Level reviews

"I guess back then people didn't like shooter levels. But this one has traits of a hall-of-famer: pretty rooms, good lights, challenging but fair combat, nice sound and progression feel. There's no end which is a shame cause I think this mysterious pit in the last hall should have hidden something ominous, otherwise it just feels like Lara on a random rampage. Recommended." - DJ Full

"One of Lukasz's levels that I like. There are some nice music transitions when we go to different rooms. However, the gameplay is a bit monotonous as we enter a room, collect a piece, or pull a lever and then go to another room, then rinse and repeat, which I disliked of course. I think this should've been reduced so that we can spend most or 2/3 of time in one room, but overall this is a nice level, and it's worth spending some time completing it." - Kubsy

"Well, not a surprise with this new level. Still the same style and almost the same comments I posted for the previous adventure:"Palms Evil": "Another good set of levels from Lukas. Nothing really spectacular as usual from this author, but enough entertaining to take a try. The same style as in previous levels: a lot of action with plenty of enemies in all rooms, many ammo for the extra weapons, tricky traps and a cool atmosphere. As I pointed in my comments for the previous levels from this author, good work, but the very short time for the timed run was totally unnecessary." In fact, I found here a better care with the decoration of the rooms, the objects and the texturization too. The first timed run near the beginning was not so hard, but the timed runs near the end were not so funny, even when I was able to do them after several tries. Definitely, another good level worth to play and full of action, this time with few traps, but still not agree with the tight timed runs." - Jose

"Shoot them to high heaven, indeed. This could be considered a bloodbath, although I did find enough armament and health packs to eliminate the seemingly endless onslaught. I quite liked the overall setting with some good use of audio and lighting/textures. It's just a shame that the core of the level basically revolves around endless shooting and I wish more puzzles had been incorporated. Not for the faint-hearted." - Ryan

"I've always been partial to levels by Lukasz Croft. He was a tremendously prolific builder until 2010, and this is one of his more recent ones that I somehow missed. We haven't heard from him for a number of years, and I sure do wish he would continue building. Underwater Gallery (not plural according to the load screen) is a one-hour standalone that provides many killing opportunities. Harry Laudie wrote the walkthrough and noted that this was more of a bloodbath than Doom 3. I'm not sure I agree with that assessment, but you definitely meet up with a fair share of enemies, mostly thugs, soldiers and dogs. A nice twist is early acquisition of the MP5, together with scads of ammo that includes the poison variety (kills in stages rather than all at once). Harry has also provided some crucial savegames, and I needed one for that brief but maddening jumpswitch exercise. Even with the hint (roll upon landing and roll again) I could never get there in time. A nice raid if you enjoy shooters." - Phil

"If you want to see blood flow, this is the one level you have to play. Personally I don't like them and this one you had to be very careful with whatever you find (MP5 and Shotgun and almost at the end the normal guns) as the patched exe is specially made to make the thugs you encounter very hard to kill. So finding out a strategy is needed. The tip Treeble gave in his review was a good one. Have to thank Harry to provide us with savedgames as the two very tight timed runs I just couldn't make. Gameplay wise it isn't hard to get through (apart from all the enemies you had to kill)." - Gerty

"This is another fun and action filled shooter style level by Lukasz Croft. Lara explores a shipwreck, but there is not as much swimming as one would expect. The main game play consists of shooting bad guys and dogs and there were also a couple short timed runs in case somebody could get bored. Other than that it is basic progress - find crowbar, jump switches, levers and open doors. Since Lara starts without guns and has only limited ammo after finding the first rifle, she must be careful conserving ammo and not waste any as there were plenty of shootable crates and boxes, but only a few do contain useful pickups. The atmosphere is pretty nice and there were plenty of custom sounds used which is rather typical for the style of the builder. I found the texturing cleanly applied and the lighting was pretty good for the most part. There were plenty of flares (with time indicator, which is nice) but only few of them were actually needed. I did have problems loading save games after starting the game, but starting a new game and then loading a save game worked every time (Win7). Conclusion: Another solid level with good action and entertaining game play. Don't miss it. (1h 15min)" - Blue43

"That's the first level from Lukasz that I could finish. And I immediately started to like his style. A bit non-linear level, with lots of enemies to kill, a few timed runs, lots doors to open with keys, stars and such. Simple idea, but great. The texturing is great, I liked the lighting effects too. One of the secret is well-hidden. Musics are also great. This level is fun to play, absolutely recommended for people who likes shooters." - rtrger

