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Level: Lara's London Home back home search
Author(s): John Lincoln
total rating:8.45 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Bex 9 9 10 10
CC 8 6 9 7
Chronicles5 9 9 10 8
Cuqui 9 9 10 10
Dany 8 9 10 9
Dougsan 9 5 7 8
Engelchen Lara 9 7 10 9
eTux 9 7 9 8
Gerty 8 7 8 8
Jorge22 10 9 10 9
Josi 8 7 8 8
Kristina 9 8 8 8
Loupar 8 8 9 8
Lyin_4rm_u 6 7 7 8
Magnus 7 7 8 8
MichaelP 8 7 8 8
MountainDewNut 9 7 9 7
Obig 9 8 8 9
Patson 9 8 9 8
Phil 9 8 9 8
qbg 8 7 10 10
RaiderGirl 9 9 10 10
reborn1995 8 8 8 7
rjb 9 9 10 9
Sash 8 7 9 8
Sheevah 9 7 9 9
Solange 9 8 7 9
V Croft 9 10 9 8
Vicks 10 10 10 10
category averages
(29 reviews)		 8.59 7.83 8.90 8.48

Reviewer's comments

"Sure, it's a house level, but what a house level. As much of the action takes place outdoors as indoors, and you're taken from one area to another, each one having a unique task for you to perform. The builder has provided a written outline to supplement a generous number of visual clues (i.e., cut scenes), and I had a grand time here. I found all three secrets, two of them fairly obvious and the third (in the library) not very obvious at all. I found the latter during that head-splitting earthquake near the end, not the best of times to be off looking for a secret. You also get a refreshing jaunt on the snowmobile, so for sheer variety I can recommend this hour-long adventure quite heartily." - Phil (16-Jul-2011)

"props to this level for a very lengthy gameplay--there are eight artifacts to collect throughout the house area and then you have to save yourself as the whole property basically implodes. however, i do think the level bordered on being too long. but the amount and placement of enemies was just perfect IMO. the decor really wasn't that impressive to me. more detail could have been given to puzzle and trap rooms. and there seemed to be large areas of wasted space--the ballroom being a prime example. the snowmobile course is fun and challenging. also a thumbs up that the level is linear--it's not a tough guess to know what you need to do next. not the best home level i've played, but it's worth going through once. --Guy" - reborn1995 (26-Jan-2007)

"Lara sure has a huge mansion in the city! The game is great, so many really fun puzzles. I loved the mirror puzzle with invisible pillars to jump on, if you missed you fried. In the basement there is a great lethal place with pillars and slopes to jump between. Lara has a pool, a swan dive from the springboard is an experience! Apart from the game, I spent a long time in the assault course. What a perfect place to brush up on the moves I didn't feel so confident in, ropes for example... There are 2 mazes, one with a very strange camera angle that you either love or hate. I wasn't too fond of it, but it didn't keep me busy for too long. A jump with the snowmobile that apparently no one else had problems with nearly prevented me from finishing the game! But eventually I got past that bit too. This is a fantastic Lara's Home level! Play it, you won't regret it! There is something for all tastes here." - Solange (07-Feb-2005)

“I think that the textures of this level are very beautiful and scrupulously detailed; it is seen that the creator spent much time with them. It was a delight to walking through this wonderful house. There's everything a good level needs: timed runs big jumps a mirror room ropes a hedge labyrinth the snow mobile etc. There are enemies also but they are not dangerous; some leopards and bats. I disliked shooting the leopards but unfortunately they wanted to bite me. :) The puzzles are not so difficult; it is easy to find out what to do though sometimes the timed runs and various difficulties manhandled my nerves. The goal of the game is to collect our relicts (eq. the Scion Dagger of Xian etc.) that we already gained in the first three episodes and golds from the various points of the house and then bring off Lara from the collapsing house. I found the end very hard for the first time but the joy was much bigger when I succeeded to finally plan the path so that I could leave the house. There are three secrets on this level the well-known Golden Roses from TR5. To those who like House-levels and don't really like to fight will appeal this level; it is worth the play. You can find a Hungarian walkthrough (as we don't have English version) savegames and pictures here: http://www.freeweb.hu/treditor/12/lara_s_london_home.htm ” – Obig (08-Dec-2004)

