| Reviewer's comments |
"With this (her last) release, Serena’s customary garishness is gone for good, though the builder retains her inclination towards employing mainly the big guys in the enemy slots. Between this and her previous level, the builder appears to be developing towards a certain style in design, the key component of which is placing the same static object in the map hundreds of times over—chairs in the earlier level, palm trees in this one. The approach works better here, as the palm trees fill a vast geometric plane, forming a kind of retro-futuristic jungle that also sports two small pyramids. It’s reminiscent of a style of illustration prevalent on music album sleeves and SF paperback covers in the late seventies and early eighties, which chimes in nicely with the level’s title.
Sadly, gameplay does not profit from this new stylistic development. It’s a game of two halves, the first of which gives you the runaround all over said vast geometric plane with the objective of opening two trapdoors. I managed to do so with the first soon enough, but it took me an inordinate amount of time and the help of Fexinspect to find the second—and to learn that it existed in the first place, because of course there are no camera clues. The second part is a trap gauntlet, in which the traps regain the effectiveness they lost in the builder’s preceding level. It’s very brief, however, and in terms of design neither here nor there—neither Garish Period nor New Style, and altogether undistinguished and unmemorable. Of course there’s no way of telling how Lara ended up in this ‘lost dimension’ or what might happen once she hits the arbitrarily placed finish trigger. Thus, Serena’s levelbuilding career ends not exactly with a whimper, but it’s not a bang either." - Mulf (01-Jul-2021) |
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| "Most of the level is a giant flat plane on which sits some palm trees, pyramids with spikes, and pools of water. It's not a very immersive environment, and that is not helped by the heavy wallpaper effect and flat lighting. For gameplay you pull a lever, find a key, use it to get underground to dodge some boulders and blades before ending the level. There are no camera cues used to help the player along, thankfully it doesn't take too long to search and see which trapdoor opened next. To its credit the level has a decent variety of enemies: you get one of each of a scorpion, demigod, harpy, and shark. 7 minutes." - JesseG (16-Nov-2020) |
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| "Not sure what to make of this. From a first glance, it sort of reminded me of the bonus levels in the end of some Lego games in which you have a miniature version of the world where you have to destroy everything, but of course it's nothing like that. Instead, it's a huge and flat platform with a couple of pyramids and a lot of trees, you have to find a lever and a key to access a trap filled underwater corridor and then get to the end. Conceptually I still found myself attached to the level, although it's definitely no award winner. 10 minutes. 09/20" - Treeble (06-Sep-2020) |
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| "This time the textures are better applied, and the environments have a better look, better ornated; there are not so many enemies and some traps are properly marked (not the spikes next to the big blades). But still there are paper walls, simple architecture and the gameplay is very poor, only pull a lever and use a key; evenmore without camera shots to show the distant triggered trapdoors. Never found the crossbow. Playable but not interesting." - Jose (23-Jan-2018) |
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| "Not much to say about this one. Explore a vast
opening area for one key to open a hatch, fight
a demigod, avoid some blades, spikes and
boulders and fight a giant scorpion. Nice
outfit though. This could have been so much
better." - Ryan (01-Sep-2016) |
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| This level starts very nice with a huge area of palmtrees and strange formations. It really looks like you are lost in a strange dimension! A nice level, although it lacks the gameplay of her previous ones. This one looks much better though. 2005-06-22 - QRS (22-Jun-2005) |
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| "On a platform as natural as a chessboard you discover lots of trees two pyramids and two pools of water. I was surprised to find the black wall was not the untextured end of the world but an abyss instead! Lara has a nice red outfit but her sounds did not work after I converted the TOM file. Hard to believe this is the fifth level of this author anyway because even basic skills the level editor manual teaches (lights shadows) have been ignored. I don't think I'll ever download the previous four." - Rüdiger (08-Nov-2003) |
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| "This is very short and with only a lever and a key. Of course first you have to run all over the place to find the two pools and progress. The area is huge with trees and plants. You kill harpies a demigod and a giant scorpion and that's it. The level ends. By the way don't die there is no loading screen so be extra careful at the blades-spikes area. I wouldn't play it a second time." - Kristina (17-Aug-2003) |
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| "The beginning room of this level was more a work of abstract art than a TR level with the floor tile used, the palm trees and shrubs, pools of water and pyramids with spikes sticking out. It's kinda neat to look at but there's just not enough to do in here - only a switch and a key to find. It may also be worth your time to search for the crossbow that lying beside one of the tents. The second half of the level is a short obstacle course with a demigod, darts, blade/spike traps, a boulder/spike trap, another blade trap and finally a giant scorpion standing between you and the exit. I replayed the level after knowing what to do and found that you can finish it in around three minutes." - RaiderGirl (27-Jun-2003) |
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| "This level seems to be a demo a bit but is a nice installment. I think it would have brought many more from this level even on the exterior too. You pull a lever on a pyramid and find a Key in a pool which you will use on the other pyramid. Now a trapdoor opens at the plants next to the big pool. Meantime harpies a jackal and a shark attack Lara then a demigod and a huge scorpion below. Unfortunately the level finishes here. There are no added sounds and the texture could be better too. However the level is good for a demo version.:-)" - Obig (24-May-2003) |
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| "This starts of in an oddly beautiful floating platform in space with pyramids and trees aplenty after a lever and a key which takes nothing to accomplish you enter some rooms below that you find are booby trapped in all kinds of ways. Like the usual Serena special this lasts only 10 minutes and is full of the meaner enemies but not in a large abundance this has also got what I would class as no gameplay whatsoever." - Sash (18-May-2003) |
