Levels listed...
TR5 - 33
TR4 - 3185
TR3 - 181
TR2 - 139
TR1 - 66
73793 reviews (20.4/level)
3593 (99.7%) walkthroughs
457 Hall of Fame levels
1258 levels rated >= 8
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release date: |
12-Nov-2012 |
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# of downloads: |
259 |
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average rating: |
9.53 |
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review count: |
28 |
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review this level |
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file size: |
516.00 MB |
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file type: |
TR4 |
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class: |
nc |
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author profile(s): |
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Reviewer's comments |
"This level is one of the most famous. I was looking forward to playing it. But I found a
large number of downsides. From an aesthetic point of view, it is full of repeated textures,
in every single level. The caves are not exactly pretty. The gameplay is very slow and
frustrating. Continuous backtracking, it immediately became tiring and I was almost on the
verge of closing because I felt made fun of. Then we don't talk about levers that don't show
what they do and leave you completely helpless and force you to run for hours and hours
without knowing where to go. And then ... there are many places where I encountered a
softlock and I spent too much time not being able to do anything to find that the game
broke, maybe a bug of mine I don't know. Objects are the best thing in the game, at least
there has been a lot of work behind it and it shows. Among the best objects I seen!" - DadRaider (19-Sep-2022) |
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"This is definitely one of the most massive custom level sets ever built, and therefore, it
is a little hard to give a comprehensive view of it. The game features plenty of
extraordinary gameplay (over 14 hours for me) consisting of action-packed platforming and
timed runs, inventive puzzles, epic boss battles, and several large and non-linear levels to
explore. I was particularly impressed by the dragon boss fight where you have to use a magic
staff to briefly stop time to prevent the dragon from firing you. It is the first time I
have seen this concept used in a custom level. While the visual quality of the levels varies
a little bit, overall, the surroundings look beautiful including careful texturing and
lighting, and a great use of color throughout the game. Even though the game was a lot of
fun to play through for the most part, it did get repetitive at times due to a large
quantity of switches/items to find, enemies to fight, and generic jumping tasks. If some of
this content had been cut out from the game, I would have enjoyed it even more.
Nevertheless, the game managed to keep me entertained until the end and it surely deserves
its place as one of the most highly rated custom levels." - Samu (16-Jul-2022) |
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"What an adventure this was. Each attribute of it is generally great with a few downsides, although with this much content it would be hard for a levelset to not feel like at least a little bit of a mixed bag. Let's start with the visuals. Unfortunately there is a heavy amount of wallpapered textures in some areas, particularly underground caves. This issue appears sporadically throughout the adventure. On the plus side the lighting is excellent and a majority of areas are textured quite well. Next is atmosphere. The presence of camera cues for switches is about 50-50, and I found myself often resorting to the walkthrough to see what a switch did. Another issue I had was with the looping music, which is usually not a good idea to use in a slow paced game like Tomb Raider as it gets repetitive, although the tracks certainly fit the mood well. On the plus side the immersion is excellent and aided by more than a few smartly crafted flybys. Next up is gameplay, which I have a couple of rather major issues with, starting with the backtracking. The crypt level was perhaps the lowest point in this regard, as there were three areas you constantly had to revisit and make you way up and down over and over again. I found myself regretting not having chosen the easy route once I found out that would have avoided the laborious parts of that level, but it's certainly not the only one with backtracking issues. Later levels even have you backtracking multiple times through trap sequences (usually squishy blocks) which is especially tiresome. I was not a fan of areas that were glorified mazes, such as Merlin's library, with a bunch of duplicate rooms connected haphazardly. I also took issue with the way weapons were ripped out of the inventory without warning, such as the grenade gun in the beginning of the adventure that you earn via a secret, only to lose it a short time afterward. The school levels, while great for worldbuilding purposes, dragged out in terms of gameplay and could have been made a bit shorter. The biggest issue, however, is the bugs. Most of them are thankfully noted to the player, but I have to wonder why there wasn't an attempt to fix them instead. For example if a vase could disappear and brick a player's game, why not just take the vase out of the equation? I had to go back a few saves in the last gem level due to having a water hole blocked off, which ended up becoming a mandatory backtracking route in which I was stuck for good. The biggest bug I encountered was that for most of the adventure Lara was impervious to fire. With a magical setting like this I'm not entirely sure that wasn't intentional, but it took off a bit too much edge from the final boss fights as two of them relied on fire for their attacks. On the plus side, Lara will have a nice variety of puzzles to solve, from pushables to performing chemistry. Lara will also have a healthy dose of combat and traps to withstand, and sometimes she will stop time and do other neat magical feats to get past them. It really makes you feel like you're part of a magical world. The strongest aspect of this levelset is its objects. There are a huge variety of unique enemies including flying books, an angry cauldron, knights, a dragon, and so on. Add in a large amount of nice decorative objects along with a large number of secrets and a bonus level, and you've got a perfect score. Overall it's a great set of levels to sink your teeth into. Even if you may strongly dislike backtracking, I would urge you to at least get to the castle level before you decide to leave this gem of an adventure behind. 15 hours 7 minutes." - JesseG (16-Jan-2021) |
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"Although late for this trle..have to say it deserves only top scores for the effort..i would like to be more specific for several levels but i have forgot for now..the truth is that im not to much into magic and fantasy trles but for sure u should play this..the best thing i noticed here is that although its so big the game is quite helpful so u dont have every min to visit the walkthrough" - Petaludas (01-Nov-2020) |
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"This level set is absolutely awesome. Some of the best raiding to be had since the original back in 1996. Everything was near perfect. My ONLY complaint was the sheer amount of tasks in two of the 26 levels, being the Crypt and Merlin's Caves. These two levels just about did my head in with their back tracking, seriously difficult platforming sequences, timed runs/swims and cleverly hidden secrets. However once you nail these the sense of satisfaction is almost overwhelming. Some of the levels are a little dark but you have so many flares that it becomes a non issue. I ended up with over a thousand in inventory and used them copiously. The boss fights were stunning ( and there are quite a few of them). I did like the health bar for the baddies showing how much life had been taken on a hit. This helped in my opinion. Graphics are absolutely brilliant. All I can say is WOW. What an effort and folks this is a MUST PLAY for all serious raiders if you have a week or so to spare." - Torry (08-Nov-2019) |
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"Well, wow. This game is pure genius and so beautiful.
