| Reviewer's comments |
"What an odd little level this is. Its scope in the builder’s mind seems to have been
vastly more comprehensive than what made it eventually on the screen; and very nearly
everything in it is either glitchy, or incorrectly implemented, or both. Setting itself up
as a ‘Maria Doria’ clone (the initial area is essentially a remake of that of “40
Fathoms”), it ends after a mere 15 minutes or so in a room illuminated for some reason
with all the colours of the rainbow, which is introduced by a pointless flyby, sports an
inaccessible underwater passage (blocked not by an adverse current, but by an invisible
wall), and is rattled by a random permaquake that won’t cease until you step on an
unexpected finish trigger—likely by accident while battling a couple of eagles. Eagles, in
a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean? Sure, why not. After all, by this point you
already have fended off the more readily acceptable sharks and barracudas (although the
latter tend to being inquisitive rather than aggressive), the traditional goons with
baseball bats and automatic rifles (an obvious tribute to the original ‘Maria Doria’
levels), as well as a couple of wraiths (probably defensible), and, at the extreme end of
the probability scale, one of the ‘warriors of the desert’, as Dimpf likes to call them,
a. k. a. blue ninjas.
Apart from odd choices such as these, what’s most detrimental to the atmosphere (which
should be dense by default) is the absence of any sound bar Lara’s footsteps and gunshots,
but the many glitches don’t exactly foster immersion either: a water surface that stays
put when a flipmap has made the water itself disappear (and that flipmap not even
requiring the switch that supposedly triggers it); an ostensible swarm of fish consisting
of disassembled barracuda body parts; trapdoors which won’t open, but which you have to
climb right through anyway; and a keyhole that is used as a puzzle slot and scuttles away
when activated.
I gather from the other reviews that the game is padded with an optional quest for the
harpoon gun in the initial area, and that there’s also some place where you can try to
evade or kill a number of sharks while at the same time attempting to pick up some stuff.
Happy enough to have found the entry to the shipwreck without drowning once, I feel no
urgent desire to go back and further tempt my luck, especially since there’s no use for
any pickups later in the game. I do regret, though, that there’s no Underwater 2,
provided it would have been less of a rushed job. With a somewhat better-developed
concept, with proper sound files, and without the easily avoidable glitches, this could
have been a neat little level, too." - Mulf (10-Feb-2022) |
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| "I found the initial underwater section of this level quite entertaining, but, unfortunately, once inside the ship things became rather less interesting, not helped by several missing sound files. There’s not a great deal to do other than kill (or avoid) a few enemies, most of which, apart of course from the sharks, aren’t very appropriate to the setting." - Jay (25-Jan-2020) |
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| "Of dear, this could have been so good but it was exactly the opposite and I love these underwater adventures through the bowels of the ship. Game play suffered the moment we had swim through walls and atmosphere suffered without the relative sounds that accompanied Lara's movements and actions. 15 minutes of torture unfortunately." - Torry (07-Oct-2019) |
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| "Relatively short level, lots of animations, sounds are missing, textures too. This game promised a lot initially but was not sufficiently corrected." - Drakan (18-Nov-2018) |
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| "Having recently played another level from this author, I could notice several similarities between the offerings, but sadly none of which positive. Quite a few issues here, from missing sounds to climbing unmarked walls straight through trapdoors. Gameplay also isn't exactly engaging and mostly revolves around running back and forth opening a handful of doors before reaching a cave-in area where I accidentally stepped into the finish trigger while fighting off two birds. 15 minutes, 1 secret. 02/18" - Treeble (04-Mar-2018) |
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| "This is a short TR2 underwater level where
Lara's objective is (presumably) to locate a
couple of Seraph artefacts (named Eye of Horus
in the inventory). The beginning was
brilliantly done with Lara and her crashed
submarine stranded in the water with no visible
air pocket. From there it went downhill though.
