Review: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

I loved Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Between the puzzles, dungeon crawling/platforming gameplay, rad boss battles and, most importantly, the numerous opportunities to grief the you-know-what out of your co-op counterparts, it made for a HIGHLY enjoyable experience.

Now, as a rule, after the completion of a game I won’t (immediately) jump into another game within the same IP (due to the risk of burnout), but because I had so much fun with Guardian of Light I broke my #1 rule and fired up Temple of Osiris. I’m so glad I did. There was NO burnout, there was no feeling of “Ugh, this is getting stagnant” or anything like that.

In fact, I’ve already scoured the internet for details on a sequel.

Not surprisingly, the puzzles are back in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, and while the majority of them have the same objective (y’know, get the ball in the cage, step on the switch to cross the ravine, etc.) they’re a bit more intricate this time around. That said, my friends and I failed to come across a puzzle that caused us to scratch our heads to the point of breaking skin, but we still had a great time talking strategy, executing our strategy, failing the timing, blaming each other, nailing the timing, etc., ALL via the (forgivable) method of trial and error. It’s all about ‘dat Teamwork.

SPEAKING OF TEAMWORK ::snicker:: I loved, LOVED griefing my partners. Example: When the appropriate button is pressed, Lara, my character, has a grappling rope she deploys to help others cross chasms of spikes and other dangerous stuff. Friends, do you know how FUN it is to let go of that button while your comrade is helplessly dangling over a sea of insta-death spikes? Have you ever felt the pleasure of blocking your comrades’ path with mines? Even better, have you ever felt the pleasure of blowing your comrades into oblivion as they’re naively walking behind you? IT IS SO SATISFYING.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on mowing friends over with “rocks” that are actually enormous bombs.

grapplingrope
Go ahead. I won’t drop you. I, uh, promise.

While Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris wasn’t necessarily made for griefing, like, it’s unlikely the developers sat down and said, “Let’s add griefing to this game!” it’s definitely a thing you can do and it’s a MUST. (As long as you know your partners IRL, I guess. I don’t know how online strangers would take to being blown up every few steps…)

One of my favorite features in Guardian of Light was the simple, yet useful, equipment customization system. I wouldn’t say the system has been improved in Temple of Osiris, but it serves the same purpose. Throughout the game you’ll discover rings and amulets, both of which can be equipped to buff/debuff certain traits. You may find a ring or amulet that increases your bomb radius, but detracts from your weapon damage. Or, if you’re lucky, you might just find something that only increases your traits.

equipment screen

There are many other attractive selling points I could go in-depth about. There are the numerous weapons you can find and choose from, the collectibles, the area-specific challenges and unlockables — not to mention Temple of Osiris has some of the neatest boss battles I’ve seen in a game like this. But we’d be here all day. Trust me, though, when I say Temple of Osiris has plenty to offer.

In case you haven’t guessed, I cannot recommend Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris hard enough. Hell, if you plan on playing Temple of Osiris you may as well start with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Those two games are insanely freakin’ fun to play, especially with a friend or two (or three!) and with the inclusion of online co-op there ain’t no viable excuses not to.

Trust me. You’re gonna have fun.

4 Comments

  1. Cool Brittney I enjoyed plying Guardian of Light too although its been a long time, I also enjoyed the puzzles, I like the overhead view so im glad to read that the sequel is fun too!

    • Ah thank you! Hahaha! I’ve done many others in the past — clearly I didn’t do a good enough job at marketing them! ;)

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