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Create a Classic: 20 years of TR - The Temple of Isis by Shakira Croft

alan 9 9 8 10
Bigfoot 10 10 10 10
DJ Full 8 9 9 9
Gian Carlo 9 9 8 9
Gorty 8 8 8 7
Jay 8 8 9 10
Jose 7 8 9 9
Lara_Fox_Croft 8 9 9 10
manarch2 8 8 9 8
MichaelP 8 9 10 9
Mman 8 9 10 9
Mytly 9 9 9 9
nerdfury 9 10 9 10
Phil 9 9 9 10
Raider99 8 9 8 9
requiemsoul 8 9 10 9
Ryan 9 9 9 10
smcandrew 8 7 8 8
Thiago 9 9 9 10
 
release date: 02-Dec-2016
# of downloads: 1061

average rating: 8.84
review count: 19
 
review this level

file size: 67.90 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
loic.francescato@gmail.com

Reviewer's comments
"From the dramatic entrance by Jeep to the final run into the sunlight about 90 minutes later this was really a fun level to play. Great and very tastefully designed mix of Karnak, Library and Cleopal elements in huge architecture that still managed to look good and not bare and empty as is often the case. It lets you in quite easily and then gradually gets a little more difficult but never really challenging. There is plenty of variety in the gameplay, including mirror rooms, a torch puzzle with symbols, 3 secrets that are not too tricky to find and then lead to another secret room, a planet push puzzle, a nice combination of the Lara doubles being attached by harpies and then you need to turn them using chains and a final room with a catbull that gets to smash a pillar for you - very nice touch. The only thing that spoils the experience a little is that you do get to do a signíficant amount of legwork, as you get to backtrack for all the four golden stars. And with the several hub rooms along the way and many of the hallways being copied and looking all a bit the same, it can get rather confusing and a bit tedious. But the wonderful flybys that introduce you to the various changes that your actions trigger make more than up for it and I fully recommend giving this level a go if you have not already played it. Too bad that Loic seems to have retired as a builder or is at least on quite a long break right now..." - MichaelP (09-Jul-2021)
"(9) Gameplay & Puzzles
It's easy to draw a comparison to Aqua Sanctuary (one of my favorite levels ever) due to the similar visual theme however these two levels play out quite differently. I would consider ToI to be a "lite" adventure -- while it's heavy on exploration, and has a number of creative puzzles, it doesn't have much combat, traps or tricky platforming. I generally prefer more of a challenge however I still really enjoyed my time here and appreciated the builder's fresh ideas, with my favorite being the adventure to open up the giant globe (or giant maraca; I don't know what it is). There were two small things about the gameplay that I didn't like; 1) in order to shoot one of the 3 statue's tongues, you have to go the long way around, but it seemed to me that tongue may have been quickly accessible via a banana jump. I tried the banana jump and Lara just bumped into an invisible block and fell, which I thought was lazy design. 2) It wasn't obvious to me that it is impossible to use the underwater lever while the gears are turning. So, I spent ages in the flooded gears room, trying to angle my swimming just right, and getting super close to reaching the lever, before checking the walkthrough and seeing that the gears have to be disabled.

(10) Enemies, Objects & Secrets
While there were few enemies (fine by me), the enemy selection was done well, especially the use of Harpies during the 3-Lara puzzle. Decorative static and animated objects were gorgeous and really brought the temple grounds to life; I just adored the archways and foliage objects used. The 4 secrets sidequest was so much fun and I appreciated that the builder incorporated some storytelling regarding the secrets. The gorgeous throne room of goodies, should the player find all 4 secrets, was a wonderful idea.

(9) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras
The builder did an excellent job of bringing the temple to life and evoking an epic atmosphere, even in side rooms. If you look up and around in the side rooms, you will notice meticulous attention to detail even if there's nothing related to the gameplay to look at. I did not give perfect marks for this category for two reasons; 1) various different static objects would glitch in and out of visibility depending on the angle Lara is looking at, which detracted from the overall atmosphere, and 2) some flyby cameras were not the best; too fast at times, or moving too erratically, and more standard cameras could have been used to guide the player, as I felt lost sometimes with regards to my objective. Lost in a mesmerizing environment is still lost.

