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Level: Atlantis 5 - Escape from Atlantis back home search
Author(s): justin
total rating:8.47 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Akcy 10 8 10 9
Boris 9 9 10 10
CC 8 8 8 7
Cuqui 9 9 10 9
Dimpfelmoser 9 8 9 9
eRIC 9 8 10 9
eTux 7 8 8 9
Freeman Porter 9 9 9 9
G.Croft 10 9 10 10
Jose 8 8 9 9
Kristina 8 8 9 9
Loupar 7 7 7 5
Magnus 7 8 7 8
MichaelP 9 8 10 9
Miguel 9 9 8 7
Navi 5 7 8 7
Phil 8 9 8 9
Qwendo 10 9 10 9
RaiderGirl 9 8 10 9
Sash 8 7 8 8
Tammta 5 6 8 4
Tombraidergirl 10 9 8 9
Treeble 10 9 10 9
Xxenofex 9 8 10 9
category averages
(24 reviews)		 8.42 8.17 8.92 8.38

Reviewer's comments

"Uf! What an infernal level! For me was the best of the saga, but there are some difficult tasks not for beginners. The main room with the crystals has a very good look and from here you must go through four routes to get four powerstones (the stones from TR3) and escape with them. But this will not be easy; there are some interesting puzzles but a lot of hard tasks too where you'll have to jump and take moves just to the very limit of Lara posibilities, reloading a lot of times. Even so, the game is worth to play with some interesting rooms like the old room from TR1 when Lara kills her double and another infernal lava rooms where you have to do tricky and dangerous movements. A really challenge for all players, but possible." - José (01-Jul-2008)

"I had played this level years ago to write a walkthrough, and what I remember most about it was that maddening mirror room near the end where you not only have to find a hole in a dark area to drop down into while hampered by a fixed camera, your directional keys are reversed so that you go left when you want to go right. What I had completely forgotten were two difficult jump sequences in two different lava rooms to complete the level. The description in my walkthrough at this point simply outlined what to do in order to move on, assuming that the player would use the flycheat. I was aghast. How could I be so lazy? I would never release a walkthrough today without describing exactly what to do in perfectly legal fashion. But I tried to do that this time while playing the level again, and you know what? I decided to leave the walkthrough exactly as it is. If anyone can come up with the legal sequences, please e-mail me. Up until this point I had a good time in the game and had the feeling that this was merely a continuation of Atlantis 4, as both levels have a similar feel and look. Too bad the next level in the series was never completed because of the hard drive crash suffered by the builder. But he's gone on to bigger and better things since then. Recommended." - Phil (14-Jun-2008)

"A beautiful level. This is what Atlantis - and the previous level - should look like. Nice, colorful, and difficult. Those jumping sequences really test Lara's abilities, and so our own to control her. Imaginative puzzles and sets of slopes, the rooms and water areas look well. There are dark places but this time, the supplement of flares is sufficient; the flare bug occurs, but if it's thrown away, it does light up, so we can look around. There should have been a few more enemies." - Akcy (12-Jun-2005)

“Oh great just what I needed. I’ve just come from Atlantis 4 and now I’ve straight into an earthquake! This is more like the south seas coastal caves than Atlantis some good jumping to do in a water room with a slope and boulders. And after changing lava to water we come to a room more alien/space than Atlantean very nice though to look at. I made a mistake and flooded a room without placing a skull. And entering another room before I should have. This is a little confusing so I’d recommend keeping as many savegames as you can. But it certainly keeps Lara on her toes and doesn’t get boring especially getting all the power stones and that horrible fire/red transparent tile room. The ‘mirror’ room was very confusing as it’s not clear what you need to do at first. I had to read about it in the walkthrough. Great sense of relief when I finally got out of all this. But it’s possibly the best level in the series.” – CC (06-May-2004)

“A good conclusion for the Atlantis adventure with this level: solid gameplay good puzzles hard jumps. The earthquakes happen in two rooms only and are not very annoying. On the opposite the flares bug shows its face early in the game. There is not many enemies here but escaping the Atlantis caves is not a walk in Central Park so you can expect a bit of a challenge.” – eRIC (09-Mar-2003)

“I'm a bit confused with this level. It's better than part 4 which I didn't like too much because it has some more diverse environments but sometimes still comes back to the faults of Atlantis 4 like wallpaper effects and the horribly looking rooms. The earthquakes the darkness the flare bug and a few sections like the fiery slopes and the mirror puzzle made Lara's life so much worse in here and I thought I would downrate the level quite much because of those things but it has its good parts too. I think the waterfall sections were extremely well made and in combination with the jungle like sections and cascades of Atlantis 3 would make a completely fantastic level! (*hint* *hint* lol) I liked the idea of collecting the 4 power stones and escaping from the underground caves and the placement of secrets was not that bad either. A good level but I liked part 3 in the series the most so far (well there is only the Atlantis 6 demo that I have to finish) so I'm going on to the next adventure...” – eTux (08-Feb-2003)

