Level reviews

"Despite following the walkthrough down to the last comma I still experienced the weird crash with the Revolver. I figured "hey, maybe I can simply skip it and cheat if I need it later!" and then I could proceed two rooms further in, only to realize that if I tried to save the game then it would crash to the desktop. After a handful of tries I decided to give up and so I shamefully submit another review for a level I was not able to reach the finish trigger. What I did get to see, however, was rather good. I mean, the lighting was a bit dark and made the level somewhat tiring on the eyes, but the textures were great and quite psychedelic, pretty much in synch with the dreamy (or nightmarish, if you'd rather) theme the author went with. Up to that point, gameplay was fairly standard with nothing particularly difficult other than sneakily hidden pathways. By the way, I quite liked the effect the author achieved by stacking a dozen or so 1-click high rooms with the transparent textures, it did create the illusion of a volumetric texture rather convincingly. 40 minutes (unfinished). 05/20" - Treeble

"I probably shouldn't send in a review of a level I couldn't complete, but in this case after countless crashes to the desktop, even though I followed the route in the walkthrough which was apparently meant to prevent them as well as avoiding picking up the revolver, I didn't feel I could go any further. What I could play was fairly enjoyable - the textures are again a strong point and the gameplay is more involved this time, nothing too tricky but challenging enough to keep the interest. I'm just sorry I wasn't able to see it through to the end. I'm sure it's not my system as other levels have worked fine." - Ryan

"Another looooong and tedious level from this author. There's a big effort with the textureset and also the textures are very well applied, but in many rooms the appearance is always monotonous. The gameplay is not very good, I soon found the receptacles for the Pharos items, but I got them very very late after exploring all the entire level, so, when I got that items I couldn't remember very well where the receptacles were. Where are the objects? I only found pickups and all the rooms are very nude. There is an unmarked fiery tile (lara dies) in a slide with a circular blade at the bottom (?); not an explosive gun to deal with the skeletons; the guns and ammo provided were not enough to shoot all enemies; the game crashed when I picked up the revolver and tried to jump into the pool; there's an unmarked climbable wall near the lever with the Hathor Effigy, behind the door; the timed runs are not very tight, and I found not enough flares to light the sneaky dark corridors with cool textures. Not very entertaining for me 'cause the backtracking and the no-funny tasks. Playable anyway." - Jose

"A psychedelic change of pace for those who like a stark red background. Other than the surreal surroundings, this was pretty much a "business as usual" raid with a varied assortment of levers, crocs and the standard artifacts you see in the Egyptian levels. I haven't played the first two levels in the series, but this one was engrossing and provided one and a quarter hour's worth of entertainment, even though I had the advantage of a detailed walkthrough. I also experienced a couple of places where the game froze up, but after loading a savegame (and avoiding picking up the revolver, which wasn't really needed) I was able to move on and finished with no further problems. Give it a try; it's a fun level to play." - Phil

"This is easily what the author's previous 2 levels should've been from the start - no distracting Egypt textures and enough gameplay to keep you occupied just a little below an hour. As with the other levels, the looks will be the highlight here - they are maybe not the detail-perfect environments you would expect from the perfectionist builders like Titak, Piega and Horus, but more in the direction of a polished Richard Lawther style. But in it's own manner - the play with the texture patterns lighting and geometry worked really well, creating one of the most distinguishable environments I've ever seen in TR custom level, and that's a huge compliment after almost a thousand played and reviewed levels under my belt. In comparison to the author's other levels, the gameplay delivers quite well in this part - with lots of fun tasks from timed runs, jumps, rope swings, trap evasion and a plethora of enemies to keep you occupied. If there were things I didn't care about - then the unmarked fire tiles closer to the end, fly-bys that let enemies hack away on Lara and the necessity of doing things in a certain order to avoid problems would be my biggest complaints and why I am not rating this even higher. Besides that, the only two bad things here really are that I discovered this level so late, and that the author has not released anything since! Would've been interesting to see where the Dreamland series would've taken us from here!" - eTux

"At the start of this level before Lara moved at all I thought oh well! A beautiful level again with not much gameplay. Hah I was totally wrong. I couldn't figure out how to start had to look up the forum. So now I have to think as well as look. Great stuff. Took a while to find the crowbar too so the big tip is to look for transparent entrances everywhere where symbols are and behind columns. The only moan is that you can choose to go in any direction you like but obviously if you choose the wrong way you have to go back the other way to the right switch or lever or open door. I shouldn't really complain though this was a visual treat and there was definitely gameplay. As with the previous levels there's an amazing artistic application of textures and colours. These three levels by Haoizy will stay with me visually at least for a long long time. You just HAVE to see this." - CC

