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Level: Return for the Amulet 5 - Zazar's Library back home search
Author(s): sleeper
total rating:7.50 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Andi Croft 8 8 8 8
CC 8 8 8 7
Dimpfelmoser 6 8 7 7
eRIC 4 7 7 6
Gerty 5 8 8 7
John 9 9 8 9
Kristina 7 7 7 7
MichaelP 8 8 8 7
Navi 9 8 8 9
Orbit Dream 5 7 6 7
RaiderGirl 9 9 8 9
rjb 8 8 8 8
Sash 9 8 8 8
Scottie 8 7 6 5
Tombaholic 8 8 7 7
Torry 9 9 9 9
Treeble 5 7 5 5
category averages
(17 reviews)		 7.35 7.88 7.41 7.35

Reviewer's comments

"I know, I know. I should start not really immediately with the negative points. But here there is a lot what has disturbed me. The lighting was very different. Mostly it was monotonously bright. And a Sun was very often absent. One could see many stretched textures. And there were many hidden passageways which one could not recognise, because they were covered by textures. The sound was sometimes absent and some of the riddles were illogical and without every hint what is to be done. And there were missing a few camera hints. However, on the other side it has already given pleasure to play this level. Most riddles felt well and were relatively easy to solve. One could see a few well built rooms and the opponents were easy to defeat. Who has no problem with the appealed negative points, can play here about 1 hour a quite good level." - Scottie (11-Feb-2010)

"I don't particularly like walkthrough walls;I like even less the idea of fall-through floors;and I absolutely hate the concept of jump-through ceilings!In fact,this level is full of rather wonky gameplay ideas:obscure object-pushing puzzles,repetetive fire-wraith attacks,pointless lever-pulling and loads of non-burning tiles which fry Our Lady.The best bits were the tin-men attacks (one on horseback) and the gracefull camera fly-by's. Everything else about this was unfortunately rather run-of-the-mill." - Orbit Dream (30-May-2008)

“Can a recent player add anything else useful at this late date? (13.10.03). Well the globe puzzles DO have a (difficult to see) clue to their solution: if you look at he floor tiles in each room where there is such a puzzle you might spot that the tile patterns where the globes need to be placed are turned through 90 degrees in EACH case: e.g. the black and white checks (that 'jar' in the first globe room in a few places) and the admittedly faint markings on 3 brown tiles and one white tile on the 6x7 'chessboard' for the 'gems' globe puzzle near the end. The curious thing is that in each case only ONE of the globes actually needs to placed correctly the one nearest to where the door is going to be opened which seems to make significant chunks of the game redundant (e.g. the finding of all the gems). Nevertheless I think this is by far the best of the 6 levels in this series with its atmosphere puzzles and 'quirky bits' and I was only sorry that I couldn't take all the ammo I'd collected in levels 4 and 5 into level 6 (a data files clash?) though you don't really need it there.” – rjb (15-Oct-2003)

“As far as the setting is concerned and the textures we still have some thin walls. Now as for gameplay well it's kind of weird globes that you just move around and suddenly doors open no clues as to what tile they should be on. A star gems a scroll and one globe puzzle had me cursing all day there is no clue available or at least none that I found and if you ask me the solution I would say trial and error and if you are lucky you might solve it this year. Fire traps and walkthrough walls are present as usual. Nothing more to say than I am glad this is over.” – Kristina (04-Jul-2003)

“A library level no doubt using library textures but also using a lot of Venice textures. An intriguing globe pushing puzzle the first of many. A little unfair I think that some of these globes are pushed onto unmarked squares which means a lot of pushing and pulling and trial and error to see which one it is. A switch hidden in the ceiling the only indication that there might be something there is a smoking pedestal. On to an exciting room with burning bricks and jumps. A lot of chains to pull one well hidden a few swinging chains to pass a ball to shoot - you trip over the lasersight in front of it so considering all the intrigue up to now this was too obvious and a lot of gem-chested knights to shoot three in a huge library room. Whichever way you go you come back to the start and place a star a gem and a scroll to open the big blue doors. The best level in the series - so far - as I'm off to play the next one.” – CC (06-Jun-2003)

