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Level: Office of Pain back home search
Author(s): Alex Davis
total rating:4.53 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Akcy 2 2 3 5
Andi Croft 5 6 6 7
Catherin 5 6 5 6
Dimpfelmoser 2 1 4 5
eTux 2 2 2 3
Gerty 3 3 6 7
Jez 5 6 7 6
Kristina 4 5 4 4
MichaelP 4 6 5 8
Necro 7 6 7 7
Orbit Dream 2 2 7 6
RaiderGirl 3 4 6 7
Sakusha 4 5 5 6
Sash 3 5 5 6
The Aussie Adventurer 3 5 2 3
Tombraidergirl 3 3 4 6
Torry 3 3 3 4
Treeble 4 5 4 4
Yoav 5 4 5 6
category averages
(19 reviews)		 3.63 4.16 4.74 5.58

Reviewer's comments

"My first pain was that I couldn't start the level, but then I used the original english and script dat files of TRLE, and with those it worked, just had to star the City level. It has the same flaws as the author's first level, enemies pop out of nowhere, awful lot of doors. And no clue of where this place is, and why Lara went there. Again if you like mindless shooting give it a try, otherwise don't bother." - Akcy (26-Aug-2007)

"As soon as I saw the bike, I thought that this would be another level that i wouldn't be able to play. Luckily, whatever bike bug was in the previous level, had been fixed for this level. You are basically running around a huge office block with a load of rooms with an incrediable shed loads of sas guards so a word of advice - conserve your ammo!! It does get a little tedious as the path to the end of the level is unclear and there is no indication of what the various switches do. having said all that, it was a eelcome break from the egyptian levels I've currently been playing and I did enjoy the scenery which captured the feel of the place very well." - Necro (28-Oct-2006)

"'Office of Pain' sounds promising... lots of thugs and bats attacking you. It's fun when you like shooter levels. Though after exploring the first floor of the building (or second floor at the latest), it gets boring as all four floors are the same. Would have been great if the builder had a few more ideas. Two levers to push and a jumpswitch, no puzzles. But nicely designed building and pyramid." - Tinka (20-Oct-2005)

“Okay this is the second level from the author and I was assuming this would have to be better than the first because I assumed again the author would have more experience building levels. Well I was wrong. This level starts out with Lara having to swing over lava to press a switch so I though ok this is going to be a bit different from the last one. How I was so wrong. After opening the gates I entered into a building with a thousand doors and a thousand men. Every door held a man waiting to shoot or just pop out of nowhere and shoot or a turret pop up and shoot/flame. It quickly got boring and dull by every kill I made. This is a shooter alright expect nothing else though. The whole level needed a good overhaul to suss out all the bugs I came across which also detracted from the level. Textures were the same throughout the level and no variation in the textures meant a dull visual experience. As a player I didn't enjoy this level a great deal but I still recommend this to all the people who love shooters. If I had to give this level a grade I would give it a D- a low fail mark.” – The Aussie Adventurer (18-Nov-2004)

“I guess the title was well-chosen because the SAS soldiers (I have killed approximately 70 SAS soldiers in this level) are quite challenging since they usually come in groups and they can appear out of nowhere just when you think that you have defeated all of them in a particular room. The beginning was a little bit peculiar because you have to go through some pool defeat two wraiths that can be seen before they are triggered (their tiny little heads are showing) monkey swing over lava pull a switch which opens a door and you need to shoot a few bats along the way (a prelude to the mass murder). At that time I was asking myself why this level was called 'Office of Pain'. Eventually I found a building that looks like an Italian Communist Party headquarters with a research lab (look at the computers and the black boards filled with mathematical formulas). The textures which have Italian warning signs the sickle and the hammer (symbols of communism) show that pretty well. There are also frequent earthquakes (another indicator of the location since Italy is an earthquake-prone zone) one of the machine guns appeared out of nowhere and made me jump out of my chair. The textures the cobwebs and the lighting gave a bleak atmosphere that goes well with a partially abandoned building that may fall apart sooner or later (all right the SAS soldiers may be present but no one else is there). The main goal is to open two doors by exploring the building which consists of four floors and many doors. You will eventually find two switches. Then retrace your steps and prepare for a showdown with ten SAS soldiers (the exit is nearby). The author placed some SAS soldiers in the restrooms where he attempted to add a touch of dark humor. I don't see why there is a pyramid at the end of the level. The author also retextured the motorcycle's license plate and he wrote his name on the wall in the last room. I liked Lara's outfit which resembles the one in the uklogo.pak file and the load.bmp was impressive.” – Sakusha (16-Aug-2004)

“If you like shooters you will love this. I thought it was good fun when it started. Gameplay was a bit lacking but enemies scored better purely because there were so many of them. Atmosphere started well but I have to say it got a bit tedious opening doors and shooting any soldiers inside. The office block setting is good with good computer textures.” – Jez (01-Aug-2004)

“Well this is not exactly an Office – it’s a big building with a hundred rooms maybe and in every corner there is a soldier to kill. I found the motorbike drove a little and quit before I finished the level - enough for me.” – Yoav (01-May-2004)

“A pain indeed. All this level has is a lever two jump switches and countless SAS guards and doors to open. Fortunately every guard drops a medi or ammo and the shotgun revolver are given early in the game. That's not the point though the point is that it's a pure shoot'em up level with no puzzles at all only enemies and sentry guns. By the way I have no idea what the bike was for. The level ended after half an hour or so by dropping to a hole on a sort of metal pyramid.” – Kristina (07-Apr-2003)

