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Level: Night School back home search
Author(s): Blacksheep
total rating:7.26 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Avmaster 10 8 9 8
CC 6 3 7 7
eTux 5 5 4 6
Gerty 6 7 7 7
Jay 6 7 8 8
Jorge22 8 8 8 10
Jose 5 6 6 6
Kristina 6 7 7 8
MichaelP 8 7 7 8
Mortensmor 6 7 6 6
Navi 10 9 10 9
Necro 9 7 8 9
Obig 8 8 8 8
Orbit Dream 6 6 7 8
Phil 8 7 8 8
Raymond 8 8 8 9
Ryan 7 6 7 7
Sash 5 6 8 7
Scottie 9 8 10 9
SlyRaider 7 5 6 7
The Aussie Adventurer 7 7 6 7
Yoav 8 7 8 7
category averages
(22 reviews)		 7.18 6.77 7.41 7.68

Reviewer's comments

"This Young Lara level can be quite enjoyable, but probably only once you get into the swing of things. I had the walkthrough not too far away, so I wasn't too irritated, but I can imagine those going it alone would probably get somewhat confused and frustrated. The reward for finding the secret buttons is a simple golden skull, so you may wish to forego those completely and thereby streamline your playing time more. There are enjoyable gameplay elements though: the jumping sequence for one of the keys, the torch puzzle and the use of a skeleton to break a few vases (Young Lara is weaponless) but also a few annoying parts). Mixed emotions, really so you can give it a go and see what you think." - Ryan (04-Nov-2017)

"No much interesting this young Lara level, except for the tasks with the skeleton and the torch; too many buttons to press and backtracking when exploring. The ambience is too dark for my monitor, the textures are well applied, but many times I missed important items 'cause there are not flares and I couldn't see anything. Also, I've missed some more cameras when triggering something and more cd tracks in certain important places. Try to play this level in one shot, 'cause in my case I've got a real problem with the savegames: if I exit the game and launch it again, the game will always crash when loading a savegame." - Jose (19-May-2017)

"There are a few interesting sections in the level (I especially enjoyed the part with the skeleton, and the tricky jumps). However, I feel that there should be more camera hints. I tried not to use the walkthrough and, man, going back and forth was tedious. The outdoor sections looked nice, so did the boiler room. I didn't quite like the textures and lighting in other indoor sections. Because of flickering textures, it wasn't clear for me what I should do in the underground room and I found the solution by complete accident. Not a bad level overall, but I was expecting much more." - Mortensmor (07-Nov-2016)

"Disappointed by this level. Okay, it's a puzzle level, but there are not enemies, why Lara is alone in this school?" - SlyRaider (15-Sep-2014)

"I found Door for the Paradise 4 to be unplayable rather early in the game, so I binned it and came to this level that was next on my list. It had three -- maybe four -- strikes against it before I even downloaded it. Not only was it a Young Lara house level with Japanese authorship, but the "night" in the title foretold dark surroundings (with no flares available, mind you). All of my misgivings turned out to be misplaced, however. What we have here is an engrossing hour-long romp in well-lighted environs, and you have to explore not one but three buildings. Along the way is a wicked banana jump and a brief timed run that gave me fits. A well-written walkthrough is provided by Ron Bate, a name that doesn't ring a bell to me. The only enemy in sight is a skeleton. You can't kill it, of course, but you need its sword to hack apart a couple of large vases (while it's trying to hack you). Lots of fun, so give it a try." - Phil (01-May-2014)

"Yet another level where I could only progress with continual reference to the Walkthrough;as to do without would have undoubtedly kept me running around blindly for several days.Wall buttons which you should NEVER push;a crash which forced me to reboot my PC;progression for the aquisition of the one secret being so cryptic that,even with the Walkthrough to hand,did nothing but cause me to forgoe it completely and just trudge mechanically toward the Finish trigger instead.Uninspired and generally flat lighting,and a positively criminal lack of helpful cameras.Not much here to appeal,you would think.Well,actually you'd be incorrect in that assumption as I found myself enjoying parts of the gameplay thoroughly: the burning floor beneath the courtyard;the tight timed run/jump sequence;the Boiler room;the Music room;the clue'd lever puzzle;and,especially,the short but exquisitely japanese-ish jump sequence around a swimming pool,requiring fast reactions and quick timing.All these enjoyable nuggets of gameplay lie awaiting within this otherwise pretty dreary and frustrating adventure.This is actually recommended for those with decent limits of patience,as the high-points generally outweigh the lows." - Orbit Dream (26-Oct-2013)

