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BtB2006 - Nintai by Ruediger

Anurag 7 10 7 6
Bojrkraider 8 7 8 8
CC 7 7 7 6
Cory 8 6 7 6
Dutchy 8 8 8 8
eRIC 7 7 7 6
eTux 7 6 8 7
Gerty 6 7 7 6
Jay 8 8 7 8
JesseG 7 7 6 6
Jorge22 8 8 8 8
Jose 7 7 7 7
Kristina 5 6 6 6
manarch2 5 5 6 5
MichaelP 7 6 7 6
Mman 6 7 6 6
Moonpooka 8 8 7 7
nerdfury 6 5 6 6
Neso 8 6 7 5
Obig 8 8 8 8
Orbit Dream 6 6 6 8
Phil 7 7 7 7
rjb 7 8 8 7
Ryan 6 7 7 6
Sakusha 8 8 7 7
Sash 6 6 7 6
Selene 7 6 8 7
Skyld 7 7 6 7
Staticon 8 8 9 8
Sutekh 8 7 8 8
Treeble 7 8 7 7
Whistle 8 8 8 8
 
release date: 01-Jan-2006
# of downloads: 57

average rating: 7.00
review count: 32
 
review this level

file size: 36.57 MB
file type: TR4
class: Oriental
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
unbroken@unbrokenmetal.de

Reviewer's comments
"The boxy rooms, wallpapered textures, and sometimes flat ambient lighting may not make for the most immersive atmosphere, but there's still some interesting stuff going on in this short adventure. There are four main gameplay elements: the key fetching in the beginning, a pushable puzzle, a timed run gauntlet, and a final trap sequence to the end. The key fetching is straightforward except for the first room which has a strange way of opening the exit (not sure I actually solved it as opposed to stumbling upon a now open door). The puzzle, which I was excited to see at first, was a bit of a letdown with its solution which is obscured by a lot of red herring visuals, and I wouldn't have gotten through without the walkthrough. On the flip side the timed run and traps were enjoyable challenges, save for a poorly marked death tile which used to be safe in previous areas. 26 minutes." - JesseG (23-Jun-2022)
"(6) Gameplay & Puzzles: This is an at-times creative, yet overall unintuitive level. You start off with a very unintuitive method to open a gate (walk up to 5 plants), then there are 2 enjoyable timed runs, followed by a frustrating 4 piece pushblock puzzle. It is frustrating due to the fact that there are logical, reasonable conclusions that the player can draw (I came to the same conclusion as rjb), then the player moves all of the pushblocks, and then they fail. The correct sequence is vague, and again, unintuitive. Aside from the timed runs, I did enjoy the floating tile area near the end of the game, and how you would need to touch all tiles of a certain type before spikes would retract. (5) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: I want to mention unintuitive 1 more time: shortly after you trigger 2 wraiths, there is a path to a room with a small pool of water (and nothing else). It seems logical that the player would try to extinguish the wraiths here, but this is in fact not the way you're supposed to go. What frustrated me was that ONE of the wraiths would extinguish here, but the other would not, with me trying (to no avail) different positions for Lara to try to extinguish the 2nd wraith. What's the whole point of this room, then? Goons as enemies were fine, but the snakes spawned in spots where they were of no danger to Lara. I did like the builder's static decor, however the 2 secrets were too easy, the first one unbelievably so. (6) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: I felt like the atmosphere was lacking, being too focused on "cubic" geometry with little variety. Sounds were fine and camera hints were adequate, although I wasn't a fan of a fixed camera during a timed run (why?). (6) Lighting & Textures: While I didn't spot misshapen textures, I wasn't very keen on the builder's texturing or lighting style. Examples are red walls with red ceilings, rooms with a hodgepodge of busy textures (e.g. the large pool room), and overly dark spots that don't match the surroundings. Overall, I can't recommend this level as I didn't enjoy the gameplay or aesthetics. 6/5/6/6." - nerdfury (06-Dec-2020)
"Perseverance, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness and patience. Well, I did need patience to get through this one as it was quite hectic at times. It's not very difficult or challenging to get through, although the logic of the mirror room puzzle eluded me for a while (the hint seemed to be deliberately misleading) and I do wonder about stepping on flowerpots to open a door. Aside from those, this is a fast paced level with little break in the proceedings, although there's nothing really brain-taxing apart from that mirror puzzle. The scenery is quite bland and empty, with little decoration or pizzazz, but enemies are placed well enough. Fun enough, but not among the top tiers." - Ryan (09-Apr-2018)
