| Reviewer's comments |
"Short raid in a rather basic Cleopatra's palace type of setting without much work for
lighting and without the most interesting objects of the Cleopal Wad. There is few good
little ideas there nevertheless, but you don't accomplish much. The famous slide with
the fixed camera is unfair, better slide backwards or forward with a jump at the end so
that Lara bumps herself and falls down before the sqaure with the spikes. Essential
items are in secrets rooms and you can be stuck for good if you have forgotten one of
them." - eRIC (22-Jun-2021) |
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"Unlike the builder’s debut, this has some of the trappings of a full-fledged level, but unlike its follow-up, it still falls considerably short. It’s clear that the builder is still learning the ropes, and the result is a level that’s half there and half not.
Among the first pickups you come across are the crossbow and explosive arrows. This would have been sufficient for the three enemies you encounter in this level, yet right up to the finish trigger (there is one this time around) the builder keeps throwing pickups your way without providing any opportunity for you to make use of them. This practice has carried over from the builder’s debut. Here as there you can pick up (among many, many other things) a crowbar, yet it’s only in Weedkiller that you eventually get to use ‘The Almighty Crowbar’.
One kind of pickup (the Scrolls) is ostensibly all-important, but it’s your choice if you play along and collect them, as the only items you’re actually required to find and use are a Gem (to open a door near the start of the level) and the two pieces of the Portal Guardian (to raise a block when you return to a room that was previously flooded). The latter can easily be missed and thus land you in an impasse. Most of the Scrolls can be found in rooms which are tagged as secret, but which aren’t difficult to find and rather look like parts of the main path of progression. One Scroll can’t be picked up and is presumably meant to be a tease—a thing that doesn’t work in levels as imperfect as this, where the most plausible explanation for anything that’s not quite right is always an error on the part of the builder—, but the one that’s floating underwater can, and that’s a neat idea.
At the beginning, there are a few good camera shots of Lara as she slides down a series of slopes; but later, another one is used to hide a spike trap from view, and like a true beginner, the builder couldn’t resist engineering a ‘gotcha!’ moment by means of unmarked spike tiles near the end. One of the skeletons would have been placed quite well if you hadn’t acquired more than enough means to dispose of it by the time you meet it. The texturing is still sloppy (sometimes egregiously so), and room geometry remains boxy; one partially collapsed tunnel looks more interesting in that regard, but it’s plastered all over with a single texture, and anyway it’s only there for you to run through. The overall impression is of a snapshot of the builder working her way through the various features of the Editor, taken at a time when she still had a few miles ahead of her." - Mulf (19-Jun-2021) |
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| "An improvement over the author's previous level 'Frozen in
Time'. This one is a bit longer, there are some cameras and
sounds. Many pick-ups only for a few skeletons and a harpy.
Among the pick-ups there are puzzle items, weapons and the
scrolls you have to find. I found a crowbar but never used
it. I found 5 scrolls. There's a sixth one near the end but
you don't pick it up since the level ends there." - alan (18-Feb-2018) |
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| "A bit better than the first level from this author, but still not a good level. The gameplay is lineal and simple, without puzzles and there's a fatal error in the design: you can reach the room with the pedestal for the portal guardian without the required items. I picked up many guns and ammo in secret places, but totally unuseful 'cause I only found a couple of skeletons and a harpy; enough with the crossbow and a pack of explosive ammo. Anyway the level is playable and not very boring. Take a try." - Jose (15-Nov-2017) |
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| "To my knowledge (no pun intended) you can't
obtain every scroll in the level, so some of
the knowledge is still forgotten. This looks
vaguely like Cleopatra's Palaces, although only
just. There were a couple of unmarked spike
traps, which I considered particularly unfair,
but aside from that you use a "face on a stick"
artefact and blow some skeletons away." - Ryan (22-Jul-2016) |
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| "Some of the knowledge is just going to have to remain forgotten as it isn't possible to get all the scrolls in this level. It's approximately 15 minutes of very simple gameplay in a competently built but rather bland setting. There's just a skeleton to blow up and a harpy to shoot, plus secrets to find that even I couldn't manage to miss. Never found a use for the revolver and laser sight either." - Jay (17-Jan-2016) |
