level reviews

[Uzi master]

I have decided to write reviews for each of the levels in tomb raider 1 (and other tomb raiders) bassically I am gonig to write about the level, what I liked and didn't like and finish with an overall score and the level highlights feel free to post if you liked the review or if you thought it was bad.

[Uzi master]

Ok so technically Lara’s house isn’t a level but it’s there so here I go, (pardon any mistakes you see I am new at this)
You start out in what appears to be the study and Lara will welcome you and tell you the controls, well who else is going to tell you what to do it’s not like Larson is going to run around giving you instructions, although that would be kind of cool. The mansion isn’t that good overall but it gets better in TRII and III, you see an unlit fireplace, bookcases, chairs and a table with a candle on it looks cozy in here but it’s a little under done since you don’t really do anything in here. I think they should have taught you how to move movable blocks by making you move a bookcase but alas they weren’t as creative as they could have been with the manor. Next we see the music room which Lara decided to turn into a tumbling room and tells you how to perform certain jumps, but seriously saying press the jump button to jump isn’t that descriptive TELL US WHAT THE BUTTONS ARE. The piano and string thing was a nice touch (sorry I don’t remember what it’s called) and they have a nice attempt at a back round but I can tell it’s a fake.

Well we now go into the main room on the upper level for some reason all the doors are closed and you can’t open them also Lara’s having “a few things” moved to storage seriously who could have that much stuff let alone it just going to storage well at least the carpet look’s nice and for some reason there’s a golden cart thing by the door. After learning that the action button lets you climb onto crates and other things we go into the ballroom… that Lara converted into a home gym, Lara really likes to remodel maybe she’s in the wrong career path. Anyway you learn some more complex moves in here thanks to some more crude instructions from Lara and take a look at the treasure chest hidden in the other hallway, not a very good looking room. Lastly we enter the elegant pool room where we learn to swim around then when you get out Lara says she need’s to get out of her wet cloth’s (to bad we don’t get to see that) awww but I like those clothes better than her regular outfit. The poolroom is nice but they don’t really do much they don’t even tell you about the swan dive but maybe because most people would just kill her in the main room.

Overall rating 6/10
Highlights: The poolroom and the treasures.

[Uzi master]

Ah caves the first level of tomb raider but before that we have two FMV’s to watch. The first consists of a strange metal object landing in Mexico revealing something frozen inside perhaps a giant fly in a giant ice cube? Then it skips to present day where Lara is conversing with a former college Larson who informs her about a job Jacqueline Natla wants her to do. He brings a laptop with a web chat setup with Natla but Lara declines her offer and says she only plays for sport (pretty stupid huh?) but she does it for free when she hears about the conditions in the area. Next is a scene where Lara traverses up a mountain with her guide and finds a secret switch to open the giant entrance sadly a pack of wolves kill her guide but we get to see his action packed scene where Lara kill’s all the wolves with her pistol’s.

Well now we can finally get to the actual level review. Were now in a creepy cave that some how has snow all over it I mean the wolves footprints was pretty cool, but how exactly is snow going to get all through this caves? Continuing with the level we encounter the first trap of the game (cue drum role) darts shooting out of the wall not hard to dodge but it dose add to the effect. The first secret gives a small taste of what is to come in St. Francis’s folly and other levels. Soon you will find a couple of bat’s not really a challenge but introduces you to the combat system. The second “secret” isn’t that secretive though, which is disappointing. The mossy wall’s were pretty good since that’s what you would expect to find in a cave. The wooden gate was a nice example of how different rooms are really close sort of like in Palace Midas when you would see most of the level in a search. But as nice as the gate is the room is pretty empty except the snow and 2-D ice which should have been replaced with a workbench or something more realistic for that spot I know I mentioned the snow thing before but now it’s just ridiculous! This next part of the level was pretty good you get to cross some rope bridges while shooting some nasty wolves, if you don’t “avenge your friend” as I say it it’ll haunt you later, maybe. The optional confrontation with the bear is a good challenge and with a reward of a medipack makes it worthwhile, unless you didn’t kill those wolves…

Here comes a classic tomb raider moment you run down the stairs and suddenly some wolves rush you as the scary music plays just perfect not to mention the third secret in this level and the best of them to, hidden in the over-growth with a Mayan calendar on the wall and a large medipack. Lastly this room has the first timed run albeit easy and most players won’t know but it’s still timed. Again your ambushed by a wolf, which is a little boring by now you do also get acquainted with the break away tiles, and land on a snow pile (grrrrr).I have to say the “ambush” by another wolf would be more effective if it happened at the large medipack the real flaw was bothering to put in the dart trap’s but you just have to live with it.

Overall score: 5/10
Highlights: shooting the wolves on the bridges fighting the bear and being amushed by the two wolves.

[tranniversary119]

It's a great idea and I enjoy reading it, but there's an EDIT button for a reason :) Just don't double post. Are in your case triple post.

[EscondeR]

It's a great idea and I enjoy reading it, but there's an EDIT button for a reason :) Just don't double post. Are in your case triple post.

In that particular case using a post per level can be tolerated :) Especially if a level review is long. Or at least 1 post per episode: Peru, Greece, Egypt, Atlantis.

[Uzi master]

Although I prefer to call it Villcamba I love how Tomb Raider tries to use real places and story’s, Oh and sorry about the double post but it seemed necessary for different levels. Just a nitpicking but what was the point of having another door into the city when there was already a giant door with a secret button? Well anyway we have another classic tomb raider moment where Lara is attacked from all directions! A nice moment although on the case there’s a picture of Larson helping Lara fend off the pack of wolfs, Core never did a good job at deleting things from tomb raider. This feeling of ambush continues in the tiny, dark corridor but it’s starting to seem they don’t have much imagination, until you find a bear charging you as you enter the stables! The combat here is definitely a step up from killing bats. The under water tunnels and secrets was a good idea and we see some snake statues that are real artifacts, remember what I said earlier?

Well here comes a part I question why bother putting the lever right next to the door? I mean the purpose of closed door’s is that you have to do something to open it. But the prison room you enter is fantastic, the eerie music, breakaway tiles leaving you seemingly trapped the large medipack in the wall made of skull’s which I remembered from when I was little. It’s so creepy and the movable block was pretty clever but I can guess all the prisoners escaped. Here comes another real artifact, the gold Idol which most people think is from Indiana Jones though we also find a key, I think the reason they have to key objects is to try and trick the player into thinking there’s only one since you don’t see them both at the same time. The wolves in the next room would probably get a new player by him going to one wolf and not noticing the one opposite but why they’d all be on raised stone blocks I don’t know. Since this is the first time we go climbing high up we get a pool incase we fall which is nice for new players. Landing us on the roof is a nice touch and is better than just coming back down plus we get to see an ancient carpet.

