Level reviews

"after being recommended I decided to play this custom level, and as incredible as it may seem, I managed to finish it in less than 1 hour the exploration is incredible although the gameplay doesn't have much of interest other than using keys, opening doors, puzzles with fire, basically standard, but it has an incredible look and the ship and the cave. It's a wasted talent because it's so short, I could have made the most of this incredible package, the platforming is very sneaky and you hardly notice it, but my progress was quick, simple, beautiful and well done. highly recommended....''" - PedroCroft_

"This is one I often steered away from out of fear suspecting it'd be one of those epic affairs that would take the better part of a week to complete, so right now I'm both happy and sad that it isn't the case. Happy because this is something that can be done in a single sitting and doesn't outstay its welcome with unnecessary padding to make it last hours on end, but also sad because the atmosphere here is so good and well crafted that I wouldn't mind staying a little while longer. The ship itself plays a small role, all things considered, as most of the action takes place in a beach and coastal caves, with a fair bit of swimming involved as well, but you do go through the ship and it's quite what you'd expect actually, with lots of crates and nets and cannons all over the place. So good. Gameplay revolves around tried and tested formulas, but I'd still suggest keeping Harry's wallkthrough at hand to make this an even more pleasant experience. 45 minutes, 4 secrets. 06/23" - Treeble

"A shipwreck level that takes place in a large cave, but mostly above water. The goal is to find the cave under the galleon where a mask is waiting for Lara. On the way there you have to find several keys. 10 enemies stand in your way, skeletons and gorillas that are not a big problem if you have the shotgun. There are also some traps and puzzles as well as time runs to solve. The cave itself is the biggest challenge as you have to check every niche. I found the flickering of the palm trees a bit disturbing and the texturing was not always to my taste. You stumble over the 4 Secrets almost automatically. This TRLE delivers a playing time of under 2 hours, but it is in all points clearly below (for example) "The Pirate Princess" from Luke which is similar in setting." - vandit

"I believe in giving credit where credit is due and this marvelous romp of just over an hour deserves all the accolades vested upon it. From the stunning vista you are greeted with upon dropping into the lagoon to the wonderful game play involved in locating the keys, this level ticks all the boxes. A few more enemies would have been nice but some of the tricky jumping sequences and one timed run more than makes up for that. You can get through without the aid of the walk through, it just takes a little longer. Great atmosphere and textures." - Torry

"This is a stunning level, in pretty much every category. The places where it excels the most is probably the humid, jungle atmosphere, nicely complemented by the tropical ambience of birds tweeting and the tide rushing in and out. Some might complain of the garish savegame screen, but you get used to it after a while. The settings themselves are also incredibly eye-pleasing (particularly the inside of the ship and the opening lagoon area). The gameplay is enjoyable too, but I feel it could have been spiced up in a few areas, rather than just searching for keys all the time. You do get a large variation of traps to avoid, as well as a minor torch puzzle and a couple of timed runs, but I would have preferred more thinking puzzles and a bit less, say, searching for stable slopes. Gripes aside though, this is a masterpiece to be admired, particularly for its visuals." - Ryan

"This underwater cave with the galleon to the water bottom is very well restored and is pleasing to the eyes. We must seek the necessary keys to move forward, but we must look very carefully. There are some passages not obvious to see and some pretty difficult jumps. The end is a little more difficult because darkest, and lack of binoculars that would have been very useful in some places. This is a very nice level." - Drakan

"Treasure Of The Lost Spanish Galleon is a wonderfully atmospheric level that oozes authenticity as it depicts a tropical island lagoon with a shipwreck surrounded by caves that prove to be interesting to explore. It took me some time to find my way, but I enjoyed the exploration in and around the overturned shipwreck. Pirate skellies, gorillas and sharks were good enemies for the indeterminate location, and sound effects were effectively used on objects. It ended up being a refreshing level of about 1hr 10 min net gameplay for me, and is a recommended level to play." - EssGee

