Level: Back to the Beginning Author(s): Android18 total rating: 3.14 Gameplay & Puzzles Enemies, Objects & Secrets Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras Lighting & Textures Akcy 1 2 2 2 Ceamonks890 3 3 3 2 Dimpfelmoser 2 2 4 3 eRIC 2 4 3 2 Fairy Godfather 4 5 5 5 G.Croft 4 3 3 4 Gerty 3 3 3 3 Jay 3 3 2 3 Jose 1 2 3 2 Kristina 3 3 3 3 Leeth 3 4 4 3 Lil Kid 5 3 4 2 MichaelP 3 3 3 2 Momster 4 4 4 4 Necro 6 6 7 4 Obig 2 3 3 4 Orbit Dream 1 2 0 1 RaiderGirl 4 4 5 5 Ryan 2 3 3 3 Sash 3 2 3 3 The Aussie Adventurer 3 2 3 2 Tombaholic 3 3 3 4 Torry 3 3 6 4 Treeble 3 4 3 2 Xela 3 4 4 3 Zhyttya 3 3 4 2 category averages (26 reviews) 2.96 3.19 3.46 2.96 Reviewer's comments "This is a debut effort, and I'm afraid it does portray quite a few hallmarks of a beginner. The surroundings are incredibly bland, the textures are crudely and sloppily applied and the gameplay doesn't have much to offer short of the usual item hunting, plus immense backtracking over exceedingly long distances (which hardly amounts to exciting raiding in my book). Not really recommended." - Ryan (28-Jul-2018) "Again another level with many huge and empty rooms with nothing to do except pull some levers, pick up some goodies and shoot some ninjas. But this level is worse than others, 'cause you often let closed doors at your back, run long distances through the same places to pull levers to open that doors (without camera hints, of course) and then take the long way back to that doors to find more levers and open more doors in far places you've already visited. As usual in this levels, very elongated textures, wafer thin walls and another defects from beginners. Not funny and not worth to play for me." - Jose (05-Jan-2018) "Very much a debut (and only) level. Minimal gameplay other than running backwards and forwards through huge empty rooms, shooting ninjas and picking up goodies. Throw in a bit of monkey swinging and that's pretty much all that's going on." - Jay (29-Sep-2016) "Well this was a really basic level with a lot of back tracking.. You have to pass a slow part of the level 6 times.. And and there isn't much to do... At least is a really straight forward level, never got stuck and was just doing stuff and end it.. But god the areas are HUGE.. and empty.. The most fun part was exploding 4 ninjas at the same time that's for sure. Oh, and the "spike" puzzle its a "trial and error" one.. and that's just annoying.. no way to know the right path.. Not recommend, even if not as bad as i think it would be" - Leeth (02-Sep-2015) "This level would have been far more enjoyable if the textures haven't been completely outstretched and if the rooms were smaller. The fact that the rooms were so big made the level more tedious than it should be. The game play and atmosphere were the best things on this level. As it doesn't seem to bother me as a player and managed to keep me entertained, specially when we can kill all of the ninjas at once with the grenade launcher. The puzzle where you need to figure out which squares don't kill you was challenging BUT it has no logic, as you need to figure out randomly the correct path. In conclusion: it was fun but the rooms are too big, therefore too much walking back and fourth to solve the puzzles." - Zhyttya (02-Sep-2015) "Another day, another relatively standard Egyptian debut level(which of course, includes a lot of the same beginner mistakes that you'd pretty much expect, including large boxy empty environments, repetitive/stretched texturing and tediously boring gameplay among other things.) So overall, simply another release that you can just outright skip." - Ceamonks890 (23-Dec-2014) "I was originally hopeful for this level, as it started with the promise of multiple rooms, an hence multiple paths to take. Unfortunately my hopeful nature rapidly degraded into boredom, as the level I wanted turned into a long, monotonous series of backtracks. On top of that, rooms are bland, large, and contain little to no exciting elements. The texturing is especially bad, having stretched textures in every room. I will admit that the architecture varies a little between rooms, but nothing really worth stopping to look at. Honestly if it weren't for the enemies I'd probably would have fallen asleep - though why you'd use anything besides the grenade launcher is beyond me. Not really worth playing in the end. I still wish that the author had made a second attempt though, as there was some potential here. With some additional focus on texturing and layout, this could have been a fun ride." - Xela (07-Aug-2013) "This is a classic example of a level built by someone who clearly did not have the patience to read the Manual much beyond page two. The texturing is dreadful;the rooms are massively over-sized and yawningly empty;the gameplay involves huge amounts of backtracking over tediously vast distances;and all the doors have been