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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

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Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light begins with Lara searching for an ancient artifact called the Mirror of Smoke. Upon reaching the mirror, she is ambushed by a mercenary army who steals the mirror and releases an ancient evil named Xolotl. Xolotl proceeds to wipe out the armed force and escape with the artifact. Luckily, the disturbance also awakens the Guardian of Light, Totec. In order to track down and stop Xolotl, Lara must join forces with Totec and ensure the world doesn’t plunge into an age of never-ending darkness.  The soundtrack provides an exciting backdrop for the action or subtle orchestration for thinking puzzles through. The voice acting for Lara, Totec and Xolotl are well produced. Xolotl has that gurgling Megatron-like voice and Lara sounds like, well, the Lara you know.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is available now on the Xbox LIVE Arcade Marketplace for 1200 MS Points and will be available for the PlayStation®3 PlayStation®Network and PC (via Steam) on September 28th, 2010 for $14.99. The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

About the Music Reviewed

The basic instrumentation for the Tomb Raider scores is orchestral, though the games adopt different instrumentation and tone with each installment in the series. The majority of Tomb Raider music has been created using electronic technology, such as samples and synthesizers (though the Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness soundtrack was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra).

The symphonic sounds of the earlier games were created using Roland Corporation’s Orchestral Expansion board for their JV series modules (JV-1080 Synthesizer Module & SR-JV80-02 Expansion Board). Stings were used very often to warn the player about an impending danger. If the player discovers a certain area, or picks up a certain object, a short vibraphone sound may be heard indicating the player has found a “Secret”. The sound has been used in the first five Tomb Raider video games, including Tomb Raider: Anniversary, though it has some insignificant sound variations.

Angel of Darkness is the first game to bring underscores, while previous games used stings and full scores only. This game combines the style of Danny Elfman Batman scores with the classic Tomb Raider style. For the first time in the series, the score has been performed by a real orchestra (London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Snell).

Legend plays a new kind of music style with underlying beats, just like the electronic dance music, that sometimes has small parts of electronic-like orchestra; instead of recreating the atmosphere of a real orchestra, Troels uses a lot of echoes for the orchestral sounds. The title track starts off with the first few notes of Lara’s original theme used in all of the games before this one, being played with slight ornamentation on a Middle-Eastern duduk.

Folmann’s work for Anniversary is different from that of Legend, as it has no underlying techno beats or electronic effects, and no underscores. Folmann uses more complex instrumentation and composition in his scoring, acquiring more woodwinds, instrument articulation, and ambiance. Folmann leaves somewhat of a trademark in his Anniversary music by adding a significant amount of chimes throughout the score. Troels composed the music in the style of an electronic orchestra. Some recognizable themes from the first game, composed by Nathan McCree, such as “Time to Run,” “Puzzle Theme,” and “Puzzle Theme II” have been recreated. The main theme can be described as a celebratory version of the original theme from Tomb Raider, as similar chord and instruments are used in the piece. The song starts off with a heavy crescendo of woodwinds and low strings playing the famous Tomb Raider melody, and then breaks off into an almost playful arc, featuring parts of the original harp composition from the Tomb Raider theme. Pizzicato strings, cascading pianos and celeste, chimes, and glass instrumentation are prominent throughout this version, implying the fresh and modern twist that Folmann and Crystal Dynamics have placed in Anniversary.

Troels Brun Folmann composed the main theme for Underworld, and is the music supervisor, while O’Malley scored the bulk of the music. Underworld‘s music is purely orchestral in style. There are pieces that do not loop, meaning they will only play one time and will be triggered on specific events. The score is made more of musical fragments, similar to the first five games of the Tomb Raider series, and there will be less constant music than in Legend. The first seconds of the main theme are the well known four-notes of the first Tomb Raider game main theme. The end of the main theme gets louder than the beginning by adding choirs and percussion. It then drops into a solo performance of the same four-notes reminiscent of the Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness main theme.