"This is set in a giant cove with various ruins and huts around the outside and the wrecked galleon itself in the middle. The scale is huge, the amount of detail is impressive and there's a lot of variety in the setting while staying coherent. It doesn't have the amount of custom objects and other details that Teme9's later releases have but it manages to have visuals matched by few others despite that. The gameplay is heavily exploration focused with various things to find around the cove. It's mostly not too vague despite the huge size but I felt there could have been a few more hints to get you going, a double-action timed switch was a bit unintuitive and working out which parts in the final area weren't slopes was tricky at times. Outside those issues it's great though, and there are some nice original ideas. An excellent level, and is more impressive than teme9's later maps in terms of pure scale." - Mman

"And here, on the contrary with other pirate-themed levels, we have a galeon lying on its side - so the whole level can be called a huge sidequest. I think here's either less misrotations or more of them are better hidden than in The Mystery. Lighting also feels better, with only the last part being a bit flat, while 90% of the level is sunny, comfy and organic. Of course there are some obligatory pirate skeletons to fight, and I must highlight the author chose wisely to place only a few but in well- working places (with "That door is not for Lara!" moment as a pinnacle). Four nice secrets, however they don't give us anything except prettiness (seems to be the most serious and persisting flaw of anything epic Teemu has created so far - let's only hope it doesn't happen again in Snowblind. And again the audio straightforwardly not a competitor for graphics (what is two ambiences and one action theme for an one-hour game?). Still, of the last three full scale adventures by this author, this one is my certain favourite, with its relieving and relaxing climate, with a lot of swimming and jumping after a bunch of keys none of which is boring or senseless despite of their vast amount. In the end there's no boss fight but we get a fast-paced closing getaway sequence instead which is enough to make any final pickup feel really important. SUMMARY: This one is a must- play with no excuses." - DJ Full

"I had this level in my list long time and finally decided to play it. Very beautiful beach level type from teme9 mostly based on exploration and tasks. The design of areas are very atmospheric with perfect ambient sound choise, textures and lighting are greatly done. Nothing is very difficult neither easy but it`s definitely a relaxation level in a beautiful coastal Spain. Saddly there is lack of puzzles here but never mind because it`s very enjoyable level with interesting and clever tasks which require some exploration and noticing, finding some keys and some very clever traps to avoid. Secrets were not hard to find neither easy. Some traps could have been antitriggered when going back! I spent here 1 hour and found all 4/4 secrets. Very recommended!!! 8/9/10/10" - OverRaider

"Another beautiful level by teme9 and one of my personnal favorite. Lara start in a giant cave with a small plane near and the goal of this adventure is to discovered the famous Mask of Yophokk hidden in the sunken spanish galleon. The desing of this game is prodigious, I just imagine the time to build the cave and specially the galleon (indeed, the boat is lying on the side). The textures are very adapoted for the atmosphere and the lighting too, the game is very clear even in the caves. So the torch are useless, a good point. I also really enjoying the news objects like the palms, the doors, and the many things in the galleon. Not many enemies and and not many traps, the game is more focused on the exploration than the action, something I prefer in a tr game. Also, the game is not really hard and can by easily play by everyone even by the begginers. To conclude, an exellent moment with Lara in this wonderful little game. Don't miss it, specially for the desing and the great lighting effect at the end. A jewel of the Tr communauty. Very recommended and thanks a lot Teme9 for this adventure." - BigFoot

"This level has an excellent quality. Everything in it is so well crafted and positioned it makes the whole view pretty realistic. I loved how the water and the sand looked so bright that they almost blinded you. I thought this level would be mainly an underwater game, but in the end you spent more time on the ground than on the liquid medium. The beach was beautiful, and the tasks than needed to be solved were not too difficult but really entertaining. Although the place was huge, finding your way was easy, what contributes not to bore you. I just regret not having more time to explore the galleon. It was amazingly estructured and it would have been interesting to see more about it. In the end, this adventure seemed too short, I would love to see an extended version of it, because the ideas was just genious! Thanks for this great game." - Minaru

