enemies, obstacles and puzzles do keep you on your toes through the campaign.

If it wasn't for the forgettable story, and the lack of online co-operative play at launch Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light would have gotten an even more impressive score. As it stands, this is still a must own for fans of the series as well as gamers who love a great co-operative experience.

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Lara Croft and the Guardian of LightLara Croft and the Guardian of LightLara Croft and the Guardian of LightLara Croft and the Guardian of Light
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
Great co-operative mode, lots of variation and depth, challenges and rewards, great gameplay mechanics, works well in single player.
-
Story is a bit of a tired cliché, no online co-op at launch, some voices are laughable.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

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