Level reviews

"Not shading this one, since it lacks light. The bike segment is decent but the base rooms would need a ton more work to be. Combat and secrets are nice. Optional, and skip if you need good graphics." - DJ Full

"Most of the time you spent here is either doing a lot of crawling, or doing a lot of shooting. All of that while in mostly dark rooms, which also happen to be nearly entirely built using geometry alone, so there are hardly any objects other than doors and enemies. It's almost as if the darkness is there to conceal how barebones it looks, I don't know. The bike ride was a nice twist, and then Harry documents a trek for the final secret which adds a handful minutes to the quest as you backtrack quite a lot to get it. Not a bad level, nothing wrong with shooters (I've released some myself), but something about this one just didn't do anything at all for me. Sorry. 40 minutes, 5 secrets. 04/24" - Treeble

"The thing with shooters is that it's all about enemy placement, otherwise combat simply isn't interesting. This goes double if you're dealing with the rudimentary combat capabilities of the TR engine. Enemy placement isn't very good here, so there's that. There's only one type of enemy throughout (SAS); they usually come alone or in pairs, ambling towards you from a distance, which gives you ample time to gun them down without them getting in so much as a single shot, so way too often, there's neither challenge nor threat; their appearance is predictable most of the time, and with the revolver and quite sufficient ammo, you even outgun them in the end. Also, rarely have I seen sentry guns that are as harmless as these, even before you acquire Weapon Code Key (there are few, and they're easily avoidable). The environment, however, is fairly well realised, especially the later industrial section. Although it holds no - wow' moments, the layout of the map is by no means simplistic. Fittingly, it's mostly a sombre affair in grey, with yellow scarestripes providing the only touch of colour. The bikebit near the end provides a nice change of pace, although it, too, stops short of challenging the player (there are also too many too strong shadowbulbs in this section). So, all in all, the stakes aren't high, there's no sense of urgency, and if there's such a thing as laid-back, recreational shooter, this is it." - Mulf

"A blatant shooter, this one, so admittedly not my favourite type of TR level, but may be worth a go if you are a fan. You get a plethora of guards to take down, some swimming, a long ladder climb (only for a secret) and a bike ride with a couple of jumps. Rather dark in many places, so treasure your flare pickups." - Ryan

"This was by no means Area 51. There the level builder has a little bit exaggerated with the level name. Though this is a Base/Lab-Level, but there were no technical gimmickry, no aircrafts, no extraterrestrials. In short, it was simply everything absent what would make this normal Base/Lab-Level to the Area 51. And, actually, it is not even a normal Base/Lab-Level, but rather a Shooter-Level. It is already quite irritating if one meets every few metres on one or several SAS-Soldiers. And the many dark places were also not very conducive for the play fun. However, the four Sentry-Guns were no problem, because one could find the revolver and the Lasersight immediately at the beginning, not to forget the weapon codecard. The duties were always the same ones. Find new rooms, shoot down all SAS-Soldiers, gather the available Goodies, open maybe sometimes with a lever a door and further in the next room. Occasionally one could go for a spin with the motorcycle. And for what all that? One must find a part of an armament. More not. Of course, the level is built substantially and the textures are applied cleanly, but it has not made so properly fun, particularly as the lighting was improvement-worthy." - Scottie

"A short base level with many guards to shoot, many doors to open, and many jumps to face on the nitro-powered bike. The camera cues functioned well but fail to tell you that a second door might have opened, making you stuck in a rut until you wander over to that second door and make the realization for yourself. The level is quite dark in many areas, which is very unfortunate as the flare bug kicks in - even gunfire stops lighting your way. At least the bike light worked - but it didn't seem to help much in combating the swathes of darkness. The level kept triggering an audio file that was not provided with the TRLE, nor the download, and that makes the sound effects get out of whack pitch wise. At least the gameplay is a fun little bout, so you might consider this level either way - just make sure to get that revolver at the beginning." - SSJ6Wolf

"A fast-paced base level. The compound is heavily guarded so conserve your health or make use of the heavier gun power on offer. The level also provides a brief motorbike ride. The level is quite well textured. Fine for a quick TR fix." - EssGee

"This is not the usual Nevada level. No hot sun and blue skys here. Lara is after a gauntlet that is heavily guarded, and rightly chooses to do her running around late in the evening. Not that it matters, as she quickly goes underground into this huge dark structure. We see our goal, the gauntlet, through glass walls near the start. Lots of flares are needed in the extremely dark vents and storage areas. And that is the only thing that will slow Lara down, as otherwise it's non-stop running and shooting through this vast labyrinth of rooms. Lara will have to stop to blow up a few machine guns (always love that), but once she finds the security card they are disabled and progress becomes easier. I liked the broken shaft that shows this structure has three floors, and swimming through it's flooded basement. Use of the motorbike is very well realised and useful in getting rid of any remaining guards. All told, this is a shooter. A fast run through to claim the gauntlet. And an excellent debut level. Onwards and upwards." - CC

