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The Lost Pyramid (revised version) by Ewing2

Akcy 8 6 7 7
Dimpfelmoser 7 5 10 9
Gerty 7 6 8 7
Jay 7 7 8 8
Jose 6 7 7 9
Kristina 8 8 8 8
Leandro 8 8 8 9
MichaelP 7 7 7 7
Momster 6 7 8 8
Moonpooka 9 8 9 8
Mulf 5 4 5 6
Necro 8 7 8 6
Nomad 8 7 6 8
Orbit Dream 9 5 7 9
Phil 9 8 8 8
RaiderGirl 7 7 8 8
Ryan 7 7 8 8
Sash 7 6 6 7
The Aussie Adventurer 8 5 6 6
Tombaholic 7 7 9 9
Torry 7 7 8 9
Treeble 7 7 8 8
 
release date: 09-Jan-2002
# of downloads: 66

average rating: 7.35
review count: 22
 
review this level

file size: 19.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
ewing2@sina.com

Reviewer's comments
"This level's only major downside is that it features the overly used tutorial level rooms. Another lesser problem is the confusion that arises when you arrive at a new area and think you have been there before, because some of the rooms look very alike. Once you look past those it is actually quiet a good level. The author included many variations in the gameplay: underwater mazes (tougher than they look), some creative platforming and a timed run, an interesting secret which you only get one shot of, and box puzzles. The spike room in the beginning of the level deserves also a special mention, you need to get a little creative to get past the area and I loved it. It didn't feel very immersive to me, maybe the reason is the tutorial textures, though the little moments when you step outside definitely adds atmosphere. A good effort overall." - Nomad (19-Jul-2021)
"If an imp got hold of the TR Position Editor and moved you to some random spot in this level, chances are that you’d have some difficulty telling whether you’ve visited that particular area before or not. Many, possibly most of the rooms that are not corridors are merely altered versions of the first tut1 room. Both wad and textures have been modified, but only so slightly that you may be forgiven for thinking this is a straight-up tut1 level. Both gameplay and design keep to the straight and narrow most of the time, confirming that impression.
The much-vaunted gameplay tasks of this level are fine in themselves, but they amount to a grand total of three (navigating the spikes in the beginning; a pushable puzzle of the engaging kind; and the pillar-hopping sequence near the end) and are thus few and far between. The rest is essentially underwater mazes and padding, which is why I found the level to be going on for rather too long and had to take a break from it when encountering the (surprisingly, only mildly) annoying underwater maze with invisible walls (misleadingly referred to as a ‘mirror room’ in the walkthrough).
This being a revised version, it’s surprising that so many loose ends have been left dangling. A ‘Hand’ required for progression is just lying around waiting to be picked up; most items are called ‘Load’; the stretched-polygon glitch recurs throughout; and some switch animations are wrong. At some point, you can pick up one half of an Eye of Horus in some small, nondescript room that you come across inbetween tasks—or you can leave it and reach the finish trigger without it; it is useless and misleading in what is now to all intents and purposes a stand-alone level (while the builder produced a sequel in which you acquire the second Eye piece, you have to play that level from a savegame included in the download, and no common plot thread is discernible anyway; the one and only thing that links both levels is precisely this Eye puzzle).
