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Level: The Research in the Catacombs back home search
Author(s): Jens Allaert
total rating:3.30 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
DJ Full 3 2 1 2
eTux 1 1 1 3
Gerty 2 2 4 4
Jay 3 3 5 5
Jerry 2 2 4 4
Kristina 3 2 4 5
Loren 3 5 5 6
MichaelP 3 3 4 4
Obig 4 4 5 5
Orbit Dream 2 2 3 3
RaiderGirl 3 4 5 5
Sash 4 4 5 4
Tombaholic 1 1 2 3
Whistle 4 4 3 4
category averages
(14 reviews)		 2.71 2.79 3.64 4.07

Reviewer's comments

"The level feels like classic catacombs, looks like such and contains one spike trap, one fire trap, one rolling ball to avoid and few enemies to defeat, while searching for two puzzle items to place in their slots. It's not so bad, but not so creative as well, so the gameplay is generally average. But I don't like backtracking, and this happens twice in this game, and I needed to dozy across the pool, so I give only 3 points for G&P - 1 for gameplay and 2 for puzzles. We can find two secrets in here (one of them is unmarked), but they are useless, as there is not enough enemies to spend all this obtained ammo effectively. For the mentioned enemies... bushmen in catacombs... Why not? At least they don't appear from thin air, like they do in some other games of similar quality. And the objects are absolute minimum, but all in all, they improve the atmosphere. The sounds are those from original audio folder, and there are not enough of them. What is more, the last sample is terminated by hitting the finish trigger, and I don't like it. Cameras doesn't exist. Lighting constant. Texturing monotonous. SUMMARY: Not recommended unless you are the one who tolerates cheating. And even if you are, don't expect lots of fun here." - DJ Full (14-Nov-2010)

"The most revealing aspect of this level is the failed monkeyswing over the pool of water.It is abundantly clear from this that the builder had no interest whatsoever in actually playing through the level that he'd just built. This is a shame,as there's enough elsewhere to indicate that,with more patience and time at his disposal,the potential to make enjoyable custom levels was there from the start. Unfortunately,the combination of 'very young builder' and 'plenty of time' did not sit well together.However,as this builder must by now be in his late teens,perhaps he should consider a return?" - Orbit Dream (03-Oct-2010)

"Big empty rooms, paperthin walls, a rather careless texturing and enemies like natives that don't fit in this catacomb style setting are the defining features here. Other features are non-marked spike and fire tiles and a room with a complete needless ladder. There is one dead end situation in a room with a pool and no way out if you jump in there (and another dead end if you miss the horseman's gem at the start, so a door that leads you further will stay close). But that doesn't really matter as there is a non-working monkey swing and you can go on only by using the fly cheat, so technically speaking the level is unplayable. One spike ball, a pushing object and a golden star that has to be found and used, that's all gameplay-wise." - Jerry (11-Sep-2009)

"What this level has to do with the title I couldn’t figure out. No real research and as for catacombs, more like large empty rooms. Game play is on the whole simplistic but with one or two “twists” like fire and spike tiles with no way of spotting them and a monkey swing that doesn’t work along with climbable walls that you cannot spot going through ceiling tiles which look solid. Enemies are few and quite easily dealt with, especially towards the end with all the fire power Lara has collected. All this adds up to frustration and doing the level mindlessly. Graphics too are rather mundane and the three sounds not noticeable. All in all not a level I would recommend." - Whistle (30-Dec-2005)

“First off I'd like to say that I don't take any pleasure in thrashing any level but in this case there really is not a redeeming feature to be found. 15 minutes. South Pacific natives in a Catacomb style setting (what the...?). Blind spike traps. Blind fire tiles. A red herring monkey swing that drops you unexpectedly (not funny). A climb on an untextured wall through a ceiling. A room where if you fall into the water you are stuck. I think that about covers it.” – Tombaholic (28-Jan-2004)

“A bit short level did not really make me ponder too long what to pull next. Though I could not notice the crowbar at once under the removable statue. You get a Horseman's Gem at the beginning and will have to find a Golden Star. Enemies are a few soldiers tribemen and of course there are some rolling rocks. Watch out and do not fall into the water for you can't get out. There are walls with invisible ladders which are climbable. I have found two secrets the Grenade Gun and the revolver. No counting and the secret tune chimes only for the Grenade Gun. Not bad for a first edited level we are expecting them to be continued. :-)” – Obig (02-Sep-2003)