"Very slowly but steadily the quality of the BtB levels raises. The gameplay is sometimes rather obscure (like the starting puzzle and some self-opening doors), but also contains a few rather interesting puzzles and traps and overall flows rather nicely for 15 minutes. Lookwise there's also an improvement with some rooms having a quite decent architecture - some are still fairly boxy though - and rather well chosen audio tracks and a hint of good lighting in a couple of areas. The few enemies that attack from time to time are a nice addition. While it's still far from a full-fledged level with decent size and solid presentation this game makes enough of its short length to be entertaining." - manarch2 (19-Mar-2015)
"This is another level that seems to be by a relatively new author, however, it's more solid than other levels like that so far in BTB2006. The visuals are a bit plain and cubic (especially some of the interiors), and some of the texturing and lighting is a bit shabby, however, it still provides a sense of progression and place.
The gameplay is quite varied and flowing, including some nice timed runs and trap sequences towards the end. The start is a little vague, but the storyline at least gives a slight hint to it, and one block puzzle could have done with few more hints as it requires a few too many leaps of logic (there are enough conflicting aspects there that it's easy to believe the solution is something else). There's also one major flaw that required me to take a point; if you quit the game part way through the level save-games seem to become unusable. I've had this issue in other contest levels, but I was able to fix it with some experimentation, here they seem to be completely lost; I had to restart the level as a result. It's quite short when you know what to do (with knowledge of the first half I was able to complete it in less than fifteen minutes), but it's still a big problem. The length is also a bit of an issue as other levels in the contest provide more and superior challenges. Decent, but with some issues." - Mman (20-Jan-2012)
"More : Quite easy, but pleasant anyway. Variations of gameplay, there are lots of things to do with timed runs, pushable blocks and traps. Good compilation of sounds and musics. Cameras are very well-applied. Less : Secrets (2) which are both easy to find out. Atmosphere and lightings are a bit too dark and not very enjoyable. Maybe a flyby would be welcomed. 25 minutes." - Neso (22-Dec-2007)
"When I first encountered the word \"Nintai\", I thought it simply meant \"patience\" in Japanese. This test of endurance is accurately represented in the timed run that is combined with the circular blades. In this level, I realized that this word has a broader meaning. I was able to pass by the monkeys peacefully (the monkeys and the garden perfectly embody the notion of Wa, harmony), the waterfalls were gorgeous, the decorations were fascinating and full of vitality. I found one secret, it was interesting to combine the Yin and the Yang in order to form the Taiji, the traps (the spikes, the fire traps and the blades) were ingeniously devised, the retextured objects (the doors, the funny red thing, the lanterns...) delighted my eye, the pushable objects puzzle had a certain amount of originality (especially with the mirror), and the warriors were a little bit difficult to defeat. There is a combination of Chinese (eg. textures from the Temple of Xian) and Japanese elements (eg. the Samurai textures, the kakemono (hanging scrolls) and the semi-transparent rice paper walls) that makes this level interesting." - Sakusha (11-Sep-2006)
"This half hour level was a good variety of puzzles, some were clever and others fustrating. Clever building was used for this level, very ingenious puzzels stopped progress but practice makes perfect. Ruediger again has made a good level but a few bugs made me a bit quicker, in the pushable block puzzle i only set 3 blocks in the right place when the door opened and i could stand next to the flame but apart from that it was a very good level. Well Done Ruediger :D." - Cory (27-Jul-2006)
"The level is very dark, which I dislike very much and has a nasty bug that prevented me from finishing it. Fortunately I have the habit of saving before entering a room or performing an action so I was able to go back to a save and finish the game. It is very short, twenty five minutes tops with two secrets to find. There is a trap with rotating knives, fires which were well done. Also there are timed runs that were challenging, especially the one with the traps and blocks. Not my kind of level but do try it." - Kristina (10-Mar-2006)
