The pre-Christmas period is a harbinger of many new releases in the gaming scene as well as Square Enix takes advantage of this favorable time to launch Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light, a spin-off series Tomb Raider, which has as its inevitable protagonist athletics Lara Croft, this time embroiled in a tangled story that builds its foundation on the ancient feud between the guardians of light and dark spirits.
Totec, the guardian of light and Xoloti, the most powerful of the dark spirits after a tough battle were both buried in the Temple of Light, together with the magic mirror of smoke, the only weapon capable of defeating the evil power of Xoloti.
Two thousand years later, Lara is the powerful mirror that temple in Central America, but when he embezzled some mercenaries and try to take it away from the temple, and Totec Xoloti awaken from their slumber millennium.
The evil spirit, after killing the mercenaries, he runs away with the artifact and it will be just Lara Totec help to recover the mirror to finally defeat Xoloti. So, as can be seen from the plot, we are faced with the first example of a cooperative game based heroine of Tomb Raider. The gameplay is offered stracollaudato of the Action / adventure, though this title is given a top isometric-style twin stick shooter.
The control system is actually taken directly from this kind of games, and in fact we could Lara move through the virtual stick on the left, while the right varieremo the line of fire and jump or roll, using the two buttons located above it. Also in the bottom center of the screen will be allocated to manage the console slots left to the arms and the release of bombs.
In addition to these elements will then also a number of other virtual buttons that will appear as needed, such as the one for the launch and release the hook, we could use at particular points on platforms to reach otherwise out of reach.
The arrangements are playable then the single player or multiplayer cooperative bluethoot via local or remote via wifi, managed through integration with the Game Center, which will allow us to invite a lot of our friends or find a casual partner with whom to share adventure.
This is definitely a feature that we liked a lot and that gives the title an undeniable plus, because in this mode, the two main characters, Lara and Totec will have a unique set of features and tools and must necessarily cooperate in order to proceed in the adventure .
Regardless however of whether to play alone or in company, we will still immersed in the depths of the temple of light and we should address the various mazes and puzzles contained within it. All the classic features of the Tomb Raider brand such as explore, discover it, jumping from one platform to another, solving environmental puzzles and take a hand against various enemies and the inevitable boss, are present in the title Square Enix.
Unfortunately it is the strong exploratory component linked to the game to reveal the first criticality, namely the management of the fixed camera is not always optimal, which often leaves the heroin leaving disappear from our view in favor of parts of the scenario.
He is also wrapped the hud of the game itself, the part that shows the state of health god Lara for example, to conceal evidence which might interact with. This shortcoming as might be expected, is attenuated in the HD version for iPad with the increased screen surface. Fortunately, however, this does not affect too much the gameplay of the title is very enjoyable and stimulating.
During the process of adventure Lara can count on a decent arsenal of weapons such as the omnipresent pistols, rifles and bombs that will enable it to cope against different types of enemies that will come to ensnare it, but can also be used to interact with the elements scenario and in the case of the spears, which are also available with unlimited right now, will prove to be providential to climb very high walls acting as a makeshift platform.
The various parts of the story will be joined together with the cut scenes made up some slides with lots of captions in Italian and will present us the march of events as if they were reading a comic book.
The technical realization of the product is definitely worthy of note. From the graphical point of view, we have a full implementation in both the 3D sprite characters, but these are a bit ‘small though treated, the stage that hosting the rally. The textures that cover the various features are good and the animations are very good and composed of a number of frames.
Finally, the presence of some particle effects enriches the viewing experience even more regalataci product. The audio sector consists of a soundtrack inspired much in harmony with the environments that the adventure story and offers a good variety of sound effects in the complex and competing to complete the atmosphere.
The controls are well designed and quite easy to use, although sometimes show the classical limit of the virtual input. The graphic engine, very stable, able to move around without any problems and above all without any slowdown even on devices that are not recent. In addition, the game enjoys a high durability, guaranteed by the various levels available and the co-op.
So a title undoubtedly more limited than the other party for PC and home console via PSN and Xbox Live Arcade, mostly because of the characteristics and inherent limitations related to the username iDevice touch controls and dimensions of the display for iphone / ipod touch, but however, that certainly appears to be a valid, well structured and enjoyable that it reaches its peak when played in the company of a friend.
Compatibility: iPhone, iPod touch Requires iOS 2.2.1 or later – iPad. IOS requires 3.2 or later. Price: 5.49 € (version iPhone, iPod touch) – € 7.99 (iPad versions)
