Reviewer's comments |
"Here again Justin has tried to build a setting evocating
a South American location, it is not completely
convincing (I like the Coastal/Catacombs textures but
here they do not fit much with the rest) but we see the
effort here and there and it was great that a builder
cared for that with the limited old texture sets. In the
end section of the level we can see the black horizon ,
but a good use of heights has been realized. Until that
point we raid an Incan sanctuary complex with a gameplay
well balanced between exploration , enemies and actions,
traps and a movable crate puzzle.
Better played with the eyes opened , it is not difficult
though , i particularly liked the series of stunts to be
done for a secret. At the end of the level , if you have
placed the Caves file from the Beyond_the_sanctuary
download the level jump will bring you Beyond the
sanctuary with all the weaponry you have found Within.
A fun level." - eRIC (08-Sep-2019) |
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"I liked this one. For an older level, this
boasts some impressive (for its age)
scenery, part the opening room with the
high bridge and the aqueduct that can
rival Palace Midas. A few too many dark
corners, but the texturing is well done,
secrets are nicely hidden and the gameplay
is straightforward but entertaining and
Lara is required to collect a couple of
Canopic Jars, a Vraeus and a Gem. One of
the best of Justin's early levels." - Ryan (02-Oct-2017) |
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"Although you can play this as a standalone level, it's best played directly after 'Within the Sanctuary' as it's very much a continuation of the theme, with similar gameplay/elements. Perhaps not quite as effective as the first part, but still well worth playing." - Jay (04-Aug-2016) |
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"Definitively I like this builder's style. This level is no-lineal and larger than the previous, but I didn't need to return to the same rooms more than once. A good effort applying textures and placing lights and objects to create nice environments; enough ammo, guns and medipacks to fight with the variety of enemies; this time the secrets are better hidden than the previous level. Correct musics, cameras and flybys; a very huge aqueduct in the last part (you can get stucked inside the hole at the bottom of the watery slide); all in all, another good level to enjoy. Good work." - Jose (13-Jan-2016) |
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"Here's another older level that I played (and even wrote a walkthrough for) years ago but never bothered to review. It was kind of fun to go back and play it again with my own walkthrough to see how coherently I expressed myself. I cut my teeth on Justin's, and I regret that he has apparently left the building scene (to raise a family, which is certainly a justifiable reason). This was one of his first ones, built while he was in his mid teens, and it holds up well after all these years. It's pretty standard Egyptian fare, but there are some jumping exercises that took me a few tries to conquer, and the four secrets are cleverly hidden. It's fairly short, clocking in at about 45 minutes, but I found it to be an aesthetically pleasing as well as an entertaining raid." - Phil (05-Aug-2014) |
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"A rather classical level with very nice thing on plan decoration, the gameplay is varied and does not miss attraction, the enemies are put well. I noted some small worries of building but nothing very embarrassing, notably an entrance in the water as though there was not water. A game wanting to make or has do again with pleasure." - Daffy (09-Aug-2009) |
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"Upon entering the main hall with the pool, the bridge over it, the waterfall, the fountain in the middle, we've been given a great first impression of the level; which remains all the way through. All the rooms are set and lit nice. It's not as dark as Justin's other levels I've played so far. No hard fights or puzzles, good old switch and object hunting, but in a very nice place with good atmosphere; some jumping sequences are challenging though. The impressive aqueduct at the end is like a cherry on top. I found 4 secrets. An enjoyable level, recommended to everyone." - Akcy (13-Jun-2005) |
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"This level is quite good. In a darkish setting with caves and dogs ninjas skeletons we are searching for a gem a vraeus and raise blocks push blocks to progress. It doesn't have the great puzzles or effects but it's interesting and worth playing. The recent levels of the author are his best work no doubt but it's nice to see where everything started from. Although an easy level it is fun." - Kristina (29-Aug-2003) |
