Level reviews

"A level this ambitious needs a lot effort to work. About 70% is done here. It's pleasant but also problematic with missing audio, horizon clipping, not so transparent goal and fresh yet sloppy animations. E.g. I missed the ticket because of a cutscene with muted cooldown. For now we got this, but the full version could be high in the Hall of Fame. You can check it." - DJ Full

"Wow, I certainly wasn't expecting this. While not much of a level per se, containing just part of a small town area and having you search around for a couple of keys, you have not only new movements coded in (much earlier than I remember), but also objects placed off center. Thought those only came up much later down the line. A few nice touches here and there with the people trying to liven up the place, but it's still within what you'd expect. 20 minutes, 3 secrets. 10/21" - Treeble

"This is a demo and as such it's hard to rate it too highly in the gameplay department as there's a limit to how much the player can accomplish in a short amount of time. This one in particular only has you searching for a few necessary keys and items and bringing them to their respective location. But there are some nice little additions here that make this one worthy of a look: the nifty new moves (the instructions for which probably should have been in English) the neat use of custom objects like the inhabitants that stand around ignoring the fact that Lara is there and the overall look of the town and surrounding buildings with nice little details added into. A pleasant little jaunt." - Ryan

"This one seems about right for a demo, clocking in at just under a half hour. There are a couple of new moves (long jump, sliding under a door) that I would never have figured out had they not been documented in Harry Laudie's walkthrough (no mention being made of them in the readme), and they added a touch of the unique to the gameplay. There's a definite TR2 feel here, both in the secrets and in the screen that shows you what you're about to use next. No weapons allowed, but that's okay since there are no enemies that I recall. On the other hand, you're inexplicably provided a number of ammo pickups. All is tailored for the German raider, but I had a good time as well. Nothing outstanding, but a pleasant enough raid." - Phil

"Well this is the proof that everything is possible in custom levels, even with those using the old level editor which is the case here. The variety in objects and new moves is big though a little buggy - interactive characters giving you something in exchange, sliding under a doorway, a long jump (but I have seen it in a slightly earlier level yet), a new type of ladder, ... The pity is that there isn't much else to admire except for a nicely designed town. The gameplay is very unfair at parts, with some glasses that hurt you even if you are high above them, very obscure objects or too sneakily hidden pickups; there also were no camera hints, only some well done flybys. Nearly no background audio could be heard and the dialogues were completely silent. Three nearly impossible to miss secrets to find along the way during the 20-25 minutes it should last. What a shame the full version never came out as this demo is quite interesting." - manarch2

"This level begins in a very quaint looking town located on a hill. The buildings are beautifully done with real door bells, door knobs, streets have street signs, and pot plants. The buildings have a mix of styles including Tudor, farmhouse and more. The church architecture is magnificent inside and out. I noticed a lot of used cups about the town for some reason. The background sound is a pleasant breeze broken only by the sound of crickets, and someone talking inside a building. When you enter the bar, you see a shot of someone dressed from head to toe in camouflage. There's not much in there other than a medipack and woman watering a plant. The first building you can access however looks like a warehouse. You make use of a brand new Lara move here. The game seems to rely on new moves, there are hints though. The tasks in the level include collecting sets of keys or money (one from a particular person), avoid glass shards, then get into the church for another key. You buy a train ticket then find your self inside a train station. Bugs - There are several paper thin walls here (e.g. church, bank), the glass hurts you even when above it, if you try to leave via the railway line, the rain comes twice and makes a rattling noise. Flares don't light up. in the ticket office, you have to go one step back to pay for the ticket. This looks like the start of a very promising level set." - sonnyd83

"I think technological demo is the right expression for this level. It shows how nice movements can be brought out from the old exe, some seem to need a few finishing touch, nevertheless it was fun jumping all the way around. Then came the slide, that was really spectacular :) I was sliding under the door and on the street for like 15 minutes. And that wasn't the end of surprises. Gameplaywise don't expect too much, the point here is to introduce the new moves. Still the author put effort to make the enviroment look good, and we can see more new things. There were people around in levels before, but only as static objects, now they are animated, there was a really cool camera move as it turned to the pidgeon. The pickups no longer placed only in the middle of textures. Many objects are from TR2, including the three dragon secrets. I could go on about the experienced bugs and errors, but i won't, in the case of a demo that don't matter, just have them corrected to the final release. The readme states that [christoph] took over the project, and will build a real level based on it. Well, I can't wait, in the meantime the new things here definitely worth to take a look at." - Akcy

"Set in a quiet little town, this is a nice variation from a large majority of other levels. It looks peaceful, and the texturing and atmosphere fit in well with their surroundings. The gameplay isn't as good though, and despite the array of fun moves to try out (such as a sprint jump, a ground slide and a new-style ladder climb), there isn't much to do other than ferry keys back and forth. However, this level is quite a nice diversion, and it is at least worth a try." - Spike

