Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris review round-up

Why do we fall, master Croft? So that we may pick ourselves up…AND RISE! Oh wait, crap, wrong Tomb Raider game. Still! The year is almost done, and a few gems are starting to surface. Gems that are smaller, but no less ambitious than the triple-A blockbusters that have been released so far this year. And it looks like a certain Tomb Raider is once again proving to be a force to be reckoned with.

Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris is out right now, in a rather attractive retail box from what I’ve seen so far. It’s more of that excellent action from Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light, a top-down adventure game with equal parts action and puzzle solving. Here’s what the critics have had to say so far:

Gaming Trend – 90/100

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris’s new mechanics and graphical improvements make it a must-have for any couch co-op fan. The devious puzzles are matched by a better story and bigger bosses, making for a fun four-player romp that should keep any gamer entertained.

Joystiq – 4/5

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris’s temples and puzzles are fantastic, but I found myself wishing for several more hours of gameplay. This is, I suspect, where Isis and Horus’ promises that “Set will return” are going to translate into copious DLC, bringing more challenge tombs or perhaps even more story.

IGN – 8.1/10

The real treasure in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris wasn’t Lara’s story, bipedal alligator warriors, or a bounty of gems, but solving complex and varied environmental puzzles with friends. Playing alone, discovering the different flavors of each new temple and figuring out the solution to a brain-busting puzzle all by myself is satisfying; replaying with others doubled that satisfaction because developer Crystal Dynamics renews the challenge with creative new twists on previously conquered obstacles that require teamwork to overcome.

EGM Now – 7.5/10

Another fun twin-stick-shooter romp for Lara Croft, Temple of Osiris finds a way to go bigger and better in most regards, but four-player co-op was just too much on my TV screen—this one would’ve been better off with only two main characters instead of four.

Eurogamer – 7/10

Still, The Temple of Osiris is a welcome throwback, and for the five or six hours it took me to barrel through the campaign, the rest of the world blinked away as the sands swept in and the ancient machinery started to turn. As with Osiris, I’m not sure Lara’s reassemblage has gone entirely to plan, but the spirit remains intact – and the spirit is still strangely powerful.

Snazzy. Looks like this may in fact be the definitive Tomb Raider game of the year.

Last Updated: December 10, 2014