Return to Egypt

I must admit, I wasn’t exactly overjoyed when my third attempt to install Tomb Raider Gold was successful.  Having finally completed the first Tomb Raider game, I was just a little weary of running around Egypt and Atlantis and wanted to make my way to somewhere with a bit of sky.  However, for completion sake (and the fact that I have never actually played the levels in this game, apart from the start of the first one), I decided to give it a go.

The first level, Return to Egypt (the first part of the “Shadow of the Cat” portion of the game) has gone a big way to making it worth my while.  It was well designed, good-looking and challenging, and has made me impatient to play the rest of the levels.  So let’s get this review up and move on!



So, after killing Natla, Lara returns to Khamoon because she fancies taking one of those cat statues that she saw kicking around.

For whatever reason, Khamoon has flooded.  Also, the Sphinx seems to be winking at her, something it definitely wasn’t doing the first time Lara was here.

I remember admiring this statue for not coming alive and killing me.  Well, it still doesn’t, but it’s fairly independent in that respect.

How on earth did that panther get stuck up there?

Why does that one appear to have dropped a shotgun?

An amazing sight; the sky!  Unlike later Tomb Raiders, however, this “sky” is pretty obviously just a dark texture painted onto the ceiling.  It actually looks better in this screenshot that in the game.

Return to Egypt could just have easily been called “Too Many Crocodiles”.  I’m beginning to go off of them.

Behold, the world’s biggest and deadliest marble run.

This statue didn’t burst into life; it didn’t even bother to look my way.  Snooty cat.

Oh look, it’s our hellish old friend, the panther mummy.

The panther mummy falls through a trap door, and, like some Egyptian-themed Alice in Wonderland, Lara is enticed to go after it.  And there we have the end of the level. It took me a hell of a lot longer to play it than it did to write about it.  Never mind; on to the next chapter!