| Reviewer's comments |
"As far as ‘Maria Doria’ rip-offs go, this ranks down there with Potter’s The Old Ship somewhere in the eighth circle of hell. Although it has you attacked by bizarre amalgamations of limbs (barely recognizable as TR2’s shotgun baddy), it nevertheless entertains honest-to-God pretensions to gameplay. This makes it even worse, because all it does is send you running back and forth between switches and doors, often repeatedly along the same course, to such a degree that the level becomes a parody of itself. At one point, you encounter a switch next to a door behind which is a one-tile room housing the exact same kind of switch, which then sends you back to another door at the other end of the map.
Absent any camera clues, absent too almost all sounds, it’s anybody’s guess which door may have opened in any given instance, and since all this running around takes place in perfunctorily textured boxes poorly imitating corresponding areas in the ‘Maria Doria’ levels, that makes it that much less engaging. Why I should give a hoot when the builder himself can’t be arsed.
There is, however, a hilarious aural misfire mid-level, when then the builder uses the wonky flute tune from the ‘Egyptian Adventure’ as an ‘Achtung! Danger!’ cue. This raised my spirits briefly, but the rest of the level is just so joyless that considering it a condensed version of the ‘Maria Doria’ levels as its perpetrator obviously does, can leave one only with a feeling of hopeless bleak despair." - Mulf (03-Mar-2021) |
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| "This isn't so much a level but rather a series of rooms strung together with a dash of chaotic gameplay added in form of doors requiring you to find scattered keys or levers. It's all pretty linear though so even when it looks as though as it'll branch out it's usually one or two side rooms you explore. Funnily enough what I liked the most here were the "scrambled" enemies, as all the meshes were completely wrong and created a freaky effect, which didn't necessarily line up with the ambiance but still made me smile for a moment. 25 minutes. 11/20" - Treeble (22-Nov-2020) |
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| "Well I must say I had hoped for a lot more
from this level as ship levels are usually
among my favourites. The recreation of a
TR2 shipwreck isn't done too badly here
but all of the rooms have a sterile and
bland feeling to them which didn't instill
a lot of pleasure for me. The textures
tend to be quite repetitive and overall
the layout is very architecturally simple.
There were also quite a lot of sounds
absent in my game (Lara's movements, block
pushes, enemy and swimming sounds in
particular). The gameplay doesn't really
hold the interest either. There's a
slightly intriguing movable block puzzle
but overall it's very simple and
uninteresting. The freaky mutant enemies
were a surprise, but not enough to save
this level, I'm afraid." - Ryan (02-Jun-2018) |
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| "Another level with problems on the sfx sounds. Not a bad level, but not good ideas here too. All what you'll find is pull a lot of switches to open a lot of doors and use a lot of keys to open more doors; well, and drag some crates too. The environments are convincing, but the architecture is simple and the texturization repetitive. I missed a lot an extra gun (or more ammo for the uzis) and some cameras when using the switches. Not musics to create atmosphere too. Take a try but it wasn't very funny for me." - Jose (25-Jan-2018) |
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| "While better than the builder's initial debut to some extent, it's rather obvious from the get go that this level is fairly unfinished, with a lot of missing sound effects and the very buggy look of some enemies you encounter. And with such incredibly boring gameplay, repetitive texturing, non-existent lighting and the generally lifeless boxy feeling to the environments you explore, this is another release that I simply cannot recommend to anyone. So best to avoid this one." - Ceamonks890 (02-Jul-2015) |
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| "This level has what. Well, he has very little sound. One feels almost like in a silent movie. And the lighting is also not the cream of the crop. And one also sees stretched textures. But on the other hand the level is not so bad at all sometimes. OK, one must open, actually, only many doors and shoot a few funny dudes. But it was actually quite amusing. And with a better lighting and a reasonable sound one could have valued the level absolutely higher." - Scottie (18-Mar-2010) |
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| "After finding my way onto the ship most of the fifteen minutes was spent exploring a Moria Doria style ship wreck for a number of keys and switches plus a ladder or two to climb. The most exciting thing had to be the enemies with the mutant thug and the sharks that came flying through the air after me. It would be great to see more detail added to the ship although a few nice touches were added with the revised version. A shark has been added to the beginning plus a pool room with dead bodies floating in the pool and a few puzzles have been changed to make this a little more interesting." - RaiderGirl (30-Oct-2003) |
