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Labyrinth by Ben Best

alan 1 1 2 2
Dimpfelmoser 1 5 6 6
eTux 2 4 2 4
Gerty 3 7 6 7
Jay 6 6 6 6
Jose 0 5 4 8
Kristina 7 7 6 6
MichaelP 6 7 6 7
Necro 5 6 5 4
Nomad 6 5 5 6
RaiderGirl 7 8 6 7
Ryan 3 5 5 7
Sash 7 9 7 7
Scottie 7 7 8 6
Tombaholic 6 7 7 6
Treeble 6 5 6 5
Yoav 7 6 7 7
 
release date: 29-Sep-2001
# of downloads: 96

average rating: 5.51
review count: 17
 
review this level

file size: 16.62 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
benandkylie@hotmail.com

Reviewer's comments
"As soon as I went through that door, I wondered: "Is this really what the whole level is going to be about?" I mean, judging by the title I know I should've expected it, but I didn't think the whole level was actually going to be centered in enclosed corridors with some dogs and buttons. I didn't even bother to finish it, I just played it for around 5 minutes and then quit it. Mazes are already bad in a common level, now i'ts just worse when a full level is centered around one. Just no." - alan (03-Feb-2023)
"The title of this level is already a guaranteed turn-off for players, and so is the gameplay. This is by far one of the most complex mazes I've ever encountered and unfortunately also one of the most tedious. It's well constructed and pleasing to look at if you like this sort of gameplay, but even though I had the walkthrough nearby I gleaned no enjoyment whatsoever from this. The multi level corridors look very similar and there's some very extraneous backtracking to do (at least two or three that take five minutes each). The only excitement you'll get are from the admittedly neat six secrets scattered around and the occasional enemy attack. I was relieved this is over. But hey, if you're a fan of mazes, don't let me stop you." - Ryan (08-Dec-2018)
"This level was one of the most confusing levels I have ever played, not surprisingly. I don't like mazes in levels if they are pointless and put there just to make the level harder, but the level designer wrote a scenario and the level takes place in the legendary labryinth in the Crete island so it wasn't that much of a turn-off, as I didn't expect a level that wasn't confusing and the level serves its purpose. It may be I am easy to fool, though. The designer has constructed a complex labyrinth, but there isn't much diverse gameplay, a couple of cool traps and caverns you need to fill with water, and some switches that change the places you can enter. The gameplay looks non-linear but is very thankfully linear, when you pick up a crucial item or push a switch, a door opens and you can go on, this goes on until Lara had picked the 3 items she came for and the door outside opens. The short camera hints were very helpful, as I made a note of the surroundings of the places camera showed and searched for that kind of textures, else it would take me even much more hair pulling minutes to find the exit. I liked the enemies scattered around the labyrinth. Found 2 secrets. If you hate mazes, avoid this level like fire which you probably will due to its name but if you don't mind you might enjoy this level..still do not play it if you are in a bad mood!" - Nomad (19-Apr-2016)
"If you want to play a level for just a month with hundreds and hundreds of hours and a very very huge backtracking you've never seen in all your TR life, this is your level. Personally, I will never get fun by running around and around finding often dead ends even in crawlspaces and watery rooms to eventually find some rooms where I can do something. Even when following the detailed walkthrough, this was a level very very tedious and bored; it took me many many hours to finish. Only for masochistic players. Not recommended." - Jose (06-Feb-2016)
"I'm not going to surprise everyone with saying that I enjoy mazes and that's the reason I played this level. I do, in fact, dislike them as much as the next person and my main motivation for starting this up was having enjoyed the other 2 levels of the author, and not wanting to leave this one un-reviewed. I have to state that I don't merely dislike mazes by default - I'm quite certain an imaginative twist on them could result in some pretty exciting gameplay - for example, the glass maze in one of the "Tarragona" levels was a nice touch on a well worn theme, an ice maze in "The Forgotten City of Sanus 3" got progressively simpler as you went about completing a torch puzzle in it, till all that was left was the way out, even the author of this level had some creative approaches in his "City of Wonders", though admittedly went a bit overboard with them. Unfortunately most other mazes are just sad excuses for making the player spend more time in the level. I spent more time in this one (about 65 minutes) than in both other levels of the author combined and only for the slightest fraction of enjoyment. I can give it as much credit that it is a very elaborate setup, sometimes rather evidently with some thought put into its creation, but that merely makes it a boring maze that is a bit fancier than the rest you've seen. The overwhelming majority of the time is spent just running from one point to the other, a small fraction killing whatever wildlife has infested the labyrinth, and a yet smaller fraction doing genuinely exciting stuff like shimmying past deadly spike traps, or escaping from a claustrophobic alcove before a boulder either traps you for good, or squishes you on your attempted escape. The places where you get to see something more than stone tunnels look promising, but then kill your hope with more drab, endless tunnels. I suppose you can't say I entered the level unwarned, and I would've been mildly surprised if I had actually ended up enjoying the experience, but given the author's record of imaginative gameplay ideas, I can't help but wonder why he couldn't have done something more creative in here as well. If there is such a species of players as maze-lovers, you'll have the time of your life here. For the rest - give the author's other levels a chance and let this one be - it isn't even all that more exciting if you play it with the provided walkthrough. Found 5 of 6 secrets." - eTux (23-Apr-2012)