“True this doesn't portray the beauty of some very few but very well known house levels. This is a classic Lara's house even though much larger than usual much modified too. But I have to admit this is the best house level I've ever played! At first I went to the gym and then to the pool and there were two ropes hanging from the high ceiling and a closed grate right in front of them. I was very stuck. Lara's London Home was clearly contradicting my belief that this would be a fairly easy and even perhaps a bit dull game I'd simply decided to try out. Then I found this and then that and everything started falling into place making sense gaining momentum. This was no ordinary house! It's a rather interesting and dangerous place to explore and there's never a dull moment in it. Jumps fire traps in mirror rooms labyrinths a little swimming spikes rapidly coming down from the ceiling the usual push/pull puzzle but not too long all in the search of several artifacts and a couple of secrets (roses). Before the ending Lara even gets to make an exciting snowmobile ride around the place. Suddenly everything starts shaking and Lara needs to find her way out of the mansion before it all crumbles down upon her. She runs it's a no-go. She jumps it's a no-go. She sprints it's a no-go. Think Lara think! What about the snowmobile? Fortunately it passes through the huge blocks of rock like a ghost... And it's the end of a very thrilling and at times intriguing adventure I must admit I enjoyed every minute of. Don't be discouraged by the title. Don't dare say: ‘Oh well another house level!’ Play it now and you won't be sorry.” – Jorge22 (10-Apr-2004)

“To me this level when you begin to play it was like...’so what’. No offense and I know you put in work but this level was somewhat boring. Not for me. This level seemed to be just like Lara's Coastal Home with some weird looking snow and darker. Anyways it was ‘ok’...” – Lyin_4rm_u (20-Mar-2004)

“Obviously Lara has several mansions. Of course she needs them at least if they all suffer the faith this mansion did at the end of this level. This mansion is huge – much bigger than Lara’s real one (the one in the games). It was obviously built for on reason and one reason only – for Lara to train before she sets out on a new adventure. The whole house is like a big assault-course and Lara has for some reason scattered her artefacts throughout it (the Scion even has more uses than Natla ever figured out). In her quest to get out of the house Lara has to find the Scion all five meteorite-artefacts the Dagger of Xian and the golden mask. These are artefacts from Tomb Raider Tomb Raider 2 Tomb Raider 2 gold Tomb Raider 3 and The Lost Artifact. It’s a good thing she didn’t have to find any of the artefacts she found in the two latest games – that would have made the level too long (spending 55 minutes in one mansion is more than enough for me). The level is quite fun even though it took me a long time before I got on the right track. After I had found the second artefact I knew what to do the whole time though. The texturing is nice even though there are some mistakes and the snow looked just a little bit too white. The author warns you that the game might crash if you don’t kill all enemies – you might want to take him seriously. When I had climbed up a long ladder the game crashed just because I had missed a bat. Other than that I didn’t have any problems. All in all a good level which isn’t too hard and it’s nice if you like mansions. On a side-note I just have to say that I found all three secrets (I know I shouldn’t brag but how often does that happen?).” – Magnus (29-Jan-2004)

“A marvelous variety of different puzzles to exercise the little grey cells (I cannot think of a repeated one) an atmosphere very reminiscent of the mansion we encountered in the early 'official' games - how these fade into the background now we have these magnificent creations from so many talented amateurs! - a marvelous fly-by when you've 'progressed' a bit showing you some of what is to come and a night-time backdrop that this Londoner found particularly nostalgic. I especially liked the snowmobile (how could one not?) which I used to reach either end of the outside assault course and even took inside the house near the finish to help me reach the 'exit gates' before the avalanche of rocks not to mention on the snowmobile 'course' itself; also the 'mirror room' trying to work out where to go(!); the spikes room (could I use the laser-sighted revolver accurately and quickly enough to survive?); and the 'jumping hot-floored' area that was followed by all those 'goodies' if you could run the flames gauntlet. This was the 2nd custom level I played over a year ago now when I could hardly believe that 'non-official' people could design such masterpieces! Though I haven't played many of the acknowledged 'greatest' levels yet this still ranks as my number 3 (after 'Crusade' & 'Marbles').” – rjb (24-Oct-2003)

