Review – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Platform(s): Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, PC
Genre: Isometic platform, Action
Rating: T
Players: 1 – 2

The Scoop: Lara Croft and a 2,000 year old warrior, Totec, team up to rid the world of the evil spirit, Xolotl, and retrieve the ancient artifact, the Mirror of Smoke, in this dungeon crawler/puzzle game.

The Setup: Hi, I’m Jennifer, and I’ve never played a Tomb Raider game before. (“Hi, Jennifer.”) I decided to correct that horrific gamer sin by playing Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light. As far as being an introduction to the expansive franchise, the game wasn’t particularly enthralling story-wise.  But I don’t believe it really was meant to. It’s just an entertaining dungeon crawler, and on that front, it certainly succeeds.

I highly recommend playing this game with a friend. I played with my housemate, who doesn’t normally play video games. But she found Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light easy to pick up and play, and we had a ball playing the game together.

What’s Hot: In typical dungeon-crawler/puzzle game fashion, there’s a bunch of mini-challenges and obstacles to pass that require Lara and Totec working together. In the beginning, you’re given a set of moves (Throw spear to have Lara climb a tall wall; use Totec’s shield to block flying spears).  After that, you get to discover your own rules as to how to best tackle the game.  The rules we made are as follows:

Rule #1: Talking out loud doesn’t make you crazy. Most single-player puzzle games, like Legend of Zelda or Uncharted, sometimes become group participation games as onlookers can’t help but tell the player how to beat the section. It’s like watching someone play solitaire; you can’t help but point out the red six needs to go on the black seven. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light requires thinking out loud with the person you’re playing the game with.   Which isn’t a bad thing; it’s enough of a challenge that the players are constantly engaged rather than simply plowing through and button mashing.

Rule #2: Don’t forget your special abilities! Both Lara and Totec have an array of weapons at their disposal (which much be collected as the game progresses), and each character has his/her own unique abilities. Lara has a grappling hook, while Totec has a shield and a spear. The unique abilities come into play to defeat certain obstacles and puzzles. In the beginning, you’ll use each ability right off the bat—a good way to introduce them to players. As the game progresses, don’t forget those abilities! You’ll need them!

Rule #3: Sometimes teamwork means letting the other person die. “Ack, ack, I’m stuck!” my housemate said. So instead of being the good player that I am and helping her backtrack from the corner of the maze she was trapped in, I went through the doorway to get to the next section of the maze. It worked as she re-spawned right next to me. Success! There was a lot of “I’m dead, just go on without me,” uttered while playing, and it usually worked in our favor.

This brings us to rule #4…

Rule #4: If you’re stuck, die! Eventually the game will take sympathy on you and teleport you to the next section/past the obstacle you have no idea how to pass. Case in point: After taking a long time to make our way through a maze, my housemate and I couldn’t successfully backtrack. So, she jumped into the firey pit of death. That did the trick, and she re-spawned right near the exit. No backtracking needed! This trick does cause a dent in your points, however, so if you’re aiming for a high score, it might not be the best tactic.

Rule #5: When in doubt, plant a bomb! There is one enemy that bullets simply won’t kill. After five minutes of playing keep-away, I finally remembered that the Y button plants bomb. When the enemy came near, I detonated it and the enemy blew up into several pieces. (Maybe if I had remembered I had bombs at the beginning, it would have saved me those five minutes of keep-away.) From that point on, whenever I came across a seemingly impossible enemy, the first thing I’d do is set a bomb in its path. Usually, it worked.

Speaking of explosives…

Rule #6: Grenade to the face solves everything. Once you get the grenade launcher, use it. Love it. Never put it away.

Rule #7: If you want to bump up your Gamerscore, play this game. There are only 12 achievements points, but within the first three minutes, we already had five of them. Achievements range from playing the game co-op (easiest one to earn) to using Totec’s shield as a springboard for Lara to jump. One of the more difficult ones is Breadwinner, which requires a player to earn top score in a level.

Speaking of Breadwinner…

Rule #8: Stay out of the bushes if you already have the Breadwinner achievement. In order to earn this achievement, you have to collect as many gems as you can in a level. Sometimes gems are in the open; sometimes they’re hidden in dark corners or in the foliage of the jungle. Each gem is worth 2500 points, and it’s very distressing when you’re trying to earn that achievement and the person you’re playing with keeps grabbing all the gems accidently. “Just stay out of the bushes!” my housemate shouted after I apologized for accidently walked through an entire stash of shinnies.

What’s Not: This really isn’t a Tomb Raider game. You can take out Lara Croft and replace her with Nathan Drake from Uncharted or, hell, Indiana Jones, and the game plays the same.

Also, no online co-op yet! While the game is available for download on Xbox Live right now, you’ll have to wait until September 28 before online co-op will be enabled. That’s also the same day the game will be available for PC and Playstation Network. So for now, you’ll have to invite a friend over to play with you.

Final Verdict: This game is fun, and a lot more when playing with someone else. For the hardcore Tomb Raider fan, it’s not exactly the must-have addition to the Lara Croft pantheon.  But as a way to spend a Saturday afternoon, it’s a pretty entertaining game.