trle.net
Level: Tower Bridge 2 - The Last Renovation back home search
Author(s): Dhama
total rating:8.35 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
CC 8 8 10 9
Dimpfelmoser 8 8 9 8
Dougsan 9 8 9 7
Engelchen Lara 8 7 9 8
eTux 6 7 8 7
Gerty 8 8 8 8
John 9 8 8 8
Jose 8 8 7 8
Juan Carlos 8 8 9 9
Kiopo 8 9 9 9
Kristina 8 8 8 8
Laramaniac 10 8 10 9
Magnus 7 7 8 8
MichaelP 8 8 10 9
Orbit Dream 9 8 10 9
Qwendo 8 8 9 9
RaiderGirl 8 9 8 9
Sash 8 8 8 9
SilentViper 8 8 9 10
Solange 7 8 10 10
Staticon 9 8 10 10
Treeble 8 7 8 8
Wendee 8 8 8 8
Whistle 8 8 9 10
Yoav 8 7 9 9
category averages
(25 reviews)		 8.08 7.88 8.80 8.64

Reviewer's comments

"I can't believe it's been nearly a decade between me playing both of the Tower Bridge versions... well, if I look at my review of the demo, I sort of can, but still... And this, make no mistake when comparing the ratings, is indeed the better version of the two - with actually incorporating some puzzles to make your experience meaningful, and the setting itself is much more moody than that of the earlier version. Maybe the use of intense shadows was a tad too liberal, and there are too many opportunities to screw up your chances of finishing the game legally, but - at its best - this is a very enjoyable half an hour raiding experience. The details, like the author's portrait picture on the Weapon Code Card, the wind blowing when you are at the top levels of the bridge make for some nice attention to details. Outsmarting the sentry guns and SAS is as fun as ever, and the timed sequences are top notch as far as the idea goes (as said, pity that you can sometimes mess it up without a chance to reset it and try again). It seems you don't really need to collect all 5 (6?) pieces of armor to finish the game legally, as I left without finding the breastplate and finding 2 left grieves. While it's good that you're not punished for missing something, as at some point it is impossible to backtrack, it did seem to kind of defeat the purpose of it all. All that said - more than 10 years later it still is a one of a kind experience, that, while not without its faults, is one you should not miss!" - eTux (14-Sep-2011)

"Found another one I did play but forgot to review. If you like timed runs, this is the one for you. There aren’t so tight that you can’t make it, but you probably have to try a few times to get them done. The idea was a good one and the bridge does look awesome. Do search for the armor pieces, as that is the icing on the cake, so to speak." - Gerty (24-Jun-2010)

"Fine work. This towers are very dangerous, with a lot of soldiers, bats and some machine guns. I liked a lot the good architecture and textures, but the level is very dark for my taste and the two packs of flares I found were not enough for me. I missed some more guns or more bullets for the revolver, 'cause the grenade gun appears too much late at the very end of the level. I've got a problem in the room with the timed switches; the door didn't open and I had to repeat the secuence but finaly it opened. There are several timed runs but not too tough and the level is short if you don't want to look for the armour pieces, but entertaining after all." - José (21-May-2008)

"I don't know why, but this level just didn't do it for me. Surely there are some very interesting puzzles, most of them timed stuff, but I guess the seeming non-linearity of it put me off. I was often looking at the walkthrough to get an idea of what do to and where to go first and turns out I'd done a few things the 'wrong way' before, thus stumbling on an invisible wall near the rope before (after for me) the weapon code card. Texturewise it looks pretty good and the included sounds do help create the atmosphere (the strong winds on top ofthe bridge were cleverly thought). Such an ambitious level pays the price of having the end of the world visible (but not reachable) whenever you're outside, but it doesn't matter much because the level has no horizon. It only truly shows to be the end when you're in the river down below. The new colors on Lara's outfit look nice, but there seems to have happened a wardrobe malfunction because there are several spots with the original textures. 30 minutes. 08/07" - Treeble (12-Aug-2007)

“Atmospheric challenging diverse these are the first words that come to mind. The howling of the wind a top the bridge was eerie. The fantastic combination jump timed switch situation was excellent very satisfying to master. The pure setting of the Tower Bridge was very original and the acrobatics Lara performed off the bridge were wonderful. I loved this level it was just too short.” – Laramaniac (03-Sep-2004)

“A great level! The scenery is beautiful and the bridge is just amazing! I think I enjoyed the way everything looked more than anything else while I played it! The enemies are very good scary enough and not too easy but not too difficult to kill and on a closer look if you are so unfortunate they look horrible with their teeth and eyes! The bike is a lot of fun too. There are many timed sequences and that is usually where I have the biggest problem I don't perform well under that kind of pressure but I managed all of them after a few attempts except for the one with the switches and boxes...” - Solange (17-Aug-2004)

