Level reviews

"For a 1st level, the author has constructed a correct level. There are a lot of stretched textures and thin walls, but the whole thing is nice and relatively short. Some skeletons and half god to eliminate but nothing difficult." - Drakan

"Surprisingly, I find this level one of the oddest ones I have ever played, due to the use of textures and objects and the whole gameplay in general. I must say there were some minor problems with the adventure, like the improper sound assignation and odd-moving and rotating textures. Anyways, I would like to give this game an average rating... Thanks!" - Mehrbod

"Not bad for a debut level. In this one we see Egyptian enemies and objects, with Tinnos textures and an icy cave near the end. There was a problem with the textures for the lava, it looked weird. There are various rooms to explore so it's not always clear where to go first. Good level though he has better ones." - alan

"This early level contains quite simple gameplay - a short underwater maze, some jumps and some traps to avoid. The only real challenging part is trying to avoid that weird poisonous liquid. It's quite dark in places, the rooms are rather empty and there's some stretching textures around, but there were signs of greater things to come, and so they did." - Ryan

"What I could saw was not really a "palace", but a strange place full of enemies and huge rooms empty of objects. At least there is enough explosive ammo to deal with the enemies. The best for me were the lighting, but many textures are stretched and even some tiles untextured under some plants. Skeletons, demigods, harpies and scarabs, spikes, deadly floors with animating and rare textures and all I had to do was to find a gem to open the exit door (and a crowbar); rest of the level was jumping, running, sliding and climbing, shooting many enemies on my way. Near the end there's an icy area (where Cleopatra built this "palace"?) but to be a debut is not bad." - Jose

"Even in his debut level, amid the undoubted faults that most early debut levels contain, there are hints of the quirky use of textures that would become such a trademark of this much missed builder's work. It's short (approximately 35 minutes) and not particularly challenging, with some easy slides and jumps and a few enemies - skeletons, harpies and demigods. Not bad, but obviously far better things were to come." - Jay

"Any time I can whip through an entire level during a single lunch break, you know that we're dealing with a fairly short and easy raid. I encountered no problems as I played this level in preparation for writing the walkthrough, so I guess that by definition no walkthrough is really needed. However, I wrote one anyway. For a first effort it's quite well done. You get a fair number of harpies and skeletons, together with two demigods, but the shotgun and crossbow are made available early in the level so there's no real problem dealing with enemies. A fun diversion for a half hour or so, so give it a try." - Phil

"Cleopatra's other palace looks more like Tinnos with caves and a great ice room. The golden harpys and skeletons look out of place here. Gameplay is a run through. I've seen that weird floor texture before. When I had to call in a tga and prj into Room Edit and saved it as say coastal tom to convert it if I didn't remove the old coastal tga this was the result. Almost as if one layer of textures is sitting on top of the other and producing this multi-coloured effect. Of course I could be completely wrong but that's what I discovered. I'm not sure if there's anything to be done to correct this if it already comes to you as a tom file! And perhaps the author intended it to look like that anyway. I have to say that I thought the sewer part of the level was brilliant. Some texture problems in this level i.e. no water texture black squares and stretched textures. Dhama develops his own texture style in his later levels. Beetles chasing you through a level is not fun. I mean I like to look around see what's new see how the author put the level together. Can't do that if a hundred jaws are draining your health through your ankles. Anyway a nice little level." - CC

"First and foremost I LOVED the printed circuits used in the second level (that's what they looked like to me). The flow of this game was great but the puzzles were a bit too simple for me taste (thus an 8). Once again a designer falls in love with darkness for the sake of darkness. Bad idea imho. Thus the 6. I had fun playing Cleopatra's Other Palace and do recommend it to others. If the sun or a bright moon ..." - Dougsan

"Not much to say. Not many puzzles Lara only has to monkey swing climb and jump a bit finds a blue gem and a scroll which she does not use. Textures varied but the animated textures did not fit in at all. A matter of taste I guess. Enemies were skeletons harpies and demigods. The rooms were rather huge and very few objects. A pity but the next one will certainly be better ;-)" - Engelchen Lara

