trle.net ::: Level Reviews

Level:	Aspidetr Easter Time 2011 - Peaceful Valley
Author(s):	Raidermatty

total rating:	8.89	Gameplay & Puzzles	Enemies, Objects & Secrets	Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras	Lighting & Textures
	afzalmiah	9	10	10	10
	Bene	9	10	10	10
	Christian	7	8	9	8
	Diz	9	8	9	9
	dmdibl	8	9	10	9
	Jack&	8	8	10	10
	Jay	9	9	9	9
	Jose	7	9	9	8
	manarch2	7	10	9	9
	MichaelP	6	9	9	8
	Phil	9	9	9	9
	Scottie	9	9	10	9
	Shandroid	9	10	10	9
	TheStig	8	9	8	9
	category averages (14 reviews)	8.14	9.07	9.36	9.00

Reviewer's comments

"Well this one certainly qualifies as fairly epic. While there's a fair amount to do in this level is the size of the main area that may leave some players disorientated (it certainly did for stigs!). The author does provide a map (which I didn’t notice until later), so I'd recommend you have a sneaky peak at that before you embark on your adventure. Set in a green valley full of flowers and buildings it instantly creates the perfect Easter ambience. There's nothing nasty to nibble you either which makes the level suitable for children. Texturing is well applied and lighting is good too (nice to see a variation of lighting in the out-door spaces). Music is perfectly matched too adding to the relaxing atmosphere. I'd say the most successful spaces are in the interiors of the houses (I loved the little mini-gym). During your journey you'll meet a few colourful characters too who send you on quests to obtain items for them. Given the vast size of the main space of the level you will probably find yourself running around lost for a while. I struggled considerably with the sewer section. The author made 2 strange design decisions which made it needlessly difficult to exit that area of the level. All in all I netted 2 hours 50 minutes from the Hunt for Easter Eggs. It's a solid level, which played over a couple of Easter evenings should give you plenty of fun. Stiggy." - TheStig (14-Apr-2012)

"Granted - this level has a great storyline. It is set in a nice looking valley with several buildings, a pool, a pond and a little river and it is peaceful indeed and nice to look at (despite a few framerate issues). It has 7 secrets, some of which are quite cleverly hidden. It has a few nice push puzzles and I love this door animation where the door does not simple merge with the wall. But what lets this adventure down is its obscurity in gameplay. Many times only the builders brain, the collective try and error of the community or the walkthrough could really know what to do next and where to go next. Shooting those 5 crows, harmlessly sitting in the trees? Jumping into the fire place and shooting one woodpile to grab a torch? And why that unnecessarily tricky curved jump to get out of the sewers? No wonder probably almost everybody will be so frustrated at the end that she or he will actually shoot the Easter bunny that was just freed - thereby defeating the whole purpose of the level somewhat ;) An ambitious 90+ minutes adventure (with walkthrough), but a bit too much searching high and low and not very coherent in its gameplay." - MichaelP (12-Sep-2011)

"It notices a big effort in this huge valley. Beautiful environment, very colourful and full of flowers and another nice objects. Even the inside rooms are very well ornated. No so good the gameplay for me, 'cause I din't like exploration so much and I prefer to solve puzzles and not running around and around like a dizzy duck hours and hours; so after wasted a lot of time, I decided to play it with walkthrough in hand (brrrr!).That way is more entertaining, you read where you have to go and then explore a smaller area by yourself and try to solve the puzzles. The worst for me was to look for all that nasty crows (who damned knew they're shootable?). The story is good, and the cutscenes are appropriate about it. Not the kind of levels I like, but a good level anyway." - José (15-Jul-2011)

"This level was so fun! I just loved the atmosphere and objects used to make this level so adorable. This level could have just been a pretty package but there is quite a lot to do and some very sneaky switches to find. I wish the audio was in English, but I won't be too harsh, as the builder is Italian. I was a bit taken aback by the X-rated witch (were those nipples?!!). This IS an Easter level! Parents be aware that there is a character with a very low cut top on toward the end. I am a prudish American, but still. Gorgeous level with great gameplay plus two boobies equals awesome scores!! Great job Raidermatty!" - Shandroid (19-May-2011)

"I loved this amazing easter level so so much! This huge valley was very complicated and huge! Lara's home is right in the middle with castles, huts, houses and pools around the valley. When you start the level it feels like you are completely lost and it feels like you will never know where to go but the walkthrough and the map helps a whole lot. I loved exploring lara's house and doing challenges around the valley. A part I didn't really enjoy was the sewers but first I wasn't too bad and second I hate all sewer levels! The textures were mostly from the Easter 05 level and the objects were mostly from the eastermansion and some others. There is a lot of challenges and puzzles to do here and you do need to go to some places more than once but all in all it was a very fun adventure with a lot of great parts and places." - afzalmiah (11-May-2011)

