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Tomb Raider - The Citadel by Talos

AlexCroft 10 10 10 9
DJ Full 9 9 9 9
Gerty 8 9 9 9
Gorty 7 8 10 6
Jay 9 10 10 10
Jorge22 7 8 8 7
Jose 8 10 9 9
LoreRaider 9 9 10 10
manarch2 6 9 9 7
Phil 9 8 9 8
Ryan 9 9 9 9
Torry 6 8 8 7
 
release date: 10-Jul-2017
# of downloads: 97

average rating: 8.63
review count: 12
 
review this level

file size: 189.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: Rome/Greece
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
Erichan2@live.it

Reviewer's comments
"Now I am not a fan of these non Lara levels but if you discount that I still feel that game play was lacking in this and the story line took over with the interminably long cut scenes you had to wade through. Even with the English translations they were hard to understand so I think I missed some of the finer points. I had the devils own job of getting the concubine to accept my coin and even the walk through didn't help so I had to find a video walk (thanks Doggett) as you actually need to stand two paces in front of the concubine for the animation to work. I did not like the use of walk through walls with carpets hanging on them but once you found the first one the rest were easy to identify. Riding the horse was funny. Is it a horse? Is it a motor bike? Depends on which animation you see. The most annoying thing for me were the swords you get from the concubine that shoot. I mean how on earth does that work? IF you are going to replace the pistols with swords then make them act like swords for goodness sake. The hand to hand fighting animations were brilliant however. The Priestess also made me laugh. She actually sports a bigger bosom than our Lara and my oh my was she hard to kill. So a good solid effort but many things to think on." - Torry (03-Jan-2020)
"Nice storyline that translated well into these level sets. Although I could have done without those long flyby’s, they were very well executed. Found some odd collisions and also at parts pretty dark but overall the objects and textures that were used did fit well. What I didn’t like was that the enemies were hard to slay at the end. That dragon was on medications if you ask me, every time I tried to use the Greek Fire I was on fire, but finally I made it. The level starts with a new fighting system, not sure I like it personally, but I can see why Erika used it, it fits the story. Good one." - Gerty (21-Feb-2018)
"An enjoyable little levelset that provides something a little different, while not presenting any gameplay tasks that are too difficult to get through. The storyline is presented and carried through by the use of interactions with various characters that you encounter along the way. I found the dialogue a bit unnecessary, although it was admittedly a nice touch. Initially, the warrior you play as is weaponless, so you have to use hand-to-hand combat manoeuvres to defeat the enemies in those first levels. There are a few challenging sequences to get through like the horse ride and various jumping exercises, but as mentioned it's nothing too difficult. The bonus level is a remake of the Citadel Gate from TR4 with a couple of changes added, and you need to find the three secrets to access it. The atmosphere and music is well executed and chosen, respectively and overall I enjoyed it." - Ryan (03-Jan-2018)
"Probably the best thing by Talos I have played, with coherent storyline, plot twists, perfect object usage and immersion. I'm not really fond of retextured original maps, but in this case I'm bipolar: the remade coastal ruins and the mosque cutscene definitely improve the game, while the original citadel gate bit with the lizard fight should absolutely go. Also I need some English lines, note we have many wonderful actors who would contribute them. And gimme the wad so I can fix that broken roll animation." - DJ Full (23-Dec-2017)
"I think this is the best level that this builder made! I really enjoyed playing it! There's no time that you get bored. The gameplay is varied, I really liked the body to body fight, the hints like TR2013 and RotTR and... the cutscenes! I'm italian, so I've understood them, but maybe was better if the builder put the subtitles in game, instead of putting them on some videos, since you can't see the video while you play, but I know that it's a lot hard making them working properly. There aren't so much puzzles, but those which are here, are great, the secrets are very hidden, I needed to search closely on the levels to find them and the enemies are balanced and in the right places. The atmosphere is perfect! The huge and orange sanddunes, made me feel relaxed, especially on the second level, I seemed to be in the level sometimes! The lighting and the textures are made very well, I've seen just some little errors, but that doesn't matter. I finished it in almost an hour with all the 3 secrets. I really hope on a sequel, since I know that the builder can make something better!" - LoreRaider (01-Aug-2017)