placed the wrong way round. Nonetheless,enemy placement isn't too bad (although the huge amount of armoury provided makes them easy to deal with);and the use of shadow bulbs almost disguises some of the worst of the texturing crimes. Clearly,it was all too much for the builder;who has not attempted another level in the almost ten years since this was released." - Orbit Dream (28-Apr-2010) "The Tutorial Wad is already limited , and this level does not offer a great use of it, as we don’t even have here spiked balls or rope swings. Some rather big rooms with not a lot to do , except for the spikes trapped room where not all tiles which are supposed to be deadly are trapped, the high room where you have at least some climbing and then make a big dive in the pool below, and the room with a bit of monkeyswing and a pole to climb. Aside from that , there is some backtracking. Ah , there is a room with 4 funny ninjas guarding a few vases, it can be fun to blow all that , and mummies too with the grenade gun. The décor suffers greatly from all the stretched textured, and some thin walls and floors as well. [23 minutes]" - eRIC (15-Aug-2009) "I did enjoy this level particully the gameplay, although this was a little easy. It uses the basic tut1 wad and there are quite a few defects. Firstly, many of the textures are stretched, a pickup cant be picked up because it's raised up off the floor, and some tiles are untextured. Some enemies and flames appear out of thin air in front of you too but appeart from that, I liked the scenery - I like egypian levels :) and it kept me occupied for three quarters of an hour. Not a bad effort for an old level / first attempt. Looking forward to playing the sequel." - Necro (20-Nov-2007) "Huge empty rooms, virtually nothing to do in them. Tedious runnings back and fro, pulling levers. Only streched textures on the walls. The single positive element was a big swan dive. The author shows he has learnt how to connect rooms, and put together a techincally working level, but surely it's not enough to be enjoyable in any ways." - Akcy (09-Nov-2007) "I don't mean to sound harsh but this level, I found myself not enjoying it too much. First of all, the level doesn't look good because the textures are stretched out of proportion. There is a lot of back and fro from one end of the level to the next which makes it quite dull. Objects and enemies are placed merely at random places and appear that not much thought went into their placement. Although I couldn't do much better if I created the level, it's still doesn't make it fun to play. If I had to give this level a grade I would give it a D-, a fail mark." - The Aussie Adventurer (03-Mar-2005) “Now I don't often say this but we have a bad level here. Everything is stretched and badly placed and there is nothing to do apart from killing a few enemies ninjas scorpions and picking up a hand to finish the level. Choose another level to play.” – Kristina (04-Jul-2003) “This is a very simple level: all you have to do is pulling levers which open doors. The skeletons are harmless but they even can be blown up.” – Obig (07-Feb-2003) “First there are far too many large rooms with very few objects contained inside them. Mummies are all over the level sometimes in large packs. You can also tell that this has ‘debut’ slapped all over it because of those thin walls that mysteriously hold up the ceiling. On a positive note I thought this was a very good first try and the level is a good play if you don’t want a headache after finishing it.” – Lil Kid (21-Nov-2002) “Standard tutorial level but with HUGE empty rooms and not whole heck of a lot to do except run through them. Some armed ninjas scorpions and a few harmless mummies wandering around who posed no threat I left them to wander. An extremely laborious amount of to and fro-ing in this level with not much to do except find 2 eye pieces push a few levers and practice your monkey swinging. An enormous amount of pickups in the level which are unnecessary. Actually the ending looked better than the whole level as Lara battles 4 (I think) ninjas and picks up the Hand of Sirius to exit the level hopefully to continue on to bigger and better things” – Momster (23-Aug-2002) “If you like running back and forth through a bland looking level searching for a couple of levers to pull and not a whole lot more then this is exactly for you if you actually want some challenge in a level as well as an interesting environment to play in then this definitely isn’t for you. I guess I land in the latter category because I found this 30 minute level not very engrossing and I really hope that the author’s next level will grow in all the aspects this one lacks.” – Sash (21-Jun-2002) “Clearly a first attempt with all the standard errors: thin walls stretched and missing textures doors placed the wrong way round huge empty rooms reaching the ‘end of the world’ etc. It took me about 25 minutes to get through but only because I used dozy to cover some of the looong ways to and fro. You meet a few ninjas mummies and scorpions but as said by the others the only real fun is the one swan dive.