Level reviews

"The gameplay was my least favorite aspect of this otherwise great level set. It is servicable, it will get the job done for a lot of raiders, but it is pretty straightforward and compact, meaning the game mostly takes place in tight, linear environments where solutions to a puzzle are often just nearby and do not commonly require much brainstorming. The first level is the biggest offender in this regard, and I'd say it was fairly unengaging had the environments not looked good. After the second level the areas branch and breathe, and we even have non-linear parts here and there, but the feeling of compactness does not really leave, at least for me it didn't. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, one can see it as the builder not artifically lengthening the gameplay with illogical paths, but it wasn't what I looked for personally. A couple more criticisms I will give : The safe tiles are a mess in the Underwater Excavates level. There are gooey tiles all around which are sometimes safe and sometimes not, more attention should have been paid to that. And the final level has a very obvious shortcut, so much so that I didn't even realize it was one, and I was confused why the heck it all suddenly ended, and had to eventually redo the level just to take the appropriate path (you can slide-jump to the upper floor and simply grab the Crystal of Vegetation from the get-go). Anyway, outside of all these there was nothing wrong with the level set. The opposite in fact, the game simply looks gorgeous and breathtaking, even for current standards. Very strong colors, lighting, which naturally increase the atmosphere, pleasant TR3 music, very good texture work. The environment feels natural and logical. If you want a relatively uncomplicated raid that will still give you the Tomb Raider feel, definitely go for it." - Nomad

"This is a set of great looking levels despite its age, and there are a lot of elements (the outfit, the audio track selection, the sound effects) that make this a clear tribute to TR3, except it's actually good. For the most part it takes place in Egyptian settings, sometimes mixed in with jungle areas and sometimes modern facilities, which makes it a bit unusual but as a whole it works well I think. It took me four nights to see this to the end, and that's only thanks to the very thorough walkthrough by Selene, not so much because it's a particularly tricky or challenging set of levels but rather because there are lots of buttons to push and a whole lot of running around to be done, so a faulty memory and short attention span like mine just wouldn't do. There are a lot of nice setups, such as the side rooms in Crocodilopolis, plus custom items I don't recall seeing anywhere else (the crocodile demigod and pushblocks). The ending is rather abrupt, as you simply pull over to a wall behind the third mcguffin, but Lara of course had gone the scenic route to get to it instead as usual. 4 hours, 15 secrets. 10/23" - Treeble

"Really decent set overall. One major complaint would be the difficulty - this thing is a little too easy pretty much all the way through. Personally never really felt challenged and this led to a lack of real excitement or enjoyment whilst playing. Outside of this however it's pretty solid all round. The levels are spread over a variety of settings and for the most part look pretty good. Some parts can be a bit plain but there are some real stand-out areas. Level 4 in particular is great. Recommended, but if you're looking for something really challenging you may be a little bored by this. If you're a beginner or are looking for a more relaxing time, it's perfect." - Passalaqua

"This game consists of six levels. There's a lot of exploration, some easy platforming, some enemies, some traps and few easy puzzles. It's almost impossible to get stuck because it's always clear what you have to do. The design is classic and various, the levels geometry is very good, but in my opinion the general atmosphere is a little flat, there's no climax anywhere and the gameplay after a while is repetitive, despite the change of setting from level to level. So, at the end of the story, you wonder if it was really a memorable adventure or it was just a long classic raiding." - Teone

"Probably one of the most underrated Hall of Fame entry, as I quite hear of this not very often. Crystal of Amun is a game that always fascinated me: I like it and I hate it at the same time. Lemme explain quite better: the game begins with a "museum" like level, and at the time I played it the first time ... I didn't really like it at all. It felt boring compared to what the game really, really is capable of doing, I remember stopping playing it for months only after I got to the sewers. Fortunately the second level is indeed better than the first level, and it grabbed my attention at least! The third level, here's where things start getting good, reaaaaaally good! My only complain for the level is the confusing nature of the first part, but the second part ... with that "four paths, four challenges" it really fascinated me. And then the fourth level, it's pure gold, the underwater caves are big to explore and the underwater facility is probably my favorite part of the entire game! I am not sure if it's that kind of creepy atmosphere it has ... all those mutated creatures ... Then ... then we get to the fifth level ... which I don't like: suddenly we are thrown in a totally different place that what we were used to be ... a quite non-linear gameplay that kind of feels off for the game, I recall an instance in which I had to go to a cabin and I could get there in two ways, one would trigger enemies and the other would not ... and in the end the jeep ride ... it again rushed the slow nature of the game. But fortunately the sixth level managed to fix the problem it's predecessor had but surprisingly manages to have two annoying bugs that could have had fixed no problem: n°1 - there is a flyby sequence that goes far out of bounds to the end of the level for no reason whatsoever and n°2 - in the last room of the level there is a rising block that is rose in thin air as the flipped room does not have the same geometry in that area it used to have! This game triggers me and mind-blown me at the same time (and suddenly I am Nathaniel Bandy), but surely deserves a look, there's no other thing left to be said. Wolfy Regards." - Wolf7

