Level reviews

"I suppose I should have played the previous parts before tackling this one, but there are many other things I should have done in life and yet, didn't. What you get here is a pretty standard Egyptian level which doesn't outstay its welcome, built mostly (if not entirely?) using original assets. It's a far cry from the rushed out releases you'd find in early 2001 (some of which regrettably under my own name) as the lighting and fog sure make it look pretty. Nothing particularly taxing as far as gameplay goes but obviously I say that having played from start to finish under Phil's guidance. A pity the full version of this never came to be, but I'll get to playing the previous releases from this builder soon enough. 25 minutes. 11/23" - Treeble

"Another short but sweet one. Not so polished but nicely shaped, correctly textured and wonderfully lit. Nothing big but you won't be bored here." - DJ Full

"This was quite a fast paced level in the old Egyptian style. The gameplay presents pretty much nothing challenging, but keeps the player constantly moving forward in a linear fashion, without too much thinking required. The environments are quite pleasant, although I encountered the disappearing horizon issue in the outside area and some of the rooms were textured a bit repetitively. I found the use of colour a nice touch, though and the ninja attacks were well placed. Not too extraordinary a level, but a pleasant one nonetheless." - Ryan

"I can confirm that the issue that forced the need for the flycheat in the initial relase has been fixed and this level can be legally played from beginning to end. It is old school / classic Egyptian raiding of about 30 minutes, which starts a bit slow with a lengthy monkey swing, but from there is rather fast paced with a few jumps and ninjas and scorpions to kill. I like some of the rooms in terms of their structure and object placement and a few good things have been done with lighting. Texturing can use a lot of improvement though. So, all in all, nothing new or special here, but a nice quick raid for the lunch break." - MichaelP

"Oh, no! Another egyptian level! Seriously, this one is not a bad level; I think enemies are well placed, textures and cameras are not so bad, there were enough flares and the gameplay was fluid and no bored, even with a short ride with a jeep at the end. The worst for me was that I take the torch to ground floor without light it (it's not easy to do it with horizontal fire blowers), and after certain time when I reached the unlit torch in the room with many statues, I had to go back a very long way using the tedious monkeyswing again and up to get another torch and light it there. Enjoyable level anyway." - Jose

"As Tarik noticed that testing a level is most of the time needed to flush out mistakes, as the need to use a Torch to ignite a wall torch and there is no way up, is one major one. So I was glad the fly-cheat was enabled or else I couldn't continue this game. But all in all this is a nice little romp. There is still quite a lot that can be improved upon, like textures, reaching the end of the world. But keep at it." - Gerty

"A good and promising demo with an Egypt setting right out of the original TR4. Gameplay isn't too demanding, and seemed to move at a brisk pace. Lara fights ninjas, and accumulates weapons such as shotgun, Uzis, and crossbow. Most notable is the lighting, which creates the illusion of darkness in the temple interiors, but which allows players to easily see what is going on. In fact the colorful lighting adds a great deal to scenes, and I thought worked in the orange tinted sandscape of the beginning. Forty minutes to play, and I found no bugs (although with Windows XP there is a long load time, so I used my own Tomb4.exe). The demo could be developed further, or could simply be expanded, so that it serves as an introduction to a longer adventure." - dmdibl

"The initial fly-by is very impressive, with a typical landscape of Egypt. It has an outdoor area by the bright orange color and an inner zone consisting of a large building in which there are burial chambers. I didn't need to use the dozy as I have not found any bugs. The enemies, textures as well as the music are of the original tr4, which have perhaps a little bit tired after so many years. The player, however, spend a pleasant hour of game that isn't difficult." - Taras

"I suspect the low scores to date reflect reviewers' frustration in being forced to use the flycheat in order to access a bridge while carrying a torch. However, the level is simply not that bad, and the builder has now provided a revision that allows all tasks to be accomplished legally. It so happens that the levels I've played recently are those that have been received with some disdain by the raiding community. However, I've found entertainment value in all of those levels, and I feel that this one deserves to be in the 7 range. The environs are presented nicely without beginner mistakes (whatever those might be, I'm just repeating what I've read elsewhere) and the gameplay, while linear and lacking in complexity, keeps the player moving inexorably forward. My playing time was increased a bit because I was writing a walkthrough along the way, but most raiders should find a 45-minute romp in a traditional Egyptian setting. Not in a league with the classics, but definitely fun to play." - Phil

"There's not much I could add to the previous two reviewers - this is a nice looking level most of the time with strong usage of orange in the outside areas and a good mix of classic textures in the interior sections. All in all I was quite impressed by the nice architecture; the looks are a step upwards in comparison to his previous levels although there were a few avoidable texturing mistakes in the sand dunes and several end-of-the-world moments. The camera and sound work is nicely done, a few enemy attacks are nicely spicing the combat up a bit as an extra. Gameplaywise, I think more could be done with the level as mostly the tasks are quite standard; the long monkeyswing was tedious and some hallways after using the torch could have had more gameplay else than finding a lever to activate a certain action. I liked the jeep ride but it even could be a little more challenging and even found one quite classic secret in this sequence. Finished after around half an hour." - manarch2

"When you read that the author has enabled DOZY in case of bugs, you do tend to lose faith that the level will turn out to be a real winner. This is a basic Egyptian level, reasonably well made and replete with the usual enemies, i.e. scorpions and ninjas (who are surprisingly fragile and actually leave goodies, a circumstance so rare that in my house they are known as 'stingy ningies') plus crocodiles and mummies. The only difficult manoeuvre I found was lighting the torch - very tricky indeed. Other than that, this was a traditional and enjoyable little raid that would have had an extra gameplay point from me without the mandatory use of DOZY at one point." - Jay

"That was a bit of a shame,really.For most of this 35 minute Egyptian adventure,the gameplay was fluent,linear and surprisingly enjoyable.There are no puzzles as such;but the enemies are well placed,there are a few agility tests to perform and the level zooms along at breakneck speed,culminating in a fun little Jeep ride.However,there's quite obviously going to be a 'but' somewhere in this review(to judge from my gameplay score),and here it is: you apparently can't complete the level without cheating,as there's no way to get the lit torch (itself a surprisingly tricky task) up to a wall sconce on a high platform without DOZY'ing. If you don't object to performing this flagrant piece of chicanery,you'll probably have a good time here.The lighting and textures are generally pleasantly done (although the outside area throws up a multitude of problems,not least of which being the end of the world);the enemies are enjoyably placed (the Ninja leaping out at you during a Fly-by is practically worth the download itself!),and the atmosphere isn't half bad. Shame it wasn't beta-tested." - Orbit Dream