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Level: TombRaider Tokyo 1 - Studio Ummo back home search
Author(s): Mirai
total rating:5.01 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
bERT 3 3 6 5
CC 4 3 6 6
Daffy 3 3 6 6
Dimpfelmoser 2 1 5 7
eTux 3 6 8 7
Gerty 3 3 6 7
Kristina 3 3 5 7
Lady Lara 3 3 7 7
Loupar 3 3 6 6
Magnus 4 4 7 7
manarch2 2 3 7 6
MichaelP 3 3 6 8
Orbit Dream 3 3 7 7
RaiderGirl 4 5 7 8
Sash 3 4 7 7
Sethian 3 3 4 1
The Aussie Adventurer 2 2 3 6
Torry 8 8 7 9
Treeble 4 5 6 7
TrueRaider 4 7 9 9
Yonatan 4 4 5 8
category averages
(21 reviews)		 3.38 3.76 6.19 6.71

Reviewer's comments

"A mansion level from the early days of trle. You can see the builder has made quite well-looking areas, but there was nothing for the player to do, pulling four levers, sliding a bit and crawling to the final lever. You didn't need any of the pickups provided here. But textures were quite modern for a level released in January 2001." - manarch2 (01-Jan-2011)

"A small very dark level and without big interest in terms of game. Difficult to appreciate decoration in the black but I noted some small things interesting, for example a window mirror rather realistic. The author with still progress to be made." - Daffy (11-Aug-2009)

"If you're going to play this level, you would not play it for the gameplay, but for the texturing and some of the cool little features added to the level. It's only a very small level that won't take long to complete if you race from the bigginning to end. However, if you take a look at the nice textures, some being over stretched, it's quite good. The most noticable thing, would be the disco area, where pulling a switch, you are greeted with groovy lights and music. All we need now is to have lara learn how to dance. Moving on, there are two floors to this level and a series of jumps over lava, which appear to be out of place. Take the time to look through all the rooms while you play to have this last a little longer." - The Aussie Adventurer (13-Aug-2008)

"It's hard to rate this one,as not a lot happens in a very short amount of time;but it was a decidedly zany few minutes anyhow,and worth experiencing if only to admire Lara's disco room,the funny toilets and the completely bonkers ending. Japanese...very japanese." - Orbit Dream (06-Feb-2008)

"I played this after playing Mirai's Grand Lodge, and it is amazing if one thinks about how much he grew from this one to the Grand Lodge as a builder. I'm curious though: if this is TRTokyo 1, and the Grand Lodge is TRTokyo 9, what happened to numbers 2-8? Anyway, I thought the gameplay was very weak in this level... running around some plain rooms, and then sliding a bit. No puzzles of any sort either... except for some jump switches. I did like the disco effect though. No special object placement either... the corpse also made no sense to me. That having been said, I know I need to remember that this level was made in the time before wads could be modified, and so obviously there was a limitation in the builder’s choices. If anything, the placement of the rats running around in the corridors was superb, and is a nice little effect almost never used. Other then that though there was nothing. The atmosphere was all right... it did give me a sense of early morning, if that says anything. The texturing was pretty bad I thought... I know it was an attempt to make toilets and showers, but it just did not give me this so called ‘representation of reality’ as the Readme file promises. The lighting was also way too dark, and I felt I needed flares constantly. The lighting and texturing was the weakest part of this level for me. But hey, I guess this home level of his is a better representation then Cain’s home." - Sethian (27-Dec-2007)

“Well I played this ages ago and can't believe I didn't review it. This level is short and simple but I really like the textures and atmosphere. I like realistic environments and Mirai certainly does them well (even when there are giant toilets in the house). This is a demo so it really teases you. Don't miss the sliding death near the end - it took me several tries to finish this part of the level.” – Lady Lara (01-Jan-2004)

“In the readme the author states he tried to create where he lives and I guess he did a good job of it. It’s not a usual level and has no puzzles but it does worth to take a look at. Two jump switches and a lever is all you get and I found two secrets. I am confused about this because Mirai said there was one but in the main area I heard the secret sound and then again after dropping inside the trapdoor; there was uzi ammo on a ledge. Anyway there are bathrooms a big TV set and bedrooms. There was also a picture of someone but I can’t be sure if it was real or just sketched. If you want a good level play the author’s second but if you are interesting to see his work play both.” – Kristina (03-Sep-2003)

“How did Lara get that bike up on the balcony of that apartment block? Don't know how high up we are but it seems quite high. Nice cosy little place with kitchen/sitting room bedrooms a shower room with some guy giving you the two fingers and two giant toilets that would suit Sumo wrestlers Lara could have a bath in them. Run past a window that gives a very good reflection of Lara (secret) and another window that shows yet another bike outside. You can ride the first bike round the apartment but go to that mirror and have a laugh Lara crouched but no bike reflection!! Pretty cool music/room although the floor would give me a headache very quickly. And a run out to kill some bats on the balcony. Pull a lever and a hole has opened up in the floor of the kitchen. Down you go and slide in a VERY dark cave and you trigger an earthquake. Try and land on the column to the right before you hit the lava. From this column you can climb up very high and backflip to a column with a secret - ammo. Back down to that ledge again and do an action jump to the entrance. I fell into the lava just at the door and I was able to swim and get up quickly. Making your way again in the dark passing rats and pull a switch that sends you to a watery end. Short and sweet like an ass’s gallop.” – CC (08-Aug-2003)