"All in favour of shooting, well here it is. There is a lot of shooting to be done before you can take your prize home. As said it is a base level and not that difficult as there are no difficult jumps and traps involved. It is a nice one for in between. So if you have to get rid of some aggression, this is the one to play." - Gerty

"A level using the classic ingredients of the city WAD with a start in the desert and an end in the desert and most of the action in a simplistic Base setting underground. Action indeed, as you get to kill 40+ guards along the way and that is pretty much all you do in the just over 30 minutes you spend in this adventure. There is a quick bike ride thrown in and the left greave is your prize. Found one secret." - MichaelP

"This time Lara infiltrates in a military base to retrieve a golden gauntlet, but this time the object is very well guarded. The base is very big, and you'll have to kill hundreds of gurds (as only enemies) and run a lot of kilometers through the corridors of the base. The assault is by night and there are a lot of dark areas; although I found some flares they were not enough for me. The four secrets I found were not difficult to find. Nothing special in this level, only kill, kill and kill again." - Jose

"What better way to spend an hour or so on an afternoon than a quick raid through a top secret military base in Nevada! The base is suitably grey and anonymous, although maybe a little too dark in places. There are lots of flares provided, though. There are also lots of guards to shoot and the odd sentry gun to blow-up. And a bike to ride, which is always fun. This is not a long level and it's not too difficult either but it is a fun raid." - Kitkat

"This one is the classic level with the big empty and very dark areas that have many SAS guys around. All you do is run around killing enemies and opening doors with switches until you reach the bike where you have to drive through a kind of sandy ground. Once you obtain the left grave you climb a ladder and jump onto the sandy ground to finish the level. I found two secrets and I can't say I liked it." - Kristina

"I just fancied a desert level as I seem to have been playing an awful lot of darkish levels lately. So, yes, Nevada would be a lovely change - sun, sand, snakes. Except, wouldn't you know, it's nighttime. Pass the flares somebody. Anyway, blowing up a sentry gun mere seconds into the game did manage to put me in a good mood. This is basically exploration/shooting with a really short bike ride thrown in for good measure. If you like shooters, give it a go, although finding so much revolver ammo does rather take the edge off the whole thing, but I suppose you could always choose not to use it." - Jay

"I actually played Marco's other level, 'The Lost City' first, and that may have been the main reason for my initial disappointment in this level. Rather than a sunny, coastal city, we get a dark urban environment. There are also an awful lot of SAS to shoot, which can get tiring very quickly. Thankfully though, the level soon started to include some nice jumping and driving sections, which saved 'gameplay and puzzles' from receiving a 4 or a 5. The texturing was decent, but sometimes very wallpaper-like, and there were just too many bland, grey corridors in the level. It was occasionally atmospheric, although personally I feel that it was mainly quite drab. It's a shame that this level turned out like this, as I know that the author can do much better. I just hope that the next level will be as good as 'The Lost City', and if so, then I will be perfectly happy." - Spike

"This one's a cut below the builder's other level, The Lost City. However, it gives you a generous amount of gameplay at just under an hour, and it's not a bad level at all. I just found it too dark in too many places, and running through all those tunnels and shooting all those guards got monotonous after a while. I'm looking forward now to finding a level that's set in the bright outdoors. There's a nice little motorbike ride along the way, followed by some extensive backtracking through previously explored territory before you can finish. I hope this builder gives us more levels to enjoy. They're fast-paced and not too difficult, and the ones I've seen thus far make use of traditional settings that bring back memories of the good old days of early raiding." - Phil

"Not a difficult level though an interesting one!! Baddies keep you busy during the whole gameplay which lasts for about an Hour, Author has provided enough bullets to kill em all so no complaints about it.This is more of an arcade rather a Peaceful raiding level. There are no timed challenges and traps are also a few, which makes this an easy level. One feature that i really liked in this level is a "Security Card" Trigger, Basically after picking up this security card the Turrets stop shooting at you.... Dunno about you all but i have never seen this.... Feels good to see new things like this." - Damon

"Not a bad little debut,in a 'running along corridors while shooting lots of baddies' sort of way. The layout seems quite labyrinthine,but actually it's easy to follow and generally linear.Although dark in many places,it isn't gratuitous but rather adds to the atmosphere,and copious flares are provided anyway so there should be no grounds for complaint. The motorbike is rather well used and the entire adventure zips along in an action-packed way (provided you don't play after a long night-shift,that is,and miss the glaringly obvious crawl-space!)building to a fun little conclusion. Not destined for immortality,but an entertaining Shooter none-the-less." - Orbit Dream