"For a first try this is in fact much better than my scoring would indicate. There are spectacularly stretched textures absolutely huge rooms untextured water wafer thin walls; but these were all present and correct in my first levels as well so it happens to the best of us. However (and despite pretty thin gameplay) the seeds of Dhama's greatness are all there. Evocative (quite shimmery) lighting; interesting and bold architecture; unusual choices of texturing; big sloping jumping columns. It even ignores most of the irritations of the Cleopal wad aside from some irritating beetles and those big squawky birds. An interesting beginning. Better things were just around the corner." - Orbit Dream

"This is a good Cleopal-level. Nice textures a great atmosphere and some skeletons demon-birds and demigods are coming. This level has good lighting (only some places are dark). I must find some objects and enough ammunition and health-packs. I found one secret and I was playing 30 minutes for this fine game. To find the crowbar you must have a good look." - Andi Croft

"I have a few personal favourite creators and the maker of this level is one of them this was his first attempt at level making and it is just superb he has captured mood and atmosphere perfectly in the large and sometimes cavernous rooms there is one of the finest sloping blocks jumps that I have ever come across it not only traverses the immense room but also takes you around corners as you go from block to block only to find yourself face to face with an unhappy enemy. Speaking of enemies this level has some of the worst and deadliest such as the flying golden birds and not 1 but 2 demigods texturally there is a psychedelic lava design a perfect looking sewer complete with murky water and instead of doors to connect the large rooms there are large archways or large openings which gives the impression of a deserted underground city go check it out." - Sash

"I see I am rating this significantly lower than the other reviewers which I guess is because I am playing this level when it is already very old and there has simply been so much progress in level building. Anyway this is Dhama's first and it shows as it does not have the perfection of his later works. Tthere are a few thin walls and stretched textures around water textures are missing and climbable walls not textured as such. That aside the lighting is very good even though a little dark at times you have to deal with a few skeletons banshees and demigods which is not overly difficult if you take your time exploring to find the better weapons and ammo. I found some of the rooms too huge and empty but the level is definitely worth a look for the small sewer area a brilliant cave and the really well designed ice desert at the end. Gameplay is virtually non-existent; all you need to do is find the scroll and a gem along the way. I found only one secret but there could be more." - Michael

"This was a first level attempt and surely it was pretty well done. Some parts of the level are jumping from platform to platform nothing hard. The objects were few but well placed though none of them were hidden. I think what most bothered me was the mood of the level Cleopatra is an Egyptian person and how would she have a temple in such an icy place as this? The textures of the 'fire' were terrible too. The lighting was simple though some places were very dark but happily there were enough flares." - Treeble

"One more time Dhama's amazing artistic style is proved excellent! Although I didn't catch the connection between Cleopatra and this half-frozen half-boiling palace. The decoration is superb reminding me a bit of 'The Tomb of Nelomgals' due to the choice of the texture tiles. The gameplay is long enough to make you encounter monsters and enemies sometimes in a delicate situation... but unfortunately no puzzles! So Dhama if you hear me I beg you to put puzzles in your next levels so that I can rate a 10 ;). By the way where are these strange electronic tiles as lava from? Are they real or is it just my computer?" - Jbc21

"Although I don't think I was as impressed with this level as everyone else it had a lot of things going for it. Some very interesting textures were used here including some I don't remember seeing before. The slide/jump block puzzle was fun to go through and even had some skeletons cheering me on. I enjoyed how the environment changed finally ending in a large ice cavern with a long climb to the top and flying golden birds nipping at your heels. I counted 7 of the golden birds in the whole level and 2 demi-gods which made the level exciting. However I hate water mazes and there is one at the beginning you have to go through if you want the good weapon. There are beetles following you through almost the entire level and it really got on my nerves after awhile. I would have preferred to be able to take my time and look around without them chasing me." - RaiderGirl

