Level reviews

"It's the standard TR3 mansion again, with a wafer-thin wall right at the start, and fish - frozen in time' in the aquarium. Retaining only the location of the racetrack key, the builder jettisons the original tasks but has absolutely no idea what to replace them with, so the gameplay is marked by relentless repetition - running from switch to switch to switch for a full 45 minutes or thereabouts, interspersed only with three instances of the same pushable chore. Occasionally you get to kill a powered-up baddie or two and maybe a dog. Secrets are difficult to miss (except perhaps for the one on the obstacle course, which involves yet more pushblocks). Linearity is a plus to begin with, but becomes immaterial when you enter the outside, which is almost 100% dead space. The slightly modified quadbike course offers a brief respite but is entirely optional - you need to enter the area only in order to get on top of a wall so you can reach an out-of-the-way switch on the roof of the pool room. That switch is highlighted by an otherwise obviously useless array of floodlights, an idea which may have worked better had there been any lighting at all; the other attempts at humor (three instances of the same joke) fell flat for me. A superfluous addition to the - Home Sweet Home' sub-genre, which hasn't brought forth a great many masterworks in the first place." - Mulf

"okay we have another home level based on the original TR3 mansion with mostly same textures and layout etc although this time we have a snazzy denim outfit and some men and dogs enemies as foes. theres an pushable block puzzle in the attic then another one in the lounge/music room, theres a swim in the aquarium although this time the fish looked dead! maybe lara forgot to feed them lol. when we get outside theres an assault course and a quad bike track, although this time you use the quad bike for a puzzle which was interesting, theres another pushable block puzzle in the gym and few doors to open before you reunite with winston. all in all it was ok, but i think it was too short and with too many pushable block puzzles, i think more variety with more original ideas and puzzles would of made it better" - John

"I've been going through all 2003 levels I'd missed out on over the past month or two and I think it might have been about a week since I last played a manor level? Yet, I will repeat that remaking Lara's Home seemed to be a rite of sorts, so here you have yet another home level. Baddies breaking in as you look around for buttons to open all the sealed off areas. A few doors required pushblocks instead, so there's that. There may have been an attempt for some comic relief with Von Croy and Jean-Yves, but it didn't really have any effect on me other than making me think they looked out of place. Lara's outfit looks nice though. 25 minutes, 3 secrets. 09/20" - Treeble

"This is effectively a TR3 manor take on TR2's final level of the same name, with Lara dressed in oddly formal clothing and starting off this unnecessary retread in a locked personal bathroom, blasting your way out through the chain-fence as you proceed to go from the attic to the library and then to the basement for the maze key before going to the kitchen so you can get outside via the back door, blasting away armed intruders and their pet dogs all the while. I personally wouldn't recommend this one. But if this is the kind of level which sounds up your alley, there are still worse ways to spend your time in spite of crude execution and a few dated elements such as the frozen fish in the basement." - Ceamonks890

"Well, despite the Mansion level tag, this wasn't as boring as I expected to be. Admittedly, it's nothing to write home about, the gameplay still sticks resolutely to the old format of locating buttons and keys then looking for the respective open door, but this has a more linear and clearer flow, leading to less confusion for me in the long run and less backtracking. There's a couple of easy movable block puzzles and some guard attacks (I personally felt that they were a bit overpowering for Lara's limited arsenal) that breaks the mould slightly. I wouldn't class it as a must play, but I've definitely played worse levels in this category." - Ryan

"Oh no! Another mansion level? Well, another mansion level but this time it's a bit better than another mansion levels. Even when there are easy puzzles with moveable blocks and many buttons to press, there is a funny ride with the bike, the button in the course is well visible and the level is more lineal and you'll not need to run disoriented through huge areas to find the next tasks; there are also some camera shots guiding the player showing where to go. Not very entertaining but, at least, you'll not waste much time exploring and backtracking." - Jose

"A woman's house may be her castle, but one has to wonder how many people she has ticket off to have her fort breached with such regularity? For better or worse - this is one of the less exciting intrusions of her privacy, and the dogs and baddies would almost feel rather pedestrian, if this was not her home we would be talking about. For a long time, as pertaining to this particular version of her home, I was grateful that all doors were locked and opened only gradually, giving it a more linear flow... until you could go outside of her house and take it all in at once. Of course, if you've seen it once, there won't be many surprises here this time too, but it just felt a bit incongruent with how the rest of the house was set up. Gameplay generally is built around the extermination of intruders, moving of boxes on designated tiles, pushing buttons, and optionally the quadbike course. I had a chuckle at Jean Yves, Von Croy and Winston being imprisoned in certain rooms of her house, and the outfit is nice, but other than that, you're not missing out on much if you decide to skip this." - eTux

