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Beyond Merciful Fate by Ruediger

bERT 2 3 6 6
Blue43 2 2 5 3
Ceamonks890 1 1 2 1
Dimpfelmoser 2 2 5 3
eTux 1 2 2 1
Gerty 1 2 1 2
Grayboy 3 3 3 3
Jay 2 3 3 2
Jose 1 2 3 3
Kristina 3 3 5 4
manarch2 1 1 2 1
MichaelP 2 4 6 3
Mulf 1 3 4 3
Orbit Dream 2 3 5 3
Oxy 8 8 10 9
RaiderGirl 3 3 4 2
Ryan 2 2 3 2
Sakusha 4 4 5 4
Sash 2 3 2 2
Torry 3 3 4 2
Treeble 3 3 4 3
 
release date: 03-Jan-2002
# of downloads: 44

average rating: 3.04
review count: 21
 
review this level

file size: 14.73 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
unbroken@unbrokenmetal.de

Reviewer's comments
"Committed heavy-metallist that he is, Rüdiger had his overwrought level titles down pat from the get-go, although he still had to work a bit on the gameplay. As it is, almost everything you can do here is optional, the enemies are easily avoided, and the only thing that’s actually required to reach the finish trigger (an event that occurs a few minutes in) is jumping across a few deadly pits in order to reach a lever and then run up a slope to the door it opened.
The impression of pervasive darkness is due to the textures used, as Treeble points out (they’re very dark so as to be almost black, with a reddish tint; they’re included in the City texture set, but weren’t actually used anywhere in that level), whereas apart from a few spots in which the builder placed shadowbulbs, the lighting is actually fairly bright; at times the ambience was even left at default. The many flares are therefore largely useless; but the builder was considerate enough to place them anyway, as a means of psychological comfort in the hellscape he was about to unleash. The level isn’t quite there, but despite the minimalist means employed, something approaching atmosphere emerges. It’s a start." - Mulf (06-Mar-2021)
"I'll never understand the reason why some authors build so dark levels; I understand some dark rooms here and there, but all the entire level lighting flares and even so you can't see more than a few meters around... And the gameplay? Not really a gameplay but only to pull a lonely lever to open the exit door; the remaining tasks are explore a lot of openings all around the entire level to find pickups you'll never use, except the flares and the grenade gun. The author tried to create atmosphere placing some musics near the end, but unfortunately this level was not funny for me. Sorry." - Jose (09-Jan-2018)
"There's broodingly atmospheric and then there's 'where's my guide dog?' I'm afraid this falls into the latter camp. Short, rather disjoined and lacking in any real enjoyment, this first offering from Ruediger gave little indication that he would later bring us some enjoyable raiding. I'm sorry he appears to have given up making levels, but please don't judge him on this one." - Jay (06-Aug-2017)
"You can make levels atmospherically dark and make levels irritatingly dark and I'm afraid this is the latter. Not much gameplay here either with finding a lever and avoiding a couple of non-challenging traps. Luckily, Ruediger improved greatly soon after, so this debut can just be looked upon as a steep learning curve." - Ryan (04-Dec-2016)
"Just another badly-designed Egyptian debut level with all the issues you'd expect(generally poor texturing, flat lighting, uninspired level design, boring gameplay... the list goes on.) So overall, not recommended." - Ceamonks890 (18-Jul-2015)
"A very short level at 3 minutes that doesn't behold anything of interest and has all ingredients of extremely rushed debuts. The gameplay can be summed up with first finding a lever and then the open door. The level even fails to be a little spooky, it is just dark and the few enemies don't really pose a threat..." - manarch2 (27-Sep-2014)
"This is a quick and easy debut level without any difficult challenges, or puzzles. The only thing really memorable was that excessive darkness. Enemies are mummies and skeletons, which are easily taken care of with a grenade launcher or can simply be avoided. One mummy came right through a push block as if it couldn't wait to be disposed. There are a couple of spikes, a boulder and some lava pits. Sound and atmosphere were nice and the whole level was a bit on the spooky side. The good thing was that were plenty of flares, which made the darkness somewhat tolerable, although they weren't really effective. Textures: Hard to tell, as it was so dark that one could hardly see anything even with binoculars. Play it id you like something simple for in between and if you like to be in total darkness." - Blue43 (21-Oct-2010)
"While clearly being a first try, it's still much more developed than most of today's quickly rushed projects we seem to have. You get the usual here, stretchd textures, untextured spots, bogus scripts so the game will crash when you reload. There seems to be an unanimity about the darkness in the level, but fortunately you are given more flares you'll ever need right at the start. Actually you don't even need them, but since most of the textures are black you get the feeling a flare will help. 10 minutes. 05/08" - Treeble (22-May-2008)
"I like this game a lot. If you want to get scared, this is just game for you. I played this game twice (a few months before and today) and even if you know where the switch is and enemies are, I am still very scared. Congratulations to the author! :-) I didn't need the shootgun. You can find a way without triggering two sceletons before the end or you can be fast enough before they reach you. And of course I am happy I escaped. :-)" - Oxy (07-Oct-2005)
