Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (2010)
Whilst the main Crystal Dynamics team secretly worked on their second reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, Square Enix began releasing spinoff games under the
Lara Croft title, differentiating them from the mainline series whilst preserving the classic (or at least first reboot's) depiction of the character as an adrenaline-fueled, acrobatic superheroine. Guardian of Light is an isometric twin-stick shooter combined with rudimentary puzzle and platforming elements that opens as a team of mercenaries force Lara to enter an ancient South American tomb to release both the ancient demon Xolotl and his jailor, the Mayan hero Totec. With the mercenaries slaughtered by Xolotl's minions, Totec and Lara team up to find the Mirror of Smoke and entomb Xolotl once again.
Whist designed as a co-op game, there are no issues playing through the main campaign alone, as Lara simply gains the items and powers usually attributed to Totec. Most areas are totally linear, with extra items typically stashed up on ledges or over a more precarious route through one of the many trapped paths, although there are several optional tombs containing slightly more complicated puzzles and difficult enemies for those interested in extra content. Several larger overland areas are presented as hubs of a sort, with a number of different tombs scattered around these maps containing items needed to progress onwards, but the player is usually railroaded from one of these tombs to another via blocked paths, and what little exploration is available will, at best, uncover a miniboss or a couple of extra collectibles. Though controls can be slightly awkward using WASD and the mouse (particularly when jumping), the game automates a lot of the process of jumping from one platform to the other, so unless you leapt in completely the wrong direction, you're unlikely to miss your target. Combat is typical of the genre, and there are a number of bosses best defeated via the use of strategically placed traps and environmental hazards.
There's not much to say beyond the basics - as a single-player title, it's a reasonably competent light puzzle/shooter hybrid worth wasting a few hours on - albeit a bit dull, bordering on monotonous. As a budget title, I though it made good use of recycled assets - such as the soundtracks from the previous three Tomb Raider games - to keep costs down, so I'm surprised it never developed into a yearly cycle of releases, with the sequel only materializing in 2014.