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Level: The Lost Treasure back home search
Author(s): Claude Gross
total rating:7.35 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Coral 9 7 8 8
Dimpfelmoser 9 7 9 8
eRIC 7 8 6 7
Gerty 6 8 8 7
Jason 7 7 8 8
Kristina 8 8 8 8
MichaelP 8 8 7 7
Orbit Dream 3 7 7 7
Phil 8 8 8 8
RaiderGirl 8 8 8 7
Sash 7 8 8 7
Tombaholic 6 8 8 8
Tombraidergirl 8 7 7 7
Torry 3 6 8 6
Treeble 7 7 7 7
category averages
(15 reviews)		 6.93 7.47 7.67 7.33

Reviewer's comments

"Although generally well-constructed (with a reasonable use of lighting and music),there are far too many major flaws to this adventure.Areas you can reach too soon;stretched textures;clumsy fly-bys;over-abundance of mazes (one containing a timed door);and,worst of all,a Harpy persistantly attacking a Lara statue in a room you have no access to until the very end.As a consequence,you watch your helath inexorably and unavoidably deplete as you run around labyrinths,attack demi-gods and collect beetles - until (no matter how often you re-play sections and re-save) you inevitably run out of medi-packs long before getting anywhere near to destroying the attacking creature.This is truly hateful gameplay and a thoroughly despicable concept - preventable only by flagrant cheating on the part of the player.If this weren't such an old level (with subsequently charitable reviews)it would have been crucified. Either enable DOZY or avoid completely." - Orbit Dream (21-Sep-2010)

"This is a nice cleopal level which will have you busy for around an hour until you find your way back to the entrance where you finally can exit the level. In the very first flyby (which goes through walls) you see a Lara double object, and you can't do nothing about it until the end of the level. Fortunately, until the last 10 minutes everything is fine, but then you are trapped in a maze while 2 harpies are attacking the Lara double. You have to quickly collect the black beetles to exit the area, but while you do so and while the double is being massacred, you have to face a swarm of beetles and two demigods, then a long ladder. I ran out of medipacks twice, so in the third try I just rushed by the maze using Lizard Queen's quick references at the bottom of the walkthrough so I could get to the black pyramid sooner and thus with more medipacks in my inventory. After finally finishing off those two harpies, you can collect the four mechanical scarabs and leave the tomb. There are a few flaws, though. I've spotted a few wafer thin walls, blades popping into existance, untextured spots and the door bug. Also, in the room with the transparent platforms, after I activated the jumpswitch the skeletons pushed me off during the flyby, so I had to reload. Had it not been for the mazes, this could have been a great level. 50 minutes, 2 secrets. 04/08" - Treeble (06-Apr-2008)

"This is another level that I played (3/05) for the sole purpose of writing the walkthrough. It was somewhat of a challenge for me, as there were no stuck threads and I therefore had to look to the reviews for any insight and guidance. However, I found both the playing and the writing experiences to be quite enjoyable. It's unclear whether the author intended for the player to have access to the final room at the very beginning of the level, but I found it crucial to be able to kill the harpy waiting outside the Lara clone room before tackling the rest of the level. That way I was able to avoid what others called the life-draining bug (which I now know was caused by the harpy attacking the Lara clone near the end of the level). The gameplay is fairly linear and uncomplicated if you don't insist on going about it backwards by starting off in the spiked hallway. The shotgun and crossbow are obtained quite early, and are quite easy to find, so I'm at a loss to explain several reviews that complain about skeletons and flybys. The level of difficulty is medium, with no next-to-impossible jumps or fiendishly difficult puzzles to solve. The mazes near the end (one of which involves a tight timed run) are not easy to conquer, but if you take the time to map out your directions they're not too hard to figure out. Recommended." - Phil (21-Mar-2005)

“A level well built in a cleopal setting. Lara has to find two knots a gem a portal guardian and four beetles. In the way she will have to deal with harpies skeletons beetles and demigods. These items are placed in areas with lava a maze or watery areas. Most of it is jumping on blocks and climbing in high places to reach jump switches. Make sure you get the crossbow before getting out to the area with the huge columns otherwise the skeletons will kill you during the flyby. Also don't forget the knot you can't go back for it. I wasn't very thrilled with the maze and for some reason Lara was losing health from that point. The beetles were also very annoying in the area with the pyramid and black beetles. Fortunately the author provided health in every room with a beetle otherwise you can't survive their nibbling. The level ends by reaching the starting area with the golden Lara every yellow case had a mechanical scarab well you will have one anyway otherwise you couldn't pass the spikes and come to that area but I guess the player isn't meant to search those. A flyby showing an outside area and the Lara is free. It took one hour to finish it and I found two secrets.” – Kristina (10-Mar-2003)

