There’s something really different but important that you might not immediately notice about Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. It’s not the overhead, isometric view or the twin-stick control style more popular with action-heavy shooters. It’s not that the game is designed for cooperative play, and best experienced with a friend or loved one sitting next to you on the couch. It’s not even a giant dinosaur made of lava or the anachronism of an ancient Mayan deity firing a high-powered assault rifle.
The curious difference is that the words “Tomb Raider” are missing from Guardian of Light‘s title. This isn’t a game in the “Tomb Raider” franchise and outside of the inclusion of Miss Croft herself and the ancient and mystical ruins she finds herself in, the game could not be any more different from its third-person cousins.
With a heavy emphasis on cooperative play, Lara Croft and her Guardian of Light cohort Totec must jump, swing, throw, shoot, switch, climb, bomb, roll, tightrope walk and more through a wide variety of dungeons, poisonous swamps and molten caverns. Lara and Totec each have their own unique abilities that they must use in conjunction with one another to make progress ; oftentimes requiring both players to talk out the next series of moves, as simply “winging it” will undoubtedly leave one or both of you falling down a bottomless pit.
This cooperative planning really shines in the game’s numerous Treasure Rooms; specific locations sometimes off the beaten path of the main adventure. Each treasure room contains a uniquely tailored puzzle (or puzzles) that reward cooperative players with bonus items, each with their own unique effects on player stats like health and movement speed.
Controls are tight and responsive but go a little beyond your typical twin-stick fare. With nearly every button on the controller responsible for a unique action, the complexity of movement needed by the later stages occasionally becomes overwhelming. This difficulty can be offset by the aforementioned Icon, Relic and boost items, but quick reflexes and careful movement are key when the going gets really tough.
With its heavy emphasis on coordinated and cooperative play, an easy to learn but difficult to master control scheme, and its The Mummy Returns to the Temple of Doom aesthetics, how does Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light stack-up?
Even with it’s sudden mid-game difficulty spike, when all the pieces are clicking and both players are working in sync with each other, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light features some of the best cooperative play in all of gaming history.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light: Co-Opinion
- Learning Curve
- Learning Curve
- Player Roles
- Player Roles
- The Game Itself
- The Game Itself
- Does it Co-Op?
- Does it Co-Op?
Summary
Learning Curve
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has a sloping but fair learning curve over it's first-third, which eventually gives way to a fairly frustrating series precision timing and tricky jumps that are only made more difficult thanks to the game's isometric angle.
Player Roles
Guardian of Light is built from the ground up for cooperative play. Each character complements the other and in nearly every level; the "leader" role will switch hands dozens of times.
The Game Itself
Many of the game's more tightly-paced setpieces and action scenes have the feel of a Hollywood blockbuster. It's not unlike playing a top-down version of Indiana Jones or The Mummy.
Does it Co-Op?
Even with it's sudden mid-game difficulty spike, when all the pieces are clicking and both players are working in sync with each other, Guardian of Light features some of the best cooperative play in all of gaming history.
