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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is really, really good. Essner and I basically played through it in two very long sessions. We probably put, at the very least, close to 8 hours in on it. It was fun for the whole time.

It’s really good.

Now, I’m not someone who has ever really even played a Tomb Raider game. I certainly don’t have any positive feelings for Ms. Croft and her video game outings. But seriously, Guardian of Light looks fantastic, plays fantastic, and is really smartly put together. If you have a friend to play with in co-op, there’s no way you won’t have a good time. No way.

Basically, the game is one part puzzle-platformer and one part Diablo-By-Way-Of-Twin-Stick-Shooter. You run through levels, shooting demons with a variety of weapons in a Twin-Stick shooter style. You also solve “Challenge Crypts” and complete various achievements to get artifacts and relics as loot, which you can use to somewhat customize your character. It’s not a huge level of customization, but it’s enough. I could focus on single-shot weapons that did a lot of damage to one person while Essner could focus on SMGs and Shotguns to clear out groups. Or we could both do a little of both. Essner equipped artifacts that upped his damage potential and remote mine radius (mostly so he could blow me up again and again), while I was a bit more well-rounded and always had a defense buff on. Again, it’s not a HUGE difference, but it’s enough to make you feel like you’re playing the game your way.

The puzzles in the game are perfect. They are exactly enough to make you think about what you’re doing, and have to discuss them with your teammate, but not hard enough to hold you up for any length of time, so you can get back to more dude-shooting. Plus, exactly when you think the game has thrown all its tricks at you, it comes up with something clever. Even in the last dungeon, I was going, “Woah, that was clever. I wouldn’t have though to use that this way.” It’s also, as I kind of mentioned earlier, a very meaty game. I was shocked there were more levels for the last 3 levels. You are certainly getting your money’s worth.

From what I’ve heard, they’ve done a good job making puzzles designed for two players work with one player. There are also special weapons you unlock through score challenges, which are kind of impossible to get when you’re splitting points with another player. Those weapons probably increase combat variety when you’re playing alone. But I never tried it alone, and never will. It’s designed from the ground up to be played with two people, and that’s how it should be played. Find someone you can trap on the couch for a few game sessions and play this game. It gets pretty well the highest recommendation I can summon.