“London in the winter isn’t it just grand! Well not if you’re trapped in your mansion and its grounds and are only allowed to leave with a tight timed run once you have completed many puzzles collected 8 artefacts strewn throughout the house and made some tricky jumps with the snowmobile. Again John has turned what is usually a dreary lifeless genre into something that has a life of its own though maybe not the best of his Home series. Enemy-wise this could have probably done with some more as all you meet along the way are some snow leopards a wraith and bats but it seems there was some trouble with the game crashing because of enemies so there seems to be a good reason for their absence. As of this review John has produced 3 home levels and each has been just great but what kind of home is left for our roving adventuress Lara to visit. Hmm how about Lara’s Tree Home! I bet John could even pull it off.” – Sash (26-Sep-2003)

“I played this again yesterday and it's amazing that I got stuck outside because I forgot to push the switch in the dining room to open the front door so I had to start again. I played it last year and my game crashed as soon as Lara started running crashed on the Mac that is. It was a trigger and John Lincoln very kindly sent me his prj and tga files to delete these triggers so I could play the level albeit without enemies. It has the same basic textures but it's nothing like the Croft mansion. The entrance hall with staircases looks great as do the huge rooms with very plain corridors linking them. There's a great looking gym and swimming pool a library bedrooms bathrooms dining room kitchen as well as huge rooms with fire floors and pillars boulders ready to drop from the ceiling shooting three lion heads before spikes squash you as the floor rises a globe puzzle where you must put the coloured globes on the same coloured squares or you're stuck jumps high up in the gym lion heads to shoot in the pool room we even get a ghost chasing us to the cross that it will die on a great mirror room a green hedge maze that leads into a stonewall maze. Outside it's snowing and the grounds look great covered in snow and it’s nighttime so you can see the city lights in the background and we find a snowmobile to a terrific ride dodging boulders and fire and huge jumps. Lots to do and find. Great camera angles and flybys. And getting that last artifact and running to the main gate took me a few goes but was great fun. A great ‘house’ level from the master mansion-builder.” – CC (25-Jul-2003)

“I do hope you choose to play this game. ‘Lara’s London Home’ is the most different take on the mansion schtick I have played. Mr. Lincoln explains in his Read Me file there is no story to this episode. After playing ‘Lara’s London Home’ you will believe him. I must admit to strongly disliking the first 20 minutes or so as Lara runs around her home learning what is where and tries to determine what she should do. Once Lara is comfortable with her home the game begins to make sense and the pieces fall in place. There are no enemies save for a few bats and a scary voice near the end but there are some puzzles worth the time to figure them out; including a good snowmobile course and a kind of interesting maze (not because it’s a maze - play it and maybe you’ll see). As a bonus the game itself is one big puzzle something I very much like in a TRLE game. Some nice jumping and an interesting jumping puzzle and timed run near the end finish the game. Things you’ll have to ignore; there are a few too many bugs Lara spends a lot of time outside in the snow in a t-shirt she swims outside in the same clothing a wraith chases Lara and then detours itself to die elsewhere (you hear the death bang) etc. Ignore the shortcomings and play the game for the fun. Much much better than Mr. Lincoln’s earlier offering imho.” – Dougsan (08-Jun-2003)

“In this level Lara's house is almost like the Hotel in ‘The Shining’ but without ghosts. The wonderful snow effect in the night without clouds and the maze in the outside; and the corridors and the huge rooms in the house (what a big pool...) Wow! The game is to get eight (8) artifacts and three secrets or golden roses that are in different places in the house. There are only few enemies (snow tigers and a wraith) but a lot of traps along the game. One of the artifacts you get will aid to pass a difficult part.... very original! The atmosphere is Ok and the cameras very useful to show the next step. The textures would have been better in some parts and the lighting too. I missed too some objects that would have had Lara in her kitchen and WC but that's only a suggestion only a fault of detail. It's a funny level and very pleasant to play (I don't like to get stuck...).” – Loupar (29-Jan-2003)