"The first thought is: Oh, how nicely, Young Lara-Level who plays in a school. Once something else, than to run always only by jungle and ruins. The second thought is: Hmm, a Japanese has built this level. Whether does it there probably become again difficultly by the jump actions? Now, it is not so bad by far as one must fear. There are present only two fiddly places. However, very annoyingly was the place, where one can press two wall switches in a way, but may press only one, because one gets otherwise in a Dead-End. This must not be. Another wall switch would have been better there anyway, namely one which can cancel the action again. But apart from the fact, this has become a miraculous level. The degree of difficulty of the riddles goes from easily to hard, the level is built very nicely and attractively textured, the lighting tunes and there are no opponents. Though there a skeleton walks around for a short time, but after Lara has pulled a JS, it is also away. Result: If you want to play a little bit other Young Lara-Level, you must play this." - Scottie (16-Apr-2009)

"Having just completed the author's latest level beaming with a feeling of accomplishment, I decided to give the only level of his I hadn't finished yet another go, and then I remembered why I had not finished it. What you basically have here is a well constructed school and its grounds to cover, including 2 swimming pools and a theater among other classes, and with a few exceptions you are free to roam this area as you please from the get go. And that's also where all the problems begin - you have dozens of buttons at your disposal, yet for most part no clue what they do, even if you manage to find an item that holds promise of progress, the enthusiasm is dampened when you realize you have to start from ground zero again because that item usually only plays one particular role in the grand scheme of things. That would be fine as such, but the lack of camera hints makes this an extra frustrating and extra confusing experience. It's not that there are no redeeming factors though - the moment with the torch and rubbish bin is creative, and there are a couple of neat jump sequences, but overall it all seemed to random to make any sense, and I this time I did not even kid myself and just let the walkthrough guide me through. The lighting is bland for most part, but the settings as such interesting and well constructed. It's still an OK level, but if you want to play it, I'd recommend to spare yourself the trouble and use the walkthrough, as even then it took me about half an hour to get through. Needless to say, I found all 6 secrets." - eTux (06-Jun-2008)

"This was a pretty tricky level to complete and I had to use the help of the walkthrough in various stages, however it was a welcome change from all the arctic / eygpt levels that I've currently been playing. The puzzles were well thought out and althrough the area did look repetitious in places, it kept with the feel of the place. Some puzzles were hard and some doors opened without letting you know and it was blind luck that I stumbled across some of them. I was stuck in an area for ages until I accidently pressed Action near the caged torch to find her animation trying to do something - hence the note on the floor. That was well hidden. I missed one secret (the skull) as in the walkthrough it says the door to the right of the school entrance would now be open but it wasn't for me. I dont understand why. Anyway, this was a very enjoyable challenging level." - Necro (14-Dec-2007)

Hello everyone. Here we have what looks like Lara's old mansion. However, it's not, but a Night School in which Lara must escape from. Gameplay is a bit on the easy side this time around, where most of it is spent looking for swicthes and/or triggers and even some you’re not supposed to press. Other than that, gameplay is very ordinary. Texturing and scenery elements are quite good without being spectacular. The overall feel and atmosphere is ok, sound is passable and the secrets are tricky. Layout and design, although a bit small, since were mostly in a mansion, are good although I was stuck a couple of times. Overall, not a bad level considering that lara in young and without any weapons. If I had to give this level a grade, I would give it a B-, a low distinction. - The Aussie Adventurer (27-Jun-2005)

“For me this was one of those levels I needed to reference the walkthrough the whole way through because to find all 5 secret buttons and switches you need to trigger to open the way to the 6th secret a gold skull you are given red herring buttons that if pressed block off the chance to find them so each time I came across a button I was a little worried about pressing it before I could check the walkie to make sure it was safe. The route taken through the nicely built school itself also seemed a bit incongruous at times and without the help of camera tips apart from only once or twice it was a bit of the ‘headless chook theory’ of running around seeing if any doors had opened or anything had changed. There are though aspects that I really enjoyed such as the jumps in a couple of areas one involving a quick timed jump and the lever puzzle was cute but not difficult. All in all this was not one I’d want to play again as it didn’t have a good flow in my opinion but of course for others this may be a great challenge.” – Sash (17-Aug-2004)

