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The Journey by Sabatu

Cosmos 9 7 8 10
DJ Full 9 9 10 9
Drakan 9 8 8 9
eRIC 7 8 8 9
Gerty 8 8 8 8
Jay 8 8 8 9
Jose 7 8 8 9
Larabiker301 8 8 10 9
manarch2 7 7 8 8
MichaelP 8 8 8 8
Mman 7 7 8 8
Nomad 8 8 9 9
okuhtfesq 8 7 7 8
Orbit Dream 7 8 8 9
p1kaa 9 8 8 8
Phil 8 8 9 8
Rambo 7 6 8 8
Ryan 8 8 8 8
Wolf7 8 9 9 8
 
release date: 29-Jun-2014
# of downloads: 123

average rating: 8.13
review count: 19
 
review this level

file size: 52.30 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
Sabatu322@gmail.com

Reviewer's comments
"Not much to say about this one. The level is very beautiful to look at, be it the sandy outside canyons or the high-res, detailed indoor areas, and the two styles are blended perfectly. It all looks very natural, spectacular job. The gameplay is on the short and simple side, and the adventure almost flows too fast and not much stays in the mind besides the awesome sights. There is actually sufficient variety in the tasks to do, from torch sequences to a few jumps, and some exploration. They culminate in an exciting boss fight, which requires you to find most of the secrets to pull off, luckily most of them are quite easy to notice. However as I said most of the level feels uneventful, there are no major traps to master or interesting puzzles to solve. Excellent level for a short sweet raid or for beginners, but those who want a challenge or unique gameplay should look elsewhere in my opinion." - Nomad (18-Nov-2022)
"Err, mixed feelings coming from this "^w^ I got some awesome positive and some quite negative negatives (pun intended :3) I will point them out as I work onto the review :3 starting now :3
Gameplay: A simplistic run honestly! That can be something positive or negative depending on how you see it obviously. For how I see it the game lacked very memorable moments gameplay-wise and focused mostly on exploring some beautifully crafted caverns and parts of temples. Some nice platforming every once and then but it really did not overtake on the mostly exploring (and combat) driven gameplay.
Objects, enemies and secrets: Not a lot of objects were used around and quite frankly they sort of were unneeded? So I am not going to complain on the matter at all. Enemies were a plentiful: jackals, scorpions, harpies, crocodiles and demigods - their distribution was spot on! There never was too much combat, but at the same time areas never felt too empty! As for someone that hates combat, I indeed enjoyed this quite a lot :3 secrets I found three and they were fairly easy to find, one of them was so easy I was surprised that it even was a secret, while the remaining two felt just right!
Atmosphere: I am conflicted on this quite a bit. The quality of the atmosphere of the outside canyon areas and the rocky caverns was unmatched, leaving the temple areas looking more simplistic in a quite bad way... despite that I can totally see Sabatu's already expert hand in crafting a great atmosphere, but he still had to learn how to refine insides. Also, just like any reviewer has mentioned, yes that initial cutscene felt very long and overall cutscenes dragged for long, but I cannot lie they did look pretty good.
Lighting and texturing: As partially previously spoken in the "Atmosphere" section, the canyons and caves areas has some exquisitely complex and interesting looking lighting and texturing, just occasionally the texturing could look a bit flat and repetitive. Enclosed areas were, as previously mentioned, not as memorable in both lighting and texturing, one of the biggest examples is this temple part in which you get inside of this gigantic room which has barely anything happening and is left with some flat lighting and very basic texturing. It is when you oppose it with what Sabatu showed previously (and later on), it really feels like he either rushed those inside areas or perhaps he lacked the expertise to give them the same love he gave to the rest.