“Making a promise to Matthias to see if this level would work as it crashed on his Mac made me play this game a bit earlier than I planned. Well I kept my promise and I had also a great time not on the Mac as it wouldn’t work (Lara froze after just doing a couple of steps) but on the PC. Not an easy level as this mansion of Lara is HUGE. Main goal is getting 8 artifacts and you can also collect 3 secrets in the process. Do read the TXT file the author included as there are some tips in it. He warns you about enemies so when I found the torch I lit it and took it with me threw it down explored with guns drawn and picked it up again. Luckily there were not that many enemies. There is a lot of exploring to do and some very nice jumping. There are also puzzles and put on your thinking cap. Looking out of a window I saw snow coming down so naturally I had to go outside. WOW it looked so real a pity the LE doesn’t allow footsteps in the snow - that would’ve been really cool. There are of course the maze in the garden and one underwater. The camera angle made it more fun and you even get to ride the snow mobile. I am not fond of vehicles especially as you have to get more speed to make a jump so like Michelle after I finished the level I reloaded and drove it just for fun even in the house. 01-12-2002” – Gerty (07-Dec-2002)

“I love this level. I had a very very good time playing it. It's so nice and entertaining! You must find eight artifacts and three secrets (golden roses). The mirror room with invisible blocks is very original. And where you pick up the ‘infada stone’ (2nd artefact) shooting at lion's mouths to get the exit of the room with a spiked ceiling falling was really exciting. I loved the jumps with the snowmobile and the end of the level where the house is crumbling was hard too. I've enjoyed very much this level. It was a wow!” – Cuqui (05-Dec-2002)

“I really enjoyed playing LLH. Some of the puzzles were a bit hard but all in all there needed to be some sort of challenge. Another part of the level that I enjoyed was the atmosphere. I played it in mid summer but I still felt the chills of winter because the surroundings were done quite carefully. One thing that I didn't really care for was the texturing. I liked how John uses the textures but some of them seemed to be a bit overstretched. Other than that I really enjoyed LLH.” – MountainDewNut (26-Sep-2002)

“For me one of the best Home levels that I ever played. Here Lara has a quantity of riddles to solve which were well thought out but not difficult. Lara must overcome some falling connected with time a bad sting wall that comes from above which needs to be mastered quickly. Lara must find also some artifacts among them the dagger of Xian. The opponents are bats and snow leopards but many of them which was good. The atmosphere pleased me especially when one comes out of the house and it is all snowy. Also in the house itself much was different. Textures were processed well there are many palms trees and admire lemon trees. There are also 3 golden roses secrets to find. Lara also gets to ride a snowmobile almost to the end amazing what one can discover in the environment.” – Engelchen Lara (23-Aug-2002)

“Following the superb Coastal Home Lara's London Home keeps the same 'treasure hunt'/puzzle ideas going in true Tomb Raider style. To start off Lara has been outfitted with exceptional gear and its nice to see her in coloured clothes. London Home has everything a raider needs: moveable objects puzzles shoot em ups an amazing mirror room and one cracking snow speeder course! The design of the house is brilliant with all rooms being true to the original style of the game with the gym pool and assault course making a welcome return in true style. What this level doesn't have is not worth including! A real Tomb Raiding delight! With a finale that literally brings the house down! To top this all off the designer is really great at helping you with tricky spots!” – Vicks (15-Aug-2002)