"Much better than the prologue and I think a bit underrated. One of those levels which don't give you technical fireworks and insane creativity but just do everything correctly, keeping it simple and working, and does the job despite of several small errors, so you get immersed and don't waste your time on being stuck but progress rather smothly through a fairly long game. The middle aquatic level must be the highlight, also the jeep ride sometimes felt as good as KV5 and even the tinnos setting was good. A bit of more smooth lighting could be useful here and there but that's the only gripe." - DJ Full

"This is a highly enjoyable adventure which will take you through a variety of different settings. Each level was slightly darker than I would have preferred, although thankfully it does brighten up a bit towards the end. You travel from a VCI base environment, then to a rocky canyon/cave area, then to a Tinnos environment, a "Sleeping With the Fishes" underwater level and then to an Egyptian desert, while obtaining you crystals along the way. Recommended if you search for a lengthy and varied adventure." - Ryan

"I found this adventure really fascinating and it has an awesome story to it the levels were really well done and every level I had a lot of enjoyment with all the enimies I also found all the secrets wich where really well placed and I also enjoyed looking around every corner to see what was there and sometimes there were enimies sometimes it was a secret I would deffinitly reccomend this level to anyone who is a Fan of TR4" - lokky99101

"The PSA Research Centre: (9/8/7/9) - A very entertaining level which remains me to some levels from the classic games. On one hand, it reminds me totally to High Security Coumpoud, a clear area of it can be in the big room with two huge pools. The goal in there is to collect a fuse that floods the other empty pool which grantes the access to later areas and so. And on the other hand reminds me (but less) to the Croft Manor from TR3 where there was a nicely hidden switch on one of the walls in the library. This is a very good opening level to the adventure in my opinion. The effor Dennis made is clearly visible in here.
Caves of Sobek: (9/8/9/9) - Another spectacular level which makes us to feel ourselves in the Nevada Desert from TR3. In terms of gameplay, I must recognise it has increased strongly in comparison with the previous level for me. The textures are mainly from TR3 Nevada Desert level and from the Egypt level of TR1. The enemies are mostly miners and dogs and let's don't forget the crazy amount of bats there're too.
Ruins of Crocodilopolis: (10/9/10/10) - It seems our raider has changed the style while in her journey. Let's see what's new here. I would have to start telling that textures has suffered a remodeling process. If you could feel you were easily in the Nevada Desert and the Egypt level from two classic TR games in the previous level, now this time we've seemingly travelled to Tinnos. Most of the textures are based on that hard and epic level from the third title from the classics. The enemies are basically dogs and crocodiles (as the level name seems to indicate). I've loved the gameplay in this one. I specially enjoyed the part of the four keys. Each one had its traps and stuff. The traps one was the hardest in my opinion, but the difficulty is always relative. I forgot to mention that near of the end of the level there was a demigod she has to face after the part I mentioned just above.
Underwater Excavates: (10/9/9/10) Well, it seems that as we move forward the adventure goes better and better. This level is, again, totally different as all the others. The textures have been amazingly built by this great builder. I'm particularly referring to all those purple ones from the tanks. Most of them are deadly, but at the end of the level, they're all safe (I also must recognise I had to ensure that they're actually safe before keep moving). In this case the enemies are mostly guards (present in the facilities), some kind of aliens as we continue, crocodiles and piranhas (piranhas at the beginning in the huge underwater cave). Gameplay is awesome. I enjoyed all we I had to follow here, that's why I gave the highest points to this category.
The Oasis Fayyum: (8/8/9/9) - Another different looking gives us this new level. I didn't enjoy this level so much as I did in some other previous levels in terms of gameplay really. The textures has changed totally again. Now they're similar to the India levels from TR3. Enemies are crocodiles are some Indian guys or so (I wouldn't know how to name them). This can be easily my least favourite level out off all the 6 there are.
Temple of Osiris: (9/8/9/8] - Finally, this one has a lot of with the previous level. In terms of gameplay, I enjoyed it much more the the Oasis Fayyum level, some cool traps on her and some nice challenges has achieved the gameplay goes further in this one. The textures are very similar to the ones used in the previous level and enemies are still crocodiles and some new demigods that need your time to kill. They're resiliant and they will not die so easily. The adventure ends when she gets the third and last Amun's Crystal ( The Crystal of Vegetation).
Overall - Conclusion & Recommendations: (9/9/9/10) - An awesome adventure may players will enjoy playing through. It's recommened for anyone, independently from his/her experience in Tomb Raider gaming. Very good job, Dennis. Your effort got its well deserved consequences." - MrJavi94