"Another delightful, relaxing level from a builder who has proven most reliable in delivering fresh and challenging raiding experiences. However, grading "gameplay without a walkthrough" would have resulted in a considerably lower score than "grading with a walkthrough," as I would not even consider attempting to navigate this horribly confusing mélange of tasks without a verbal blueprint close at hand. But even so, since DJ Full avoids giving compass directions for some reason in his walkthroughs, and since the map provided by the builder is not oriented to the north, I found myself squinting my eyes and craning my neck on many occasions trying to get my bearings. And who would have thought of looking for five crows inconspicuously perched on random branches thoughout the neighborhood? Anyway, there are no enemies here, which makes things slightly less stressful, but you do need weapons to shoot the aforementioned crows and a grate in a swimming pool. And there are no tricky jumps other than one I can recall in trying to get from an awkwardly placed crate to a ladder. Lots of variety in the two and a half hours I spent here, the surroundingings are consistently easy on the eyes and there's plenty of light so you can see everything. That buxom dominatrix near the end seemed a bit out of place, but just about everything else admirably reflected the Easter season. Recommended." - Phil (09-May-2011)

"The biggest problem of the level is its gameplay. Nothing else is bad in any kind, no, the texturing was quite good, the level had a good Easter atmopshere with yet again great sound. The different characters in this level were lovely, the dialogues good and they made this game more fun. But I found the seemingly endless running up and down the valley enerving, as well as the new candle levers that were not obvious, the too long and too often coming block pushings, too many levers to find and so on. Few more puzzles would've been better, but the ones you get here were good as the "multi-level" areas with raising blocks. The idea of "phoning" Dionisos was very funny, some secrets were quite a task to find. It all was a solid level, but after running out of and into the mansion the n-th time I wanted it to end. Luckily, the end was another funny moment too." - manarch2 (06-May-2011)

"When I first came into the valley I thought ‘Wow! This is enormous!’(I didn’t think ‘Wow’ but as this is a family website I’ll stick to ‘Wow’) It wasn’t ‘till near the end of the level that I had any inkling as to where I was. Lots and lots to do, keys to find, button to press, re-textured jump switches to identify (dead sneaky some of them) and doors to open. Seven secrets to find – got them all (smug expression). The whole area is light and bright, cheerful and a perfect Easter setting. The only downside, and this is not the builders fault, is that I don’t speak Italian so the speeches by the Dragon, purple beast and lady spilling out of her dress were wasted on me. No timed runs or agility tests but good fun all the same. Play it and put a smile on your face." - Diz (01-May-2011)

"An overview of a charming town accompanied with good music begins this sometimes dizzying adventure to free the Easter Bunny from an evil witch. Graphics, objects, atmosphere are perfect with an audience with Dionisus, the Dragon(really nicely accomplished) to open a door to help complete the mission. I played this over a three (maybe four day) period only because I couldn't seem to realize that the best place for two blue eggs are in Easter baskets and not on top of pedestals and there seems to have been a bug in the egg pedestal/pool room giving me only one of two necessary objects. The fifth shootable Raven had me going in more circles (hence the dizziness and delay in progress) The author's map helped with orientation but no Raven locations(wink)and the cutscene discussions written out in English were also a major help. I loved hearing Italian spoken(reminded me of times long gone) and am glad Raidermatty left that in and never converted it to English - the written translations were enough.
The attention to detail is what sometimes brings a level to 'life' and here we have the baaing of sheep, the animation of swimming ducks and a glorious sky with a flying bird or two.....perfect. The only thing missing was a camera to show that the last crystal rose was now accessible (probably not an oversight, merely a 'joke' on the player) and an explanation for a MS that went nowhere....again, an oversight, something forgotten along the way to finishing the build or another joke? Or something I just didn't get, another secret?
The author stated that without enemies, it's a good level for children but I'm not so sure a child could perform the long run jump/grab to the ladder to get out of the sewers. But I am sure any of the little ones in my family would have spotted where to place the blue eggs long before I did.
Loved the naming of the stream 'The Fairies' Stream',the light switch solution and the beauty of the town set above the valley....now if only I had found a way up there. Really well done and much appreciated for the Season.
Another gem of an Easter tale - fun, interesting and innovative." - Bene (01-May-2011)

