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Level: Dark City back home search
Author(s): Lucky2
total rating:1.35 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
bERT 1 1 1 2
CC 1 2 1 1
Dimpfelmoser 0 1 1 1
DJ Full 1 1 0 2
eTux 0 0 0 1
Gerty 1 2 1 1
Josep 2 5 4 4
Kristina 1 1 2 2
Magnus 0 0 0 0
MichaelP 1 2 1 1
Orbit Dream 1 1 0 1
RaiderGirl 2 3 2 2
Sakusha 2 2 0 2
Sash 1 2 1 2
Scottie 1 0 1 0
Torry 2 3 3 3
Treeble 2 2 1 1
category averages
(17 reviews)		 1.12 1.65 1.12 1.53

Reviewer's comments

"I'm not quite sure what I expected when I booted it up. It came back as a 'featured level' on the main site a while ago, so I downloaded it and completely forgot about the file's existence for over 6 months. After booting it up today, I got as far as picking up the N2O canister and couldn't get out of that room anymore, and only then considered taking another glance at what the reviewers said. I suppose it was a bit of a stretch to expect this to be an inspiration/adaptation of the Alex Proyas' 1998 film "Dark City", but even like it is the title is a misnomer. The level isn't dark in none of the ways it could be understood to be - it certainly is pretty bright, and if you don't count the random dead bodies in the cornucopia room, there's nothing particularly sinister about it either. Unless you take the labyrinth to be some sort of metaphor for a city or urban life, you don't see much of it in here too. And if the author really intended to make some underlying dada statement with the level, he wasn't very effective." - eTux (22-Apr-2012)

"I profoundly dislike mazes;they are simple to build but a cheap and unimaginative way to create gameplay.Nonetheless,in this particular level,I actually wanted the maze to be a little more complex;because,as it stands,it's really only a rather small labyrinth filled with baddies,and remains the single element within the level which could generously be described as 'challenging'.Once negotiated,you drive a bike through a wall;pick up an inordinate amount of quite superfluous weaponry;and then end in a small room with no exit (or finish trigger).Lighting is entirely absent;objects and secrets have also been omitted;textures,wallpaper'd and oddly chosen;while atmosphere is entirely missing. 10 minutes of general pointlessness." - Orbit Dream (13-Nov-2011)

"This "city" has no atmosphere at all. I'm worried about myself, as I unexpectedly liked all those dead bodies scattered around. Anyway, I decided to appreciate this (+1 for objects). I didn't like the fact I can neither find the second piece of the nitro puzzle nor descend back to the motorbike with the one already collected. So that's zero for puzzles. (And 1 for gameplay, as I could proceed through the maze to find the bike at its end at least). Both textures and lighting get 1 point, because I always give at least 1 point for them if they don't make the game difficult in stupid way, and I was able to play the game without orientation or sight problems. SUMMARY: No game even for people who like cities, as there is actually no city here." - DJ Full (12-Oct-2010)

"Ah, so the author fancies a dark town. Unfortunately I have not seen a lot from a town. The only one what I have seen, were walls, the always same textures (with two quite small exceptions), a labyrinth, a few living and a few dead SAS-Soldiers, a few bats and a motorcycle. By this motorcycle one could break through a wall. Then the small spin was over again . Then one finds a jerry can. And this was it. Yes really. There is absolutely nothing more to do. Well, there already was before hardly something to do. But now there is really nothing more what one could still make. Except bore with the finger in the nose after oil. Unfortunately findings are really rare here. But this is another theme. Who wants to be bored a few minutes, must play this" - Scottie (30-Apr-2009)

“How can the author call this level 'Dark City'? The lighting is always at R 128 G 128 B 128 (therefore it is quite bright) and it's a mini-labyrinth instead of a city. In one of the rooms there are SAS corpses everywhere (why are there so many?) the textures are pretty bland (but this level is a semi-labyrinth so I am not surprised) and the motorcycle is almost useless (its only purpose is to break the smashable bike wall but nothing else). If you deviate from the right path in the maze one of the dead SAS guards' spirit will release all his anger at you (ie a wraith will come and get you). The darts are harmless and you get to kill SAS guards and bats. If there is any objective in this level it is to get a Nitrous Oxide Canister which allows Lara to ride her motorcycle at a higher speed than usual. This level doesn't have a finishing trigger but I can tell you that after the showdown with the three SAS soldiers you can pick up the canister and you will find the 'end' of the level (hint: there isn't anything else to do).” – Sakusha (09-Aug-2004)