"Have I already mentioned, actually, that I hate mazes?? Yes?? I say it, however, once more! I HATE MAZES!!! And now such a level builder comes along and builds a level which is a whole labyrinth. I have tried it without a Walkthrough. And after 5 minutes I was hopelessly lost. So I have dug out the Walkhrough. And I don't believe it that I have made it!!
The mazes run of course about several floors. And of course there are also underwater mazes. Enemies are here scorpions, dogs, crocodiles and bats. The textures and the lighting conditions hardly change what is also logical, otherwise one could find the way without problems in this level (harrr harrr harrr, seldom so crazily laughed). Apart from this this level is built really good.
Result: If you want to play this level, then in any case only with the Walkthrough!!!
P.S.: Have I actually mentioned, that I hate mazes???" - Scottie (26-Apr-2011)
"I Hate Mazes!!! They totally dominate the gameplay leaving very little else to do in the level. To have a small maze as part of a larger level is fine. But to have an entire level in the form of a maze is suicidel. Phew, got that out of my system. All that aside, this level had a nice idea its just that there was no hint to help you in the right direction and you could easily get lost in this level for ever. I had to use the walkthrough to complete it and any level that requires the player to use the walkthrough to complete the game (as there is no other logical way to complete it) is seen as a failure (at least by me). As for the design, it was pretty poor but it set the scene. Basically 4 textures were used throughout for the main part with the author throwing in a room designed with different textures to give it a sense of charactor. I spent a good few hours trying to finish this even with the walkthrough. 20 Mins to complete - my arse!!! ;) If you are a hardcore mega hard level fanatic, try this one without the walkthougth. Some nice ideas here but it would have been better if it was a little more appealing to the eye and a few hints as to where to go would also have been nice (though I admit it takes the purpose of the maze away). A map might have been a good idea and you could have collected it from the dead professor. Hats off to the author for the length of time and planning in order to design this level but its a shame that it couldn't have been just that little bit better." - Necro (19-May-2008)
"I made two tries with this level. The first one without the walkthrough kindly provided by the author himself. As you can imagine it was a disaster. I spent about 30 or so minutes and I didn't find anything to do nothing to pick up not even the Doctor's remains! Then I decided to give up but then I saw the author had provided a walkthrough. So off I went again and this time I went until the end. Even though the walkthrough itself is pretty descriptive you will STILL get lost - you'll be retracing back your steps quite a few times and now I think about it Lara must be one of the only archaeologists that don't use chalk to avoid getting lost. Oh well. The level itself is rather flat just a few textures used the lighting is always the same (which is good; I don't even want to think about a maze like this with shadows and darkness around). With the walkthrough I needed 50 minutes to get through and I got the 6 secrets." - Treeble (20-Sep-2004)
"Indeed this is a maze level and I hate to tell you (Michael) lol I do not like maze levels. This is not as hard as I thought before. It's even a nice level. You need to pick up some objects kill dogs and scorpions and play one more level." - Yoav (08-May-2004)
"Ye gods when this bloke says labyrinth he is NOT kidding. Daedalus himself would have got lost in this one. In fact if you can get through this without referring to the walkthrough on several occasions you are obviously possessed of a lot more patience and/or far better sense of direction than most people and I applaud you. It's undoubtedly very cleverly constructed but speaking as a woman who can barely negotiate her own cellars without a map I have to say this three dimensional maze was a nightmare for me. However it may be just the challenge to keep you deliriously happy for hours (and hours and hours and hours). Go on be a masochist." - Jay (06-May-2004)
"Going through the list alphabetical just to see which level I still can play I thought why not. Get it done and over with. I am glad that I did as this was a pain in the neck. Ohhhh I HATE mazes and this one is the mother of them all. Hate to use the walkthrough but as I got major lost after playing it for more than 2 hours it was either chucking the level or using it. It is huge. Up and down dry and wet and also crawling. Took me another hour or so as I had to start from the beginning. Not for me but Ben must have had a lot of work put into be brave and try it out 19-12-2002" - Gerty (22-Dec-2002)
"Well I hate mazes and this just made me sure. After 80 minutes I had used the key two hands a portal guardian; I had collected five skulls a star a vraeus and I just couldn't take it anymore so I used the walkthrough to find my way out of this mess. Now I hadn't enjoyed this level very much but this even ruined the feeling of accomplishment. It is challenging your sense of orientation but nothing else. Dogs and scorpions are as predictable as they are harmless and apart from the boulder and a few spikes there is simply nothing to break the tedium. Most of the labyrinth looks the same so you really have no idea where you are or if you've been there before. Accidentally I had returned to the first part and it took me ages to notice. You get the traditional maze the underwater maze and the crawl maze. Actually the crawl maze is the worst. I really started to feel claustrophobic and in my growing panic I got completely lost. Best moment for me was when I finally got off my knees again. I rate the gameplay so low because it was really no fun whatsoever and it has been said before if the author can't think of anything original he just throws in maze. And here you get nothing apart from a few mazes connected by some more mazes. But hey if you're into mazes you will have the time of your life." - Dimpfelmoser (07-Nov-2002)
