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Level: Escape from Manosque back home search
Author(s): Chris C
total rating:7.33 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Boris 8 7 8 9
CC 7 6 9 9
Daffy 8 7 8 9
eRIC 9 6 9 8
eTux 5 6 7 6
Gerty 7 6 8 7
Kitkat 7 7 7 7
Kristina 7 7 7 7
MichaelP 6 6 9 9
Orbit Dream 7 7 8 8
RaiderGirl 8 6 9 7
Sash 7 6 8 8
Tombaholic 8 7 8 9
Torry 7 8 7 7
Treeble 6 6 7 6
category averages
(15 reviews)		 7.13 6.53 7.93 7.73

Reviewer's comments

"Adventure takes place at night in a French city which I know, for the ressemblence it is not really this, but it is not very serious. Decors of the city is made well and the inhabitants are mainly boars. The gameplay is original and gives a nice promenade without too much difficulty. A good level to be played but it is necessary to like night shadow." - Daffy (28-Jul-2009)

"An oldie but comparative Goldie,here.The use of custom textures bestows this ancient level with a somewhat contemporary feel,while the gently non-linear Gameplay is always interesting and entertaining while never being confusing. Puzzles are straightforward but fun,enemies are sparse and atmosphere is nocturnal (while never being excessively dark) and effective. Not a classic by any means,but several adorable moments (the coin dropping,the windows magically repairing themselves) caused me to leave this adventure with a smile upon my face;and that's recommendation enough,I feel." - Orbit Dream (31-Jul-2007)

"I was looking for a level that wasn’t set in a dark tomb and I stumbled across this one. Lara goes on holiday to a small town in France. Great! And arrives at nightfall just as an earthquake starts! Sounds about right... I hadn’t seen the TR3 Gold textures in a while and they made a really pleasant change, when I figured out what textures they were that is. This level is really dark, and there aren’t many flares. Still, the town is put together nicely and when you can see the textures you can tell that they are applied well. There is a lot to keep you occupied while you search the town for the keys to the jeep so you can escape. Enemies are mainly warthogs and wraiths. This level isn’t linear – there is a lot of backtracking. It is also fun a fun raid!" - Kitkat (29-Jul-2007)

"Though the looks are inspired from the TR 3 Gold's 'It's a Madhouse!' level, as opposed to the opinions of other reviewers I didn't find this to be anything close to a remake of the original. I mean that TR3 Gold level is one of my favourites from Tomb Raider at all and I would've noticed. Anyway enough about that - it actually looks rather nice on the whole, but why the author decided to hide it in nearly inpenetrable darkness is behond me. Maybe I missed the torch or flares, but I certainly didn't have sufficient of any of those to see my way here. It does help the gloomy atmosphere a bit, but remains the main flaw of this level visually - so better don't play this on a sunny day. But the level falls short in other places it could've been good too. Apart from it being a tad too short, it overall doesn't feel thought through too well. For example you can reach many 'end of the world' areas - use some of them, like the roofs to get to areas you're not supposed to reach yet, or even end the level prematurely. The latter can be done if you use the first gate key you find on the door that opens the street pathway, you would normally use to escape the level after finding the jeep. Also some shimmy sequences can be easily avoided with simple jumps, but that actually might be a good thing. With all this I'm not really saying that this level is bad, as despite the darkness I actually enjoyed it quite a lot for the 20 minutes it took me to get through, yet I felt that the author hadn't considered how many of his ideas would or wouldn't work out, and some things felt underdeveloped. A nice short level to play, thought not maybe for those afraid (or annoyed) from the dark." - eTux (21-Aug-2005)

“Actually this is a fun level but it's just beyond the tolerable darkness. There are only a few animals around to shoot but you will be firing your guns in a constant rate because - there are no flares to pick up and you run out of flares at the third minute of play. I would have replaced at least one of those medipacks by flares; that would have made the lives of several people easier. The textures were perfectly placed making this town very nice but you will barely notice it because of the shadows. I found it funny when the pharos pillar turned into a pharos knot but I guess the author is not to be blamed (it occurred in one of the sample levels as well if I am not mistaken). 30 minutes and a brilliant end riding the jeep.” – Treeble (20-Sep-2004)

“On a mac when I started the game Lara had streaks coming out of her head that filled the whole screen. Whatever bug this is it is easy to fix. Save the game and open that savegame and everything is ok. This tip credited to the Macraider site. If you leave the game and load from the savegame the streaks appear again so just choose that same savegame again in game and it will be fine. So now we can see a lovely village very like Madhouse in appearance. Innocent as this looks it can become a pain running around climbing swimming in other words searching all the time for a coin a pillar a star and keys. So there's a lot of backtracking and going round the block several times. I passed one switch at least 10 times before I saw it so the moral of the story is look high and low in each room and area before moving on. A ridiculous situation occurs when you've shot two windows later on you trigger an earthquake and the windows return in tact. A nice reasonably easy diversion.” – CC (18-Nov-2003)