In conclusion this is a rather interesting piece in Sabatu's rather long level list :3 worth playing for sure to see how even 8 years ago Sabatu was able to make brilliant looking organic/rocky geometry with wonderful lighting and superb texturing, as for the rest it does feel like an earlier work of a much better builder, I am not sure if I would recommend this unless you are interested into seeing how the builder was evolving as time went on :3 otherwisely, there are many more adventures of Sabatu's that are going to be more satisfying to play through :3 regardless a great work ^w^ Wolfy Regards :3" - Wolf7 (13-Apr-2022)
"Right of the bat, very long and annoting cinematic clip, that is not even about the story or something, There is another one in the level, they were the only thing that bothered me about this level. I love the look of this level & it matches the story very well, Nice puzzles, not too hard but kinda confusing sometimes, like the lever that was hidden behinde the pillar, took me too long to find about it. Overall this level is very fun and enjoyable. I give a 8/10" - p1kaa (10-Jan-2021)
"One of my instant favourites by Sabatu. All stuff included without any dragging, and it also has one of the most organic canyons I have seen without meta2tr used (that's actually what I highlighted with a 10). Pickup ending though... hmpfh...." - DJ Full (30-Jun-2019)
"Alternating natural landscapes and caves with Egyptian man made temples , i like this and it's really well made ; some of the outside areas may have taken a while to build, and the lighting is good. The gameplay is mostly about exploration with a few traps puzzles and jumps. There are plenty of pickups , some good ammos are better reserved for the bigger enemies at the end. Easy and pleasant level despite the cameras not working after the spiked ball room , (also a wrong animation for the torch)." - eRIC (05-Jun-2019)
"Wonderful level of sabatu that I think should be worth better brands. The texturing and the atmosphere are very good. The gameplay is varied with puzzles quite simple to find. The most tedious part was perhaps with the torch (Besides the animation is not good). The last fight with the 3 bosses is not very hard when we found all the secrets and all the weapons. Recommended." - Drakan (11-Nov-2018)
"This is a very nicely crafted classic adventure. The cave areas and courtyards you explore are really authentically created and the flybys that introduce them really add to the setting. In gameplay terms, there's nothing that should stump the average player, but it keeps things moving along nicely with an enjoyable variety of tasks, along with the few tense battles against demigods. The odd animation for Lara lighting the torch and the split second camera issue did spoil the otherwise solid impression of the level, but wasn't detrimental to gameplay in any way. Recommended." - Ryan (15-Aug-2018)
"Nice raid through a desert and caves as well as abandon buildings. My kind of gameplay. Exploring is a must and some of the enemies in here are quite fierce. In my game, Lara had the wrong animation of igniting wall torches and some of the camera work didn't pan out as they were gone in a split second so I couldn't see what they were all about. But have no fear; you will have no trouble to find where you have to go. Nice choice of textures and the lighting was good enough. You'll find enough goodies to get you to the end. Found all secrets and that is always a plus in my book." - Gerty (23-May-2015)
"Entertaining this level full of action and a lot of enemies to kill. I must talk with this author so he can teach me how to build such natural environments, convincent and realistic environments. There are some minor bugs, like the wrong animation using the torch or the very short time for the final camera shots, but nothing serious for the development of the gameplay despite the backtracking to the room with the first cartouche receptacle. The atmosphere is very good too, with a clever use of lights and torches in the dark caves, but I missed a lot more flares to explore; also most rooms are too "nude" with no objects or ornaments. The best: architecture and texturization. Recommended." - Jose (07-Jan-2015)
"This is quite a convincing setting in desert and caves to explore and turns out to be a fun raid of about 45 minutes which will always keep you going, as progression is quite obvious, but will keep you well entertained wit a variety of tasks and plenty of enemies to battle along the way. There are a few minor technical gltiches (the split second camera, the wrong animation when lighting a torch,..) but they really do not interfere much with the fun the level manages to provide. There are also 7 relatively easy secrets to find as an extra Bonus and the final boss battle may take you a few attempts to master if you did not save a few medipacks along the way. Well worth a look!" - MichaelP (20-Dec-2014)
"Gameplay & Puzzles: The gameplay is interesting to follow and there are some good tasks, but also not enough on the whole, too few tasks. The puzzles are also too easy but in general nice. Enemies, Objects & Secrets: Some enemies came out of thin air, and their placement is not very good, the objects are few and low definition which doesn't quite fit to the environment and are also few. There were many secrets, but also quite easy, they are mostly in small dark passages. Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The outside areas are well done, good architecture and nice flybys, but the inside are a bit plain. The sound is good. Lighting & Textures: I really liked the quite realistic lighting and the textures were also nice, but there were some mistakes. Total: 7,25/10, a good level but the builder should improve a bit." - Rambo (30-Aug-2014)
