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Name: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft is a name most people will associate with the Tomb Raider series of games. Why wouldn't they? There's been several Tomb Raiding adventures now on various platforms all staring the plucky British gal with a habit of finding herself slap bang in the middle of a historical related adventure; admittedly her adventures stopped being strictly about raiding tombs some time ago but the premise was always there in one form or another.

But now the time has come for Miss Croft to step out of the shadow of the Tomb Raider moniker and make her own way in life. This latest adventure, from developers Crystal Dynamics, drops the Tomb Raider name and gives Lara the emphasis; perhaps bringing it a bit closer to the Indiana Jones series at the same time. The name change is not the only change we see however, instead of being the usual third person adventure, Lara's been thrown into an isometric world and given a fixed camera to work with.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is set in Central America, the premise being that two thousand years ago the Guardian of Light, Totec, went toe to toe in a battle with Xolotl, a dark creature intent on destroying the light. Totec ultimately wins the battle and banishes Xolotl from this realm, but, sensing a great danger if he was to ever come back Totec sets about protecting the world by entombing them both in the Temple of Light and Xolotl himself finds himself doubly trapped in a Mirror of Smoke.

Cut back to present day and we join the action as Lara is exploring the temple, she manages to find the mythical mirror and just as she goes to take it, she is sneaked upon by mercenaries who want the power to help tip the scales of a war in their favour. Amidst the chaos both Totec and Xolotl are awakened from their slumber and Xolotl sees his chance to escape, taking the Mirror along with him. Totec is less than happy with the situation and blames Lara for being instrumental in bringing evil back into the world, however, he accepts Lara's offer of help to retrieve the mirror and stop Xolotl once and for all.

It quickly becomes apparent once you take control of Lara that even though you're in a different style of game than her usual outings, all the action is more or less still in place. Lara can still run, shoot, jump, grab ledges, swing from ropes and somersault just like she always could. Just because your in a different environment it doesn't mean you can't pull any of the usual tomb raiding tricks. It's a relief to see that the action hasn't changed that much, even if the approach has, your definitely playing a Tomb Raider game, if not in name then at least in spirit. The graphics engine isn't new either, even when it sometimes looks like it is, it's the one used in Tomb Raider: Underworld which released a few years back. Both the art and sound borrow heavily from previous adventures, bringing some nostalgia to it all in a most pleasant way, especially if you've played the previous games, yet, it never makes it seem old and certainly isn't detrimental.

Getting to grips with the new, yet ever so familiar Lara is rather straight forward in the Guardian of Light. Not confined to the usual rules which governed her movement and jumping abilities in the classic games, Lara is a free woman and the game will make sure you reach ledges if you jump just a little too early, removing those frustrating moments where you fell to your death simply because you should of taken an extra step back. Lara's shooting abilities have somewhat changed however, in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions you'll use the second analogue stick to control the direction of her guns and a button to shoot. Lara's grapple is also used from time to time so you can expect to be hanging off walls and swinging around the place occasionally, which, with it being Lara Croft, should be expected. One new item she does have is a spear that Totec gives her, this can be used as a weapon or she can throw it into a wall to make herself a handy perch, allowing her to gain access to platforms she wouldn't normally be able to reach, a handy item which you'll find very useful throughout the single player game.

If you ever fancied exploring lost tombs and ancient ruins with a friend then you'll be glad to know that the Guardian of Light has a multiplayer cooperative option. Lara Croft will team up with Totec in the multiplayer portion of the game and responds pretty much the same way as Lara, but, where Lara has the spear, Totec has a shield which Lara can use to stand on and for the two to hide behind. Both Lara's and Totec's equipment is shared in a couple of unique ways such as using Lara's grappling hook as a tightrope for Totec to walk across or to save him from a fall, even letting Totec use Lara's weapons as he begins to admire them later on in the game. It emphasizes the need for team work in a lot of the sections as it changes the puzzles and other parts to accommodate an additional player. The changes aren't vast and at its core it's still the same game, it's just changed to make playing through with a friend a worthwhile experience, and a very enjoyable one at that.

The multiplayer is only local however, that is, for now. A patch has been announced along with some additional content at a later date which will expand on the world and bring new playable characters for you to enjoy. There shouldn't be any difference with the online side of it as the framework is already in place for it from the initial download, why it wasn't patched in though remains a mystery.

Throughout each of the different areas you'll see plenty of things that need collecting, from red crystal skulls to precious gems just left lying around, picking these up will earn you rewards and upgrades to various aspects such as your health and your proficiency with weapons. You'll also happen across different challenges at points in the game which include simple things such as jumping from one point to another, or negotiating semi-complicated trap systems to collect a prize. There are also relics to collect which boost your performance with extra fire power, if you can find them.

There are some slight niggles however, some sections are simply trial and error until you get it right and they can become irritating as you plummet to your death again and again, none the wiser as to what you've got to do, truth be told though, it's nothing new when it comes to a Lara Croft game. The new fixed camera can be a bit cumbersome in places as well, it would be handy to zoom out occasionally and look around the environment to get your bearings, but for the most part however it's fairly easy going.

Crystal Dynamics have certainly done a fine job with Lara's latest adventure, it's the first in the franchise to be a download only game and you may wonder whether it's just a stripped down Tomb Raider game with a different name, but it's genuinely not, weighing in at a whopping 2GB download. Considering the price point it's pretty much a bargain. There's over five hours worth of game to be gotten from one run through and if you're going to try and complete all the challenges and collect all the different pieces then you're going to be playing for much longer. If you like the action adventure genre and previous Tomb Raider titles then you'd be silly not to pick this one up; it's games like that this one that show what can be achieved with a downloadable title. Hopefully it isn't the last one we see.