| Reviewer's comments |
"All the nostalgia of a TR3 jungle level with the bonus of the TR4 engine – what’s not to
like! This certainly is a classic jungle raid through some very nicely built scenery
inhabited by the usual villains plus boulder/fire/spike traps and, of course, the
practically obligatory clambering around rocks and blocky trees. Good fun, but you may
just want to have the walkthrough handy – I was certainly glad of it." - Jay (11-Nov-2020) |
 |
| "This is a somewhat quirky level. For the
most part you have a well crafted,
atmospheric TR3 style jungle adventure
with challenging but doable gameplay.
There's plenty of spike traps, spiked
walls, boulders and flame traps around,
but none of them are too frustrating and
they add an element of frisson to the
experience. I also found the textures to
be well crafted. What I found a bit unfair
in a couple of places was that progression
was a bit too elusive. Even with the
(somewhat vague) walkthrough to hand, I
had a hard time spotting deviously hidden
cracks and figuring out the correct method
of progression. The tree sequence was a
bit odd too, considering all of the other
manoeuvres, like Ian said, were doable by
skill from the player and not by luck. I
ended up solving it just by situating Lara
at the spot circled on one of the main
page screenshots and then just inching
forward. Not sure whether that was
intended. Anyway, negatives aside, there's
plenty to do here, and it'll keep you busy
for a while." - Ryan (20-Jul-2018) |
|
| "I was able to play about ninety per cent of this level, judging from the walkthrough, but it suffers from fatal flaws so the main purpose of this review is to warn other players away. It starts off well enough, with a convincing TR3 Indian jungle ambiance. The gameplay is challenging but quite accessible to the average player. When I finished with the tent area and got to the large lake, I found that the game crashed if you swam too far to the left (on the other side of a column jutting out of the water). Since the player is apparently not required to swim in that particular area (I was just exploring anyway, as players should be allowed to do), I accessed the main building and played on. However, when I completed the tasks in the partially submerged room and started to go upstairs, the game crashed again. Here's where I called it quits, because it was now impossible for me to continue. What's more, the flare bug had kicked in moments earlier. Too bad, because up until that point I was really enjoying myself. Maybe some tweaking of the game files by someone who knows what he's doing could solve the problem, but no matter how many times I reloaded and tried again, the crashes occurred at exactly the same spot. If you don't mind investing a half hour or so in a game you know you won't be able to finish, go ahead and give this one a try. P.S.: I went back later, and I found that by enabling the flycheat I could soar over the corrupted crash point. I continued the game for another five minutes or so and encountered no additional glitches before hitting the finish trigger. Perhaps my experience is unique, so I've adjusted my rating of gameplay accordingly. If you like jungle levels cut from the TR3 cloth, this one is for you." - Phil (26-Sep-2012) |
|
| "This jungle/temple level with TR3 flair does have a variety of game play and while parts of it are logical, well-flowing and a breeze to play, there are other areas where the player comes to a grinding halt not knowing what to do in order to move on. Yes, most of those concealed push blocks and hard to see switches were found after enough time spent looking and lots of trial and error, but the part with the big tree was downright irritating. Even with the (sometimes hard to understand) walkthrough at hand I spent serious time trying to figure out that specific tree sequence until I noticed that screen shot on the info page. Other than that Lara must climb some rocky areas and do some precision jumping, open many doors, evade several somewhat nasty boulder traps and try to avoid spike walls. There were very few enemies in form of tigers, birds and a rather harmless Shiva statue. The architecture of the map was quite nice and I did generally enjoy the overall look and feel because of clean texturing, good lighting - especially the interior areas had well placed light sources - and a pleasant soundtrack. It is a very nicely designed level, but I think it would be better, if it weren't for the few oddities in the game play. (46min, 1 secret found)" - Blue43 (30-Sep-2011) |
|
| "We start in a ancient temple, then go to some adorable outside locations in search of an Artifact. Inventive spike traps and jumps, too few enemies, nevertheless I liked Shiva from TR3. Unfortunately there were some flaws, the flare bug, at the second spike wall you can stuck, first of all don't save there becasuse loading back will reset the spikes, and if you pull out the block and go inside the door closes and can't continue. The zipline can be missed, the cameras were extremely buggy, and there is also a problem with jumping up the tree, not that it's hard - it can be done legally with backflip to the adjacent slope and from there a curved jump onto the brench - but that it's a bit unfair, there were no hint we should be getting up there, I had to look in the walkthrough which is very rare to me and didn't like it. With some testing all the above could have been easily avoided. Still I liked the level, because it's very nicely layed out and has interesting todos, even though the first outside area was just too familiar from somewhere. All in all not bad, give it a try." - Akcy (06-Sep-2007) |
|
| "It's not that the Gameplay is tough;it's that it's rather unfair. Aside from the usual 'moveable wall block that looks just like a static one' idea (which brings the level to a crashing halt almost as soon as it's begun) there is a later jump onto a branch of a tree which requires the knowledge and use of a bug in the TREngine.This is basically unfair,as tricky jumps should be ultimately do-able due to the skill and dexterity of the player;not to an accident of the Level Editor. Elsewhere in the level there is a tricky timed trap involving a moving spiked wall;this is excellent,completely fair and negotiable only with practice. It's this veering between the 'logically' possible and the 'accidentaly' possible which spoils the Gameplay of this particular adventure. Otherwise,it's a really solid and hugely atmospheric outing. Indeed,the construction is quite exceptional and totally convincing.It's a tribute to the construction skills of the builder that,despite being stuck on several occasions,I was never once bored;there is simply so much to look at!