"This appears as if it might be a BtB level that wasn't finished in time to qualify for the competition, so additional features have been added to provide a fuller adventure. The kick-boxing animation used in the first level was something I'd never seen before, and I wish there had been more opportunities to use it here. We also have a new and quite versatile weapon in the Old Swords, which was even more valuable in that its use was not limited in any way. I could have lived without all those game-interrupting conversations, which I couldn't understand anyway, but I appreciate the time and effort spent by the builder putting them all together. There are three secrets that are fairly easy to get if you know where to look, and finding all three of them enables you to play a fairly elaborate bonus level at the end. I spent more than two hours here, because I was writing a walkthrough while I was playing, but I enjoyed the innovative touches that made for a very satisfying raid. Recommended." - Phil (18-Jul-2017)
"Definitely a new approach. A short-ish multi-part level always on the easy side, thus nice for a little relaxation in kind of mythical settings. I could recognize the fist and feet fighting at the start from Omikron, one really great game. I didn't much like the texture choice nor the fact that half of the game isn't actually playing but instead listening to the characters' speeches (glad I can more or less understand Italian if spoken softly). I think I can recommend it." - Jorge22 (18-Jul-2017)
"The game starts with a cutscene showing us the first environment of the game. It does look a little bit buggy with some weird texturing flattering and the Â'end of the worldÂ' is clearly visible. After that the cutscene continues, but unfortunately in Greek ( or Italian ? ) language which means I didn’t understand a single word what was going on. The game kicks off in a dungeon-like environment where it’s necessary to light some torches in order to open doors. There was another cool cutscene. Some rough texturing is very noticeable. Some more guards needed to be taken down with the clumsy fighting. There was also a very long corridor with some repetitive spike traps avoiding. After that I talked to a girl and killed some more guards. Some more rough texturing and stretched/wrong rotated textures are very noticeable ( How is that not fixed in the final version or was the beta testing done that superficial ? ). Another annoying thing are the doors ... it’s not possible to tell which one is supposed to be opened with the bone and which not. The first very disappointing gameplay task started … After finding the key I had to do some backtracking though that long spike corridor … and then … again the same thing for the third time again ! Now that a gameplay killer and a very odd way to make the gameplay time longer. I had to quit playing and restarted tomorrow. After swimming through the water tunnel I landed in a big open room where guards started to shot at me while the cutscene was still playing. I noticed that the grate texture was badly photoshoped as it still had the purple color on it ( that’s supposed to be invisible/ transparent ). Some more baddys needed to be killed which was not that fun to do while they are shooting. The swinging on the horizontal poles had some weird physics … the protagonist was jumping through the ceiling like he was shot from a canon. Some camera hints were missing after pulling switches. So far I’m noticing that the room design is very simple and basic. No complex environment seen so far. Another frustrating moment was finding the coin for the lady … Of course I didn’t noticed that a tiny yellow coin appeared on a yellow surface while the camera was pointing behind the prisoned lady so that she was additionally blocking the view. Took me a long time to search the whole area up and down and finally reading on the forum what I missed. After the library cutscene ( I didn’t understand what was going on ), horse ride and sand room, I came across some more spike traps in some very simple and flat lighted rooms. Another long cutscene kicked in that I didn’t understand. After the boss fight some more long backtracking … the door that opened after pushing the statue was close to impossible to remember where it was, of course it required some long backtracking. I still notice many stretched and wrong rotated textures. Now it’s probably fact that the author didn’t really care to make the texturing look good. I mean, it’s ok to have texturing like that, but that’s not for me a 9 or 10. The last keyhole for the first level was too god camouflaged. The sand dunes with the castle in it in the second level looked actually very good. Once I got inside the castle things started to look again very basic in design with flat light. After a long pushable task and some cutscenes the second level ends. The third one was short with a boss fight. After that, another boss fight with some nice cutscenes. Overall, this game has an amazing atmosphere that’s constantly boost with cutscenes and with the authors somehow unique approach to the game. The design and architecture was mostly very basic and simple with no complex room creations. An exception is the beginning of the second level and sometimes few nice looking parts in the other levels. Texturing was often rough with easy noticeable texturing errors, even sometimes monotone. I didn’t really enjoyed the gameplay as it involved often some very painful backtracking and repetitive tasks. Also, some very cryptic tasks. Based on Talos previous work or works ( that had a rating under 7,5 ) the only improvement is the more handier use of objects, distance fog and cutscenes that really gave the game a better look and increased the atmosphere. Another important thing is that I can compare this levels to the latest BtB competition and I can say that this one is not even close to the masterpieces I played and gave a rating of above 8. I do recommend the game for its unique experience, but the lack of some advanced building skills of the author is seen through the level." - Gorty (15-Jul-2017)