"Wow! Another fantastic level from the incredibly talented teme9. This builder once again made amazing atmosphere throughout the whole level and every area looked very realistic. The first area you visit is very big with the vast beach and sea including the sunken ship. It is confusing to know where to go and I found it more confusing than this builder's latest release. I still enjoyed it immensely though. The object placement was once again brilliant and each object fitted perfectly where it was placed. The lighting and textures were amazing as well but the sand texture did look a little unrealistic but it does look nice and doesn't bother me. The ruins and huts you visit look very nice and I can recognise some TR3 textures which was nice to see. Inside the ship looks absolutely brilliant even after it got sunk! I was so surprised in how great it looked and when you get to the cave... just wow. it was so realistic and the atmosphere was so amazing I can't put it to words! A masterpiece that definitely shouldn't be missed by Tomb Raider fans. Highly recommended." - afzalmiah

"A very nice level. The places look so warm. There are beatiful butterflies and fishes, which makes the level more realistic. The underwater environment is very well constructed. What I think it needed work is the lighting. There is a very strong light near the beaches when Lara gets out of the water. Also, Lara is not affected many times by the lighting, especially in the beginning. At the last part (underground) the lighting is OK. Also, it would be nicer if the author used more music tracks in the level. That was a bit boring... If you are looking for enemies, this is not your level. You will find few monkeys and few skeletons. That's not bad, but a good fight would make it better. Secrets are easy to find. I think that the best part of the level is the decoration. All these plants, rocks, torches are excellent. The gameplay is mostly simple, but a bit challenging at some parts. What I think was not nescesary, was to place Lara in that huge area without any clue from where to start. I walked many miles again and again just to find what I should do first. Although, it is a great level, very enjoyable, with nice atmosphere and many good static items." - Sarikman

"I enjoyed playing this level immensely, and this is surely one of those levels you will never forget. Although you can finish this level in half an hour or so, it will leave a very deep impression on the player. A beautiful scenery, challenging puzzles, well placed objects and textures (with some cracks in underwater area), perfect sounds and lighting, everything is very well imagined and designed. For my taste, there are too many keys to find and doors to open, but the gameplay still remains interesting enough to keep you occupied. There are just a few minor glitches, such as cracks in textures, for example, or too few medipacks when Lara must lose her health (when monkey-swinging through spikes, for example), but I don't mind these so much. Actually, I had a much more bigger problem with this level. I could not make a save, because my game crashed to desktop each time I tried to press Action or Enter to save my game. It was not the problem with my system, because I tried to play this game on three different PCs, but each time, making the savegame was impossible for me. So, I had a really challenging task to finish this game from the beginning to end, with no saves, in one go... Each time my Lara died, I had to play everything all over again. But even then, after playing one part for twenty times, the game never lost anything from its beauty. An excellently designed level indeed. Highly recommendable, provided that the savegame option works with you better than with me." - Nina Croft

"Oh, I can't really say too much new, since the previous reviewers said everything. I admire how this level has been built, it's spectacular. I didn't mind that I was stuck sometimes, the eye-candy scenery compensated it every time. I've seen brilliant high quality plants around, perfectly fit to the sea scene. The key-hunt gave a downhill to the level, wandering around the level can make the whole thing boring after a while. They're really nice tasks there though, which are require some skill, I loved those. A few more fixed cameras could've been placed so the player won't get stuck so easily. Overally I enjoyed that 30 minutes I spent with this level." - rtrger

"This level starts in a beautifully designed tropical lagoon with a sunken ship in the middle of the crystal clear water and is surrounded by rock walls with huts and caves. The game play is quite interesting and the more of less difficult tasks, which will keep one busy for more than an hour of net game play. I resorted to checking with the well-written walkthrough at times since it is a fairly large area and it isn't always clear where to go next. There were a couple of rather challenging sequences like a really tight timed run over raising blocks and a long and tedious monkey bar area that was a bit hard to see and for whatever reason Lara just quit moving and hung there without going back or forward until I reloaded from a save game. The enemies were all on the easier side and easily disposed off. The secrets were not overly hard to find either. The atmosphere in the level is really good and goes from happy, sunny and warm in the lagoon areas to dark, cold and gloomy in the underwater and caves. Texturing and lightning is pretty much flawless and I only spotted a few small light gaps. A lot of high-resolution textures were used. That and the combination of rich plant life and other objects in certain areas really seemed to drop the frame rate quite dramatically at times, which was surprising as I have a fairly good video card and wasn't playing with a very high resolution either. This is definitely one of the best looking levels I have played so far. No wonder it has made his way into the hall of fame. Thumbs up and highly recommended!" - Blue43

