| Reviewer's comments |
"A second home level from ekim, and some things are better and some things are just the
same. textures and construction are a bit better but we are missing a lot of objects and
banisters in the main hall that make it look strange. if you looking for where any
gameplay is you better start off in the maze first before you try that fire lit chimney,
as for the other rooms in the house theres nothing really to do in them apart from a
music track in the dining room and a workout in the gym which i see in this level the
climbing animation now works. the maze holds 2 items for collection in order to open a
new room inside which leads to pit of baddies. but the fire lit chimney leads to a
slightly altered and more challenging timed run down to basement with that aquarium
where you cant get out of so if you wanna check out the improved assault course you
better do that beforehand. The level has definitely made improvements so credit there
and i liked the timed run but again i missed some originality, interesting gameplay or
puzzles and traps and disappointingly it has no bike to ride around on this time" - John (13-Aug-2021) |
 |
| "I'm cheerful to see such a great improvement in comparison
with the previous game, in the same style of course. Still
lacked tons of things! I could see badly stretched
textures, cracked polygons, etc. Hope to see the next game
with all of the mentioned issues fixed. Really looking
forward to the next game. Thanks!" - Mehrbod (08-Jul-2019) |
|
| "Lara's mansion with some added rooms which are quite empty
of objects. I don't see the point in finding 2 stars in the
maze to use them, enter a cave, kill some ninjas and get
out. The only things I liked about this level was the
outfit and the audios from TR5 but nothing impressive." - alan (21-Oct-2017) |
|
| "Looks more like the Croft Estate v1 to me.
This is another mansion level and another
exact copy, only with added ninjas. So if
you didn't like mansion levels already
then this won't change your mind. Not
recommended." - Ryan (21-May-2016) |
|
| "There is no end on this one. Just a cheap rip off of Lara's
Home through Tomb Raider 1 and 3. Some additions to the
mansion, including the catacombs, but that didn't make it any
better.
The decoration is horrible and the mansion is pretty empty
over all.
Cheap remake, clumsy, not recommended even if you want to
roam in Lara's Home." - Zhyttya (04-Sep-2015) |
|
| "Well this was... pointless.. And no ending! It has no ending.. you can stay there the rest of your life and hopping that you die of old age with Winston.. A really unfinished level it seems.. Most of it pointless with some random ninjas in the basement.. And a lot of textures are broken and others seem missing like in the aquarium part..
Not recommended at all" - Leeth (04-Sep-2015) |
|
| "this level is not really a level, the "builder" dit extract project, put (badly) the textures, and put a "bad" wad, with almost no object (with a TR4 lever switch), ok it was TRLE, but I do think that it was to make such good games as Magplus and other builders did make around these years. Seriously, don't play this level, this is a waster of time, the only only good thing is the "TR5 Lara audios"." - Lara_Fox_Croft (31-Aug-2015) |
|
| "This house level must have seemed fairly pointless on its release and fourteen years on it's an utter chore to play and review. It adds absolutely nothing new to the original house level and indeed is missing some of the vaguely interesting bits. If you do actually like the genre, there are many far more enjoyable offerings out there, so I should steer clear of this one." - Jay (28-May-2015) |
|
| "While better than the builder's previous attempt at remaking Croft Manor, its still severely undermined by an extreme lack of objects that are actually appropriate to the locale in question and with literally nothing effective to make this interpretation stand out from the rest, turns out to be a pretty hollow and lifeless version of the level that ultimately just feels pointless to play, due to the lack of an actual finish trigger still.
So don't even bother to waste your time on this one, unless you're a huge fan of home-themed releases and simply must go through them all at least once, before moving onto something more substantial." - Ceamonks890 (02-Dec-2014) |
|
| "It's the original manor with some textures changed. If you played the previous version, you can notice there are improvements in some parts of v2, but as well as the regressions in some other places. Several examples: Ekim added some ninjas, but removed the enemies from the assault course. He filled the gym with tutorial samples from TR5, but removed the motorbike. And he added the secret catacomb on the -1 floor, but removed the 2nd floor, so we still have the same number of floors. This can be treated like some kind of metaphor. I mean, Ekim "made a new level of fun, but unfortunately destroyed its previous level, so, even if the fun is moved from one level to another, the overall fun level remains the same". I know it sounds a bit complicated because of the word "level" having two meanings, but I want you to understand how complicated it is to write a review on two nearly identical customs, especially if you played them one after another and have to think hard to remember what was in which of them. However, the rating is done - I decided to copy the scores for the first part, paste it here and then adjust, according to what was improved and what was spoiled. As a result, overall score for this level is quite better than for its first version, thanks to the texturing, which makes the whole thing look better now. But I REMEMBER the texturing was copied from the original manor, so it's unfortunately NOT author's creativity what was rated in this category. SUMMARY: A bit better colored version of the previous part. You can play both levels of the series to compare the texturing, but don't expect anything important to learn from these games - both of them are just quite empty. The only difference between v1 and v2 is this emptiness is located in different places of the manor and different things are unfinished." - DJ Full (06-Oct-2010) |
|
| "Better than the previous house-level by the author but still bad. Really bad. Well that might have something to do with the fact that this is a house-level and because of that it doesn't have a lot of interesting gameplay. No wait - it actually doesn't have any interesting gameplay at all. Find two Hands in a maze and kill four ninjas and you're done. Five minutes wasted. The texturing was better than in the previous levels by the author but it's still below average." - Magnus (29-Jan-2004) |
