If your first Tomb Raider experience was last year's remarkable reboot from Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, you'd be forgiven if you didn't give The Temple of Osiris' high angle action another look. Those who have been around the block a few times though know as great as 2013's Tomb Raider was, The Temple of Osiris is more than a worthwhile look back. What it lacks in high definition visuals and personality it makes up for with remarkably fun co-op and a surprisingly meaningful single-player experience. If you're looking for a game to hop on the couch and play with a group of friends, this a tomb that's more than worth raiding.

In The Temple of Osiris, Lara has discovered the temple of the titular Egyptian god but is challenged to the treasure inside by rival archaeologist Carter Bell. As tends to happen with Ancient temples, going inside awakens the spirit of Set, the force responsible for killing Osiris. The two must then team up with Isis and Horus help resurrect Osiris and stop Set from taking over the world. It's a hokey Night at the Museum style story that's all but abandoned throughout the game besides the rare banter between team mates. It's silly and disposable enough though that it gives you a reason to explore the tomb without ever getting in the way.

"Combat is fun but exists mainly as filler between puzzles..."

Playing through The Temple of Osiris, I couldn't help but feel like this was the closest anyone has come to recreating the original Tomb Raider experience from way back in the original Playstation days. While much of the game will be most familiar to those who played through Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light, The Temple of Osiris plays incredible similar to the core Tomb Raider experience. Combat is fun but exists mainly as filler between puzzles and giant monster boss battles. That's not to say that it's no fun to use the impressive area of riffles and other guns on your enemies, it's just that they rarely pose much of a threat, especially when playing with friends.

The real star of The Temple of Osiris is the tombs you'll explore and search out for secrets. The game is broken down into nine main tombs and five challenge tombs with each being filled with puzzles, traps and secrets to uncover. Each of the temples are distinct enough and while there's a good amount of challenge to a number of the puzzles, it's never enough to make you stop playing and The Temple of Osiris has that classic “one more time” type of gameplay that makes it such a gameplay to play through. The search for extra power-ups that can effect your weapons and agility are enough to make you want to go through and play again, especially since each temple takes thirty minutes tops if you're trying to race through. Be warned though, a lot of these power-ups are cool to experiment with but don't make much difference in the end since so few of the game's enemies pose much of a threat.

"The Temple of Osiris is unquestionably better with friends..."

The Temple of Osiris is unquestionably better with friends, and even better when those friends are in the same room. Yelling at friends and trying to point them in the right direction during hectic play sessions is a complete blast and there's something missing form that equation when you're trying to play online. Interestingly, the single-player experience isn't as disposable as in similar games and the development team seems to have taken steps to insure that the game will be fun even when playing on their own. There's a different feel to each puzzle depending on how many people you're playing with. Playing alone for instance will dramatically reduce the amount of obstacles and enemies in most levels.

Unfortunately The Temple of Osiris still suffers from a number of issues that plagued it's predecessors. At it's core, this is still a game built as heavily on platforming as it is on puzzles and the zoomed out view sometimes makes it hard to judge distance between jumps and you'll fail more than you probably should. I also frequently lost my character on the screen during hectic multiplayer matches again because of the zoomed out view. You do get used to it, especially if you're playing for a while, but it is easy to lose your place in the action at first.

There's a lot to love about The Temple of Osiris, especially if you're a fan of classic, old school Tomb Raider gameplay. You'll get the best experience if you're playing local co-op with a bunch of friends, but the game does a great job scaling it's challenges up or down based on just how many people are playing. Be warned though, if your first foray into the adventures of Lara Croft was last year's massively popular reboot, you're sure to be disappointed regardless of how much fun her latest adventure is.