The breakaway tiles where nice but a little un-necessary. Here comes one of my favorite traps the swinging pendulums, also know as n ancient torture device they activate when stepping on the pressure pads which will surprise careless players who just run through at least they had a save crystal nearby. Next we see a gate into the next room with a bear, to bad you can’t shoot it through the gate. Most people will think the switch opens the door but it actually opens an un expected trap door surprising the un-suspecting adventurer. Trying to kill the bear can be annoying since you’ll get up shoot him and either get knocked in the pool or jump in to avoid damage, annoying, but in a good way. The third and final secret is pretty good, not to challenging but foiling some players, you either find it easily are don’t find it at all. Most people think the switch to turn off the pendulums is to fool you but it’s actually if you forgot the gold Idol, incase your wondering but I guess it still fool’s a lot of people. Finally I think the double gate is a good idea to remind people to explore everywhere and I don’t think I mentioned how good the architecture is definitely a good level. also many people complain about awful textures in tomb of Qualopec but forget they appear at the end of this level too! Hehe:ton:.

Overall score: 7/10
Highlights: being ambushed by the wolves and bear. Dodging the pendulums and the under-water secrets.

[Anne Boleyn]

I always love reading reviews, and especially love hearing about others' thoughts and perceptions of the games. However, if I might make ONE little suggestion, perhaps you could consider breaking your text up into smaller paragraphs to make it a little easier on the eye. :)

[rr_carroll]

Uzi master, I realize you're a new writer, but let's make a start: my heart sinks when I see your giant blocks of text; they're hard to read. Please use paragraphs.

And plurals don't need an apostrophe.

Keep 'em coming. :)

Edit: Anne Boleyn, must be a harmonic convergence.

[Uzi master]

ok I'll fix what I can thanks for the feedback.
is that better?

[Anne Boleyn]

ok I'll fix what I can thanks for the feedback.
is that better?

Definitely!

But since I have a short attention span, I think you should make the paragraphs even smaller in future (don't write less, just take lots of little line breaks) and perhaps liven it up with some well-placed emoticons! :D

I look forward to the rest!

[Uzi master]

This is definitely one of the more memorable levels in Tomb Raider, although you can’t tell by its name. This level starts out by bringing you to a lake with a pack of wolves around it, which seems more realistic than their other locations. Although it’s better to take the steps I just love jumping into the river and falling out of the waterfall::D can you honestly say you’ve never done that before? I think not. The next wolf will probably catch most people off guard but it’s not as good as the wolfs den area that provides nothing more than a fight no items or switches just a dead end, brilliant!

Judging by the position of the skeleton he was probably attacked in his sleep, sadly for this group of adventurers (probably sent by Natla) the only person sensible enough to stay behind had the gun:(. With the trail of skeletons, giant footprints, broken bridge and velociraptors it builds a dramatic effect leading to the appearance of the T-rex,:eek: making it one of the more memorable moments in Peru-and the entire game. Not to mention I figured out how to get up to the bridge without killing the T-rex just today, (I made a thread).

The bridge jump it self was pretty dramatic itself especially with that music playing, and the cogs where a good excuse to make the valley itself. The cog in the temple was kind of nice too bad they didn’t put a switch inside the temple to open up a trap door or something:mad:. The secret on the temple roof may seem obvious but since the climb is hard it gets an A from me. While I’m on secrets the one inside the waterfall cave was clever since you wouldn’t think Lara would fit. The one close to it was pretty will hidden too.

The raptor guarding the last cog was a good addition but getting the cog it self was pretty boring. Jumping across the river is pretty fun and if you don’t know what to do you could fall out of the waterfall. Secret #4 is pretty easy but if you don’t activate the machine first you’ll get washed away:hea:. The placement of the shotgun was nice and useful if you have trouble with the T-rex. The last secret though is pretty obvious as most people consider it the way out. And closing I really like having the tomb built in the waterfall, I might like a house there if the mechanism was close to the waterfall, I'd rather not have to go on an adventure to get in my house:pi:.

overall score: 9/10
Highlights: fighting the T-rex, the bridge jump and falling out of the waterfall

[Tombraiderx08]

i like the reviews, but please use proper writing layouts, sentences, indent, paragraphs, etc.. and no triple posting... but its cool cause your new, double posting alone is a big no no :) and welcome

[Uzi master]

Qualopec’s tomb has some nice vibrant colors compared to the previous in-door areas, depending how you count the valley. Despite my praise of the colors most people don’t like them but a review is about what I think, not other people:ton:. It seems some velociraptors are inside the building, which some people find odd I consider them to be guarding the tomb. Seeing as how Qualopec probably used the scion to create the dinosaurs how else would the residents create the temple and bridge?:confused: I doubt they could do it with all those dinosaurs wandering around.

Back on topic, the concept of completing multiple puzzles to gain access to one area is a classic tomb raider idea used multiple times and can prevent un-necessary room’s I like the idea. The puzzle on the right was probably the worst but it doesn’t matter to much it is the fourth level and at least it has some sense of danger with the spike pit. The one down the middle is better it starts with a decoy switch with a break-away tile drooping you into a pit of wolfs, although the careful player would let it fall before dropping down. Most people would bring out the shotgun then it’s a simple matter of block pushing and you’ll be done quickly,:( still a good trap though.

The puzzle on the left is un-doubtfully the best of the three as it is an actual puzzle:D. You basically have to NOT push the first, tempting switch to be able to reach the second switch. Both switches move blocks and the block the first switch moves lets you get to the second switch which can prove annoying,:hea: but not as annoying as that disgrace Pierre is during the Greece levels, but he is funny during Chronicles. Those spikes do provide some danger especially if you don’t set up your jumps and the blood makes it creepy too. And apparently pulling this switch releases another raptor (using the appearing function, that they use all to much in TR2). Another room with darts, getting a little old to be honest but I guess it might get you a little when going for the secret(s).