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"And once again the 'Level Editor draw distance' problem rears its unsightly head. Such a shame as otherwise the scenery and atmosphere would have been fantastic. The highlight of this nifty little episode is the majestic three-tiered aqueduct; there's not much to do on it (although the 'sliding down the waterchute' sequence was great fun) but it's a splendid location. Elsewhere there's plenty of exploring and rather simple challenges to obtain 2 Canopic Jars but I really don't think that a total of 11 medi-packs and numerous items of heavy artillery were quite necessary for the few enemies you encounter along the way. I can never work out if Level Builders who provide such an excess of pick-ups do so because they deliberately want to remove all the difficulties from their levels or because they think that the players will be incapable of succeeding without them. Myself I tend to just leave them all sitting in the inventory (only occasionally using the Shotgun to make life easier) and proceed without them. Anyway where was I? Oh yes; the Level. Well it's otherwise jolly good and I'm off to have a go at its sequel." - Orbit Dream (11-Jun-2003) |
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"A pleasant level to travel through as I never got stuck. I like that. Also no backtracking as such as I was a bit fed up with that. Do find that crowbar as it is under your nose so to speak and then you are off to get the blue gem and the Vraeus and the 2 Canopic jars. There are some small puzzles and a great jumping sequence. The falling of the floor took me by surprise but nevertheless a great idea. Not that many enemies and you'll find enough weapons and ammo (even the uzi twice). Found 3 secrets. 31-12-2002" - Gerty (05-Jan-2003) |
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"I had a GREAT time playing justin's Within the Sanctuary and love his style of building. It doesn't have as many tough spots as his later levels but the tricky pillar jumps and the disappearing floor over the room of lava were both very cool and had me reloading a time or two plus there's a few switches that are really traps but if you look carefully he has given a clue which one to pull. Otherwise my time was spent exploring first a large temple room with a water canal and waterfall a walkway overhead and a couple of doors to open then an area which reminded me of a level from Tomb Raider I and finally a huge outdoor waterway with four stories that just took my breath away and had a great waterfall slide. In my search for two canopic jars a golden Vreaus and a gem I came across some great puzzles including a pushable block puzzle that involved a few rooms and a timed fire jump puzzle and of course the jumps over spiked tiles. There was quite an interesting mix of enemies that often took me by surprise but didn't distract from the gameplay and I found loads of pickups including all weapons and four secrets." - RaiderGirl (03-Jan-2003) |
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"I feel a bit guilty now that I persuaded Sam to provide this as a non-exe download only to discover that I've already played this. But what happened to my review? Sabotage! Ok I gave it another go to refresh my memory. The best (and most challenging) bit is actually the jump sequence that leads to the grenade launcher secret but the rest is quite entertaining as well. There is an eclectic cast of enemies you have to do a lot of running around and at the end you can take a shortcut by simply dropping from the bridge (and losing a bit of health) but don't do that as you miss out on a fun slide. The bridge area is very impressive whereas the boxy room you start out in seems a little too functional. The puzzle involving the raised blocks is rather clever but make sure to wait for the trapdoor over the water to open (you get a cut scene) before you pull up otherwise you will be trapped." - Dimpfelmoser (24-Nov-2002) |
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"I finally got around to playing this and had a fun time for just under 1 hour. Only found 2 secrets but that's about par for me. A lot of thinking for Lara to do in this level while dealing with crocodiles dogs bats a few scorpions and some SAS guys. There's also one lonely skeleton and a golden bird thingy near the end. Majority of gameplay is centered around a huge lovely room with the bridge overhead and an underground temple. There's a puzzle to solve to raise a block to obtain a gem a nicely executed jump/slide sequence and the disappearing floor had me going for a few minutes. On my way now to play the sequel." - Momster (27-Sep-2002) |
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"Lara begins in a nice environment. Here she has the task of finding some puzzle pieces, a crystal and 2 golden vases. The riddles are average, mainly some tricky jumps to manage - you have to look out for where you are jumping to. Levers are also there, but you need to be careful about which lever you pull. The rooms are nicely varied, textures are standard, but lovingly applied. Opponents are baddies, crocodiles, bats, skeletons, but not all that many. One finds a lot of ammo and medipacks, exactly the right amount and the Uzi I found a couple of times. There are 3 Secrets to find. The Sound was also standard. The atmosphere was good. It is a Level for in between:)" - Engelchen Lara (29-Aug-2002) |