“Dear Blacksheep by now I've spent four hours and ran about 21 km around this single school. You say it's an easy level. Sorry but it's not. It is a puzzle which takes time to solve. Somebody else said it could have been played in fifteen minutes - well I never cease to be amazed at the speed of some players but that's alright. I found four secret switches. Now where's the last? Maybe behind the closed gate by the building with the skeleton? Maybe inside the opening at the bottom of the pool where you use the crowbar and which remains unopened? Maybe somewhere else? Too many maybes. And what's the fire doing behind/inside the bookshelves (or maybe that's only the fire from the room above) in the room with two possible openings which still remain possible? You have to understand the statistics don't really tell you how much you've played or how much you really ran around - you could multiply my results by some number of your choice and you wouldn't be far from the truth. The truth is instead of stubbornly insisting on solving this one-game puzzle I could be continuing a book I'm writing or reading or calling a girl whom I think is the prettiest thing on the face of the earth or learning how to build really nice websites you name it... So why do I persist in this isolation that characterizes video game playing? Frankly I don't know. You can even finish the level long before you solve the entire riddle. But I will persist - for a while at least as long as God grants me patience... Not right now. Right now I'm going to go out have a cup of coffee smoke a cigarette and do a little reading. You see I'm so tired of running around like mad pushing solid walls trying to set everything I see on fire (even the plants or the sand outside) that I'm really starting to run out of curiosity. (After quite a while): I'm sorry but I've given up I can't take it and this isn't healthy anymore. I've just gone out of the main gate and that's it. I admit it I've been beaten by this game it's been days and I'm unable to find the fifth secret switch or open the still closed entrances to wherever. Sorry. I liked the settings the general idea and the textures if there's any doubt about it. Can I escape the building? Yes I can but very frustrated. I even liked doing what I was able to do but right now the game is making me tense and I'm having no fun at all with it. Maybe someday I'll replay it and find whatever's been sliding through my hands this time... At the moment I can't do it. My advice to you Blacksheep: don't create almost impossible jumps (I'm taking the opportunity to refer to the beginning of Out of Curiosity since I haven't played that one to the end and thus haven't reviewed it. Here there is also an almost impossible jump which is a little irritating but more achievable) but truly most of all don't make your games too cryptic (as obvious as it all may seem to you who imagined the whole thing) don't hide things so well that the game may become purely annoying. That's terrible for the gameplay and the adventure may become a nightmare. This is a friend speaking out of sincerity. (May 29 2004)” – Jorge22 (01-Jun-2004)

“The level is interesting to play. What I found annoying was that I couldn’t load my savegames and I was forced to start over from the beginning. Lara must open doors find keys (normal keys and two Battery-Keys) use jump switches and the skeleton helps her to find things. I finished with two secrets. There are a lot of riddles in this level it is important to find the torch and the music scroll. Lara has to pull a switch to get to the key. Also a difficult jump around the corner must be done. There are switches to push; Lara must push them in the right order. The timed run is difficult because there is not a lot of time to do it. I found a second torch but I couldn’t figure out what it was good for. For people who love to solve riddles it is an interesting level.” – Avmaster (23-May-2004)

“Another Young Lara level by Blacksheep and it is certainly an enjoyable one even though it does fall a bit short compared to the brilliant 'Out of Curiosity'. What you get here is a lot of running around in and around a school building with a rather decent architecture and great touches of realism like the theatre the boiler room the canteen the swimming pool. Also after a bit of a slow start some really original gameplay ideas come up with the 5 levers puzzle the torch and the rubbish container and a rather inspired jumping room. There are 5 secrets which are collect just by doing a certain action and a 6th which is a golden skull pick up. There is maybe a bit of a lack of camera guidance given the enormous number of buttons you press and the outside horizon has a bit of an issue in looks but those are minor gripes. Play it for about an hour of fun.” – Michael (04-May-2004)

“I’m not the world’s biggest fan of young Lara levels mainly because I desperately miss my flares and binoculars. This is basically a mansion level with the interesting twist of making it into a school. It’s quite well done from that aspect but of necessity the gameplay involves a lot of running around button pushing lever throwing and key finding. On the plus side there are some interesting things going on and it’s not every school that has a resident monkey. Hmm. The atmosphere in the grounds was very impressive with the threatening sky and sounds of thunder and the whole level was attractive and well built. If you are a fan of mansion levels this one will probably fit the bill quite nicely.” – Jay (04-May-2004)

“Made on a Mac I had to play this one. Young Lara not my favorite sort of house level also not my favorite and even then it could be a nice entertaining level and on hindsight it was. Why on hindsight you can ask well a major lack of camera work that is why. Also I had to play this in the evening with the lights out as it was too dark (young Lara equals no flares) and that always gives me a headache. It really is a shame though as there are some novelties here like looking for the secret levers the use of that skeleton how pesky he is as Lara has no weapons. Nice jumping and enticing you to look for the items you need to find. That timed run for the crowbar was also a good move. But the lack of cameras did it for me. The last straw however was pushing a button I wasn't suppose to push almost at the beginning of the level how could I know so I left this game without getting the skull. Next time either make them so they can be reset or don't do it as it isn't fair at all. 19-03-2004” – Gerty (28-Mar-2004)