“Well there has been a long while since I played this series’ earlier levels but even so I didn't forget (and this level won't allow you to) the walkthrough walls and ceilings. Whenever you reach a strange room with no apparent exit look for the different floor tile and jump. There are some quests to do looking for a star a gem and a scroll to open the doors at the first big room in this level but don't think it's going to be easy - lots of senseless puzzles await you (such as pushing blocks over unmarked tiles or subtle flipped textures) and there was one with the pushable planets in the checkers like board you needed three gems to open the doors but I found only two and then I left that area and went back to the beginning used the scroll and could finish the level anyway. I don't know what I missed there but really I have no idea where the last gem piece was hidden and what good would it do for me.” – Treeble (19-May-2003)

“This was the best amulet-level. I had to kill some horsemen and one on the horse. I had to find some horseman’s gems and one golden star. I do not like the globe-puzzle in this level. I could not find the way. A long time later I found the way. I needed to push the red globe to another field and I had to walk through the wall. And I had luck as a friend says I must find a jump-switch in the ceiling. I must jump through the ceiling to push it. I found it in one minute. This is not good. You must seek a few hours when you do not know the way. I had to find a music scroll. But the last horseman I found for what is this? I was playing 53 minutes for this level and I had fun but the globe-puzzle is frustrating.” – Andi Croft (16-Feb-2003)

“This is also a very enjoyable level but for the globe puzzles as it took me forever to figure out what they did. In my notes it says in the first room push yellow globe on tile left of door opening; that lowers a block in next room. Find pink globe push aside walkthrough wall etc. In another room you encounter another globe push blue globe (north) on white tile near it raises block get star. So far so good. From then on I forgot to make notes as I played this of and on beginning in August till now. There are nice ideas and I liked the lay out of this level. Battling of course the iron horseman on his horse is always great and almost at the end 3 horsemen as well. You’ll encounter some very pesky wraiths. So take note where there is water. All in all this was a very frustrating level as I hate using every tile in a room for the globes as there are no clues. Beware also that there are some trapdoors oh and that lever hint: yes a jump through ceiling so you won’t have to wonder around forever trapped in this library. 07-10-2002” – Gerty (13-Oct-2002)

“I managed to finish this on my third attempt thanks to eRIC who posted the solution to the trial and error globe pushing puzzle in the forum. Thankfully I had spotted FGs notice about the jump through ceiling before otherwise that would have been another dead end for me. I enjoyed battling the iron horseman (with horse) and the fire elementals were placed rather well but the puzzles left me somewhat errr...... puzzled. I have to admit I never found the three gems that eRIC is talking about in his review (I only found one) so apparently you don't need them to reach the end. The library setting is ok by and large but we've seen better the camera work and the flybys really good while the lighting is rather charmless I thought. If you get past the frustrating globe pushing (or could it be that I missed the clues) this one hour level is quite entertaining but gameplaywise I still prefer the first two installments of this series.” – Dimpfelmoser (01-Oct-2002)

“Part 5 is a level based on puzzles. And difficult too. My Lara likes that a lot. There is not a lot of shooting. The level really surprised me a bit as the designer has increased the difficulty level. Lara has to run and swim a lot sometimes in combination with mazes. She had to pass through walkthrough-walls and –ceilings. Tricky to find those but my Lara checks every tile and finds various artifacts. Lighting and textures were well applied. Not many enemies except for a few horsemen. But that did not spoil the atmosphere as Lara was busy with the puzzles. There is also a pushable object puzzle which reminded me of TR4 due to the use of the planets. I found three well-hidden secrets. If you like tricky puzzles then download it. Is a matter of taste.” – Navi (09-Sep-2002)

