trle.net
Level: Tomb Garden back home search
Author(s): Rapetou
total rating:6.77 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Dimpfelmoser 7 8 7 6
Dougsan 8 6 7 5
eRIC 7 9 7 6
G.Croft 7 7 5 6
Gerty 7 7 7 6
Kristina 6 7 7 7
MichaelP 7 7 7 6
Momster 7 7 6 5
Monika 7 7 7 7
Obig 7 8 8 6
RaiderGirl 7 7 7 7
Sash 7 7 6 6
category averages
(12 reviews)		 7.00 7.25 6.75 6.08

Reviewer's comments

“I dislike dark levels very much and this one is pitch black. You start in a maze and having to find the gem is easy well sort of but finding the exit is difficult. There isn’t much to do just collect more gems and the portal guardian stumble in the darkness to find switches kill ninjas some scorpions and a couple of demigods. I guess the arrows on a block in a corner was the secret Matthias is talking about but I couldn’t get and I wasn’t willing to try anyway I wanted to end this as soon as possible. Even the cameras which in any other case would be helpful didn’t do any good what can you see in the dark. If you like finding which trapdoor opened and where the next switch might be in a pitch black setting this is the level for you.” – Kristina (03-Sep-2003)

“Darknessick! Okay the start in the hedge maze was about the only time you get some light only because it is outside but for the rest of this 50 minute you are traipsing through a tomb that is just way too dark the author realises this though and leaves more than enough flares around enough that you could probably have one lit for ever second in the game but who wants to be searching for things by the filtered light of a flare the whole time I know I don’t. To the game there are a fair few things to do some involving timed moves like one over floating platforms and the other jumping from fire block to fire block there is also a few game pieces to find sometimes easily overlooked and a handful of good battle scenes with ninjas harpies skeletons and demigods. But again the darkness made a few of these things especially the timed jump over floating platforms uncomfortable and in the end I was happy to see the daylight again as I climbed out of the tomb with the scroll artefact in hand.” – Sash (19-Jul-2003)

“In the beginning I thought that this level will be an average one but after the small hedge-maze things become harder. You have to be really good here and there. The enemies are various and stiff and if you would like to collect everything you must swim well and quick. The textures are also various and I love the sounds too. This level is a bit dark for me but I like it. The jumping from column to column in the end was great and I had to load the game a few times. :-) I entered the next level with the Music Scroll. I don’t know exactly how much secrets are in the level as I found only one. I think I missed the Grenade gun somewhere. :-)” – Obig (14-Mar-2003)

“I know we've all seen a few too many Egyptian levels but I found this one to be very interesting and definitely worth the download. None of the puzzles are difficult but there are some fun jumping rooms firetraps spike and boulder traps a timed door plus four gems a Portal Guardian and a scroll to collect. There's quite an assortment of enemies with the crocs being the hardest to deal with as you are often underwater with them. I never had a problem figuring out what to do next and really enjoyed this hour long level. Let's hope this isn't the author's only level.” – RaiderGirl (05-Feb-2003)

“Starting off in a maze and you know you have to get out of there and also you need a blue gem just to do that was a very different approach. All in all you do need even more blue gems and the Hathor effigy to continue. The author uses very well hidden levels and one croc just showed me the way to the first one. Enemies are more than I bargained for but I didn’t make this level. There are ninjas scorpions skeletons harpies and even demigods to battle with. Finding the shotgun uzi and later the crossbow was a welcome surprise. What I didn’t like were the spikes popping up and the scream I heard while I was crawling through a rather dark crawlspace. It sounded like the dragon (?). They both made me jump in my chair. There are some nice jumps in this level and the one over the lava was rather hard as it is dark there. The boulder trap was a mean one and almost at the end I heard that scream again Very eerie I must say. 02-10-2002” – Gerty (09-Nov-2002)

”The level starts off in a maze. It took me some time to get everything done in there and leave. Then I got stuck for a while because I didn’t find the switch to open the cage. In the water were three crocodiles swimming around and the one near the underwater lever was the most aggressive one. Then again I had difficulty in finding the exit out of this area. The walls looked all the same to me. From then on I had no real problems any more. A welcome challenge for me was the timed door and near the end the series of fire-pillars, that had to be passed just in time so Lara would not catch fire. At times the level was rather dark. Used the binoculars quite a bit. One has to find four Horseman’s Gem. The last one can be behind a big wall if the ninja drops down there after being shot. Enemies were ninjas, scorpions, crocodiles, skeletons, lots of bats and poisonous Golden Birds and demigods. I was glad, when I found the crossbow and later the grenade gun. It helped with the skeletons. I found one secret and my playing time was 1:10 hours (statistic). 9/2002” – Monika (19-Sep-2002)