"Wonderfully tropical! This adventure stands out for its great attention to detail in the use of custom objects, like the beautiful palm trees and butterflies and for the good use of the beach and cave areas in terms of having to explore every nook and cranny with some fun climbing and jumping around the place. There is a small torch puzzle, timed spikes and fire traps to maneuvre around and four nice looking secret statues to be had before you eventually grab your mask and make an escape as everything collapses around you. The only element that spoiled this hour long adventure a little bit for me was that at times it is not obvious at all where to go next, so you end up scaling the place many times, trying to figure out your next steps and that gets a bit tedious. Plus it does indeed feel a bit like a rather arbitrary key hunt, so the gameplay progression does lack a bit the inspiration that the environmental setting clearly has. But for the looks of it along, you simply have to play this level." - MichaelP

"This level is amazingly beautiful. I loved having such a large underwater section as well. The only drawback is that there are a few too many keys to find in my opinion. I still enjoyed running back and forth due to the stunning scenery, though, so I didn't really mind too much. This is a very gorgeous and memorable level." - Ward Dragon

"I truly enjoyed this good looking and challenging level. Areas are really wide, detailed and memorable and they include plenty of new realistic looking objects. Gameplay is varied consisting mainly of exploring but there's also many jumping tasks, traps and a nice timed run in this level. I recommend this level for every raider and hopefully we'll see soon more levels from teme9." - Samu

"I must say, i have to applaud teme9 for the wonderful work of art! This costum level expands your views on a normal Tomb Raider game. The textures and lighting were excellent, especially the water effects. The trees and lush enviorment was great, very fluent, impressive, and long. It took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete this game, and it was great to play it! The enemies were well placed, the puzzles were outstanding and fun, the objects and secrets were well hidden and well put. The camera was great, and no deffects on it, as well as sound and atmosphere, it was a great hour and 30 minutes, and i would replay it again and again if i had the choice!" - Vaughnage

"Excellent level. I like vast sunlit environments and the beach was brought alive with butterflies and realistic plants. Beautiful scenery with dizzying heights and profund depths... needed to peek at the walkie to cope with the huge environment. Binoculars were sorely missed!!! I thought the external brightness or contrast was a tad strong I would have preferred a warmer light on Lara. Underwater scenery was very satisfying and animated by cute little fish. Enemies are not overwhelming but I prefer plenty of scope for unharried exploration....A wonderful sense of isolation. Sound loopss were good - actually very relaxing, but minimal - maybe some music and tension could have been used around enemies or timed runs. Pirate skellies + shotgun are always a winner. Quite challenging jumps and puzzles, not too impossible. Keys and secrets to collect were imaginative. It's nice to see Lara in her swimmies & her hair has interesting blue tones. The ending was quite spectacular but came all too soon. A very enjoyable wreck raid. AKA SquirrelJuggler" - Fridge Raider

"The instant I started this level my mood improved! The cove is so beautiful, I just couldn't wait to start exploring. Teme9 has really done a fantastic job with atmosphere, but the gameplay is also very satisfying. I loved every puzzle (even the timed run!) and everything (except maybe a totally hidden ball to shoot) was fairly straightforward. The only thing that I wished he could have done more of was perhaps more ship to explore. Honestly, calling this level a "ship" level is somewhat inaccurate, as it is more coastal. The length was a bit short, but that's ok, it was definitely short but sweet." - Shandroid

"I have to say I loved the game's atmosphere and setting. Unfortunately the gameplay isn't up to it although it is not bad but I expected it to be richer. There has been given much attention to textures and decoration than puzzles. Of course it has its good moments, with the timed runs and the room with the deadly water and spikes to avoid on the tiles you need to jump on. Overall it gave me a sense of incompletion as far as the puzzles are concern. The sunken big ship wreck was beautiful inside and outside, not to mention the nice touch with hydroplane. As for the traps, well some spikes, fire tiles to avoid and raising blocks involved but there are also many switches and keys. The caverns are great with those sharks lurking below the pools and the four secret statues were nicely placed. It is certainly worth loading it up for an hour of gameplay and to admire such beautiful scenery." - Kristina