“I think that it is very good of Jens to have a try at the LE and I hope he won't be too discouraged by the low rating as there is more into making a level work than just making a room and texture it. I hate unmarked fire and spike traps and the few enemies in here seem a bit out of place. There are some mistakes as I fell into the water and couldn't get out and reading the reviews I wasn't the only one. Well if you are looking for a level that you can play in about 15 minutes this is the one. 12-03-2003” – Gerty (15-Aug-2003)

“My ratings seem a bit lower than the ones of others but I think this level deserves nothing more - the surroundings maybe were not so bad and the lighting comparatively good but the enemies looked out of place here (without a story that might explain their presence anyway) the secrets I found didn't register as such spikes popping out and fires appearing without a warning is a big NO-NO in any level so I didn't give any extra credit for that - there is a monkey swing that doesn't work which I believe is just due to laziness or impatience - and is not planned out very well too even if it would work you couldn't get back cause the door would block your way and there are some spots where you can fall into the water and can't get out. All might have been half as bad but as everything I mentioned before happened to me I was not very pleased when finishing the level. The author obviously hasn't finished the tutorial level and read the manual so I'll leave it to his conscience what quality levels he'll release but I definitely advise him to make the tutorial level and read the manual otherwise I can't say that this level is very recommendable to play but I hope I can say this about his future level.” – eTux (26-Jul-2003)

“This is just the thing if you're looking for a short easy level that won't make you think too often or reload very much aside from the unmarked spike and fire tiles of course. You'll spend ten or fifteen minutes in this catacomb style level and run into some soldiers and natives? as you pickup and use a gem and golden star. The hardest puzzles is a pushable object puzzle with a marked tile only four or so squares away. Secrets found: 2” – RaiderGirl (23-Jul-2003)

“Another classic catacombs level to our collection. This is no different than the others. A gem to collect at the beginning of the level a star later on and a moving object. The rest is climbing swimming and killing two Arabs. The rooms are empty and boring more could have been added in puzzles and to create a better atmosphere. Ten minutes one secret found and the level ends underwater. Not much to see in this one.” – Kristina (01-Jul-2003)

“I'm not sure what the Pacific Island natives were doing in the catacombs perhaps they were lost. Otherwise this is a standard looking catacomb level very obviously a first time attempt and more in the nature of a tutorial than an actual level. Gameplay is extremely simplistic and rather illogical and there are anomalies such as unmarked spike traps and climbing textures that go nowhere. Only 15 minutes of gameplay and a very abrupt ending. Still at least it was nice and light which makes a pleasant change. My stats showed no secrets although I'm sure I heard the secret 'drinnnng' a couple of times. 30.06.2003” – Jay (01-Jul-2003)

“This is obviously the first attempt by a very young level builder who has learned how to build custom wads but who needs to learn more about level building. The level builder has included spike and fire traps that are triggered without warning. In two locations if you fall into the water you cannot get out. In one location the ceiling is textured for a monkey-swing but the level builder did not mark the squares in the bottom-most room beneath them as monkey such that it is impossible to cross the room without flycheat. In another location a climbable wall is not textured as such. Instead of triggering the secrets as secrets the level builder triggered the secret wav file. There were also some stretched textures and wafer-thin walls. My advice to the level builder is to read the tutorial manual more carefully and to pay closer attention to the way the levels included with the TRLE were made.” – Loren (28-Jun-2003)

“This looks like an obvious first attempt at level building and needs a lot more work to end up as a decent playable level. You will spend 15 minutes max. here getting a gem at the start and a star about half way through running through a few big box-like rooms often with a pool below pulling a few levers killing a few soldiers and some (totally out of place) natives and finding two secrets that ring but don't register in the stats. There are annoying unmarked spikes and fires and worst of all there is one monkey swing which is incorrectly built and thus does not work so actually have to flycheat to get across and back. Still texturing and lighting shows a bit of promise and I am sure the author with some more care and time could come up with a better level than this one.” – Michael (27-Jun-2003)

“What a shock it is to play along with this level and then wham bam you’ve hit the finish trigger after 15 minutes with all these expectations of what will be coming next. This level though isn’t a masterpiece in gaming for the length it plays but there was a certain interest it held especially after finding a hidden climb through ceiling and wall and a nice little spike room and fire room. But with only 5 enemies two desert looking guards and three natives oddly placed in a catacomb environment and 2 secrets I think as nothing registered this was a fairly basic level in all senses.” – Sash (26-Jun-2003)
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