Everyone knows what to expect from a Tomb Raider game, but for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Crystal Dynamix have make a complete remake of gameplay and the player’s view of the game. This game which was released on XBLA (Xbox LIVE Arcade) shakes the foundations of the game series putting it into a new direction with a great focus on cooperative gameplay and shifting to an arcade genre. One thing I can’t understand, is the why removing the Tomb Raider from the title. Well, for sure... the fact that it’s not your typical Tomb Raider game, it wouldn’t make sense. Apart from the name, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is the best adventure that our sexy heroine has ever seen.

So, the story of the game is quite straight forward which involves Lara Croft discovering an ancient mirror in South America from which an evil demon is released and Totec, the Aztec Guardian of Light comes into action to help Lara and save the world.

Shifting from a third-person view, the gameplay takes a different perspective and goes to an isometric view… something similar to Diablo or Dungeon Siege gameplay view. This will give the player the opportunity to see a lot of details of the environment and can better plan any puzzle solving schemes. Talking about environment, the graphic details are superb with every little detail taken care. Lighting effects are very well balanced and apart from a good gameplay experience, graphically, the game is very eye catching. Having also a destructible environment, it improves the gameplay since the effects are quite impressive. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is very impressive in gameplay and visual effects but it was momentarily slightly distracted from all that by small hiccups where sometimes you can see an object being destroyed and it immediately disappears from the screen when they hit the floor or any other object. Boss fights are very well compiled with big bosses and a variety of ways on how to get rid of them, but I have noticed that collision detection is not quite polished up while fighting the T-Rex of lava boss.

Gameplay has been shifted from the series genre to a more arcade style of gameplay which of course fits exactly since it was released on Xbox LIVE Arcade (XBLA). Although the game is designed for co-operative play, the single player is still enjoyable since the puzzles will be changed depending of the mode you play. Co-operative play is only supported locally but it will be surely patched-in at a later stage to allow online co-operative play. In the co-operative mode, the second player will be played using Totec who has the spear as his primary weapon. Totec can use his spears and throw them in walls to help Lara jump a ledge or to reach higher places. On the other hand, Lara can use her grappling hook to create a tight rope which can be used by Totec to cross. Although the co-operative gameplay is quite impressive and that is where the game shines, the single-player is as impressive as the puzzles have been cleverly modified to accommodate a single player with Lara being able to use Totec’s spear.

The game itself has a runtime of around six hours but since it provides a great gameplay and reward system, you will surely end up replaying it again and again. The gameplay features great optional objectives where you will be rewarded with trinkets and various treasures which of course you can equip to improve your player’s abilities. Apart from that during play, you will encounter some locked tombs which you can try to decode their complex locks to get similar rewards.

Conclusion

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, is an impressive adventure with single and co-operative play. It has an impressive level of details when it comes to environment and lighting along with a great gameplay experience. Although single-player is very enjoyable as well. The game offers a great co-operative play, great graphics and fun puzzles to make it a very good move for the series. Unfortunately it came out without an online co-operative play, but at least it should be patched-in at a later stage, so keep an eye on the game updates.