“What a great idea to build level on the Tower Bridge. I have only seen it on postcards and now when I play this level I feel like I have already been there LOL. It's a good adventure for Lara there is a timed drive on the motorbike and Lara needs to find five objects before she opens the trapdoor and slides to the end. Interesting level indeed.” – Yoav (15-Feb-2004)

“I don’t know why no one had any problems jumping from the bridge to the water but I did. Like the first time I played this I couldn’t jump in the water without Lara exploding I tried many places the corners nothing and it took me fifteen minutes to make it. After that the timed doors were a piece of cake even the first one I did on foot so I must be getting very good because I remember how frustrating I was about this. You can gather five pieces of the armor by completing a number of tasks including more timed runs jumps etc. the enemies are bats and SAS. It’s a nice fun level but very dark you must only play it at night. Too bad Terry hasn’t released anything lately; I would love to see his work on something new.” – Kristina (09-Sep-2003)

“I didn't play the first level and I believe I haven't missed much because what I read in the reviews is that the bridge itself is the star of the show. And it's the star here too. It looks brilliant beautifully textured and you get a great looking blue bike with the word 'cool' written on it accompanied by new music. I don't know if it's exactly like the Tower Bridge but it's near enough. After a neat opening flyby we start standing waaaaaaay up high on the supports with the wind howling a great sense of place. A couple of times I jumped off the bridge for a laugh wheeeeeeeeee. There's a nice little intro story as to why the city lights are not on and the guys who have invaded the bridge have done a great clean up job of the river while they were at it! There's a hole dug in the bridge below which is a punt you will need to get down to. There are good puzzles to complete timed runs and you get to go up inside the towers and out in between the girders with the almost deafening roar of the wind and water below. Excellent job on the Pass card Dhama with the year of creating the level thumbs up. That puzzle where you need to pull switches and raise blocks took a few goes and the jump sequence from sloped pillar to pillar were great. The ending was a little odd sliding into . . . where? It's a pity there are no more follow-on levels as this would have been a great starting point for a city adventure like say bridge- museum- sewers- skyscraper etc. I had finished this review and then had a look at the others and was intrigued by these vampire guards so I went back to look. In the last room when you jump to the floor three come running out. I ran right up to them and they just stood there doing nothing. So I used the binoculars and got a close look at their faces. Yeah! they had vampire fangs and red eyes. Definitely worth a look.” – CC (25-Jul-2003)

“Very good puzzles including a good use of the motorcycle in a timed run. You can do the run without the bike but the bike adds a lot of fun. The ‘Machinegun Pass’ is a great idea. I always wonder how the bad guys manage to not get shot by their automatic machineguns! The bridge is the bridge. If you played The Tower Bridge Incident then you know how well designed an exterior it has. If you passed up the earlier iteration (no real reason to play it imho) then welcome to a beautiful structure. Enemies abound. The ones I curse the most were the bats because they were all but invisible in some parts and health was a major concern in one of the more challenging and longer puzzles (you could avoid this section if you chose according to the forum but I chose to make it part of a long puzzle which included a serious health challenge - solution was finding the full medikit with enough health to survive the freezing blasts of cold). A pretty good series of sloped jumps ending with a jump to a rope swing. Not hard but fun. The timed jumps across the fiery columns was a real challenge for me and really enjoyable. I could go on and on about this level. It was a real blast for me in many ways. BIG PROBLEM was the darkness. Sad but true. Two big points off.” – Dougsan (05-Mar-2003)

“Part 2 was a little more interesting especially the timed puzzles and doors. Took me a while to beat them ;-) Again armor pieces to find here. Textures were good as much as I could see them – it was dark as usual ;-) Sound was nice but the enemies seemed to be placed rather listlessly. All in all his best level :-)” – Engelchen Lara (21-Jan-2003)

“First time around I gave up at the bit with the timed motorcyle ride cause it was so jerky on my Mac that it seemed impossible to coordinate the bike across the bridge. This time I found it quite easy. Am I getting better or what?! I think it's a great and original level; the Tower Bridge is just utterly wonderful and unique and Dhama has come up with a clever storyline that goes so well with the setting. My only complaint being that it is way too dark in places but since I still had the monitor adjusted to shed a bit of light into Autumn Creek I could cope. You get a highly entertaining gameplay with some timed runs a bit of target shooting bats and guards to kill and lots of jumps to perform. At times I feared that I might be running out of health before the quest was over but there are actually enough of medipacks to be found to survive all that deadly steam the bullets and the locusts. I took me a little under 50 minutes to reach the long slope into the unknown but it seemed somehow longer because there is such a variety of tasks and each room awaits with some nasty surprise. It's a pity that the author seems to have stopped level building.” – Dimpfelmoser (26-Nov-2002)