“This is not a bad level but some puzzles are much too strange and frustrating to create an enjoyable raiding. I am not speaking of the walkthrough walls and curtains and the author has made a great innovation with a ‘jump through ceiling’ to pull a jump switch. No no what was frustrating are the puzzles with the movable globes as you have no clues to solve them. It is only trial and error and especially error! I am still wondering what did lower the block in the first room I have just followed the advices of Momster and Dimpfelmoser on the forum and surprisingly it worked! Then we have another movable globe puzzle this one seemed a little more logical well not really. And the third one at the end was the cherry on the cake: So later you find 3 more gems (2 behind red walkthru curtains 1 after diving in water nearby the big room with a 6x7 chessboard and a yellow globe). The 3 gems open gates so you have 4 globes to place in the goal of lowering a block to exit the big room. I have tried for ages to place them and eventually I found out you don't need to use the 3 gems at all to finish the level. Just moving the yellow globe of one tile on the right lowers the block to exit the room. Then you can see a fifth globe after swinging chains and 3 more blocks to raise I suppose that maybe moving the 3 previous globes (those linked to the gems) raise those blocks to be able to move the fifth globe ???? But what this fifth globe was for anyway? I've just moved on returned to the beginning area by the exit placed the scroll and finished the level 5 minutes later. The enemies are rather well used the camera work is good and the jumps in the deadly room with chaotic slopes and blocks to find another secret is fun but the puzzles are too much weird. I have enjoyed levels 1 2 and 6 in this series. Yes the big maze in level 2 was less frustrating than those globes puzzles.” – eRIC (01-Sep-2002)

“Being the fifth in the series I was really surprised by how strong intricate and just plain fun this hour long level was and on its own stands alone extremely well. This level has great progression with you going on quite lengthy adventures searching for key pick ups and then coming back to the starting point to use them along the way you come across many sneaky walkthrough walls floors and ceilings as well as 3 secrets some not overly hard puzzles and a small amount of enemies that put up quite a good fight. Wonderfully though for a library level this only has one blue door to kick in!” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“Certainly the highlight of the series not only because camera and music are used to advantage. Gameplay revolves around finding a star a gem and a scroll to place in the initial area and is very entertaining with a few not so obvious Planet moving puzzles some walkthru walls/ceilings/floors and battles with horsemen and fire wraiths. I missed one of the three secrets but made my way through the area with the three gems and this was in fact one of the best parts of the hour long level.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“Now this was a fun level. Much better than the preceding four and is built on the library wad. If you enjoy battling horsemen then this is the level for you because there are heaps of them. The puzzles also took a bit of thinking and had me stumped on a few occasions. The only downside was later into the level where you needed three horseman’s gems to open three cabinets containing planets well you could avoid all that by simply safety dropping back down from whence you came with the newly acquired scroll to open the final doors to the level. All in all a fun level to play and I now look forward to the last installment and hope to God I find that bloody amulet lol.” – Torry (21-Jun-2002)

“For me this is the best level so far of this series. The gameplay was quite varied with some good traps and puzzles and some very devious secret panels that Lara can walk through to find secrets. In fact one extensive part of the game which involves locating three gems gives access to two of the game's secrets but you can skip it entirely and still progress to the end of the level. Atmosphere and textures improve over previous levels but are still not the strong point of the level. I also have to rate down because of many cut scene cameras which don't release. All in all though it's still a fun level to play.” – Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)

“With this level along with his previous four Bruce has proven how very clever he is and how devious as well. I almost gave up on the series after the darkness of the first two levels but am now glad I gave the rest a try. In my opinion Zazar's Library is the best in the series. I spent almost two hours fighting horsemen solving interesting puzzles and finding certain objects needed to progress further into the level. Now that I know what to do I'm looking forward to playing this again to see how much faster I can get through it - and it IS worth playing again. The textures were used perfectly in what I can only describe as a huge underground library with many secret passages and hidden areas. The few areas that had me stuck were usually solved by finding a walkthrough wall or ceiling or sometimes by trial and error (and a little help from a friend). I played the long version and found three secrets which included ammo and medipacks but found they weren't really necessary as there are plenty of supplies to be found through the level. My only complaint is that the cameras got stuck after I pulled a switch and I had to wait a bit to continue on. Great level and one I highly recommend.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)

“Very original! I really enjoyed playing this level there is lots of puzzles to solve and traps to avoid. A must download for anyone! I loved the way the level was designed. It is a very entertaining level once you get past the first couple of rooms. There is lots to explore and enjoy. This level has a kind of secret library feel to it which was well made and textured. There are many walkthrough walls and ceilings which is very crafty of the maker. I can’t wait for a sequel!” – John (21-Jun-2002)
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