Level reviews

"A solid raid here, the setting is pitch perfect despite being yellow all around it's what you'd expect out of a city lost to the sands. There are many arched hallways and a majestic main hall in the second level. Combat is kept to a minimum so the focus is on exploration which does rely a bit on shimmying around slopes above cliffs but that's countered by a couple of elaborate puzzle setups — the one with the rotating chambers instantly comes to mind. I might have never left that place were it not for G&D's amazing walkthrough, as usual. 70 minutes, 6 secrets. 01/25" - Treeble

"Can't even remember how I came across this level but found it in my TRLE download library and gave it a go! A very good raid to be had here. I found the gameplay to be engaging enough with some tight timed runs decent platforming and puzzles were decent enough, quite an elaborate lever and rotating rooms puzzle in the 2nd part. Maybe a little too elaborate almost to the point of long-windedness but I can appreciate the effort put into it for sure :) Only other gripe I had was the texturing was a little monotonic would have been nice to have a bit of variety in colour. The only colour variety to be found is in the many keys you pick up along the way haha! But all in all this is a pretty decent raid well worth your time, nothing ground breaking or mind blowing but the gameplay is more than enough to carry you through it!" - Feats

"I am of two minds about this level though. Overall I did like what I saw. Loved the huge areas and the choice of textures. Not many enemies but the ones who you did encounter were well placed. The first level eases you into the gameplay but be prepared for a more difficult gameplay with (I thought) some nasty challenges in the next level. There are also puzzles and afterwards I thought that was cleverly done but when I had to figure out how they worked I named the builder every name in the book. There is also some nasty timed jumping to do and I still don't like them. Glad I got through it but I am not sure I will do this again though." - Gerty

"For the majority of the time, this is a thoroughly enjoyable adventure and shows that the author has finally managed to strike the right balance of difficulty, challenge and enjoyment (at least for me). Some of the sequences are still tricky to be sure, but once you establish a certain flow or what the professionals might call a "modus operandi", you should accomplish them without undue frustration. The surroundings and atmosphere are on a higher level than previously and music is a big plus. I only have a couple of minor gripes which didn't really tarnish my experience too much: firstly, the surroundings are a tad monochrome, so you'll be glad when you happen across a brighter area and secondly, the rotating rooms puzzle was an ingenious idea, but was a bit tedious for me personally to run back and forth across the different rooms looking for my next destination. Nonetheless, I enjoyed myself a lot here." - Ryan

"I have played many levels which have everything buried, foggy, and covered in irritating sand which gets everywhere, but this one puts these aspects to the limits, and my only question is... WHY?!! Why to waste time on making things which must have been more tedious to build than they are to play?? Almost every corridor is a copy of another, the symmetry is devastating and you can know half of new objects used in this game just from looking at the level info screen. If one really finds this construction technique justified, possibly by need for realism, then he has no other choice than to include genious gameplay in order to compensate. Does it happen here? You can guess... Of course I appreciate the moon plates from the first part, but one such thing per level is not enough. Of course I appreciate the rotating octagons from the second part, but again, one such thing per level is not enough, especially when the "epic" camera angle kept dispersing any bits of orientation I got so the whole thing took me two hours to solve, and I still had to quit the game to draw a map. I liked the quick escape route provided at the end of that puzzle but I still chose to backtrack through the slamming doors and spike pits, just because I did it at least twenty times before and it made no difference while it was easier to understand than rotating things again. At least the game didn't have pushable overload, provided a bit of separate challenge with golden secrets and used enemies nicely though these bats were overdone as well. SUMMARY: An ambitious attempt which might have aimed for realism too hard, so as a result we got dragging monotony which lost the aspect of adventure. It might be my IQ just drops, so in the end I granted one more point to gameplay, though I'm not really sure if that's right..." - DJ Full

"I believe this two-parter is a bit underrated. There are challenging elements in both segments, but the second is by far the more complicated and taxing. I waited for the walkthrough before attempting to navigate it, and I'm glad I did. Dutchy has managed to figure everything out and give us the basic steps without elaboration, which is just fine with me, since I would never have been able to manage it on my own (yes, I'm talking about the rotating walls area). And if anyone is interested in what I consider a custom level with optimum lighting, you can mark this one as Exhibit A. Although the surroundings suffer from sameness and a dearth of color, the player can see everything with remarkable clarity even though most of the action takes place underground. Compare this with the early levels in the Tarragona series and you'll know exactly what I mean. Some of the timed runs were tight indeed, not to mention the traps with devilishly placed spikes, teeth doors and breaktiles, but I was able to get through them all - after a number of efforts in some cases - without the assistance of a single savegame in a little less than two hours. This builder shows considerable promise, and I hope we haven't heard the last of him. High recommendations." - Phil

"I really enjoyed this two-level adventure, except the rotating rooms puzzle, which went me fool and I had to search for help in the forums, but even with that help I turn fool to get the key and fool again to go out to the main hall. There are some tricky tasks too but when you finish (if you're able) you will shout: "I got it!". There are few enemies and I expected a big boss near the end but there is no one. Cameras are OK, the fog is omnipresent and texturization is good, but often monotonous always with the same brick wall textures. Recommended but not for beginners." - Jose

