Lara Croft has been through a lot since her original debut in 1996. Starring in a dozen games, changing developers and even having several movies made does tend to change a person, and her adventure in The Guardian of Light is certainly different. These changes were definitely a positive though, making Guardian of Light a fun little game thanks to it's clever co-op mechanics and fresh perspective.

This time around Lara's tomb raiding finds her in the Yucatan Peninsula searching for a legendary artifact known as the mirror of smoke. Little does Lara know however that the mirror seals away Xolotl, the keeper of darkness. Upon Xoltol's release, Toltec, a stone statue also comes to life, he is an ancient Mayan warrior sealed away to watch over the mirror and keep Xolotl imprisoned. Together Lara and Toltec must track Xolotl down before he plunges the world into darkness. Just another day for Lara Croft really.

The level design is pretty good during their adventure. There is plenty of atmosphere and variation in a mixture of outside and inside environments with ruins, giant spiders and traps a plenty for Lara and Toltec to navigate in their quest to stop him. The visuals themselves are surprisingly good for the time I feel with excellent textures and enemy animations.

Exploration really is key in Guardian of Light to make any progress. Though there are weapons that can be found and permanently kept even on replaying levels. The vast majority of equipment and character upgrades are gained through challenges which really gives this game extra legs. There are speed attacks to finish levels in certain amount of time or perhaps a challenge to collect all 10 red skulls hidden in a level to unlock a new weapon. There are a few variations depending on the level.

Four weapons can be equipped at any time that can be switched between on the fly using the D-pad. All of which share an ammo bar except pistols which can be upgraded along with Lara's health. These weapons can be changed around at any time from the in game menu as there are a lot to choose from including shotguns, assault rifles, flame throwers and rocket launchers. All of which have various stats and ammo consumption. There is also the option to equip artifacts and relics found throughout the game which either affect Lara or Toltec"s base stats to varying degrees or alter their special ability they achieve if they kill a certain amount of enemies without dying such as a speed boost, bigger bomb range or more bullet damage.

While the combat is a key point to Guardian of Light and is incredibly fun, it is the mixture of combat and solving puzzles that make it worthwhile. The puzzles are quite thought provoking without ever being frustrating which is a hard balance to hit. What makes this game truly clever though is that the puzzles change from single player to co-op to keep the balance right. There are several weapons or pieces of equipment needed to get past certain areas which are then split between the two players. For example Toltec uses the spear which can be thrown into a wall which only Lara is light enough to jump on, giving her the height to get to a ledge. Lara is the only one with the grappling hook though which she can then use to pull Toltec up. This measure of forced team work really helps bring the game to life.

This game is also surprisingly long with over a dozen levels not including the replay value of getting all the weapons, artifacts and relics, completing all challenges not to mention local and patched in online co-op to boot.

As good as Guardian of Light really is, it has issues. The locked isometric camera view while great for single player and solving puzzles does tend to make busier combat moments a bit hectic occasionally losing track of your character or getting hit off screen though this is a rare occurrence. The other thing is while Lara's voice acting is superb (Keeley Hawes, actress of the Legend, Anniversary and Underworld trilogy), Toltec's and Xolotl's are an entirely different matter and just seem a bit forced, almost amateur, though outside of short in between level cutscenes they are almost never heard.

Overall Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a great little game. It looks good, has fun multiplayer and has plenty of life thanks to it's clever challenges and puzzles. It won't be a game for everyone but as a Tomb Raider fan it was a real pleasant surprise how much fun I had with a friend playing it.

+ Clever puzzles in both single and co-op play.
+ Great value for money.
+ Combat is fun.

- Some spotty voice acting.

It's pretty decent for what it is. The puzzles require some thought and are sometimes pretty inventive with the mechanics, the combat can get challenging with large numbers of resilient enemies and some good boss battles and the game looks pretty good for an isometric puzzle platformer hybrid. There are a fair few cons though.

The weird camera angle and the weird way Lara sticks to some environmental objects make platforming a chore. It's not easy to see where she will land and there's almost no control of her when she's in the air which made me fall off the level many times. The physics make some of the puzzles and optional challenges extremely tedious to complete due to the unpredictable nature of the objects' movement. There are a few good boss battles with the final boss being the best and most memorable but some of the others are very poor and require next to no thought or pose no challenge at all. Some of the collectibles are placed in very stupid locations which makes me think they ran out of ideas early on. The game is also incredibly short taking me only about 4.5 hours to beat (I farmed the game for cards for 2 hours where I didn't play the game at all). There's some challenges and some hidden collectibles but I didn't find any of the rewards worth it and the levels themselves aren't exactly inspired or amazing to make me want to replay them. I've not played co-op which may be a separate experience on its own but I'm not sure.

Recommended on a sale if you have a few hours to kill on a puzzle platformer and you're attached to the Lara Croft name.

Tomb Raider’s come back with Legend gave fans hope that Lara was not dead, but after the success of Underworld Crystal Dynamics decided to do something different with a top-down adventure game and everyone was skeptical. The game’s story is probably the weakest part of you and an Aztec named Totec trying to beat an evil Aztec guy…yeah real interesting.

Despite that, the combat is awesome with a dual stick shooter type gameplay. You can switch weapons on the fly from four presets and killing wave after wave is fun. Each enemy type is pretty unique with some shooting magic spells, some explode with deadly gas, some are huge and can crush you, and some are even fast and come in high numbers. There is a huge weapon selection from assault rifles, to spears, to grenade launchers and each weapon is well balanced and has its uses even in puzzles.


This, of course, has always been Tomb Raider‘s strongest point which is the puzzle department. You can use spears to get to higher ledges, use the grenade launcher and bounce it around corners to flip switches, destroys barriers etc. You can use your grapple to hang down ledges, and pushing giant boulders around can even be used as a powerful weapon! It’s great how everything in the game has more than one use and really makes you think and gives you a broad range of things to do. The puzzles can range from switch puzzles to combat puzzles, or even a whole level being one great puzzle.


The game also has lots of ways to come back and do well in levels. There is a point system and you acquire them from killing enemies, collecting gems, and you get rewarded relics for completing challenges. Relics can be equipped to boost your stats such as weapon power, health, speed, or range. These will really turn the tide in battle, and there are quite a bit to collect and it’s a good incentive to really do the challenges. However, some challenges are almost impossible and don’t seem like they were planned out too well.


The game looks amazing and Lara is as sexy as ever and is voiced by the same person who’s been doing it since Legend. The game is full of thrills just like the bigger games and is just so much fun and not one section ever feels the same. Each level is crafted perfectly and everything is balanced just right. Another incentive for players who couldn’t get the hang of other TR games should pick up GoL because of its ease of perspective and good controls. This is one of the best XBLA games to come out in the Xbox’s history and should not be passed up. It even has a good price!