“With a harpy attacking the Lara statue at the very beginning of the level I quickly ran to kill it then took the long jump into the water for some exploring. I found both pieces of the Portal Guardian very easy to collect though the excessive climbing and long tunnels did get old very quickly. There's some interesting jumps including some over lava (yes that is two separate rooms they're just identical). My favorite was the HUGE circular room where you place the Pharaoh's Pillar - one of the most amazing rooms I've seen in a while. With three secrets and lots of pickups including the crossbow I didn't find the skeletons harpies or Demigods to be a problem.” – RaiderGirl (09-Feb-2003)

“What starts off as a fun romp soon develops into a nightmare you just want to escape from. At the outset you see a Lara clone enveloped in a spiral of light and you just know that this bodes ill for our heroine and you will not be disappointed. To arrive at this spot you need to negotiate many rooms collecting a horseman’s gem a pharoh’s knot and the two pieces of the portal guardian. Once the knot and gem are used you gain access to a double labryinthian maze and it is in the second one that the trouble commences. As you are negotiating the maze an unseen harpy is attacking Lara's clone and depleting your health in quick order and to add insult to injury once you find the exit you will find that the door is firmly closed as the damned thing is timed. Now a timed door is one thing a maze on it's own acceptable but a timed door WITHIN a maze I find totally outrageous. My advice is to carefully map your route and then try the timed run. Once you know where to go it is an easy lope but there are many twists and turns to lead you astray. Also early on there was a flyby on a high ledge after pulling a jump switch where whilst in the flyby and you had no control over Lara she is attacked by three skeletons and naturally shoved over the edge to her death. Again this is not acceptable and as at that point there was no relative firepower to dispense of said skeletons prior to flicking the switch my scores will reflect my distaste for this blatant disregard to the basic elements of raiding.” – Torry (22-Jan-2003)

“Finally got around to start Claude’s levels and this one shows lots of the technical errors of a debut such as thin walls invisible door blocks missing textures bird blades appearing out of thin air illegal slopes too long climbs and monkey swings etc but it also offers one hour of rather fast paced and at times very clever gameplay. Two knots two gems a portal guardian and four black beetles pave your way to the ‘treasure’ which seems to be four mechanical scarabs guarded by a Golden Lara statue which towards the end of the level is attacked by harpies so that you will be losing some health if you are not quick enough to make it through the mazes to this room. Demigods and skeletons make your life more difficult as well so look out for the three secrets which hold a shotgun the Uzi and a grenade gun. I very much enjoyed the jumping/platforming sequences and look forward to Claude’s other levels.” – Michael (23-Dec-2002)

“The first level from Claude has some flaws: invisible blocks in front of closed doors the first flyby is horrible big scissors appearing from thin air in the secret area and there is a bug straight at the beginning: the door on the left can be opened without the second blue gem that you get at the end of the game and if you enter in this area without the portal guardian a harpy will attack the golden Lara you can't see yet and you will lose life without knowing why. So you are forewarned that this is not the correct route. There is also two mazes towards the end of the game and some long climbing and monkey swings. Nevertheless the level is not boring with various tasks to perform and interesting moments. Rather good texturing with a mix of the Cleopal and the Lost library wads. There is also textures from the Irish levels of TR5. Some good effects in the design and architecture of the rooms are the upside points of this level with the enemies. 2 secrets found and 1 hour 10 of correct raiding.” – eRIC (15-Dec-2002)

“I found this level awesome and generally I like this author's work. Very gripping and fluid gameplay with the puzzles increasing in difficulty towards the end. I agree with some of the quibbles that the 'tense' music got a bit tedious (had to turn the sound down) and you do tend to get a sore hand from climbing and mazes but I liked this level a lot more than the other reviewers...I found it hard to put down. Very involving and intriguing. Highly recommended.” – Coral (24-Nov-2002)

