From TES issue 34 (July 2005)

Series 3. Level 3.
FELINE FIRE
This puzzle only appeared twice in Knightmare; for Martin and Leo, deep in level three during their high-quality series 3 quests. Despite its distinct lack of appearances, Feline Fire is a very memorable puzzle, and was one of the few aspects of the first three series I was able to remember between 1989 and 1996, when I could not watch any series 1-3 episodes. I think this is because the puzzle fitted so perfectly into series 3. The third level was eerily quiet and mysterious, but also clearly very dangerous. After the high drama of the first two levels, the team were forced to slow down and really think about what they were doing, and Feline Fire is perhaps the best example of the unique atmosphere that this phenomenon created.

For a start, the room looked very impressive. It was lavishly decorated in the style of an Ancient Egyptian burial chamber, and its eerie silence was disturbed only by the occasional sound of a bolt of energy shooting from the eyes of two large cat statues that sat astride the path. There was a hole in the floor between the two cats, which was covered every few seconds to make a pathway to the door. The cat statues both wore collars, which had pendants on them. These pendants changed colour from green to amber to red, just like traffic lights. When the light was red, the cat was about to shoot a laser beam. Clearly, this would have been deadly to anyone who got hit by it. The challenge was to cross the cats' path at a time when they were not about to fire, and the floor was intact.

In fact, this did not prove very difficult for either Leo or Martin. There came a point where both cats' collars were green and the floor was completely covered, and neither Leo's nor Martin's advisors missed this golden opportunity to send their dungeoneer running across to safety. However, the relative simplicity of the challenge was not what made it so awesome and memorable. It was the impressiveness of its presentation, its lingering menace, and its quiet, brooding authority over life and death.

Difficulty: 6 Simple to comprehend, but very nerve-wracking.
Killer Instinct: 2 Never really likely to bag a victim, I'm afraid.
Gore Factor: 5 May have been a nice explosion if the lasers hit their mark.

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