"This is a straightforward Egypt level, but it's a solid and entertaining raid. It took me just at one hour to complete with the assistance of manarch2's compact 3-page walkthrough. While there are no major surprises, the gameplay is varied and challenging enough to occupy your attention throughout. Much of the later action takes place in a network of caves where the light is limited, but the compulsion to light a flare never rose to unbearable levels. Recommended for a change of pace while you're making your way through the BtB levels." - Phil (05-Aug-2014)
"What a very pleasant level this turned out to be. It's an undemanding raid, very traditional and solidly built. For the hour and ten minutes it lasted I had a good time exploring and amassing quite a collection of fire power. The enemies are for the main part easily dealt with, i.e. demigods, crocs, scorpions, vultures and jackals, and the builder's advice in the readme to conserve ammo may lead you to expect much more of a boss ending than you actually get. Yes, there are two demigods and a hammer god to deal with at the same time, but you'll have so much fire power by then that you might as well enjoy using it. It's straightforward enough, but fast paced and fun and it looks most attractive. The only slightly odd occurrence was Lara's weird animation when using the torch, but it didn't spoil the gameplay in any way. Nice one." - Jay (14-Jul-2014)
"This level captures the feel of The Last Revelation quite well. The level is fun to play and is not too challenging, but the challenges provided are nothing groundbreaking, giving it a rather stale (but still engaging) feeling. Although I found five of the seven secrets, I ran out of flares and medipaks quite quickly and would have liked a few more of these. Otherwise, there is plentiful ammo to beat the enemies, which are well placed. Music is placed effectively, although transitions in the ambiance can be rather jarring. For whatever reason, many of the cameras meant to give hints only flashed briefly, rendering them basically useless; while annoying, the progression was easy enough for me to find my way. The texturing is very well done and the lighting suits the atmosphere, but it can be irritatingly dark at times, especially with the lack of flares. I suspect that those looking for a TR4 styled experience will enjoy The Journey, but several small flaws and a general lack of freshness keep this good level from being great." - okuhtfesq (06-Jul-2014)
"This level was definitely good. There isn't much to say that was wrong with it but a few. The gameplay was very good; it felt very Tomb Raider-ish. You started from a small pool area in the middle of some mountains in the Valley of the Kings. From there, you are taken on a journey through some surreal, realistic caves, and tombs alike. Gameplay consisted of running around and collecting objects to help further your progress, with the occasional lever switch but, sadly; that was about it. I would've been a bit more happy if there were some more activities other than those. Puzzles were far from between and if I can recall correctly, there were really only about two. The enemies were of wild canines, non-venomous black scorpions, two different demi- gods (placed thoughtfully throughout the level), and a final boss. The secrets were really well placed and I enjoyed collected them, though I don't know if this is a nit pick but hiding a secret behind shadows seems a little lazy, but I don't care much for it now that I think about it. The atmosphere was amazing with areas looking as realistic as they come by. The caves were as colored as they were detailed. The audio was great but the only problem was that, with the rest of the level; you could have had smoother transitions between caves and outside areas. They didn't bother me per say. It's just it felt a little off. The camera placement was really well executed along with everything else. The texturing is what really stands out in this level, just from the look of the screens on the TRLE site, you know that the builder spent some time with this level and detailed it as much as possible. Overall, I had a blast from the past with this updated Tomb Raider raid. Time 1hr, difficulty easy, Secrets (7/7), Recommended!" - Larabiker301 (04-Jul-2014)
"One can clearly see the builder's skills have taken a large step forwards with this level. The architecture and texturing of the outside areas is absolutely convincing, and it's obvious the builder spent more time with the natural parts of the level than with the interior, man-made areas. It's not that they are carelessly built, but they are somewhat less impressive and rather blocky. Maybe it's the relative lack of decorative objects that makes them feel a bit empty and umimpressive, because the looks are pretty solid nonetheless. There are some obviously misplaced textures, but they don't really disturb the overall impression which is pretty clean. Gameplaywise, the level mostly focuses on linear progression, with a few mild backtracks put in between, and there are enough varied tasks to keep you busy for the time being. Everything is on a fairly easy level, and there's barely anything that will keep you stuck for long - maybe this is the largest gripe I had in this level: Everything flows just too quick and there's often no difficulty in the actions. Even the secrets are often fairly hard to miss and to strengthen this feeling, there's a overload of ammo provided, and even if there are quite a few harder enemies (mostly demigod), you won't quite need all the weapons you'll find here. Some enemies also appeared out of thin air. While everything is pretty well put together in this game, it feels like it's lacking a certain depth that makes the experience not as memorable as it could have been. 35 minutes." - manarch2 (04-Jul-2014)
"This level is contradictory in atmosphere; there's beautiful new textures and various small mods (weapon and enemy stats are modified a bit, and it's nice to get the old Uzis back compared to the sucky TR4 ones) but there's also various low-poly classic objects that stick out like a sore thumb and the interiors have lots of dark cubic boxy rooms compared to the interestingly lit and organic exteriors. The torch animations are also broke oddly (apparently Lara can light stuff by just flexing her muscles).