Also, Lara may eventually find the eponymous pyramid, but really only the one corner of it that sticks out of the sand, while for the rest of the level she’s monkeying—or sea-aping, given the aquatic nature of much of the exploration—around in some temple in the vicinity, and then in the end she gets sent off on a slope heading in the opposite direction. (The title Temple of Water was still available back then, though it has since been claimed by another builder.) There’s nothing to do around (much less in) the pyramid, and the level pays it as much attention as it would any other ornamental prop. I don’t know if you can tell, but I wasn’t taken with this like some. Prompted by Gerty’s comment and Dimpf’s description, I did some archival research to exhume the original version of this level (as it seems to have disappeared from the web). Turns out that it is an entirely different beast: Whereas version 2 has you start in a small valley where there’s nothing to do and with the temple right in front of your nose, the original begins with an exploratory outside section in a canyon which you cross over at some point via a rock arch looming over it; the temple is located in a large cave, and the first glimpse you get of it is from above; when you enter it, gameplay revolves around a hub room with many ledges to navigate; and when you find the pyramid at the end, it’s half submerged in a large lake. It serves no gameplay purpose, but unlike its poor cousin in version 2, it is spectacular enough to justify the title of the level. The original is quite atmospheric and clearly structured; the remake rather sterile, episodic and repetitive. The only things that versions 1 and 2 really have in common are the basic ideas for setting up two puzzles: the jumping challenge, which is improved and expanded upon in version 2; and the 3D underwater maze, more concise and contained within a single large room in version 2. A walkthrough of one version would be of no help if you’re playing the other, and few of the early reviewers’ comments apply to the revised version. This also infects other reviews, as when Dimpf references the first version of this level in his review of the builder’s follow-up, Tomb of Leonis. Take from this what you will, O site owner.—P. S.: At the Levelbase this is rated 5.7, which I find rather more sound than trle.net’s 7.48 (both averages include scores for the original version). I would have rated the original quite differently." - Mulf (05-Jan-2021)
"Here's a pleasant and enjoyable Egyptian level that somehow gets the gameplay difficulty just right. Enemies are the usual groups of ninja, but the majority of them leave useful items behind so don't hesitate to check their bodies once you've killed them. Some of the gameplay sequences are quite challenging such as the jumping sequence and the timed run up some blocks, but they are not too frustrating to perform and the various areas are attractively crafted. About 50 minutes of enjoyable gameplay, but what were the Eye Piece and Horseman's Gem for?" - Ryan (07-Dec-2017)
"This is definitely one of the more enjoyable levels of the early years, with some entertaining agility tests. It's a well built Egyptian setting, although some areas do look a bit 'samey' which can be a touch confusing from time to time. The enemy ninjas aren't prolific and do occasionally have the decency to drop a goodie or two. I don't know if a sequel was originally planned as I finished the level with only half a eye piece." - Jay (21-Aug-2017)
"Another good level worth to play with some interesting tasks like the two moveable blocks puzzle or the underwater maze with the crowbar. There is no much backtracking, and even the timed run is not very hard. Found the uzis, but the ammo for they is too poor; there are very few enemies too. The rooms have a good dsesign, and the texturization is often good, but with the old egyptian texture set. Not very tight the timed run, there are some outside areas to explore too. Good work." - Jose (30-May-2016)
"Apparently I played the revised version, because there were no crocodiles, and just a glimpse of the pyramid. I liked the architecture, it is clearly built by an expert. Some great jump sequences over spikes and later on slopes, well done. Textures are a bit repetitive, but they nicely fit in the enviroment. A nice fun raiding, recommended." - Akcy (21-Aug-2007)
"This was a very enjoyable egyptian level with fairly challenging sections including a large room with ramps in which you have to navigate by jumping to various paths. The only downfall was the overuse of a few particular textures. It could have been designed a little better but the mood and atmosphere kept throughout." - Necro (28-Oct-2006)
"This was another level I loaded up in order to help Phil, and once again he led me to another little gem of a game. This was excellent in all aspects of game play and environment. It was all quite stunning, and so very well put together and I particularly liked the multi slope room in which you have three objectives to tackle; a lever, a star and a secret key, and you will need to figure out the correct routes in order to get that key, your reward is a blue gem secret near the end. In amongst these fabulous rooms, Lara will also visit some small outside areas for a breath of fresh air, and I found that quite refreshing. There are some block puzzles to solve, and a great little flip around a spike/sloped room which simply made my day. Levers, keys and buttons will allow you to move on, and enemies are Ninjas and a few wild boar. Some boulder traps will hinder your way here too. Lara will only find one part of the eye piece so don't go looking for the other half because as the read me says, you won't find it. Just to mention also, Lara will have a pole type thing sticking out of her body, to get rid of this, simply reload the game. Round up: Excellent game play with never a dull moment, and a good looking level to have fun in." - Moonpooka (06-Jan-2006)