"This is pretty impressive for a first try. The fact that it only consists of 16 rooms is quite surprising especially since it looks pretty big. The enemies the objects the sound triggers and the cameras were well-placed. Basically the player has to get some equipment and pull a switch in order to finish the level (you NEED the shotgun). The darkness the lava room and the incorrect load screen parameters make the level more difficult. Sadly there are one or two paper-thin walls untextured water and a few stretched textures." - Sakusha (20-Jun-2004)
"For as little as there is to do (find a lever and the door it opens basically) I really enjoyed this first tiny adventure by Rüdiger. Even more it convinces me having played a few others of him that one day he will make a top 50 level. The man clearly enjoys static camera views and they're better than some of the ones in top levels (though one fly-by camera was a bit rushing and too abrupt). Another static camera view was even better still where you saw two skeletons awake while you run along a sloped wall path. Now as far as the settings go I thought they were indeed basic but breathed a lot of atmosphere most certainly because of that big blue stone wall splitting the different areas up a bit. The darkness here worked to the advantage of the atmosphere as well. Nice little lava pits too. Very short very basic but a 'Rüdiger' is always fun in some kind of way." - bERT (01-Feb-2004)
"To call this level 'deeply flawed' would be a massive understatement, and yet despite all the aggravations there are still one or two striking moments: The camera angle at the start; and again, later on, when Lara runs up a long ramp pursued by baddies; the ambience which, at times, seems almost a celebration of blackness. However, lets not get carried away. And the missing Load screen is definitely the final straw!" - Orbit Dream (22-May-2003)
"The only thing you have to do in this level is to activate a lever and then escape through the door and you even don't need to meet the mummy near some sort of ruins crawl in the small crawlspace after the flares and scarabs and you can also ignore the swim that gets you ammo for a grenade gun you never shall find. As you understand now the level is dead short but if you decide to play this level I can give you a little hint to shorten your play time - Don't play it!!! (well if seriously - look for small openings on the sides of the big building with skeletons)." - eTux (03-Jan-2003)
"Well I generally refuse to watch films with titles like 'Silent Screams' or 'Eyes in the Darkness' as all you usually get is some very dull and tedious dross. On the same grounds I was a bit wary when I downloaded 'Beyond Merciful Fate' as the title sounds a bit pretentious to me. But I shouldn't have worried. It's short it's annoyingly dark and there is no load screen but I liked the atmosphere and the dramatic moment near the end that is nicely supported by the sound and camera angles." - Dimpfelmoser (18-Nov-2002)
"As everyone should know by now I just hate dark levels. Why play them the only reason I have for this one so it will be out of my system and I won't have to think about it ever again. As for gameplay pull a lever get some ammo dodge a mummy or two some skeletons and some traps. After I finished I had a blasting headache. 08-07-2002" - Gerty (10-Jul-2002)
"This has to go into my top ten of most uneventful and inane levels out there. Set in one large outdoor area at night you must find one lever to open the end door find loads of pick ups that are to the most point useless and avoid a couple of skeletons and a mummy or two. As a starting point for a level this would be fine but this was the entire level if you could call it that so to rate it any higher would be an insult to other levels." - Sash (21-Jun-2002)
"Only 16 rooms and an acknowledged first try by the author and certainly good potential to improve. Not much to do other than a few pickups and a lever to pull and the lighting and texturing really needs some work. Only a few skeletons and mummies to avoid on your 15 minutes trip. But what I did like was the dark and moody atmosphere created and the good use of sound and cameras." - Michael (21-Jun-2002)
"It was certainly a 'mercy' that this level was so short. If you enjoy running around in the dark looking for one damned lever to exit a rather uneventful level then this is for you. The rest of you don't bother." - Torry (21-Jun-2002)
"This is one of the first levels I've ever played where I can't think of anything positive to say about it. First of all the level was WAY too dark! There were many times I thought 'I need to light a flare' only to realize I already had one lit. They didn't seem to help at all in these pitch black locations. There's really not much to do but it would have been nice to be able to see it. There is one switch to open a door a few traps and some skeletons and mummies running around and still it was way too long. Actually I can think of one positive thing - there was some good camera work here especially a view of Lara as she is swimming underwater. This level needs a lot more than that to be worth playing though. Maybe the level should be renamed to 'Beyond Help'." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)
"This is a very short level which has Lara crawling around in the dark probably wondering 'what's the point of this?'. No real difficulty in playing this level except the game crashes when you load a saved game - more enjoyment to be had in reading Forum comments! I hope the author's next level is improved." - Grayboy (21-Jun-2002)
"This is a very short level and is lacking of interest. A few skeletons and a mummy or two some pick ups and two pushables in a room. The majority of the textures are stretched. There are pools and some fire traps but all of these are not a part of any story." - Kristina (21-Jun-2002)