Level reviews

"This felt a bit unfinished as the finish trigger came all too abruptly while I still had plenty of items in my inventory: I never used the mechanical beetle, found the hathor effigy but not the stick, and I also picked up three black beetles (plus a broken one) although only one ever went into my inventory. It's a pity, because otherwise this level flowed rather well in a rather straightforward pattern. There were quite a few flipmaps in here, lots of areas to flood, some platforms would only appear once you'd done certain activities, and even the very end item you use changes a wall in front of you revealing the exit. Nice level, although, like I said, it felt unfinished. 30 minutes, 3 secrets. 09/20" - Treeble

"This level is again not too hard to play and seems to have objects with no use. Not alot of enemies to kill in this one. So it was good but it wasnt as good as part 4" - JoeTheCrazyGamer

"This solidly made Catacomb level actually progresses fairly smoothly and in a linear fashion, provided you keep your eyes open. There were only a couple of places I was stumped by: a five button puzzle which was quite enigmatic, but which worked itself out in the end and the flipmap room which required detours for necessary artifacts. Those aside, this was smooth and quite placid with a couple of neat touches (in particular the method of getting rid of the beetles and having them transform into a mechanical one. The textures and lighting are attractive and solid, secrets are sneakily hidden (I only found four) and there's enough explosive ammo available to destroy the numerous skeletons and mummies. I was wondering about the significance of the beetles I picked up aside from having to pick them up to go, but it was a pleasant enough raid otherwise. Pity there have been no follow ups in this series." - Ryan

"Not difficult to play this catacomb level. Easy tasks, few backtracking and many flipmaps to activate. Found small scarabs, mummies and wraiths as enemies, only got a couple of secrets and I had to reload in the elevator room 'cause I went out and I couldn't go up. Correct use of musics and cameras, the best were the lighting and the texturization. Enjoyable, but I missed some puzzles." - Jose

"I played and reviewed 80% of this series ten years ago but for some reason never got around to this fifth and final segment. The builder has provided his own "walkthrough" for this one, which is a model of obscurity, so it was of little value to me other than as a guide to check periodically and see if I was where I was supposed to be. Quite a bit is written about areas I never visited and artifacts I never found, which were undoubtedly related to the three (of five) secrets that I missed. Still, you get a fairly linear raid of about 45 minutes if you're not picky about getting all the secrets and milking all the gameplay out of the level. (If a player more skillful than I wishes to write a more serviceable walkthrough and document all the secrets in the process, that would be considered a welcome gift to the community.) The lighting here is fairly good, the environs are easy on the eyes, and no insurmountable tasks are presented to the player of average skills. The walkthrough indicates that a sixth level was in progress at the time but was never released. Too bad." - Phil

"I am continually surprised at what the good,old fashioned,Catacomb wad is capable of. In this instance,it provides a solid level of considerable fun and entertainment. It also proves that,in the hands of a creative builder,the location can still produce a few surprises.There is a sequence here (involving menacing scarabs transforming into a mechanical one) that is truly novel and effective;while the gameplay progression is dependant on some imaginative uses of elevators and flooding water. Lighting and texturing is of a high standard;while secrets are well placed.The sparsness of the enemies slightly disapoints;but this is a very worthy and timeless 45 minute adventure,which should appeal to everyone." - Orbit Dream

"This level has some loose ends. Where were the other three black beetles? And why one finds only the Hathor Effergy, but not the stick which belongs to it. And where could one find the second part of the mechanical Beetle? And why I had the feeling which the level builder had no more desire on the rest and has broken off the level simply in the middle. It has given absolutely pleasure to play this level. The rooms were well built and nicely texturiert. There were a few good riddles and one could see a few made good Flyby's. However, a weak point was the lighting again. All together this was a good level which left open however a few questions." - Scottie

"I was a little unsure about this level as I read it is based on the catacomb theme well it definitely is but it thankfully wasn't boring at all. The game pretty much revolves around collecting items to raise in stages the level of water in a pit not all levels need to be reached though to finish the level but if you want all secrets then it is necessary apart from this you'll find a couple of puzzles one a little enigmatic involving some wall buttons movable objects and a floor lever and I needed a little help from the walkthrough to guide me in the right direction. You'll end the level after 40 or so minutes with some items still in your backpack and hope fully all five secrets of which I found four. Maybe the only thing this could have done more with is enemies but for a catacomb level this one really kept me interested." - Sash

