Game Reviews

Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light is a third person action-adventure game that focuses on our main character while keeping the integrity of the Tomb Raider Universe as a reference. The story focuses on an internal conflict between Totec, an ancient Mayan Warrior and the Guardian of Light, and Xolotl, a demonic force of darkness, set two thousand years prior. After Totec wins the battle, he traps Xolotl in the Temple of Light alongside an ancient artifact called the Mirror of Smoke. Fast forwarding to present day, Lara attempts to capture the special artifact but is trailed and immediately forced to let her enemies collect the prize. Unfortunately by exposing the Mirror of Light, Xolotl is able to break free from his prison and wreak havoc on the world around him. As a result of all these events, now Lara must team up with Totec to take down Xolotl and all his forces of evil. Overall this plot is nothing different from that of most feature films but with the added depth of presentation.

The creative team’s decision to make this a third person game generates a fixed camera that provides a view of the characters and the colossal world that surrounds them. Traditionally, one of the entertaining aspects about the classic Tomb Raider titles was in how the camera was positioned to suggest compromising shots of Lara’s body. This game doesn’t provide those angles but rather attempts to really express environments and interactivity.While this may appear to be a good idea, the actual camera system can at times be seen as either a gift or a curse. For example when trying to solve a puzzle, you’ll notice right away the extensive benefits you have in surveying all the possible scenarios to aid you in getting past traps. Graphically, the game’s icons and cast of characters aren’t perfect but are distinguishable enough for you to recognize them. However, by that same token as your traveling through levels you’ll notice that because of the scale of the world it’s often easy to get lost or skip over key areas where powerups are available on each map. This may not necessarily be the worst thing in the world, but if your someone who is trying to collect every item that the game has to offer then you almost certainly are recommended to playthrough multiple times.As far as the experience that a player can gain from this title, I can say that if you’re a fan of Tomb Raider there are plenty of reasons for you to pick this up.