The first secret is well hidden I like that and the second secret is clever because there is actually a safe spot in the spikes you have to use to get to it, well that or a glitch. The room with the scion is a great part with the camera focuses and fall debris, not to mention Qualopec sitting on his throne and the mummy that falls down upon shooting/touching it (it also counts as a kill:jmp:) the escape is good to with the rolling bolder more falling debris it’s classic! The fight with Larson is interesting seeing as how most people would miss the secret by shooting Larson first. The medipack is a nice addition for the explorative person. One last point, have you noticed after you beat the game his gun becomes golden?

Overall score 7/10
Highlights: the double secret and getting the scion piece.

[Anne Boleyn]

Great reviews, uzi_master! I'm glad you defend the toybox colours of Qualopec's Tomb; too often people criticise them! Personally, I think they're a welcome change after the greys and greens of the previous levels, and the red and black prevents the Peruvian tomb from becoming too similar to those later seen in Greece and Egypt. So, a thumbs-up from me for Qualopec's colourful burial chambers!

[tranniversary119]

In that particular case using a post per level can be tolerated :) Especially if a level review is long. Or at least 1 post per episode: Peru, Greece, Egypt, Atlantis.

Okay thanks for the heads up. Always great to know :)

[stereopathic]

i never knew that mummy counted as a kill! :D

[Uzi master]

Before we start the level we have another two scene’s (I forgot to describe the first in Qualopec’s review:hea:) with Larson defeated he mentions that what Lara has is only a piece of the Scion, when Lara asks him where the rest his Larson says Pierre Du Pont is after it. Larson has one final attempt at Lara’s person, not a very good one though seeing as how Lara knocks him out again:ton:.

In the next scene Lara uses an un-conventional way of getting into the Natla technologies building, but it does look pretty cool using a blow torch to cut the elevator cable and go flying up:D. We here some narration and stuff bla bla bla, and it end with Lara saying “Pierre you litterbug”.

And so the string of real, but not realistic places continues. Lara starts this level with her pistols drawn, it would be wise to keep them drawn for the approaching lions (I like the fact they have different genders). After learning how some pressure pads require movable-blocks to activate we enter the appropriately called “ape room”. Introducing gorillas that are rather hostile:mad:, if you think there just hungry they probably would have resorted to cannibalism. The obvious switch releases another gorilla while the other opens the door a good trick, but I think the switch does something else. We now run into Pierre hiding among the pillars.

Something I never noticed until I saw a screenshot of it was the picture on the back of his jacket is a naked woman, a little inappropriate to be put in a game without sensors, must have slipped by un-noticed by most:D. Back on topic, the pillars make Pierre’s escape seem realistic. I love the first secret it’s a great challenge and dangerous at the top. And the second secret is great too but a little to challenging at this point if you ask me. The pool of water and the crocodile is great but the only reason you could miss the third secret is if you where to afraid of the croc.

Now here comes the main room, this room consists of a huge pillar with platforms four switches and corresponding god rooms (except one) and lastly a door with four locks. To wrap up the secrets right away there is also a timed run from a pressure pad down to the ground floor into a hidden door, brilliant design. The best room in my opinion is the Thor room, first there’s the lightning trap that can be avoided with a proper running jump. Just imagine Larson and Pierre going through here. After that we set off a giant have to get movable blocks I still take forever to trigger it. The only problem is they didn’t us the proper Greek name Zeus:tea:.

The only competition for the Thor room is the Damocles room. With the scary sword that fool players to thinking they’re safe the second time around, and are pretty hard to avoid too. In solid third place is the Atlas room, with a gorilla to surprise you and a boulder that is supposed to reflect atlas holding up the earth, but Core was never able to do it how they wanted it:(. Last on this list is the Neptune room you start with a nicely painted pool but all there isn’t really anything but a couple of levers, not well designed. And again they used the wrong name when is should have been Poseidon:hea:.

I can Imagine who put the wrong names on Roman Slave 1: I hate working here all day. Roman Slave 2: Hey I know a way to get back at the greek! let’s use roman names instead! Roman Slave: yeah-great idea!
Back on topic the final confrontation with Pierre on this level isn’t as good as the firs I mean the lions where nice but they only seem to attack Lara, and Pierre just rune pat the pillar and disappears:confused:.

Overall score: 8/10
Highlight’s: dodging the lightning setting off the swords and the climb up to secret one.

[rr_carroll]

Great to see your writing getting better before our eyes. :)

Zeus throws lightning bolts, but only Thor has a hammer. I always think Lara is impersonating Wile E. Coyote in that room!

Enjoyed the "Roman Slaves" scene. :D

[Uzi master]

To be honest I don’t like this level, I don’t know what it is but I just hate replaying it, in fact I also seem reluctant just to write about it which is why it took so long to write this. It seems like such a chore replaying Colosseum when I accidentally jumped in the spike pit:hea: then I just gave up. The reason I was replaying it in the first place was because I didn’t remember much:confused: and I know it’s cheating but I just went to a walkthrough to remember the rest but that emphasizes how un-memorable the level is.

The beginning of the level was nice though the pool of water with the croc followed by the front of the large arena and being charge by the lion’s is probably the thing I remembered most. Too bad they decided to copy this into a level in TR II which ironically is way better than this one, normally if there copying something like that it would be a worse level but ask anyone and they'll say temple of Xian is way better than Colosseum. The first secret isn’t really a secret as some people might think it’s the real path, maybe if it was slightly hidden... After sneaking up through the higher floors of the entrance building we come upon a nice crocodile pit and the second secret that’s just too obvious:mad:.

Running into Pierre in the coliseum itself is nice seeing as how his only way out is to run past our site into the darkness, on that note if you actually look up you’ll see core never bothered to put in a real roof and they had some letter textures from the next level up there to:mad:, but how and why? Jumping in the Colosseum you get to fight some animals that are some how still down there is fun and the lion cages looked nice but seemed pretty useless.After we exit via tunnel under the Colosseum more lions attack, it would be interesting if they came from an ancient elevator here we can find some goodies.

That brings up the question of where so many came from really I can imagine Larson’s ancestor working here lets have a look through time… King: Marson, for your great stupidity and laziness I sentence you to move the elevator as a slave for the rest of your idiotic life! Marson: uuh ok. (a few days later) Marson: grrrr me hate Mr. King person. (Pierre appears in time machine) Pierre: Larson is that you? Marson: who you? Why you talk funny? Pierre: No it can’t be, he’s to smart to be Larson. (Pierre leaves and drops some schematics) Marson: weird paper show how make elevator move on own I make this and not have work now, yay! That would explain how the elevators would still be working, and why Larson was too lazy to go in Qualopec’s tomb himself:D.

