Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light before release was an incredibly controversial game for multiple reasons. It was the first Tomb Raider game to be published by Square Enix, which had purchased Eidos, the game would not be titled "Tomb Raider", and there would be a heavy emphasis on co-op gameplay. At first, many thought that all these factors would lead to a complete detraction from what made the Tomb Raider series. All doubts were taken care of when Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was made available for download from Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

The game has a rather simple premise compared to the last two original games, Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Underworld. Lara is on the hunt for an ancient pre-Colombian artifact, the Mirror of Smoke, which is said to contain the spirit of Xolotl. Lara easily finds the Mirror of Smoke before the game starts, although it turns out she was not the only one searching for it and is captured by a local warlord named Vasco who uses Lara's skills and knowledge to get the mirror for himself. Vasco accidentally unleashes Xolotl's spirit from the mirror and a nearby statue comes to life, taking the form of Totec, the titular guardian of light, who opposes Xolotl. Totec has revived to return Xolotl's spirit to the Mirror of Smoke and immediately darts off in search of both Xolotl and Vasco. He finds quickly that he needs Lara's help and depending on whether you play the single or multiplayer modes, Lara either teams up with Totec or they split ways to search for Xolotl and Vasco individually, although the team-up story is the canon story.

The Guardian of Light is split into various levels, much like a pre-PS1 era action/adventure game. You can replay levels as soon as you clear them and go back to collect treasures, get a better score, and complete level unique rewards. Because of the ease of being able to jump into a level and completing a level for the first time in about a half hour, there is a lot of incentive to go back and perfect your performance in a level.

Story: 8/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Presentation: 9.5/10
Replay Value: 10/10

Average Score: 9.4/10

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is without a doubt, the best Tomb Raider game made in years. One could wonder what it would have been like if this were made into a full-length game in the more traditional style, but the nature of the plot and style of play fits this spin-off better. The game uses the exact same engine as Tomb Raider: Underworld, but the nagging issues of the clipping planes and collision detection are completely gone. The graphics are also much better and Lara looks better than ever (other than the pictures from Game Informer). Square says that if Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is successful (which it is), we can expect more from this spinoff series. I, for one, am definitely looking forward to the next one. You can download Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light from Xbox Live or PlayStation Network for about $15. It's worth every penny!