| Reviewer's comments |
"Here's one of the classic examples of "too long". It only lasts an hour, but it's such an uneventful level that it feels like it drags on for much longer than that. I mean, there are a few nice touches here, I personally thought the initial building, with the windows to the outside, was nicely built and was a nice showcase of custom objects, but all you do really is crawl through a lot of tight spaces in search for levers or buttons. No camera hints whatsoever, so you end up running around a lot trying to spot the next path, then eventually you reach the second half which takes place inside icy caves. Huge and mostly empty rooms as you run and crawl around looking for levers to open more doors. On top of that, I think there were two mazes. And funnily enough, after going the scenic route to discover the special crystals, you crawl right back through an opening and end up in the initial area. Ah, the bike sequence was slightly fun, but that was the only real highlight here. 60 minutes. 04/20" - Treeble (12-Apr-2020) |
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| "Unless you’re a real fan of crawling through ducts, you probably won’t find this level very stimulating. Really, apart from that, shooting guards and throwing floor levers, the only bit of excitement comes from riding the motorbike round some mine areas. It’s quite decently made, but there are far better examples of the genre." - Jay (05-Mar-2020) |
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| "This gave me rather mixed feelings. On one
hand, the base/snowy hybrid setting was
quite well constructed any the motorbike
rides were fairly challenging for an older
level. But, on the downside, the gameplay,
although extensive, was rather
unremarkable with many floor levers to
pull and long crawlspaces to traverse, not
to mention the annoying looped music track
that didn't enlighten proceedings. It
could have been much better with more
varied gameplay." - Ryan (09-Oct-2017) |
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| "This is really a pretty engaging little level that took me a bit more than an hour to complete, even with the help of Harry Laudie's impeccable walkthrough. You spend some time in a base area, then you venture into some ice caverns for activity there before returning to the base. There's a particularly nasty motorbike jump to get up to an elevated train track, which to me is probably the highlight of the level. But there's other good stuff as well, even though the surroundings are rather crude by today's standards. Lots of guards to kill, but you get plenty of firepower for the task. An engrossing and rather complicated adventure. Recommended." - Phil (11-Nov-2016) |
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| "Even with all those paper walls, and the final room in the garage where you can reach the end of the world (strange), the level has a very good look with a convincent architecture and very well applied textures and lights. The first part was promising, but when I reached the ducts and later the caves area I got totally lost; why? Total absence of cameras. That was the worst of the level. There are also too many crawlspaces to explore slowing down the game a lot and too many levers/buttons to pull, always ignoring what to do or where to go next. I didn't like the corridor forcing Lara to catch fire too. Even when the revolver and the uzis appeared soon, the ammo was never enough to shoot all the enemies, and also missed some packs of flares. The background music in the caves was not appropriate, but I enjoyed the short rides with the bike there. Adding more camera shots to guide the players and some puzzles, this could be a good level." - Jose (16-Aug-2016) |
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| "This is the sort of custom level which contains approximately 15 minutes of really good gameplay but which actually lasts five times that length.Despite being very competantly made and featuring the occasional nifty idea,this wasn't able to infuse me with much enthusuasm.Perhaps it was the rather bland hi-tech environments;or the huge amount of door kicking and lever pushing;or the occasionally unmarked climbing textures;or the excessive amount of crawling;or the massive 'round-the-houses' style of gameplay progression where you eventually come back to the starting area only after an unnecesarily huge diversion;or the lack of a Finish Trigger.
The motorbike course is generally imaginatively put-together and there are some well-placed guard attacks,but this should have been a much tighter adventure and not the long-winded run-around it actually turned out to be." - Orbit Dream (18-Jul-2008) |
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| "This looked really good Lara herself looks good also objects textures and architecture of a multi-storey base in a snow setting is well realised with good music. I had to read the other reviews to see if it was just me and to my relief everyone experienced the same total confusion. It was really hard to know what it was all about all those doors to open running up and down ramps crawlspaces into toilets and offices along corridors and trying to figure out what you did when you pulled that last lever or which door did you open if any. It's not necessary all the time in a level to have camera shots but in this one it is vital for no other reason than to keep the player's interest alive. Because to be honest a good few times I was willing to throw it in the bin. And the caves were even more confusing. There were train tracks which helped in a lot of places but then in the ice maze where the fires are it was almost impossible. Having said that the idea is very good and I suppose if we did go to a base in the Antarctic we would have to search a lot for what we want in the last complex. Rather than being at times tedious if camera shots were included this level would become a very good one despite that maze." - CC (06-Jul-2004) |
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| "Why do some authors hate cameras so much? They're really good when you want to show which door a lever opened. In this level you pull a lever and then have to search for the door the lever opened. That's the hardest part. The searching I mean. And that pretty much sums up the gameplay in this level. Pull a lever search for a door only to have to pull yet another lever. There is however quite a nice ride with motorcycle. The texturing is nice but it gets repetitive very fast. The lighting isn't anything special either. The level ends after around thirty-five minutes if you're lucky and don't get lost." - Magnus (29-Jan-2004) |
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| "Nice level in a base. Many rooms to break in by kick door most of them empty; soldiers everywhere; little difficulty to drive with the motorbike to the bridge many lever to pull and find what they open; long way in the ice to find the way to the base. Good level - enjoyed to play it." - Yoav (27-Dec-2003) |