The next room with all the pressure pads and timed switches is a great puzzle and the most challenging part of the level so far:pi:. We continue and find our way to a balcony that has the only comfortable seating in the whole arena, probably meant for the King and Queen. Why people would sit on hard stone seat just to watch some guy get killed by animals I don’t know. Indecently you can get to the balcony much quicker by either making a running jump from the other side of the Colosseum or by droping into the safe spot of the spike pit, making the last two areas pointless:hea:. Anyway the ambushing apes are a nice touch but the movable block in the wall should have been hidden, but what are you going to do? Make a remake of course! To bad I only have PS Tomb Raider games:mad:.

The corner rooms where a good extension after we pull a switch Pierre decides to show up again and this time he has a friend with him, to bad the lion doesn’t attack Pierre too:(. That rolling bolder in the first corner room is a nice trap but when you think logically you have to wonder what it’s doing in a Colosseum:confused:. The second corner room has the third and only good secret in the level and the best secret we’ve encountered in Greece so far. It requires a trick set of jumps and good timing. The third and last corner room is basically a movable block puzzle that might confuse the in-experienced play but it’s no pendulum trap. Retuning to the balcony and escaping through the sewer with a crocodile is a nice exit and sets up the nice beginning of the next level-but I still don’t like Colosseum very much:ton:.

Overall score: 4/10
Highlights: approaching the entrance, getting the last secret and escaping through the sewer

P.S. partway through the review I decided to try and play through the level again.:D

[Uzi master]

We now move from the miss-spelled Colosseum to the miss-pronounced Palace Midas. I say miss-pronounced because I used to think it was pronounced Mid-as not Mide-us:D. Something I thought about is why Midas needed to have a water system for his pool when he already has an aqua duct?:confused: While I’m, well, putting in my opening statements! (Yeah that) I should mention that if you think the score is high remember that if there is no level with a score that high than there’s no point of having it that high. Exactly. Granted that should have been at the end, how else am I going to wrap up this paragraph?

Onward to the ambush by the crocodile, nothing can ruin that moment right? Except when the croc does the worm before he finally dies.:hea: The ambushes in the bottom of the aqua duct can do some damage and the clips are in a pretty miss able area, my only question is what are the alcoves for? Ok now I’m just going into question overload:p. The next room with the five switches is genius! I bet many players where stumped by the symbols on the walls, but every so often I’d go onto a walkthrough just in case…:ton:
I like having that door so I don’t have to jump around a bunch of pillars over and over and over.

The “un-reachable” medipack is rather puzzling I have two theories, either they made the pillar to tall or they knew about the corner glitch. The fire room is a good challenge with the specific jumping but I think people over exaggerate when they call it the hardest part of the game especially since you have a save crystal. The second room with the spikes provides a sense of danger if you make the wrong jump. The ape jumping out as soon as you jump into the room is pretty scary too:yik: and probably made more than one person fall on the spikes.

The route to the third lead bar is takes up at least a third of the level. Pulling out the base of the structure and causing mass destruction is as close to an explosion we can get and is very fun!:D One thing everybody can agree on is this level has a great layout, and somehow almost no one notices all the walkways until they get to them like this aqua duct:hea:. Somehow crocodiles managed to get up here but they’re pretty hard to target. The first secret is pretty clever but the second one is too close and too obvious.:mad: The gorillas ambushing you are more dangerous now since they can knock you off the platform.

The breakaway tiles are a nice touch but not a major setback. Returning to the first room was very clever and that lion charging you is great.:D Going through the ape room (which you could have gone to earlier) and ending up finding the lead bar on the temple roof is just a great finish but when you think of this level it actually copies the lost valley with the temple and special keys:(. Well at least core decided to spice it up a little.

We now enter the garden with some apes hiding among the plants, a very nice idea. There is also the third and best secret of the level here, first we have to pull a well-concealed switch and jump through clamping doors then go back. A PSX player will probably just go far enough to activate the secret because they can’t save anywhere they want. Strangely though there’s a sundial in the middle, sounds like Larson’s ancestor designed this garden (so THAT’S what Marson did to anger the king, that worked out nicely:D).

The next area is a room with a statue of Midas (well the bottom half anyway:p) and the broken hand. Turning the bars into gold is clever and turning Lara into gold is just fun!:jmp: Plus we have a conveniently placed save game crystal to do it, yay! Now we go into the last room including a balcony with a view, which I liked. Next we come up to a door which we use the gold bars to open, I swear Lara must be stupid to not learn to bring around a couple sticks of dynamite just in case:mad:. I’m going to try to list all the times in TR1 Lara could benefit from this.:tea:

Tomb of qualopec: door to scion room
St. Francis’ Folly: the exit door
Colosseum: the gate to the sewer
Palace Midas: the gold bar door
The cistern: the balcony door
City of Khamoon: the door you open in the next level
Sanctuary of the Scion: the door in the front of the sphinx

There could probably be more times in TR1 and a lot in the other games, but Palace Midas is still great.:D

Overall rating: 10/10
Highlights: turning Lara into gold and traveling over areas you’ve already been to.

[Uzi master]

Here we are now in the Cistern, well now we know where the water from the aqua-duct came from. To be honest though this looks more like the cistern for a toilet then for drinking water:D. Looking up you’ll see some sewer grates, this means either the weight of Lara’s giant breasts broke through the floor or she made the wrong choice of exits. Lara: “hmmm should I take the giant doors saying tomb of Tihocan or go into this grate?” Ghost of Midas: “go into the grate Lara it’s the only way. Lara: “ok”. Whatever happened we’re stuck here:( so lets move on.

These first two rooms seem more like a dungeon than an actual cistern, and the giant rats don’t help with that. Well at least we see how big the rats really are, but you’d think the prison builders would eventually learn not to put large, movable blocks in the walls.:hea: Going into the actual cistern we see a bunch of rats and broken walkways, it looks like somebody flushed there pet crocodiles down the toilet. Seeing as how this level has many places you go they decided to put in a bunch of doors and keys, so you cant just finish the level right away:mad:.

I’m starting to think they just clump all the secrets together since you can get all three in less than five minutes:jmp:. The first secret in the water is pretty obvious and I give it a thumbs down, however the secret on the balcony is well hidden and it gets a thumbs up. The final secret is in the middle so it’s a thumbs, sideways:p. Pierre’s appearance in the flooding room is good since he most likely goes out the door and you can easily fall into the water.:hea: The rats that stay frozen in the water ruin it though.

