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Level: Quarter of the Dead back home search
Author(s): Indiko
total rating:3.50 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
eTux 1 1 2 3
Gerty 3 4 3 4
Jay 2 3 3 4
Jose 3 4 4 3
Kristina 3 4 4 4
MichaelP 3 5 3 5
Moonpooka 5 6 5 4
Orbit Dream 0 1 4 5
Shady Croft 4 4 4 4
Whistle 3 3 5 5
category averages
(10 reviews)		 2.70 3.50 3.70 4.10

Reviewer's comments

"Well, I must be weird then judging by ratings because I enjoyed this City level. The starting area is quite atmospheric, and as you pick up some flash grenades right at the start of the level why not use one? Doing so will blind the seven guards that are firing at you from below and you can then pass over the long shimmy gap without taking a single hit. Later on we collect the bike and then nitrous oxide cylinder, but you really don’t need the latter to pass over the low sloped roof. Then came the long crawl space. I liked the fact that one route was trapped; it was rather amusing to crawl such a long way only to end up being trapped. You finally make it inside the building, and have a shoot-out with some guards in the store room. You can use some tactical moves here and pick them off with the revolver and laser sight; this way is far more fun that simple shoot-em up tactics. Ok, the run through the fire emitters wasn’t a great idea and I doubt anyone likes that sort of thing. After that, we have a couple of mysteries regarding invisible walls. One leads to a pick-up on a deadly tile, and behind that there is an invisible wall leading to the pool room; but it’s impossible (and also not necessary) to go back there. Another invisible wall leads back to the quest items room, but again, no need to return there. The final invisible wall is your escape route once you have collected all the parts of the armour. You then head back to the starting area and use another bike to exit the level. I certainly didn’t need to use DOZY at any point and everything worked finer for me. There are a few wafer thin walls, and an extra pack of flares wouldn’t have gone amiss. I guess if this had been any longer than 30 mins or so I would have got a tad bored, but short and fun is my opinions of this level." - Moonpooka (04-Jul-2009)

"This level is not good in my opinion. It has too many SAS, traps/tasks that require you to set Lara on fire in order to proceed and of course run to find the water. It’s not how a level should be and there is no fun it. I also had to use DOZY in one area where there are two burning tiles and the ceiling is too low to jump through the walkthrough wall. I forgot to mention the walkthrough walls that are everywhere and there is no hint of course to help you identify them. Be careful not to drop into the pool at the beginning because then you’ll reach the end earlier and you’ll miss the entire level. It’s not big anyway, just twenty minutes long. I am sorry but this level isn’t recommended." - Kristina (19-Mar-2007)

"Though I don't know (and will be quite content to never find out) how fun syphilis might be, I think everyone can agree with Orbit Dream on that it probably surpasses this level in that aspect. There's making your levels challenging and then there's making target practice out of Lara, send her on tedious long crawls, and when you've achieved whatever picking up the 5 armour pieces achieves make sure that she has to backtrack all the way back almost to the start and assume that that makes it challenging. Because it does not, and I don't think I remember having fun anywhere after the first few failed attempts to get past the first shimmy wall. I'd understand if the tasks required you to use certain strategies or tricks to master the obstacles, but unfortunately they're just there to frustrate the heck out of you, and if the above mentioned wasn't bad enough - I couldn't use the final bike to escape the level, because (I assume) it's headlight made the game crash due to the evident flare bug. Fortunately the level can be finished without it too with a few jumps to overcome the upward slopes. I wish I could say something positive about the level and recommend you to play, but I cannot. Better luck next time for the builder, but for the player - unless you have nerves of steel, try something else." - eTux (04-Mar-2007)

"TR4 city levels are definetly my least favourite in all Tomb Raider games, and this level has the same atmosphere that a TR4 city level provides. Dark,gloomy and not fun to play. You start the level by jumping on the ledges of buildings and dodging the bullets of SAS guards while shimmying along a VERY long ledge until you get to a crawlspace that takes you deeper into one of the buildings...not a very eye-catching begining or even great and certainly didnt make me feel intrigued to carry on playing it. The rest of the level was just crawling through LONG crawlspaces and entering rooms full of SAS guards and lots of medipacks provided in a very silly way,instead of placing the guards smartly and providing afew ENOUGH medipacks that make the level more challenging. Also,I recommend that the author puts less crawlspaces next time and more interesting places and fun puzzles to make an interesting and great gameplay." - Shady Croft (15-Dec-2006)