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"I liked the level again very well. One notices the style of Justin right from the start. Particularly the enormous three-story bridge at the end of the level has impressed me. But also the underground temple arrangement was great. The puzzles in itself were not so difficult one had to pay attention only exactly so that one did not lose the thread. The atmosphere was definitely correct. Very beautiful textures were combined with good lighting also the sound fitted in. There were many opponents dogs predominantly they usually appear in herds. But as Sheevah has already mentioned: thanks to the broadly distributed ammunition and the weapons there were there no problems. I have found incidentally the crossbow however not all secrets. The jump combinations were difficult really a little bit but I particularly like this. I would say the level is to be recommended for a little advanced beginners." - Xxenofex (21-Aug-2002) |
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"One of the earliest levels of this author. The puzzles are variated but mainly finding items to open doors in the main area. The level features nice inside and outside areas and I don't know exactly why but a lot of times I remembered TR1: the side passages in the main room remind me of City Of Vilcabamba and the outside area with the water catwalk remind me of Palace Midas - the latter one also is present in the fire columns puzzle. Worth the download for nostalgic TR style players. ;)" - Treeble (19-Aug-2002) |
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"I know I may be playing these levels from Justin in the wrong order as I played 'Beyond the Sanctuary' before this and I think it is actually the sequel to this level but that didn't take away from its enjoyment. There aren't any extremely difficult puzzles here but there are some nicely executed traps enemies that at times took me by complete surprise 3 secrets and a really well paced progression that leads you outside atop a huge 4 storied bridge where you need to make your way to the ground. This 45 minutes level was a lot of fun and connects fluidly with 'Beyond the Sanctuary' as they both have similar enemies and elements which I thought was really well thought out but at the same time they are quite different as well." - Sash (21-Jun-2002) |
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"From the grand opening room with waterfall fountain little bridge and high walkway this level expands into a beautiful 45 minutes adventure. There are dogs bats and crocodiles to fight and a skeleton guarding a secret. I found a bug when jumping into water there is no water on the first tile and on the other end of the tunnel you can get some air despite the trapdoor being closed. There are a number of nice rooms (caves treasures ...) and I was a little disappointed that the two canopic jars were so easy to acquire. The high water channel - reminiscent of Celtic Folly - gives a great view and it is fun making your way down battling some ninjas (in Peru?) and a banshee. I loved the jump sequence and the disappearing floor and lava room and yet again Justin ends his level with a flyby camera." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
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"The level is very nice. There are some interesting gameplay and puzzle points and I have not found any bug. The time necessary to finish the level is about 30/40 minutes and the difficulty is in the middle." - Boris (21-Jun-2002) |
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"Justin has done some creative work but this earlier effort is only slightly above average. The rooms are mostly square empty and plainly textured and the lighting has little nuance. It also suffers from a number of texturing bugs. Gameplay is fine but not too challenging except for retrieving one secret in a lava room with sliding blocks. I also liked the slide down the waterfall near the end and the room with the disappearing floor." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002) |
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"This level has to offer quite a few things: nice puzzles a few well placed enemies jump sequences not too difficult traps sometimes a little too huge architecture (inside and outside) and a steadily progressing gameplay. Difficulty level is kind of medium and after almost an hour the level ends. Real good ideas worthy of a Top Level but here and there interrupted by dull and boring passages especially towards the end. I found 2 secrets." - Qwendo (21-Jun-2002) |
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