"We are adventuring in Japan on this short level. We have to find the two pieces of the Taiji (Yin and Yang) in order to escape. We have to pass through many traps and enemies during the game. The enemies are some thugs, some snakes and two fiery wraiths. We don't even need to kill every of them, because sometimes it is better to simply run away. We have to complete two timed runs as well. The second one is a little bit more complex, there are such obstacles like swords, blades, raising and sinking blocks. While running away from the wraiths, we have to avoid chains and spikes. The story plays at noon, so the outside environment is a little bit darker, but the textures are beautiful also here, and the locations are interesting. There are two secrets on the level. You can find a Hungarian walkthrough (as we don't have English version), savegames and pictures here: http://treditor.hu/16/btb2006_20_nintai.htm" - Obig (01-Mar-2006)
"One of the shorter levels of BtB06 at 25 minutes and also one that doesn't look all that special but what it has going for it are a few really original ideas. Like the rather curious starting room, a push object mirror puzzle that takes a bit of thinking (or a lot of wild guessing and pushing), a fun timed run with raising blocks and traps involved and some floating platforms and burners. Was surprised though to see it end so soon when I had just warmed up to it." - MichaelP (19-Feb-2006)
"This I found quite an enjoyable level, which in the main could be played in daylight. If you liked unusual timed runs then this could be a level for you, they are not impossibly difficult but need skill and thought as they have been put together with imagination. Also quite a few varied style puzzles, each with their own twists. Enemies are few and far between, can only remember one snake and a couple of baddies. Pickups also not that frequent, but you did not need them to keep you going as you ran around. Lighting already stated was OK, but the odd wall was walked through when I am positive it was meant to be solid, All in all a good atmosphere was set with the camera work at times needing tweeking." - Whistle (17-Feb-2006)
"A short level easy to play. I only find a puzzle difficult to solve: the mirror puzzle pice; and talking about this, if you move the pieces over a mistaken tiles and after you move then over the correct tiles, the door will not open (?). Simply geometry, easy secrets, few flares for a lot of dark areas, few cameras but sufficient, correct sounds and textures,... A not very good level, but well playable." - Jose (10-Feb-2006)
"So far the shortest BtB level I've played, taking about 35-40 minutes or so(could probably be played in less than that too). This was a fair level, but to be honest not exactly my cup of tea. There was a timed run up and down hallways with raising blocks and blade traps that I really enjoyed and the mirror room puzzle was also great fun to do, but otherwise it did not prove to have the challenges(or the length for that matter) that I was looking for. The enemies were ninjas and snakes + two wraiths that I luckily got rid of by shooting at them(this would have been a nasty part to get through otherwise). I wasn't very impressed with the overall use of sound in this level either unfortunately and I never felt that the atmosphere and textures gave me anything. Most of the rooms seemed to be a bit box-like, with a black end-of-the-world horizon. The scenery otherwise was ok, but nothing that left me in awe and the lighting could have been used a lot better. The idea of the level, with the aspects of perseverance, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness and patience that make up the principle of Nintai, was very original and well thought out and I really liked that part of it. I found two out of two secrets and would say that this level is well suited for beginners and more advanced players alike." - Selene (09-Feb-2006)
"This is a great fun level with some excellent puzzles, a bit of shooting and a good measure of traps to negotiate. It even has some timed runs but, as I was able to do them without tearing my hair out and destroying my keyboard at the same time, I have no complaints about them at all. This is, very much, my sort of level - right down to naming one of the pickups 'Funny Red Thing'. Now why didn't I think of that? After playing 19 of these levels so far, I am happy to say that I am still not tired of this texture set and objects - the sheer diversity of each level is a joy to behold and this one was as much a pleasure to play as the first one. Sadly, after only 37 minutes in game, I reached the end of it. Smashing level though. :-)" - Staticon (07-Feb-2006)
