| Reviewer's comments |
"Onwards to a VCI environment for part 2 of
this series and unfortunately I wasn't
such a fan of this one. The setting is
admittedly quite nicely created, but the
gameplay became tedious fairly quickly
with all the backtracking I had to perform
(it became worse near the end), too many
levers to pull and one overwhelming
onslaught of guards after another with
very little ammo provided. I did locate
the Desert Eagle and the Uzis but ammo was
at a premium so it still seemed a bit
unfair to me. I see Michael found the HK
gun but I had no idea where it was. I was
glad to see the back of this one." - Ryan (03-Mar-2019) |
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| "I'm very generous giving that "high" rating in the gameplay section, 'cause the entire level is very very boring. There's a lot of backtracking if you choose the wrong paths, and even if you choose the right paths, the author always left a closed door so you'll need to go back a long way to look for a key or a card and return to the same places often. That's the story of this tedious level: pick up a key, go to a place, use the key, go to another place, use a switch, back to the previous place... and so on. In between I had to kill a lot of SAS, and since I never found the shotgun, I had to deal with them many times only with the pistols. Of course, not a level to replay." - Jose (15-Nov-2016) |
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| "Thus makes to play a level really fun. Von Croy have "found" once more a few artefacts which belonged quite obviously Lara. So she searches in this VCI-Level all rooms, shoots felt 1000 SAS-Soldiers and is after about 45 minutes of clenched action at the level end. Now and again it was maybe a little bit unfair when a bunch of SAS-Soldiers put at the same time Lara in the crosshairs, but the level builder had distributed enough Medipacks and ammunition. One or two camera hints would have been good, but on the whole it has properly given fun. Who looks for a good Shooter to abreact his bad mood, is exactly right here." - Scottie (27-Apr-2011) |
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| "Part 2 of this 3 level series is completely different than part one and plays in a high tech VCI compound. There is lots of ductwork crawling, many trap doors, access cards to be found and levers to be pulled. Although fairly easy to progress, there is quite a bit of running with a fair amount of back tracking and it wasn't always easy to remember where the correct door that will accept the latest key or card was located. There were hordes of heavily armed guards, which only caused a bit of stress for Lara in the beginning, but once she has the Desert Eagle and the UZI the shooting matches become a blast. The atmosphere was adequate for the type of level. Decoration was very simple and limited to the typical computer tables, storage shelves and crates. Texturing and lighting looked also nice and probably as good as it gets for a level that consists of office rooms, ductwork and hallways. This one is definitely entertaining and worth the download if you want to play a VCI style level. (40 minutes)" - Blue43 (01-Feb-2011) |
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| "This second installment in the series is a typical base level, and you get nearly twice as much net gaming time here than in the first installment. Unfortunately, a good bit of this is attributable to some tedious backtracking, but that doesn't become a distraction until near the end. (By the way, I forgot to mention in my review of the first installment that Lara's outfit was really cool, especially when viewed from behind.) The way to progress is fairly intuitive, push a lever, find a key, open a door to a new area, etc., but there are a couple of pull-down ceiling hatches that aren't immediately obvious. Again, there was plenty of light, and that's always a plus in my book. Play it for a relatively stress-free hour." - Phil (17-Mar-2009) |
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| "I like base levels. Nice rooms and textures. There a lot of enemy, but fortunately you can find lot of medipacks and ammos. Short but great game." - Andzia9 (01-Mar-2009) |
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| "This is your usual base raid, and that's not a bad thing. I really enjoy this sort of level and this one particularly appealed to me, even though I think there were too many trapdoors and quite a lot of backtracking as you'd find access keys to proceed. There were quite a number of shootouts, some triggered neatly by security cameras, and even though the SAS were plenty, you'd always have enough medipacks to get through. 40 minutes, 3 secrets. 04/08" - Treeble (03-Apr-2008) |
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| "By comparison to the S.S.1 in the second part Lara is fully dressed in a catsuit, wich is my favorite outfit for her.The settings change dramatically from the ocean to the urban and hi-tech Von Croy Labs.The dificulty is medium, the main thing is to always keep in mind where you saw the slots and receptacles for the things you find, because there is a lot of running to do from one place to another." - dya1403 (19-May-2007) |
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| "I wanted to be excited by the second installment in this Stones series as the first had a great look though the gameplay was a little basic but as soon as I realised this one was VCI based my slight excitement evaporated. I did though give it the benefit of the doubt and hoped against hope that this would be the VCI level that would change my mind and make me warm to the whole genre but it wasn't to be. This 45 minute level with 3 secrets has basically the normal gameplay vent exploration SAS shooting collecting keys discs and cards and of course going after the aim of the whole level which here was two stone artifacts. There were a couple of nicely designed rooms and the SAS attacks always en masse were smartly produced but in the end it is a VCI level and nothing against the author they do about as much for me as licking the inside of an obese man's third stomach fold after he has played a strenuous game of tennis in the midday sun on a hot summer's day!" - Sash (23-Jul-2004) |
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| "This is a fairly standard but well constructed VCI level with the usual guards ganging up on you (I did rather object to being shot in the back during a flyby) and lurking in offices waiting to spring out at you. In fact the only real challenge is trying to bump off the massed ranks of baddies with just pistols before you get the uzi (well two uzis and a desert eagle actually). No real surprises then but if you like VCI levels you could find a much worse way to spend 40 minutes." - Jay (26-Feb-2004) |