“Well after having finished this level the human overpopulation problem should be solved for now cause if you like to take the lives of hostile SAS away go for this level! The surroundings are boring there are a lot of faults in the design and the gameplay is as boring as it gets - you start with going down an extremely long monkey swing and after activating a lever go all the way back. Then basically all you do is kill kill kill till you get to the wicked pyramid at the end. Play this only if you want to be proud some day with having played (and reviewed) all the levels out there.” – eTux (31-Mar-2003)

“The objective of this level seems to be getting through a large office building filled with computer rooms and bathrooms as well as a hundred or more soldiers and machine guns - all without running out of health packs. There is a motorcycle available but you don't really need it unless you want to drive it up the side of the weird metal pyramid at the end. The majority of your time will be spent opening a door drawing weapon killing soldiers going to next door holstering weapon opening door etc. all in search of a few switches. I didn't really understand the pool at the beginning or the lava or the fact that the building was hit with an earthquake every five minutes - must be located in California. I did find the grenade gun but not till almost the end.” – RaiderGirl (24-Sep-2002)

“I must admit that I enjoy killing adversaries in level but not thousands in few seconds! This level (that lasted about 30 minutes for me) has thousands enemies in each floor of its main building and Lara only counts on her pistols and a revolver against them. Not many medipacks and a lot of design errors were present. I didn't quite understand why the lava pool in the front of the building and the pyramid in the end of the level but I have to say that I was glad it was over. One thing I liked in this level though was Lara's outfit.” – Treeble (21-Jul-2002)

“This level is just a pure shoot ‘em up set inside a four story office building. There really isn’t much else to say about it apart from the building is nicely designed but after the 40th door and the umpteenth SAS man you just want something else to happen and it never does well I guess the bizarre pyramid ending is different and I made it just that bit more different by riding up it with the motorbike which I’m sure wasn’t intended!” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“This level is really a matter of taste, I guess. It is mainly a “run through four floors of an office building, open many doors and shoot ‘em up” level. The soldiers appear in packs, often out of thin air, but there are also plenty of medipacks, so the difficulty is actually quite low. Lara has a colourful custom outfit, some of the texturing effects are good and some are outright funny, like the restrooms. Maybe one floor less and a little more puzzles would be better from my perspective, but see for yourself.” - Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“I don't know about this level being an Office of Pain but it certainly was a pain in the butt. This was an exercise in opening 100's of doors and shooting as many SAS as you could without running out of health packs. At the end you climb a mysterious pyramid to mysteriously end a rather un-inspiring level. Give it a miss folks.” – Torry (21-Jun-2002)

“Very hard to give points for this level. Although I hate shooting just for the shooting this level is full of that. The textures are quite good and I liked the outfit Lara was wearing. Well ...... what ever takes your fancy it is not my cup of tea.” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002)

“Although there's little wrong from a technical point-of-view this level rapidly descends into tedium through the total inevitability of the gameplay. What's behind this door? A gunman On and on for room after room floor after floor. It was tempting to give maximum points for enemies simply because there were so many of them! However my abandoning this level (a rare occurrence) due to sheer boredom was definitely cause for rating the level poorly.” – Orbit Dream (21-Jun-2002)

“In this Level you must do two things: Shooting and open doors. More than 50 soldiers you must kill. And more than 40 doors you must open. You find gun-ammo enough and you find health-packs enough. I don’t like levels with many shooting but this level was nice to play. The textures are good and puzzles are not many in this level. I end this level after 55 minutes on the big pyramid. All players who like shooting must play this level.” – Andi Croft (21-Jun-2002)

“This aptly named ordeal is an affront to the raider who is hoping to find puzzles scenery jumps traps secrets; in short an adventure. This is so unbelievably monotonous so radical it's almost like a stance against computer games. I believe that if a level provides you with five hours of entertainment it should be rated higher than a comparable level that last only for 30 minutes. On the same ground I think a level that bores the shit out of you for almost an hour should be rated lower than a game where the tedium is restricted to 20 minutes. So future players when you enter the ministry of pain don't bother to open every door on every story there is. It is sufficient to cover the ground- and top floor. Apart from the non-existent gameplay there are some other flaws here like places to get stuck in sentry guns that spontaneously pop into existence right beside you guards who disappear into the pillars and a magic pool. I'm not sure about the textures either. The giant toilets and sinks sure do look a bit daft and though the big office was nice to walk through that was the only room with a bit of atmosphere. Mind you you get that four times. The only way to stay awake during this shoot frenzy was to mentally add the countless SAS guards I met. However I lost count during the big showdown at the end as I wasn't really looking anymore.” – Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)

“Office of pain well at least Lara’s outfit will make your eyes hurt. Part of the front side is pink and Lara's wearing red laces and red lipstick and pink eyeshade with that?! I was able to stand in the pool under water and shoot a couple of bats. After that all you have to do is open doors shoot SAS and a couple of bats avoid machine guns and collect ammo and medipacks. You can use the motorbike to overrun a couple of them. Most of the rooms look the same and I guess every floor is the same as the one on the next level. The textures are quite inventive you've got toilets and computers but not many objects were used. If you like shooting this is something for you.” – Tombraidergirl (21-Jun-2002)
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