"I managed to play all five 'Rest' sequences together. Each took me about 90 minutes of play time which I got through in five days from Sunday through Thursday. I would not have known '...Rest 1' was a first effort if not for the comments of other reviewers. I highly recommend any and all of the 'Lara Never Has a Rest' series for beginners who are tired of getting stuck a hundred times or having Lara die every ten minutes. The gameplay is not challenging nor are the puzzles. But the games are fun. Expert level players might find the games a bit too simple but I think we all like to give our minds a rest every once in a while and just play a nice simple game. These games can be enjoyed by the expert who doesn't want to be challenged but just wants to have a little fun. Of the five 'games' number five stands above the others with better puzzles and much better use of space and enemies. It does not present any more of a challenge to expert players but novice players should be sufficiently challenged to want to revert to the walkthrough. Please don't. Think your way through. There is no puzzle so hard as to not be really simple once you think about it! (Should I add a reference to Grasshopper?) The author did a good job of taking existing environments and with minor modification (sometimes major) developing new areas. I spent a lot of time thinking '...isn't this ...' Which I enjoyed (I have a terrible memory). The author's story skills do improve by game 5 and her feel of the flow improves quite a bit also. The puzzles remain at a less than challenging level and an oddity or two remains. (Lara pried four beetles off walls and picked up a beetle but she ends the level with 3 beetles - 2 black and 1 mechanical. What happened?) I enjoyed the games and recommend them." - Dougsan

"I liked this a lot. Gameplay is not difficult but it did take a minute to figure out some things I did and what I opened etc. You get the crowbar at the beginning which is a help and you can get another one later on. I also liked the idea of picking up different things as you go along you've always got certain things in your backpack to choose from when an item is needed. So in a way it is quite a linear level. Perhaps I was just lucky and got everything as I played I'm not sure how a player would feel if they reached a receptacle for an item and they hadn't got it. I had Hathor head and beetles and I didn't use them so I must have missed something? I got 3 secrets did I read there were five so that's probably what I missed. I liked the lift in this one the large room to flood a pit (get the Hathor head first) and getting the mechanical beetle. I have to say some things were puzzling even though I didn't get stuck I didn't understand what happened like the three push buttons. Anyway I finished and I'd recommend it to keep you occupied for about an hour or more if someone figures out how to use the Hathor head and beetles." - CC

"Nothing really challenging here pretty much straight forward gameplay with skeletons and mummies to look out for but they are no obstacle since you find the crossbow twice (!) and you can just blast them away. Find items to waterfill the areas to get access to new areas. Not sure about the mission here (to get everything wet?!) but I finished with the mechanical beetle the winding key broken beetles and unbroken beetles but this could be because I didn't find all secrets..." - G.Croft

"This is a nice level made with the Catacomb WAD and with that are the well known enemies as mummies skeletons wraiths and beetles. The artifacts are a gem the two pieces of the Portal Guardian one Knot and two Pillars a scroll a star the mechanical beetle and key and some black beetles. If you take your time and don't rush through this level you are rewarded with 5 secrets (weapons and ammo). I found two crossbows and two shotguns and even two crowbars talking about plenty LOL. Some jumping some swimming climbing and practice shooting also flooding the place so you can get access to some more rooms to explore. 31-10-2003" - Gerty

"A Catacomb level with 5 secrets to find with lifts to take rooms to flood bones to shoot. Plenty of weapons to deal with the skeletons and mummies but the angry spirits cost some medipacks. 50 minutes of fluent gameplay (with a bit of backtracking). A good level and I am waiting for the sequel." - eRIC