So much to do and find. I love the puzzles in this one,
in my opinion from playing other levels for me is wasn't
to difficult but still challenging in places. The only
critic i have is that armour. Its very easy to miss. I
played thought this game twice. On the first run i didn't
find any of the quest items. But i did find over half of
the regular secrets. So of them were so easily missed as
i discovered on the second play through. I feel maybe the
quest items should of been mandatory to find, as i felt
that was the point of Lara's expedition.
The music and general atmosphere of the game i loved. I
love anything to do with Authoritarian legend.
Flares , lol. Well i finished the game with over 900
flares, but the game can be dark in places so its good
that the builders gave a good supply as there is nothing
worse then a dark level that you cannot see in. Also a
good general supply of other things such as medpacks and
ammo.
Textures were very well blended and somethings were
cleverly hidden such a hanging shields for Jump levers.
You must give this game a go, anyone who plays will love
it." - Lady_Wise (26-Mar-2019) |
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"A masterful production of such astonishing
breadth and scope. We start in Topaz
Island with Lara and the gang speculating
about the location of the crystal. Then we
move to Lara's school years (surely not in
England?), then a quick helicopter ride
later, we enter the castle where the main
part takes place. The visual effects are
stunning and the gameplay ramps up
considerably throughout. A must play for
experts and newbies alike." - Ryan (16-May-2016) |
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"Topaz Island: This first level is mostly a cutscene, an optional training area, and a short jeep ride. You return to it later after the Serenity Academy levels.
Topaz Island - Last Crystal Hunt: The level is set in a middle-eastern town and then a hotel in the town, with the two areas separated by a boss fight. The location is gorgeous, though frequently a little too dark. The music feels a little too tense for the relatively sedate gameplay (though it's a nice track).
Serenity Academy - Day: This and the next level are in the form of a flashback to Lara's days as a teenager at boarding school in some tropical-looking place. It's an unusual setting and features Lara in a Japanese-schoolgirl-type uniform, riding an ultra-adorable bicycle. The Day level involves mostly some fetch-quests around campus, which can be a bit dull, but riding the bike is fun.
Serenity Academy - Night: The Night level is more interesting, as Lara looks for a way to break into a forbidden section of the library. Though the location is nearly the same, the looks are much better due to better lighting.
Topaz Island (the heli ride & on board the ship): Back in the present, Lara sets off in a helicopter to catch a ship. The helicopter ride comes in easy and difficult versions: in the former, you get to watch the helicopter immediately arrive at its destination, while in the latter, you can try to navigate the helicopter yourself. It's pretty tricky, but an unusual experience nonetheless. Lara lands on a ship, and asks for a room for the night, but apparently forgot to bring her wallet, so she has to hunt through the ship for some money to for a deposit on the room. There's some fun interaction with the other passengers on the ship, and the ship itself is quite nicely built.
Tintagel Island (first time): This is a short interlude leading up to the next levels. The level begins with Lara getting up on the ship the next day (having changed her outfit), and after a short quest, she leaves for Tintagel Island on her helicopter. On reaching Tintagel Island, she enters some caves to unearth the entrance to the crypt.
The Crypt, Parts 1 & 2: Until this point, this KAP did not feel like a particularly great or unique levelset - it was good, and had some novel ideas, but nothing spectacular. This is the level that changes all that. To be precise, it's actually two levels: the second part is optional - though I would strongly recommend not skipping it, as it has some of the best gameplay in the whole game. The looks of these two levels - though a little too dark at times - are also fantastic (some parts remind me of the underground levels of Titak's 'Mists of Avalon'), though the realistic textures and subdued lighting are somewhat at odds with the more stylized and wildly colourful visual style of the rest of the game. The only thing I disliked in these levels is the boss fight against four gargoyles in Part 1 (why four all at once?).
Tintagel Island (second time): Lara returns from the crypt into the open air, then uses a magic artefact to raise King Arthur's Castle in a fabulous cutscene.
The Bridge: Lara has to find her way over a bridge across a huge moat and into the castle proper. The looks of this level are a bit of a let-down after the beautiful Crypt levels: the lighting in the outdoor areas is flat and there are far too many texture mistakes. Still, it's a fun level, with some memorable tasks, such as the torch task on the double-boulder ramp and the mirror room in which Lara can enter the mirror.
Arthur's Castle - Daytime: This is the level seen in the opening titles, and it's also where the 'King Arthur' part of the storyline really comes into its own, so it feels like the heart of the game. It's a very long level with a huge amount of tasks, but it remains structured due to the main hall of the castle, which serves as a hub, and unlocking some pushables in a nearby courtyard, which serves as the gameplay focus of the level. The lighting is still a little flat, but there are lots of lovely locations, especially the main hall. Fixed cameras are used well to show off the surroundings and provide cool viewing angles.
Merlin's Cave: The highlights of this level are an ultra-long multistage timed run near the beginning and a boss fight against a living cauldron (!) at the end. There are fun bits in the middle too, such as jumping across switching floating tiles high above the central cavern. The looks of the level are ok - there's no particularly spectacular location, but it all looks quite nice and is very colourful.
Arthur's Castle - Evening: Another long and complex level similar to the Daytime level. The orange sunset lighting in the outdoor areas looks great. My favourite spot is the church, with multicoloured light spilling in through the stained-glass windows. This level introduces a new antagonist for Lara: the Evil Boulder. Throughout the level, Lara encounters sentient boulders, including one that chases her through the hallways of the castle and another she has to 'kill' in a boss fight.
Guinevere and Lancelot - Forbidden Love: This level continues the castle setting from the previous levels, and has similar gameplay, though is much shorter. It's a pleasant level, but not particularly memorable compared to the last few levels, most of which are brilliant. My favourite part is the pushable puzzle at the end. Apart from a mural on a wall, the title doesn't seem to have much to do with anything.
