Guardian of Light Review
This Tomb Raider spinoff brings Lara Croft back into the spotlight
The game is fairly action oriented, and the gunplay plays out similar to other top-down shooters such as Alien Breed or Space Siege. Players can fire in one direction while running or dodging in another. The game’s arsenal is fairly varied, with Lara able to wield pistols, machine guns, rifles, and a grenade launcher. Each weapon has varying stats and consumes the ammo bar at varying rates, with different range and accuracy ratings. Lara herself has a few stats such as health, jumping ability, and damage resistance. These stats can be increased by finding various artifacts though the game and equipping them into one of the available slots. It never feels like the stat increases have a huge impact on the game until the later battles.
The enemies that Lara faces range from skeletons to monsters, all with either a ranged or melee attack. There are also varying sizes of enemies, which take more ammo and effort to take down, and also deal a lot more damage. There isn’t really any AI to speak of, as enemies simply attack the player until they are taken down or are out of range, in which case they just chase you down. The action can get very chaotic and relentless, especially towards the end of the game and with difficult boss battles. Still, players looking for a challenge will have to wait until towards the end of the game before making an effort.
Outside of the action, Lara is free to explore the limited but multipath levels. The game’s story often requires the player to explore the surrounding are and collect a number of items before they can progress. This mechanic allows the levels to expand and present more scenery to explore. Outside of combat, this exploration often entails getting through various puzzles. The actual challenges presented in the game are relatively easy, and rarely rely on any significant player skill or thinking to solve. To counter the relative ease of the main campaign, the game world is littered with small challenge caves. These caves are very small and present a reward if the player is able to reach it. The challenges vary greatly, ranging from a very quick and simple solution to a rather complex set of puzzle elements. The key is that these challenges are all optional and merely present the opportunity to step away from the main story and do a puzzle, which seemingly adds value to the overall experience.
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