(10) Lighting & Textures
I could not spot any texturing errors and this category was done with the utmost professionalism. Very well-lit with no need for flares? Yes please. There isn't much lighting variety but I don't care about that very much. I think the builder combined Egyptian textures of differing themes (Karnak, Cleo, Cata) cleverly and I loved his/her use of dark blue colors to balance out all of the yellow/beige texture tiles.

In sum, this is a high-quality, "chill" exploration level with many puzzles, a sprinkling of traps and combat, and some lite platforming. It's suitable for beginners, although I think expert players will still appreciate the creativity of this level, despite the lack of platforming challenge. I think the builder spent a significant amount of time getting the "polish" just right and I appreciate it, and I loved my time in the temple.  9/10/9/10." - nerdfury (29-Oct-2020)
"This is a Karnak style level with a large scale. While not as impressive, it reminds me somewhat of "Aqua Sanctuary", with the vast open areas, airy sunlit ruins and water focus; it's less visually varied than that level overall, and obviously less fresh, but being comparable to one of my favorite looking TRLE levels obviously isn't a bad thing. The level moves from one giant area to another, and there's very little wrong visually, the lighting is slightly flat in one or two places and very flat grass in one area felt oddly out of place, but those were my only issues. The boss and nearby area also had some nice use of modified objects.
The gameplay is generally good with a mix of tasks (although mostly exploration-based); it's quite non-linear with plenty of potential backtracking, but it's linked up enough to minimise that. I accidentally skipped a major part of the progression by breaking a shootable early, and I sort of preferred that to what was intended; a lot of the map seeming optional for secrets felt like an interesting subversion of standard progression (the final secret is even big enough to justify it as a reward for that). After reaching the end and feeling like I had missed a lot my curiosity to find what I missed revealed I had just skipped a major part of what was intended. I also had a part keep crashing, but it was thankfully after I had did everything needed there. A good level with some great visuals, but those progression issues suggest some testing issues." - Mman (02-Dec-2019)
"Entertaining level with some interesting puzzles (the three Laras puzzle was great!), nice environments, a magnificent big temple with huge outside and inside rooms, hundreds of ornated columns, good taste for the texturization and good effects with cameras, flybys and sounds. On the other hand I suffered a lot of backtracking and I had to return to the same places several times running always long distances (ex: found the stars but still not a crowbar in the inventory). Anyway a level worth to play for all those who like the exploration." - Jose (13-Mar-2017)
"I think that this level succeeds very well in its 'Create a Classic' aim: the whole level feels like an homage to TR4, especially given that the builder mixes together textures/objects from all over TR4. This kind of eclectic mixture has the potential to go very wrong, but here it works surprisingly well, with everything blending together into a harmonious whole (only the Catacombs textures don't quite fit with the rest, IMO).
Gameplay is a pleasant mixture of exploration and puzzles. My favourite puzzle is the pulleys and Lara statues one at the end; the one with the burning pool and the lit tiles in the room above deserves an honourable mention as well. The planet pushable puzzle is a bit too copy-pasted from the original game (though it's a nice touch that placing the planets cuts off the water flow). At the beginning, the huge areas that are open to you can be a bit overwhelming - a little bit of linearity would have helped here. Luckily, I managed to stumble upon an optimum route (even better than the one mentioned in the walkthrough), so backtracking was kept to a minimum. A couple of changes in the level design would have cut down on the backtracking even further, such as opening up some shortcuts, including the huge entrance gate to the temple.
There are few enemies: just some harpies, crocodiles and demigods, and a huge cat that functions as a boss fight of sorts. The use of the cat is unique, though a bit obscure - it was the only point in this level (apart from finding one of the secrets) that I had to consult the walkthrough.
Visually, the level is nearly flawless. The builder has a fondness for really huge halls and courtyards, but manages to make them look majestic rather than big and empty. The huge decorative pillars from the Karnak levels of TR4 are used especially well to create some gorgeous hypostyle halls. The atmosphere is great, but the lack of music in several parts of the level affects it adversely a bit.
Overall: This is both a lovely nostalgia treat as well as a very enjoyable level in its own right. Recommended." - Mytly (01-Feb-2017)