Arthur's Castle - Night: This is fairly short level, with a chemistry-related puzzle being its main focus. The dark hallways of the castle, lit with colourful light from the stained glass windows, look great.
Tower Guardian: Another short level, in two sections. In the first half, there's a boss fight against the guardian: a huge sentient flower. In the second half, Lara makes her way around some castle ramparts to get into the Time Tower. There are a couple of very cool scenes in which using some artefacts causes a bridge to be built out of thin air, and a dragon to materialize to melt icicles blocking Lara's path.
Time Tower: Another relatively short level. The location is becoming somewhat surreal now, with a strange (though beautiful) space-like environment visible outside the tower windows. The highlight of this level is a section at the end in which you freeze time by shattering a clock.
Magic Infinity - Morgana's Power: This is perhaps the most beautiful - or at least, most visually interesting level in this game. The first part is set in a similar castle setting as the previous levels, and involves finding 6 levers to open up a door leading outdoors. The outdoor area is a surreal floating-island style place, with a vaguely space-ish theme, but highly colourful. There's a lot of enjoyable platforming in the outdoor area, and some pretty cool camera angles that show off the spectacular scenery very well.
Morgana Furious: This is continuation of the previous level, featuring just a boss fight with Morgana, a flying witch, on some floating islands.
The Final Gem: The centrepiece of this level is a fantastic multilevel library that I - as an avowed bibliophile - simply loved. There are some unusual enemies such as living statues and flying books. There's another time freezing section near the end, and another boss fight featuring four gargoyles, though this fight is slightly fairer than the one in The Crypt, as here Lara can at least move around and take cover.
Castle Heart: The main multi-storey room of this level forms a hub area connecting a number of the previous levels. Every time you pass through it, it changes slightly. You finally get a chance to play through it fully after The Final Gem. It's a short level, with a few interesting puzzles, such as a switch puzzle to move some bridges and a variation on the three monkeys puzzle from TR4.
Dedalus: If there's one level in KAP that's just sheer fun to play, it's this one. That's of course if you've found all the pieces of Arthur's armour, in which case Lara will wear the armour and be nearly indestructible. She can be killed by rollingballs and poisoned, but otherwise, nothing can harm her. She can jump off the highest ledges, fall screaming to the ground ... and then land on her feet without a scratch. She even walks underwater! The level takes advantage of her newfound abilities, and throws her into one challenge after another. There are boss fights (including the return of the Evil Boulder from Arthur's Castle - Evening), traps, platforming sequences and puzzles, all coming one after the other at a breakneck pace. The final sequence involves Dedalus himself (a huge dragon), who is defeated when Lara summons first Merlin and then a huge knight. And then Lara gets her hands on Excalibur.
Avalon: Lara finally reaches Avalon, which turns out to be a spectacularly beautiful and ethereal floating island sort of place, with soaring white arches amid a lovely garden. The first section of this short level consists of finding a path to get to the topmost island. Then come multiple boss fights against two big foes and several small ones. Lara gets to wield Excalibur, which is really cool. The final part consists of an escape sequence in a room that seems to be yet another changed version of the hub room from Castle Heart.
Bonus Level - Topaz Island Quest: This is a cute little bonus level, of a type almost never seen before in custom levels. Lara takes a rubber dinghy out into a small area of open sea just off the coast of Topaz Island, looking for switches on tiny islands marked on a map. The sea area is very nicely done, though the black horizon and fog (necessary due to technical reasons) kill some of the sense of realism. At the end, a building magically appears on the largest island, through which Lara accesses the next level.
Bonus Level - Underwater Ruins: Lara explores a strange underwater realm filled with exotic sea creatures and unusual architecture. The gameplay revolves mainly around long timed swims, which can occasionally get tiresome, but it's still mostly enjoyable and features some great underwater scenery.
Bonus Level - Magic Garden - Demo: You get to this level only if you find all the secrets in the game (I didn't get them all, and did not feel like replaying multiple levels to get them, so I just downloaded a savegame). It has no connection to the rest of the game. Lara is some sort of fairy, exploring a magical garden populated by dwarves. The dwarves turn to stone whenever she approaches, which seems a little disturbing at first, but later you learn that it's apparently their defence mechanism. The highlight of this fairly short but cute level is a scene in which Lara catches a tiny fairy with a butterfly net.
Bonus Level - The Witch's Castle: Another bonus level, one which requires you to replay a large chunk of the game to get to. While the idea behind the Bonus Gameplay is good, I didn't have the patience to finish it, and downloaded yet another savegame to get to this level. It is divided into multiple, very different sections. The first part involves climbing around on some huge structures in a large outdoor area. Lara once again sports her invulnerability armour (from Dedalus) and carries a magic staff that helps her light candles and open doors. Once you open up a route to the castle (through a floating path in a surreal location similar to that in Magic Infinity), the scene changes to an indoor one. The castle interior is (oddly enough) a retextured part of the Catacombs map from TR4, with similar gameplay. Once you encounter the witch, Morgana - who monologues quite a bit - the scene changes again to a large platform in the surreal outdoor area. First multiple Morganas appear, then a huge one who tries to knock Lara off the platform, and several other smaller enemies appear periodically as well. As a boss fight, it's great and unique, but it goes on way too long. If you die, you find yourself in the Cursed Level, which at first resembles Lara's home, but quickly grows more surreal, and Lara herself keeps becoming more ghostly as she progresses through the level. When you return to the main part of the level, you find yourself back before the beginning of the boss fight, having to redo it all, which is really tiresome. The Cursed Level is a great idea in itself, but you can't save or reload in it, and you can move only at walking pace, and it's really annoying having to do it again and again every time you die. Once you defeat Morgana for good, the final cutscene shows Lara with her friends in Topaz Island.
Overall: I played KAP over a span of two years. It took me so long not because it was boring or anything like that (far from it) and nor because it was hard (though it is tough, no doubt about it), but because at times it felt like too much of a good thing. The castle levels that make up the middle third of the game are nearly all excellent, but they are nearly all also extremely long and complex, as well as very similar in style to each other. After a while, I just longed for something different and easier, and kept taking breaks to play other levels. Getting to the last two bonus levels is also pointlessly hard - what's the idea behind making players replay about a third of the whole game just to get to the last bonus level?