"Identical mansion level. 45 minutes. 2 movables block puzzles. 4 overly easy secrets to find. Men and dogs to kill. End in Winston's room for either a cup of coffee or a wink wink cup of coffee!" - Sash

"I must say I'm glad I don't have to get in and out of my bathroom on my hands and knees (well not unless I've had a VERY good night out anyway). Thugs and their dogs have invaded Lara's mansion yet again. You'd think she might have installed better security by now. She is at least keeping emergency back up ammo in the deep freeze which in her particular case would probably indicate foresight rather than raving eccentricity. This is a very faithful reproduction of Lara's mansion and rather well done but the gameplay is very much of the 'shoot a baddie push a button' variety. Still I suppose that's pretty much what mansion levels are. It's not my favourite genre I must confess but I've seen far worse examples than this one. There are one or two nice touches and you will enjoy seeing some familiar faces. If you like mansion levels definitely give this one a go." - Jay

"As everybody knows by now I just don't enjoy playing home levels. In each of those it seems there is always one of the many buttons I miss for a long time and get utterly frustrated. No different here - despite the camera I ran past the one on the glass roof for a long time. That saidm this is one of the better replications of the mansion and you get a few movable blocks a dozen or more tough baddies and a few dogs and a quadbike to spice things up a bit. Found four fairly easy secrets along the way and had a chuckle at meeting Jean Yves VonCroy and at the end Jeeves. Less than half an hour spent once you know where to go." - Michael

"As I stated before there is just so much you can do with a house level and this level is not different. Finding buttons and roam all the rooms and seeing Jeeves locked up in a room (much better or else I would have to lure him into the kitchen to lock him up) made raiding a tad more easy. Finding the key so you can ride the bike well some people love that me... I am not so fond of vehicles but have a go at it anyway. 26-12-2003" - Gerty

"I have to confess that I've not played too many 'Lara's Home' Levels as they've scored pretty badly and it seems that you can only do so much with such a restrictive format but I have to admit to enjoying this far more than I thought I would. Francesco has done his best to invest the level with as much gameplay as can possibly be squeezed into the scenario and the whole enterprise kept me entertained for almost 50 minutes. The location of some of the switches was inventive there were some good pieces of humour the enemies were fairly indomitable and the whole recreation is rather well put-together. Not a masterpiece but certainly worth a go." - Orbit Dream

"It seems that someone has remodeled Lara's manor and locked her in the bathroom. Probably some disgruntled interior designer and attendant thugs. Sigh! What's a girl to do but kill them all? At any rate this is a very familiar setting with some tweaks and changes. It involves a lot of running back and forth and a lot of well-armed adversaries. Some bits of humor here and there that I found entertaining. A fun bit of gameplay for those like me who are perpetually lacking in ambition to play really hard levels." - Duncan

"This level is actually quite funny. It's the mansion all right in almost every detail. I like the way it's been done. Lara has a great new hairstyle and enormous retro bellbottom jeans. While she's been having a shower thugs have invaded the mansion and locked her in so she has to shoot her way out. And she meets these thugs and dogs as she goes round the house. The main thing here is moving blocks so use a flare or two to find them. For example Francesco has finally done something about that music room! and on the outside course. The basement fish tank is unfortunately not as exciting as we've seen in the past as all those lovely fish are stone cold dead so no danger there. I found three secrets. I'm not sure what has to be done on the bike course except killing things along the way perhaps there's another secret there somewhere - a block to move perhaps that I didn't find. When the treasure room is opened I laughed at Jean Yves yawning on the window sill and laughed again at where Lara has locked up Von Croy. I suppose the ultimate goal is to free Jeeves locked in a bedroom. Yeah I liked this even though it's yet another mansion level." - CC

"This is another mansion level but you might have guessed that from the title. There are a lot of buttons to push and open the doors inside the house to proceed. Also a key to find and access the race course with a quad bike waiting for you but be careful as there is no reverse. It's an easy level and I found four secrets but it's it wasn't anything I hadn't seen before. That is the problem with this kind of levels the authors have to not only retexture the entire house but create different areas and puzzles which isn't the case here. The enemies are guards that damage Lara's health immensely so a more powerful weapon like the revolver would have been great. If you are fond of Lara's house you may as well play this one too." - Kristina

"This level is not different from other home levels there is the same room and textures the gameplay not so hard you drive on the dune buggy from tr3 people that love to play home level will be enjoyed." - Yoav