Level reviews

"Oh wow, what a find. This would be an 8+ if it could be finished, surely it has way more dedication than many similarly rated levels I played. The second map has too much padding compared to almost flawless flow of level one. Still it's worth trying until it allows. Watch out for critical pickups, they can drop in plants or be missed. Maybe Monty could give this project a second life - making an engine for your own game, that would be something. Recommended." - DJ Full

"What a pity that the second level cannot be properly finished because, up to that point, it was a pretty solid experience. The first level more so than the second, with a nice "overworld" feel as you roam across a digging site with camps and what not in search for the keys to enter the inner temple. You can easily jump to the end of the world from a stack of crates, and the jumpswitch animations are missing, but overall it works pretty well. The second level then shifts into a standard library.wad adventure, with four challenge rooms housing elemental keys. Some of them seemed uninspired, such as the earth chamber, but the worst offender is the fire chamber as you cannot legally escape and as such can't proceed to finish the level. Well, not in theory, as Harry points out in the walkthrough you can actually open the exit gates with just one of the four keys anyway. Worth checking out for the first level if nothing else. 60 minutes (unfinished), 6 secrets. 11/21" - Treeble

"I quite enjoyed the first part of this levelset: a nicely created lagoon with a campsite and crumbling Egyptian ruins nearby. The gameplay is fairly simple in this first part, mostly evading fierce machine guns, using buttons and levers, finding keys and shooting guards, but it's entertaining enough. The second library level has more complex gameplay involving boulder traps, swimming, a flipmap and a couple of hub room concept. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, it is unfinished and it ended in a room with a torch and coffin for me as the gate refused to open. I was able to experience most of the level's gameplay, upon consulting the walkthrough, so it's worth playing until that impasse." - Ryan

"This is a rather decent two-part release that definitely requires use of the walkthrough (especially for the second segment). The first part is issue-free and takes about a half hour to play. The second part is much more complex and took me an hour to reach the point where the player becomes irretrievably stuck. The hub room motif is used here to good advantage, but the builder has laid things out so that the player can reach the finish trigger quite early. If you follow Harry Laudie's walkthrough you will be able to play at least 95% of what the builder intended to offer. However, there's no escape from what is apparently meant to be the final room, as the exit door remains closed (assuming you can reach it in the first place, which I couldn't). I echo the earlier reviews that lament the fact that the builder could not be bothered to fix what seems to be a fairly minor issue in order to give the community a completely playable game. Anyway, I enjoyed myself during the time I was able to spend here." - Phil

"The first of the two levels in this small set is really not bad at all;has a followable storyline;plenty of fast-moving gameplay;and is fairly well lit and textured. The lagoon atmosphere has been rather well created,and (aside from the player easily getting to places they weren't intended to) is rather good fun. The second level features gameplay which has definitely been ramped up a notch,and features a hunt for four stars.Unfortunately,it soon becomes evident that the lack of a modified wad means that the player is heading for an inevitable impasse.How far you want to travel before reaching that particular impasse is entirely up to you (I played three-quarters of the playable area),but you will clearly observe that this second level is far more technically accomplished than the first and should,all things being equal,have been a minor classic.As it is,it's a major misfire - but that doesn't,in any way,mean that this level set should be ignored,especially as it remains this builders only release.Give the first level a go,have a good look around the second,and wonder if this builder will ever create a second release." - Orbit Dream

"Still full of bugs although the first level is quite ok. You will however get stuck for good in the second level and I would recommend that you use the walkthrough as a guidance so at least you can play most of the level. I still think it is a shame that after all that work that the builder couldn't be bothered to update this (what could have been another little gem) level. A good example of what the word DEMO in the title is worth." - Gerty

"Much shorter than I had anticipated. I knew there were bugs but I was hoping the builder had fixed them to the point where the game could be finished or almost finished. Lara had just picked up the crowbar over that wonderful invisible bridge and used it down below and then that pole bug struck. I went back to a save and this time Lara refused to use the crowbar that opens the exit so there was no way to get to the pole again. I had to leave the game but not happily. It was just getting good, in my opinion, as the first level was fine(even with invisible Lara at the jump switches) but I looked forward to the Sanctuary. The Ruins (first level) had a more military style with trucks, guards and sentry guns and I wanted to get to the castle part. How to rate a demo that the builder seems to have given up finishing? Anything over a 7 doesn't seem right but an 8 for Enemies etc. for the completed first level does." - Bene

"For a first effort this is not bad, and at two levels long it's more than your average 10 minute demo. The first level is set at a heavily guarded dig site and just requires some scouting around to get your pillars to access the second level. The settings are believable but suffer from a non-cohesive texture set, where rock texturing is not so good and lighting is rather contradictory (what ought to have been darkish crawl spaces were usually brightly lit with no obvious light source). The second level is in a library setting reminiscent of TR4, but the gameplay tasks get a bit weak here with invisible paths to walk, and a dull earthy maze. The levels ended for me in the second of four exploratory areas with a dead-end game fault once I had picked up a torch. Seems silly that a builder puts lots of effort into building a level only to be let down due to lack of testing, that would have exposed this fault. I guess that makes the 'demo' tag justifiable." - EssGee