Such quibbles aside, it's really hard to say anything particularly negative about KAP. There are a few individual levels that are not perfect, but overall, the game is of an extremely high quality - there are several individual levels that I would give full marks to without a second thought. The overall production value is great to as well - the voice acting is good (and it's nice that there are so many language options available), the story is interesting, and for such a large group project, the levels are surprisingly well integrated with each other.
KAP is a must-play for any TRLE fan - highly, hugely recommended!" - Mytly (15-Aug-2015) |
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"While there are various reviews I noticed none have gone
level-by-level, so I thought I'd take it up.
Topaz Island/School levels: After a short intro map with a
tutorial sequence that teaches various advanced moves (and
makes it pretty clear the pack won't be holding back later),
the first main gameplay sequence is in a Persian sort of
town with some relatively simple exploration and
platforming, and ends in a nice boss sequence that
establishes some of the new combat aspects of the pack (like
enemy health bars); a nice ease-in to the pack, althougb
something about the setting execution didn't fully convince
me. There's a flashback sequence after as you do a double-
level sequence in the past with Lara at school. I'm not
buying the Japanese schoolgirl style for Lara, but it's
pretty ignorable and this is a nice slow-paced exploration
section, where you choose to explore at your own pace and
can even skip the vast majority of the level if you just go
where the storyline dictates. There's quite a bit of
backtracking over large spaces but at least an amusingly
implemented Pushbike speeds it up a bit (I'm sure the
exhaust fumes could have been fixed though). The second part
is the same location at night with some new areas to explore
and a much creepier atmosphere, although the general style
is the same as the previous level, including various
optional areas. After that there's some transition levels
with a nice use of a Helicopter as a vehicle and a Boat
level that provide some small amounts of exploration and
scene-setting; nothing especially complex but a nice
atmosphere, cool object uses/set-pieces and just enough
puzzle elements to avoid all the setup getting dull.
Present Tintagel/The Crypt: The above-ground castle itself
is another short transition/scene-setting map, but the
Crypts are when the gloves finally come off and things get
going. There's actually two parts to the Crypt with one
being optional depending on a choice you make. The first
Crypt map is an impressive centre-piece room and a complex
multilevel off-shoot area that leads to various platforming
tasks, a nice boulder pushing puzzle and finally a boss-
fight against Hydras. The second is a complex masterpiece
with a few main areas that interlink in multiple ways and
are changed several times by set-pieces and puzzle outcomes.
Honestly I'm not sure why it's treated as an optional super-
hard map as, while it's large and complex, I didn't find any
of the tasks beyond the level of any semi-hard modern level,
and I think the non-optional first Crypt map isn't that much
easier, and everyone who plays this set should play through
this map, which is the one of the best I've seen. It's also
extremely atmospheric; the grey is slightly omnipresent at
times, but it's mostly averted with great lighting and
object use. After finishing the main tasks in the two Crypt
maps you cause some events that make yet another great
large-scale map change happen before going back and getting
an awesome flyby of reviving the old castle...
The Bridge: After a small intro sequence in some ruins you
enter the eponymous bridge, which provides an impressive
environment and splits off into two side paths where you get
the items to progress. One is based around a series of
agilty tasks over lava and the other is a puzzle/exploration
section with a raising block maze and the introduction of
some Mist of Avalon style Giant Spiders (uh oh). Outside of
some timed puzzles the pacing is pretty sedate, but there
are some tricky jumps and other tasks, including an
interesting twist on a torch puzzle.
Arthur's Castle - Daytime: This is based around a large
centrepiece room with various areas around it. There's a
nice mix of challenges and various moderately difficult
platform sequences, along with great visuals (especially a
certain zipline moment) and nice setting variety (like a
trip into some crystal caves) and it comes together to open
up a large puzzle to finish things. A great level.
Merlin's Caves: As the name suggests this is generally set
in caves, although a significant later section is in some
sort of underground building. There's a nasty multi-timed
run, a large scale waterskin puzzle and a really unique boss
encounter. This level also curiously gives away it's
designer, as, while the details are different, the overall
gameplay structure of one area is taken straight out of
PaoloM's In Search of the Lost Trident right down to a too-
hidden trapdoor (that I only found because I've played that
level). Outside that trapdoor there are a couple of other
slightly unintuitive interactions, but there's usually some
sort of clue, even if you might not realise they are one
except in retrospect. This level is on the challenging side,
and does it's job of upping the difficulty. It does make me
more curious why the second Crypt map was optional though,
as I'd say this level as a whole is more difficult, even
accounting for the fact it lets you bypass one part (at a
cost).
Arthur's Castle - Evening: Back to the castle, this is a
puzzle-heavy level with a similar hub type format to the
first. There are some amusing new Boulder enemies, and
plenty of other original object uses. One or two of the
shootables could have done with more clues though. Visuals
are also grand with a lot of large-scale rooms, and it does
a good job being distinctive from the first castle level
while feeling similar.
Guinevere and Lancelot- Forbidden Love: This is quite a
short level by KAP's standards so far, you are in some sort
of bath house type place that is relatively linear with
flybys to show the next step. The tasks are enjoyable and
the fast pace works as a bit of palette cleanser from the
longer levels around it. The visuals are a little lower
standard than usual as it's somewhat cubic and the lighting
feels slightly all over the place (it reminds me a little of
Taras' levels) but there are still some nice rooms and cool
object uses, the romantic atmosphere hinted by the title is
also supported by the warm lighting and steamy bath house
setting. After this you go to "Castle Heart", but it's
literally a couple of minutes long before the next proper
level.
Arthur's Castle - Night/Tower Guardian: These are two short
levels that seem to go together. The first is centred around
an alchemy lab where you have to create a potion and a torch
puzzle, and the second is a boss fight with some impressive
flybys to end on. There are various cool objects (especially
the lab) and decent visuals, although both these levels are
relatively contained. An enjoyable set.