"How nice, to play a demo, that is genuinely worthy of being called a demo. There's at least 30 minutes of gameplay here, but it's mostly about finding keys and getting to the train station. Lara will need to have her wits about her, as she is without guns in this level. The level has some neat innovations. What you get here is a cleverly designed country town layout to explore, which has an authentic European look about it. This is supplemented by creative use of custom objects e.g. details like walls that have kickrails, telegraph wires, birds, and animating human characters. There are also some neat load/save features introduced. Generally this is a well textured level that simulates realism, but there were some things that could be improved for a final release. As a demo, improvements could be made with a little more thought given to lighting (e.g. overly lit crawl spaces). The new moves are impressive, but a little buggy, and if you don't read German you may need the walkthrough to explain how to perform some of them. Nonetheless, this is an good level which previews some nice new features and holds plenty of promise for a final game release." - EssGee

"I haven't played this level at the meeting on 2005 but I played Christoph's level in 2006, when he took over this project. Although I did finished what Christoph made (he is still expanding the level) I had to have a go at this. What does stand out are the new moves and I am not really cheering with those new moves. Call me an old fashioned gall but they do seem a bit un-natural to me. I did like the small town though and even if it is not a long level, you'll have fun. There is a problem with lighting a flare at certain places and I also had the flare bug. Now we wait for Christoph to finish his project as what I've seen, it is worthwhile" - Gerty

"As usual it is actually rather hard to rate a demo, as it really doesn't tell you all that much about the level it represents(of course, that's why it's called a demo and not a full adventure). I must say it's a good starting point and I was really impressed by Lara's new moves. BUT(and that's a but with capital letters too) all the instructions for the new moves are written in German, which is a rather big let-down for the non-German speaking part of the custom level world. If it hadn't been for the walkthrough that Harry wrote I wouldn't have known how to perform those moves at all. Furthermore, as Ian said the gameplay doesn't really lead anywhere....it's like a tutorial with very little to do(apart from some stuff to find: the usual pickups, money to buy a train ticket for, some keys and three secrets). The city streets and setting looked lovely though and although I found the silent conversations a bit odd and got a tad frustrated by the fact that if a door was closed there would be an invisible wall stretching out about half a meter away from it and also the fact that at least one of the crawlspaces took me ages to find it was more than worth trying out. Tranquil(and almost a bit sleep-inducing I'm afraid) atmosphere, in overall good sound and camera work, lovely textures and good, but a bit flat lighting. Yeah, it's definetely worth the shot if you'd like to see a level that introduces lots of good ideas and I look forward to the full adventure." - Selene

"The only thing that is worth in this level is Lara's animations and new moves although the instructions are in German and the rest of us poor non German speakers are doomed to guess or use online translators. I wonder when people will realize that the rest of the world doesn't have to speak German in order to play a level for goodness sake. It would be much appreciated if we could have a text with the instructions in English. Anyway the puzzles are as simple as they can be, with a ticker to buy after giving the right amount of money of course and three keys to collect. The level is very bright, there is a silent dialogue with Lara and a guy and you see some kind of a train station and a church in a setting with streets and houses around. I found three dragons which were secrets. Do play it just to see the nice moves." - Kristina

"This is a very unique experience. Firstly in this lovely looking small town, with church and train station, you are presented by the author with some wonderful new moves, the sliding on your back move is absolutely fabulous and when I found how to do it I was sliding all over the place, you can also shimmy across thin wires and jump longer distances. And to help the player with all these new moves out of thin air pop ups appear on screen to explain what to do, unfortunately these are in German so I could not understand what I was meant to do, but if one comes up know that something interesting is at hand if like me you can?t read them). I also loved the fact that you can buy a ticket for the train from the station ticket booth, though I thought the poor lady behind the counter fainted when I handed over the money as she ever so gracefully seemed to fall to the ground, but hang in for a second and she?ll pop her head up again with the desperately needed ticket. This is one of those instances where I really pray that the full length game will materialise as the new possibilities of fun seem plentiful. Even so this stands alone as a short 30 minute level in itself. I found 2 of the dragon secrets and only missed the third because I didn?t know about the sliding trick until too late." - Sash

"As a small showcase level of technical possibilities this is quite a treat. Very interesting new moves are offered here, some interesting camera angles and many cool custom objects, although sometimes the rooms feel a little overloaded with them. Gameplaywise it is a bit uninspired though (as a Demo) with a few keys to find in about 30 minutes, but the secrets are worth lookinh out for. Good to hear that this will apparently be expanded by christoph now - looking forward to see the full adventure some time in the future." - MichaelP

