Format Reviewed: Xbox Live Arcade – 1200 Microsoft Points
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Square Enix
Release date: August 18, 2010
I make it no secret to anyone I meet that I’m a fan of Lara Croft, and that I’m also a fan of the Tomb Raider series too. Since the beginning (almost), I’ve stuck with the series through good times and Angel of Darkness. Crystal Dynamics proved there is still life left in Lara when they took over the development, giving us Legend, Anniversary and Underworld, each one reminding us why Lara Croft is the queen of video games. While they’re hard at work developing their masterpiece, Tomb Raider 9, Lara arrives on Xbox Live Arcade in a new style, with the very impressive downloadable game, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
Tomb Raider may not be in the title, but tomb raiding is most certainly the aim of the game. Beginning with a comic book style cutscene of Lara finding the mystical Mirror of Smoke in the Temple of Light, nothing is simple in the tomb raiding life of Lara Croft. The bad guys soon arrive with guns, thinking they know what they’re doing, but instead unleashing the evil entity Xoxolt (or something or other). Only Lara, with a lot of help from her new friend Totec, can stop the monster and save the day.
Yes, it all sounds very Tomb Raider, but we don’t come to Lara for a rivetting storyline. It’s obvious what we come to her for – two very sizeable reasons – her awesome acrobatic platforming gameplay and challenging adventure. Thankfully, The Guardian of Light is exactly this. Given to us in a retro style isometric viewpoint, with a more combat heavy approach and co-op gameplay, Guardian of Light still feels exactly like a Tomb Raider game nonetheless. Full of exploration, puzzles, platforming, and a whole heap of varied enemies and gunfire, with many weapons at your disposal (Machine guns, grenade launcher, flamethrower), Crystal Dynamics’ new approach to the series has paid off well. It’s fun, it’s exciting, and it’s the game of the summer.
GoL offers around 15 missions, each one advancing you through the Temple of Light. While the standard run-through time of each mission will likely be anywhere between 20 minutes and one hour, there are plenty of bonus objectives and hidden items to keep you going longer. Each level contains 10 red orbs to collect, with some easy to get while others will place themselves out of the way, or high up on a seemingly impossible to reach area. There are also health and ammo upgrades, artifacts and relics which, much like the orbs, can often be a challenge to collect. They’ll often be found sat up high on a rock, at the bottom of a canyon or even behind a brain teasing puzzle.
Along with these you’ll also have numerous objectives to fulfil, such as destroy all of the trucks in a level or to trigger all the squares on a spike field and live to smile about it. Many of these are extremely fun to waste time on and will also increase your level score, while others will pass you by as you shoot, jump, and unpuzzle your way to the next level. Like any great arcade game there’s always room for improvement in the next playthrough, and plenty of enticement for one too.
So, the isometric viewpoint doesn’t appeal to you because the camera is too far away, or you can’t manipulate it to get that welcome distraction of Lara’s behind? You’re only cheating yourself. The controls work excellently with the new viewpoint, making both platforming and combat as easy as can be. By moving the right analogue stick, Lara will aim her weapon in the direction you position the stick, before you then press the right trigger button to shoot. Only 4 weapons can be carried at one time, changeable by holding the left trigger and then the relevant face button. The other weapons are stored in the inventory and can be assigned to the four when you want them.
The levels blend in seemlessly like any normal big adventure would – puzzle flowing into platforming, followed by a hefty amount of combat. Combat plays an equal role in this adventure unlike previous Tomb raider games. On many occasions you’ll be locked in an arena with countless monsters that vary in size and stength. It’s generally a case of constantly moving and frequently planting remote detonated bombs and luring a large crowd onto it before KABOOM. These fights can often be too overpowering (annoying), especially when your mind is focused on a puzzle, or the exit switch is in the same room, but they won’t allow you time to pull it and run like a girl that’s not called Lara Croft.
On many occasions you’ll be throwing spears into walls to use them as a step up to a higher platform, and you’ll also be avoiding the trademark arrow shooters quite often too. The set pieces are also epic, heart pumping moments, from fleeing up a lengthy exploding staircase, to running away from a giant sea creature with big teeth. It’s tense, exciting, and everything we could want from a Lara Croft game. That being said, there’s also the standard cheap deaths, which can occur from a badly timed trial-and-error jump, a hidden cliff edge, exploding pea pods or the swarm of monsters mentioned above. We expect these things from a platform adventure though.
This is the first Lara game to feature co-op play. Don’t worry single players, if alone Totec won’t follow you around with bad AI – He won’t follow you at all. He simply won’t be there, apart from appearing in cutscenes and then disappearing again. This is a great design choice from Crystal Dynamics, as there’s nothing worse than a bad partner character messing everything up. Invite a friend along for some split-screen action (online is set to follow with a patch in September) then the game is great co-op fun, providing enough elements to keep the team work moments flowing, as well as providing slightly different scenarios to the solo run through.
Not only does Guardian of Light succeed in being a game that delivers tension, quality gameplay and heaps of fun, it also manages to be true to the franchise and feel very much like a Tomb Raider game. With Guardian of Light, Crystal Dynamics has potentially given us the first part of a new Lara series. One I’d certainly love to see many sequels too. Not only is Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light the masterpiece in the Summer of Arcade, it’s also one of the best games on Xbox Live Arcade period.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be released on Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday, 18th August, for 1200 Microsoft Points. It will be released on PlayStation Network and Steam on 28th September.
I’m kinda looking forward to this now. I didn’t expect it to get good reviews.