"An extraordinary game consisting of two parts. In the main focus of the author obviously was gameplay and creating demanding Tasks like some very interesting timed sequences and puzzles. And in this concern the author succeeded. Only an episode with rotating rooms was quite confusing as there were no helpful hints anyway. Less ideas and work however went into the environment. Yellow fog like after a sandstorm is everywhere, nearly the same textures in every room are making the scenery quite monotonous. Even in the 2nd part large courtyards and porticos are forcing Lara to go Long ways through thios yellow monotony. It's gameplay that makes me recomend this one" - Christian

"After a relatively easy first level, the 2nd is much more complex. The passage in small rooms with rotating walls was quite complicated to understand (by cons I found very easily secrecy) and spent some time. I found the fog too heavy in the second level. The run with wraiths also was not easy because I could not remember where was the lock. There are few enemies and objects in those vast parts. The timeruns are wide and there is no need to try several times. Apart from these few details the author made a solid level correctly textured and illuminated." - Drakan

"Gameplay & Puzzles: In this game are many interesting puzzles and clever tasks, the room puzzle is ingenious but there are great other things as well. Maybe a normal vase as pushable is too clever. The gameplay is not always great but lives from the good tasks, in between it's a little worse. Enemies, Objects & Secrets: Enemies are very boring, very few and really nothing special. There are some good objects but also not enough in every area. The only good thing here are the secrets which are well hidden. Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The architecture is sometimes good, at the start and end of the first level, but often rather simple and not very realistic, there are some abused features of the editor like the 'dome' one on cave walls. There are some good sounds but still not very diverse, the cameras are functional. Lighting & Textures: The texturing has only few mistakes but is fairly boring and bland, the lighting too, bright and monotone. But the looks of some rooms are quite special so still a 7. Total: 7/10, the best are some good ideas in the gameplay, the rest is okay but not very great." - Rambo

"This was a very fun TRLE map. The puzzles are great and actually make you think, the gameplay is amazing. Straight from the beginning you have to think and be able to know what slope is going to do what. Such a great TRLE. Recommend it to anyone looking for a great TRLE." - Heloisa

"Rewarding and not easy map. Classic traps but with a fresh twist, pretty interesting and devious puzzles ( I love rotating rooms puzzle and I was thinking a long while). Maybe, the lighting is a bit bland, the geometry a bit cubic and very few enemies. In addition, a remarkable level and a solid 8 for me (gameplay 8,5 )." - requiemsoul

"For the most part, I really enjoyed this two parter, with its wonderful traps, well devised agility tests, super fun timed runs and good puzzles, that provides more than two hours of mainly very satisfying raiding. So why are you getting the feeling that there's a 'but' just hovering on the sidelines? Well, two things mainly: Whilst the level is beautifully made and undeniably atmospheric, the somewhat monochrome nature of the textures makes the occasional bright orange splashes of the scorpions positively welcome. Hmmm, scorpions as an accent statement, who'd have thought it? Also, the 'samey' look of the areas can lead to confusion if, like me, confusion is pretty much your default setting. The second quibble I have is the undoubtedly clever, but equally rather frustrating rotating rooms puzzle - too rich for my blood unfortunately and, if not for a really helpful post in the relevant stuck thread, I'd probably still be trying to work it all out. All the same, I was left with a definite glow of satisfaction at the end of the game and I'd certainly recommend trying it, even if you decide to wait for the walkthrough." - Jay

"Every category deserves the same rating for me. This level consists of two parts, one in the open and the second in the halls of lost city. The first part way ok , I got used to the environment and the enemies (bats and scorpions) the texturing was a bit bland and linear , I was hoping for a better variation thou... but compared to the second half of the game it had some nice puzzles and areas with traps or timed runs. The latter part was really likable and entertaining, searching for the multiple keys was a fun ride. Puzzles were decent and nice with the exception of the rotating rooms puzzle which wa sa hellish episode I wish to never encounter again (if it wasn't for the forums I would've never gotten that part right). A nice addition to the level collection on trle, I would recommend this , it's worth it." - young Lara Croft

"This two-parter didn't quite catch me on the right foot. The start of the level was rather bland, both in terms of gameplay and looks, with rather dull progression, quite wallpaper-like texturing and very monotonous use of colours. The latter actually is a problem that lasted to the end of the level - while there are better looking rooms later on, especially in the second level, the colour scheme is always the same. contrast is missing and the atmosphere is very indifferent as a result. A few incorrectly streched textures are also visible. Still, the architecture is rather well done for most of the time, the room design is very intricate and geometry is quite apt. What could have added to the atmosphere would be more work in terms of object design, many rooms look fairly empty. Even with all the gripes, I think the builder has captured the desert atmosphere quite nicely and there's a nice sense of reality throughout; the use of sounds and (few) cameras is also quite nice. The gameplay picks up very slowly admittedly, but actually I was enjoying this level quite heavily at the end. There are some excellent timed tasks including raising platforms and a few novel out-of-the-box puzzles (most of which are placed in the second level), the 'one' sticking it being of course the rotating room one which is probably the highlight of the game, yet creative and sometimes even dizzying use of traps and the puzzle with the raising platform don't really stand much behind. There are some parts which don't feel as inspired and are rather boring (the start of the second level, for example, involves lots of running around in empty and similar rooms), but the creative things make up for it and overall this is a quite enjoyable level duo which took me one hour to finish with all six secrets found." - manarch2