“Well well and I thought the fourth level was hard this one really tested my nerves. I got very upset with the cave that has a mirror and the flare bug in most of the level except a small part at the beginning you can't use flares and that makes everything so much harder. It's full of jumps and underwater mazes plus lava rooms and firetraps. Your goal is to find serpents stars and collect the four crystals to finish the level. It is very dark and the enemies fortunately aren't that many mutants harpies if they were more enemies I would have given this up. It's just too frustrating how can you navigate without flares and with the binoculars crashing the game to the desktop if you try to use them. Most of the rooms have lava and in one of them it started raising so you had to move quickly - that was a nice touch. I needed the walkthrough (thanks to Phil for that) near the end as I was very tired and didn't want to leave this level unfinished I wasn't in the mood to run around clueless any longer. At first I thought all the Atlantis levels were very good as I played the third one first and liked it very much little I knew because now that I saw them all well the demo for the sixth doesn't count as a level I changed my mind. Too frustrating for me and I am so glad I finished them. If you are in the mood for trouble start playing them.” – Kristina (07-Feb-2003)

“At the end of Atlantis 4 we see our fearless heroine being chased by a boulder and we see here that she barely manages to make it out of the way in time. Her troubles aren't over then however. Now she must find the four artifacts that she has promised to a demanding (and rich) collector in Germany and then finally make her way out of Atlantis for good (she hopes). This is a long and perilous journey filled with boulder traps horrible reptiles that were thought to be extinct earthquakes that make it difficult to get around confusing underwater mazes lava filled rooms timed doors blade traps giant scorpions difficult camera angles - sheesh! Maybe she should hold out for a higher price on those artifacts!” – RaiderGirl (20-Jan-2003)

“My Lara was a bit disappointed about part 5. Especially the extreme darkness and the flarebug. The puzzles were quite nicely designed though. It took me a while to overcome the traps because of the darkness and the bug and that did not make the gameplay fun. Sound was suitably added. Cameras sometimes missing but ok. Graphics were designed with great care in some of the rooms. The ending was kind of open. I liked Atlantis 2 and 4 best.” – Navi (15-Jan-2003)

“The fifth level of the Atlantis series is original but not too much entertaining. It is too dark and this fact and the flare bug that appears in the middle make the game somewhat annoying. Only few enemies and so many traps to avoid almost without light. Not my favourite sort of level.” – Loupar (04-Jan-2003)

“Once more an amazing level! I think this is the hardest of the series and maybe the best one. The atmosphere is great and the gameplay always exciting. There's a flare bug difficulting the very dark areas but you can solve it throwing a flare on the floor. Very beautiful and futuristic the room with multi-colored electric sparks. I loved too the nice cavern with waterfalls and little fishes swimming while Lara's theme plays. I found some passages very tricky like the timed run across the lava room to pick up the third Egyptian Key the cavern with a mirror effect difficulting the access to the tunnel and the long way up to get the third Serpent Stone. I had a lot of fun with the whole game. I recommend to play it.” – Cuqui (13-Dec-2002)

“Atlantis 5 was the toughest of the series. And if it wasn't for the flarebug and the problem that you were able to collect 2 artefacts before you even reached the level they are on it would have been brilliant. This way it's a bit confusing. There are a couple of tough jumps underwater mazes and a lot of lava and fire. You have to collect a huge number of artefacts. There were only a few opponents in this level. Objects were placed well including animated fishes. Textures were as good as Atlantis could be.” – Tombraidergirl (01-Sep-2002)

“For the conclusion of the Atlantis series came more or less the most difficult Level 5. The puzzles existed mainly via the difficultly to be mastered and one had to collect various items. In some rooms these were so complicated jumps that I have sometimes almost despaired. At a place there was more or less the most difficult jump which I know. I like this very much but here frustration was announced quite often because Lara very often burned. However the atmosphere was beautiful somber if there the flare bug had not appeared. Unfortunately this has frustrated me very much. The lighting and the sound always worked except for the dark corners which were tough to be investigated. One could defeat the opponents well these were not as many as in the first levels. The Level is usually suitable very well - but only for absolute professionals like the whole series. By the high frustration factor I cannot give the full score although the level of the technical side probably belongs to the best ones.” – Xxenofex (13-Aug-2002)

“The last part from the Atlantis saga is also the hardest. Very tricky jump combinations with firetraps and transparent platforms are also a heavy task for professional players. Anyway I liked this part the most of the whole series. Not so many enemies like usual while searching your way for the 4 different powerstones. The puzzles are nice but the flare bug occured very early this time so the biggest enemy again for me was the darkness in some places. But it is very recommended to play the whole series. Download and have fun!” – Freeman Porter (23-Jul-2002)