"This level starts out with a funny (and familiar) cutscene of Lara ramming her Land Rover into one of the stones outside of the temple itself. This is an amazing looking level with some wonderfully designed areas to explore, reminiscent of Karnak and the Lost Library. There are a couple of mirror room tasks, outside areas to explore, traps to avoid, a planetarium puzzle and an ingenious end sequence with a golden cat. I did have a couple of crashes (one when trying to perform a roll manoeuvre down a hole with a pole and one when trying to climb through a trapdoor, but I circumvented that by taking the long way), but I can't deduct too much because I enjoyed it a lot. Highly recommended." - Ryan (15-Jan-2017)
"This classic looks great by the textures used. Architecture and plants make it look even better. Nice visuals, just like a real temple. Good gameplay, there are plenty of kinda easy puzzles, but entertaining. The rooms with mirrors that show the hidden spikes are great, you have to look very well so the spikes don't stab Lara suddenly. Then a classic puzzle from The Tomb of Seth, where you have to step onto the tiles with light, or Lara gets burnt if she touches the tile only a little bit. After finding the crowbar, you have some work to do. Find 4 stars, place them and then solve a puzzle with movable planets. I really liked the puzzle at the second level, with the 3 spinning Laras. Besides puzzles, I also liked climbing and jumping from different places and heights. There are few enemies, they don't appear occasionally but I liked the boss fight at the end of the first level. Maybe the golden cat counts as an hazard since Lara doesn't target it, but it attacks her. Nice idea to lure it so it crashes onto a pilar and you can continue. 4 well-hidden secrets to find, in form of hands of orion, from which I only found 2. Some flybys are a bit misplaced since some of them point crazily and quickly to another place. The second level felt a bit alone without some atmosphere sound, but some tracks at specific areas were used well. Total: 9/10. I highly recommend it to everyone, congrats!" - alan (14-Jan-2017)
"I love the way Lara crashed her Land Rover into one of the statues in the opening cut scene. Her respect for ancient artefacts is just amazing. This level is huge and magnificent and involves a great deal of exploration. I got quite confused at times, but I confess that is my default setting so you might not get as lost. There are some nice bits of gameplay - mirror rooms, burning floor tiles, classic planet puzzle and a wonderful sequence with a golden cat (re-textured bull) that comes in extremely useful. Perhaps slightly too much backtracking, but for all that it's a highly entertaining level and beautifully made." - Jay (09-Jan-2017)
"Just as the builder's debut this is a very competently put together effort, with a large open setting to explore, some novel puzzle ideas and a very authentic atmosphere. While some of the gameplay involves quite a bit of yo-yo-backtracking - a few more shortcuts would've been nice at times -, and I had several crashes while reloading a save and climbing on the shortcut block near the large globe area, I found myself fairly enjoyed throughout the time I spent here. The globe puzzle and the combined quest for four stars somewhere in this game (while not necessary to finish; perhaps the builder should correct that) are enjoyable, the chain puzzle with the Lara statues is very clever and I just loved the use of the cat - fantastic. While enemies are rather few and far, I thought they are well placed and the object design is rather good too not only helping the gameplay ideas but also in terms of decoration. The four secrets are nicely hidden, but a bit too sameishly as well. The atmosphere is really well done, large areas blend perfectly into each other and I really felt like being in a real temple. While cameras are mostly good, I felt they lacked a bit of refinement at times. The visuals are cleanly applied, the texturing is almost faultless. Perhaps the lighting could've been more effective to accentuate and distinguish some areas a bit more from others, it also felt a bit too uniform at times. Overall, this 45 minute adventure really has a bit of everything and is my favourite of the CaC levels I played until now." - manarch2 (07-Jan-2017)
"This is a gorgeous, well-lighted level, and I just love gorgeous and well-lighted levels. It's so sprawling, in fact, that it seems somewhat intimidating at first, but you get used to navigating through the map so that it soon becomes as familiar as your back yard. The stuck thread and the previous reviews warn of an unintended short cut, so I've made an early note of it in the walkthrough I've prepared. There are two TR4 data files included with the download, but they both have the same name and the second one provides only 10 minutes or so of gameplay. I really loved how the level unfolded, with an initial flooding, then a later flooding, with a neat side quest for the four secrets. If you avoided the short cut, acquiring the four stars to initiate the globe puzzle was well thought out. The chain puzzle near the end was surprisingly simple to figure out, but maybe that was only dumb luck on my part. Not as many bells and whistles as you'll find in The Sapphire Hunt, for example, but to me it was far more fun to play. Highly recommended." - Phil (02-Jan-2017)