Time Tower: Another bite-sized level, but for a reason that
becomes clear later. The first half is a search for several
plaques that let you solve a floor tiles puzzle, and then
the second part shows a really cool concept as you freeze
time to go back through an area that was previously
inaccessible. The visuals of the main area aren't especially
impressive, but the sky is really cool and the reason for
simplicity becomes clear when accounting for how the time
freeze is implemented. Good, although more of a tech
demonstration than a full level itself.
Magic Infinity - Morgana's Power/Morgana Furious: After a
series of short levels this is the next centrepiece one.
After a start with various challenges to unlock the main
area you enter a colossal and beautiful floating islands
area full of unique objects and lots of platforming. It's
mostly relatively straightforward, with some gems to find
past various challenges. The fixed cameras are perhaps a bit
overdone (even if it's nice to see more of the area) but
they're generally there after you've already did a jump so
don't get in the way too much. It ends with a boss fight
level, which isn't much of a problem as long as you don't
get knocked off the edge. You also take another very short
trip back to Castle Heart.
The Final Gem: This is centred around a very detailed
library area, with a hunt for various books to make
progress. There's also another time freeze section, although
this time it's much smaller. This is an extension of the
Castle levels in the side areas, and there are various
challenges located in them. There's also a boss fight here,
although it's kind of awkward as all you can really do is
charge in and heal up when hurt. There's also a hunt for
various secret books, and if you've been going for secrets
(like I did) then you've only got one left after this...
Castle Heart: This is where you do this level properly, but
it's still quite a short one, with the main obstacle being a
puzzle involving getting some bridges in place. There's also
an odd twist on the Monkey puzzle. Outside of that it's a
climb around a couple of tower areas, and it's nice to
finally activate everything in the central gem room.
Dedalus: This is actually split into two levels. There's an
interesting twist here as if you've found all the armour
secrets you get pseudo god-mode in this map; the only things
that can take you out are things that cause instant death
and certain scripted moments (technically you can get
poisoned too, but you take no damage and just get the visual
effects), you can even walk underwater and survive huge
falls. It's a really cool reward for going out of the way to
get the secrets. This is a linear sequence of trials where
you where you have to find various skulls to get to the next
section, and it culminates in a boss encounter with the
eponymous creature (if you've got the armour it doesn't pose
much threat in itself though, with some annoying shootable
collision being the bigger issue). There's also a return of
the Boulder monster. At a certain sand-pit area it seemed
like you could fall in the middle and get stuck if you have
the armour, but maybe I missed something. The first half of
this set has mostly functional visuals, but the second half
has some really nice looking environments, and some of the
best objects so far too.
Avalon: Now you're in the mystical realm itself, and, unlike
Underworld, it's not a grey corridor but a beautiful new
theme switch to a fantastical realm. This is a pretty short
level though and mostly a climb up to an extended boss
fight, you also get an infinite Shotgun equivalent to try
out. After that there's an escape sequence and you're
finally back to the present day...
Topaz Island Quest/Underwater Ruins: Here's where you move
onto extra content you can only get if you've found certain
secrets. Both these levels aren't too long, but have some
cool events and objects (the second in particular). The
first is an open sea area where you have to use a map to
find various objects and finally open up a ruin, there's a
cool moment as you change the centre part entirely. The
second is an underwater ruin with a lot of swimming, there's
some challenging parts but the swims mostly aren't as
dangerous as they initially appear, and there are some
really cool sights as you explore the underwater ruins and
encounter some dangerous sea-life. After finding the last
secrets here you get access to the final parts. There's
supposed to be a secrets hunt mode to stop you having to
redo the whole set to find the remaining secrets, but as I
got them all the first time I didn't need to try that.
Secret level - Magic Garden - Demo: This is a complete
departure from the earlier levels as you are now some sort
of Fairy in a garden area. This is supposed to be part of
BjorkRaider's potentially upcoming Experiment levels, and
the objects and style will be familiar to those who have
played that set. The puzzles are a little different to those
of the rest of the set, but there's a few help sources
provided to make them mostly clear. After doing the main
puzzle you get a cool change to the main area and then find
a item to take you back to the Castle, but this time it's
different...
Bonus Gameplay: You now get dumped back at The Bridge again,
but this time you have Merlin's Staff with infinite ammo
with each type allowing for special abilities like lighting
torches and opening certain doors. You now have to play back
to the end of Magic Infinity to enter the true finale.
Unfortunately, while I may have missed some stuff, the
extent of skips allowed aren't as big as might be initially
suspected and you still have to play significant amounts of
most of the levels again, and it seems to be possible to get
yourself stuck at one or two points with your new abilities
(like getting locked in an area if you haven't re-found the
Crowbar). You also take self-damage from the grenades, which
can be annoying as you have to be close to interactive
objects for them to work. I also curiously had finite Pistol
ammo, which was an annoyance as the Staff can't kill Tinmen,
although I don't think you ever have to fight them. While
some of the shortcuts are nice and there's obviously a lot
of technical effort involved in making this possible as a
forced section it's not enough to make this not feel like
padding to some degree, and I can't say you'd miss much just
getting a savegame at the start of the final level.
Witch's Castle/The Cursed Level: Witch's Castle is actually
split in two. You now get something completely different, an
alien environment with strange plants and surreal ruins;
it's an intriguing setting and a nice payoff for the effort
to get to here. You have your armour back on so you're near-
invincible, but there's no combat in the first part so the
armour is more a way to get around the complex platforming
environment that the ruins form more smoothly. After
finishing up the tasks outside you get to the castle itself
(with a really cool entrance) and things split for the
interior. There's more unique textures inside but it
reminded me quite a bit of one of the open areas in the
Catacombs in TR4, although with a more alien feeling. While
I feel more could be done an interesting aspect of this part
is that it's designed around the Merlin Staff abilities (and
the armour means no self-damage), and there were one or two
puzzles I was confused on until I remembered you could chain
your abilities. At the end you get a story dump and the true
final boss, which is actually quite challenging as it takes
a while, you can be killed very fast by it's attacks and
it's immune to explosives; I hope you got plenty of ammo on
your way back through the castle! The Cursed Level is a
bonus if you get killed, as you take a trip through a
hellish realm after your soul is stolen, and there's some
horror/screamer stuff to go through to return, a nice extra,
although it can be annoying as you can't enter the save menu
and have to quit back to the main menu if you don't want to
go all the way through again when you die. After the boss
things wrap up and you get the final proper
credits/statistics.