“Another superb level by John. He is becoming the master of Lara's home levels. This time an add-on in enemies and the effort of creating snow in a TR4 custom level are really something to admire. Speaking of the snow of course as someone can understand it isn't like the actual snow from TR5 but it is quite convincing and creates a nice environment to play in. I particularly liked the black-white leopards although they seemed harmless and I was tempted not to kill them but since I didn't know if there was a pick up or anything at all after the shooting I had to just go ahead and test. It looks like Lara's home but with a few differences the gym is altered and with a nice jump sequence to reach an artifact the broken cameras are quite nice but not many traps I am afraid. Another interesting task is the underwater maze in the pool and the maze outside generally I hate mazes but this one wasn't too bad. Collecting six artifacts is your main goal plus there is a bonus the snow mobile. The secrets are not very hard to find and I surely recommend this level. In a darker environment than usual but that makes it more exciting. Keep going John..” – Kristina (11-Aug-2002)

“This is hands down the best Home level I've ever played. It has everything you'd expect to find in a level like this but it's been created with so much care that everything just seems a lot better than usual. Lara's London Home outclasses pretty much every other level of its type that I've played so far. I can't think of anything bad to say about it. Even when my game crashed John helped me out by email immediately and saved the day. So not only is this guy quite possibly the 'master' of Home levels he's also damn nice! Get this level I guarantee that you'll have loads of fun with it. :)” – Bex (11-Aug-2002)

“I took about 20 steps and all I could say was ‘Wow!’ as I knew at that point this level will be a newly layed out home level. And it's not just a few additional rooms as in almost all other home levels - THIS home level is a new piece of hard work started from scratch. All the essential bits are there - Gym Assault Course swimming pool with a diving board and of course a vehicle to ride on (snowmobile). New features include snow a VERY HIGHLY raised diving board which allows you to do 2 somersaults before landing in the water and enemies (to squish with the snowmobile. HAHAHAHARRR! :D ). Apart from a badly placed secret (or badly controlled fly-by take your pick) and a few ridiculously hard-to-reach places this level is brilliant in every way. Excellent work JohnnyZ. :)” – qbg (02-Aug-2002)

“I really enjoyed this custom level. It had a lot of familiar sights and sounds but a different spin on them. There were several very challenging areas like the boulder/spinning blades area and the snowmobile course. The readme was very helpful for the snowmobile area. The voice in the end sent the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention but gave Lara the oomf to finish. I thanked goodness for saves several times during the course of play. The colors were great the views spectacular nice outfit for Lara and I especially had fun in the poolroom. Enemies were present to challenge shooting skills even a spirit who needs to be disposed of without a lot of difficulty but not too many. Another difficult area was in the spike room it's fairly evident what needs to be done but the first time I picked up the object I almost fell off my chair again hurrah for saves. The ending left me wondering if there was a bug in the game or was that all until I discovered that was it folks end of game. All-in-all I felt it to be a very good level and look forward to more from JohnnyZ.” – Patson (01-Aug-2002)

“Well... Was a very nice and the finest of almost all the levels I have seen. Too much adventure... for one night I believe... terrific...well done John Lincoln.” – Dany (30-Jul-2002)

“I guess it is common knowledge that I do not particularly enjoy Lara’s Home Levels but event though this one also has a few long running passages and huge rooms it offers a decent 90 minutes including a lot of gameplay on your quest for eight artifacts. There are fire emitters boulders spike traps lion heads to shoot rope swings a mirror room the inevitable hedge maze (although the top down camera was fun) and as a highlight the snowmobile course which was really fun. The setting is well done although I thought that this mansion was a little oversized but the snowy outside is great. Cameras are well used even though the flyby is a little lengthy and a dead give away for one of the three secrets. Only four snow leopards a few bats and a wraith as enemies. I enjoyed it overall but was still happy to finally get out of those gates with a tricky timed run.” – Michael (27-Jul-2002)