After obtaining the two rusty keys we now go into one of the two passages, usually the one on the left goes first. As we enter two gorillas hiding among the pillars ambush you, but what’s worse is when Pierre comes in while you’re climbing:hea:. I still get shot by him whenever I play this level, also once I saw him run straight in-between two pillars and disappear maybe there’s a convenient array of secret doors and trapdoors that we don’t get to use. Personally I think those magnum clips should be counted as a secret since is a pain to get:hea:.(looks like he's gonna get a headacke:D)

In the next room we go slide slide slide and get ambushed by three crocs and a rat, I much prefer just run jumping to the platform since you’d lose health anyway:D. Next we climb up pull a switch, come down, take a key and run into Pierre again “yawn”. Swimming into the next room we figure out we must flood the cistern to access the second silver key. After returning to the switch (and getting the rusty key if you didn’t before) we go back pull a lever and get the key, double “yawn”. The next room involves some spikes that you have to swim through; I don’t get the logic in that.:confused:

Then after that we find the golden key and escape through the door. Anyway there’s now a crocodile hiding in the passages that always freaked me out:yik:. After going to the balcony and using the keys to open a couple doors we go over to the golden lock, with a gorilla ambush that knocked me off the edge:hea:. The checkerboard room was empty but I still liked the prize/trap tiles, that would fool a careless raider, and I can imagine how Larson would fare in this room:D. The lion room is interesting as it fools players into thinking there’s something there. If you think this level ends abruptly your right but you’ll have to wait till later for me to explain.:tea:

Overall rating: 9/10
Highlights: getting the balcony secret and swiming through the spikes.

[Anne Boleyn]

Great reviews, uzi_master! Although I don't like the Cistern (I get a little tired of all the water and blue textures), you've made me a little nostalgic for it. I can't wait for your Egypt reviews!

[Uzi master]

Thanks I'm glad you like my reviews, I guess I make the levels seem more vivid with my reveiws. Tomb of Tihocan will probably be up tommorow since it's shorter than the last two.

[dexter void]

The next room with all the pressure pads and timed switches is a great puzzle and the most challenging part of the level so far:pi:. Indecently you can get to the balcony much quicker by either making a running jump from the other side of the Colosseum or by droping into the safe spot of the spike pit, making the last two areas pointless

Overall score: 4/10
Highlights: approaching the entrance, getting the last secret and escaping through the sewer

I love your reviews, they're really brilliant. :tmb:
Probably everyone knows about the spike pit shortcut and i'm glad someone's printed it. I've never actually gone into the pressure pad/opening doors room (well, maybe once but proved a fruitless effort) ans always gone via the spike pit... i feel like i should try and do that pressure pad bit... feel like a cheat!

[Uzi master]

Sorry I didn’t finish the review but I did make of a re-write of a song when thinking bout Pierre.:D

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred bullets
Five hundred twenty five thousand rounds to go
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred bullets
How do you kill, kill Pierre?

In daylights
In sunsets
In midnights
While drinking coffee
From inches, from miles, while laughing, in strife

With Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred bullets
How do you kill Pierre Du Pont?

How about magnums?
How about magnums?
How about magnums?
Kill him with magnums…
Different magnums…
Different magnums…

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred bullets
Five hundred twenty five thousand weapons to use
Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred bullets
How do you kill Pierre or Larson?

In artifacts he stole
Or times he pleaded
In bridges she burned
Or the way that he died

It’s time now to shoot out
Though the battle never ends
Lets celebrate remember the time that he died

Remember his death
(Oh you gotta remember the death)
Remember his death
(Oh yeah, it’s a gift from up above)
Remember the death
(Shoot out, kill him, make sure he’s dead…!!)
Different magnums…
Different magnums…

[Uzi master]

Tomb of Tihocan, it looks more like the sewer of Tihocan but it provides a smoother transaction without going to another country:). The other reason it looks like this will be explained later too. After a heat wave and some internet problems it just makes me wanna, go relax in this level:D. I like having a nice easy level once in a while but that won’t bring up the score only prevent my unfair-ness:ton:. The main problem in this level is that it’s just too linear nothing confusing at all.

We get a beginning in mid-flight or mid-fall really it’s a nice shock to start with but the lever thing isn’t that good. That brings the question of why Lara can only pull levers under water and switches above water?:confused: Another question coming from water is how she manages to keep her eyes open in old dirty water? Questions aside we get ambushed by another croc and treated to a little dance routine:D. Seeing that block we know its definitely a movable block but not the kind we think…

Finally they decide to make darts cross paths making them actually slightly dangerous but it's too bad they don’t make a room full of that:(. Continuing we have some currents and levers BORRING. Climbing up the next room we have a choice of two doors, naturally if you played this level before you’d go to the right. Running into Pierre Du-fuss in that narrow passage is quite annoying, in the tomb raider way. We get a chance to kill the croc before you raise the water and find the first secret, which is well hidden.:)

Going to the left path we see the swinging pendulum, and there’s a new twist! We now have to time a jump past it to avoid becoming soylent-salami. And again coming into the room with the first secret we now flood it (to bad if you didn’t kill the crocodile:hea:) and swim into the next area. Ambush by female lion pull switch and kill some gorillas pretty routine by now. This jump I messed up the first time and I actually landed in the safe spot of the spikes!:D Raising the concrete blocks with a key is illogical and I believe in logic, that’s why I’m Atheist but it is just a game.

I really like how the next room works with the four pressure pads and five rooms. The two bonus rooms with apes are nice the one with the clamping door provides some danger. And I love how the bolder room taunts you with the medi-pack, bringing a swift end to greedy players:hea:. Continuing to secret number two and another good one with a careful jumping routine on slopes then having to do some more acrobatics on break-away tiles. That mouth thing makes it seem as if you had just been climbing through some ones insides, not that the looks contradict that:D.

Racing to get away from the crocodile we rune into a cave with a little jump that could set you back a little,:mad: but only by about 45 seconds:D. Pulling a switch to open the doors to the tomb we see some centaur statues, can someone please tell me why everybody calls them zombie horsemen? Well anyway they come to life and shoot fireballs as a bit of a challenge if you want. I seem to have trouble activating the second one though:(. Well we finnaly get to knock off that annoying son-of-a-:cen: Pierre Du Pont, right after he gets his first line of the game.