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| "This is a VCI lab that is for sure and the game was much longer than I expected. That is because there are no cameras so running around till you find the place where you can put your disk or other items is the key here. It will get tedious toward the end as there were at least two other places where I thought needed an item to open up doors but as I have hit the finishing trigger I thought naaah not going back to have a look. Lara left the building with a Nature Stone and an Ice Stone. A bit unfair is that when there was a flyby Lara got shot in the back by at least four guards every time. The rope was a great thing to do and took me quite by surprise I have to admit. Found 3 secrets. 01-02-2004" - Gerty (24-Feb-2004) |
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| "The weakest of the three 'Sacred Stones' levels published so far. The great textures and objects remind me of Emoo's Recon Labs but gameplay and atmosphere are miles behind that. Boring ventilator shafts and office rooms with little to do. Lights and cameras were better in part 1 and 3." - Rüdiger (24-Feb-2004) |
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| "Familiar surroundings here VCI building brown walls large windows to see the cityscape across the water at night and Lara in that great black catsuit and binocular shades. One time a flyby starts and five guards come behind Lara to shoot at her before the flyby finishes sneaky. It happens again later on with eight guards. It took a long time for me to see that disc on the floor the hardest thing to do in this level. There's slide to grab a rope in a huge room with a structure to get onto and escape this reminds me of the original game too. All this is to get two more stones well guarded in this building." - CC (12-Feb-2004) |
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| "Talk about a change of setting. You are after the ice and the nature stone this time and to get them make your way through a classic VCI building. Thankfully most of the air ducts are high enough to walk rather than crawl in them and I liked the lighting effects on them with the vents - well done. Rather straightforward gameplay which has you retrace your steps quite a few times supported with cameras where needed in order to find discs cards and keys. Make sure you watch out for the ceiling trapdoors. Enemies were the inevitable SAS sometimes showing up in packs for a decent fight and I found two secrets and unfortunately the AK-47 rather later in the 30 minutes of net game time. Fun to play and looking forward to the next part of the series." - Michael (08-Feb-2004) |
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| "A complete change of pace for part 2; and a rather effective one. Gameplay has been beefed up a little (although backtracking is still the predominant feature) and the room architecture is often most impressive. Enemies are placed rather well; and I loved the 'being caught out by the Security Camera' sequences. The layout of the building is well thought through and on the whole the level was pleasingly entertaining for the hour that it took me. Where to next for Part 3 I wonder? Wherever it is I'm looking forward to it." - Orbit Dream (06-Feb-2004) |
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| "Another nice looking level from this new author. Unfortunately as with his first level gameplay just doesn't live up to the same standard as the room design. Here you'll face 45 minutes of exploring air ducts (not much crawling though which is a blessing) and empty offices to find some cards keys and levers to push. Enemies (SAS) come in packs of four or more making this a bit of a shooter-style level as well. There is one very cool room involving a sliding/rope swing/climbing sequence but everything else is garden variety VCI stuff. I found 3 secrets but the shotgun came to late to be of any use against the many guards. Try it if you feel like a straightforward and easy VCI outing." - Tombaholic (02-Feb-2004) |
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| "The second level of a series which looks like every time will include a different type of level. This time we have a VCI theme with the appropriate textures and Lara in her catsuit. A nice level although rather simple you collect disks a key CDs and cards to access the next part of the level. Traps like lasers and fire pits are scattered around with guards coming even five at a time towards Lara. I liked it but it just isn't very challenging which explains the low rating at the gameplay category. There are a lot of missing sounds such as the lever sounds when guards shooting at Lara and the sounds for secrets speaking of which I found two in over half an hour which was my gameplay time. It's definitely a pleasant level to play along with the first one and an obvious improvement." - Kristina (02-Feb-2004) |
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| "Another level from the author yet I don't see much progress (no wonder not such a long time between the release of the previous and this one) - it's decently textured alright but the gameplay still revolves around finding keys pressing buttons and finding trapdoors and such to get you through here - even though there are a lot more enemies (SAS) around this time and not so much ammo and medipacks so it's a bit tougher. Pity you couldn't carry all the stuff from the previous level to here - but I guess that's how Lara makes her fortunes - sells all the ammo and stuff she's found before lol. A more or less typical VCI level with very familiar areas - give it a try if you're in the mood for one." - eTux (02-Feb-2004) |
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| "Nice fluent and adequate VCI level with the regular actions to do we've grown accustomed to. Built well with the obvious disc key and card searching to do from a central 'key' room. A range of office rooms airducts and bigger either jump/rope rooms or climbing ducts make it a rather diverse level with here and there short but well done camera shots to avoid boring endless backtracking. The combination of camera work and guards appearing added to the atmosphere. Of the two secrets I found one was rather obvious the other one sneaky." - bERT (02-Feb-2004) |
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