“Not sure that I want to stay the night in Mirai's house: you enter the kitchen and you see a rat running away there's a dead guy lying around and the toilet seat's so big you definitely are going down the drain when paying a visit. Seriously Mirai put a lot of detail in this small 'editor-try-out' level. I can understand it was a challenge because indeed creating reality is much more difficult than fiction as I remember editing my previous house with the Doom-editor. Mirai succeeds in creating a house-atmosphere though be it much too dark for my taste. It helps to see one of the details though the tiny glow of a volcano (or is it the setting sun) you see from Mirai's balcony. And who's the guy making a sign (V-sign) when you visit the bathroom: is it Mirai? Anyway forget the dead guy in the other room: you can freak out in the disco room and have the night of your life because way down awaits a very hot finale to this level. All in all nice try-out real home level.” – bERT (12-May-2003)

“See how far one can push the LE envelope at least that’s what I got from the read me. There is not much to do apart from opening doors and seeing inside the house. And some jumping at the end. Lara is wearing a nice red top and there is even the bike you can drive through the house. Yuck at the rats scurrying through the house and on the balcony there are some bats. I myself wondered at that picture next to the shower. 13-12-2002” – Gerty (15-Dec-2002)

“Not really a game but a simple visit to the author's home. The only dramatic fact is the earthquake and the lava pit. The sound record room is another curiosity of this house.” – Loupar (08-Dec-2002)

“This is a Mansion Level Japanese style. Thankfully they don't have mansions in Japan but rather small flats instead so there are only a few doors to open. You have to do a couple of jumps from slopes shoot a few bats push a lever and swim towards the finishing trigger. The crawl the motorbike the swarm of locust and the soldier you drag away from the shotgun ammo all seem pretty pointless to me but I liked the mirror effect. The highpoint of this level is the Karaoke system (complete with disco dancing) and the rats who scuttle past on a few occasions which makes it almost worth the download.” – Dimpfelmoser (01-Dec-2002)

“Though nowhere as magnificent as Mirai's set of levels 'Grand Lodge/Dark Lair' this is still an interesting beginning to what is someday supposed to be a connected series of levels. It takes place in an actual house in Tokyo (a fairly spacious one in fact) and features custom textures that include a disco room new curtains tatami mats and new pictures among other things. The first half of the twenty minutes level is spent exploring the house where you will find a few pickups and one secret then for the second half you drop down through a trapdoor into a hellish area with tricky jumps and deadly water. This takes ten minutes and ends soon after you pull a switch and fill the hallway with water. I found another secret in the second half which was some uzi ammo but I must have missed the actual uzis. I hope to see Mirai continue with this series.” – RaiderGirl (18-Sep-2002)

“A short level you will finish pretty fast but it took me about 10 minutes since I spent a lot of time giggling about those toilet seats. Not that they were bad in fact a really nice solution if you don't have the right objects at the right time. The textures were nice but at the lava slide part all were stretched sadly. Nothing more I can say that others already haven't but the level is worth a look.” – eTux (25-Jul-2002)

“This level set inside a home in Tokyo is mainly to show what can visually be produced by the Editor and some of those visual things were great such as the small music studio that with the flip of a switch turned into a nightclub and Lara’s mirrored reflection in the glass doors while you can still see outside. There is a little action though in the last couple of minutes with a pitch black multiple slide jump puzzle that was pretty tricky and had me reloading quite a few times but that was really the extent of any real action besides some bats earlier on. Sadly for such a large download nearly 9mb this level only lasted a little more than 10 minutes.” - Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“All has been said by the other reviewers. If you know what to do you can finish the level in 2 minutes but due to the bid download you should at least look into the rooms to see the ‘real-life’ textures the nightclub-flip effect and the mirror effect which actually is also the one secret (shotgun). Other than that and the custom Lara outfit there are a few bats to battle and a slide/jump sequence towards the end.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“This was a good level with all new textures and sights we had not seen before. However the level was relatively short and not too demanding but as it is the first in a full game of 13 levels (I am led to believe) I await the balance eagerly.” - Torry (21-Jun-2002)

“Not much to do in this studio. It's a nice house setting with some strange things though. The TRLE possibilities by that time weren't the same as now and the author used tile blocks to create the furniture. A nice new outfit to Lara and a nice window with mirror effects. Now what about the strange ending and the areas below the house? 5 minutes and you're done. (June-04/2002)” – Treeble (21-Jun-2002)

“Not bad some interesting effects including fabulous coloured lighting and sound effects. The toilet had me laughing for ages I'm not sure why! Little action a motorbike that you can't ride anywhere it's just a house to explore really. At only 10 or so minutes long I wouldn't bother.” – TrueRaider (21-Jun-2002)

“There was not much to do in this level; therefore it took me a short time to finish it. Although there were nice textures and a nice flip-map with the dance floor but I found nothing else of interest. The hardest part in the level was to download it!” - Yonatan (21-Jun-2002)

“’The main purpose behind this first level was to provide a demo model for the TR Level Editor showing what it could do in creative terms.’ - Quote from the author. It shows that this wasn’t meant to be a ‘real’ level since there isn’t any gameplay in it (if you don’t count the slide and jumps over the lava near the end). That said some of the effects are actually quite impressive. Especially if you look at the date this level was released. As I said there’s not much to do in this level. You can take the motorcycle for a ride in the building (I wonder why it doesn’t show up in the mirror) or just take a look in the house. Make sure you look in the bathrooms so that you won’t miss the gigantic toilets. Or you could just finish the level which won’t take you more than a couple of minutes.” – Magnus (21-Jun-2002)
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