Level reviews

"Well, like I've stated in another recent review, short levels such as these have become a rarity nowadays, and you don't always have that much free time to spare to invest into lenghty sessions. I'm happy I could find time to play and write this review in an otherwise busy day, even if there's hardly anything worthy of notice in the level itself. The room with the scorpion attack was nice, even though the engine couldn't render all of the two dozen or so at the same time so there was a lot of flickering, and there were some nice cave-in flipmap concepts, but everything else didn't seem to receive the required attention to make this a worthwhile raid. Sorry. 20 minutes, 3 secrets. 06/21" - Treeble

"I enjoyed the builder's Uranium Death rather a lot, its crude design notwithstanding. This debut level of his, its predecessor, was created in the same spirit of reckless abandon, but designed even more crudely, its rooms mere sandboxes with rushed texturing and several errors in construction, and crucially, often uninspired enemy placement. - Forget about that room with 1000 scorpions!' urges the Manual, but the builder gives it his best shot anyway, and that's maybe this level's best scene, along with the slide into a surprise crocodile pit. The eponymous ninjas (all of the red type) on the other hand, come usually in couples, later in groups of four or six, and appear with increasing predictability even if they materialise out of thin air.
The builder adds a few atmospheric touches with a few too many flybys (one of which is broken, the others executed quite well) and especially a dark corridor illuminated by ominous red lights, which nudge the score up a bit although lighting is otherwise absent. Gameplay is fluent as there is no useless backtracking, despite the outsized environment; but the latter, along with the amount and the nature of the pickups (lots of grenades of all types) made me expect rather more of a massacre, and the level felt to short and insubstantial for the promise it seemed to hold." - Mulf

"This is quite an enthusiastic little debut, but will probably be more enjoyable for shooters. The somewhat slapdash elements and crude appearance of the textures mean that there's not much on the visual front, and the flyby cameras are somewhat disorienting, but you can tell that some effort was put into the combat sequences and it's not entirely without its good bits (never thought I'd say that about a shooter level)." - Ryan

"This is one of these levels when you get a whole arsenal of weapons. Fortunately, most of them are useful, unlike in some other games I've completed with pistols only, wondering what to do with all these bullets and explosives I kept finding throughout these adventures. So one point for the objects, second one for the enemies (requiring various tactics to kill, even if appearing from thin air). Aha, and one for some nice secrets, though easy to find. All of that creates smooth, relaxing gameplay, with only one short backtrack. Puzzles are what we can usually meet - go here and there for some key, place it somewhere else with a little searching for a proper slot, but I was finding them in quite climatic scenery. SUMMARY: I took a trip to Ninja Academy Of Egypt, obtained a solid metal part of their knowledge and prevented some wise red guys from getting their PhD. It was nice and relaxing, even with graphics of average level. Recommended." - DJ Full

"Well, the level builder has put a lot of time and energy in the Flybys, but for the textures it has not been left any more a lot. Since otherwise one could not have seen so many stretched textures. Or missing textures. Or paper-thin walls. And the rock walls also looked not very realistic. A few rooms were built quite substantially. And with so many opponents the vast amounts of weapons and ammunition make of course very sense. As a pure Shooterlevel this work is completely okay, but one should not have too high demands." - Scottie

"The title of the level says it all, for there are groups of ninjas (I once encountered four of them at the same time) at every corner. I was surprised by the number of scorpions and crocodiles as well. Fortunately, there are enough medipacks and weapons. The lighting needs some work (especially in the underwater areas), the textures are streched, some textures are missing, the canopic jar receptacle is barely visible, and a few walls are paper-thin. However, there are a few interesting flipmaps and flyby sequences. After using a few guardian keys, a golden uraeus and a canopic jar, Lara leaves the ninja academy with the amulet of Horus. Overall, it's not too bad for a first try, and I think the next level will be an improvement." - Sakusha

"A first try with (what always seems to be an echo of wishful thinking) too many weapon pick ups at every corner to fight loads of ninjas. Some lights and camera fly-bys are not bad, and one second I was really terrified when Lara fell into a hole full of crocodiles! Not bad for a start, but needs improvement." - Ruediger

Architecture is very, very simplr, only squares and rectangles, rooms too huge. Very elongated and badly applied textures. Lara's movements pressing the buttons aren't correct. You can't go into the water hole near the pyramid from outside (bad put doors). Wafer thin walls. Do you like hundreds of pickups? Then it's your level. Secrets are too much easy to find, you only have to pick it up. Sometimes appears too much enemies at the same time (scorpions, crocodiles, ninjas,...). The hole to place the canopic jar isn't visible. A good attempt, but are too many defects. - Jose