"This is one humdinger of a level. There's a jump sequence at the beginning that had me stumped until Faithful Val told me how to do it. As soon as you've conquered that move, you're presented with a maddening pushblock puzzle that I was frankly too lazy to figure out and let Faithful Val help out on that as well. The rest of the level is fairly routine but visually pleasant raiding until you reach a room partially filled with water requiring three separate jump sequences to perform three essential tasks. I was thoroughly convinced that all three couldn't legally be done (because of a collapsing tile that you can obviously use only once), but Faithful Val again came to my rescue. Now that I know how to get through the level in perfectly legal fashion, I'll sit down and write the walkthrough. But if you haven't played this little gem, I strongly recommend that you download it and give it a try." - Phil (03-Jan-2006)
"The next level by the author is better than the last one. The author has put more into this level making it far superior to the last. It even has better challenges than the previous level by the author. There are enemies in this one though but don't provide the challenge that some of the puzzles do. Lighting and textures are ok nothing special but nothing so bad that it detracts from the level. The author has come up with a few good ideas such an underwater cube which resembles Swiss cheese i.e. a few holes in it. It feels like an original tombraider level and I'm quite impartial to these having a timed jump section a well done moving block puzzle and a couple of challenging areas as well. There seems to be some sort of glitch with the level as Lara constantly has a line coming from her going to off screen it makes it look a bit bad. If I had to give some advice to the author I would recommend working on the textures and adding some nice looking areas to add to the level. If I had to give this level a grade I would give it a B- a low distinction mark." - The Aussie Adventurer (13-Nov-2004)
"This level (the revised version) should be compulsory playing for those wanting to know the difference between 'challenge' and 'frustration'. From the opening jump sequence over spikes to the timed run and the brilliant jumping room this was a level full of difficult tasks that never once became frustrating; always you had faith in the designer and his ability to put together a tough but perfectly do-able challenge. Only the Key leading to the Secret proved too much for me but I have no doubt that it's perfectly reachable at any time other than 2a.m. in the morning when you feel sleep inexorably creeping up on you. Alex is a gifted designer of the type that don't need to show off their talents by creating silly custom textures and funny re-modeled enemies but instead utilise what was originally provided with the LE to fun and innovative effect. Highly recommended." - Orbit Dream (19-Jan-2004)
"A really good level and very interesting. Starting it seems ordinary but the further you go the better it gets. It's a classic cleopal level with three keys a hand one piece of the Eye of Horus and a star. The interesting part is that there are many rooms sort of hidden what I mean is you go back to an area you have visited before and see that new doors have opened with new places to explore. An underwater maze not hard though some swimming involved a timed sequence with blocks to jump and reach the door. In the enemies department it has a problem just a few ninjas and scorpions to go around. At the end there was a gem as a secret I didn't use. There was also a problem with Lara she had strings around her and I had to reload quite a few times to get rid of them. I liked this level and the spike ball traps were well placed. Be sure to play it you won't regret it." - Kristina (07-Apr-2003)
"From reading the reviews of this level it seems that several people have played more than 1 or even 2 versions of this level. I spent about 30 minutes going from a beautifully crafted valley through a pyramid in which I steadily made my way upwards to enter 3 rooms each one holding a lever to open yet the next door. I finally emerged into the outside confronted by a couple of wild oinkers ended up in the water with the half submerged pyramid swam around inside to look at all the closed gates swam back out with a few crocs on my tail got out of the water and found my way into the darkness someone mentioned where Lara remained immobile. No rolling ball trap and no red ninjas for me and I didn't think the sliding spike jumps were all that difficult." - Momster (23-Jan-2003)
"Another nice Egyptian level for in between and it does have a few treats to offer such as jump combinations on sloped blocks two nice little movable block puzzles a quite tough timed door and a few rolling ball traps. There are ninjas scorpions and two warthogs and you need to find three Keys a hand a star and you get to carry with you half an eyepiece and a gem (secret). I liked the way the author applied the standard TR sounds nicely to enhance the atmosphere and the rather fast paced and not too tricky progression. I did not care much for the three dimensional underwater maze and the fact that after a while all the rooms seemed to look the same. There are a few issues with the script which should be fixed. 40 minutes of very clean raiding." - Michael (16-Dec-2002)
"Just as Gerty said this isn't revised this has been stripped bare and then remade and modeled from scratch although there still is the giant pyramid but now instead of being in a huge lake it is now buried halfway in earth. This is also for me not nearly as beautiful a level as the old version and felt more like a standard tomb level but with a few cool rooms like one of the best uses of sloped blocks in a room where you have to make 3 different combinations of jumps to land at 3 different places and also a room with a very confusing underwater maze that is totally set in a large cube. You end this level after about 40 minutes with half an Eye of Horus and a gem that you will need to take over to the next level in this series so make sure you keep a savegame." - Sash (21-Jun-2002)