I would reccommend the use of a Walkthrough with this in oder to avoid too much aggravation (progression becomes rather obscure once you reach the outside areas) but this nonetheless remains a damn fine achievement!" - Orbit Dream (27-Mar-2006) |
|
| "Here we have a classic jungle level that should prove to be a worthy download apart from a couple of minor flaws. I found the gameplay to be quite enjoyable and very challenging too. Some of the timed traps were beauties which I had to at least try a couple of times before I passed them. The challenges are good without being overly frustrating. The only secret that I found was a cool one where there needed to be three levers pulled in order to get the secret and each lever had its own challenges getting them. I was disappointed though not to give too much away that the secret yielded plenty of ammo and an uzi. What sucked was that it was all for naught because of the lack of something to shoot. The textures were superb and well placed and the lighting was ample as well. I found a couple of bugs along the way like a save game bug and a spike trap that wouldn't activate because I pulled a block out of the room instead of in and when I went into the room the gate closed behind me and I was stuck. Apart from these couple of little flaws I would recommend this level who loves a jungle themed level. If I had to give this a grade I would give it an A- a lower High Distinction." - The Aussie Adventurer (23-Dec-2004) |
|
| "A great jungle level. Very similar to TR3's jungle and temple ruins. There were a few very tricky timed runs like the 2nd spike trap that almost did it for me. I was going to give up but I thought no! When I figured out how to do it it's not so bad after that I could do it straight away no problem. You go from inside a temple to the jungles. The 2nd jungle looked better with the green tents and a waterfall with nice tropical fish. I like the music as it was all TR3 and it really felt like a TR3 jungle level. I am a big fan of jungle levels but am put off when they don't have TR3 music for the background; spoils it for me. I think this level is underrated it deserves to have at least 8 out of 10. There was a flare bug but it didn't bother me too much as the level isn't that dark and you can just use the binoculars when looking for a pushable block. A good level definitely recommended for big fans of jungle levels and tough timed runs but like I said if you find an easy way to do them it's no problem!" - Aims (14-May-2004) |
|
| "Another Jungle/India level you say? Well not really. Yes there is a temple and Lara does go through it. And yes there are temple grounds that Lara must examine. There are also remains from previous raider expeditions tents with their alcohol/pressure lanterns and cook fires still burning. Expecting the people or things that took out the previous raiders to attack at any moment added a level of excitement for a short time. The lack of weapons indicated the anticipated fight was not coming! The Last Artifact is a game of puzzles and the puzzles are mostly jumps. I found many of the jumps to be VERY difficult. So difficult in fact that I was convinced my attack was wrong many times until I learned there was no other way to get to where Lara had to go. Admitting there were times when I was cursing Dark Death quite loudly and other times when I was laughing heartily at his interesting solution I recommend The Last Artifact for experienced TR players or those who don't mind spending as much time haunting the excellent forum as they do playing the game. This level will challenge your patience." - Dougsan (16-Apr-2003) |
|
| "Well this level has a brilliant setting very well done and the use of TR3 audio files make it even more atmospheric however the gameplay was not so exciting. Tricky jumps are about everywhere (climbing onto the tree seemed impossible!) and there are so many levers and so few cameras showing what have they done. In the second tent area there are so many objects that my computer had slow-downs. Of course it was still playable but it was boring... Also I am still wondering who could make that lever INSIDE the tree open the doors to the final path... the monkey maybe? All in all an enjoyable level but with a little more work on the camera-work (and less levers) it could have been much better." - Treeble (09-Mar-2003) |
|
| "We had quite a few of those Jungle/India type levels recently so you are bound to compare them. While The Last Artifact is solidly done settingwise it lacks the spectacular environments we got with the other jungle levels. The gameplay starts rather straighforward but in the second half it gets more confusing by the minute. Chances are that you will get stuck. Not only because of the cut scenes that don't work some annoying bugs occur or because of some jumps that are very tricky to figure out but also because the game becomes more non-linear and there are an awful lot of levers that seem to be placed in a rather enigmatic fashion. The secrets are fun while the enemies pose no threat whatsoever. There is a tricky jump into a crawlspace that you have to reach before a spiked wall crushes Lara but otherwise the main challenge is to figure out where all those levers are that you need in order to open the final gate. Flame emitters are put to good use there are some devious traps and I liked the blue tents in the clearing but the storyline struck me as somewhat contrived and there were simply too many levers for my liking." - Dimpfelmoser (08-Feb-2003) |