King Arthur Project is easily one of the most ambitious TRLE
projects ever, and there are tons of new things that stretch
the engine in ways never seen before. Despite that however
it doesn't lose sight of the gameplay and there's a lot of
enjoyable and complex design here with the story mostly
confined to the start and end, although pacing-wise the
spate of smallish-levels in the middle feels a little odd.
By TRLE mod standards the voice acting is surprisingly okay
too for the most part. There's various RPG/Final Fantasy
references with the Materia and certain enemies, which
seemed a bit out of the King Arthur mythology wrappings, but
I don't feel it got too overbearing, and the summon
sequences were very impressive technically. Since I went
through with the walkthrough to find every secret (and
Spiders...) I accidentally spoiled various solutions for
myself so I can't say if it's always fair, but I had few
issues at the points where I didn't need it despite it being
on the challenging side. While it has frustrating and
tedious parts, visual inconsistencies and forcing the bonus
gameplay seemed unnecessary there's so many highs I don't
feel like dropping any of the ratings. One of the must plays
of TRLE history." - Mman (14-Aug-2014) |
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"Just wow ! This map is certainly one of the better I have ever played ! Maybe a little bit difficult but i loved it ! Hours of gameplay are required and that's cool ! :)" - Hedteur (25-Feb-2014) |
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"This have to be the best custom level ever!!.I enjoyed it from the beiginning to the end.big thanks to the builders out there you guys are AMAZING!!!!." - janachorider (09-Jan-2014) |
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"Overall, I thought this was a great game. A few bugs that was the only problem to this game!!! Everything else was perfect." - Kyle (12-May-2013) |
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"Once upon a time, there was a huge castle a bridge guarded
by two keys led to. But no-one could see it without magical
power used, and whatever was hidden inside remained out of
sight for ordinary human. The only clue into this world,
pointed from ours from a long lost book. Which has finally
been found, by no-one else than Lara, for her to write her
own pages... And now, crossed the bridge, entered the castle
she stood there, among knight statues and hanging
tapestries, unaware what might await her. Yet not scared at
all, overwhelmed by lights falling through the windows, she
chose the only open door and it began. Floors over the fire,
collapsing a moment after one stood on, ropes hanging above
endless abyss, underwater spikes, flowing water which, if
fallen in, would take her life... yet she were fast and
brave enough to evade any danger, courage escalating in her
heart, like everburning fire she finally found in one of the
rooms and carried to share with all corners of the main
hall, so the castle has been brought to life and, in return,
it opened its deep heart, allowing her to dive in its caves
and crevices... which are usually dark and unpleasant, but
those were different. There was a very, very large kitchen,
where a kettle stood, heated with sparkling fire, with
cooked soup so alchemical a mysterious jewel was formed in
it. With that gem, deeper and deeper parts of the castle got
unveiled, and with a red one the saddest heart secrets got
as well, to finally, with blue, white and dark - time was
stopped and light faded... More and more she felt lost and
pointless in running around, more and more convinced it's
the castle itself intentionally prompting her to run in
circles... But she had no choice, she had to pass all
trials, while day became evening... evening became night...
and she was right: the guards have finally awaken. Among
wizards and dragons, knights and ghost spiders, a bunch of
manga creatures stood on her way to defend the castle's
final stand. Manga creatures seemed not to make sense nor
fit in the tale, but this is what it now was saying. And
with a book written by six alchemists of ultimate wisdom and
infinite magical power, there is no point to argue. This is
what she thought, and in the end, when she finally reached
her goal, she understood: when time stops, what was written
before and what was added after becomes equal. In that
moment, she noticed herself in harmony with all in-castle
beings, and, when everything came to an end, she realized it
had been a journey all thrilling, relaxing, funny and scary,
with so many epic and weird surprises possibly only the
Knights Who Say Ni were missing from... and, for the most
important: she survived, no matter how many times she died
in between. Returned home, she told her friends about her
ADVENTURE, the last pages of have been just written. And now
You, player: are You brave enough to take a challenge of
reading this story again for Yourself? If you don't, be
warned You'll miss a tale of unspoken power. If You do,
beware as well - for this is a great voyage which will take
you many, many nights to finish, as the written pages are
numerous and more." - DJ Full (29-Mar-2013) |
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"All four rating elements are excelled with astounding success! It's difficult to"review" this incredible custom level because the experience of playing it is so addictive and enjoyable that a comprehensive narrative review would require a 27 page dissertation. Since I am an average player in both gameplay skill and intellect, and am prone to taking in every detail I encounter, it took me 38 hours to complete the entire work. And yet, I only needed the walkthrough three times, being able to find all the secrets on my own otherwise. (Once, it was at what I consider a huge lost opportunity by the builder of this part. When we encounter the three clowns, and the opera singing starts, I was knocked down laughing. And yet, I confess that I was not sharp enough to solve their dilemma, continuing to look for a non-existent lever pattern while shooting the hell out of those goofy simian doppelgangers. By"lost opportunity," I mean that this particular set piece has all the elements for a more creative and satisfying experience, only to find it ending so simply abrupt that it resulted in a MEH moment. I wished for a more involved and innovative interaction at this hilarious moment...because it had the perfect set-up for an existential triumph along the lines of Bergman and Beckett.) But that is indicative of how highly creative and absolutely enjoyable the entire adventure is. While the game offers various playing alternatives, I soon realized that I had in hand such a majestic experience that the only route I wanted was to accept the most difficult and most involved challenges. And that is because the rewards are so fantastic. When I found myself fully armed and possessed of magic at a point where I could only get the complete experience by replaying many levels, I thought it might become too tedious and not worth the effort. But how quickly that impression faded when I revisited the past with an incredibly imaginative combination of magical tools and powers....it became even more challenging and innovative. This is one the most enjoyable raiding experiences I have had the pleasure of taking. It is an adventure of such epic and diverse proportions that is so well crafted that it becomes your reality. You won't put it down because you can't.
