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Level: Lara's Home Ekim Version back home search
Author(s): Ekim
total rating:2.82 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
CC 2 1 3 2
Dimpfelmoser 1 1 3 4
DJ Full 2 0 5 3
Gerty 2 2 3 5
Kristina 2 3 4 4
Lil Kid 2 3 4 3
Magnus 1 0 0 1
MichaelP 2 1 4 6
Orbit Dream 1 1 0 2
RaiderGirl 4 3 4 5
Sakusha 2 1 3 4
Sash 5 5 5 7
The Aussie Adventurer 3 2 3 3
TheStig 2 2 2 2
Treeble 3 3 3 4
TrueRaider 6 3 4 4
Whistle 3 3 2 4
category averages
(17 reviews)		 2.53 2.00 3.06 3.71

Reviewer's comments

"Every once in a while,I embark on a sort of loose 'mopping up' regime;which involves playing many of those ancient levels from back in the earliest days,which I have so far either avoided or been oblivious to.Once in a while,I come across an unexpected gem;which (even when taking into account the era in which it was made,for criticism purposes)is clearly a superb piece of work. Unfortunately,no amount of lenient revisionism can do anything to save this unfortunate release.The one positive aspect is that,as a Home level,it has been built from scratch - but even that accomplishment is vastly imperfect,as all the dimensions are considerably off.Most of the overly large rooms contain nothing within them whatsoever;the assault course is pointless,as is the motorbike;the climbing animations are terminally buggy;and the texturing and lighting is very poor.There's no Finish Trigger either,and subsequently very little point for anyone but a thoroughly dedicated reviewer to bother having a look at this." - Orbit Dream (26-Mar-2013)

"The only puzzles in this level are some doors opened by some switches. So only one point for them. For the gameplay, I'm a bit annoyed. I... hate... unmarked... passages!!! This is the thing which can kill the fun. I actually found them, because I had some luck and I'm quite used to trash levels like this... But I can understand how it feels when a player gets stuck in a level and gets frustrated, wondering for hours what she or he missed, only because the author wanted to make things difficult in so stupid way... Doing so radically weakenes the gameplay level, so I give it only 1 point. The place which (as I can presume) is a secret area is also behind the unmarked passage. That's why this only one secret is rated 0. Objects can't improve score for this category as well. We can see them very rarely and it makes the Croft Manor look worse than the original one. Even the barrier going around the main stairs isn't made of objects, but it's just a row of badly textured blocks. And, if we talk about textures... the overall texturing is one of the strongest parts in this level. The lighting is not. And the cameras look good, especially because the music fits them and they are well synchronized. Even if sometimes they show player the empty room, it's not their fault - the lack of objects mentioned above is responsible for this, so there's no need to lower the rating for cameras. SUMMARY: If you want to play this level, remember there are some unmarked portals. DEATH TO THE UNMARKED PORTALS!" - DJ Full (05-Oct-2010)

"As the first Lara's home level released I wasnt expecting great things. When this level was produced many of the objects that we've gotten used to now just wearnt available, as everything was almost exclusively based on what was available in the old Tomb Raider 4 wads. If you judge it on that basis then it's not a bad effort. The problem is that the technical execution of allot of the texturing throughout is pretty poor. It's also got considerable numbers of bugs which hinder game-play and spoil the enjoyment. I played for around 10 minutes, and in the end didnt try to seek out an end trigger. Worth looking at as an early effort but dont spend too many hours playing this one." - TheStig (19-Dec-2009)

"This is the first ever made Lara home level so you can expect it to be of a average to poor quality, unfortunately, it is. Although the author has made a good effort in creating his own lara's home, it's very dull and badly done. For instance, the scenery the author tried to create are just badly placed textures on a wall to look like the surrounding area. The house is very dull and there's not really that much to do except look around at what the author has done. In fact, not much has been done except a modified gym and gardens. There are a couple of secrets that are covered by a texture to hide it. The gameplay consists of...of not much. You should only really give this level a go if you like to look at other peoples houses and what they have done. Other than that, move along. Nice effort however, but falls way short. If I had to give this level a grade, I would give it a D, a fail mark." - The Aussie Adventurer (25-Nov-2005)

“In the readme the author warned the player about the following bugs. 1.Lara can't climb walls w/o getting 'sucked' into it. Don't let Lara get into her climbing stance. Just let her pull up with her arms... and she won't get sucked in. Do this by getting as close as you can to the side of the climbing surface. 2. In Lara's bathroom avoid the tub. She will get 'sucked' into the floor. Just maneuver her to the side and she will re-appear. 3. Lara can't monkey swing without her animations being all messed up. So... just move her across the surface. And let go when you think it's safe for her to drop off. But thanks to the revised wads you can avoid these bugs since these are the bugs that are included with the original wad file of 'The City of the Dead'. Aside from discovering secret passageways which can be opened by pulling levers (or in certain cases they are hidden by toggle opacity 2 textures) there isn't really any gameplay. Ekim created a trophy room where you can find Lara's latest relic which is an ancient crossbow (ammunition included). There are some pools an obstacle course a burning library in Lara's attic a kitchen and an intriguing dining room. Ekim decided to replace the quad bike with the motorcycle which isn't very useful in this level.” - Sakusha (04-Aug-2004)