"A great adventure with a net gaming time above 4 hours that will stick to my mind for the good atmosphere , the use of waterfalls and sinks , and the fluent gameplay. Quite appreciable too is the variety of settings , with natural caves , an underwater base , a forgotten city , a museum , Egyptian settings mixed with Tinnos textures or in a jungle disguise with greenery etc... and there are various things to do. This game has the quality of an official game for the fluency of the progression , there are some good puzzles and traps at times but you never have to think for too long , in fact you just enjoy yourself. Some areas are perhaps more good looking than others (In particular the natural caves and the underwater base are quite impressive) , the overall feeling in the looks category is overall quite good. I also enjoyed the TR3 atmosphere in some of the levels and the good quality of the sfx sounds in general. If you like good classic raiding with fluent progression , this good game is quite recommanded !" - eRIC

"It's a long time since I have played as good levels as this one was. The game contains six levels and each of them have totally different kind of environment. It's just amazing how much attention author has payed in level designing and details. If the gameplay was as good as room decoration I would consider to give full point for this game. The problem with the gameplay is that it is rather simple and easy. Mostly you have to explore and find switches and items to open doors but much thinking is not needed. However, this game is top stuff and better than majority of custom levels. If the gameplay doesn't mean a lot to you, you will certainly love this game." - Samu

"Firstly, let me congratulate the builder for creating an Egypt setting that really enthralled me...something that hardly ever happens to me. From the opening level based in a research centre, the gameplay was smooth and very enjoyable. It also looked fabulous, and the outdoor areas looked very nice as well. This trend continues through large caves, ancient cities and an underwater excavation site, and the gameplay in all of them is always brilliant. There are some tricky timed runs and tight underwater sections, and they did not disappoint me one bit. The final two levels are set in an Eyptian environment, mixed with jungle elements. Once again, it looked excellent and progression was smooth yet challenging. After the final battle with some large enemies, the level ends by clambering over a wall to escape. 'Crystals of Amun' is a wonderfully constructed game that does not disappoint on any level." - Spike