"The talk of all the bugs scared me off from starting this game, and while there truly are issues in the 2nd level that could've turned out much better with a little initiative from the author's side, at this day - you can see everything there is to see in the game anyway. The settings in both levels on the whole are set up rather well - I liked both scenarios - the plateau with the trucks, hangars and ruins as well as the Lost Library inspired sanctuary. In the first part there's generally not much in the way of the gameplay but pushing buttons and activating switches, but the decent setting somewhat makes up for it. The sanctuary, while essentially still relying on a very long sequence of switches, at least had more to offer in that aspect. Besides the obvious issues like being able to reach the finish trigger after placing only 1 star, or not being able to escape from one area, I was mildly annoyed about the inclusion of a small, but still a maze and the placement of the crowbar. It was not so much that it was just placed on a tile beneath one of the stars - it's that you could easily do the puzzles for the other 3 stars (well 2, not minding the part where you get stuck for good) without getting it, and I wasn't very happy about reaching the end of an area without having any means of getting the reward. While it startles me a bit why some of these seemingly obvious issues were not taken care off, the levels are otherwise very nice and I'm sure with a bit of work the full game will turn out interesting. Worth a look." - eTux

"Two levels not difficult and well textured.Unfortunately with a big bug in the 2nd level. The first level is very pleasant and fluent with a Coastal ruins atmosphere and setting with some different objects and textures. You spend most of your time in two outside areas , with switches to flip, there is a bit of exploration with climbing monkey swinging or shimmying , all that is very easy, with some various enemies to shoot mainly custom SAS. It is not very long , about 25 minutes, and there is no great puzzles but I've liked playing this level. The second level is more ambitious and a bit longer. A library setting with also different enemies , dead crusaders, bats , dogs , harpies and even a shark. Here you have in theory to make 4 quests to end the level , but one is enough as one key (out of the four) opens the final door. Also there is a quest that I could not finish as one of the door never reopened after finding the corresponding key. A pity as it was a good level and one of the quests where you have to flood a pit was really interesting." - eRIC

"I downloaded and played this game knowing about the bugs but the name was too good not to: The Shadow Of The Templars! Wonderful. And despite some of the odd animations I enjoyed this twin level adventure. It is just a shame because of the afore mentioned bugs you aren't able to complete it. The SAS camp with its sentry guns in the first level gives way to a more traditional temple setting in the second. The levels look good and there is plenty to keep you occupied - Enemies to shoot, puzzles to solve. Despite the bugs I would suggest people download and play this, it is a very enjoyable level set, just be aware it is unfinish--..." - Kitkat

"Indeed a dilemma here in terms of how to score this, as essentially it is impossible to finish the second part due to issues with the animations of Lara. But as a level is still so good that you may want to play it as far as you can get. Le Rovine (7/7/8/7, 25 min., 3 secrets): A rather nice Coastal setting with smooth and fairly linear progression and plenty of not so dangerous enemies to deal with. In this part only the jumpswitch animation is wrong, but you can still pull them anyway and proceed. Solide camera work, a tight boulder trap, some swing blades and spikes spice things up. Two keys and two pillars to find before you slide into Part 2 Santuario degli Elementi (not scored): Really a pity! This starts so promissing as a library type setting in which your task is to find the four shaft keys and you can actually by reloading savegames play to reach all of them, mastering a maze with crawlspaces and buttons, a lava pool, boulder and burner traps and more, but due to all the animation errors, you cannot actually complete the level, because the two that do not work are the pole climbing and the pulling of the chains. It seems this could actually be easily fixed by adding a Lara to the WADs that has all the necessary correct animations, but as this is now seven months after the author had claimed he would try to fix it, I have given up hope that we will see this as a working version ever. Like I said, a pity..." - MichaelP

"The first level is short and has some keys to find and pillars. The setting is something like a camp with soldiers and wild boars around, also three secrets to find. The second level is buggy and can't be finished because of a problem in the room with the torch. First of all the basket was lit in my game and no matter how many times I reloaded I couldn't find it unlit. I did, however, ask around and it seems that even when the block is raised the gate up there stays closed so there's no escape. There are shaft keys to find and the crowbar that registers as a secret, what for is beyond me. The demo is buggy so the levels will be buggy if nothing gets done about this. I found two secrets in the second level." - Kristina

"What starts out really promising fell kind of flat near the end as you come across a couple of bugs that make it impossible to finish and also finish earlier than you should. The first of the two levels was wonderfully set in open canyons and an SAS encampment where you progress through mainly with exploring and not really solving any puzzles and this set the feel of the level fine. The second level finds Lara inside an underground temple where she goes looking for 4 Shaft keys each off of a main hub room. This level had more puzzling especially the one involving collecting the trident and I was really enjoying it, then I came to a room where after you collect a Shaft key you have to light with the torch a basket to make a block raise to get out, well the basket was already lit so I couldn't raise the block, I went back to an earlier save and came to the room and the basket was not lit so when I did it and raised the block I found a gate at the top of the block that wouldn't open and no way to open it so was stuck again. Funnily I read that you can at any point in this level use only one Shaft key instead of all four to open up the way to the end, so this made collecting that key unnecessary to finish but it also makes any other two of the adventures to get the keys unnecessary. Also oddly the crowbar that you can't do without registers as one of the 6 secrets and maybe I could forgive it being such if it were secreted away but it is just lying under one of the Shaft keys that you use it on. Anyway, I know this hour long demo will make a really great adventure once the bugs are totally ironed out as it isn't half bad now, so I'd say to definitely check it out just know that these bugs exist." - Sash

"Well, the second level is impossible to finish, because Lara's movements are not appropriate: when Lara use the jumpswitches she disappears behind the walls, when opening the double blue doors, push the buttons, pull the floor levers (you have to step after pull it into the tile with the lever to activate the trigger), lighting the torches, her movements are strange; finally when she pulls the rope-switches she gets totally stucked and you can't continue playing; moreover, in one of the grated doors, when Lara pass it closes and get trapped behind it. So I'm going to rate/review only the first level. Good gameplay and correct puzzles; well enemies and objects and secrets easy to find; could be more cameras but sounds are right; you can climb to the upper part of the camp where the Cleopatra's statues are and find some untextured walls, but lights and textures are not bad generally. Author will have to fix many bugs in second level to offer a decent final version." - Jose