trle.net ::: Level Reviews

Level:	Tomb of Khmun
Author(s):	Hofer

total rating:	5.68	Gameplay & Puzzles	Enemies, Objects & Secrets	Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras	Lighting & Textures
	Gerty	5	6	6	5
	Jay	5	6	6	6
	Jose	6	7	6	6
	Kristina	4	5	5	5
	MichaelP	5	6	6	5
	Moonpooka	8	8	8	7
	Orbit Dream	6	6	7	6
	Sash	5	5	6	6
	Selene	4	3	5	5
	Treeble	5	6	5	5
	category averages (10 reviews)	5.30	5.80	6.00	5.60

Reviewer's comments

"As the title indicates, the textures and setting of this level remind something of the old TR games. I don't like this old style and the gameplay wasn't great either. There are hands, a pillar and a cartouche to find with ninjas, crocodiles, many scorpions and mummies here and there to fight. You get a lot of ammo and the necessary weapons to blast them all so that wasn't hard. I found three secrets." - Kristina (25-Mar-2006)

"Egypt. Might sum it all for a few players. Actually this is a quick short level using TR1 textures. There's maybe an overuse of enemies (lots of ninjas and thousands of scorpions), but you also get plenty of weaponry and ammo - don't spare them. This level is pretty much symmetrical, most major rooms can be split in two and you'll have to push a lever in side a, and push a lever exactly on the opposite on side b. A number of objects didn't have collision, and you even have to crawl through a few of them in the end. Lighting could have used more work as well. 25 minutes, 4 secrets. 02/06" - Treeble (11-Feb-2006)

"A nice little trouble free level, and roughly thirty minutes of game play. Lara is in an Egyptian TR1 type setting and is doing some old fashioned Tomb Raiding for three hands and the cartouche pieces, plus there’s a pillar at the start to find to escape a room with a secret in it. Enemies, lets talk about those shall we? Well there are lots of them, and I mean lots. Small scorpions are there in abundance and arrive at predictable times; in fact when ever you move two paces they will arrive in a newly formed gang to greet you. There are also two types of Ninja, the blue and the red kind and neither are too friendly. Some crocodiles lurk in a water pool, and huge scorpions show up in one room, there are also skeletons and mummies so we get a nice assortment of trouble. Ammo, weapons and health are well supplied and there aren’t many traps other than a few spikes and boulders that are easily avoided so you’re never really at risk in this level. Game play is straight forward and it’s impossible to get lost, making this a nice breeze through level if you hate running around like a headless chicken. I found three secrets all of which were nicely placed, and at the end you run into a lovely gold stash room with a skull in the middle, but don’t think you’re going to get it because you won’t as the level ends here. I can’t really say I disliked anything because it all looked and felt really great, and I liked the battles without the hideous amounts of searching and traps. All in all this was fun at an even pace in an old style Egyptian theme." - Moonpooka (18-Jan-2006)

"A short level very easy to play with the TR1 old style. Lineal gameplay, simply architecture, easy tasks, suitable for beginners. Secrets easy to find. Correct sounds but cameras don't exist. Well applied textures but lights few worked. A level you can play but without interesting puzzles." - José (27-Dec-2005)

"The scorpions don’t half creep up on you in this level. This is a classic TR1 style Egypt level that is short, easy and pleasant – in other words another ‘coffee break’ level. There are the usual hands and cartouche items to find and scores of scorpions and ninjas to shoot, but that’s not much of a challenge, given the pickups provided. I rather liked the block bearing the author’s name that was included with the secrets – a nice individual touch. I’d have liked a good look round the impressive treasure room at the end, but the level ended a bit abruptly at that point." - Jay (18-Nov-2005)

"This is one of those levels for which the phrase 'smooth flowing' was surely invented.There's hardly any let-up in the pace as you go running from one enemy-filled area to another blasting multitudes of baddies to pieces and solving simple puzzles.The hidden crawlspaces in the final room were a rather nice touch;there were some enjoyable slide/jump sequences,and the secrets (although almost impossible to miss) were delivered with humour. An undemanding but entertaining little romp." - Orbit Dream (14-Nov-2005)

"Another very fast paste, very small level by Hofer. Lots of ammo and I found 2 secrets. What is that with the ladder at the start as I never found the Pharaohs Pillar and there is no way to get back or wasn’t I looking enough? Anyway so I started all over and avoided that ladder. Enemies do come in droves, so that is what that ammo is for, but now to find the hardware so you can use that ammo. Get your hand on some Hands and the Cartouche so you end up in a room with loads of treasure, the final door also gives you treasure but then the level ends. 06-11-2005" - Gerty (13-Nov-2005)

"Less than 30 minutes but about 60 enemies - and still does not actually feel like a shooter because most of the 60 enemies are those little red scorpions. Progression is rather straightforward but still fun and keeps you entertained. The underwater lever animation if wrong, but it still works, so no big deal. Found three secrets each with a nice author sig texture." - MichaelP (10-Nov-2005)

"Your goal here is to enter a gold treasure room, and this is a very simple task to accomplish. I can’t imagine anyone getting stuck in this brightly lit tomb level and the only thing that made this level last the 30 minutes it did was sticking around to kill all the enemies, and there are plenty of them. I don’t think I have come across so many scorpions before but here they are just in an overabundance, you also meet ninjas, giant blue scorpions, crocs, mummies, skeletons, some of these you just shoot from a safe position which makes them obviously not threatening in the least. Saying all this, there is a cuteness and charm that made playing this an enjoyable experience and although the 3 secrets were not hard to find they too were nice additions. So for a simple diversion this would be the place to look." - Sash (09-Nov-2005)

"I don't know if this is the builder's first level, but it sure looks like a first-time work. It's a very short level and a very easy one too, so easy in fact that even beginners might think it to be a tad boring. It's completely linear and it's never hard to figure out where to go next and I didn't get stuck once throughout the entire level. This is a typical tomb level. The lightning was pretty good, but the texturing became too repetetive and I'm sorry to say it, but I have never seen such a badly made pool before. It looked like a blue floor, until I noticed that there were crocs swimming around in it. One thing that got to me a bit was the overwhelming abundancy of ammo and medipacks. Yes, there are many enemies in this level, but we hardly need three dozen shotgun shells, 30 explosive arrows AND a revolver and scope to get rid of more or less harmless scorpions, even though there seems to be a cazillion of them in this level.....in every room. A bit more of a threat are the Egyptian thugs equipped with guns and swords and also the fact that they always appear in flocks of two or more. The few mummies in the game you can take easily care of with an explosive arrow or two. Well, actually there were three skeletons here too, although one of them you can run away from to end the level and the remaining two were stuck on top of two coffins and so they didn't pose as any threat to Lara at all. To top it off there were three huge, poisonous scorpions in this level, but not even those were a threat to Lara as she could kill them from safety. Lots of levers to pull top open doors and items that were not very well hidden at all. I found three secrets and even those were extremely easy to find. There were a few traps, mainly some spikes and a couple of spiked rolling balls that were no threat at all. I also found a particular lack of camera shots, so that when pulling a lever to open a door in a different room you'd have to go looking for it because no clues would reveal which door you opened. The sound wasn't too bad though, mainly the regular TR themes and I would gladly have welcomed some more imagination on that side too. It is not really a bad level, just too many enemies and pickups at the same time and too little to do besides that." - Selene (08-Nov-2005)