Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Review

Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light is an X-Box Live Arcade title recently released as Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion. I want to make it clear that this is not a Tomb Raider game. At least, not in a sense of gameplay. Yes, you do play as Lara Croft, and you do raid tombs, but I would call The Guardian of Light an action puzzle game, far removed from its gameplay roots.


The gameplay takes place top down view, letting you run about ancient ruins from a fixed camera persepective. The combat in the game is more akin to Geometry Wars than a traditional Tomb Raider game, in that you control your movement with the left control stick and aim in a 360 degree range around your character with the right control stick. The combat is actually pretty fun, and when you start collecting new weapons, can be pretty interesting and varried.

The Guardian of Light's main draw, in my opinion, would be the co-op mode. In this mode, one player controls Lara Croft and the other plays as Totek (the guardian of light). While Lara has a grappling hook, Totek has a shield and spears. These are essential to solving puzzles in the game. For example, Totek can throw a spear at a wall, and Lara can jump on it to reach a higher area. Lara can grapple to a ledge, creating a bridge for Totek to tight-rope walk accross. Theses are simple elements that are essential to solving some pretty complicated puzzles. The puzzles are great because not only do they inspire creative teamwork, but they are incredibly rewarding to solve.

Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light is a great game for co-op gamers. Its a fairly long game for XBLA standards (6 hours, depending on your puzzle solving skills), the graphics are great, and the gameplay is fantastic. My only complaint is the voice acting wasn't all that great. I would even describe it as campy.

For $15, this is a terrific value that everyone looking for a great co-op experiance should pick up. Forget what you know about Tomb Raider games, becuase this game rewrites the name with a fresh start and fresh ideas.