"A level created in 2003 with the original Catacomb WAD brings back memories of classic custom levels like 'Dark Fall'! Quick download less than 1 MB equals one hour playing time. Collecting all the items which were required wasn't easy as you often had to revisit rooms where you'd been before. It was never that simple 'switch is next to the door' thing. I liked the idea of the room that was filled with water in three steps each time you flooded it a bit more you could enter another door - marvellous construction which proves a lot of thought went into this. Now for a few not so positive observations: I would have liked more camera work. One rare flyby was a bit shaky. The grenade gun as a secret was absolutely useless. One little mistake: there was a slope where Lara 'does the jig' in the room with the music scroll. And one bug don't know if it always occurs or if it was just me: if you go back to the room with the 2 pushable round pillars a part of the floor is black i.e. textures are missing. Two funny observations: I could shoot the skeletons into the water with the shotgun but next time Lara swam through that canal I saw the skeletons happily walk on the floor! They still could attack Lara under water! And something else happens in a fliproom: if you shoot the vases and later press the trigger to flip you can shoot the same (repaired?) vases again. Well none of these points (except the cameras) spoils the fun in any way so considering the small download you have no excuse not to play this level unless you are catacomb allergic." - Rüdiger

"Have not played such a classic Catacomb level in a while and it was good fun. You get all the things you would expect (skeletons beetles a wraith mummies buttons pushable objects gem knot pillars scroll etc etc) and the pace is fast and will hardly have you think too much with some nice use of water a good add of standard music and a short timed run of sorts and a bit of climbing and platform jumping. And then you reach the sudden end and find out you actually missed a few bits and pieces as in this level you can do things in different ways and keep your eyes open for the five secrets (I only found three in my first run). Very relaxing if you have not visited the Catacombs for a while so give it a go." - Michael

"The fifth sequel of this series is quite nice. Although the costal wad seems to have been used the level itself resembles the catacombs. Constant changes in previously visited areas are something that I haven't seen for a long time in a custom level. I am not referring to one or more rooms but about whole areas with levers that have appeared and new entrances. The player needs to find and place the scroll to be able to finish the level but in order to go that far some other items are necessary such as a gem portal guardians pillars a knot with one of the portal guardians necessary only if you want to access a secret. Moving objects are also a mean to proceed in this level and face enemies like skeletons small beetles. The flybys are very useful and the textures nicely placed. I can't help but wonder what the mechanical scarab was all about as I never got to use it. The lever for the timed door acted strangely if you do not make it to the door you have to immediately push twice in order to open the door again otherwise it resets itself but the door doesn't open. I found two secrets but I hear there are five and finished in an hour. I must say although it wasn't difficult it was confusing at times." - Kristina

"If like me you are depressingly good at missing the damn crowbar you will be pleased to know that you get it immediately in this game and you really can't miss it. It certainly gave me a nice warm glow to have it safely tucked in my backpack right from the start. I also found two shotguns and two crossbows very early on so I was well equipped to deal with the skeletons and mummies en route. This is classic raiding with standard textures but very well used. There are pharos knots pillars portal guardian scarabs gem and scroll to find and since the script is in Hungarian everything in the inventory sounds marvelously exotic. Plenty of climbing jumping pot shooting and room flooding to attend to and I also found revolver ammo (but not the revolver) the laser sight and a grenade gun along the way. A spare crowbar is also provided although I'm not sure why as if you fail to get the first one you won't be able to proceed anyway. Linear gameplay but not boring. I think my favourite bit must have been seeing those horrible morgue beetles getting electrocuted - a novel and most satisfying moment. I took about an hour found three secrets and oh yes a mechanical beetle which I didn't get to use. 1.11.2003" - Jay

"I really loved playing this level mainly because it had so many things to do along the way. You will meet skellies and mummies and collect a whole menagerie of things some of which I missed so will have to play again. Find two beetles gem knots and pillars crowbar and secrets all will keep you busy. Eventually collect the scroll and place it to end the level. I found only the key to the mechanical beetle and didn't find any of the portal guardian parts so I am assuming I missed secrets somewhere which is great really because I'm looking forward to re playing this one! Nice rooms great atmosphere and with the added music it really was a pleasure to play this adventure." - Moonpooka

"There really isn't anything about this level that I did not like. The puzzles are just hard enough to keep one's interest without the frustration of impossible situations and the secrets are do-able and add to the satisfaction of gameplay. I had one bug after the movable columns that had me running Lara in circles but going back to a savegame easily fixed the problem. Smart and well thought out with a good design I'm looking forward to Part 6." - Bene

"In this one you get the shotgun and the crossbow twice each. Nice bonus but there are loose odds and ends here. Straightforward Catacombs type level that is generally well made and easy to charge through. A pleasant level that I enjoyed playing." - Duncan