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Review
Gold!. Gold. Always believe in your souuuuul. you have the power to know, you're indestructibllllle. Always believe in...
- Spandau Ballet
Listen to that on your Walkman when you're burning through Khamoon. It's a right giggle. Gold or no gold, Lara Croft is somewhat synonomous with Egypt. Give any player three seconds to name the one country he or she would associate with her name, and chances are they'll say Egypt. Fair's fair. Roughly 24% of all TR levels to date have been in that country after all. They've all been packed into just the two games though (TR1 and TRLR). There are no Pharaoh related levels in 2,3, or 5. What's most interesting though is that the City and Obelisk of Khamoon represent the first ever two part levels. And where did the last two or more parters in the series take place? The answer is Egypt, over at Kafu's pryramid, or whatever the final level in TRLR was called. This fact could be questionable with some people however. It all depends on how you'd define a 'two or more part level'. I bet there's at least one person out there who considers Lost Valley/Qualopec to be a double header, and the return to the sinking submarine in TRC could also be interpreted as a 'part 2' in certain intellectual circles. To conclude, Egypt could easily be seen to have the first and last of the multi-stage levels, but it could also be seen to not appear in such a record (if one existed) at all.
It's no coicidence I quote the song "Gold" at the beginning of this thread. The City of Khamoon is filled with the stuff, even if far too much of it has been moulded into the doors rather than the trinkets. The look of the level is wonderful, and is second only to Palace Midas when it comes to aesthetic greatness in the game. As much as the combination of yellow and gold overkill would have made for a sight for sore eyes anyway, extra marks could be dished out for the attention to detail in the walls and scenary. Not since Vilcabamba have the designers unleashed such a heavy artillery of little extras to sightsee. I'm talking here about everything from little statues to Egyptian transcripts in the walls.
Sidenote(1) - Did you know that there are exactly 100 levels in the first five TR games? Makes you wonder if TRC was made deliberately short. The full overview of that stat, plus some of the levels at key landmarks, are listed below.
TR1 - 15
TR2 - 18
TR3 - 19
TRLR - 35
TRC - 13 (Total = 100)
Level 1 - Caves
Level 10 - City of Khamoon
Level 25 - The Deck
Level 50 - Rx Tech mines
Level 75 - Citadel Gate
Level 100 - Red Alert
I have to begrudgingly admit that I was impressed by a boulder in Khamoon. SHOCK, HORROR! No it's true. Remember the second large room you come across, the one with the on-land croc, the secret in the corner, and the large trapdoor? Well if you do you might also remember what at first appears to be a ludicrously obvious boulder trap. Not only is the boulder itself quite clearly visible to the naked eye from half a mile away, but the ramp it eventually rolls down is made of concrete and sticks out like a sore thumb. "How easy", I often used to think, not even bothering to trigger off the damn thing before I left the room on my way. The last time I did this though I paid for it with my virtual life. Just above that boulder when in its starting position is secret #2 of the level. It can only be accessed later on in the level from high up above, and if you take your eye off the ball you can quite easily drop down right in front of the dormant boulder once you've collected your secret goody. An analogy that came to my mind would be trying to pot the black in snooker and at the same time cannon into the pack of reds. If you concentrate too much on the split then sometimes you miss the pot. With regards to the boulder, I spent too much energy worrying about the jump that would get me to the secret, and then not enough on how I would descend back down from the secret in the aftermath.
A common feature with TR1 is that a great many of the true to life animals get one scene that can truly be called their 'one great moment'. I'm referring to the mass wolf attacks in Vilcabamba, the dinosaurs in the Lost Valley, the tigers in the Colosseum, and the apes in Palace Midas. In the City of Khamoon it's the turn of the black Panthers, making their first appearance in the game and a very high quality one at that. Their most memorable scene though occurs when six of their kind (yes six!) come at Lara in a small enclosure with two sealed corridors on either side. Ok, so you can blast four of the little beggers from a safe distance - fair do's. It's still great entertainment though, entertainment given an extra edge of mystique thanks to a creepy glass statue of a panther that looks down into the enclosure during the fighting. The statue chillingly suggests to me that the ghosts of the dead panthers will live on even after I've turned them all the components of one of Liz Hurley's new fur coats.
On the whole it's a level with a massive overhaul in the animal/creature department. Many of the old guard have been axed, with only the crocs being brought back from the madcap Greco/Roman affairs. But unless I'm mistaken I think even they end up being pencilled out after the first of these Khamoon treats. Changes have been made in the first place to accomodate a new creature at this stage of the game who I call the "boneyman". He certainly looks boney anyway. A few large helpings of my mum's dumpling stew wouldn't go amiss with he and the rest of his clan. They could badly do with cutting down on the coffee as well. Boneymen tend to bounce around a lot in a rather hyperactive way and it can get quite tiring on the eyes and thumbs. They also screech and grunt like Monica Seles would in a third set marathon at Flushing Meadow. Just as well the boneymen are a good challenge, or I might have had to half the score I'll eventually give this level. For me, a successful introduction of the mythological creatures in the second half of TR1 was integral to the game's success.
Sidenote(2) - I had a horrible dream the other night where Core announced plans to s**** AOD and bring out a TRC2, except it was twice as short as the orginal and had twice as many bugs. I woke up though and everything was ok.
There's not much more to mention with this half of Khamoon, except to say that the sand falling through the trapdoor reminds me of the scattered rubble from 40 Fathoms. One thing I've noticed when you compare the two situations though is this ; Lara walks around the 40 Fathom rubble with bare feet and without a care in the world. In the city of Khamoon she gets lovely soft sand, but also a comfy pair of adventuring boots. Sod's law eh? There was no gold in 40 Fathoms either 8/10
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