Preview: Enjoyable Multiplayer Co-Op In Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris

Taking couch gaming back to its roots and making multiplayer enjoyable in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.

The Tomb Raider franchise seems to be making a lot of noise recently what with a successful reboot for the PS3 and Xbox 360, followed up with a  Definitive Edition for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, there is a going on for Lara fans to be excited about. With a lot of news concerning its next gen sequel Rise of The Tomb Raider, one title I had the privilege to preview was Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris which if I was to simplify in a few words, is a real hoot! Could this be the Lara Croft Adventure everyone should be looking out for?

Lara Croft and The Temple of Osiris is the follow up to Guardian of Light and while I had no experience playing the prior, I was heading in pretty fresh minded. The game is a four player co-op where you can choose between playing as Lara and Carter, the two archeologists or Isis and Horus, the two Egyptian gods that can utilise their powers to project shields and raise platforms. Technically the game can be played alone, but as mentioned by the developers it was designed with co-op in mind and after our preview, we believe this indeed is the best option.

Pew pew and explosions!

The game is played in the isometric view for a clearer view of the environment and uses the twin stick mechanic where one is used to move and the other to shoot. The main idea here is to traverse the environment, complete the puzzles, defeat the enemies and reach the end of each level. Once this point is reached, scores are tallied up and players are ranked 1st to last depending on how well they've done. You can also unlock stronger weapons for the archaeologists and upgrades to your powers for the Egyptians.

The great thing is that at certain points, the game can just become bat shit crazy and while the norm is to now have detailed narratives that keep you immersed from beginning to end, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is all about having fun with your mates. Whether its running away from a boss you clearly cannot take on to hindering the progress of your entire team, it does this in a way that makes it an overall enjoyable experience, however if any friendships are ruined on this, well... lets just blame them for being a little too hardcore.

While you have the waves of enemies that try to stop you and your crew from advancing, there's also one other teensy tiny thing that may stop, yep you guesssed it puzzles, but these are not your run of the mill mechanics as most of them require your entire team to work together in order to complete. Certain puzzles usually involve using the unique skills of certain characters i.e Horus raising a platform that Lara is on in order to get to an unreachable place or Lara using her grappling hook to help others get across a huge, spike filled trap. The game basically wants you to get along with the players in your team, however whether you help them or not is completely up to you, but that wouldn't be any fun now would it?

Ok... what the heck is that thing!?

In conclusion, Lara Croft and The Temple of Osiris is a fun title that looks to bring back days of gaming past, where it was less about complicated narratives and more about having insane amounts of fun. While I did not get to sample the game on a single player basis, I can't imagine playing through the adventure without my comrades at my side because its not that much fun betraying the CPU... right?

Lara Croft and The Temple of Osiris will be releasing on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC on December 9th this year! For more info on the upcoming title, check out the main website - http://www.laracroft.com

Like the look of Lara Croft and The Temple Of Osiris? Let us know what you think in the comments section below or find me on twitter - @WKG_Liban

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