"PSA Research Centre (7/7/8/7, 45 min., 2 secrets): This starts out in a Base and a rather dark one at that, but persevere as it gets better and flare pickups do eventually show up. Enemies are various bad guys and a few crocodiles as you move on in a rather fast paced matter from button to door to button to door, occasionally pushing a box around. Additionally some cameras make progression very straightforward. You need plugs, a key and a card and I am not sure I liked the burning run to the water bit. The sewers and the museum near the end are nicely designed and you find a portal guardian and the Crystal of Time there.
Caves of Sobek (7/7/9/8, 45 min., 4 secrets): Much like the first part this is fast paced and straightforward progression, this time in caves and all the time you seem to get in deeper and deeper. The setting feels more real than part one and more work went into texturing and lighting. Enemies are crocodiles, bats, ahmets and many workers and dogs. The ideas of triggering the waterfalls and the timed trapdoors where a nice touch.
Ruins of Crocodilopolis (8/8/9/9, 60 min., 2 secrets): After the first two levels being pretty much the same from the initial release, this enters new territory and as the title implies there are plenty of crocodiles here, including its demigod mutation. Solidly textured and nicely lit, this shows how the author has matured and after a small maze like area you need to explore four element areas with wraihts and burners, growing a hedgemaze, mastering blades in all variations and some swimming. The only downside were a few rather long climbs and the fact that everything is rather straightforward and not too challenging to get through.
Underwater Excavates (8/9/10/10, 45 min., 2 secrets): Easily my favourite level of this series. The underwater caves look absolutely stunning and you need to watch out for some treacherous currents and barracudas and piranhas swimming around. Further on you enter an underwater base to collect a few things, need to manage the occasional long swim and climb and shimmy around quite a bit until you reach the cool area with the pinkish radioactive material to pass through and eventually swim out towards the next level. Still easy gameplay but very entertaining in a superbly crafted environment.
The Oasis Fayyum (8/8/9/8, 45 min., 3 secrets): This felt even easier to play through than the previous levels and is a nice mix of Karnak, Cleopal and Jungle. A few boulders and blades, nice waterfalls and flybys and a short Jeepride to master and warthogs, bats, crocodiles, crows and a bunch of ninjas that you run into before you reach the campsite and the next and final level.
Temple of Osiris (8/9/9/9, 45 min., 2 secrets): Actually you need to pass more jungle first before you reach the actual temple. In your quest for several small artifacts you get to master some not too challenging traps, need to do a surprisingly high amount of swimming and push a few blocks. Maybe a few too many underwater levers to pull throughout. As you emerge at the top you get a nice open outside area which is a beautiful reward for getting towards the end where you pick up the Crystal of Vegetation and finish this long adventure.
Overall, this is an ambitious project that will provide with classic and fairly easy but fun raiding for many hours, so give it a try!" - MichaelP

"The other reviews have mentioned but not elaborated upon my only major criticism of this release, so I'll deal with it first. These levels, all six of them, are too dark in too many places. It's a simple matter to edit a savegame to provide unlimited flares, but it's also quite annoying to have to pop one out every 30 seconds or so in order to see what you're doing and move along to the next task. I've complained about what seems to be the recent trend of consistently dark levels until I'm blue in the face, so from now on I'll simply voice my displeasure with my ratings. This will be my rule of thumb: Whenever the darkness of a level becomes consciously distracting to me, it will earn a rating of no higher than 7 in the "Lighting & Textures" category, no matter how outstanding the level may be in all other respects. Having gotten this off my chest, I actually had a very good time for the nearly seven hours of net gaming time that it took me to complete the series. Selene has provided a comprehensive, witty and very helpful walkthrough, and the only move I couldn't legally conquer was that turn past the strong current into the underwater passage. The enemies are frequent and varied, and the strange thing is that their bodies remain behind after you kill them instead of vanishing like they usually do. Raiders should also be aware that there are apparently two versions of this game floating around. Near the end of the fifth level I found that the walkthrough was describing things that simply weren't there. But the companion walkthrough written by Dutchy/Gerty was different at this point and described what I was experiencing. The difference amounts to only five minutes of actual gameplay, and none of the other five levels are involved. This miniseries is on a par with the various "gold" commercial releases, and you should definitely download and play it if you haven't already done so." - Phil

"Hello. Great level.It is a level for beginners.The athmosphere are nice for all players.The music is in old tomb raider style.I like this very much.The enemies were temple dogs,bats,insects alien runners scorpions crocodiles and some more. The gameplay is very linear and you find your way all time.The textures are very good and no stretched. The game is not always the same .All levels are different and on new places. This game is a long game and I was playing over six hours.I found only six secrets.They are not easy to find. A game for beginners.It was very easy,but I have a lot fun to play it." - Andi Croft

"This adventure includes a little of everything, offices, excavations, jungle, underwater, base, egyptian and custom with all textures used to great effect. The atmosphere in all the different environments was very appropriate with well chosen sound effects to compliment this. The gameplay was great with sometimes two routes to reach the same end (or so it seemed at first!). There is lots of searching for items, handles and levers and many pickups, but no real puzzles which means that this is not a very difficult mini game but great fun none the less. The enemies are mostly as you would expect to find in the various environments but I have never seen the 'mutants' before. Also some enemies seemed easier to kill with the standard pistols than they usually are. I finished with about 11 of each medipack and it turns out I could have used the other weapons more as I had loads of ammo left too. The ending was very sudden and unexpected but the 'level info' on this site suggests there may be more to come so I have kept my savegames just in case - I would not like to miss any continuation." - Jez