Again missing sounds for gunfire, swimming,
climbing and pulling switches, simplistic
gameplay and an earthquake that wouldn't let
up. A pity that it had potential that was kind
of wasted." - Ryan (17-Apr-2017) |
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| "Short level easy to play, only press some buttons (wrong animation) and place an artifact (in a keyhole?) to advance and finish. Architecture is good, also the texturization and the lighting (even with elongated and stretched textures in some panels). The pain here are the sounds, missing sounds for Lara's swim, enemy shots, shotgun shots, final earthquake... Once you dry the long corridor the water textures are still there; near the spikes I could trespass a wooden ceiling; and it's not logic the transition from a dry room to the final water room. I think the author could try to fix or solve all this problems before release the level." - Jose (13-Aug-2016) |
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| "A short shipwreck level with pretty nice looking texturing and decent lighting, but unfortunately not so good game play. There is lots of swimming and looking for air, and a bit of shooting sharks and baddies. I think the only sounds that were working correctly were Lara's footsteps and the guns. The background loops played too, but other than that the level was silent and that didn't help the atmosphere and general feel of that game at all. Too bad, since the look of it was quite nice and there were plenty of interesting things to see, like a frogman, underwater plants and a mini submarine. (20minutes)" - Blue43 (01-Feb-2011) |
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| "What stroke me first when I converted this level and then started to play was a lot of sounds missing. No underwater swimming, no footsteps, no buttons sound, and enemies get you by surprise because of their silent attack. Not even the shooting sound worked correctly. No camera hints either. A keylock vanishing in thin air after using the key. Besides pushing some buttons, killing a shark, some bats and some bad guys, and a jump across spikes there is nothing else to do. When reaching the final room I was blinded by a firework of colours and a nasty and neverending earthquake, don't know what caused it, but it was terrible. Lara was then attacked by two vultures and I really wonder how those poor birds came down here into a sunken ship. I am sorry but I did not like this level, it was imperfect and seemed unfinished to me." - Jerry (06-Feb-2009) |
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| "Lara starts under the sea and must get to an airhole quickly. This first huge area with the sunken ship/sub is beautiful. I love sunken ship levels and the textures therein. Not a whole lot of stuff to do here though. At one point Lara drains a channel she has just swam from. I was confused for a bit the channel was indeed drained but the water effect was still there given the impression that nothing happened. Climbing up through trapdoors was very odd. And the last huge room was also beautiful except I was nearly cross-eyed trying to work in that earthquake. Enemies are easy to deal with. Very short but visually impressive level the colours were gorgeous and Lara changed colour as she went along to blend in. I loved the outfit the short legged diving suit and her hair neatly tied up. Huge promise at the beginning and then it fell flat on its face. It would have made a great middle level in a series. Definitely worth looking at though." - CC (05-Aug-2003) |
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| "I have to recommend 'Underwater1' if only for the opening sequence which I will not describe. Play the game and be fascinated. Another underwater trip is Lara being attacked by a school of jellyfish. I see other reviewers have differing opinions on what comprises the school. Whatever they are kudos to the designer. Downside to the level no sound unless you have TR-2 sound files loaded and nothing much to do except admire Psxsaves' handiwork. Play the level and admire the handiwork. So it's easy. So what. It's beautiful. Admire the beauty. Well done Psxsaves." - Dougsan (15-Jun-2003) |
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| "I don't know if I am right or wrong - maybe installed something wrong or is it that level that is bad...Even converting I saw a list of sounds which are not available - because of that in game you can not hear much sounds...The ambience is bad for that reason. The whole game took about 19 minutes - searching for a story...A bug/error in building: you run through a room and at the end comes an earthquake and then you go to the end - it is a water room suddenly you find yourself swimming...The enemies could be nice but only if the function is okay. I saw ideas but the realisation is not quite good - sorry. Maybe should have studied more the manual - building in objects from other TR-games does not make a good level if the gameplay textures ambience challenges are missing." - Miguel (04-Jan-2003) |
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| "I really loved the original underwater levels and even if the start of this one was a 'dej vu' it was quite promising. But the further progression of the level is not so great anymore I liked the small challenge with the spikes popping out from the metal and the final room was fantastic but the level is so buggy the good things just don't compensate the bad ones! The worst one was the missing sound and I really can't rate that at all the 1 point I gave in this category is for the atmosphere." - eTux (20-Dec-2002) |
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| "With one of the most impressive beginnings finding yourself in an ocean as a sub crashes to the sea bed and an upturned ship lay abandoned on the ocean floor you may expect great things to come but it just didn't pan out that way. The main aspect of this level is the array of enemies you come across some never seen before which sadly meant a lack of any real gameplay and after 15 minutes you come to a very shaky end in what seemed a possibly interesting new twist to the level. Well I guess that shall be for 'Underwater 2'." - Sash (06-Dec-2002) |
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| "Underwater 1 starts out in an environment much like the beginning of the Maria Doria level. Lara has taken a small sub to an abandoned shipwreck surrounded by barracudas, sharks and a lone diver. There's a harpoon gun in the water as well as a 'secret area' filled with sharks. I'm still not sure how I opened the door leading to that area, but I found some good ammo and a health pack waiting inside. After getting inside the ship there's an area to drain, which allows you to enter the final area, which was a large room with what looks to be long lost Egyptian artifacts. It was great to see a lot of enemies from TR II but the level could have been so much better with a little more work. This just made me want to play TR II again so I could see the real thing." - RaiderGirl (28-Nov-2002) |