“I can’t understand why authors even care to release levels like this. There’s no gameplay (well you might get one or two minutes of gameplay out of it) and the texturing is… How should I put this? Bad. Really really bad. I’m talking stretched textures ugly water-textures and a horizon that was actually made out of textured walls. Hooray.” – Magnus (29-Jan-2004)

“I've never seen such a badly textured level before. The background sky is a disaster. Doors half disappear into walls. Floor and wall switches open the inside doors of the house. What was the big idea providing a crossbow and a bucket load of arrows? There were only two guards in the ground and they gave a shotgun and medpack. OK I'll be fair this is a very old level so let's go through the good points. The flybys are good the music is good and triggered well and the run through walls were interesting. Finding a bike upstairs in the house was . . . unique and riding it around the house was . . . nice. A question: what happens in one of the upstairs rooms with the fire floor? Oh and I fell into the secret room under the maze to find an armoury of weapons. Well now that Lara is well stocked with weapons and ammo we can dash off to her next adventure . . .” – CC (05-Aug-2003)

“I have seen a lot of home levels with the best being John's and most of them are like this one with big empty rooms and bugs in them or an exact recreation of the original. In this level though there is nothing to do no puzzles to solve and no traps apart from some obvious fires. It took me a while though to find the transparent texture inside the pool and reach the bike high up. A short maze with a hole in the floor and most of the weapons but to shoot what a couple of SAS guards and for that you get all the weapons except the grenade gun. Some levers and switches and that's it. Not fun really.” – Kristina (20-Dec-2002)

“This was one of the first mansion levels released for the LE and it's not a bad one either. This level offers zero gameplay just a quick and easy puzzle to crack here and there. I like the way the motorbike was carefully hidden on the third floor it took me some time to figure out how to get there! As this was made in the prehistoric days as it were of the LE the objects don't really go with the level but that doesn't stop you enjoying this 15min joy.” – Lil Kid (15-Dec-2002)

“This level illustrates nicely why Mansion levels are usually such a bore. It's always the same setting more or less and there is never really anything to do. This here is one of the worse ones as it has a few serious bugs where Lara gets sucked into the floor and it also features a few walkthrough walls. What is the fancy ammo for? Why do we find the Power Petrol right in front of the motorbike? What use is the motorbike anyway? To me this level was completely pointless.” – Dimpfelmoser (14-Nov-2002)

“This was a great remake of Lara's Home with a few special features added such as a couple of baddies some walls and floors that may not be as solid as they first appear and a third floor that holds the most fun part of this level the motorbike. I know our mothers have always told us never to ride our bikes in the house but this was too good an opportunity to pass the only downside was there was no Winston to terrify and eventually mow down maybe next time!” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“Not being a huge fan of house levels (as I am usually looking for gameplay rather than an artistically valuable recreation of something I already have seen) this one did also not convert me. The dimensions are a little out of place the cameras could do with some refinement there are a number of pick-ups which are of no use whatsoever and quite a few bugs if you use the old City WAD as I did (but that should work better with the revised one). All in all the level completely lacks any purpose and not even the hidden pick-up room in the maze and the third floor bike-ride gave me any thrills in the 15 minutes of net gaming time.” - Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“Another level set in the mansion the first one released I think. The rooms are huge now and there is nothing in this level that will make you like it. There are some doors textured as simply walls there is a third floor with a bike ride (useless I think) and the outside is completely new. There's a big pool a new training area with some baddies to kill (and two that won't move!) and the maze very short tough. The horizon is very ugly and the textures are too stretched/compressed through the whole thing.” – Treeble (21-Jun-2002)

“This is not an entirely accurate reproduction of the Croft mansion but the basic framework is there. It is not to scale so its main function is fun. There are some interesting rooms and a weird assault course but one of the most fun parts is the third floor with the motorbike!” – TrueRaider (21-Jun-2002)

“I usually like looking at all the house levels but this is obviously one of the very first attempts at recreating the mansion and is not nearly as good as the ones that have been released since. So many details are just off - the dining room chairs are actually half blocks the railing is - I don't even know how to describe it the horizon is done incorrectly and the sky is just walls that have mismatching textures on them there was a large red brick room with fires burning in the middle and I'm not sure what the point of that was. However there were also a few neat things - the hidden room in the maze the walk through and swim through walls and it was fun to ride the bike around the house. I found lots and lots of ammo and weapons but never saw even one enemy so I may have missed something. It's fun to take a quick look around but don't expect too much.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)

“Running around in a huge mansion is not my fun. Even the bike didn’t add anything. As for baddies I only encountered one and two mannequins I expected more as I had loads of ammo. I have seen better Mansion levels. 01-05-2002” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002)

“Why does this exist? If you like Lara's home levels then much better exist. All you do is run around and pull a few levers which gain access to pointless rooms and pickups. No enemies or traps except the fires in the obvious places and the odd bug.” – Whistle (21-Jun-2002)
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