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| "I like ship levels and this turned out better than some but some problems in the building. Missing sound files some paper thin walls baddies that were not there nor the pick-ups (in bedroom according to the walkthrough). Also was able to jump into the raft from the water when I pushed the action key which was a surprise. Gameplay was negligible BUT to the novice builder do not give up but try again. I am sure you will do better things as you familiarize yourself with the editor." - Sherry (29-Oct-2003) |
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| "I know this level got a bad reception and I don't really know why except tastes differ. I actually enjoyed it although some accidental added sounds from my LE did make a vast improvement. Yes it was a shame some sounds were missing but I'm sure they can be downloaded from somewhere and added to the files. Running around the ship was fun the enemies were thugs and a shark there were a few keys to find and a box puzzle to solve in order to get the circuit board. I love the Maria Dona levels and also the textures used so it was a pleasure to see them again here along side the rusty ships interior textures and the little journey to the shark waters to find a key was fab with its icy feel. A typical ship atmosphere but all the same it was nice to visit. You will either love it or hate it but I loved it and can only hope these comments inspire the author to continue with these types of ghost ship levels as there are just not enough of them." - Moonpooka (12-Oct-2003) |
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| "Falling into water from em up there we see a huge wall in front of us it's supposed to be a ship but if you swim left or right you come to a terrible end of the world. Into the ship all very Maria Doria/40 fathoms textures and that old white specks water texture. Immediately you meet a very queer character indeed. He's a thug made up of bits and pieces (maybe this wasn't meant to be). His upper arms are Lara's thighs with pistols on and he hobbles about sometimes on one leg. You can have a good look at him if you can lure him back to the railing beside the waterhole and get him into the corner. He just hah's and swipes at Lara but doesn't hurt her. There is some interesting pushing about of crates to get essential items one moveable crate Lara couldn't move but by jumping 'inside' it I saw there was nothing there a swim with two sharks and a couple of wall switches. That's about it." - CC (25-Sep-2003) |
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| "This is a vast improvement of his first level. But there is still a lot to learn. Like the disappearing of the horizon an invisible block in the ship and a lot of sound files missing. But nevertheless this was a vast paced adventure in a replica of the Maria Doria. Finding keys a Vraeus a circuit breaker and a card. Meeting club wielding thugs and even some sharks and boy were they hungry. The beginning that body of water was very empty as was the ship in a way. I had a bit problem locating the second key but I wasn't looking properly. The idea is there now a bit longer and a bit more dressed up and you are going in the right direction. 17-09-2003" - Gerty (22-Sep-2003) |
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| "I'm a big fan of ship levels so I was hoping for real fun from this but it didn't quite materialise. The Maria Doria textures are here but the rooms seem rather bland and empty with not a great deal of detail. One or two of the thugs keep losing their heads (literally) and aren't much of a threat but the others are lively enough so don't wait around to be clubbed. You get to shove a lot of boxes around searching for various items but the gameplay is rather simplistic. The bit I rather liked was jumping into the raft and shooting the couple of sharks that had been trying to have me for lunch. The level ended rather abruptly after about 20 minutes. 22.09.2003" - Jay (22-Sep-2003) |
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| "A pity that the TR2 sounds are missing as that might have saved the atmosphere a bit in this short 20 minutes run through a Maria Doria setting with half a dozen baddies and two sharks to kill two keys and two additional puzzle items to use and a few levers to pull. Textures are very stretched in places some thin walls and a fall-through trapdoor exists and the rooms are fairly empty although I did like some of the objects used. I also thought the movable block area was mildly interesting with the Amulet to find there. A step forward for the author but still a way to go towards a really intriguing level." - Michael (19-Sep-2003) |