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| "This was a rather short and extremely easy level. Took me
about ten minutes. The only thing you have to do is to pick
the "Water Guardian" to conclude the level. Enemies were
only a harpy and one skeleton. It was boring. Not
recommended unless you want to waste 10 minutes." - Gonxii (22-Nov-2015) |
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| "Some nice cameras observing the initial slide prepare us for something not so boring, as well as the close-to-the-end flyby, even if it turns only to show us... well... a room. The impression of waiting for something nice remains to the end, then. But actually, everything is unfinished: we enter the hall to find some scrolls, three of which cannot be picked up at all, and if we skip one place containing Ornate Handle, we get stuck later and need to replay half of the game (what means we lose up to 5 minutes of life) to finish it with at about 14 mins in stats (only if we explore everything for secrets). Texturing is minimalistic, comprising of flat, polished walls covering boxy rooms, lighting is changed in three or four places only and the two of few rooms containing an acceptable amount of objects are direct copies of each other. To make matters worse, we eventually get impaled by unmarked spikes. SUMMARY (from author's readme): "This version is early development code and is currently 85% complete. (sorry, couldn't resist!)"" - DJ Full (12-Feb-2011) |
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| "A short 15 minute level with a bunch of items to find. Some
rooms looked bare and boring, others were quite well arranged,
but the last one only twice. I missed some real shootouts here
as you could get so many weapons and ammo but the ammo nearly
never had a use. For today, this is not nice to look at, but
for the time it was released it looked more good than most
others." - manarch2 (13-Nov-2010) |
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| "Compared to "Frozen in Time", this level is an improvement. First of all, there is a plot. The spike trap and the drained room are also interesting. The player will need to find a horseman's gem, the pharos knot and the portal guardian. Even though there are fewer pickups than in the author's previous level, there is still a significant amount of items to pick up in this level. Enemies mainly consist of skeletons and a harpy, but once Lara finds the crossbow with the lasersight, the skirmishes will be easier to deal with. Concerning the scrolls, I managed to find four of them, but I couldn't pick up one of the scrolls because of a finishing trigger." - Sakusha (25-Jun-2006) |
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| "This is a very plain cleopal level. A huge improvement on the author's previous level but this still has problems where you can get stuck forever. It's possible to go to the end fairly quickly and in a way why not if the route to the end trigger is available. But I had to reload a couple of times to go another way. Seems the idea here is to get scrolls I got four of them and four others that couldn't be got for different reasons. After that it's finding a pillar and a gem and a pile of ammo two revolvers and crossbow a lasersight and enough crossbow ammo to deal with a harpy and skellies. Actually I think I only came across two. So I'm inclined to think that this is again another building exercise by the author. At the start is a water room with a throne where you get the gem later on you reach a similar room this time dry but I've no idea if I actually drained that first one or this was a different room!" - CC (23-Oct-2004) |
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| "As the other level from this author it's a short level (this one lasted 10 minutes). This time Lara is in a temple with a lot of scrolls around. Nothing too complicated in this level but I died twice in the trap leading to the drained room (you see it twice: firstly flooded and then later it's dry). In the room before the final one you can find two secrets without much effort. Nice one but I wished it to be longer." - Treeble (07-Nov-2002) |
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| "The author surely improved on her previous Frozen in time demo but this one looks like a 'learning-process demo' also. Secrets are a dead give away. You can get stuck as soon as you slide down the mid-game long slope and you forgot one of the thingies to raise a block. But I sure had forgotten how fun it is to shoot a skeleton standing high above using the laser sight and to have all the bones dropping down spreading all around you (lol). And yesssss there is an end-of-level trigger... and pick-ups a lot of them as we've grown accustomed to from the already mentioned Frozen in time demo. Probably many authors don't make their first try-outs public but it is interesting to see the evolution when they do: so curious about this authors next one." - bERT (24-Oct-2002) |