Gameplay is pretty simple and fast paced with a heavy combat focus, and small-medikits have been nerfed to the point that running out of health seems to be a legit issue; if you don't know how to easily deal with Demigods you're going to have problems. There's a major issue with the camera hints cutting out part way through the level. Based on my experience this is linked to have rollingballs resting on triggers; maybe that's not the case here but either way it seems the author neglected to fix it. The level is straightforward enough for it to not matter much but it's an irritant nonetheless. As another review mentions this map seemed to have a short time between it's reveal and it's release, and I can't help but think it shows in the inconsistencies and lack of polish, and this seems like it could be a truly great level with that polish, as opposed to now where it's a short, fun diversion but doesn't seem to quite come together." - Mman (02-Jul-2014)
"I saw this level introduced on the Tomb Raider Forums and was really impressed by it, so was looking forwards to it being released. I did not expect it to be released so soon. I must say this is a cracking level. I would class this as a short level (a little longer than a demo), taking no more than about an hour or so to complete. There is nothing wrong with that either, I really enjoy short levels. I will start with the lighting and textures... completely faultless. The textures were high quality, and applied really well. Some very clever texturing too, to give the appearance of flat surfaces sticking out. The lighting was not overly dark, but definitely gave the feeling of raiding in tombs. It was also applied very consistently, and looked very realistic. The combination of texturing and lighting gave the level and very sharp, crisp look to it. This was also supplemented by a very organic and natural looking geometry. The actual design was incredibly well built. I thought that the game retained a very traditional TR feeling. The level was definitely in the style of The Last Revelation (TR4), and could also be a continuation of it with advanced graphics. However, I was a little disappointed with some of the objects. The puzzle items and pick-ups were from TR4, and I would have preferred items of higher quality. I also thought that a better/ higher resolution Lara model should have been used, kept in the same style, just updated and modernised. The sound didn't really flow either, it kept on cutting to different ambience's when entering new areas, but it wasn't seamless. I would have preferred a more continuous "one size fits all" ambience, or find a way to make all the ambience's flow together. Though I really enjoyed the flyby scene when you get to the main outdoor section. The music really hit home, and felt like a true blast from the past. Those particular moments really stood out for me, other than that, the music could have done with a bit of modernising. Apart from a few glitches (camera's not loading properly, and awkward torch animations), this was an incredibly well made level, and I really enjoyed playing it. The size was actually fine, I do like short stories... Well done!" - Cosmos (01-Jul-2014)
"This adventure is quite a delight to look at.The interesting sand and rock textures have a beautiful three dimensional quality to them;while the lighting is evocative,creating a rather potent and immersive atmosphere.As far as gameplay goes,the level gets rather more complex as it progresses;culminating in a decent Torch sequence,an interesting pushable object puzzle,and a bracing encounter with two demigods and a Hammer warrior.Progression is generally fluent and enjoyable;while enemies are pretty copious and appropriate. Where this builder has taken a mis-step,though,is with the beta-testing.I often felt as though I was playing an Alpha version;so easily correctable were some of the minor errors. For instance,incorrect Torch lighting animations;or incorrectly triggered and subliminal (and therefore worse than useless) camera hints;or a missing texture at just the place where it would be most noticeable.It felt as though the builder was in slightly too much of a hurry to release the work - which is quite understandable as it's a very fine effort indeed,and immensely playable.Pride of place must go to the superbly crafted cave systems and the large Courtyard - places which you'll encounter several times,each visit being a renewed pleasure.A charming hours raiding." - Orbit Dream (01-Jul-2014)