“I just wasted three minutes of my life (well four or five if you count the time it took me to download this level and install it). Ever heard the expression ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all’?” – Magnus (29-Jan-2004)

“You don't need matches to bring light into this level because it's set in broad daylight but there are a lot of men lying around who have been kicked the living daylights out of them. The gameplay basically is like this: turn corner shoot guard turn corner shoot guard find sidecar take ammo drag dead man around (but their bodies don't hide anything) and then get stuck finished. There was one noticeable thing though albeit another bug in the editor: when she pulls one of the bodies next to a wall she can go through walls and ZAP! After the pulling she snaps back out of the wall. Isn't she amazing our gal.” – bERT (07-Nov-2003)

“OK I can do this real quick. Non-descript environment shoot SAS and bats find bike crash through wall bunch of dead guys on the ground that Lara pulls into the walls find two revolvers climb into hole and shoot more SAS. Two questions why call this Dark City and why did I download it?” – CC (01-Jun-2003)

“I can't say this is a level more than a trial for a maze. There is a big maze here and it took me some time to find my way through SAS guards and bats to reach the motorcycle. After picking up the shotgun and revolver plus some ammo I climbed to a small room with the nitrous oxide canister on the floor but I couldn't get out as the crawl+action didn't work. So I guess this ‘level’ was just a trial for our nerves.” – Kristina (23-Dec-2002)

“From the Plaza you start out in you run into a monotonously textured maze where you have to shoot some SAS guards and a few bats until you finally reach the motorbike. A breakaway wall is nearby and shortly afterwards you come to an area with lots of dead soldiers (don't bother to drag them away) some pick ups and a block that let's you pull up to a room with three more guards and the power petrol. You then assume that you have to find the device to get the petrol into the tank and then look for a slope to make a spectacular jump with the bike. Well first I couldn't get out of that room again (but that might have been a simple designers mistake) but I searched the maze high and low and couldn't find the tube for the petrol nor a ramp that would catapult me out of this utterly boring and pointless level. See I tried to navigate the bike through the maze for fear of not finding it again but as there are so many dead ends you constantly have to inch the motorcyle backwards which is really irritating. When I couldn't take it anymore I had a look at the other reviews and it seems that there is no escape out of this nightmare.” – Dimpfelmoser (01-Dec-2002)

“Looks like maybe someone was just playing around with the editor possibly figuring out how to use it. I started out standing right outside a blandly textured maze that held 7 soldiers four bats a small fire a poison dart trap and a pit with an elemental inside. I found that if you don't jump over the pit the elemental doesn't wake up and there's nothing on the other side anyway. Having got to the bike I rode it five feet during a breakable wall then found a yard with lots of dead bodies weapons and ammo scattered around. I never found any health packs though. The room next to that has a block you can use to reach an area with two more soldiers but there's no reason to go there unless you just want to kill everyone - it's just an empty room. Then I was wondering if there was anything I missed so I made my way back to the beginning of the maze but apparently there's nothing else to see. Took me 11 minutes to do everything.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jul-2002)

“This is purely a maze with a few enemies to shoot and seemingly no end trigger. By the way it isn’t dark and I found no city!” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“Quite an annoying level where you run through a maze shooting SAS troopers (I counted six but surely missed some) and bats to find a bike run through a wall collect lots of unneeded pick-ups and then wonder why there is no finish trigger to save you.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“Stupid level where you negotiate a maze shooting SAS troopers and bats to find a bike run through a wall collect lots of unneeded pick-ups and then wonder around for hours looking for the finish trigger.” – Torry (21-Jun-2002)

“This ‘city’ is a huge maze confusing and boring. The textures were the same through all the way there were some enemies inside the maze itself and when you find your way out you can see lots of bodies of dead SAS troops with lots of useless pickups. And after all that you will stay wondering if you finished the level or not because there is no finish trigger.” - Treeble (21-Jun-2002)

“No too much to say about this level; a huge a monotonous maze with SAS bats flames. It’s a kind of test project but at least there is something to do: the maze.” - Josep (21-Jun-2002)

“First try from the author and mazes are easy to make or so they tell me. And no end trigger I really don’t like that.” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002)
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