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Xbox 1200 points: Price: 1200 points (£9.99) (Xbox 360) Players: 1-2 Widescreen: Yes SDTV: 60Hz: Yes (only) HDTV: 720p/1080i/1080p Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live content: Five DLC releases Vote and comment on this game: Share View Comments Lara Croft is back, but not Tomb Raider. Confused? You won't be after this episode of Soap. Hang on, let's get back to the present. This isn't a sitcom but is actually the first in a new game series which aims to continued the Lara Croft franchise, but not under the usual Tomb Raider branding. That's not the first difference you'll immediately spot, though. That thing is that this game has an isometric 3D look to it, which is something no previous title has ever done, those all going for a third-person view, behind Lara. As such, I'm initially expecting to be able to turn to swing around with the right joystick and change the viewpoint but I can't, as it only does it in terms of turning Lara around with the viewpoint remaining the same isometric stance. So, a bit bizarre, but let's work with it and see what happens. Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light also features co-operative gameplay, either online or at home, and since you can't have two Laras onscreen at once, despite many a bloke rather liking this thought, the other character is Totec, an ancient 2,000-year-old Maya warrior and leader of the Army of Light. You're up against an evil spirit called Xolotl, the God with associations to both lightning and death, and also the twin of Quetzalcoatl, who once had his own ZX Spectrum game back in the '80s, but I digress. Xolotl, as the baddie, will naturally send scores of minions your way to make your life a misery, including giant spiders, demon-like creatures and huge trolls. As usual, Lara is voiced by Ashes to Ashes star Keeley Hawes and Totec's by Jim Cummings, an actor from Ohio whose work includes Robot Chicken, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the game, Mass Effect 2.

The basic plot is that Totec and Xolotl had a bit of a beef 2,000 years ago... although if that's strictly true then Totec must've been a baby. That said, he could've had the wherewithall of Stewie Griffin, in which case anything is possible. Either way, Totec won that battle, banished Xolotl, and then entombed himself in the Temple of Light along with the magical Mirror of Smoke to stop any wrong-doers getting their mitts on it. Speed forward to the present day and Lara finds the temple and Mirror but some baddies follow her and nick it. As such, our ancient pair (I know Lara's getting on a bit, now, but no smutty jokes, please) are awoken, Xolotl bumps off those baddies and has it away himself. Assuming that a woman's always to blame, Totec lands the ball of failure squarely in Lara's court until he realises they'll have to collaborate in order to get everything sorted out by defeating Xolotl again and getting the Mirror back. It's a bit like a videogame of the Con-Dem coalition.... actually, it's not at all. I'm talking rubbish. As an aside, this actually reminds me of one game, which was years ahead of its time - Ico on the PS2. It doesn't have the same level of charm, though. Unfortunately, as there's no 50Hz option in which to play this game, I cannot record the footage, but if you go to TheWitch06's Youtube channel, you'll see gameplay there as he's got the setup to do it.

Good stuff: Once you get used to the gameplay, you discover Lara has very fluid movement. The sound is a particular treat as while the graphics look a bit simplified, the audio will give your speakers - and your ears - a treat. I do love the grapple rings to... erm... grapple onto and swing your pants... and yourself. I also love the big bombs to blow things up, although for dispensers of poison arrows it does rather seem like a cheating way of doing things. There are some quite well-thought out puzzles in the Challenge Tombs. There are 14 levels so plenty of gameplay to be had, although on the downside it is incredibly samey. It only costs a tenner Not-so-good stuff: Wayyyyyyy to linear. It's almost on rails the way you go through a level and how things have to be done in order. There's no sandbox-style do-what-you-want-when-you-want nature to it. It doesn't have the same kind of style and panache as the regular series, even though it does cost a mere tenner. It's also nice to see that it's trying something a little different, but overall, the gameplay becomes far too repetitive and while I used to be a die-hard Lara Croft fan, I'm not going to spend every minute scouring every part of every level for every last gem or power-up. Overall, it's better value than the main series, which cost at least four times as much and look a lot better but have exactly the same kind of longevity issues, but if you can get a demo of this first, try that. There's also a co-op mode for two players, which is the only way you'll get the chance to play as Totec. I'm more for single-player games, but if doubling-up is your bag then you'll find that the levels are designed to a degree to take advantage of the fact you need to have both players onscreen. In that outing, you'll have to work together in order to stop Xolotl and retrieve the Mirror of Smoke. I'm just glad he's not hanging around in the single-player game as an AI character, with me having to keep him alive as well as dealing with my own problems. Note that the game will receive extended support with five downloadable content packs, expected to be released from October through December 2010. Three of the packs will contain new maps and puzzles, while the other two will feature alternate playable characters. The first of the five downloadable packs will be free for Xbox 360 only, up to the first 30 days after release.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2010.