“A brilliant finale to Dhama's set of impressive levels. This one has it all in near perfect combination. A complete reworking of the earlier level this throws out everything but the actual concept and introduces a highly enjoyable challenging and fast moving gameplay in its place. What more can I say? A superb creation and a wonderful achievement.” – Orbit Dream (23-Nov-2002)

“Great level! You start off high up on a blue bridge with a flyby which shows you round the area I really like this and the fact that you could do loads of great jumps into the water from this bridge. Ok well to complete the level you need to find all 5 pieces of the armour by solving great puzzles exploring a little and avoiding a lot of traps. There is also several timed runs one including the motorbike which has been nicely retextured btw I love timed runs and this level has some great ones I also loved the jumping on the pillars with timed fires above the death floor puzzle and the raising block and switch puzzle that was a really great one. And also there is a jump slide grab puzzle a bit later on which was great as well. There is a bit of rope swinging shimmying swimming and crawling to do as well as a few tricky jumps and blocks to raise. As for enemies there are SAS men but there isn’t too many of them thank god locusts and ghosts which are all easy to get rid of and didn’t pose as much as a threat but it was still nice to see them in the level. As for lighting and textures the level is set at night and you solve the puzzles mostly inside the textures were good maybe a bit more variety would have been nice and I had no problem with the lighting at all because I could always see what I was doing as it had been placed correctly. As for atmosphere and sounds some of the sounds were good and the atmosphere was ok but I think it needed more work in the outside area and also the background sound wave didn’t really suit this outdoor area. I didn’t find any secrets and cameras weren’t used very much which was a shame. Overall this level is very enjoyable and it has some very original ideas in it especially with the outside area and in terms of the puzzles and traps!” – John (01-Sep-2002)

“This is a wonderful reworking of the original Tower Bridge but with a darker feel throughout that had me a little on edge at times. Starting at the very top of the bridge after a great 30 second fly by the aim is to find 5 pieces of armour while battling the living dead vampire guards complete with fangs by the way what better place to find vampires than England a country where the sun never shines...lol and working out some very tricky puzzles such as the timed motorbike run a timed fire block jumping puzzle and a 5 switch puzzle that had me so baffled I needed to write the creator. Taking me 50 minutes and only finding 4 pieces of the armour although I now know how to get the 5th this is another really well done and atmospheric level from one of the best.” - Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“From the prefect initial flyby supported with just the right music to set the scene the wonderful atmosphere of this level never let’s go of you. Right at the start there is the enjoyable 3-somersaults-dive into the River Thames and than you climb around the towers finding the 5 pieces of armor before ending the level after about an hour. There are about a dozen soldiers and a few bats to take care of along the way (make sure you kill all on the bridge else they will shoot at you later) and gameplay is largely around a set of timed sequences to master but most of them I was able to complete fine at the third or fourth attempt. On the downside the bike can ride through some of the custom objects and I hate this steam it always takes away lots of health. Also I was somehow unable to find my way back out of the last armor piece room despite completing the 5 lever puzzle but you can finish the level without it.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“This level is filled with timed doors and switches that make the gameplay a bit frustrating at times. Speed is key here and you can make it (after many many attempts) but it hinders the flow of the game a little. The Tower-Bridge itself is marvelous in its design and the sound files support the atmosphere very well. Enemies are exclusively SAS soldiers appear quite often and are well placed so that you do need the occasional medipack. You can finish the game without all the pieces of armor that you are collecting and after 45 minutes the party is over. What a pity that the brilliant blue motorbike is only briefly used at the beginning of the level.” - Qwendo (21-Jun-2002)

“You can tell by the opening fly-by that this is going to be an extraordinary level - and you won't be disappointed. It starts out with an easy timed-door puzzle (the bike through the door) but they get progressively harder. I really enjoyed the timed fire block jumping puzzle (I saved a LOT) and the timed jump switch but the room with the electrified floor (where you get the key card) had me reloading just a few too many times. There are quite a few guards and not many pick-ups (make sure you find the lasersight) but I only found a few pieces of the armor and wasn't sure what they were for. I was quite confused as to where the end of the level was. I finally had to look at the walkthrough provided by Dhama on his site and it made me wonder if I was playing the same version. I didn't shoot the blue hanging ball and there was not a sentry gun near the end of the level so I worked hard for the key card for nothing (It was worth it though - I must have landed directly on the dead guards head because he stuck to Lara's foot and I dragged him around the room - very funny!). There was also a swinging rope that would not allow me to grab onto it - I tried over 20 times and she just went right through it. Looking at Sash's review I didn't notice the guards looking like vampires and I don't remember any 5 switch puzzles. Despite my confusion I enjoyed this level immensely. The atmosphere and action were unbeatable! I'm looking forward to the next level.” – Raider Girl (21-Jun-2002)