“This would probably be my least favourite in the series but that by no way means it is a bad level as it definitely isn’t or that I didn’t like it because I did the thing is I can’t really put my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the others as when I think back to it I played it a while ago I have fond memories of rooms and puzzles. You need in this hour long level to exit the lava filled Atlantis underground with the Atlantean Core which was fairly linear until you come to a room where you have to go on 4 very cool and deadly adventures to collect powerstones from different civilisations Incan Mayan Egyptian and Atlantean. The nice thing about this is that you get to choose the order of these adventures yourself. There are some great jump combinations a couple of easy timed runs a really well done water raising puzzle and a whole lot more but the only thing I really didn’t like was the copy of the Lara’s double puzzle from TR1 where you must kill her doppelganger to proceed because of an insanely irritating fixed camera that never let you get a good view of what you are doing. Please do check this one out and don’t let the start of this review put you off it because it really is still a very worthy level.” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“Coming into this level the earth shakes and continues to do so for quite a while (unfortunately). Part 5 of this marvelous series has a very straightforward structure: In the first part you find two Egyptian Key Stones one via a jump sequence avoiding rolling balls the other with a moving block and timed door puzzle. This allows for access to the main room which looks fantastic and branches off into four areas where you will have to solve a variety of tasks to acquire the Egyptian Mayan Atlantis and Incan Powerstones and then exit the level with them. This took me about 1:15 hours and the variety of gameplay is really enjoyable: a water level rising puzzle timed doors a tricky ‘mirror’ room a sinks and cascades area acrobatics ropes and monkey swings invisible ledges made visible by deadly fires and a very tricky jump sequence in a lava room with fires all over the place. The biggest downside of the level is the flare bug which appeared quite early for me and really gets in the way. Enemies are not a great factor here: some mutant crocodiles giant scorpions bats and banshees. Bottomline a great series and a must play for everybody!” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“Fifth chapter of a series that improves with every level introducing every time a lot of novelty. This time Lara has to discover 4 artifacts (Mayan/Atlantis/Egyptian/Incan Power Stone) and then escape from Atlantis. For every artifact she has to face a lot of danger among earthquakes rooms with fires lava traps difficult and rapid jumps submerged labyrinths and big scorpions to kill. Besides she has to find 3 serpent stones 2 golden stars 3 Egyptian keystones 1 Mayan serpent and above all the crowbar! There are a lot of references to the original TR1 in particular the use of the holographic image of Lara to reach a room. I have ended the level in about 2 hours finding the two secrets to disposition (golden skulls) with middle difficulty. The only bug that I have found is that described by the author the flare that turn on doesn't do clear and I think that in a level to the 90% dark it is not to underestimate.” – Boris (21-Jun-2002)

“The series gets hotter each time! Lara is now escaping from Atlantis but to do this she will have to disable its power by getting the four powerstones (one for each ancient civilization). Don't think it will be that easy though. She will have to get through four hard challenges but the hardest one were surely the fiery caverns. The level lasted about 80 minutes to me and I enjoyed every minute. It mixes TR1 textures with TR3 Pacific textures but hey I think they fit fine because since level 1 there were things that shouldn't be used if this was wanted to be a faithful continuation. I remember that in my review for level 1 I stated that the level is not a continuation of TR1 Atlantis. You shall play these levels as a new game not a continuation to the original Atlantis (although that would be great!). Oh did I ever talk about justin's trademarks? Well it seems that thousands of flame emitters will become one of them soon...” – Treeble (21-Jun-2002)

“And again Justin takes the Atlantis series to another level. Brilliantly done. Traps and jump sequences throughout the level and you will be happy when you do not have to see lava or fire anymore. Ingenious and well thought through at the same time. There are quite a few puzzle pieces which you need to find the four pieces you require to finally leave Atlantis. There are four parts to this level and it does not seem to matter with which one you start. A pity that the flare bug appears quite early. An issue was there also when getting the second star at the lava. On second entry of this room the door never re-opened and so you were stuck. However you can still end the level if you go ‘via the backdoor’ from the main room above the shattered red balls. In this case the doors work fine and you get the second star. Difficulty in this level is quite high and you need some practice to manage the fire and lava traps. I am looking forward to the sequel. The huge download is definitely worth it (the music is great). Justin is on his way to become a master of the Level-Design-Community. We want more.” – Qwendo (21-Jun-2002)

“This is another amazing level from Justin the best one I think! The atmosphere is creepy and the surroundings are so beautiful! Lots of tricky puzzles and even a ‘mirror’ room. This is a MUST PLAY level!” – G.Croft (21-Jun-2002)