"This was one of the prettiest levels I've played lately! Amazing atmosphere, fascinating gameplay, several puzzles, lots of swimming in a beautifully constructed bay with a sunken ship, as well as exploring exotic palm beaches and climbing on rocks and roofs so as to locate switches and keys, perfect use of sounds, textures and effects so as to emphasize the exotic feel of the adventure. Try to explore the areas as much as you can, because every single corner and detail is cared after, resulting in a brilliant work of art. Teme's levels get better and better, and I'm sure he will create great things in the future! I found three of the four secrets as listed in the Stats screen, where you can also see how many kills you've got. On another note, I got a few weird reactions from the enemies: one of the sharks followed Lara on dry land floating in the air (!) and kept attacking her, while a couple of gorillas would freeze after a few seconds of battle. Things of not much importance though, considering how much I enjoyed this beautiful level!" - Ravenwen

"A good and long level with a sense of a complete place , as you have to explore a lagoon with a sunken ship, temples or huts , and later on the ship itself and blue caves before a good ending where an earthquake occurs. This earthquake last only 20 seconds or so, so it is not a problem at all. On the opposite, what was a problem was the absence of binoculars, and the darkness of some areas, which was quite annoying to see the monkeyswings or where you have to go. I had to double the gamma of my screen to see something. Also the orange screen when you reload a savegame is quite hideous and unpleasant. Aside of these bad choices, a beautifully built level with natural and pleasant atmosphere and quite diverse things to perform." - eRIC

"Gameplay is not easy 'cause the game is much no-lineal; at the beginning I had to explore a lot of time a very huge outside area to know where the paths were and return later when I got the necessary items (I found three secrets before get the first key). I found very few enemies, only gorillas, sharks and skeletons; those ones I had to shoot them with the shotgun 'cause it were only the extra weapon I found. I missed some more musics and some more cameras when pulling switches. The best for me were the good architecture, lights and textures. A good work you must play." - Jose

"This is one of my favorites !!! Although this is my first review, I just finished playing it, and it was wonderful - too short !!! I liked the bright outdoor scenes. If you've ever been to the Caribbean Islands, they're BRIGHT !!! Also, when diving, I almost felt myself holding my breath, because the scenery was, very realistic, but gave the impression better than I've seen before... teme9 must've been there... The gameplay was interesting, and challenging. The timed run with the two blocks seemed impossible, but finally wasn't. The skellies were fun, I loved blowing them thru the door up high !!! I also loved the special addition of the Frangsapanzie (sp) plants, a local tropical plant. They and the Palm Trees were done very realistically. Very good game !!!" - Juno Jim

"What a great adventure this is ! First of all, I have to say that I have never been so impressed with a level horizon as is found in this one. It is staggeringly beautiful - well done, Teme9. Next, the vista surrounding this game is outstanding and my scores reflect this. I have two complaints. I would have loved a little more variety for obtaining access to places than just a large assortment of keys. The lack of flares became a very real problem in the end while trying to negotiate the final lagoon. Binoculars would have helped if flares weren't available. I loved the timed run up to the spike block and the mastering of the jump switch - nice and challenging. This game will keep you on your toes while searching the island and fending off the skellies and sharks. It's a great game - play it ! You're getting better and better, Teme9 !" - Mugs

"This is indeed a great looking level. And I am sorry to say that it will not work on a MAC. Lara has to a lot of swimming and climbing at least till she finds the items she need and those are keys. There is a nice timed run and you can lower the spikes so you won't loose any health by picking up that Key. The Torch puzzle is also for a very much-needed Key. Your main goal is to get to the treasure chest and that is not that easy. Look very good everywhere, as I missed some spots where I could jump/slide to in order to proceed, so I had to do some parts over and over again. On one hand, great detail went into this level, like butterflies fluttering about, great looking anchors in the water, on the other hand I had some goodies floating in mid air. There is more eye candy in this level than gameplay. And last but not least, what is that???? No binoculars in this level?" - Gerty