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| "The first half takes place in an office/lab building with great new tables and chairs I've never seen before but soon gets confusing with all the levers to push and no camera work to guide you to the next area. There are a lot of areas to search for that newly opened door and too many hallways and crawlspaces between them. It looks like the only objective is to get down to the icy caves where the real fun soon begins with some great motorbike riding along some icy slopes and mining car tracks. At least with all the running around you get a good look at the nice office building and Lara has a great new outfit that I wouldn't mind seeing more of as well." - RaiderGirl (19-Jan-2003) |
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| "Sorry this is not on my list as the minute I finished it I threw it away. What a confusing level although in the beginning I had high hopes. Lara looked really great in her new outfit and her hair done up in a bun gives the girl a more mature look. But it went sour for me because of the major lack in cameras as there are so many doors to open and so many levers and some buttons as well. Finding bike I thought OK give it another chance found even the Nitrous Oxide Feeder but all those icy caves after a while started to look alike so I didn't even pick up some of the goodies as I was completely lost and that was my bread crumb trail. The music was also getting on my nerves. Getting back to the base must have been my luck as I didn't even know WHAT I was doing. As I understand it there will be a second part and I hope that the author will pick up some of the complaints and improve his next one. Because it has the ingredients of being a great game. 23-12-2002" - Gerty (29-Dec-2002) |
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| "No doubt this is a good try but this level was too confusing boring at some times and unfinished too. Once you get in the mood (after having played it for 10 or 15 minutes) everything becomes predictable - Compound guards levers crawlspaces. Well the part where you have to avoid the steaming fire was a tiny twist from the rest what this level offered but soon you'll get back to doing what you've done before and will do afterwards. I saw absolutely no logic in the part where the fire was burning one the snow but not because it was burning on the snow but because the fire was set off weirdly (what I did was run through the fire dive in the water while taking a medipack and then went all the way up strangely the fire was gone then). The music in the icy caverns would've been better if not looped all the time since it was quite annoying after a while. It also seemed strange that the sentry guns in the icy caverns were hanging somewhere in the air. I say a lot of things that annoyed me through this hour long adventure but it surely has some good things. I liked Lara's outfit a lot and some of the new objects were very good (sometimes the textures on the objects were ... too plain. Of course I'm not expecting a photo-realistic result and the authors works was not bad but the objects were 'screaming' for a bit more work than they got). Even if I didn't find the finish trigger in this level (according to the thread in the forum I did finish the level) it wasn't that bad for the time it lasted." - eTux (21-Dec-2002) |
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| "A really well designed snowy level where the first half and the very end is spent in a high rise base and the second half in a series of snow tunnels where you get to use the bike in some really cool jumps and moves. The level though has a few downsides with the most obvious of these being the fairly repetitive nature of gameplay in other words this is a lever pushing level unfortunately there is not one camera shot so it's a matter of going in search for yourself there are also a hell of a lot of doors to kick open in the first half most of these not holding anything to do especially the toilets. I never thought I would ever hope to find something interesting to do once I've opened a toilet door sheesh! In the end this is a good hour long level but maybe it just overstayed its welcome a little too long." - Sash (13-Dec-2002) |
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| "It's a nice level in an icy environment. I liked some custom objects in it like the bars outside the tables and chairs and Lara's blue back outfit. Basically though I am afraid it's all about pushing levers and opening doors sometimes nowhere near to the place you're in. There are no cameras and that often makes it hard to progress. The motorcycle is only used for a jump and nothing more SAS guards and guards in general will stand in your way. A lot of crawling at first through ducts and shooting grids. I found no finishing triggers even with the author's instructions I think it didn't work as expected." - Kristina (13-Dec-2002) |
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| "A bit tricky to review this one. Many many good elements in this hour long run such as a cool outfit for Lara well crafted rooms (bathroom bedroom shower kitchen ...) some custom objects and a nice window texture the music that accompanies you through the icy caves in the second half and first and formost a rather smart track for the bike also nicely textured with the rail tracks. I also liked how you got back to the starting point close to the end. On the other hand some 20 or so SAS/MPs as enemies got really annoying over time several levers and buttons to find and push and absolutely no camera guidance as to what their effect was a little too much crawling required and lots of doors to open at one time. But if you like Arctic levels this one is definitely worth a try. Still wondering what that map was for though." - Michael (08-Dec-2002) |
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| "One of those levels where the main part of the puzzles consists of the old 'push - a - lever - here - and - never - get - a - cut scene - and - it's - never - the - nearby - door - that - opens - so - you - have - to - search - round - a - lot' game. Furthermore there are a few doors that remain closed so that doesn't exactly narrow down the possibilities and I'm still not absolutely sure what half of the levers did. You start outside a base in the snow have to infiltrate and after quite a lot of crawls you shoot a friendly guard to get the power petrol that you will need shortly afterwards when you come across the motorbike. Deeper and deeper you venture into icy caverns with some mazelike areas a few more levers and a fire that I found tricky jumping past. At times I thought I was lost or that I must have missed something but finally I groped my way back to the base only to find that another door has opened. Must have been one of those many levers along the way. Thank god I didn't miss that one. The looped music becomes slightly annoying after a while all the more since some part of the cheerful lift music sounds suspiciously like 'I was made for loving you Baby'. I can't put my finger on it but somehow the whole experience lacked something; in gameplay as well as in atmosphere. There is not much variety either in the tasks at hand nor in the design of the rooms. It's still fun though." - Dimpfelmoser (07-Dec-2002) |
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