"Sometimes the innocence that is portrayed through the look and feel of what I can only assume is a debut level is really quite refreshing, this of course also usually depends on your state of mind at the time of playing, and I guess my state of mind must have been in the right place because I quite enjoyed this 30 minute level. This is though a level that is on the cusp of basic set in a small Egyptian town with a lot of ninjas running around (what else would you have expected by the title), so don't expect too much just play it and enjoy it for what it is." - Sash

"When many builders nowadays are striving for the 'super-duper and even better than Core Design' effect, it's gratifying to still be able to encounter an enthusiastic effort such as this, which seems to sum up the old 'anyone can have a go' spirit, which used to be the joy of Custom Levels. I would hazard a guess and state that Martin is probably a young chap, as all the trademarks of youthful building are here: stretched textures everywhere, wafer-thin walls, no attempt at lighting, missing textures on land and underwater, secrets that you can't possibly miss and heaps of ammunition with which to counter the plethora of enemy attacks. And it's all shamelessly enjoyable, naturally. The scorpion room contains more of those nasty creatures than I've ever encountered before, and the pleasantly 'going round in circles' gameplay possesses a certain symmetry. It's a good laugh, albeit mostly for the wrong reasons." - Orbit Dream

"A first by this author and a shooter at that. Beginner's mistakes as non textured parts, paperthin walls doesn't say you can't play it. It is a fast level and you can't get lost. Needing two Guardian Keys and a Vraeus and even later a Canopic Jar that can be overlooked in the heat of the battle. Lara left with loads of ammo and weapons and found 2 secrets and in the end she took the Amulet with her as prize money for all her trouble. 23-04-2005" - Gerty

"This is certainly appropriately named; the place is heaving with ninjas. Somebody also ordered a job lot of scorpions and crocodiles too - they attack in large numbers. This is obviously a first time build so don't expect a lot from it, but it's short and not unattractive if you want to do battle with massed enemies and find the odd artefact." - Jay

"Oh well - not much to do for Lara here. Everything is basically right in front of her feet. ;)....The surroundings are a bit bare, just a few buildings with not much to do in them other than picking up a few items and at the end one of the Ninjas loses the Amulet of Horus. Textures were standard, but not well applied and often stretched. Enemies were Ninjas, crocodiles and scorpions, sometimes appearing in bulks. Very short level." - Engelchen Lara

"Well it's clearly a first effort or at least one of the very first. You can see that from the stretched and badly applied textures, the wrong animation for the buttons and the end of the world bug. The receptacle for the canopic jar is just about showing and there are many ninjas to fight but what else, could one expect in a ninja academy which is actually a coastal scenery thrown together. Twenty five minutes and three secrets found." - Kristina

"I kind of liked this level even if the textures were not any good and there were a few bugs (the place where you should insert the jar was almost invisible!) The secrets were too easy and there were too many pickups that you never needed (insert FLARES here) A LOT of ninjas and scorpions though, so the ammo was nice. There are few cool camera flybys and the map layout is not bad. Not a bad first level. Maybe too short though. 2005-05-02" - QRS

"This one is certainly got the right name. Lara finds her way into a large building where a LOT of ninjas want to do her harm. A beginning level, and with the usual problems, but still fun to play. The camera work is good, and the game goes along energetically and with sound logic. I hope we see more from this author." - Duncan

"22 minutes of rushing through a coastal textured environment shooting plenty of ninjas, crocodiles and scorpions while picking up two guardian keys, a vraeus and a canopic jar. Still, in its simplicity it is a fun little raid, very relaxing and with a surprisingly big amount of flybys thrown in for good measure. Looks a bit strange that the correct animation is missing for pressing all those buttons, but that does not impact your progression. Found three easy secrets along the way." - Michael

"Due to the low rating it may seem like this must be a horrible level, but it mainly is spoilt by its relatively short playtime. Yes, true - this looks very beginnerish - huge empty, uninspired rooms, stretched textures, simplistic lighting, paper-thin walls, door bugs etcetera, etcetera, but I felt that there really wasn't time for much to happen in the 22 minutes I spent here till reaching the end. There were some nifty flipmap effects along the way, a couple of simple to avoid scissor blades, and as the title indicates - lots and lots of ninja students of this academy. The sheer amount of them attacking you simultaneously might seem like a challenge, but it isn't due to the fact that you find every weapon there is along the way. There seems to be a problem with animations in the level too, as Lara did nothing when she should've pushed the numerous buttons along the way, but that doesn't really harm the gameplay anyhow, except for one place - where a ninja pushed Lara out of a window while she was in her 'not-pushing-button' mode. The level actually is quite charming in its innocence and might be a perfect break along the bigger series. Try it if you want to see the desert/coastal building setting and battle lots of ninjas, but don't expect much from it to enjoy it the most. I certainly hope the author keeps improving his skills and building more levels, as this was fun and certainly has potential." - eTux