“Escape from Monkey Island. Ah there’s a great game. Oh wait - I’m not reviewing the wrong game now am I? Wait while I check what I’ve just played. Oh Escape from Atlantis! Yes that’s right. Now I remember the earthquakes the fire and the gigantic scorpions. There’s no earthquakes or gigantic scorpions in Escape from Monkey Island. There is some fire though. Well back to the level. The level is very good but the worst in the series. There are some earthquakes but the only time that’s a problem is in the room where you can get the second star. About that room: make sure that you have the crowbar when you enter it! I didn’t have the crowbar (when you get to the room where you can choose four different paths - choose the one that starts with a deep pit) and therefore couldn’t get the stars. When I had finally found the crowbar I had to get back and get the stars but couldn’t get out of the room with the second star because the door I had to go through was closed. At least DOZY was enabled. Also the flarebug appears very early and it doesn’t make life easier for the player. The texturing is good and the rooms look very good but it’s annoying to have to throw your flares on the ground to be able to see something in some them. I hope the author decides to continue this series even though his hard disk crashed it would be a shame to not get to know if Lara managed to escape from Atlantis. The level took me just over 35 minutes to finish and it’s worth playing even if it’s not perfect. But if it stood between this level and Escape from Monkey Island I would choose the latter (sorry unfair comparison). (7 June 2002.)” – Magnus (21-Jun-2002)

“The level starts with a never ending earthquake and for this reason I haven't liked so much the incipit of it as I think we can have the idea of an earthquake differently. It is not so rational to have an earthquake only in a room and every time you go there and the complete quiet and silence some room forward. This level has really a lot of references to TR1 as the title of this level refers but I found that everything is simply copied without any originality giving all at his own skills to imitate... the ‘nemesis’ atlantid Lara is now substituted by a mirror effect without mirror textures and like it happens in TR1 you simply have to go in a square of the mirror side where in the correct side there is a lava square... I found myself a little bit sorry when I saw TR1 enemies effect so badly replicated (monsters out of an egg) as I think those TR1 monsters where some of the most original in the game history but here you find a not so pleasant way to imitate them. (A rolling ball moved as a shatterable round dark egg which reveals an Egyptian harpy in an Atlantis level). I found textures a little bit patched very often rooms with only ONE texture so he was not that careful. For example in the ‘lava hard jump room’ I was very in difficulty as for it was textured with the same texture I was not able even to view where to go or to understand flat squares from sloped squares from vertical walls. (Lara was even stuck upon a stalagtite in the long raising block water room in first ambientation without being able to move anymore) But the atmosphere is really great this must be said that's why I can't rate it low (even for the TR1 sounds which are very worthy to download). It is the level design itself which gives some doubts: this reminded me the kayak tr3 level as there were a lot of rivers and caves (here replicated with the same endlessly repeated texture) and you can go to some places with some very hard jumps (so I enjoyed that). But different levels for water rivers are done by different levels of stones where the river runs... you cannot have different levels of water surfaces only because the river runs if there is only water! In fact you can even swim or be taken by sinks but there are no underwater stones which do the different levels of water surfaces... for this fact you often see missing polygons... Then for example I completely was upset when I had to put three snakestones in a wall only to activate a cord! I was expecting at least a huge change of map after I searched and did put those three stones. As the download was huge I was even expecting some original sound instead of the TR1 audio track. But those tracks are wonderful even if maybe not positioned in a correct place in the game (some of them don't improve the atmosphere) I played three of the entire ‘Custom Atlantis’ Game and I found this one the most quickly built even if actually this was not the worst of all of his three levels I played at all.” – Tammta (21-Jun-2002)

“Escape from Atlantis is a fine game - sometimes hard because of fire and time jumps - and a very good mirror-room. It has some ideas that reminds me to the old tomb raider games - 1 and 3; nice atmosphere. Sometimes there a wallpaper-effect by textures - but that does not disturb that game. From the objects I liked that pacific-sea-fishes and the leguan-aligator. Good work and nice style.” – Miguel (21-Jun-2002)

“A terrific adventure in a very unique setting. I have only one main objection and that is the earthquake in the lava room with the second star. The timed jumps are tricky enough as it is and having to do this with the image jumping to and fro across the screen made me physically sick and it's hard for me to enjoy a level with a serious headache. I particularly loved the modified crocodiles in true Jack Arnold style. Him the legendary B-Movie director from the 50s 60s who created prehistoric monsters by just strapping some extra fins to ordinary reptiles. Lara dies a lot at one stage there is one jump that I had to look up at the forum and I never found out what the timed lever at the end of the three serpent stone quest was good for but the course is great the tasks tricky without being impossible and the atmosphere really special. I particularly enjoyed swimming with the exotic fish and the branch where you have to change the level of water. The mirror room is a bit confusing as I've never done a thing like this before but once you know where you should be heading it's rather easy. I can't wait for the other parts to become available for us Mac Users.” – Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)
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