When someone says Lara Croft, and gamer, film fanatic or indeed human would automatically think Tomb Raider, unless you have a slight obsession with Angelina Jolie, which is of corse understandable.
So when the next Lara Croft game is announced your automatically going to think, ‘oooo another tomb raider!’ well this time I am afraid you are wrong. Yes there is a new Lara Croft game coming out, b ut it isn’t a tomb raider title. Let me shed some light on this slightly confusing concept.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a new digital download game that stars our well-loved female relic hunter. This title I would imagine will be available across the PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE and PC, even though that bit of information hasn’t been set in stone yet, it would be rather silly if it wasn’t available for those platforms.
So what are the finer details of this title? Well as it is a DLC title, you would expect that it is not going to be as lengthy as your average Tomb Raider title, sadly, you would be right in thinking that. But and this is a big BUT, this game is said to focus more on re-play value and Co-op play which sounds pretty interesting to any well seasoned Lara Fan. Also the game play is said that it will go back to its root, with boob-trap puzzles, tombs and all the other game elements we loved from the first games.
Now that’s all well and good but what are we talking about story wise? Well the plot in all honesty isn’t that thick, you are Lara (obviously) and you have been teamed up with a Mayan tribes man who goes by the name of Totec, Totec of corse will be controlled by your co-op buddy when you decide to blast through the campaign mode as a pair. You are in search of a mysterious and yet powerful artifact called The Mirror Of Smoke, which of course has unleashed an evil spirit by the name of Xoxolt (kudos to anyone who can pronounce that name) who is unleashing his power to raise the dead. So you will be coming across a lot of zombie tribes men as you progress through the puzzled filled levels, plus a few other bigger and nastier enemies.
Camera angles these days play a huge part in gaming. This title features a fixed Isometric camera, which to me is probably one of the best type of camer angles you can have, meaning you will not get the camera stuck in walls or have it stop where enemies are pummeling you behind some scenery, Legacy of Kain did it well and I expect to see much of the same here.
Retro arcade gamers here are in for a treat, as this is mainly a puzzle orientated game, it sounds as though enemy combat will be straight out of your classic 1980′s shooting games, meaning that you point Lara at any enemy you want to die and press shoot, that’s all there is to it. Remember people this is a puzzle game after all, combat is only the icing on the gaming cake.
As I said previously, this game has a co-op mode, and with co-op modes you will find a lot of handy co-op moves for the both of you to use. For example, instead of welding duel hand guns such as our lovely heroine, Totec has spears, these are mainly for skewering the undead, but they also can be stabbed into walls for Lara to swing on, Also Totec has a shield which Lara can use as a platform while Totec holds it above his head. Lara also has her trusty grapple hook which she can swing across large gaps in classic Lara croft fashion, but Totec can also grab hold of Lara as she swings to aid him across. Lets just hope that he is a gentleman and does not go for the obvious hand holds.
Lara Croft and the Gardian of Light looks like it is shaping up to be a nice little downloadable game. It will be avalible this summer on a console/PC near you.
Garv!