"A decent hour long levelset with a lot of nice cutscenes and object usages. There's a cinematic feel to it and I think in that case the builder has really succeeded to create an absorbing storyline as background. For me the gameplay was a bit secondary, most substantial gameplay elements are placed in the first level and even here there's a lot of running through empty passages, backtracking and the tasks are not very imaginative. Of course there are nice actions like the timed run, the horse ride and later in the second level the pushable puzzle, but they are too few for me to thoroughly enjoy the gameplay. I really liked the weaponless fights at the start, almost sad that it's not used very often. The boss fights are also spectacular but not overly demanding, at the very final one (before the bonus level) I just stood still and kept shooting for about two minutes, the bolts always missed me. The three secrets are well hidden - a nice bonus level follows if you found them all, another good point -, and objects are very well used. Some of them are floating in the air, though. The atmosphere in general is quite convincing, despite several tiny and quite boxy areas there are a lot of large and impressive areas, musics and cameras are greatly used as well. The level looks quite nice on first glance, but there are quite a lot of texturing mistakes and lighting cracks, too many to be neglected. Sometimes the architecture is also a bit too messy (e.g. in the horse riding course). On the other side the used texture set is quite nice and in a few places the lighting is very effective. A good job of the builder but perhaps a little more variety and focus in gameplay and some polishing might have been a good thing. Finished in almost exactly one hour, 45 minutes without the bonus level." - manarch2 (15-Jul-2017)
"What a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Don't be fooled by the number of files in the download - this may be a multi-part game, but most of the levels aren't that long so this isn't something you'll have to invest countless hours in. Having said which, I was having so much fun that I wouldn't at all have minded it being longer. For most of the game, you play as an ancient warrior, who initially has to fight with martial arts skills alone, but soon gains a couple of swords (a cool animation) with which to fight enemies and slash up a lot of carpets too! Lara comes in at the end of the game just briefly, although if I'd managed to find all the secrets (some hope) I'd have had a bonus game which looked like one with Lara. I can only hope somebody posts a savegame so I can play every bit of this super level. The gameplay is quite intuitive and I didn't find myself stuck for long at any point. The difficulty level is not one to exclude most players and there's a good variety of tasks to achieve. The settings are really beautiful too and well worth a bit of sightseeing and the accompanying music is well chosen. Enemies are effectively used and not too frequent, whilst the aforementioned fighting techniques are very innovative and not difficult to pick up. You really don't want to miss this one." - Jay (13-Jul-2017)
"I think the best levels from this author. A great history for a great adventure. Unfortunately I was not able to find all the coins to play the secret level, but what I played was really enjoyable. Even so, sometimes it's easy get stucked 'cause the phantom walls, the platforms you can't climb (only stand up), the objects you don't know you can break with the swords, the walls you must break with the horse... You'll find an adventure full of cutscenes and dialogues, not hard tasks to accomplish (good!), no much backtracking, convincent architecture and texturization, nice flybys and musics, new objects and some special features you'll discover when playing. Don't worry about the ammo for the crossbow, when you play as Lara you'll find enough to defeat the warrior. A short adventure really worth to play. Recommended." - Jose (12-Jul-2017)
"The atypical style of the builder finds its apotheosis just here, where originality is gospel. Gameplay is fine and flows straightforwardly, except for secrets that are hard to find them. The plot of the game reminds me a lot Persian history and babylonian reality, concerning ideas of Prince of Persia world, like sultan, desert environment, citadels, etc. Musics are impeccable, as like as sound effects. Really enjoyable, entertaining and delicious, recommended for everybody!" - AlexCroft (10-Jul-2017)