Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Jenn does, and typed this while doing a twisting double-somersault over deadly spikes. We told her that wasn’t necessary, but she did it anyway.
[imgclear] Yes, that’s right, we’re publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku, in addition to reader retrospectives and features. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Jenn Christodoulou. If you’ve played Guardian of Light, or just want to ask Jenn more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara Croft has always been an iconic adventure game character. With her tight blue top, teeny tiny shorts and duel pistols, she’s pretty much the sexiest, most kick ass female game character to date. And this spring she graced our lounge rooms once more with the downloadable game: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
[imgclear] Though it may not be a Tomb Raider in title, Guardian of Light is certainly a Tomb Raider in story. Similar to the older games, Lara sends herself off to remote locations to find obscure archaeological items. However, for the first time since the abysmal Angel of Darkness monstrosity, Lara isn’t alone on her adventures. GOL has been built around a framework using co-operative play, meaning for the first time ever, Lara Croft features in a two-player game.
Loved
Co-op: Playing this game with another person was, surprisingly, a lot more awesome than I thought. Not only are the levels and puzzles completely different between single player and co-op, but the mode is just plain fun! Together, Lara and Totec become an unstoppable force of bullets and spears, shredding anything that dares to tread in their path. Or, they become a frustrated tangle of blood and guts – but that really depends on what difficulty you’re playing.
Puzzles: Each puzzle in this game requires a few moments of trial and error before one giddy moment of success. I like it when a game forces me to think, but I don’t like when it forces me to think so hard my brain starts leaking out my ears. GOL has achieved a place between those two ends, creating a very enjoyable puzzle experience.
[imgclear] Challenges: Each level in this game provides a bunch of different challenges to complete. There are your standard ‘complete this level in x minutes’ and ‘collect these ten red skulls’ tasks, but then there’s a bunch of interesting ones that guarantee you’ll be sitting at your TV going ‘how the hell…?’
Hated
Glitches: There is one level in the game where you fight a massive T-Rex, which is hard enough to kill as it is. Add in a glitch where it randomly disappears and reappears on the screen in any given place at any given moment and you’ve got a very frustrated Jenn. To make things more irritating, when I finally did beat the damn thing; my cut scene didn’t have any sound. My father, on the other hand, threw two spears at the dinosaur and it dropped dead. And his cut scene had sound. Damn stupid picky glitches.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is certainly different than other titles we’ve seen, but different doesn’t always mean bad. While some people may have shunned the game for its differences, I have embraced them and found a fantastic gaming experience. Plus it’s only 20 bucks on the PSN, so there’s really no reason for you not to give it a go!
Reviewed by Jenn Christodoulou.
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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