“This level crashed on my computer a couple of times don't ask me why and all of a sudden I could play it strange. This is what I would call a dark level. And I was running around quite a bit just lost my way. But I got there. Finding levers avoiding traps easier said than done though. Get a knot a token and a star and some keys and later the jeep to end the level. There aren't that many enemies and that suited me fine. Also nice to know that an earthquake can repair windows LOL. I know I have seen this level before and looking at the other reviews I am not the only one just can't put my finger on it 19-08-2003” – Gerty (28-Aug-2003)

“Well although this level is a remake of one of the originals in TR3 the name escapes me at the moment; it differs in puzzles and atmosphere. It is very dark and there are no flares to be found apart from the ones you start with it’s also short. Lara wanders in a city but not the one we are used to this one has a zoo unfortunately with no animals and a star a knot a token and keys to find. You can see the ‘end of the world’ bug from the house roofs. Some spikes and boulders for traps and smash able windows. That’s about it so take a look but bring a lot of flares with you.” – Kristina (05-Aug-2003)

“A very dark level that had you looking around carefully. This must be a remake of another level as I had a feeling of deja vu as I pranced around the alleyways that I had seen all this before. However the differences were sufficient to make it a worthwhile re-visit. The search for the coin was interesting. I mean you could see it in the mouth of that beast head on the wall but getting the beast to drop it was another matter. The wraiths were annoying (as they generally are) and getting the star from the wall above the fire tile was gruesome. I never did figure out how to put out the fire so opted to take a HUGE health hit to get the star.” – Torry (05-Oct-2002)

“For such a short play time just over 30 minutes this was a very full and fun level taking place in a deserted apart from some warthogs and spirits town at night. The aim is to locate a few key pick ups a star token and Pharaoh’s knot as well as 3 sets of keys one for a jeep which after a short drive and jump ends the level. The atmosphere was wonderfully moody in the small town with the nice use of lighting but because of that lighting I recommend playing it in a darkened room as it can be a little hard to see too well in a brighter room. The gameplay was pretty straightforward if you think things through and investigate a bit as you may have to go back to some places again later on but I must admit I was a little stumped at extinguishing a fire early on that allowed getting to the star and have to admit I still fully don’t know how I did it but otherwise you shouldn’t have any troubles. One funny thing though there are some shootable windows and after a couple of earthquakes some of them magically repaired themselves....go figure!” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“This is a visually very impressive level with excellent new custom textures and good if a little dark lighting which helps create the really nice atmosphere of a deserted Mediterranean city. There are only a few warthogs and wraiths around and your main target is to explore. I actually found the key to the exit gate rather quickly but it took me a while to find the coin that opens the door to the jeep with which you then make a fast escape. Gameplay is definitely not linear here and I got very confused because with a few of the trickier jumps you can easily get to some of the areas earlier than planned (via the roofs) and hit the ‘end of the world’ and some illegal slopes and like the other reviewers I had to smile at the self-repairing windows. ” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“A good level with new textures and an excellent use of light effects. Lara has to escape from a town at night with a jeep but first has to find some objects keys artifacts a token and activate levers among earthquakes traps and some simple enigma. There are little enemies but a lot of traps and not having to disposition the flares is more difficult move to the dark. I have ended the level in 1 hour finding a bug after the last earthquake some broken first showcases result whole nothing of serious even if is a contradiction!” - Boris (21-Jun-2002)

“There's plenty to do in this short (40 minutes) level. The gameplay and puzzles are solid if not too demanding and the Mediterranean village setting is a nice change of pace. The level is well textured and the lighting effects are well above average for custom levels. Well worth a try if you feel like playing a good level but don't want to invest hours of time.” – Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002)

“After just finishing this level it's easy to look back on it and say it's fairly simple but while playing it I found myself running around a few times wondering where to go and what to do next. My main problem was that the level was too dark for my tastes and even sitting in a darkened room I couldn't see without having a flare lit constantly. The switches can also be well hidden - I found one on a rooftop near the shotgun - and often I had no idea what the switch actually did. Thankfully there are few enemies just a few wild boars running about that you can ignore if you want but the spike traps elementals and burning tiles had me reloading more than a few times. I must say the boulder over the switch was well done though. The file with the download said that Lara is taking a vacation in the South of France and decides to stay in the town of Manosque because there is supposed to be a very large hotel there. I never saw a hotel but I loved the little Village with its Egyptian accents. Overall a level of exploration with few enemies.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)

“I have enjoyed this level a lot with good little puzzles. Lara has to explore a little village and escape with the jeep. She is annoyed only by wraiths and wild pigs and so she can concentrate on solving the puzzles. There is a good torch puzzle breakable windows and earthquakes which change the physiognomy of the village adding some solutions to Lara's mission. My only complaint is for the darkness but the atmosphere is not sinister at all and the texturing is good.” – eRIC (21-Jun-2002)
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