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| "Big huge area; stuck shark; lots of enemies and ohhh need I go on? It's a Serena level." - Orbit Dream (06-May-2003) |
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| "Another typical Serena level and Lara wearing a new outfit. I liked the look of this room with the palms and banana trees. What a huge surface. I had a scare though as I was killing one of the Harpies I was jumping backwards and disappeared into the black void my heart was in beating very fast for a moment there LOL. Had a hard time locating where the second trapdoor opened and those boulders .... luckily for the reload button. 29-04-2003" - Gerty (04-May-2003) |
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| "Well I like this Serena's much better than all her previous ones but it still ain't no masterpiece. I liked the new dimension with the flat land and the numerous bushes and palms even if they made my game a bit jerky. As always there are many of the toughest enemies even if they are here a little less than in her previous works (not that it's bad) the traps still don't provide a great challenge actually the hardest part for me was finding the trapdoor near the 1st pool after using the key. I still do hope to see better works of Serena someday." - eTux (04-May-2003) |
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| "If I say too much this will turnout to be a walkthrough. The level is short the graphics stark and the enemies easy to deal with. The only sequence of note are the series of traps (boulder one just jump back). If you have 5/10 mins and want to run Lara's legs off then have a go!!" - Whistle (03-May-2003) |
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| "That was short and sweet and it certainly is another dimension. We're on a flat world with tile floor palm trees swimming pools spike pyramids and what looks like tents. You find a crossbow to deal with golden harpies shark dog giant scorpion and a demigod. A difficult run through darts blades boulders and circular blades. Lara in a new little red number. It's possible to fall off the end of the world into blackness if you feel like a thrill (possibly the only one you're going to get here!)." - CC (02-May-2003) |
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| "This level ended prematurely I would have liked there to have been much more and the level in its current form could be the start of a much larger level. I enjoyed this a lot just not enough of it. The outside area was huge with not much to do just aimless running about for a lever and a key. A little bit of shooting to do with a few harpies a dog giant scorpion hammerhead shark and a demigod." - TrueRaider (01-May-2003) |
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| "The first thing I noticed was Lara's new outfit. I thought it made her butt look big. Nice color though. The second thing I noticed were the little green pod-like things next to the palm trees. Shrubberies? I guess that's how things look in the Lost Dimension. In this first area Lara swims around and gathers arrows (which I never got to use) and a medi pack. She fights off a couple of bad birds pulls a lever finds a key and off to the next room. Here Lara must make here way without getting sliced and diced. Not too tough. Then off you go to traverse a slope after avoiding getting crushed. Finally she battles a scorpion after jumping through the wheel of knives (or before if it takes you a while to line up the jump) and the level ends abruptly there. The final room would have been a great place for poison darts at least. Play time: 12 minutes." - Wendee (01-May-2003) |
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| "A very simple and for-beginners level. There is no story and no link between a scene and another scene everything is casual: it resemble a training level with Lara using her weapons and training her jumps. There is atmosphere you always know that there's an enemy waiting in the following room a lever to pull a door to open and so on....weapons and objects are not hidden you found them everywhere. Enemies are the old ones mostly Egyptians -gods-like and easy to kill. Some dogs appear sometimes. There are no real puzzles. There's no use of lighting and textures aren't original even if I didn't find bugs." - Glow (01-May-2003) |
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| "I actually like the strange atmospheric opening area but it completely lacks any lighting. Reduce the overall ambience from 128 down to about 70 and then introduce a few sun bulbs shadows and coloured lights and this could have started to look REALLY good. Of course there'd still be the issue of Gameplay - finding 1 key and pulling one switch isn't enough and is simply a waste of this nice opening area. Enemies seemed out of place but I liked the fact that the harpies descended from the palm trees - nice touch that. But the hammerhead and other enemies just took away the other-worldliness and brought us straight back to the oh-too-familiar world of trle. I hope Serena doesn't just chuck this and move on to the next short venture but builds on what she already has here: expands the Gameplay to at least 40 minutes and gets to grips with LIGHTING (and cameras)." - Dick (29-Apr-2003) |
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| "Well what can I say? Not much really. I can't even put my finger on what it is supposed to be. First Lara is surrounded by a lot of Palm trees - she needs to pull a lever finds a key then two pools. There are also a few enemies mainly harpies a jackal and a demigod. Near the end Lara has to master a trap then three rolling balls and a giant scorpion and that's it. Textures were not overly impressive cameras completely lacking. An uninspired level for me. Would not recommend it and it's very short. No fun and the atmosphere was rather depressing." - Navi (29-Apr-2003) |
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| "Don't blink or you'll miss this one. There is actually only about ten minutes of play here but I spent longer running around looking for the rest; I was convinced there must be more. It's an interesting looking area basically a palm infested plateau with a few harpies a dog and a shark to shoot some spikes to avoid and a key to find. You do get a demigod and a giant scorpion right at the end but it really isn't enough to get the old adrenaline going. Not so much a level more a trailer for a level really. Nice custom outfit though." - Jay (29-Apr-2003) |
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| "The outfit is interesting and worth seeing as are the palm trees and the bushes but other than that there only the typical 10 minutes to spend here with several enemies to kill (harpies a shark a dog a demigod and a giant scorpion) and as you can find the crossbow that is not such a big deal. A lever a trapdoor in a pool a key a trapdoor near the other pool and then a few traps - oops basically that was a walkthrough ah well guess you can figure it out all by yourself too." - Michael (28-Apr-2003) |
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