P.S. Many thanks to Bjorkraider who patiently endured my initial whining." - Mezcal (27-Mar-2013) |
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"I've been nursing this extraordinary release since downloading it in late November. The only thing I can think of that remotely compares with it is Psiko's TRA. My net gaming time was a little less than 24 hours, and I couldn't have finished without Dutchy's marvelous walkthrough. There's so much of a fresh and unique nature here that I could go on for page after page describing it. The variety of settings made for a new experience at every sitting (ranging from 15 to 30 minutes at a time), and I found the lighting to be superb throughout. To think that a visual treat like this can be made available free of charge makes me extremely thankful to be a part of this community. There were some difficult moments along the way, but everything is quite attainable by the relatively seasoned player. Bravo, team, for a truly remarkable gaming feast." - Phil (15-Mar-2013) |
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"Now, this is so huge and so complex I can't remember most of
it anymore! I remember the part in the caves had one of the
best atmospheres ever with the echoing sounds and all.
Anyway, even though some parts are better designed than
others, it stands greatly as a whole and every part is
interesting as is interesting the introduction of several
languages in the game (thanks for allowing me in) and all
the challenges and objects that give it a most original
touch. The special "Lara in an armour" is also one of those
very unique touches. I never played the final level, The
Witch's Castle I think it was called, because I'd have to
play through the entire castle again and that put me off as
being a drag, sorry to say. Not at all for beginners and I
did use a couple of saves, namely in Merlin's caves because
I was getting bored with too much exploring. Anyway, it's so
huge and so perfect at most times for what may be achieved
with the level editor that I believe less than four perfect
tens wouldn't even be conceiveable. A landmark." - Jorge22 (24-Jan-2013) |
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"What can I say about this magnificent game, superbly done? The Morgana's Power level, in special, took my breath away, but there were also a lot of instances that astounded me by their sheer beauty and creativity. Look at the dragon sequence melting the ice... or the rose battle... or King Arthur's castle levels. Wonderful! And the demo in the end was very, very cute and creative. I thought about giving this game a 10 in everything, and haven't done this only because I didn't like the darkness of some levels (the Crypt, for instance, was darkly boring), and the luminous, but very, very boring, Avalon level. But these were minor instances, of course. Old Italy and Slovenia deserve all our praise! It's an unique TR's experience for everyone. Very highly recommended." - Josey (04-Jan-2013) |
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"Primarily I wanted to write a seperate review for every sublevel but I wasn't disciplined enough.
It's not the first time great builders put their abilities together and create a common masterpiece. How wonderful. They have created an opera! What else shall I say...." - Christian (17-Dec-2012) |
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"AMAZING!!! What a beautiful epic adventure this project is. It took me 22 hours of net gameplay to finish this adventure without any bonus because i didn`t find all the secrets so it`s time for me to replay it and of course with all secrets. Some levels are short some are long but all in all this is a long adventure and i enjoyed every second of it. My favourite level is The Crypt but all levels are fantastic i loved it. We can see new obejcts which was very well placed new puzzles new ideas every level has different atmosphere and i liked choise of music and ambient as well. I could write more than 1000 words about this project but there is no need for that so if anybody is thinking when to play this don`t wait and start right now you`ll not regret it. This is a MASTERPIECE without any doubt and i can`t wait for the next adventure from these builders, a big thank you for the team builders." - OverRaider (11-Dec-2012) |
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"This epic adventure presents us with a good variety of scenery to appreciate. Starting off where the previous outing ended, Lara obtains a crystal from Topaz island - cue the Arabian Nights style music and exotic hotel rooms (although I could have done without the pitch black nooks and crannies everywhere. Next comes Lara's schoolday reminiscences. I'm not sure where Lara went to school, but given the palm trees and distinctly tropical sounding bird calls, I'm pretty certain it wasn't England. After that, Lara has a spot of helicopter flying and a comparatively relaxing sea trip culminating in her arrival at Tintagel. Boy, this girl gets around. If you may have been feeling that the adventure to date, albeit most entertaining, could perhaps have been a little more challenging, then your entry to the Arthurian legend section of the game should more than satisfy your cravings - everything goes high octane from here on, with some brilliant puzzles, innovative traps and highly enjoyable agility tests (not to mention some occasionally quite tough enemies to despatch). The myth and magic aspect is splendidly realised and I was lost in admiration for the expertise and imagination that has gone into this massive work. The whole game should keep even the fastest raider occupied for days (weeks if you play it round other levels as I did). Simply outstanding." - Jay (08-Dec-2012) |
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"without doubt a set of levels for hall of fame, excellent work with a very good gameplay, the puzzles are very clever and well created...all levels deserve a good score but in my opinion The Cript takes first place...Thanks to the builders for this extraordinary work carried out in years of effort, thumb up for the team!" - McRaider (02-Dec-2012) |
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"The initial levels had quite a few texture mistakes and lighting wasn't overly great. I found gameplay in both Academy levels, Crypt and Merlin Cave to be a bit confusing at their start because there is a lot of space to explore and easy to miss the next step. So, why I am placing these things right at the start? Because those are the only real gripes of an otherwise close to perfect game. Maybe some levels aren't as sophisticated as others, but the great levels really more than make up for those, especially towards the end of the game, and altogether this makes one of the most immersive gaming experiences I've ever encountered. All those new technical things implemented in the game are so fantastic - the second category alone would deserve a 20 for those, especially the secret system which is as complex and intricate as it can get, and I've never seen before the option to replay the game for them and skip levels where you found all secrets. Of course the TRLE engine is limited so you might encounter a few minor bugs but the KAP team is very helpful in that regard. Else than that, the multitude of settings even within a single castle is impressive and the gameplay never ceased to be pure fun for hours and hours and hours... there's so much I could write that I decided to not include the details and leave it to you, players, to explore this new world. Magic Infinity level and the final secret level have to be seen to be believed, as they are up to the most beautiful TR places ever. The action never stops in this level; lots of timed runs, enemies, great platforming, a handful of boss fights, nice unravelling of the storyline with all those text hints and dialogues, ... this might be TRLE heaven! Maybe not my most favourite game but in the top 3, and that highly deserved. I spent 18 hours in this game and after having finished the very last of the bonus/secret levels, I really felt like I'm missing something. Definately a game to play, replay and play again. Thanks, KAP team!" - manarch2 (30-Nov-2012) |