"G&P: The level is a nice exploration level, with some quite interesting task to do, but I skip a whole passage in the game...And I know it should have been corrected by the builder, whatever, even with the whole planetarium skiped the level still a good one, I thought it was the normal way to progress (shooting all the mouths in a row). But Magplus told me that is a shortcut that the builder was supposed to fix...whatever... Maybe I will find the courage to play it again, I will think about it, but as I'm not a big fan of backtracking for backtracking I'm not sure at all..(nb: the mirror's rooms and the torch..Why do we need to find the fire on the opposite side of the level? Why can't we open the big door between the two outside big rooms? :) E,O&S: enemies from TR4, amazing use of statues (double of Lara) with (I guess) a lot of script behind, even if the task was easy to solve it was very enjoyable. Objects in the level were really well used, but I saw some bugs, and I know the reason why...And it still a shame...Secrets were pretty good, I found two of it, because I didn't played the wheels part... A,S,C: The level is nicely set but it feels quite empty too few musics during the game, nice cutscenes, but sometimes "fixed" cameras showing a door opening are too close to the door, so we don't really know were the door is, hopefully the level is quite short and this is really easy to find your way in.Atmosphere works well, we feel like we're playing a true TR...unlike in some other levels of this competition... L&T: The best part, I saw no mistakes in it, I understand that Shakira Croft loves to make a landscape, a nice temple etc etc, even with the (almost) classic wad and texture we have such an amazing work in it ! Cheers ! To sum up the level is nice but it could be amazing, the builder shows us a lot of potential but in the same time he is showing us that he is rushing, and he makes stupid mistakes...I hope his next level will be made with more care about gameplay and objects (not disappearing this time). So please take your time, and make us a more polished level ! Anyway thanks for this nice level !" - Lara_Fox_Croft (20-Dec-2016)
"This level had one of the best temples I've ever seen in TR, so majestic and beautifully textured. From the very start I knew water is going to play a role in gameplay and I got really excited! However, I somehow managed to skip whole golden stars, planet pushable blocks puzzle as I was able to shoot the 'tongue' that releases water from a different side. As I noticed there is definitely a finish trigger ahead of me, I decided to go back and find remaining secrets. I thought golden stars will be needed for secret only, as one of them was hidden too well (also it was a bit random where it was), but as it is part of main puzzle, I had to mention it. Out of all puzzles, I liked Lara statues one the most! There weren't many enemies, but those that were there, they threw Lara's foot and thigh back at her (demigod and harpies)! Apparently bubbles object is missing or something is not right with it. I didn't like flyby sequences, they felt quite clumsy and fast (due to speed value), it would be much more relaxing and enjoyable if they were slower. Not sure if it was intentional, but there was no background music for second part of the level, and I feel like there could be more music at some spots, after solving statues puzzle or entering the final secret room. As I stated already, the level was beautifully textured, lighting was quite faithful to TR4 Karnak levels, but it felt a bit repetitive in my opinion after a while. Overall, I liked it, it has amazing design, some interesting puzzles and lots to explore!" - Raider99 (17-Dec-2016)
"This is actually a fantastic little level. It feels like an authentic TR4 level, just slightly revamped. The gameplay was fantastic and deployed a huge amount of puzzles to try and solve - I did find some more difficult than others, such as making the difficult jumps on the tiles without getting burnt by the others. I also didn't even dare to attempt to pick the weapon up from the skeleton on the floor incase spikes shot up from the ground. The builder has took many classic TR4 gameplay elements and adapted it to use in this custom level. I absolutely loved the 'golden cat' at the end and presuming that somewhere in the room had to be a switch or something that it had to knock (just like TR4) and eventually I found it! The only thing I felt that this level lacked was more enemies - however it could be hard to do in this type of themed level - harpies, crocodiles and the golden cat do fit in well along with the numerous puzzles and traps. The cutscene at the beginning was fantastically done however I felt all other flyby scenes were a bit strange with camera movement and placement and could be tweaked to be smoother and less jumpy. Overall this is a great level to play (albeit challenging in some places) and I would definitely recommend." - smcandrew (12-Dec-2016)
