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Review
I don't think the meaning of the word 'Vilcabamba' is ever explained in the context of the whole Qualopec thing. No matter. You can't go around calling your levels "Caves", "Temple", and "Valley". How blatantly dull would that be?
This level is a fine step up from the opening one, pitching one or two more stumbling blocks than "Caves" without actually posing much threat at the same time (if that's possible). I should imagine T.O.V is quite an unmemorable event to most people who completed TR1. There isn't that much to stick in the memory. However, not all things that fade from the human brain are bad and uninteresting.
Enemy-wise this is a battle royale for the newcomer and non-newcomers alike. It's the same set of foes as on the previous run - bats, wolves, and boars. This time though they're in much better forces, and cool confrontations arise from this. First up comes an immediate assault from four wolves, attacking from all directions and generally making life difficult. The very same attack is dealt with by an in-house gamer during the demo's. The bears have doubled to two now, appearing in seperate confrontations at very believable and effective locations.
The first bear comes at you as you enter a stable in the centre of the first area. The second bear is stationed around a swimming pool right at the end. It's quite a bizarre ordeal to get out of a pool for 3 seconds, shoot a grizzly with two revolvers, and then fall back into the pool again before you get swotted with a huge paw. Only in a computer game. Both of these encounters are enjoyable though, something that probably could not have been said if the enemy placement machine at Eidos had them squeezed into one of those corridors around the outside of Vilcabamba's first area, for example. On a concluding note for enemies, the bats are just plain bloody annoying.
My earlier reference to 'first area' wasn't just out of convenience. This level is actually split into two sections, neither of which excel the other or drag you into tedium. The first has you fishing around for your first door keys of the series, and also (if you choose) ducking into a water passage for your first swim. The second area has you swanning in and out of your first miniture obelisk of any complication.
Some interesting artifacts are strewn around here, most notably in what looks like a place where a cave-man once did his laundry. The room with the skull and bones wallpaper comes to mind too, this being only a week after I last played the level. One thing I don't like however is the second major attack from a wolf platoon in the level, which looks far too contrived even from the most organised of cub packs. Placing four of the starved beasts on four seperate platforms, all in a square formation as you enter the room, is just not believable. Black cats in Egyptian levels might pull it off, but certainly not your everyday wolf. Still, on the whole it's a fab little wander is dis. 8/10
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