"Well looks like I played version 2 of this as my pyramid ended up being half submerged. This is a pretty tough level especially the opening gambit with the spikes and the jump/grabs (and you can get past it without dozy guys). There were plenty of rolling ball traps an underwater puzzle in an enclosed block that took a bit of figuring out and the ever present red ninjas. There were new gold keys to pick up and many many doors to open but it was quite a nice Egyptian level that will keep you occupied for around 45 minutes or so." - Torry (21-Jun-2002)
"Starting in a nice outside environment this level takes you into a lot of chambers buried under the sand. I finished the level in 30 minutes with an Eye Piece and a mystery for me that all the underwater room beneath the pyramid was completely closed and I didn't find a way in so I went up to the surface and entered a temple that loaded a new level but Lara was locked in a bugged room so I assumed this was the end of the level. Anyway the lighting is good the texturization is great and the architecture of the rooms are beautiful. It surely worth a download even if it's just another Egyptian-style level." - Treeble (21-Jun-2002)
"This is a very nice level to look at well textured and lighted. The downside is that there are no puzzles to speak of gameplay is fairly easy and it's pretty short at about 40 minutes. But as part of a larger game (it's supposed to be the first of 3) it's definitely worth a play." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)
"It's a good Egyptian-theme level. Lara is inside a pyramid built with excellent textures and great lighting effects. The puzzles are good sometimes and the architecture is well done. And there are many new textured objects but I only give an 8 to the objects because of some bugs that I've found in Lara. Nothing really bad but still is a bug. Anyway it's a good pyramid level and worth a download for the Unfinished Business fans." - Leandro (21-Jun-2002)
"I just downloaded this today but apparently I got the old version of this level. The majority of this 40 minutes level was spent in some nicely textured caves and valleys as well as a few beautiful rooms with nice columns and many levels. I ended up at the giant pyramid sitting in the middle of a large lake and then made my way through a set of double doors where I assume it was loading a new level but I only got a dark room. I was a little confused because I had missed a lot of areas so I went back to the beginning of the level where you enter a cave that's over a large room with many walkways. I had not been down there so I used the fly cheat to get down and found a new door and many areas that I had not even seen my first time through. I also found the switches that opened the doors under the pyramid though when I swam into the new passage under the pyramid the level ended. The parts of the level I could get to were very nice and it was still fun to play - the textures were very well done and the enemies managed to surprise me almost every time but I wouldn't mind playing the revised version. I found one secret (the uzis) and ended up with half of the eyepiece." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)
"Revised level my foot. This was a new level. So far I didn't recognize anything. This is a hard level to judge as if indeed it is meant as a revised one you have at least a comparison. But as I said I didn't recognize anything so nothing to compare. It started off in an outside area and Lara had what looked like a pole (must be a fault somewhere) sticking out off her leg. It didn't hinder the game but it sure looked very strange. So far the game is straightforward you need to find some golden keys crowbar blue gems a star which became invisible after I got it. Also found half of an eye piece and Hand of Orion (blue gem) still in Lara's backpack at the end and I found one secret. The author did mention that in his readme file. He said also something about finding all the crystals then you can get in his secret level but as this is a first of about 15 to 20 I take it we'll get there in the end. So save the last savegame. It started off with a spiked trap and how hard I tried I had to dozy past it. You come into a building even several buildings later on they sort off look alike. Opening doors is the main goal here. Some movable blocks boulder traps tricky underwater maze and finding the levers that will open the doors. There was a jump puzzle with a breakable tile that was fun and hard as well. Had some problems swimming in a sort of glass covered underwater room but managed to get what I needed in the end. Enemies there weren't that many Some ninjas scorpions and boars. Never used a med pack. Lighting was good and textures became a bit repetitive at a point. Liked the first game much much better. So I am reviewing it as a new game." - Gerty (21-Jun-2002)
"Lara takes a trip. Judging from the other reviews what I got was by no means the revised version but the original. I liked this a great deal although it seemed unfinished as all the four underwater gates in the pyramid remain firmly locked and I never found the second Piece of Eye or a place to put it. So gameplay wise this leaves you unsatisfied to some degree but the setting and course is one of the best I've seen in a while. You run from a canyon to a temple and back into the canyon. How the nature stuff comes together with the buildings is really beautiful and very real. You bump into some warthogs bats a few crocodiles at the end and a lonely warrior of the desert that shoots you in the back. There is a nice jump sequence and a small underwater maze but the whole thing feels more like sightseeing as most of the time you just walk on without anything blocking your way. Yet the atmosphere is so great that you don't mind doing a bit of innocent hiking without being hassled by the usual suspects. This feels like being on a holiday." - Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)