"I think I'm in that group of players who didn't liked this game so much. I will start with the best aspects of the game. Texturing was perfect. I have not discovered a single error in texturing. The geometry/architecture is very good. I liked how the big environment looked. Kind of epic. The light was a bit flat and not very impressive. Seems like there could have been done a lot more. The NGLE offers so much more in the lighting department and compared to some other levels on TRLE and in this classic competition, this one seems average in this segment. It is a classic / oldstyle game, but the author is using NGLE obviously. I did get lost in this huge area and many times I didn't really know where I'm supposed to go. There are few things that were really annoying. The spikes and sudden combustions of Lara were super annoying. I really hated some switch that showed nothing after pulling them. I was often wondering what did the switch activated. Gameplay and puzzles were sometimes very simple, basic and repetitive, but there are some puzzles that were really impressively put together." - Gorty (09-Dec-2016)
"The best level of this contest. Outstanding and imposing visually and with good tasks. Maybe, there a bit backtracking. Shakira Croft is a author with a great potential." - requiemsoul (08-Dec-2016)
"A controversial idea of opening a very large part of the map works very good in this case, with puzzles being fairly easy, so even if we retrace our steps from a wrong corridor, we instantly know where to go right after - with one exception: as hard as the hand torch was in kaufi's level, here it's the wall one - I didn't remember it after so much progress, nor did I register it burning in an odd place. Equally important, I don't quite understand forcing a double run for the stars, and the inner temple should be opened once accessed, so we wouldn't swim back and forth through the underwater corridor. Minor issue, the pulley riddle is too slow to belong right before the fast ending. Major trouble instead, a huge shortcut brought me to the finale in the first order, so everything felt weaker until the climax, very satisfactory in return - even though I knew the boss, its usage is applaudable. The fight solution may be a tad difficult for newbie players, but the effect is exactly what I call "old plus new" and even when I fell down from the pillar I climbed it again just for fun. The pearl object is magnificient, it feels belonging even in a default-textured level like this. SUMMARY: Very solid and EPIC, like a forgotten bit of Aqua Sanctuary, but that one had puzzles perfectly fine. I almost cried when I couldn't give a nine here, so fix the issues and I will." - DJ Full (08-Dec-2016)
"Nice puzzles and good use of the classic objects and textures. I liked it very much and I almost had a heart attack with the first spike encounter. Just had a game crash (don't know why) when trying to climb the ladder up the trapdoor in the globe room. SPOILER: I found it odd that the golden stars and the planetarium puzzle only leads to the last two secrets. The whole time I was thinking it was part of the main path." - Gian Carlo (08-Dec-2016)
"Also a nice surprise to discovered a cutscene we have ever seen in a previous Tomb Raider ;) ... and who confirm our Lara is not a very good driver after all these years. I can just congratulate the author for the design of the Isis temple ... like a REAL Egyptian temple. It's not an hard level and I think even beginners can easily finish it without really difficulty. Only secrets are maybe a bit hard to find sometimes. The various challenges are interesting and give a nice touch to the level because we need to use our head and not just our hands to resolve it. My personnal favorite is the planets correctly placed who stop wheels in the room below. A great moment is also when Lara kill the second boss and the floor opened an hidden passage. Nice effect ;). The second level is very short and has no secret but I have loved the puzzle with the three Lara double (it's also very cool to discovered this object in a good customs level ;). Finally Lara obtain the artifact and quit the temple ... but not after a last one challenge with a very cool enemie. Recommended for everyone and congratulation to the author." - Bigfoot (07-Dec-2016)
"In short... This is what I call a good use of classic textures and objects. The author used a theme here that I like, Egypt and the Goddess Isis. The room geometry and textures were built amazingly beautiful and the result: Dazzling. I liked it, very enjoyable. Recommended! And congratulations to author." - Thiago (03-Dec-2016)