"The opening screen shot sets the stage, showing the sun through a silhouetted palm frond. Lara finds herself in a scenic cove, with a wonderful deep lagoon to swim in and explore. There is a rich tropical atmosphere, native huts, satisfying puzzles, and a pirate ship with hidden secrets. The whole thing made me want to throw up. Literally. By using TREP the author has exceeded the old Tomb Raider limits by about five or six times with a massive lagoon area with uninterrupted sight lines. My computer should be sufficient with 3.3 GHz and 1 G memory, but play slowed down, with a noticeable lag in Lara's movements. After about fifty minutes of play my headache became intolerable. When I quickly turned away from the computer I was queasy and nauseated. (The graphics don't look bad, but must be choppy enough to nauseate some people after extended play.) So even though the playing time for this level is less than two hours, it took me three separate sessions, spread over as many days, to complete it. That said, this is still a must play level. This is the first time ever that Lara encounters the infamous Land Shark. After diving down and getting a key from near the shipwreck, a shark appears. Lara ignored it and climbed out on the eastern bank to use the key on one of the huts. When she turned around the shark was coming at her on land, "swimming" in the air over the beach. This is the first time Lara needs to run and dodge on a beach, turning about to get off a few shots, with a shark in hot pursuit. When the shark was finally dead, the body floated up gracefully in the air all the way to the ceiling. I assumed that this was a bug, but then the same thing happened at the end of the level. Lara ignored the shark in the dark cavern, since falling into the water was fatal anyway. Lara reached into the treasure chest and turned around. Once again a Land Shark "swam" out of the air to snap at her head, so the author must intend this unusual effect. In general, the game play is good, with those inevitable pauses while Lara hunts for a key. The scenery is impressive; maybe too impressive. There is no reason why the author couldn't have put a bend in the main lagoon to halve the sight lines. The one frustrating part for me was near the end of the level, in the dark cavern, where the lack of binoculars made it difficult to find the initial jump by the waterfall. Then it occurred to me that the author deliberately removed the binoculars, because using them on these massive caverns would crash the game. Try this level, and see how it plays on your own computer." - dmdibl

"I'm sorry, but I find myself unable to jump on this bandwagon of praise. If this is an example of the joys of TREP and NGLE, I'm left rather cold. It may be a matter of improper monitor settings, or even inadequate hardware on my part (although I have a fairly nice computer), but my visual experience was like watching the action through a foggy windshield. The contrast on my screen was much too harsh, such that the outdoor scenes were too bright (bet you thought you'd never hear me say that) and the underwater and underground scenes were too dark. On top of that, the annoyingly garish yellow-orange save screen made me cringe every time I reloaded from a savegame. Since this builder was an entrant in the recent South Pacific competition, I'd very much like to play this same level built under those conditions, and I daresay my ratings would be higher in every category. The negatives aside, this was a fun level to play, although I found it rather on the difficult side, particularly near the end. Without Harry Laudie's advance walkthrough I would probably have given up on it fairly early on, but with it I had a nice raid of a little over 100 minutes. Recommended, but without the bell-ringing raves of the other reviews." - Phil

"Yesterday is lost forever , but the NGLE and TREP are here today providing the tools for the builders to take TR Custom Levels a giant step into the future. I marvel at those most talented guys and dolls out there who spend so much of their own precious time on developing new and even better level architecture.Remember its 11 years ago now since Lara started to explore the caves of Vilcabamba, but she looks much younger than that now. As Raymond mentioned before the builder makes full use of both NGLE and TREP and the result is just beautiful to look upon. The gameplay and story seems a little bit too flat , just checking on keys to find more keys to get other keys. When Lara tried to open the final chest from the other side something very strange happened : she got attacked by an obviously buggy flying hammer shark ! I think this would not have happened if she had killed this shark before when it was swimming in the water but until then there was no real need to shoot the poor animal ! I enjoyed this game very much and recommend it ." - Ruben