"I like the explanation of the word Nintai in the readme - perseverance, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness and patience; a sense of endurance in the pursuit of a desired end. It kind of sums up, in one word, the essence of Tomb Raider. I like it very much. In hindsight, this was a fairly mild test of Lara's 'nintai', and a short at that. At the start she is searching in night-time gardens for a way into the temple. A gate mysteriously opens when we step on a trigger, found only by running around. I did like the hiding place of the gem, and the little timed run. Inside the temple we see white screens that open as we approach, and set us off on quests to find the yin yang halves and ruby stone. One route has an object pushing exercise in a mirror room. Another took a while to figure out, but it quickly dawned on me that it was a timed run that involved rising blocks to levels above, through blades, and down a trapdoor at the top. A unique run if ever I saw one. Although it was quite easily negotiated I was very impressed with the deep room with platforms of fire and dragon tiles. It looked great. And the attack as you slide into this room. They pushed me off the platform the first time I entered it. There is a way to get back up to the entrance safely and shoot the thugs from there. It all ends too quickly with Lara sliding down a long dark ramp into who knows where. A lot happens in this short level, and the only place I had to stand and think for a while was in the mirror room. The other, almost funny situation, was looking out of a crawlspace at a thug walking up and down, who can be easily shot from the crawlspace. One of the shorter levels in this competition. But a nice level to play none the less." - CC (01-Feb-2006)
"It's always a good start when I find myself running round the first area without the faintest idea what to do next. Just run around a bit, you'll find it. There's an excellent piece pushing puzzle, one hell of an interesting timed run and good atmosphere. At approximately 30 minutes of gameplay, this is certainly one of the shorter levels in the series, but there's plenty packed into that time and it's well worth playing." - Jay (31-Jan-2006)
"Another nice level in Btb2 series with good music selection and well positioned enemies. There is a nice garden with trees at the start and then you enter a building where you have to do different tasks. The level has just enough of everything to keep you satisfied till the end. What I liked the most in this level was how the battles with monks were done. Time: 25/01. Difficulty: average. Lighting: darker. Gameplay type: straight forward/quicky. Tech skills: basic+." - Bojrkraider (30-Jan-2006)
"Patience the readme said, it was either that or running around on every tile or even both but that gate opened after about 3 minutes. This level reminded me in some parts of another level. Apart from the pushing puzzle that totally eluded me this is not hard to do. Even the timed runs were pretty easy. There is in the beginning some back and fro to do and I even found a walkthrough fence, but as there is another way to get into the garden I just think that the builder didn't even know about it. Nice action sound in the end though, but the action Lara had to take were over before the music ended. Not many enemies anyway in this one. It was over before I knew it. 06-01-2006" - Gerty (28-Jan-2006)
"Rather dark at the start. Lovely waterfalls. Interesting timed runs. And humour (RFT): v.good. More colourful as we progress. Attractive, authentically Oriental decor. Enigmatic is good (cube puzzle), but clues to this & one or 2 other puzzles not sufficiently clear. My 'solution' was to note that each cube was on a unique row & column, to then discover that of the 7 tiles in the mirror that were different from the actual room's tiles, there was only one black and one green. Placing the 2 appropriate cubes on these (in fact, one cube stayed in situ, a nice touch), I could then place the other 2 cubes, so that [1] both ended up on the correct colour, [2] both were on tiles where mirror version and actual room version differed (consistent with the first 2 cubes' placement) and [3] all 4 cubes were still on a unique column & row - a different configuration from the original placement where this was also the case. Unfortunately, this was NOT the solution! (Which is why I felt free to share it!) To have a sound, rigorous, logical solution that is incorrect is not good. (If we save after the door opens here, but fail to go through the door, we find an invisible barrier has appeared over the door space when we reload. This means we must reload an earlier save, before the door is opened.) After disappointments, a lovely, challenging finish. My 'thorough exploring' time was 1hr 4min & my 'fast as possible, pick up everything' time was 10 min. With patience, despite some tricky traps in places, we can go through the game & suffer no health loss." - rjb (27-Jan-2006)