"Another eye candy level from Hazioy he can sure make them. This one has also excellent gameplay as long as you can do the first jump OK in order get out of this black and red room. Glad I also found the shotgun as there are skeletons to slay there are also crocs and big scorpions. The ninjas were well dressed as they fitted in nicely in the black and red room. There were moments that I was very puzzled what to do next when I encountered a timed lever but that was the way to a star and to get that you do need the crowbar. There are more artifacts to gather and I wasn't bored for one sec just in awe with all the room Lara traveled through. 11-09-2003" - Gerty

"I was enthralled in the first, thought it was still okay in the second, but now in this third installment I am just so over the dichromatic texturing, this time in blacks and reds, and repetitive rooms that I couldn't bare to replay it for this review and instead have gone straight to the notes I kept when I first played it. The gameplay itself is a much better reason to play though with a few nice moves to collect a lot of key pick ups such as a timed monkey swing as well as another timed move and on this aspect I was never bored. You also get a few nice action moments with giant scorpions, ninjas and skeletons but I just couldn't find myself enjoying it because in the end the texturing just got on my nerves. Hopefully others will be able to take it and have a good hours gaming but it wasn't for me." - Sash

"At first when this level came out I had serious problems with crashes in several areas so I gave it up. Now I thought I would give it one more try as I don't like to leave things in the middle. I also had crashes but just three. One at the revolver room one more when I tried to go back in that room and the third one at the room with the Hathor Effigy. My PC is more powerful now and I have a different graphics card so this level is not compatible with most computers. The textures as I have written before for the previous levels of this series are awesome I love them the whole level is much more enjoyable and colourful. You need to collect two stars two gems a knot a pillar a scroll and last to finish the level the portal guardian. Walkthrough walls are often used here and there are many climbable walls. Skeletons ninjas and crocodiles will make your life a little harder. I had trouble collecting the pieces of the portal guardian because I was missing the shotgun I don't know if it was secret I only found one and it wasn't the shotgun because the skeletons were pushing Lara off the ledges. It's a very bad idea to put a flyby in a room with enemies behind you the player might not have the necessary gun to dispose of them. I managed though to sprint leaving the skeletons much behind and by the time the flyby was over Lara had just enough health and she was about to fall. Anyway I think the 'heavy' textures cause the crashes in this level. I can't recommend it but I can't reject it either I will leave it up to you." - Kristina

"Somebody beat some taste into Magnus for smegs sake. I liked the setting of part one and two and now the author has also come up with a gameplay to match the excellent atmosphere. The use of lighting and textures is absolutely brilliant reminds me of Richard Lawther's style in some places but is very unique nevertheless. How Haiozy combines abstract and graphical textures with homely kitsch design is truly ingenious and funnily enough it works so well. I thought that the enemies were thoughtfully placed especially the four big scorpions that you have to fight all at once. That secret is a bit odd though. I mean you can climb down to get the big medi pack just like that but for the door that leads to the area with the two levers that open said door (so that you can climb back up) you have to do a nearly fatal drop. Sounds confusing? Well it is! But you don't have to do it anyway. There is a lot of entertaining jumping two clever timed runs (well one of them a timed monkey swing rather) some slicer dicer underwater an unhealthy drop and a bit of rope swinging. I ran past the crowbar (as usual) and because of that gameplay came to a grinding halt for me a little later but once I returned and got it I was able to progress smoothly till I reached the end. Oh yes and if you think the start is too frustrating and have troubles with the new move you can simply jump to onto the tile where you have to place the Portal Guardian later." - Dimpfelmoser

"I am absolutely in awe about the visual impressions this level has to offer. I simply loved the texturing and lighting throughout with the red and black (including this glowing effect) as well as the brighter lighted rooms. And after a frustrating start where I had to learn a new move before I could leave the very first room the gameplay is well structured and fluent but still rather variable and sends you to collect two gems and two stars to get a pillar and a knot which leads to a scroll and finally the portal guardian that needs to be placed in the room in which you started and then make your exit after 80 minutes. Throughout you get some clever climbing and jumping slicer dicers in and out of water some walkthrough walls (but all kind of marked) many levers rope swings a timed sequence a secret that is kind of hard to miss and also a variety of enemies (ninjas giant scoprions a wraith crocodiles and skeletons). I had such a great time in this environment full of brilliant effects and was really sad when it was over. Definitely now one of my favourite levels." - Michael