"It seems that this author likes (as me) the very best official TR game developed till today: Tomb Raider III. There are a lot of TR3 sounds, TR3 textures, TR3 objects, TR3 style... There are not many puzzles, majority tasks are look for keys and pull switches, but generally the game is good. Only I had a trouble-bug: in first level I couldn't break the grate in the shallow pool, I had to trespass it (?). In second level it's good that there are more than one route to finish the level. There are many dark areas, but the flares were not enough for me and I couldn't find the binocs in my inventory too. Not difficult tasks for a half-lineal set of levels, most of the secrets were not difficult to find. Don't waste ammo, there is no much ammo along the levels, and when you pick up ammo you realize that there is not the amount you expect (when you pick up shotgun shells, you only get 2 in every pick up). Well lightened and textured, and good architecture. Good work." - Jose

"When it comes to raiding my least favourite settings would be tombs and so to say everything taking place in Egypt. If there is one thing I'm bored with it would be desert sand and claustrophobic experiences miles below ground. However, this adventure had something pleasant to it that really surprised me. Here we find six levels where Lara must go from a typical base setting(with a certain VCI feel at times) through underground caves, the ruins of an ancient city and underwater caves until she can surface above ground in a lush oasis with a part jungle/part temple setting. This all culminates with the outdoor/indoor exploration of the Temple of Osiris and the search for the final out of three crystals. To see such diverse settings was a great joy to me, as I'm not a fan of wandering up and down in the same type of scenery for ages on end. Another thing I really enjoyed was the transition between the levels, they overlapped each other in a smooth way which worked very well as a means to make the story stick together. The selection of enemies was as individual as the setting and perfectly suitable for each environment(armed SAS guards patrolling the base, carnivorous fish in dark and dreary grottos and crocodiles and bats roaming around in a network of underground caverns to mention a few). Music was nicely placed throughout the entire adventure and we were presented with a nice array of camera fly-bys and even a few cutscenes(although I do wish Lara would have spoken English instead of German). The textures were nicely applied and there was plenty of eye-candy to marvel at and the lighting was in overall good, although there were some spots that were a bit too dark to my liking(even though I had the brightness set to 100 AND had the lights turned off while playing). On the minus side I was a bit let down with the small amounts of enemies and traps in the last level, which I halfway expected to be a trap-infested temple complex with beasts around every corner(that's the impression I got from the preview). Quite on the contrary: when I finished I had over 30 medipacks in the inventory(small and large ones altogether) and more than enough ammo to go on the whole raid all over again. But in total this was a fabulous adventure filled to the brim with atmosphere and for most parts a thrilling gameplay and with some help I managed to find 15 secrets. It's a straight-forward and quite easy venture, but it is still more than a simple afternoon raid. Perfectly suitable for both beginners and experienced players and all in all highly recommended." - Selene

"Great game! You get to travel through different areas such as research center that leads to a museum, to underground caves and waterfalls, then to the ruins of Crocodilopolis. Here you need to find 4 keys from 4 different areas each has different obstacles that you must get through to claim your key. Entertaining gameplay, great variety of enemies large and small, plenty of health packs and secrets. Each area diffrent from the next and perfect music. In the research center the glass cabinet opens by taking one step back and a grate in a crawl space I wasn't able to shoot but could just crawl through it. I liked the change of Lara's voice-sounded like Natla and the sound effects when scrolling through your inventory. totally enjoyed this game!" - Elsa

"This is an extended version of the original two levels, which I have already reviewed so these comments really apply to the new sections, which I have to say I really enjoyed. There's a nice variety of settings to explore, including underwater areas, base type buildings, gorgeous lush jungles and fabulous temples. The gameplay is good - mainly linear but always absorbing - and it moves along at a brisk pace, with plenty of agility tests/traps along the way. Enemies are not over abundant - crocodiles, scorpions, ninjas, giant mutants - all of whom seem quite fragile and easily killed, apart from the mutants who take quite a bit of bumping off. You get a brief jeep ride at one point too, so you can have fun running over a few ninjas. My personal favourite was the last part, The Temple of Osiris, and I was sorry when it ended. I don't know if this series is going to continue, but I certainly hope so and I've got my savegame safely stashed away just in case." - Jay