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| "10 minutes of uneventful raiding in a bland Cleopatra tomb with only one skeleton and one harpy for company. Most of the time will be taken up by getting the secrets that are as easy to find as they are useless and you can even get stuck if you miss the head of the portal guardian. Add to that the occasional death by spikes and you have a TR adventure that you can give a miss without having missed much. But I liked the music scroll that was floating in the water." - Dimpfelmoser (08-Oct-2002) |
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| "Forgive me Michael for I have sinned. I have been neglecting my reviewing duties due to work and family commitments and the sporadic construction of my next level. I felt it was my duty to increase my (temporarily stalled) level reviews. I downloaded this short level in an effort to remedy the situation. I made a mistake. It is short. It is poorly made. It is impossible to complete if you venture too far without first acquiring the proper puzzle piece. It is not fun. I have learnt the error of my ways. I shall make a better choice next time." - Orbit Dream (18-Aug-2002) |
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| "What you will notice about this 15 minute level is the inordinate amount of pick ups mainly unnecessary but sometimes interesting especially Von Croy's broken glasses with the aim being to retrieve as many scrolls as you can find I think 5 with a few red herrings thrown in. Texturally it was quite organic looking with greenery and water used as well as some other elements to make it a pleasant place to play but again at only 15 minutes it was just too short to get any great enjoyment out of it." - Sash (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Another one of these short and crisp practice levels for the novice raider. Big rooms carelessly textured and a never seen object pick-up frenzy keep you busy for 15 minutes or so. I managed to find 4 secrets 5 of the rolls and 2 more which I could not pick up - one of them because the level ended to let me spend time with a more challenging piece of work." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Well obviously the Forgotten Knowledge was the 5 scrolls that you gathered along your route but other than a few pesky skeletons and one of those golden bird things (that got stuck in a corner) this was an uneventful level. Once you proceed passed a certain water tunnel there is no going back so make certain you have found all you will need. I exited the level without using the pharoh's knot so I don't know what was behind door number 3. Playing time for me 12 minutes." - Torry (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Better than Frozen in Time but still fairly simple and straightforward. Not much more to say really." - David (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Except for a few deadly traps this is quite an easy level. Your objectives are to find a gem the Pharaos Knot and a few scrolls (I found 5 I could pick up but found nothing to do with them). There are few enemies in your way a few skeletons but you will find plenty of ammo to rid yourself of the pests including the three secrets I found. The spikes had me reloading a few times though. A few times I was left wondering which door to go through first and in one area if you pick the wrong one there's no way to go back except to load an earlier save. I liked the lighting and the textures used here especially the water filled room at the beginning which you will later drain. Quite fun for a short level." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "With an abundance of ammo and nothing to do with it as you will encounter only three enemies one banshee and two skeletons your goal is to find the scrolls. I found 5 of them at least those were the ones I could pick up. Also 3 secrets but they are very easy to find. Had a harder time locating the blue gem you need to open the first door. Also you find the pillar and the guardian portal. As an afterthought you also pick up Von Croy's broken glasses. The game ended too soon for me as I took a wrong turn but hey what are those saved games for. 25-05-2002" - Gerty (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "As the author describes in his notes this level is incomplete. Standard textures but not good lighting. Getting the guns early, well it's a short level anyway, you will not use them as much the only enemies are a harpy and a couple of skeletons. The puzzle items are a gem, the portal guardian and the pharos knot. The interesting part is the scrolls you have to find but it would be also challenging if they were hidden, it is very easy to find them but the problem is that three of them you can't get or maybe I couldn't. One of them is up to a ledge that is only a texture so you can't stand there and pick up the scroll, the other one is in a tile with spikes which are activated when you step on it and the last one you can't get hold of because simply the level ends before you get the chance. One jump switch that dries a room and there are some goodies as well in it. It could have be a good level if more attention was given to it." - Kristina (21-Jun-2002) |
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