"Very different in terms of texturing and lighting. There was a lot of red and black texturing and a lot of red light in the level but not enough to bug me. The level took me about an hour to complete and when I finished it I was amazed at how much I enjoyed playing the level the rooms are beautiful the traps and puzzles were great! And the textures were stunning. The level involves finding a lot of objects in order to proceed you have to find two gems two stars crowbar a pharos knot and pillar music scroll and two halves of another object to complete. On the way you encounter tricky jumps boulders star gates both in and out of water a lot of climbable puzzles slide jump and grab puzzles timed runs jumps and monkey climbs invisible and semi transparent platforms a lot of ropes to swing on in order to progress and a few spike traps it certainly keeps you busy. The enemies I encountered on the way were giant scorpions skeletons ghosts and ninjas which didn't pose much of a threat until I got about 6 giant scorpions attacking me at once which scared the **** out of me :(. There was a lot of variety in textures and gameplay and it definitely worth the download to experience this. Cameras were used a bit but not enough in my opinion and the start of the level was confusing for me as I didn't know how to progress but apart from those I have no more complaints this a great level! Download!" - John

"When I started this level I did not have a smiling face. The first room is black and red very painful for my eyes. But once in the upper floors things became better and I enjoyed very much the level. It was very exciting to find the many artefacts that you need to progress and there is very good platforming action sometimes. There are some new textures and some rooms are beautiful even if they seem a little empty. The gameplay is various the progression is not always straightforward there are walkthrough walls which can be easily spotted and two very good timed doors. The battle against a group of giant scorpions is memorable there is also some ambush with groups of ninjas or skeletons. Plus you can have a bonus: a last fight with giant scorpions for free! 1:40 hours of net gaming time was necessary for me to complete the level." - eRIC

"This is definitely one of the most memorable levels I've played this year and has so many great things I don't even know where to start. As I've come to expect from this author the custom textures are just amazing and I believe he's outdone himself this time. Some looked like pulsating neon lights some large rooms looked like they were filled with water (they weren't - believe me) - some of the textures I can't even describe - you just have to see them. Some of the puzzles in this level can be quite challenging. At least two timed doors had me reloading more than a few times the triple rope swing and underwater circular slicers did the same and the many large tall rooms had me falling to my death a few times. Often though the puzzles just involved a little thinking and actually turned out to be quite simple though very clever and original. Your objective is to find two gems two golden stars the pillar the knot and the crowbar which are all used to progress further into the game and give you access to the hathor effigy which you need back in the very first room. Except for the few times I was attacked by multiple enemies at once they were never really a problem and the many pickups I found (I only found one secret though) had me easily taking care of the scorpions ninjas and crocs. Even with the great flybys and the helpful camera shots and angles I still had an hour on my clock at the end and it probably took me twice that long with reloading. I highly recommend this if your looking for a challenging level and it's worth looking at for the great effects." - RaiderGirl

"Once again a very colourful level by the author. Yes the texturing is once again very unique but in this level (unlike the first) it is also very repetitive. There seem to be a lot of red and black textures throughout the level and most of the level has red lighting which gets a little annoying at times. Texturing aside a quite good level but without any real difficulties. The gameplay is rather standard with some not too tricky jumps some pickups to find and some levers to pull. Sometimes the level crashed without any real reason making me really mad. But as you've probably already figured out I got through it. The level takes about 45 minutes to finish and it's worth playing if you're looking for a level with different texturing." - Magnus

"What impressed me most with this level were the beautiful rooms / walls. The gameplay is more or less straightforward. There is not an awful lot of action. You have to collect several things including a crowbar. Enemies are ninjas crocodiles giant scorpions (can be avoided) skeletons and an ice wraith. There is a timed door after climbing on to a block and using the monkey swing. That takes exact timing. Another tricky part is getting the Hathors Effigy. You have to do it in a certain way otherwise you can't leave the area. It took me about an hour to get through and (that is my personal taste) I really enjoyed every minute of it because of the aesthetic value." - Monika