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| "What a strange Level. Although it might have been even stranger in my case as the game would crash when converted in the normal way so I renamed most of the files to tut1 and played with the original LE script. I found the setting quite spooky and the shipwreck atmosphere was beautifully done. However there were a few weird things like the water textures not disappearing with the water dogs that behaved very oddly and just when the adventure was in full swing and Lara was happily jumping around shooting at two eagles she stepped onto the finishing trigger. Gameplaywise there is nothing remarkable here but that's mainly because it is so short. At the start you are bound to drown a couple of times before you find the opening that leads to some air but from then on it's rather straightforward with nothing more challenging than being chased by two ice elementals. The shoal of fish was great and the last room was truly impressive. I just wished there had been something to do there." - Dimpfelmoser (24-Nov-2002) |
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| "I don't recall ever being so far off from the other reviewers but I'm sorry I think this was another one of those that in this time of good levels being created by seasoned as well as new authors should not even have been offered. No sound to speak of no semblance of a plot a door underwater that opens to reveal a plethora of goodies that you have no real hope of gathering as the giant fishes eat you up but you don't need them anyway. The dogs got stuck in the walls of the structure there was a trap door you climbed through. Twice. The earthquake made me sick and I even stuck around to kill the birds just for a little excitement." - Momster (22-Nov-2002) |
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| "The level started underwater with a submarine dropping. A scuba diver is rather peaceful. One can collect a harpoon some goodies and then find an opening into a rusty wreck. I'm playing on a Mac and I had unusual sounds. I couldn't install the game because of missing TR2 sound files. So I renamed the wads with tut 1. In between Lara was crying like a baby and that was rather weird. There are some good ideas in the game but no real story. Enemies are thugs dogs a shark bats 2 eagles and 2 ice wraiths. In the area near the end was a most irritating earthquake and it never stopped. Lara found the artefact but no place to put it into. So she just walked towards a wall and this put her back to the beginning. I played about 25 minutes and found 2 secrets." - Monika (19-Nov-2002) |
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| "Alright there are a couple of new things here like the diver the 'piranha swarm' the fishes and Lara in a swim suit. The shark is guarding the one secret (the MP-5) and I really love the texture set used here but there are just too many downsides to this effort so I cannot rate it higher. Some of the flipmaps do not work correctly (water texture remaining and on one occasion you actually jump into a water room from the side as if through a water wall. Gameplay is very short (15 minutes) with little to do there is a climb through trapdoor and the eye of Horus is actually a key. Also not sure what that earthquake in the last room was good for. An ambitious attempt at creating something knew but needs quite a bit more work to really succeed." - Michael (16-Nov-2002) |
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| "The beginning deserves a WOW as I found Lara underwater and next to her a small submarine gently settling down onto the bottom of the ocean. Before you go any further just swim around and your patience will be rewarded with the sight of a scuba diver. A first for me anyway in a custom made level. There was no sound on the Mac and the PC and that is a first as well. Upon entering the rusty wreck you'll meet many enemies. There are a couple of baddies a ninja dogs a bat a shark that made me yell and 2 wraiths and of course the altered locust and 2 birds. Just have a look at the altered locust and do tell me what they look like (I know it should be tiny fish but for me it just looked like pieces of paper high marks for effort anyway). Pushing buttons and finding the Eye of Horus (a Vraeus) is the main goal. Finally finding the lock to put it in made me wonder what had changed as you can also finish the level without doing that. The earthquake made me feel queasy they always do that and this one was in no mood to settle so I ran to the end trigger. 13-11-2002" - Gerty (16-Nov-2002) |
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| "Well OK; it's predominantly underwater that's for certain. And it looks reminiscent of the beginning of the first Maria Doria Level and that's good. And there are lots of strange fishes and the occasional bug (error that is; not insect); which lends the whole thing a certain quirkiness. But the gameplay is very straightforward; the textures are often stretched and sometimes missing altogether; the atmosphere (which could have been potent) is spoiled by a dodgy fly-by and juddering camera at the end. And the whole thing finishes abruptly just as it's changing up into second gear. A nice idea (and hopefully the sequel will explain all) but it feels like the beginning of a much larger level that I never got to play." - Orbit Dream (14-Nov-2002) |
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| "A very short level that could have been a very good one. You find Lara in water and with some weird fishes around sharks a yellow thing that might be a submarine and something that I have never seen in a custom level before a diver. There are no puzzles though only an artefact renamed as Eye of Horus but it's not the usual one. Lara is from TR2 I guess with a diver's outfit and bare footed. The high marks are for the nice atmosphere objects and enemies I had a laugh with those guys. There is something weird though more like a bug. When you drain a room the water still animates above like you are about to go for a swim but there is no water below and of course it shouldn't be any. A few buttons to push and two wraiths that extinguished themselves in a huge room that you have to flood. A nice try but it needs work in the gameplay and puzzles category." - Kristina (12-Nov-2002) |
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