We grab his piece of the scion magnums and golden key then use it on a keyhole on the balcony and opening the door to the burial room then we get treated to two scenes. Lara enters the room and reads aloud the hieroglyphics, “Here lies Tihocan. One of the two just rulers of Atlantis, who, even after the curse of the continent, had tried to keep rule here in these barren other lands. He died without child, and his knowledge has no heritage. Look over us kindly...Tihocan." then the camera shifts to the coffin, as for the next scene wait till later I’m tired!:p

Overall score: 5/10
Highlights: fighting the Centaurs killing Pierre and getting the second secret

[Mokono]

Nice review... A very creepy level i must add that gave me the creeps back then, as i commented in another review. I'm kinda glad you described the cutscenes (something a bit odd in the reviews thread), so it was a plus despite the lack of screenies :tmb:.

[Uzi master]

well I don't have a way to get screenshots right now but I'm glad so many people like my reviews, city of khamoon should be up soon.

[Uzi master]

As the second scene plays,(looks for an excuse…) that’s part of this level(yeah that’ll work:D) we se Lara putting together the two scion pieces. She then gets a visage of symbols and with some imagination a battle in Atlantis where one ruler is be-throned and the scion pieces are scattered around the earth:confused:. Lara races off in her motorcycle to Egypt where the last scion piece is suppose to be.

Ah finally the long-waited Egypt levels, well there’s a heat wave and writing about a dessert isn’t going to help at all:p. These Egypt levels have a good sense of detail in them but if you ask me there are way to many Egypt levels, but not in this game. We also have some new enemies in this level (finally!) the panther and the mummy that so many people think are mummified panthers, BUT THERE NOT!:mad: There mummified mutants. This is also the first obvious split level, I say obvious because other levels are like this but not that obvious, here’s a list.

Lost valley-tomb of qualopec
The cistern-Tomb of Tihocan
City of Khamoon-Obelisk of Khamoon –Sanctuary of the scion
Natla’s Mines-Atlantis-The great Pyramid

Well I think it’s time to actually review the level… so we start off in a cave then make are way over to a sandy room with some movable blocks, bla bla bla. Running into the next room a Panther ambushes you, if only there where more panthers:( “sigh”. Then there’s a magnificent mini-sphinx with a mummy wandering around. We also see a level exit and n obelisk with four receptacles I personally love this room.:D

After retrieving the misspelled sapphire key (well after colloseum what do you expect?:tea:) we open a door within the sphinx. The pharaoh room is pretty nice as well and we find another panther, then another one comes down a sloped corridor,:hea: wow that got old fast it’s like if Arnold Schwarzenegger saying :I’ll be back” every twenty minutes. The large room with the cat temple is great but there’s a crocodile! Seriously! Well the secret is an ok one and that statue near it was good detail.

After setting off that obvious boulder trap and getting squished like a cartoon character the first time:cen: we now go swimming in the pool to reach the room full of ledges. Some switch pulling and block moving brings to the most hated part of the level for a play station user. We get ambushed by a mummy on a bridge and almost always get pushed through the damn fence:cen:. After bringing out a strange golden bridge we pull a switch to open a trapdoor around the cat temple, you just have to learn to live with those oddities of distance.

Back at the cat temple room we have some slopes and jumps to make to get to the second secret. I don’t know about you but I just love jumping around roofs of buildings and stuff in tomb raider.:D I think the boulder trap was pretty pointless sense you don’t have to land on it but very casual players would get some Lara pancakes in this level. Well now we finally get to go inside the cat temple and avoid a spike trap that only Larson could fall for. Opening the trapdoor from the previous room to let in some light in all good but where does that light come from?:confused: The closest thing TR1 came to actual light sources underground is in caves with those openings in the roof.

I love cat’s but fighting panthers in tomb raider doesn’t seem to make me fell guilty,, seeing as they’re not real and would attack you in real life. I still love the cat theme, Egyptians did consider them holly not that I would believe in that stuff:p. I remember dropping off the bridge and shooting the panthers as I fell reminding me of the beginning of caves which was a great moment:D. Lastly the third secret was a pretty good one and the least obvious, I just noticed this room took more than a whole paragraph.:jmp:

After running carelessly through the twisting corridor a mummy jumps in and surprises me :yik:(reminds me an in-appropriate screenie in a diary but reviews are different) and chops off a good deal of my health before he crumbles to the power of my shotgun. We run around getting a sapphire key dumping sand into the big room returning to the top of a room near the beginning its just wonderful.:D Well we exit the level with a puzzle unsolved, leaving many players wondering until they finish the next level.

Overall rating: 8/10
Highlights: jumping around above the rooms and being ambushed by the mummies.

[Uzi master]

From heat waves to headaches I just can’t get a break can I?:mad: Well now I can finally write my review on Obelisk of Khamoon. For a first opinion this level is well designed but I usually don’t feel like re-playing it. Although I don’t like replaying it at first later I started to enjoy it, to put it back in the red it copies the previous level a lot. Enough of my ramblings I should start the real review now.:p

We start out in a room on the other side of a fence in the city, except for some reason the fence is longer. Moving along we enter a sandy room with some stairs very similar to one in the previous level, tisk tisk tisk poor creativity. The room with the blocks is a nice non-linear section with the two panther ambushes and the nice big room behind the third one, It brought back nostalgia from the first play through of the game.:D

Continuing to the last section we go for a swim in another FAMILIAR room kill a croc, save a game and grab some goodies pretty routine by now. After opening a door with the key we have to go through a different door instead, a novice player could spend ten minutes swimming around the obelisk looking for an exit.:tea: A mummy now ambushes us as soon as we enter the next room it’s a little strange that after you beat the game the mummies explode in this level and hurt you,:confused: it does make them more dangerous.:jmp:

Well we move on to pulling a switch to lower the bridge towards the eye of Horus not exactly hard but will explain what you have to do later. Returning below into the water we climb through an alcove and fight some panthers this area seems like its outside and looks pretty nice:D. We climb around look at some artifacts and if you want, climb into a room to get ambushed by two mummies. After climbing out of the large room a mummy comes down a large staircase making me miss the switch multiple times I played this level.