“Tower Bridge 2 was much improved over TB 1. The initial flyby only hints as to what you will be facing. Once I figured out how to get off the initial bridge the game moved quite swiftly. Timed doors and puzzles were the mainstay and a welcome change. This game incorporates swimming motorcycle riding running jumping climbing and rope swinging. Just enough of each to keep things fun and exciting. Each room is well made (except for the swinging through the walls bug) and the lighting bright and dark where appropriate. The bad guys/bats are a pain...as they should be. I enjoyed this game and recommend the download.” – Wendee (21-Jun-2002)

“A fun level with good texturing and lightning (even though they’re both very dark). There’s a lot of timed puzzles and at one point Lara gets to drive a motorbike. I finished the level without finding all the pieces of the armor so I suppose that you don’t have to get them to finish the level. And the SAS-men really are vampires just take a really close look!” – Magnus (21-Jun-2002)

“A very good extension of the Tower Bridge Incident with the same stunning graphics. More baddies and game play have been introduced but the end is somewhat spoiled by a bug with stops you from getting the last object. Well worth playing especially if you have not played the prequel.” – Whistle (21-Jun-2002)

“Excellent level the Tower Bridge's design is superb and the textures fit it to a tee. A very good atmosphere is created and the jump off the top into the water is very fun (As long as you don't embed our hero into the tarmac!). The starting flyby is more than enough to get the adventure juices flowing and with excellent audio the atmosphere is set for a 1 hour+ adventure. I love the new Lara outfit used; it suited the theme really well and that blue motorbike - WOW! One thing I will say about it is possibly an over-usage of timed puzzles which I am not a terribly big fan of and a few more medi-packs would have come in handy too. But on the whole a superb level!” – Kiopo (21-Jun-2002)

“This level has a nice gameplay if you like to play against timed doors really this is your level. I normally don’t like too many timed switches but there is one group of switches that I really loved the idea and the way Dhama did it! Unfortunately all this five switches were good only for getting a medpack! This was a pity! For playing this level you need to move fast and correctly Lara otherwise maybe you won’t finish it. The room map is nice with some very geometric stacked rooms the only thing I dislike is that sometimes you find very big rooms and areas where you have absolutely nothing to do. The game is short but this is the first part of course I am waiting for the second part. The only thing I really think this level needs are puzzles to think. Enemies they are standard enemies I really don’t like very much when three soldiers suddenly appears in front or in back of Lara a lot of bullets for my own taste but what I really consider as a mistake is the way in two different places soldiers appears from the air in front of Lara. I don’t know how many secrets were in this level but the first I found was very simple and common just look in a dark shadow and there it is. Atmosphere is nicely worked but it is impossible for you to appreciate the work because the level is very dark and I didn’t find a flare! So save use your only three flares look everywhere you can and play it again without flares. I really think that using too many dark shadows is not a nice way to make a level hard. There is some new music of course I like the work of giving new music to the players. There aren’t too many cameras but they are not necessary because is not to hard to find the door opened by the switch. Lighting and textures most of textures are correctly worked but there are some at the wood platforms that are worked in wrong size (too long) or not rotated correctly. There are also triangle sections not rotated correctly and in doors there are some textures in wrong size. There are some climbable walls without climbable texture. When I find a level with lights I really thanks because when you play the level you always see Lara in 3D even if lights are too light and shadows are really dark (I would prefer lower lights and shadows not too dark but I am sure this a personal taste). There are only few areas without lights if you hang Lara at sides of the bridge at the beginning Lara looks terribly plane! The only big mistake or maybe it is not (I don’t know the author idea) is when you take Lara from one corner to another at the beginning bridge because you can see towards the rooms back the concrete textures it also happens in water! There is one door where Lara cannot walk towards the same door because there is an invisible block.” – Juan Carlos (21-Jun-2002)

“A well-done level with beautiful textures and excellent design – fantastic effects (!). What I did not like so much were the puzzles where sometimes you reached a point of no return like with the multi-lever puzzle in the second tower. The tricky jump sequences were fun.” – SilentViper (21-Jun-2002)

“Tower Bridge 2 - The Last Renovation is a quantum leap on from the original Tower Bridge exercise. The bridge has been totally redesigned and the scale is better. Textures improved on the last and even the bad-guys and the bike have been re-textured (The bike is now a groovy blue and if you get close enough the enemy have been turned into vampires). The puzzles are taxing - especially the five switch timed rising block one in the second tower [!] - and I loved the slide and jump sections. This is the third time I have played this and it still took me nearly an hour and a half. Again this is a work of art but this time there is tons more game-play thrown in for good measure. A true masterpiece from the King of originality. Play it now play it again later then play it once more.” – Staticon (21-Jun-2002)
Tag Cloud from Reviews:
back home search