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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Reviewed on
Aug. 18, 2010
It would seem that a change of perspective is all Lara Croft needed to revitalize her tomb-raiding antics.
Read Ryan Davis's full review-
Quick Look: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
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The Upgrades Of Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light
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Get a New Perspective in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
A departure from the usual gameplay of the Tomb Raider franchise, this download-only game features a fixed, isometric camera angle and concentrates on co-op combat, platforming, and puzzle solving.
Story
Lara Croft is hunting down an artifact in South America called the Mirror of Smoke, which is said to hold the evil god Xolotl prisoner. When she locates the artifact, she is ambushed by some mercenaries, led by a man named Vasco. Vasco, not believing in the curse, takes the Mirror from its pedestal, and releases Xolotl in the process. Xolotl proceeds to summon his demonic minions, and begins his destruction of the world by annihilating Vasco's forces. Fortunately, as Xolotl is released, so is the spirit of Totec, the titular Guardian of Light, a centuries-old Aztec tribesman who had been the one to defeat Xolotl in the first place. He tells Lara that Xolotl must be stopped and the Mirror must be returned to its pedestal before the light of dawn. Without asking why, Lara teams up with Totec (introducing him to modern explosives as she does), and the two chase after Xolotl, taking out progressively bigger and more dangerous foes along the way.Gameplay
Lara and Totec working together
In solo mode, the player is forced to play as Lara Croft. When playing co-op (which can be done both locally or online), one player controls Lara while the other takes control of Totec. Each character has their own abilities, and characters will have to utilize their abilities to solve a puzzle or traverse the terrain. For example, Lara can fire her grappling hook across a cavern, and the nimble Totec can tight-rope walk across it. Alternatively, Totec can throw his spear into a wall to create a makeshift platform for the lighter Lara to jump on, to reach an area she couldn't reach on her own. Also, if you die, your teammate can quickly revive you if they are near by, or you can simply respawn next to your teammate after a short countdown (traversal puzzles, in which the player must figure out how to get both characters across an obstacle, will respawn players on the near side, to prevent them from solving the puzzle through suicide).
When playing solo, you control Lara and are given Totec's spear, which can be used in pretty much the same ways as in co-op (attacking, creating temporary platforms on walls, etc.). The spear permanently occupies one of four weapon slots. Totec himself shows up only in cutscenes, to tell Lara that he will take a different path from hers. Most of the puzzles that required both characters to do something or stand somewhere are either somewhat simplified, or you are provided with a big heavy ball that takes Totec's place when you need to keep a floor panel pressed down.
Another unique aspect of this game is the addition of a scoreboard. Players earn points for defeating enemies, discovering treasures, and completing levels quickly. Each level has its own set of challenges, which, upon being completed, give the player new weapons, relics, or health and ammo upgrades. These scores are then posted to the worldwide leaderboards, where players can see how they stack up against other players.
The combat is fairly simple, and controls much like a dual-joystick shooter. You move with the left analog stick, aim with the right, then pull the right trigger to shoot. The weapons range from pistols, to rifles, to flamethrowers, to grenade launchers, and vary in their damage, rate of fire, and ammo consumption. Your ammo is represented by a blue bar underneath your health, and each shot, depending on the weapon, takes away a fraction of that bar. Both the ammo and health bars can be replenished in various ways, such as pick ups you find on the ground or off of dead enemies. Lara's pistols and Totec's spear both have infinite ammo, and characters will automatically switch to them should they expend all their ammo with another weapon. Both characters also carry an infinite amount of explosives, which have a clearly visible blast radius, and can be detonated at any time.
As you collect your rewards for completing a level's challenges, or exploring its secret tombs, you will come across the game's "loot" in the form of artifacts and relics. Artifacts serve to increase one of your attributes, which are Weapon (damage), Defense, Bomb (damage & radius), and Speed. The quality of these artifacts ranges from clay, to stone, to gold. The clay and stone ones will increase a specific attribute, but decrease another, whereas the gold ones will not decrease anything. As you progress further, you will find new types of artifacts that increase two attributes at once. The relics, on the other hand, bestow special abilities when they are active, such as health/ammo regeneration, greater bomb blast radius, and powering up the damage of each weapon shot. The catch, however, is that relics are only active when you completely fill your relic power meter by scoring points, and it will drain completely once full when you take damage. Later relics will also bestow more abilities at once.
Your character's inventory screen consists of four weapon slots, one of which is permanently occupied by either Lara's pistols or Totec's spear (depending on which character you are controlling), two artifact slots, and one relic slot.