"Mood and setting-wise this actually is quite an enchanting offering, though you don't get to enjoy it for a very long time, due to its length. The duration has never been an issue for me as long as the level was inventive and well-paced, and this one mostly is - the timed runs aren't too tough, but thrilling enough to keep you running like it's a matter of life and death, and other puzzles like the floating platforms were simple, yet fun. If I have any complaints in gameplay - then I think that the mirror in the pawn puzzle room was more misleading than helpful, but then again - that might have been the intention of the builder. From the looks the outside areas resemble somewhat to Tomb Raider 4's "Mastabas" level, and the inside areas to the original tr2 oriental levels, but on the whole generates an original feel of its own quite well, what is so important in a competition with a joint theme, that risks having all the levels look the same. This level succeeds to stand out well comparing to the levels I've played so far (not implying though that the others were all the same). I'm not sure what I think of the abrupt slide in the dark ending, but, hey - better to end it while you're still good at it, than drag it out for some more sloppy minutes!" - eTux (27-Jan-2006)
"This level is not very long but it is welcome. Not looking very promising at the beginning, it offers some good action and puzzles later on, once entered in the temple : an innovative variation of a mirror/pushable pawns puzzle , a great run to a timed trapdoor with raising blocks and a few traps on the way, a battle with baddies on a high platform with bonfires to avoid. I like the atmosphere of this level which was different from the others in the Back to Basics 2006. The author has not spent time on the lighting and on the general looks of the level more than necessary, but they are quite acceptable nevertheless for an unpretentious , fast-moving and entertaining level." - eRIC (26-Jan-2006)
"So simple and so short! But not bad. I disliked the mirror room because I thought the mirror was there only to make things a bit confusing. But I liked the timed run to the yin-yang piece, the room before that and the ""funny red thing"" object, lol! The beggining can be puzzling but I think what opens the first door is to quickly step by all three plants there. Is that it? An easy escape but a nice escapade." - Jorge22 (25-Jan-2006)
"Another very short level in this competition at only 25 minutes. This starts off quite obscurely with a gate opened only when you have presumably stood on certain trigger tiles, or one trigger tile, but the hints to the solution are not in any markings but in the placement of plants. This though wasn't the only time seemingly obscureness was used, later on you come across a movable object puzzle in a mirror room and from my perspective there seemed to be no help in looking at the mirror in fact it only confused me more and a little help from the forums finally got me through. Saying these things though doesn't mean I didn't like this level as it was quite good, for it's duration, as there is also a cool timed run involving raising blocks and blade traps that was nicely designed, and the dark lighting gave it a brooding atmosphere. Enemies don't play a great part in this and only once you get really close to the end do you start having to defend yourself, and I have to say they are well placed at this point, this I really can't say for the 2 secrets as the first is just obvious and the second is in a place that you will have to investigate as a door opens and, well, when a door opens all by itself you just have to see what it holds. So there are definite pluses here but there are also definite minuses." - Sash (18-Jan-2006)
"A great japanese style level where u have to provew your NIntai ability to escape the gardens. Lara starts in a beautiful garden, first few artifacts are pretty easy to find, but the Yin & Yang artifact do create some trouble. I was totally stuck up at the mirror room & dragon pedestal puzzle. A good level if u like Japanese levels with puzzles. It consists of some timed runs too. Atlast kill all guards & escape the tomb by sliding down the slope through the opening Anurag" - Anurag (17-Jan-2006)
"This somewhat has the appearance of a rushed job;particularly in the outside areas,which never properly convince. For the most part,you run around from area to area nary pausing for breath (there's a particularly good multiple timed-block sequence)but then it somewhat comes to a halt with a moveable object puzzle of such seeming complexity that my brain was in danger of overheating.Even with help from the Author I needed several attempts to master it,but it does provide an interesting change of pace and is rather ingeniously worked out. Otherwise,it's all brisk stuff;but at 23 Net minutes,probably too short and hasty to be a contender." - Orbit Dream (16-Jan-2006)