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"Oh, how fabulous was this colossal adventure! I'm not one for keeping track of the hours spent playing or how many secrets I've collected, but I can tell you I loved every minute spent playing this game. King Arthur's secrets are about to be uncovered and Lara is up for the challenge. Each one of the project's components is beautifully rendered with complex puzzles, some new wonderful objects, and delicious gameplay. Yes, you'll spot a few textures that could have been realigned and I did bump into a bug - but that's been fixed now so no worries there if you use the patch, but in my opinion you simply cannot deduct points when you consider the scope of this adventure. This is a Tombraider player's paradise! Thank you to all of the team who helped bring this "project" to life." - Mugs (27-Nov-2012) |
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"Perhaps you can low a bit the score in any list, but if you consider all the huge work and all the needed time to build this fantastic adventure you must give a 20 in each headland. Sure that another reviewers will say the same I'm thinking now, so I'm not going to lose my time repeating the same. There are not words to qualify this extraordinary adventure: you have to play it to enjoy, enjoy and enjoy... Only give many thanks to the Team for this, already classic of the custom levels and special thanks to Bojrkraider to give me the opportunity to colaborate in the translations of the texts. A marvellous game you can't miss. Very highly recommended!" - Jose (19-Nov-2012) |
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"when i was said ''Coyote Creek '' is at top 3 games i was forget to mention that this one -is number one - all time !!!!
i was beta test it for Bjorkrider half years ago and i was amaized ...... off course was long time since i play it and dont remember every detail and i heard since than was added some bonus levels at the end off it .... i will need to re-play it for sure for that bonus levels ....... all i remember is that was insane hard tasks on it wich i think the guys polished it and i also remember that was awesone ride brilliant constructed with top notch visuals and took me more than 2 weeks untill i get to the end in beta test .........THIS IS THE KING OFF ALL GAMES BUILDED UNTIL NOW in my opinion !! highly recomanded special thx for my friend Bjorkrider who provided me this game for beta test long time before get released to the public ..... manny thx guys" - Jack& (18-Nov-2012) |
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"One of the best levels of author I've ever seen. The scenarios are impressive (especially in the last levels). Some levels are too short, but others are too long and is compensated, haha! I have not played all the extra levels, but I'm looking forward. The first levels are looking a little dated, I had not been updating a bit more, too contrast with recent levels. Some soundtracks are heard a little bad.
There are some features that you promised not appear (or not seen). For example the indicator of the tutorials, the F4 function key or the option to select a level and can jump from one to another after completing the game the first time. But it's still a great game.
The game's story is well and thanks to the subtitles more people can understand (like me, for example, haha!)
Although there is a cutscene that has no subtitles at the end of the game.
Still, the game is great and I q all Tomb Raider fans should play. And thanks to the tutorials, insluso those who have not played before the games Core Design or author levels.
(NOTE: Sorry for the Google's English :=P)" - IvanTRFan (18-Nov-2012) |
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"For such a long level set it's really hard to even attempt to rate it properly. There were a couple of levels that I really loved and some that I struggled not to cheat past them, so I can safely say that the game is pretty much a mixed bag. Which means there's a little something to please everyone. One thing I was pleasantly surprised by was the rather few enemies encountered in most levels. TR has always been about exploration and puzzles, so major thumbs up for that. The problems arise when the exploration part is taken a bit too far. There's a reason the franchise has never been a sandbox/ open type of game and that's because, unless we're talking about an RPG, running around in vast places looking for something to do when you're stuck is simply not fun, just annoying. I'm not saying to go fully linear, just tone down the sandbox element. I had a hard time in the early school levels when Lara was sent back and forth on campus and its buildings without a map. You know you're going to be in for a heck of a tough time when the builders integrated hint system. Yikes.
Though the game looks great, the gameplay wasn't that impressive for me. Besides trying to go a little innovative with a few elements, everything else was either pretty underwhelming or tedious. In my opinion, it had too much flash and not enough fun. The game looks fantastic, sure, but that usually means you have to build your gameplay around it and that's not always good. Most of times you'll be stuck trying to figure out how to climb to point A to point H to get a key/item. And then you'll be stuck again when you fail to notice a jump switch placed in the shadows or a ladder that was textured like part of a wall. And when you add a few banana-jumps as well, then you're in for quite a frustrating time. I like to think that playing TR since I was kid makes me at least an average player, but damn. This game kicked my ass quite a few times.
Music-wise, it was nicely picked and atmospheric. There were a few songs that kind of scratched the ear (either because of they were repeated mercilessly or were low quality) but overall the music was more than fitting, so I can't complain there. The underground places in particular were my favorite. You'll feel like you're really stuck in some cramped, claustrophobic crypt.
Like I said before, the visuals are awesome. I applaud the use of light and darkness because the shadow patches were sparse enough that they weren't annoying, but strategically placed, so that you were encouraged to use the flares. And you'll almost never find yourself without flares. Some rooms are simply gigantic, but even if you'll be forced to run around them like a headless chicken most of the times, you're at least running in a beautiful environments." - Janny (18-Nov-2012) |
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"Instant classic!. Huge, innovative, varied and fluid gameplay,
epic moments, good lighting and textures. A must have! . My
favorite levels are: The Crypt, Merlin's Cave, Arthur's Castle
(Daytime and Night). Magic Infinity, Deadlus: The Final Battle
(Two levels) and Underwater Ruins. Congratulations people.!.
You made me so very happy :).
P.D I need all secrets now hehe!." - requiemsoul (17-Nov-2012) |
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