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Ballakunie by Vincent Westerveld

Bene 7 7 7 7
Duncan 7 7 8 7
eRIC 6 7 7 6
G.Croft 6 5 7 6
Gerty 7 6 7 6
Jay 6 6 7 6
Jose 5 6 6 7
Kristina 7 7 7 7
MichaelP 7 6 6 6
Navi 8 7 7 8
Obig 7 7 8 7
Orbit Dream 7 6 8 6
Phil 7 7 7 7
Ryan 6 7 7 6
Sash 6 6 7 6
Treeble 5 5 5 5
 
release date: 05-Oct-2003
# of downloads: 59

average rating: 6.56
review count: 16
 
review this level

file size: 26.20 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
vincent.westerveld@belgacom.net

Reviewer's comments
"The title of this level had always intrigued me, but unfortunately the level doesn't have quite the same effect. It's a very pedestrian egyptian style level, filled with stretched textures, and it sort of tries to make up for it with a massive outdoors sandboxy area. It was very boring to navigate, both on foot and with the jeep later on, and even by sticking to the walkthrough I managed to lose track of where I was supposed to go because it all looks the same (that, and we all know how our engine handles large areas). At first I was under the impression the walkthrough was guiding us to do things out of order, reaching low ceilings atop the hills and what not, but it shortly after became obvious with the end of the world at the top of certain hills (but not others, as sometimes you are required to jump over them to reach the next areas). The secrets also are rather weird both in placement and in rewards, most of them giving you a whole lot of nothing. My playtime felt much longer than the final statistics tell me, so if you do decide to tackle this one, don't understimate it and keep the walkthrough at hand. 45 minutes, 6 secrets. 12/21" - Treeble (05-Dec-2021)
"This is a fairly standard Egyptian level based on the tutorial level, there's even a part where Lara slides out of a pyramid like in the original. Gameplay is fairly linear and non- taxing with a few levers to pull, a small underwater maze to negotiate, ninjas and sentry guns to shoot and a Jeep ride across the sand dunes. Textures were stretched and there a few secrets containing nothing, but it was all right." - Ryan (07-Nov-2016)
"Another no-interesting Egyptian level. The first part is Ok with some good ideas like the secret flares in the pit with spikes, but the second part in the huge outside area involves a lot of backtracking and boring exploration always running very long distances with nothing to do; also I never used the combined Crank with the Jack. I went soon out of revolver ammo so I couldn't destroy the machine guns, and some secret areas are empty with nothing to pick up. Not well worked the texturization, like in the room where I got the uzis, but I recognize an effort with the lighting. Playable but not very enjoyable." - Jose (01-Nov-2016)
"I have no idea how the builder came up with a title like that. Ballakunie sounds more like a village in Wales than a Middle East location (or Egypt, but definitely not Italy) with rolling dunes and palm trees. Anyway, these older Egyptian levels that I've been playing lately tend to run together in my mind, so it's difficult to keep them all straight. I remember this to be a fairly entertaining raid fraught with the usual scorpions and ninjas. You get the benefit of a Jeep ride near the end, which at least reduces the time needed to get from one remote place to another. Harry Laudie documents a half dozen secrets in his walkthrough, some of which are quite exhausting to reach. Imagine your annoyance when at least three of them reward you with nothing but the familiar chimes. Nothing to remember with fondness, but fun while it lasts." - Phil (18-Aug-2016)
"A one hour level , built mainly with the Tut1 ressources, of which the first part is a bit uneventful , except for some gunfights with ninjas, some traps , and the yellow jump room which was fun. The setting is solidly built , if not very pretty looking and lighting has no depth ; at the opposite of the second part that you spent outside. I guess the author thought that sun bulbs were meant to be placed only in outside areas, as I first believed when building my first levels :] Despite the end of the world that can be seen almost everywhere , the outside areas, desert hills surrounding the pyramid , are pleasant with this warm lighting, and the gameplay here is also more inspired , despite the long distances you have to cover , at least it procures some good moments like using the laser-sight to take out ninjas and sentry guns from afar. Finally you can use the jeep to reach the top of the pyramid. An original tut1 level that requires some patience until it develops itself." - eRIC (19-Nov-2008)
"An Egyptian level regardless of what it says. Camera work is quite good. Lara makes her way through a pyramid and then gets to rollick in the jeep. The jeep ride made this one for me. Stick the first part out to play the second its well worth the trouble. A good play and not hard." - Duncan (28-Nov-2004)