"What a treat! There aren't many ship levels out there in general, so when you see that a level involving a sunken Galleon is released by such a promising builder as teme9, you know it's a must play! If the same thought crossed your mind - you're far from wrong! Visually this is just absolutely stunning, and the attention to details amazing! If you turn around after your arrival here, you see a neat plane, and further exploration rewards you with secrets, though I only found 3 of the 4 here! There aren't really that many enemies around, except a few gorillas, sharks and skeletons, plus a few butterflies and tropical fish, that actually mind their own business and are there for the view! It does seem like all the beauty was a bit too much to handle for my poor computer, as I was getting slow-downs mainly whilst raiding in the main cove area, but that didn't detract much from my gaming pleasure and probably could've been solved, had I started the game in a lower resolution! So how does the level play? It's generally not too difficult, though there are some sneaky moments like in the spike room for the jump-switch or the timed switch with more than one use. And even if those are wonderful moments, and I know I'm going to be in minority here, but I felt the gameplay left me with a feeling that this really could've been so much more. I've played the author's South Pacific Contest level, so I know he can deliver on gameplay, so it perplexes me, why you can more or less reduce this to a key hunt? I have no personal dislikes with keys, but I feel their use should be logical, not to mention in moderation! And I felt that this level was losing out in both of those categories, when I covered the whole area to find 3 keys, which unlocked a door after which you got another key, what is used to open a cage, that's only purpose for the centuries it was there was to hold yet another key! This just plainly is lazy gameplay, and while there's no harm done with implementing this here and there, it's ridiculous if this essentially is the main chunk of tasks the level has. I suppose the purpose to resolve to this would be that it's not too easy to make the particular scenario very puzzle-based, so the duration of the level has to be artificially extended with the use of the keys. And while I could live with that, assuming that I just expected more of the level than I should have, one thing did surprise me more than the key hunt. Namely, the addition of a never ending earthquake for the last 10+ minutes of the level. Needless to say, you actually have to swim, use keys, maneuver around a large cave with jumps whilst the earthquake shakes things up a bit, so I couldn't understand whether this was an unintended bug I, as the player, accidentally induced, or if the author actually thought this was a good idea? Fortunately Raymond cleared this up for me as an actual bug and not the way the author intended the level to be. While I took that in consideration and didn't let it affect my overall opinion of the level, the encounter still partly ruined the wonderfully atmospheric adventure this had otherwise been. Nevertheless - I'd say it's still all worth it to explore this masterfully crafted scenario that Lara seldom visits despite the few gripes I have!" - eTux

"This is like going on an exotic holiday. It looks absolutely gorgeous with its beautiful island beaches and (non-homicidal) butterflies, lovely underwater settings with sunken galleon, brightly coloured corals and fish, although admittedly the sharks aren't all that cute. There's a lot of exploring on shore, in the native huts, under water and in the ship, mainly in search of keys, with timed runs, spike traps and torch puzzles along the way. Apart from the sharks, there's a skeleton or two hanging around, but nothing too rowdy to spoil the superb atmosphere. There's even a treasure chest to find and really the only thing I didn't love about this level was the sustained earthquake at the end - it just made me queasy and I could only play for about five minutes at a time. Otherwise, great fun." - Jay

"There is one thing wrong with this level...it is over too soon! I just wanted it to go on & on. The setting and textures are subtle yet well crafted and give great atmosphere. The puzzles are fair but sometimes need thinking out of the box. I love large rooms and having to find a path rather than have a route laid out too obviously. This level satisfied both of these. The timed runs can be tight but doable. Not too many enemies but lots of good exploring. Definitely in my folder of Top Levels. Please can we have some more!" - Adrian

"An absolutely beautiful and stunning level! The advantages of TREP and NGLE are fully used here. I loved this adventure from the first to the last minute! Lara is looking for a prcious artefact connected with the wreck of a spanish galleon. After leaving her plane she enters this breathtaking, huge lagoon. Every detail is just so beautiful. You see a lot of new stunning costum objects. To enter the wreck she has to fnd some keys first. So she finds some nice agility tests with jumps and traps and a two timed runs, a short torch puzzle and a lot of exploring. In the mysterious wreck she finds a way to a huge and deep cave, where she has to make a difficult way down to the treasure chest and finally make her escape with the artefact. The gameplay is balanced and entertaining. Everything (sound, cameras, lighting, textures) is handled with great care and professionality. Alltogether I can say: This is a must-play for every TR-fan!" - Raymond