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| "Well this is an improvement from the author's first one but I'm still not impressed. The textures are streched thorough the level and the lighting is non-existent the gameplay revolves around finding a bunch of puzzle items below boxes and activating some switches also shooting some of those freaky enemies and sharks and hardly kept me interested till the apbrupt end of the level. I highly recommend the author to complete the tutorial level with the help of the manual as it is clear he hasn't done that." - eTux (19-Sep-2003) |
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| "Antonia Grazia is the name of the ship in the movie 'Ghost Ship' so I guess the author has been inspired from that. I haven't seen the movie but this boat wasn't very scary to me. It is a sunken ship and there are some big baddies and some mutilated baddies. Lara's mission is to find the Seraph and your mission is to guide her through the ship as the readme says. It is an easy straight forward level with a lot of pushing to do. When the level suddenly ended it was with a big 'huh??' from me. A lot of sound files are missing that weren't included in the download." - G.Croft (18-Sep-2003) |
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| "Another ship level that wastes its opportunity. Actually this isn't so bad and provided me with a good 20 minutes of net gameplay but there are an awful lot of irritations. The exterior of the Ship at the start was reasonably convincing but why was it lying in a very big square of water? Surely putting in an adverse current on both sides would have been more effective than allowing the phyical limits of the ocean to be reached and would have created a far more convincing atmosphere? The texturing of the interior was not too bad but was inclined to repetetiveness; there were at least two doors that appeared to lead somewhere but which couldn't be opened; one of the sharks took to the air; there were many wafer-thin walls and the whole ship had a rather bare-bones cut price feel for what was apparently an old cruise Liner. However gameplay was quite enjoyable. There was a decent stab at hiding an item in a room of pushable crates; the shark cave was well worth visiting (and very much inspired by TR2); and the mutant thugs were unusual and quite creepy." - Orbit Dream (18-Sep-2003) |
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| "Well I can't say more than what the others have said. I'm rather fond of ship based levels but I absolutely despise the Maria Doria textures. Overall this level lacked lighting of any form except default thin walls were unfortunately noticeable some of the enemies didn't work at all and the level was absent of most sound. But it is an improvement! Obviously the author at least spent some time creating a custom wad in stead of using a default Egyptian one so kudos for that. There are some simple puzzles and the enemies are a standard TR2 Maria Doria fare of bat wielding thugs mutant crazy guy (you'll see) and sharks. Overall time took me about 15 minutes." - Bullet Ridden Monkey (18-Sep-2003) |
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| "Wandering aboard the Maria Doria is one of my favourites so I loved this level. Unfortunately this is a bit short it may would have been produced much more from it. Perhaps it will be continued? There are no special puzzles or difficulties. You have to find Fuses Cards Keys and the Amulet of Horus usually under boxes. The enemies are armed men Sailors and 2 Sharks. I loved the textures. There are no added sounds although the program missed them during the process of converting. Maybe will they added later? This level seems to be a bit unfinished." - Obig (18-Sep-2003) |
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| "A major improvement from the first 60 second level from this author but still in the scheme of things a level a whole long way away from anything you would class as something special. Good old Lara this time finds herself in the ocean where a large rusty ship needs to be infiltrated. Basically you have to collect a couple of keys a chip and a circuit wire thingy with a bit of block moving thrown in though there are many blocks that move but aren't needed to be moved. You also meet a few bat wielding thugs sharks and a new freaky enemy a one legged headless shooting man that if you wait long enough his head reappears and he then stops shooting creepy to say the least. This lasted just over 20 minutes and showed some promise but still fell a fair way short of the mark." - Sash (17-Sep-2003) |
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| "It is very clear that the author is influenced by the Maria Doria. The textures and the entire setting is exactly like that level but with the sounds missing and the paper thin walls it looks bad. The enemies are baddies with bats and another kind of enemy I can't describe because it's awfully made so I had great difficulty telling where the head hands and feet were. There are keys to be found a relief and a circuit board and let's not forget the Seraph. Many moving blocks lay around with important items behind them. The level ended suddenly after fifteen minutes." - Kristina (17-Sep-2003) |
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