"This may sound like a Scottish castle level but it isn't and it may say 'somewhere in India' but it looks suspiciously like Egypt to me. Take your scorpion repellent with you the place is absolutely infested. There's a ninja or two lurking about the place as well. The gameplay here is quite simple and straightforward but I must say I enjoyed it more than I initially thought I would. I liked the outside area driving round in the jeep running over ninjas and sneaking up behind sentry guns to blow them up. That was rather fun. It's a large area to explore and you need to find two hands to finish the game. I found four secrets although there weren't always pickups associated with them. Not at all bad for a first time level; I shall certainly look out for more from this author. 20.10.2003" - Jay (21-Oct-2003)
"This was a fast pace level till I hit the sand dunes. That was rather a surprise I must say. As I came out of the pyramid and I though OK this is a quickie little did I know. Being desperate as I could not open a gate I start jumping around and there it was.... an enormous desert with some buildings and endless deep pits. Picking up a Cartouche and later two Hands keys a carjack and another item I never needed. The minute I got the jeep (and that is a first for me) I had a ball driving all over the place and to top it all.... into a pyramid that was fun. Getting a chance to shoot the sentry guns is always fun and for that you even find two sights. Still don't understand the secrets as I found 5 and three of them were only chimes. 08-10-2003" - Gerty (11-Oct-2003)
"Big ol' ditto with all of Ian's comments. The first half inside a pyramid was all a bit predictable in fact it seems like there was a tutorial feel about it and I'm sure I saw some areas that were slight copies. The fun starts when you get outside and you realize that what you have before you is a massive sandy dune area to explore with bottomless abyss to drop into if you aren't lucky you also get the jeep which makes traversing the landscape much easier. In this outside area it can be a bit unclear what to do which is find two Hands that will lead to the end so you can drive around killing ninjas and shooting automatic guns without seemingly completing anything. The weirdest thing though I found was that 3 of the 6 secrets I found in the hour it took to play were just empty areas how does a builder forget to place pick ups in these areas when they remember to place them in the first three it's a mystery. I do however think I missed at least one more secret as I ended with crossbow ammo like others but no crossbow. If it hadn't been for the last half I would not really recommend this one too highly but as it's there I'd say it's worth a look. But what's up with the carjack you find?!?" - Sash (10-Oct-2003)
"An Egyptian style level pretty easy gameplay. Seems like a 'first level' to me. A little stiff and square if you get what I mean much running around in the beginning but more of an adventure towards the end. Start off inside a pyramid find levers and two cartouche pieces. Enemies are ninjas and scorpions. Placing the cartouche opens the door out of the pyramid where Lara finds the jeep keys and after a little searching the jeep which she gets to drive over a huge area of sand dunes. While doing so she finds two hands that finally will get her out of this area. I'm not sure of the mission here - maybe just to get out. I found three places with the secret sound but no secret...? Anyway if this author keeps building I'm sure there will be a lot of improvement in future levels." - G.Croft (10-Oct-2003)
"This level can be played rather fluently. Lara needs to find a cartouche to get outside meeting plenty of baddies and scorpions which are easy to deal with. She finds some useful pickups. The rooms are partly rather empty and huge so a lot of running required. Other than that easy enough and you can't lose orientation. Once outside you get a great jeep ride but first you need to find it and the key for it (keep your eyes open). The desert are is rather vast too ;). Again enemies to kill and two hands to find and also some items you don't need. Sound and cameras did fit it; graphics are fairly standard. Some stretched textures here and there. I found 5 Secrets and the author forgot to place something in two of them ;)). A level for in between - not bad and suitable for everyone." - Navi (10-Oct-2003)