Artifacts
You can use two Artifacts at a time, and they will affect your stats. | Artifact | Positive Effects on | Negative Effects on | Obtainable at Level(s) |
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 Clay Owl |
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 Stone Owl |
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 Gold Owl |
| --- |
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 Clay Feather |
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 Stone Feather |
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 Gold Feather |
| --- |
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 Clay Arrow |
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 Stone Arrow |
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 Gold Arrow |
| --- |
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 Clay Lizard |
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 Stone Lizard |
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 Gold Lizard |
| --- |
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 War Drum |
| --- |
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 Wind Drum |
| --- |
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 Serpent Drum |
| --- |
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 White Drum |
| --- |
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 Dark Drum |
| --- |
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 Clay Serpent |
| --- |
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 Stone Serpent |
| --- |
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 Jade Heart |
| --- |
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Relics
Only one relic can be used, so choose carefully. | Relic | Effect(s) | Obtainable at Level |
|---|---|---|
 Knife of Itzli |
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 Headdress of Ehecatl |
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 Arrow of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Golden Scepter of Huitzilopochtli |
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 Scepter of Cihuacoatl |
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 Two Arrows of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Scepter of Huitzilopochtli |
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 Golden Scepter of Cihuacoatl |
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 Golden Arrow of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Three Arrows of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Eye of Cipactli |
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 Golden Eye of Cipactli |
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 Golden Knife of Itzli |
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 Mask of Itzli |
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 Mask of Ehecatl |
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 Golden Shroud of Cihuacoatl |
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 Mask of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Fist of Tezcatlipoca |
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 Mask of Cipactli |
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 Mask of Xolotl |
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Weapons
Besides Totec's Spear (which is the player's primary weapon if going solo through the campaign) there's also a wide array of weaponry in the game, each with their own characteristics. | Weapon | Power (worst - 1 to 10 - best) | Rate of Fire (worst - 1 to 8 - best) | Ammo Consumption (best - 1 to 10 - worst) | Obtainable at Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handgun | 2 | 2 | infinite | default |
| Magnums | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Assault Rifle | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Shotgun | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Bolt Action Rifle | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Automatic Shotgun | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Flamethrower | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Fast Action Rifle | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| AR-06 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 |
| Lightweight Machine Pistols | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Double Barrel Shotgun | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Grenade Launcher | 7 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
| Hand Cannons | 6 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| High Power Assault Rifle | 6 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Automatic Pistols | 6 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| High Power Flamethrower | 6 | 5 | 4 | 8 |
| High Power Single Shot Rifle | 8 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Submachine Gun | 5 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
| Chaingun | 6 | 8 | 4 | 10 |
| Spear of Fire | 7 | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Rocket Launcher | 9 | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Heavy Grenade Launcher | 8 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| Dual Submachine Gun | 6 | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| Railgun | 10 | 1 | 7 | 12 |
| High Power Shotgun | 8 | 3 | 6 | 13 |
| Golden Shotgun | 9 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
| Spear of Light | 10 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| Spear of Darkness | 10 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
Unlockable Outfits
There are a total of 6 Lara Croft outfits present in the game, but 5 of them are only available upon achieving certain objectives within the game. | Outfit | Unlockable upon... |
|---|---|
 Lara Croft (default) | Starting / Default Outfit |
 Jungle | Accumulating an overall total of 1.410.000 points |
 Biker | Accumulating an overall total of 1.900.000 points |
 Doppelganger | Accumulating an overall total of 2.400.000 points |
 Legend | Defeating Xolotl |
 Jungle (heavy variant) | Finishing the game for the first time |
DLCs
Additionally, publisher Square Enix has announced five DLC packs to be released before the end of the year. The first three being new levels and the last two being character packs "which allow the player a chance to experience the adventure with other well-known videogame characters." Levels
There are 13 levels in total, which with their very own different challenges.- Temple of Light Temple Grounds
- Spider Tomb
- The Summoning
- Forgotten Gate
- Toxic Swamp
- Flooded Passage
- The Jaws of Death
- Twisting Bridge
- Fiery Depths
- Belly of the Beast
- Stronghold Passage
- The Mirror's Wake
- Xolotl's Stronghold
Concept & Voice Actors
The developers, although tactful in their attempt to separate Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light from the Tomb Raider franchise in their naming of the game, have remained true to the latest incarnations of the franchise by having actress Keeley Hawes continue in her voicing of Lara, since her first casting in Tomb Raider: Legend in 2006. Previous voice actresses since inception are Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins & Jonell Elliot. The voices for Xolotl and Totec are both provided by veteran vocal talent Jim Cummings, who has over three hundred voice accreditations to his name, including Psycrow from Earthworm Jim, Urdnot Wreav from Mass Effect 2 and both Thor and Scorpion in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2. Avatar Awards
This game will feature the following avatar awards. - Mercenary Outfit (for male Avatars) - Complete the game
- Lara's Jungle Outfit (for female Avatars) - Complete the game
Released originally on August 18th, 2010, for 1200 MS points on XBox Live Arcade, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was released later for PS3 and PC on September 28th, 2010.
PC System Requirements
- OS: Windows 7 / Vista / XP
- Processor: 3 GHz Intel or 2.5 GHZ AMD
- Memory: 1 GB RAM (XP) / 2 GB RAM (Vista)
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series (6800GT or better) / ATI 1300XT or better
- Hard Drive: 7GB
- Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card and drivers
General Information
Edit
| Game Name | Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light |
| Platform(s) | |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Developer(s) | |
| Genres |
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| Themes |
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| Original US Release |
Aug. 18, 2010
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release | Q2 2010 know the real date? |
| Aliases | |
| ESRB |
ESRB: T
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