“Except for the switch which opens the gate after the maze ... dumb of me ... I found no difficulty with Tomb Garden. The puzzles were fun but not difficult. The enemies were not too numerous and were easy enough to kill -- thanks to more than sufficient firepower and a good selection of weapons. The game flowed very well. I always knew where I was going (or at least thought I did which made me comfortable even when I was stumbling around in the same areas for the fourth or fifth time). The rooms were quite interesting -- when I could make them out (more on that later). I particularly liked the flooded room with the sarcophaguses. It looked as real as a photograph. What I didn’t like was the amount of darkness. There were more than enough flares but it is so tedious to examine the rooms with flares. The designer didn’t need as much darkness in my opinion. The atmosphere of the game would not be hurt with more light and less darkness. Can't comment of the sound. XP. I enjoyed Tomb Garden and will be playing it again this evening for time.” – Dougsan (18-Sep-2002)

“40 or so enemies in this one hour adventure and some of them very smartly placed - you get ninjas harpies demigods skeletons scorpions bats and crocodiles. Four gems and a portal guardian required for progression and the scroll is your prize to take home. I like the camera work and the rooms with the jump sequences (one timed to a door on floating platforms and one with fires that go out for a short time). On the downside many of the rooms very a little too large and empty textured rather monotonously and lighting seemed to get darker and darker. Had to search a bit for some of those well hidden levers but importantly I was quite relieved to be able to leave the hedge maze at the start after three minutes only.” – Michael (16-Sep-2002)

“There are many puzzles and traps and many enemies of various kind but there isn’t much atmosphere in this one-hour-long level. The best part was the burning pillar room which gave a little challenge with its precise jumps and timed burners. At one time an enemy didn’t drop the gem he was supposed too probably because he fell a long way down - so be sure to shoot your enemies on solid ground! ;-)” – G.Croft (15-Sep-2002)

“This is a fast paced level with nasty traps and enemies. Except for the first one the skeletons are not a threat as you can find the crossbow and the grenade gun but the crocs are the most hungry I've ever seen in a custom level. There are many other enemies demigods harpies white ninjas. Even the bats are annoying in some places. So maybe it is better to be in manual targeting mode when there are several kinds of enemies at the end. No great puzzles here but the gameplay offers a good variation of tasks some of them are a bit challenging. You have a maze in a garden (not very difficult) jumps exploration to find artifacts timed doors. My favourite part is at the end with a series of timed jumps on pillars with fire burners. The camera work is clever the texturing (textures from the tutorial wad) is quite solid except for a thin wall but many rooms are really too dark. 1:05 hours of good raiding where you should better find all the medipacks to disposition.” – eRIC (13-Sep-2002)

“I too initially though this was going to be a boring ‘run around in a maze level’. Nothing could be further from the truth. This was not a simple level by any means. Gameplay is interesting and moves along nicely but in many cases texturing made it difficult to see things and in many places it was far to dark. I of course missed that very first blue gem so busy was I trying to find how to open that underwater gate and worrying about the crocodiles. Thankfully I was able to backtrack and go get it. Enemies include the crocs lots of bats scorpions golden birds a couple of demigods and a slew of guards towards the end. Most difficult for me was the timed door at the jump from high square to high square and the author was quite picky at exactly where to place the portal guardian as I went round and round before it would accept it. Also troublesome for me in this 1 hour adventure was the 1st of 2 boulder escapes but once I got the first one the second was fairly easy.” – Momster (13-Sep-2002)

“I braced myself for some real tedium when the introductory fly by slowly panned over the dreaded garden maze but with hindsight I have to say that it is quite clever to have the maze at the very start. No matter what comes after gameplay definitely picks up. As Richard Lawther explained level builders tend to fall back on the good old labyrinth when they run out of ideas so you usually get the maze near the end which is always somewhat of an anti climax. Rapetou was wise enough to anticipate that he will run out of ideas at one stage so he put the maze right at the start and saved the tricky jumps over the fire-pillars for the great finale. It took me a little over an hour to reach the end (I barked up the wrong tree when I tried to find a way to put the fire out that guards the ornate handle) and most of the time I found this quest for the music scroll fairly entertaining. There is one paperthin wall and the texturing is a little bland at times but mostly solid tutorial standard with an atmospheric underwater tomb and I liked the room with the many fires. Luring the crocodile away from the underwater lever never worked and the demigods gave me a lot of trouble as they always had some backup. More thrills were provided by a timed door a couple of boulder traps and the skeletons that you have to face without proper weaponry. Make sure you get the explosive arrows (secret) it's easier than you think.” – Dimpfelmoser (12-Sep-2002)
Tag Cloud from Reviews:
back home search