"In the first part of the level Lara is roaming about a pyramid and in the second part she is driving a jeep in the desert around the pyramid. Tuaregs and scorpions are trying to stop her from getting the 2 pieces of the Ba Cartouche. Meanwhile you have to take care of the rolling stones and swim a lot. I found only the Revolver the Uzi and 2 Laser Sights and some Ammo for the Crossbow and Shotgun. I discovered 6 Secrets but the last 3 were empty. I found the Handle and the Car-Jack Body but they were useless. In the desert you have to find 2 Stars and ride up on the pyramid. There are no added sounds but I love the textures and the desert. You even can climb down in a chasm for a Secret. There are no difficult puzzles nor timed runs. I recommend to everybody this good adventure." - Obig (09-Oct-2003)
"Ok admittedly this just did not catch me. It starts out in rather classic Tut1 style with fairly linear progression and the usual spikes darts fire tiles and boulders. A pool to flood a long swim passage many ninjas and scorpions and also many secrets (6) of which the last 4 were unfortunately empty - rather frustrating. Two cartouche pieces help you open the door to the familiar exit from the pyramid. From here a vast outside area of sand dunes unfolds with a few buildings to explore and two sentry guns to eliminate. I found this rather tedious as I was running around like a headless chicken for quite a while before eventually finding the Jeep and the two hands that help you to reach the end which for me was after 75 minutes of net game time." - Michael (08-Oct-2003)
"Although Lara's mission is to find the Hokee statue no such statue was in evidence. Couldn't find it. But then most of the 'secret' areas had no pick ups. There also was no cross bow but plenty of arrows. Maybe I just didn't find it or maybe in one of those empty secret areas. Some pick ups were of no use at all............then again it does seem as though this is incomplete. This is a fairly easy level but I as usual made it more difficult than it had to be. I ran around trying to open doors that wouldn't open (my pet peeve - if there's a door give me a way to open it!) and I had difficulty blowing up one of the sentry guns that really could have been left alone. The author did a great job on the opening title flyby and it's worth the download for the joyride alone over the sand dunes. Great fun! There's good potential here and I look forward to future levels." - Bene (08-Oct-2003)
"This is definitely a level of two halves. In the first half I was saying to myself 'yeah yeah just give me the finishing trigger I'm bored' whereas a mere 30 minutes later I was proclaiming 'yes show me more! Oh bugger it's the finish trigger'. For the first 30 minutes you wander around a predictable Egyptian Tutorial level (although the opening caption tries to persuade you into believing it's Indian) containing nothing which we haven't all seen many times before. And then (at the point where the Manual tells you how to build the outside area and place the finish trigger) the Designer suddenly lets his own imagination take off and fly; the adventure immediately changes its dynamic and comes completely to life. The following 30 minutes are simply tremendous (and at times awesome) with some startling visuals (I was particularly struck by the sight of the ninjas on the hilltops) and enjoyable gameplay. However the texturing needs to be improved if the author is keen to create convincing atmosphere; and exactly what were some of those objects all about? They came up as 'load' in the inventory and I never found a use for them. I was also a little unhappy with the secret areas (I found three) which had nothing in them beside the chime. And what exactly were we looking at in the opening title flyby? Anyhow this is just me pondering out loud. Overlook the gameplay cliches of the first section of the level and you will be rewarded." - Orbit Dream (07-Oct-2003)
"I liked this level basically near the end. The setting is Egyptian but you get to explore the outside with very well hidden areas behind sandy hills. There is one cartouche to find two hands and a carjack which I didn't get to use. I wonder if it was connected with the crossbow secret because I didn't find it but picked up plenty of arrows. The enemies are ninjas and scorpions with the traps being very few consisted of spike balls and spikes. An effort was made to create a title level that was nice but the textures were somewhat mixed in both the title and playable level with the second having some of them missing as well. After getting the jeep keys you will meet some more ninjas on roof tops and sentry guns so make sure you have the revolver not that you can miss it anyway. As for the laser-sight it's given twice so it won't be a problem. You also get to visit some houses in the outside areas which are actually empty small rooms with a bed or so. The level ends after placing the hands and Lara is walking towards the light. I found five secrets in an hour and fifteen minutes it took me to finish this level." - Kristina (07-Oct-2003)