"The name says it all this is the mother of all labyrinths! Set on the Greek island of Crete Lara must go in search of 3 golden artifacts and 6 secret skulls strewn throughout the multi storied maze of unbelievably confusing corridors and rarely found rooms. For a player that hates mazes I actually found this quite interesting because of the mostly difficult to find placement of those objects but I recommend nobody play this level without having the walkthrough at hand or you will barely get past the first few corners without losing all sense of direction and there are thousands of corners. There are almost no traps besides a couple around the golden artifacts and enemies only animal are not very often seen but this is a good thing as you need all your wits about you not to get lost. This took me an hour in game to complete with 5 secrets found without any help from the walkthrough but I'd have to say another hour was spent on reconnaissance missions finding out which direction I should next take so if you have no patience no sense of direction and no time to waste then I wouldn't bother otherwise try it out but it still may be an acquired taste." - Sash (21-Jun-2002)
"Well what did I expect this is a maze and a huge one indeed - multi-layered above and under water with numerous dogs bats scorpions and a few crocodiles in your way and 6 skull secrets to find. It took me a little above an hour and I felt totally lost and disoriented many times. There is one boulder which is kind of tricky to beat but other than that it is mainly 'beat the tedium of the maze'." - Michael (21-Jun-2002)
"Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: I hate mazes. So the title of this level alone was enough to put me off playing it for quite a long time. Finally with walkthrough close at hand I took the plunge into the labyrinth. Well I must say this is the mother of all labyrinths and despite my prejudice toward mazes I found myself admiring this one. It is huge multi-leveled with hallways underwater channels crawl spaces and to really torture you switches that open gates flood areas and move blocks to expose new paths. Further adding to the atmosphere (if that's the proper word here) are an actual storyline including a professor Hardwicke who met his demise in the maze. Lara must retrieve a key from near his remains (too bad he didn't have a map too). Then the objective is to find three treasures within the labyrinth which is set in Crete site of the mythological labyrinth stalked by the Minotaur (sorry those 'Minotaur tiles' looked a lot like cats to me). To spice things up lots of dogs a couple of crocs and other critters annoy Lara along the way. Adding one of the bulls from the guardian WAD (to play the part of the Minotaur) would have been a nice touch. There are also a couple of traps to contend with as well as 6 secrets to find (which by the very nature of the level are hard to come by). Textures and lighting are fine but nothing too special here. While I came away enjoying this level more than I thought I would it still lacks a lot of the gameplay elements that we expect in TR (although it had a lot more than I expected). I have no idea how long it would have taken without the walkthrough - hours at least. It definitely merits a look if you need something to do on a rainy afternoon." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)
"There are two ways to go about playing this level. If you have a lot of patience and a lot of free time you can try it without the walkthrough which would probably take you many hours or even days. I've never been know for my patience so I chose the other way - printing out the walkthrough (three pages worth) and following it every step of the way. It's almost mind numbing how big and confusing this labyrinth is. If it's this hard to play I can't even imagine the amount of time and planning that must have gone into making this level. You might be saying 'just how hard can a maze be'? This is not your ordinary maze though - there are many areas you can go up or down in many underwater tunnels many crawlspaces often you get to a hallway and see 5 or 6 paths just off this one hallway and the same texture is used in all the tunnels so you will never be able to recognize where you have or have not been before. Two things that make this easier though are the fact that there are very few enemies along the way (although I constantly had this feeling that I was about to see one) and the fact that the whole thing was very well lit - I hate dark mazes and probably wouldn't have played this even with the walkthrough if it had been dark. Even though it should have been boring with the walkthrough I still enjoyed it with the puzzle areas sprinkled throughout that have you finding or placing various objects. I found six secrets and finished in 52 minutes." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)
"Don't expect to see anything else than one big endless maze. Of course the title predisposes the players. Besides the fact that you will get lost in every step of the way there is nothing else to keep you going. The same enemies dogs and crocodiles the same textures all over the maze. The spike room is interesting but the items you are going to collect as you proceed through the level are of no use. If at least you could use some of it or the many skulls which are the secrets I would say play it. Practically no sounds which gets you bored at the end. A lot of openings underwater tunnels leading the player in another endless search for an item that doesn't give you any satisfaction when collecting it simply just hold it in your inventory with the exception of the crowbar and the key but those are easy to miss. I found the back tracking very annoying and useless as it is just for giving you more trouble and not a real obstacle to enter a new unexplored place. So if you want just to challenge yourself play it the good part is that it has a walkthrough included which I didn't use but I wish I had now." - Kristina (21-Jun-2002)