"The minute I entered this level I knew I played it before. Can't remember why I never reviewed it. It doesn't matter. Going by the readme this is Dhama's first attempt and I would say well done. The beetles you all know I hate them as they won't give you the time to look around I could get rid of them by jumping in the pool as they were nipping at Lara's heels even in the other room just jump over the hole in the floor. The block jump was great although I would like to have a bit more light just to see the surroundings a bit better. Very strange looking lava but in my opinion it worked. Enemies from skeletons to golden birds and demigods. In the sewer it gave me a scare as I could hear the screams they give but couldn't detect a bird. Also in the room on top of the sewer Lara's gun targeted something invisible I think it must be another bird. Still wonder at the steam coming out of that grate at the start of the level. 18 april 2002" - Gerty

"When playing this level, I did not know how it would twist towards the end and was totally stunned when I found myself back in an ice desert. I enjoyed the tricky jump sequences, the use of flipmaps and the placement of secrets. Reminded me of TR2DC, the snow, I mean.“ - XETH

"This level was quite fun I was expecting an Egyptian level due to the name of the level. Well textured and designed good use of enemies and sound. This level is very cavernous and dark I liked the lava (very different). This level is good but some more use of traps and puzzles would have made it a lot better" - John

"A level with an icy environment. Mostly jumping a lot and avoiding fire traps and enemies. The player gets the crossbow at the start and in the way is fighting skeletons and later on harpies and demigods. The rooms though and textures are well done most of the time but I did spot some black pieces on walls but they didn't seem like mistakes. It is quite convincing or it might be to me I am very fond of cold and snowy levels maybe it's because it's hot here at the time I wouldn't know. Back to the subject now big rooms with not enough objects and ladders or openings easy to spot which makes this level easier. The gem and a scroll that is a secret although it's right in the middle of an area and I never used are the only puzzles. The area with the slopes was nice but everyone they were very dark corners with no purpose at all actually. An entertaining level without doubt but quite ordinary with the exception of the texture set that's not used so often." - Kristina

"Cleopatra's Other Palace was the first offering from Dhama way back in Jan 2001. I was the play tester for this level and haven't played it for just over a year so I thought I'd give it another go. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it was. OK! There are a couple of thin walls some stretched textures and a rather flatly lit Lara but this is a level of contrasts. Some rooms strongly lit others requiring a flare or two. Lava in some rooms and the superb ice room at the end. Some rooms small others are huge caves. It is fairly linear but has some well-placed enemies. A couple of the skeletons required a little thought to dispose of them and the beetles at the beginning were no problem once I'd lured them into the pool. This level is now over a year old but is still a great level especially for beginners. You get to use most of Lara's moves pick up a goodly number of weapons and just have a blast. It took me just under an hour to finish which is just the right amount of time to play. If you want an excellent introduction to custom levels you can't do better than this one." - Staticon

"This is a must play if only for the design of this deadly surface you encounter in the second half which looks like a TV test pattern on bad reception spread out over half of the floor. You would think it should look out of place in Cleo's world but funnily enough it works. I liked this a lot cause you run down the given path through those vast empty rooms and you fear there must be something around the next corner that will bring your easy progression to a grinding halt but there never is. Even for the jump combination you hardly skip a beat. This feels like being in a Road Movie. The arrows you find would last Winnetou a life time and I never bumped into the skeletons but for some reason the golden banshees which let's face it are pretty harmless scared the living daylights out of me in this one. Sometimes the textures are a bit plain and repetitive but since you never spend much time in those rooms you don't really mind. This is one of those levels that's really good fun while you're there but because it's so fast paced you forget almost everything about it once you reached the final test pattern screen." - Dimpfelmoser

"An enjoyable early effort and fun. Not difficult definitely good for the beginner. Strange for a cleo title and maybe a little thin in some places but decent gaming to be had. Plenty of baddies to be dealt with including the inevitable beetles and a key water maze but sadly no puzzling. Nothing terribly difficult just a couple of must pickups but still fun." - Momster