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002) “If you like large rooms with little to do and a lot of running hither and thither then this is the level for you. Otherwise it was pretty uninspiring with wafer thin walls objects placed so that they were irretrievable and quite frankly a boring vista in which to move.” – Torry (21-Jun-2002) “I am not sure what about to say in this level. Lara goes back to Egypt to find an artifact back because it should sound like a return to TR1. The whole level is made of huge areas almost always empty with stretched textures. After crossing an underwater door I got to an area that was pure trial and error. I never know when the spikes were coming up to kill me. Suddenly in that area the level finished -- without getting the artifact that was the purpose of the level.” – Treeble (21-Jun-2002) “This is a first level for the author and I wish I could find some positive things to say about it. Unfortunately it's full of stretched textures thin walls and missing textures all set in overly large and empty rooms. Enemies appear out of thin air and gameplay is nothing more than collecting 1 key artifact and pushing levers to open a few doors. You do however get to collect no fewer than three telescopic sights which sadly are of no use to Lara at all. The one bright spot: the author kindly provides a very long swan dive at one point. Playing time is about 30 minutes.” – Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002) “Huge empty halls and a lot of running back and forth to pull levers to open various doors. Some enemies a couple of mummies and a few scorpions.” – G.Croft (21-Jun-2002) “Had a rough day and looking for an easy half hour of Tomb Raiding? Been sitting at your desk all day and feel like doing a little running? This is the level for you! This is a huge level with large rooms and all you have to do is run to one area pull a switch run to another area pull a switch and so on. There are very few enemies mostly ninjas and I found plenty of weapons and ammo to take care of them. I still find it amazing that Lara can find a revolver that's been lying underwater and have it work perfectly. Some of the rooms are quite nice yet some of them are just square boxes that have been textured badly and some rooms seem to have been built only to house a few pickups. I found an interesting spot towards the end - a section of the floor in a large tiled room was undulating like water and indeed it was water but looked like normal floor. I'm assuming the artifact in question was a hand because that's what I found right before the end.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002) “This is not a level I will play again. As a first from the author it had thin walls and missing textures. Huge empty rooms lever pulling enemies coming out off thin air and an overkill on laser sights. Only fun in this game was indeed the swan dive.” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002) “A very simple level with a number of huge rooms with very little to do except pull a lever which opens a door. Pools of water with very little in them useful only for Lara to get down quickly from a high lever pull. Finally picking up a Hand of Sirius and ending the level but by pure coincidence took me into Emerald Lakes where I used it almost immediately to get a secret.” – Fairy Godfather (21-Jun-2002) “Michael Michael tsk tsk tsk; a shining example you are bragging about using dozy to reach the end in no time. But then again it is very tempting especially since the author practically urges you to do so in the readme. I reckon he realised that it wasn't such a clever idea to place the levers to the doors at the other end of the area when the rooms you have to pass through three four times are all a bit dull. So I used the flycheat when I had to do that rather long monkey swing for the third time. Still I needed over 30 minutes to complete this and thinking back I can't really remember what took me so long. I guess it's just the sheer vastness of the whole setting. I liked the swan dive and the + shaped room near the end but otherwise this seems more like a carcass of a level. The most basic ingredients are there but the whole game is virtually begging to be filled out with some puzzles traps tricky jumps secrets enemies objects and decoration. Actually I felt a bit a like an interior designer during this one as I was ambling around in those big halls thinking to myself: Here we could place a 9 feet tall statue of Poseidon and a colourful mural depicting Venus and her maids would look nice over there.” – Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)