|
| "Nice level with fine textures. It becomes more and more difficult with tricky jumps boulders and spikes. There are few enemies: tigers and a Shiva. I liked the outside area with waterfalls little fishes tents a zipline and the temples. I found this level quite enjoyable." - Cuqui (07-Feb-2003) |
|
| "Many many traps in this Indian level. Fire spiked walls boulders. Sometimes it's a bit hard to understand what to do next and that means a lot of running. Some places you have to go to are hard to spot and at a couple of places Lara has trouble getting the grip but don't give up. The surroundings are nice first inside an Indian temple and then outside in the jungle. The task is to find 'The Artifact' and once you do the level ends." - G.Croft (27-Jan-2003) |
|
| "This was a very atmospheric level with first indoor areas like those in TR3 where you have a shiva to fight (great!) some keys to collect switches to pull and some very tricky rooms with spike traps. Then you go outside and it gets much harder - there are lots of areas to explore and one area where there are a number of well-hidden switches to find to open a set of double doors. Once you get those open it's a short obstacle course with another spiked wall and a boulder till you get to the last artifact - a retextured canopic jar. Once you pick that up you get the final flyby. Some tricky parts in this level two secrets at least and some truly gorgeous rooms - especially the outdoor jungle area with tents and campfires small ponds with fish waterfalls and temples." - RaiderGirl (27-Jan-2003) |
|
| "Loving Jungle levels this was right up my alley. Although I have to admit that there are some areas that are really really hard to do as there is a save bug in the area with the first run in with a spiked wall. So don't save in that room until the spiked wall has passed Laura and you pick up the key. That took me some loading and reloading till I had it right. The other was a jump to a tree it does take the fun away and both made me rather feeling frustrated. I found out I was not the only one. For the rest the gameplay was not that logical and I had to run around a lot to see what opened where as there is no camera work whatsoever. Finding lots of levers. The enemies in this level are tigers vultures and one Shiva coming to life. There is some monkey climbing and some shimmying to do. Also pushing blocks although you will know when to push and when to pull as there won't be any action if you do it wrong. A shame that the flare bug kicked in that means no use of the binoculars. Getting the so called Artifact gives you the end fly by. Found 2 secrets. 21-01-2003" - Gerty (22-Jan-2003) |
|
| "An hour long adventure initially indoors in an Indian Temple setting and later outdoors in a jungle area. The setting is really nicely done with shivas and burners and the rocks and greenery outside look really good. Gameplay is quite straightforward but entertaining enough with movable blocks boulder traps (too many) levers a mud pool and towards the end a tricky jump up to a tree. There are three Indian keys to find and use a shiva a few tigers and two vultures are the only enemies and pose no threat at all. I found two secrets. The highlights for me were the three runs against the spike walls especially the second being a little tight and I thought those tents looked great. The artifact of desire is a retextured canopic jar and right after you get it the nice ending flyby kicks in." - Michael (19-Jan-2003) |
|
| "I started off liking the look of this level. The textures were very good and the atmosphere was great. There are a couple of timed runs. One of them to beat a spike wall was so difficult it spoilt the game for me. What is the point of making something so difficult? I acquired the flare bug soon after and coupled with the lack of fly-bys I give this one the thumbs down I'm afraid!" - Doug E (19-Jan-2003) |
|
| "Yet another great jungle/temple level that had me hooked for the hour it took to play. This is mainly a lever search but there are some nice uses of movable blocks and 3 seriously unfriendly moving spike walls all used differently with the second the hardest as it is timed but so tight that you have to make sure Lara is positioned perfectly when trying to climb in to a crawlspace which is the only safe place. This is also beautifully designed with my favourite spots being the outside areas complete with waterfalls tents and a useless yet fun zipline though the first outdoor area was if I'm not mistaken a rip off of an area in 'Barkhong Monastery'. My only bad moment was not far from the end when I had to flycheat to get onto the branch of a tree as I couldn't for the life of me get onto it legally but that was just my lack of finding the right place to climb onto it. In the end I only found 2 secrets and had a really fun time playing it." - Sash (14-Jan-2003) |