“I do love a good house level and this is the best one I've seen so far at least till John's next house level comes out (and I can't wait to see it). This is a magnificent house - it makes Lara's regular mansion look bad even. It's huge the rooms are decorated perfectly and everything has been improved. The new pool room is one of my favorite the camera work made the hedge maze even more fun the snowmobile course is fun yet still easy enough for even me to do. The falling snow effect is beautiful and the snow outside looks so real with big snow drifts everywhere - I expected Lara to leave footprints everywhere she walked. As you work your way through the house you can look out the windows and see the snow falling and everything covered in snow which was nice in the 100 degree weather we've been having here. This took me over two hours to finish as there are so many places to explore and you have to find the eight artifacts in a certain order. There are also some tricky puzzles where you have to act fast or you'll never make it through. I found three secrets two outside and one inside and the one inside is the best in my opinion (and took me a while to figure out). I didn't like the ending - you'll see why - so after I finally made it past the falling boulders and out the gate I loaded an earlier save and had fun riding the snowmobile around in the house instead.” – RaiderGirl (27-Jul-2002)

“Wow what a house! I'm so glad I don't have to keep it clean there would be no time left to play custom levels. This level is very nice and I had a good time playing it it looks very good this is the first house level I played that I really liked. There are not many enemies and they are easy do get rid of (if you know how) the puzzles are not so hard. The snowmobile is not my favourite way of getting somewhere but that of course is a personal thing. The end I found surprising (to me anyway). Overall a level that's certainly worth the download.” – Josi (27-Jul-2002)

“A very enjoyable level and probably the best Lara's Home level so far. Actually there's no place to get stuck but you might be confused what to do after the looong fly-by in the swimming pool like I was. Actually I don't have many complaints about this level but the ones I have I'll list here. Firstly I didn't like that some objects were Egyptian. It won't spoil anything while playing this level but they somehow didn't fit in. The wallpaper effect appears sometimes too. And also the objects rotate kinda strangely but then again at this day I'm reviewing this I don't know if there's anyone who actually knows how to set those up right. No more complaints this is a great level get it.” – eTux (26-Jul-2002)

“Wow even better than the first one! There were a few things I didn't like I list these below but overall this level was great there was lots to do and huge areas to explore. Best of all was the snowmobile track :D I disliked two parts though. The pushable object part :( I hate to sit here watching Lara push and pull a block around and when I pulled three onto their proper squares I thought ‘Phew that's over with’ then I walked into another room to find two more :( Then a few minutes later I went outside to a newly opened room which I didn't understand at first apparently you had to jump across invisible floor spaces and once I had it down I was across in no-time but when I got to the end I was ready to jump across to the black platform. I did and Lara hit an invisible wall and fell and burst into flames. I didn't like this one bit I had to start over from my last save game - which was quite a ways back. Outside as the readme stated you had to kill enemies as rapidly as you could to keep the game from crashing. I only found one white tiger and the game crashed a lot I don't understand why I didn't see these enemies... I liked a lot of the texturing some of the mixing I thought was very brave to put hieroglyphs next to the Venice textures was a very brave move I don't know if I would have tried it but it looked pretty good I thought the texturing was pretty well thought out. When I went outside for the first time I looked up at the sky and I saw a bunch of boulders or something. I was puzzled what is this? I loved how the house was set up it was very different and I hope to see more Lara's home levels from John Lincoln in the future. I really liked this level it's worth the download you should get it now!!! :)” – Chronicles5 (26-Jul-2002)

“This is a really nice and enjoyable level and I would recommend it to anyone especially to those who are ‘Lara's home fans’. This level also gives you a sense of non-linearity. The puzzles are interesting and the atmosphere outside is very nice. Moreover the snowmobile course is something that makes the level even better!” – V Croft (22-Jul-2002)

“This is the best house level I ever played! The house architecture is very different to other Lara's houses as we know them. Rooms are well designed and textured and you find a lot of nice furniture and deco objects. The night has come and the outside area is very snowy. Later in the game you can do some racing with the snowmobile. There are just a few enemies like snow leopards and bats (and one ghost) - no SAS guards (thanks a lot for that!). Inside the house Lara has to solve some puzzles and be aware of some traps like the spiked ceiling coming down. The goal is collecting a couple of artifacts like the meteorit bits the Dagger of Xian und a golden mask. - If you like house levels this one is a must for you. If not it's a must too.” – Sheevah (21-Jul-2002)
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