"Well, it was short, but intense. After a really easy start where doors tend to mysteriously open by themselves once you randomly have stepped on a given tile, things get a little harsher and you're in for a very fun, fine and quick series of sequences involving traps, timed-sequences and a few strategically placed enemies. The one hidden after the crawlspace has all my sympathy, by the way, seeing that the poor guy must have waited there for ages, with absolutely nowhere to go and nothing to do. May he rest in peace. This fine gameplay is served with a very clever push-dice/mirror room puzzle that had me ponder things for a while before finding the solution. I was sort of shocked by the first secret which simply shouldn't be one. Way too easy to find. Another down point is the unnecessary amount of distant cameras. Aesthetically speaking, it's fine, while not stunning, and I don't remember any texture glitch. Clean work. The lighting is good too, although there are too many dark places to my taste. A quick level, fun to play, which I completed in a bit more than half an hour which is really really short, considering my usual slowness." - Sutekh (15-Jan-2006)
"Lovely level, the start was a bit puzzling, never found out what really opened the gate, but patience was the word in the story, so... not complaining. Quite a few nice traps and a good timed sequence involving running up blocks in a passage while dodging the traps, had a good time here, got all secrets." - Dutchy (14-Jan-2006)
"This level was sound in all respects except playing time. I clocked in at just under half an hour, but Dutchy's walkthrough kept me moving along. Since my own opinion is that a stand-alone level should consume at least 45 minutes, my scores are one point less in each category than they would otherwise have been. That being said, I have no complaints about the level. The gameplay is challenging but fair, the scenery is pleasing to the eye, and when I finished I had the feeling that I had been suitably entertained. This one won't win any prizes, but it's a worthy entry in the BtB competition." - Phil (11-Jan-2006)
"This level seems like a synch at first, but as you move further into the level things begin to toughen up. Lara begins in a relatively simple garden outside the temples. The gardens are nice and all seems quiet. She will have to find a gem to move to the next garden area, and then she will need an artefact to enter the temple rooms. Now she will have quite a job on her hands to retrieve the Ying and Yang items. There's a main pool area, and two doors leading to each item pick up. One route will take Lara to an object puzzle room, which had me stumped for quite some time. To retrieve the other half of the item, it's a bit more horrific; with timed runs to raising blocks and traps such as wall and circular blades within corridors. After another gruelling journey through crashing walls and Ninja attacks, Lara can leave via a nasty fire platform jump, which also has a bit of a puzzle to it by way of removing some protecting spikes which guard the exit the crawl space. The first thing you will notice with this level is that it's quite dark, I had to use many flares to see and this seemed to be the case throughout the level. The rooms are nicely done with levers, hang levers and pressure pads to open doors. I was amazed however that this took me under half hour to complete, I am sure many reloads through those traps took some time off because this seemed a much longer adventure. A nice fun level, with some good traps, well decorated rooms, and never a dull moment. I found two secrets." - Moonpooka (09-Jan-2006)
"A moderately fun level. There were a few good puzzles and gameplay moments (such as the timed run around those traps let down only by some corresponding bad ones (like the block puzzle with little logic). The texturing was fine but was really nothing special. It's also very short. Overall, not too bad a level to play but don't expect heaps of fun." - Skyld (09-Jan-2006)
"This was a nice level, but really short. The way this author has designed this level reminds me a lot of my own levels (not sure if that's something to be glad or to frown on lol), but it's simplicity works. With the exception of one mysteriously placed (seems as though as it was random) trigger in the very first room and some sort of obscure mirror puzzle, it's pretty straightforward with a number of levers to push and a few pickups (did I read that right, was one of the objects named "Funny Red Thing"?? LOL). The level could have used some additional atmosphere work, as though as the textures were nicely applied the lighting wasn't up to what could have been. 25 minutes, 2 secrets. 01/06" - Treeble (08-Jan-2006)