I love well made games. It's hard to define what a well made game is, but if I were to try, I would say something that was simple, satisfying, and allows you to ramp up the difficulty on your own terms. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light does all of this extremely well in this Xbox Live Arcade edition of the game.
The game sets up a small story about accidentally unleashing an ancient evil and having to go and defeat it to save the world. It doesn't really matter, but I like that there's a premise that's given to you and reminds you as the game progresses what it is that you're trying to do (for games that don't do this, see Limbo). As you progress through the levels, the enemies become more difficult, the puzzles harder, and the challenges become cleverer, but none of it so out of each that it feels that it cannot be obtained.
You're rewarded for your work with health and ammo power ups, as well as new weapons to help you take down enemies in a variety of ways. I found uses for several different weapons, but once you have them all, there's only a handful that you'll need. You'll also find artifacts that allow you to customize your character a little bit, sacrificing defense for weapon power, or speed for bomb power. Relics also allow you to obtain special perks such as health and ammo regen or scattershot when you have a meter called the "Relic Meter" full. That happens by not taking damage while you're collecting treasure or killing enemies.
The most obvious departure from the Tomb Raider series is the 3/4 overhead view that reminds you of Diablo. You might think that this type of view would create problems with jumping puzzles and the like, but the game does a very good job of keeping you and your shots going where you want them to. Whenever I threw a spear, it would land in more or less the place I wanted it to, which I was very impressed with.
Level goals compliment each area, allowing you to determine how you want to play the level this time. Get through it as fast as you can, score as many points as possible, or try some of the odder ones like bombing a boulder onto a small platform, or jump on all of the pillars without touching the ground. These little goals give you some extra challenge if you want it, reward you well for doing them, and provide extra re-playability as you set out to do different things on the maps.
The one complaint I'm going to give this game is the multi-player. No no, it's not because the online multi-player isn't enabled yet, I'm fine with that. It's that when playing in multi-player, it feels like it takes away from the experience. There's not enough material to warrant the multi-player aspect, and it's much much easier to get many of the level goals done when you're alone, particularly the speed and score achievements. I understand the direction that the developers took, I just wish there could have been more teamwork situations in the game (and maybe a combined score instead of individual, at least for the level goals).
All in all, I can't recommend this game enough. If you haven't picked it up yet, you really should, or at least give the demo a try. It's what got me hooked, and I'm thinking more people out there will really enjoy the experience.