“Young Lara and she has no weapons but there is none required as the only enemy she has to deal with is a skeleton that she uses to smash a vase for her. I was stuck in two places until I found the crawlspace in the kitchen and the trapdoor outside. I thought the five levers puzzle quite clever. It can get a little hard in the indoor swimming area with a timed trapdoor and a jumping series. The main thing though is finding keys but most of the keyholes are miles away from the doors they open so there’s a LOT of running around. The ‘school’ is quite good with chalk boards desks computers toilets and I liked the way the outside area railings look with the greenery showing through. In a nutshell it’s a re-jigged mansion level. If the trapdoor and crawlspace were easy to find this would have been a 15 minutes level. As it is it took almost an hour.” – CC (26-Mar-2004)

“I adore this level very much. You are venturing with the young Lara Croft in an abandoned school where she has to find Keys and there are quite a lot of puzzles too. This level is not linear I was just running around for the first time. In the room on the storey you must pull the levers according to the inscription on the wall of the fence outside. You don’t have weapons but they are not needed either. The enemies are just a skeleton and a swarm of scarabs. The scarabs may have been escaped from a terrarium and the skeleton is perhaps a spirit of an old school director. :) The skeleton even has a task as you need him for smashing the vases in the drama room – at least if you want to get all Secrets which is a different puzzle. I found 6 Secrets with the Golden Skull but I managed to do it only in my second walkthrough … If you push both buttons on the 1st floor you won’t be able to get one of the Secrets in the office where is the 1st Battery Key. You can find 2 Torches in the level but you don’t need the second one if you can keep in mind where dropped the first Torch. You have to light the fire on 2 places: in the 1st room of the level there’s a bulb on the table and you must scorch the floor above the rusty trapdoor. There are a couple of timed runs and difficult jumps too but they don’t mean obstacle to our brave Heroine. :) The textures are nice. There would have been some more added sounds perhaps in the drama room and the music room. Still this is an excellent level I recommend it to all of you. You can find a Hungarian walkthrough (as we don’t have English version) savegames and pictures here: http://treditor.hu/12/night_school.htm ” – Obig (24-Mar-2004)

“Quite a nice Young Lara-Level. Lara has to find to keys to escape a school. Additionally she can push five secret-buttons/levers to get a skull in the end (one of the buttons is rather unfair placed see Kristina’s review). Gameplay is standard finding things and levers in the school and the adjacent buildings and outside area a torch puzzle (getting the torch involves a nice lever puzzle) pushing some blocks and also a short Japanese-style jumping sequence. Music cameras and sound are also nicely done but standard. Be aware of the save bug which vanished the cute skeleton and so it couldn’t help me anymore to smash the vases. Altogether not outstanding but most of the time enjoying.” – Raymond (20-Mar-2004)

“In general I don’t like levels with young Lara simply because authors usually make them quite gloomy and with the lack of flares and binoculars it makes it hard to proceed. This one is a level I didn’t enjoy. It’s not that the level is bad but it can get frustrated with all the buttons around and the doors. The player needs various keys and some levers to push. The torch is present as well and there are no enemies except for a skeleton that will help Lara get rid of an obstacle in the theatre. The setting is quite nice with Lara wandering inside a school which would looks like a mansion and if it weren’t for the classrooms I wouldn’t imagine it’s a school. Look out for hidden crawlspaces as well as buttons that blend well on walls. I found four secrets and I missed the fifth to access the skull because there is a button you shouldn’t push in a room but what could one guess that. I consider that to be unfair for the players. If you don’t like young Lara levels don’t play this.” – Kristina (19-Mar-2004)

“What a level with young Lara! Really did strain my nerves. The level plays in a school and Lara has to watch her step but it is left to the player how you bring it to an end. There are six well hidden switches to find and one at the start you should not use (more of a trap and I stepped right into it). The skeleton plays an important role too. Puzzles are well designed and there are a few jumps that need some practice. You need to solve a timed puzzle to get the crowbar – patience is required here. More levers to pull (check the hints by the author) and if you activate all six switches Lara earns a golden skull as a prize. Not a lot of sound but in all the right places; same for camera work. The skeleton ist he only enemy. I really liked the graphics and the atmosphere throughout the game. A monkey leads Lara to the place where she needs to light the torch. Don’t know why – find out for yourself. Can only recommend it – a great young Lara level.” – Navi (15-Mar-2004)

“Nice level in some school with many rooms and switches of course young Lara needs to find keys and battery and pick up something on the floor in one of the rooms (hint) now some of the switches are secrets. There are five; I only found three and I finished the level but... I played again and now I lit the candlestick in the first room that Lara started in and found all five. It's really a nice level with one skeleton enemy and good atmosphere.” – Yoav (14-Mar-2004)
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