After getting those goodies by the fence I get the obvious secret on the Obelisk but I still give it props for the location of it:D. The second secret however doesn’t get off that easily seeing as how you need to get it to get down from the obelisk. Defying the walkthrough I ended up getting what should have been the first secret last and end up activating the second bridge:p. I like levels where you can choose what to do first but of course no to often.

Instead of using the stairs I went straight to the switch providing a good ambush and challenge for me. The scenery in this Egypt levels are nice but its too bad the mummies can’t come out of the sarcophaguses:(. Pulling a switch and going into the next room I see some steps and a slope, I remembered going below on my last play through so… sliding down and fighting the panther is just boring by now but the slope-stair mechanism is pretty genius, if it weren’t for the see through part when we have to shimmy across a ledge.

Getting in the final room you just have to admire the great view and the use of Egyptian symbols:). The problem with this room is the fact that its re-used in Atlantis, which is easily a better level than this one. well we pull some switches and get the remaining artifacts from the bridges, I admire how core always seems to have some real truth to there locations and levels. After opening the underwater passage we return to the previous level to put the keys in the obelisk, for some reason whenever you pick up an artifact of place it in the obelisk it shows the door.:confused:

Overall score: 5/10
Highlights: standing on the obelisk and returning to the previous level.

[Uzi master]

I’ve decided to celebrate completing Tomb Raider Chronicles by writing the next review (applause, I SAID APPLAUSE, no? well “click click”:D). This level is definitely on tune since every time I play this level Lara goes AAAAAH “splat”:hea: and hear that annoying screech from those mutants. I can say this level is definitely grand with the large caverns; too bad it copies the previous levels quite a bit. But I’ve ranted long enough time to move on.

Starting out in the garden-like room I remember how many other rooms are similar and that it is really over-used:ohn:. Heading up the stairs we see behind the gauds of the mummies, AAAAAAAH :yik:bring back the mummies! We also see gate from further into the level, a sign of good layout:jmp:. We also see magnum clips that honestly were never going to use them all, they have WAY to many magnum clips I mean seriously! Were only going to use the magnums two or three more times in the game.:hea:

If this review seems longer than usual than it’s because I’m making up for my rather bad review of the obelisk, I was more or less warming up to reviewing again:p. Coming out to the giant cavern we’re now on the back of a giant sphinx, they couldn’t use something else here or in the city could they? well I have to mention how grand this room is though. Sliding down another mutant appears, this one shoots fireballs and some strange, bullet type thing.:confused:

Since I love Uzi’s I decide to get the second switch first and pick up the obscene amount of magnum clips. The flying mutants are great especially when the attack from behind but I sometimes wonder why the mutants are put in here:confused:. Continuing we go across some more ledges and get the only secret in the level but easily one of the best in the game:D. After this we probably will never use the magnums again after this but anyway onto the next switch.

Ok that clinky clasher thingamabob door thing has really bad placement you can jump across to the other ledge or take a running jump over it, it even stops when you jump. Bad designers :smk:.Line up the jump rite kill the mutant and return to the ledges from earlier, I just love skipping along like that:D. That movable block just reminds of Atlantis, a lot of things remind me of it when I think about it… anyway onward to the room with the Ankh and a Centaur guarding it, I like the Centaur guards but not the Ankhs, I’ll explain later.

Leaving we see a mutant down on the back Lara says “oh well this is gonna be easy” then it starts to shoot fireballs at her, “its never that easy (sigh)”. continuing through the second door we have to come backwards and grab the ledge, always a nice trick to see. We continue climbing some annoying stairs and going for a dip to find a sapphire key, most likely misspelled:mad:. We use it to open a door on a stone bridge to the second ankh room. This area is very sceneric if you ask me and I love sceneric areas, If that’s a real word:D.

We now return to the top of the sphinx and put in the ankhs in the crown thing, it would be perfect if not for two problems. First the Ankh’s are already used in the previous level and there are more than 100 Egyptian gods you’d think they could find more artifacts than this:hea:. If you ask what I’d put there it’d be the two crown parts of the combined Egyptians crown. The second problem is the roof! Why? There is none its un-textured and you just see black. Not to mention some pillars end and look like there connecting to the ceiling.:hea:

Continuing to the entrance of the sphinx the camera zooms out, I’ve heard people joke about Larson spying on Lara but that’s ridiculous! He’d have to tied himself to a rope and get Pierre to pull him up from a pillar like on some cartoon:tea:, wow that sounds like something he would really do. Running along we fall into a massive room full of water and containing statues of Seth and Horus. Ignoring them for now we get some ammo (dropped my the magical supplies fairy that made Lara’s bottomless backpack:p) and pull a lever activating a current to sweep Lara of her feet, or maybe not.

We enter a room with some pillars, now it’s reminding me of Temple of Xian! Well anyway we slide down a slope to find a winged mutant on the top ledge in the previous room, possibly throwing you off the ledge. At least we have the save crystal. On the heads we find a medipack in Seth’s ear, a mistake or an intended Easter egg? You decide anyway we drop down and pull a switch opening a door (surprise surprise) allowing us to continue.

Climbing out we now rune through some sloping paths, and ignore the worthless magnum ammo. At the top we find the scarab:pi:, before I can rant about it two mutants and a Centaur team us on. Yikes! it seems common enemies are only dangerous in groups, might I mention were at the start of the level again? I continue into the next room and find Larson of all people and he seems mad. I wonder why? He says he has a pain in his brain but that’s probably from that horse kick in the head a long time ago:ton:.

A very pitiful boss, players may decide to show mercy on him and just grab the Scion pieces and end the level:hug:. I do that some times but it’s fun to kill isn’t it? I can’t help myself. Too bad he doesn’t drop anything:mad: but you might want to kill him just to fit the scene following this level which by the way… will wait till later since this review is long and it’s part of the next level really.

Overall Score: 7/10
Highlights: standing on top of the sphinx, meeting Larson and fighting the mutant group.