“This is a fairly nice level gameplay wise though nothing brilliant but I found the overall feel and look of it a bit too depressingly grey. I replayed the level for this review having first played it quite a while ago and this time unlike the first I encountered the mysteriously health depleting effect that Tombie found it started when I entered the first of two mazes this I realised was the result of a harpy being let loose on a Lara statue but unfortunately the room this was happening in was at least 10 minutes away so I had to suck back medipack after medipack to make it there with only an absolute ounce of health left when I made it. If this is a bug of some kind then it is an extremely bad one but if this is an intention of the creator then it is just a very cruel design element. This took me 70 minutes some of those being very hectic minutes with 3 secrets and some of the more evil enemies found. Just make sure you are frugal with your medipacks just in case you happen to be the unlucky recipient of an unseen harpy’s attack.” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“For the most part this is an easy fast-paced level with lots of action enemies and hazards of various kinds. And outside of getting bogged down in some overly long ladders monkey swings and mazes the action is fun - up until the point where Lara begins randomly losing health for no reason and eventually dies despite your best attempts. So is this a bug or intentional? Either way it's very irritating and the last few minutes had to be finished with the flycheat to survive this mysterious illness. My rating for gameplay & puzzles would otherwise have been a point or two higher. That aside much of the texturing was very nice and original (the large black room with translucent walkways for example). Flyby cameras are put to good use and the music was better than average. Hopefully other players won't encounter the same strange problem mentioned above and will completely enjoy the level.” – Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)

“Of course I went the wrong way first and played that part till the end and started all over again. Have to say that I didn’t like the beginning. It was too dark. Spikes coming out of the floor with no warning so it is trial and error. It hinders the gameplay in a major way. Found invisible blocks before doors that were not open yet but not the bug Tombaholic was referring too. That was the harpy having her way at Lara. The fly cheat in my game was disabled and I had to play that part over and over again till I almost could do it with my hands tied behind my back in order to save on the medpacks. The idea is even OK with me but the medpacks were not in abundance so a note for the author: if he wants to have as many people enjoying his game he should make a good choice as this was a bad one. It should be either more medpacks or no harpy. The ladders were a bit tedious after a while. At a certain time there was that nervously music (you will notice it) that seem to go on and on and on. For the rest it is a nice game to play. The idea is great novelties as the two same rooms the tranclucent catwalk the nice jumps you have to make that was a treat. The ceilings do look at them through the binoculars very well done. 17 april 2002” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002)

“This is not a difficult level; the game play is straightforward. However I did find the long long long ladders very monotonous. I managed to avoid doing the long monkey climb by walking off the edge of the path above at the far end of monkey bars. I also found a possible bug. At the start of the level I slid down the ramp backwards so I could shimmy along to the final area and while I was exploring this area the left hand double door opened at the time I did not realise this was the end door so I explored some more and died. I have not been able to reproduce this again so not sure if I could have gone through the door and finished. I did not have any bugs in the game like Tombaholic had. The fog effect looked very good as did the camera work. I found 3 secrets but not sure how many there were supposed to be. This level is worth a look.” – Jason (21-Jun-2002)

“There are so many great levels rated lower than eight and this is definitely one of them. Brilliant gameplay that comes around in a circle in a rather linear fashion. There is a plethora of tasks at hand and when the maze becomes a bit boring hey there are enough pick ups to keep you happy. I particularly liked the hall with the translucent catwalk and the loot I finally got away with. Two mechanical beetles for the kids at home. They're gonna love them to bits. There are two rooms that are almost exactly the same and I found this so disconcerting that it took me some time to figure out that I had to do the same thing all over again. Well first I thought that it was the same room but that couldn't possibly be technically. I like this sort of confusion. The medipacks at the end would have been a bit more tempting if I had less than 6 big ones already there are not many challenging enemies and the textures were a bit crude and inconsistent at times but otherwise an original and entertaining adventure. Go for it.” – Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)

“Well this level took me some time. First you have to do some climbing and jumping which is not very difficult. Then you have to open some passages and complete different tasks to open the next. There is also a very nice huge room with nearly invisible walkways. The big minus here is that you have to use a switch while surrounded by skeletons. (There might be a shotgun to be found before this but I didn't I had a lot of ammo though.) Then Lara is unable to move for a while due to a camera sequence and most of the time you are dead when you gain control again. Then you'll find a couple of little mazes. The last one is timed. Good to know I was so confused when I reached the last door and it was closed. Here I encountered something that others found as well actually I think it's intentional. Lara is loosing health. Some harpies in a still far away room are attacking you. The last bit is a race against time and usage of medipacks. It is very exciting and you'll probably have to reload a couple of times. I would have done better with just one more medipack collect them right from the start!” – Tombraidergirl (21-Jun-2002)
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