"Well I finished it and this was one hell of an adventure. Liking the first level Dennis built, the first two from this mini game look very much like it, there are some small changes though. From level 3 you are on your own. Although I hit the finishing trigger I know I must have missed some parts. Perhaps like in the first two levels there are two ways to travel to come to the same point, I know that I missed another part (I think in level 5). What I really like is that the next solution is almost around the corner. Just a tiny bit is back and fro and that I like as I only think that too much of the back and fro bit only prolongs the game unnecessary. This is an exploring level though so do search every nook and cranny, not only for secrets, or artefact but also for hidden levers or buttons. All in all this adventure isn't hard to accomplish. What I didn't like is that to finish the game you really have to use the included Tomb4.exe or else the game crashes after the fourth level. Don't know if it was my download, but the sounds weren't up to scratch as from level 4 I didn't had any gun sounds" - Gerty

"I am not going to go into too much detail regarding each of these fine levels during this six part adventure series, so you will just have to download it, play it and capture the experience for yourself. This adventure set was totally amazing and had me saying to myself, gosh, WOW several times during the game-play as I reached and played each level. Each time I entered all those beautiful rooms and looked to see what lay ahead of me and what tasks I had to deal with next, kept me on my toes throughout the game-play. I just can't explain how well all these set of levels just blended in so nicely, extremely well thought out and designed by this builder. The author has certainly done an exceptionally good job here, in building such a great adventure series such as this, to give us many hours of memorable game-play and this is what it did for me. After completing all these levels, I felt like starting this whole adventure series all over again, as I unfortunately didn't manage to collect all the secrets, but who knows, maybe next weekend, I may do just that and take my time and explore every nook and cranny to accomplish this goal and find all those well hidden secrets, which I missed. The whole set of these levels reminded me in being in a original TR game, every level had its own atmosphere and different kind of environment to suit most players for their own enjoyment. The game-play itself wasn't too difficult to complete, but it certainly kept me entertained for many hours and glued to my seat until this whole mission was finally accomplished. During these levels, you will be venturing into such wonderful settings like underground lakes with the most beautiful and spectacular waterfalls, temples, jungle areas, research centres and an underwater building of some sort. You will be contending with enemies such, as bats, crocodiles, workman with spanners, dogs, piranhas, guards, scorpions, big locusts, ninjas and mutant beasts, which are fairly easy to handle and easily disposed of. Many traps await you and they are in there abundance throughout this entire series, as you made your way through these set of levels. To mention a few, you will be dodging boulders, avoiding fire blowers, dealing with spike traps and blades. In general the whole concept of these fine set levels was well thought out and put together, with some excellent game-play for all types of players to enjoy. Each room was very well laid out, with the right choice of objects, the right colour coordination, lighting and textures, which enhanced the enjoyment and environment for each setting for each level, to give its utmost best for the raider during their mission and completing this fine adventure. I loved it, so I thank Dennis very much, for making such a well thought out TR adventure for all us raiders to play. Now I am eagerly waiting for your next piece of work.!!" - Gill

"This adventure is huge with many levels including the first two we've already played in a previous version. I don't know if there was any change in those two but they seemed easier, maybe because I knew where to go and what to do this time around. Basically the entire game is based on Egyptian settings with the appropriate textures but there is some kind of a jungle theme as well, at some parts anyway. The enemies are scorpions, big creatures, crocodiles but all of them easy to kill, with only a few shots and the ninjas with one revolver shot would drop dead. We are searching for gems, symbols, keys through areas with dark corridors, underwater passages, maze like areas but the traps are few and easy to pass. There is one problem with the area that has three switches to deactivate the spikes in one of the rooms. There seems to be a problem and if you pass through the switches again the spikes pop out once more, not to mention that there is a certain order to use them although the builder informed us that the solution is as simple as to use all three switches which didn't work for me. Generally it was an interesting game and easy to complete, I had no 'stuck' points in any level and it took me around four and a half hours to complete. I enjoyed it very much and found eleven secrets but I have no idea how many there were. Even though I really dislike Egyptian levels this game had something unusual that made and impression on me, a good one. I'd say, keep building to the builder because this game was really very good." - Kristina