"For me, a large part of the pleasure I derive from a level comes from the look of it and this demo looks really good. It's set in a gorgeous village and there are some delightful touches - I particularly liked the woman watering her garden whilst reading a book. There are admittedly a few 'tweaks' required before the full game is released and it doesn't help that the instructions for Lara's new moves are in German, but hopefully this will be addressed in the full version, which I very much look forward to playing. If it lives up to its promise, it should be amazing." - Jay

"This is really hard to score, but so easy for me to rave about the brilliant things I saw in this level. It is indeed a demo. There are little glitches. For example the lighting is peculiar in places, with odd and flat colouring, but I'm sure it will all be pulled together properly when it's finished. The design and layout is beautifully done. A lovely village with mature streets, church, railway station and houses. Take a look at that beautiful sky. So why does Lara look like she's in a bad mood? There is a lot of construction work in progress, and as per usual the workmen are nowhere to be seen!; but they leave their mugs and rubbish all over the place. Streets are blocked off with barricades. I absolutely loved this peopled village; the lady watering her garden, the gossip in the ticket office, the passengers waiting for their train, and more. Then there's the little bird. It's 'alive'! Brilliant moments when I discovered Lara's new actions. Another huge Wow! We don't have to turn around slowly and drop from a crawlspace anymore, Lara will jump out herself. She will continue climbing for a while if you take your finger off the up button. It took me a while to figure out what people were writing about her new sprint-jump. When she did it the first time for me I wanted to keep doing it. Excellent. I could keep writing about all these new things but I'll spoil it for everyone else. Gameplay itself involves searching, finding, and running around. There is a great sense of realism, if you don't count the dark shadow that is watching Lara. So what does this mean? Will her train journey lead her to dark and sinister places? The Wow factor is high, mainly with the actions. And I loved the TR2 elements, like the inventory screen, objects, and secrets found screen. I got the jade and gold dragon secrets. I don't know if there are others. I wish I could give this a higher score. I'm so aware of, and appreciate the hard work that went into creating this. I am so looking forward to seeing how this develops. An absolute must see if ever there was one." - CC

"I was already surprised in the beginning of the level because I noticed that there are new moves in the game. For example Lara can slide through the holes in the wall and etc. This level include also some cutscenes and other nice things which you will notice if you'r going to play this. The bad thing is that hints for completing new moves are written in German which makes it a bit harder if you don't speak German. The good thing is that the environment looks brilliant including nice houses, streets and textures. I had a lot of fun when playing this and I'm looking forward to the full version." - Samu

"All the usual problems associated with a level in its 'demo' stage are fully evident here: Gameplay which doesn't really go anywhere;cut-scenes and fly-by's that have no especial relevance or are rough around the edges;unfortunate draw-distance problems (which may or may not be corrected);interesting areas that you can see but which are quite out of reach. The biggest problem is with the new moves and objects. The moves themselves are terrific but the instructions for them are written in german,which most players won't be able to understand.The majority of the new objects are non-interactive (including many charming new characters,who stand around pleasently but refuse to acknowledge Lara's presence);but one critical new object is of the 'step-back-and-trigger' variety,which is downright unfair for the player who surely can't be expected to roam around a rather large area attempting to interact in this way with everything they see on the off-chance that it may (or may not) influence the progression of the game. On the other hand,the atmosphere and scenery is most charming and effective;the addition of characters with which to populate this environment is a great bonus;and the new moves and over-all layout help to create a highly unusual and fascinating environment.Gameplay really cannot be scored too highly,as there's very little to actually do and the story (as it stands) goes nowhere. But I urge everyone to have a look,all the same,as this would appear to be the fore-runner of something very special." - Orbit Dream

"It isn't too often that you get to see levels that take place in modern style cities of today, so this is quite a refreshing change from the traditional levels of "Ruins, Temple, Tomb, etc. of something or other." The action plays out in a nice city which includes a small training session that introduces some new actions that Lara can perform, like the sprint jump, and shimmying from parallel wires, as opposed to looking around for cracks to shimmy through. The game also incorporates some simple touches that you don't usually see, like using a table to reach higher areas. In other games, if you tried to stand on a table, the object collision wouldn't let you! The city itself looks quite charming, and there are even people that you can interact with! One such situation has you turning in some money to a banker in order to buy a train ticket to finish the level. I thought that was kind of cool. Gameplay in the level is a little bit on the weak side though, since you're mostly going to one place to find a key, then using it to go into an area where you find another key, so there isn't much gameplay/puzzle flavor here. The level doesn't really have any enemies, except for a train (if you walk through the train tracks), and a mysterious person dressed in black that you see in a small cutscene. Still, this level is worth playing if you feel in a more urban mood for raiding." - Relic Hunter