Some might argue that Core Design gave birth to the third-person action genre--and rightly so. Core Design's Tomb Raider series captivated millions of fans with its crafty mix of action, exploration, and puzzle solving. But the classic third-person action series seems like a distant gaming memory, despite a blockbuster feature film and its cyber-babe heroine Lara Croft elevated to pop-culture icon status. While aspiring tomb raiders await Lara Croft modeled on next-generation hardware, Core Design has evolved the third-person genre with its new release, Project Eden. Though it shares its roots with the Tomb Raider series, Project Eden's superior blend of squad-based gameplay, ingenious puzzles, clever level design, and multiplayer modes creates an action-adventure game that challenges your brain more than your trigger finger.

Sometime in the near future, severe overpopulation facilitates the construction of bloated megacities that house the world's most affluent citizens. The remainder of the world's populace is relegated to the murky slums and crime-ridden underworld located below the towering skyscrapers. As a member of the Urban Protection Agency (UPA), you're placed in control of the four-member team in charge of policing the cities and investigating disturbances. Even though Project Eden's premise has been molded from any number of gloomy-future clichés, it creates an effective atmosphere for an intricate storyline revealed over 11 massive levels.

The controllable four-member squad and their varying attributes make up Project Eden's most important gameplay element. The team includes Carter, the squad leader, who conducts interviews with non-player characters and opens high-security doors; Andre, the team's engineer, who repairs broken equipment such as computer consoles and door mechanisms; Amber, the former human and current cyborg, who possesses the necessary armor to withstand hazardous environments and can wield the most powerful weaponry; and finally Minoko, the technician, who hacks into computer terminals to view security cameras, unlock doors, or control otherwise inaccessible machinery. You can switch between squad members at any time, and how you utilize each plays an integral role in both survival and success.

Project Eden unfolds as a series of puzzles throughout each level. Each puzzle requires the use of some or all of your four-member squad's abilities to complete and often features multiple solutions. Here is an example: You encounter a room that contains a broken computer terminal, but the room's currently filled with poisonous gas. First send in Amber, who is impervious to the gas, to locate the valve and switch off the poisonous vapor. Switch to Andre, enter the room, and repair the broken computer terminal. Finally, select Minoko, enter the room, and hack the repaired computer terminal.

Squad member abilities and high-tech tools such as small rovers, flying cameras, and sentry guns can all play a role in solving the multiple-step problems. Unraveling the puzzles requires keen observation and the patience to comb each new area for clues and hotspots. It's a refreshing change from the overdone "find the key, unlock the door, repeat" excuse for puzzles so prevalent in action shooters. Project Eden's puzzles are often complex and always logical, and they elicit a sense of satisfaction that gunning down countless enemies rarely produces.

That doesn't mean Project Eden forgoes combat completely, though it happens to be the weakest part of the game. Your squad employs six different energy-based weapons, each featuring two separate settings. The arsenal includes the standard-issue pulse gun, which features a rapid-fire mode or a more powerful charged shot; the extractor, which steals weapon energy from the enemy target that you can add to your own weapon energy or blast back at the target; and the time shock, which slows time around a single enemy or an entire group of foes. Combat is a clumsy affair primarily due to weak enemy artificial intelligence that does little to evade your attacks.