|
| "To tell the truth when I was over the half of the level and had a look at the review of Kristina I thought she overestimated it. But now I admit she was right! :-) The first part of the level is not particularly difficult sometimes you have to use your savegames but that's all. But when you get outside the level becomes harder so you must work out where and how to jump. For instance I was stopped for a day because I couldn't get up to the tree and I couldn't manage to reach the switches at the waterfalls. I think these are too big difficulties for an everyday player. And I don't think that they could go through this level without walkthrough. Anyway what I loved very much was that the enemies of TR3 India emerged in the level but they were a bit weak. Shiva should have been as strong as in the TR3 because she didn't defend herself here. There are two serious bugs in the level. The second is at the first spiked wall. After you pushed the block to its place you must not make a savegame until you picked up the INDIAN KEY - otherwise you can't pick it up. The second one is much worse. After you had got outside and swum through the opening you can't use the binoculars because the game crashes. Apart from these I enjoyed the whole level very much and I recommend it to those people who like the TR3 India levels. I have found two secrets as it wasn't my aim to find all of them - I think I missed one! :-) The first one was above the large ladder and you can get the second one by climbing up from the top of the fire column. :-) The walkthrough is under construction... :-)" - Obig (12-Jan-2003) |
|
| "Excellent level with some very tight timed runs against spike walls and some very precise vertical jumps essential for progress. Exploration to find hidden areas vital to finishing the game. I admit that I asked Kristina to do the second spike wall run for me but using a double savegame bug got the wall back to the start and left me holding the key." - Fairy Godfather (11-Jan-2003) |
|
| "I loved this level even though it gave me fits and had me questioning my raiding abilities throughout. This is by far the best by Dark Death and closely reminiscent of TR3 switches underwater levers but gameplay is somewhat hindered by a lack of flybys. Three moving spike walls and a HUGE thanks to Princess Krispy for her help in one of those. Also exasperating was the savegame bug and this is the first time I've encountered it consequently the level took me almost 2 hours to play due to having to re-play many times. Enemies are not a huge factor in this level a few tigers and some huge birds one Shiva that comes to life and coughs up a key when killed. Then the flare bug appears towards the end but still and all worth a look if you can get by the bugs." - Momster (11-Jan-2003) |
|
| "Quite a high level of difficulty in places. Graphics not always clean but mostly ok. Atmosphere a bit like TombRaider 3. Lara needs to find the artifact solve a few movable block puzzles avoiding spike walls (some very tricky). Enemies are not many: tigers and a shiva. I had the flarebug but no other problems apart from above-mentioned graphic errors. Other than that a good level." - Engelchen Lara (11-Jan-2003) |
|
| "A level that resembles an original game TR3 to be more specific. The textures are like the jungle and at some part the puzzles are slightly altered from the original game but very similar especially the Shiva rooms but only one of the three awakens. There are also condors but no more enemies. I liked the little red fishes in a small pool and the tents in the jungle. In one of those areas with the tents there is a zip line but it' not necessary as you can just drop back down or slide in the same area there is a big part that's un-textured and if you drop in there Lara gets stuck. As you might have guessed by mentioning TR3 above it has a lot of switches and some underwater levers and it's quite difficult to know what a switch did or what door has opened because the flybys are non-existent and the times a camera shows something it only lasts a second. Look for high places to shimmy or pull up and moving blocks. A particular spiked wall there are at least three of those and you better be very quick gave me trouble as the crawlspace available for escape wasn't easy to reach. Lara always got time to get inside it but the spikes were killing her anyway. I must have tried that more than thirty times until I succeeded. The level ends when Lara picks up a canopic jar I guess that's the last artifact and with a cut scene showing 'The End' in red. It's a good level but with difficulty a little above medium if you can handle that play it." - Kristina (10-Jan-2003) |
|