"When I picked up 9 big medipacks at the very beginning I though this couldn't be a good level, but quickly you have to use them during a very long shimmy pressing often the "0" key. Using the motorbike only to going up one ramp and at the end? You'll have to advance through a very long crawlspace only for a couple of small medipacks and then go back again in a tedious task. Where are the flares for so many dark areas? The long sprint through the infernal corridor with fires using medipacks when run is not very good. Once you get the five armour pieces it's not a clear way to continue. Resuming, a shooter where you pass all the game hurting and healing Lara." - José (03-Aug-2006)

"The title is a dead give away and also that it is a city level. What else can it be than a shooter and this is the ultimate. Even with all the medipacks I picked up I barely made it through the shimmy right at the beginning. Then the nightmare for me began, jumping way up, not my cup of tea. In the mean time gathering the 5 pieces of the Armor and Revolver, Sight and Crossbow. Must have missed a walkthrough-wall, as I never got the Grenade Launcher. Oh well, not going back for that. The bike rides (yes plural) were very short and the crawls boring to say the least. But you get a warning in one of the crawlspaces as the red coloured one is a trap." - Gerty (16-Jul-2006)

"Rather a gruesome title and the level lives up to it’s name. I hate being shot at when I can’t return fire, and the opening looooong hand swing was just to use up a pile of medipacks you have just picked up. Little finesse in getting rid of the far too numerous SAS guys. These along with far to long crawls and pointless moves, like the tiddly bike ride, all together made this level difficult to enjoy. I did keep expecting something challenging to happen round the corner somewhere. Nothing about the graphics etc stood out except bad ones, like thin walls and being able to ride the bike up a crawl space?? The feeling in general of this level is of an author beginning to write. A bit more imagination with the scenes would have helped." - Whistle (16-Jul-2006)

"Picking up multiple medis in the first couple of seconds of a level really doesn’t imbue one with confidence. I soon realised I was in for a shooter and so, okay, not my favourite genre but sometimes they can be quite cathartic if they’re well done. Unfortunately, this is just utterly charmless and I really did not like it at all. It’s a dark, grim city setting (and it strongly reminded me of another level, but I can’t think which), the carnage is absolute and when you do get a brief respite from all the killing, it tends to involve endless crawling through ducts. I just found it depressing and I really need to go and play something bright and pretty now – Agnes, anyone? Unless you’re a real hardcore shooter fan, I’d avoid this one." - Jay (04-Jul-2006)

"A level for the masochists among us indeed. You wonder why it starts with about 10 Big Medipack pickups, but you find out soon enough as you shimmy along a wall for an endless amount of time while being under fire from guards from below. It is possible to survive but needs some luck. And it all goes downhill from there. Short bike ride, endless crawlspace, run through fire, hoping for water behind, pick up armour pieces, find the walkthrough walls and then (and only then) go back, jump deep down into the pool and leave the level with the bike. Oops, guess I just wrote a walkthrough. Well, it is a commendable first level which was absolutely not to my taste. Maybe next time get rid of the tedious and unfair bits in the gameplay and then I am sure people will enjoy it more." - MichaelP (28-Jun-2006)

"This is the sort of custom level that was being made back in December 2000. It would have been poor then;it's unplayable now.The severely mysoginist Gameplay has Lara treated as nothing more than female cannon fodder (or,in one particularly viscious moment,a human torch),while the level progression depends initially upon a sadistically long high-altitude shimmy while under constant attack from a platoon of soldiers.Death inevitably comes from either too many bullets or a fatal plunge. A quick DOZY later,and we arrive at a Motorbike parked implausibly on a roof swarming with soldiers,which is used for a 3 second ride to another part of the empty roof swarming with more soldiers.After this comes a crawlspace of absurdly leangthy proportions,leading only to a dead end. In the opposite direction you come to a room with a door (and even greater swarms of soldiers)which is apparantly opened simply by running around a bit.Shortly after the fire gauntlet and more clusters of soldiers you arrive at a room containing breastplates,a wafer-thin wall and no other exit.Picking up the final piece you observe that your exit has now been blocked by a raging fire and that there is no other way out. You either sit in front of your PC for ever,or commit Lara to the flames in a suicide pact. This is all less fun than syphilis." - Orbit Dream (27-Jun-2006)
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