[Uzi master]

Well here we are, Natla’s Mines my favorite level, of Tomb Raider 1 at least:D. What’s that?:confused: I haven’t posted in a long time? Well YOU guys haven commented in a while! I like comments:(. Anyway where was I? Oh ya favorite level, this level has all the makings of a Tomb Raider game, besides spike pits. I could make a long list including lava, gunfights, urban and natural environments, not having weapons, good secrets, vehicles but I won’t. oh uh I won’t finish it that is he he:p. Well before this level we get to watch the BEST FMV in the game:D so here it is…

Lara emerges from a cave to find two figures pointing guns at her, typical isn’t it? Well she takes a step back to find the token black bouncer and is disarmed by the now visible cowboy. Out comes Natla from her limousine and says “left Larson sucking wind then?” “If that is the fraise” Lara says. The baddies search Lara and take out the scion(reminding me of Chronicles, Larson you pervert:p) Natla examines her prize then yells at her henchmen to kill Lara,:( then she breaks free and dives into the river below.:D

The other guy at the beginning (who turns out to be like 14) runs over and tries to shoot her but misses. Natla tells them to leave. Lara then climbs out of the water and does a long motorcycle sequence. Why Natla abandoned her limo and why Lara didn’t jump right onto the boat is rather confusing:confused:. Anyway after hearing the bouncer and kids conversation and Lara getting a well needed nap she dives into the water. Wow this review is looking long already, hope it’s not too long;).

As this level starts out your underwater,:eek: don’t freak out it’s not an underwater level. We see the waterfall and someone might say “wow that must be hard to do!” although in reality it’s easier to do than regular animated tiles since some places are un-textured. Still its good though moving along we move back and forth with some tedious switch pulling to introduce the next area with a drilling machine blocking the way:hea::p<cowboy. Returning under the waterfall I have to mention this level has three vehicles, the boat, drilling machine and the motorcycle from the FMV, also the only level with vehicles.

Moving along we find ourselves under a suspended:confused:, shack that we need three fuses to lower, definitely original. First let’s move the boat, pulling the crate jump on hut run around and pull lever. This moves the boat; my only complaint about the boat is you can’t stand on an end. Well next I’m gonna go into the boulder area now, why there are so many boulders in a mine escapes me but hey, it’s exiting. Granted some one like Larson wouldn’t last a day working here, how did Larson survive in Egypt?

Anyway we start running track and the other contestants, boulders!:pi: You have to keep you speed while watching for other “contestants” running off track. After finding the fuse you might think “oh it’s done now I can just stroll out” but it doesn’t work like that in tomb raider land:mad:. We have a ramp with some boulders and at the top, a hole leading to the start of the area isn’t it just amazing how much you can do just to get back to where you started? Of course there can be much larger treks like in Temple of Xian when you need the dragon seal.

Returning to the underwater lake, I’m realizing my reviews are descriptive but don’t seem to actually name places and when I spend a whole paragraph on one thing and I very little space on another. Well we find the second form of movable blocks, the steel Natla crates after taking some ammo we pull a switch to activate the last vehicle, the drilling machine. At first glance I thought it would try and attack me:tea:. We now return to that previous area, I wish it wasn’t used for two fuses though.

Well anyway we open up a door next to the conveyor belt, I do like the belt contradicting my statement before:p. we run into the next room to find the second fuse, and a cowboy if your to careless. Making him appear only if you go to far is a good wakeup call to the weary player. Also at this point I sometimes just run ahead get the second secret and come back later to kill him, just for fun:jmp:. Anyway we continue to another cave with the conveyor belt and you can see the fuse at the end.

So after retrieving the last fuse we head back to the shack and put in the three fuses in that nice little building. So it falls and inside we find the pistols, well we probably know what’s it there but it’s strange they put them up there. I climb onto the cabin in pursuits of a fairly obvious secret that turns out to be hard to spot:). Also that trapdoor is pretty clever, but when I saw it in the Maria Doria levels in TR2 it was funnier. And yes I did laugh when I died:ton:.

So moving on we find a save crystal and then confront Larson’s twin:smk:, obviously fraternal. Well this is a good challenge but the most annoying part is when he dies on a slope and I can’t grab his weapons. I like when he says, “ain’t nothin personal” it’s one of my favorite lines:D. Well we reclaim our magnums, though seriously we probably won’t use them. Anyway drop down shimmy around, that could be in a song…:cln:Well we proceed to another area, with some globs of lava jumping up.:yik:

There’s a number of deceiving pillars around this river:confused:, some are safe some are slopes. This area also happens to have the second secret hidden in the wall. To reach the secret you have to push the movable block across the corridor before the rolling boulder squashes you. This secret contains some ammo, medipacks and the shotgun!:D (Which I sometimes use to beat the level without taking the pistols). Resuming we continue across the pillars to a cave full of TNT crates; I was a little scared of them at first.:p

We have to use the cracked TNT crate to climb into a doorway, now doesn’t that sound safe?:p Anyway we come to a lava pit, I jump to the left side and get killed by the boulder rolling next to Lara:mad:… moving along we emerge to a walkway across from where the cowboy was. When we pull the switch it causes the crate to explode, YAY!!!:mis: EXPLOSIONS! I also jump down to subdue the cowboy. Anyway we return down and enter the skate park, Natla definitely designed her arenas for her minions.:tea:

Well we run in and get ambushed by a kid with Uzi’s (and how old is he like 13?) well I wan’t my Uzi’s!:mad: when I shoot he lets out a funny line, probably from a movie. It only takes two or three shotgun blasts to take him down:( but I get my Uzi's back!:yah: Around the park there are a number of lava pits, and one pit with water containing the last secret some uzi ammo and medipacks. Continuing we do some climbing and some boulder avoiding, I love this level too much to criticize the boulder trap.:hug:

Well we now have the main puzzle of the level a low roofed series of rooms with some switches, doors and blocks:confused:. This are also contains a trick door your not supposed to go through but with some glitching you can make it through and find baldy still frozen:D. Anyway exiting normally we find the bouncer or “Wesley Snipes” as I call him, why? Well wait a second this paragraph is full!:p

When he comes out he says “say cheese!” and starts shooting you with his shotgun. I think it’s more appropriate here with a shotgun then the tommy gun in Blade 2. the fact that he’s black and strong gives him that name, they must have had to pay him extra to not wear sunglasses:p. You’d think he’d be busy with all the vampires but he still seems to always have time to find a pair of sunglasses. Well we climb the side of the pyramid thing and get a key to unlock the pyramid. Now I wish I could at least get ammo from the body.

After this level there’s a quick scene where Natla puts the scion on a pedestal.

Overall score: 10/10
Highlights: hard to decide but fighting the goons blowing up the crate and, hmmm the lava.

[Jayme17UK]

and for some reason there’s a golden cart thing by the door.


Thats the Arc Of The Covenant (Indiana Jones) The Slabs that had the 10 commandments on them is believed to have been put in there. (This gets explained in TRA Laras Home (When you replay with directors commentary)