|
| "I think the biggest problem with 'Lara's Home' levels is the lack of the unexpected; you simply can't put very much gameplay into such a restrictive scenario without the whole thing appearing far too contrived. This level is a case in point. Why does Lara feel it a necessity to place two stars in her Garden Maze in order to open two doors in her Hallway? Why not just open the two doors in her Hallway with the use of door handles like everyone else? Why are there a bunch of ninjas in her cellar shooting at her? Are they Houseguests? If so why are they aggressive? If they've come to attack how did they get in there in the first place as they've obviously avoided using the two stars in the Maze? And why is there no Finishing Trigger? Some day I'm confident I'll play a Lara's Home level which really does present a proper adventure. This isn't it." - Orbit Dream (09-Jan-2004) |
|
| "You don't need me to tell you that this is another home level. How many do I have left I thought I played them all by now! Anyway there are two hands to find inside the maze which is changed and easier. The hands lead Lara to an underground area with weapons and that's it well there are some ninjas too. The instruction Lara is giving make you think it's a training level but then again all home levels are even without the sounds. I might have missed something though because I never found a finishing trigger." - Kristina (23-Aug-2003) |
|
| "This is almost a copy of the training level in TR3 with a few changes - crates in the hall banisters gone gates gone doors gone. The house has big levers on the floors to open doors for heaven's sake. The idea of Lara speaking was ok but why bother we've heard it before and we want a clever twist on a house level not another training session. Lara wears a pair of black shorts with what looks like a gold star on the back is this a mistake or deliberate? This level is really only for die-hard mansion lovers." - CC (06-Jun-2003) |
|
| "I've played this level just for curiosity because I usually love the home levels; I like the changes and the secret areas over the original model. The Croft Estate has a general lack of objects enemies and action; even textures are missing at some places. It's just a training level not really a game." - Loupar (11-Mar-2003) |
|
| "Don't you just love the way Lara pronounces 'Action'? 'Hold Action to garb onto the ledge'; kills me every single time. Alas listening to Lara blab away the instructions of a how to perform 'The Big Jump' and such is the main attraction on the Croft Estate. So I guess this is supposed to a be a training level. But I reckon everybody who starts to play custom levels has at least played one training level of the original games so this home exercise seems again like a wasted effort. And if we have to have trainings level why can't someone explain the so called 'crawlspace bug' therein? Oh well if you are a fan of the maze you might want to check this out and I thought the lever on the worktable in the kitchen looked rather hilarious. But hey Torry obviously enjoyed it a great deal so if you share his taste as far as custom levels are concerned you should start downloading straight away. It's only 9 MB." - Dimpfelmoser (15-Nov-2002) |
|
| "One of the first mansion levels this one shows signs of that with the emptiness of the house no banisters or railings around the staircase and upstairs walkway some rooms inaccessible and instead of buttons to open doors there are cumbersome floor levers. The object in this mansion level is to find 2 Hands that will open up a small armoury and then a weird tunnel section under the house with a couple of enemies to shoot. Unfortunately in my opinion any chance of having this feel like a real level is taken away as Lara's voice out of nowhere suddenly instructs you on how to make all her moves bringing this back to feeling just like a training level and for such a large download I didn't want just a training level." - Sash (21-Jun-2002) |
|
| "A sportive outfit which is ripped open at the 'bottom' and that is actually the theme of this level with many missing things to make it a valid replica and some in fact rather annoying bugs for example missing textures and the levers which seem totally out of place. The sound samples spice it up a bit but not quite enough to justify the big download. You can find two hands in the maze which eventually leads to a brief fight with four ninjas." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
|
| "This is another re-make of the Croft mansion but not as well done as some. Lara sports a new Nike outfit but it appears the shorts have a hole in the bum (poor texture placement) the banisters in the mansion are missing and overall not a good look. Gameplay is somewhat tedious in my opinion but if you like levels at the manse this is one to play." - Torry (21-Jun-2002) |
|
| "Levels set in Lara's mansion are always the same thing and this isn't too far from that. The inclusion of TRC sounds help to make the atmosphere better but it made the file larger. The level has some enemies in a strange area of the house and there is a new maze in the garden where the aim is to find 2 hands. The gym is there and there's the outside training area a bit different from the originals. The textures are well chosen but a little care with the application could help to make it better." - Treeble (21-Jun-2002) |
|
| "I thought this was quite a bit better than Ekim's last attempt and if you really like the mansion levels it's worth taking a few minutes to see what changes he has made. Most of the rooms are the same as the original training level including the secret door under the stair leading to the room with the aquarium but the maze is new and different and has you searching for two hands and the outside obstacle course has changed a bit. Plus you can actually use some of the pickups this time as there are a few ninjas to fight. Otherwise there's not much to do and only a few switches to push." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002) |
|
| "I am not a big fan of Lara's home levels as there is only so much you can do with it. This is just an empty of nothingness. Loads of ammo and just 2 ninjas to shoot. 30-04-2002" - Gerty (21-Jun-2002) |
|