"A peaceful environment is waiting for the player, also adequate for children - as the readme correctly promises. Lara finds herself in a large (german) valley with a lot of buildings. It’s annoying that she has to run around in this huge area for quite a long time to find a starting point. Gameplay is confusing and unclear . There is, as known from this author from previous works, a lot of running to and fro – what may be very frustrating in a confusing area. Why these small rooms full with boxes and barrels? Lara is nearly unable to move between them in several sections. The builder does a lot to destroy fluent gameplay in a lot of cases without any need. There are too much possibilities to get lost. An author has to be able to leave his perspective and to keep the players perspective in mind. Gameplay is in this case a translator between the logic of the builder and the player. This translation didn’t succeed here. Worth to be played at all!" - Christian (28-Apr-2011)

"Very nice Easter level ... house inside and the surrounding area are beautifully built ... albeit a bit confusing game from time to time ... some light candles are levers??!! ... Shootable paintings which you can pass at first glance ... hard to find and take torches ... but nice puzzles and very good camera work and great visuals, You need to collect keys and different eggs ... shooting things with the revolver ... finding and combining a flower from 2 parts ... finding a place to use it, well hidden also ... all in all a nice Easter game which you will enjoy." - Jack& (27-Apr-2011)

"Peaceful? Certainly. Restful? Not so much. This is an area that takes a lot of exploring. Luckily, it’s a gorgeous environment so getting turned around or downright lost isn’t as frustrating as it might have been and the map so thoughtfully provided by the builder certainly does help. It did seem to take me ages to get going, but it’s often the way with raiding – finding the first switch or key can be elusive, especially in areas of lush vegetation. There are plenty of attractive Easter objects dotted around the various buildings and the outside area is lovely, with rolling green lawns, duck pond, stream and bright flowers everywhere. Lara gets to meet some weird and wonderful characters too, but at least nobody is trying to kill her. There are some inventive puzzles and the secrets are nicely hidden (as is the torch!). If you find yourself completely stuck try keeping your eyes peeled for possible jump switches or levers hidden in clumps of flowers. You may be occasionally bewildered, but I’m pretty sure you won’t be bored." - Jay (27-Apr-2011)

"There is no denying that this is a lovely setting for a peaceful Easter level, and that it gives players what they are looking for in such levels, which is mostly a treasure hunt with new object combinations, and ingenious tasks to perform. I enjoyed the swimming ducks, and the Easter Rabbit. When things go well it seems that a lot is happening at once. I hit a snag and spent hours wandering around with nothing to do, but that was partly my fault for not shooting everything in sight, and partly a problem inherent in all such levels. The sound was off, so that one can hear the witch Gertrude or the dragon or the blue wolf thing, but not hear Lara. Of course, I don't speak Italian, so dialog sound is irrelevant, but thought I would mention this. I did wonder that Lara had to go around and shoot a bunch of birds in trees. The birds are minding their own business. And it seems odd, even for an Easter level, that the bullets don't hurt the birds. I did a lot of searching for what happens when Lara shoots a gem in a lion's mouth, but according to the forum this is just a gag and does nothing. Initially, Lara has to acquire her pistols, and after that there is a hunt for two blue Easter eggs. I liked that these two egg hunts are independent of each other, so that if players get stuck on one route they can go acquire the second egg. But after this there isn't any freedom of action, in that all tasks have to be done in a sequential order. It might have been nice if more quests were independent, something Lara could do at any time. A very attractive level, recommended as fitting for the season, although players may need a slight hint or nudge in the right direction at one or another places." - dmdibl (27-Apr-2011)

"As soon as we were allowed to play The Square by Raidermatty, already there is the next level by him. And immediately at the beginning sheeps walk around in the area and ducks swim in the pond. There are the small things of life which cheer the heart of a player. The house is furnished very nicely, indeed, two important Jumpswitches are camouflaged too good. The sewer system looked good and the time run was not a big problem. Indeed, it was quite difficult to get out of the sewer system. Lara did not want grab the ladder. Therefore one had to jump with a banana jump from one of the boxes to the ladder. Now this must not really be, since also skilled players will have here her difficulties. I have noticed that the linguistic files were too quiet. I could hardly understand something if Lara had talked to another person. Moreover, the conversation was led unfortunately only in Italian. It would have been nice if Raidermatty English linguistic files had added. The riddles and the Gameplay were partly really difficult. Often I did not know what I should make or where I had to go there. But this is already almost typical for a level which was built by Raidermatty. There the gyri of the brain will highly stressed till the last corner. On the other hand, this gives more fun, as if one can switch as a player on autopilot, because then it becomes dull. The whole area was not so big at all. But because of the many difficult riddles and because it was not always right away obvious what Raidermatty now actually wanted from me, I have needed nearly 4 hours. But this was not wasted time, because it has made terribly a lot of fun." - Scottie (26-Apr-2011)