"I quite enjoyed this level, despite a few existing reviews, as I was looking for good old-fashioned Tomb Raider play. The level starts with a nod to underwater levels in TR2, with Lara in her scuba suit and a hungry shark. At first the guards are friendly, which is fortunate because Lara begins without any weapons. The lighting is good, there aren't any oppressive feelings of being in cramped quarters, and most of the play is on dry land. After Lara gets the MP5, dogs and thugs (and a pet raptor) show up in increasing numbers, and now Lara has to be careful not to shoot friendly guards. I ran out of MP5 regular ammo, switched to shotgun, ran out of that ammo, then realized that Lara had a whole bunch of explosive ammo in inventory. One learns that when Lara picks up a key, or throws a switch, to immediately draw weapon and scan for thugs and dogs descending on her. What started as a nice spice to the level gets to be a serious health drain. I ended at about 10% health in the last secret, above the ending trigger, but Lara gets a small medipack from the bad guy to finish the game with. The tight timed jump switch seemed to take dozens of tries, but the walkthrough has a solution, a double roll (there is even a link to a savegame here). Then things are back to normal and the next double timed sequence gives Lara ample time. Atmosphere and texturing are fine, but it would be nice if this author ended games with a large, fancy, well-lit room, to leave players with satisfying memories. Instead the endings always seem less interesting than the beginnings. Worth playing." - dmdibl

"Well, I actually quite enjoyed this one, even though what the other reviewers say is of course true: That jump to the ladder took me many attempts and even when I read how it needs to be done, I needed a few more before it worked. And the second half of the game really has too much killing going on. The balance in the first half between shooting and exploring/finding buttons or levers was much better. Still, I never ran short of ammo (as Treeble said in his review: the poison ammo is a real winner in this game) and the explosive ammo blows everything away nicely anyway. And I quite enjoyed the overall setting, including the lighting and textures and good choice of (often dramatic) audio. So - don't be afraid of this level, with the hints about the ladder and which ammo to use, this is a good clean hour of classic Lukasz-raiding!" - MichaelP

"I really liked the opening gameplay and even the initial gun-play was fine. The longer the shooting went on the less I enjoyed it. There is no problem with lack of ammo and the poison bullets work exceptionally well and you do have the explosive ammo as well. If the friendly guards are not stuck somewhere, they are a definite help. There's a jump between a wall and a ladder that took enough time for me to get that it was almost a gamestopper. Easy enough when Lara is positioned correctly but it's the illogic of it that's confusing. I found myself saving every few feet later in the game and that gets tiresome after awhile. Lukasz has a lot of talent and I would really like to see him concentrating more on gameplay and less on gun-play. There could be a good balance of both. If you're not into shooters, this may be best played in intervals as doing it in one go may be a little too much. I got one secret and I'm not sure if there were more." - Bene

"I know many people will have troubles with this level because of a number of factors (some already stated by the four reviews submitted prior to this one): you don't get your pistols until very late in the level and you don't really get plenty of ammo or medipacks if you balance that with the ammount of baddies you come across (or the absurd ammount of health that some of the baddies will take if they hit you). The main point of the game here is that you have to be stealthy and efficient -- don't try the usual fighting skills, of shooting and jumping over the baddies. Instead, take the hint the author gives and don't be afraid of using the 'poison' ammo (it's a crossbow disguised as a MP5, after all). One single shot and the baddie will fall within a matter of seconds: the patched exe seems to change this, as you don't even need to finish the job as you'd usually have to; all you have to do is fire once and hide from possible retaliation in the 3-5 seconds it will take until the baddie dies. I ended the game without ever using the pistols or the shotgun, and it was rather easy. Gameplay is pretty linear and straightforward and the general look of the level is nice, even if you the mix of textures don't really make a lot of sense. Some of the animations have been changed and I never got used to the lack of momentum from short runs, and there's one ladder that's rather tricky to grab to, but a screenshot posted on the forums helped get past that point. I was actually surprised with the use of audio, as one track seems to fade into the other, and there's a good selection of them. I hope the bolded bit in this review caught your attention and prevented possible frustration. 60 minutes, 1 secret. 10/08" - Treeble

"This was one of those levels that I was entirely unable to finish,despite giving it my best for well over an hour,due to the huge ammount of baddies and incredibly meagre amount of ammunition with which to deal with them.By all means give Lara a limited arsenal,but don't then plaster the level with hordes of enemies attacking en masse with almost no way for the poor girl to defend herself! Players inclined toward cheating will no doubt give themselves extra ammunition with which to deal with the assorted threats,but those (like me)who stick to the rules will find it almost impossible to complete this the way the author intended.As far as everything else goes,this was a little too much like the Lukasz of old - very straightforward gameplay,a dearth of proper puzzles and a rather half-baked attempt at atmospehere;only rarely did I get the impression that I was on board a ship,as it felt more like a rather gaudy Enemy Base scenario. Those in the mood for huge amounts of bloodshed may want to give this a go;otherwise,best to leave it well alone." - Orbit Dream

"The first level by the author I played, and I haven't been disappointed. The title is a bit of a misnomer as most of the time, Lara is on solid ground. She is barefoot like in the TR2 ship levels, but the model here is most modern. This is a pleasant 50 minutes straightforward level with not a lot of backtracking. Good quality of the sfx sounds and good atmosphere too especially in the parts where old background tunes from TR2 are used. At mid level, there is some more modern background audios but they did not always worked so well. That is the point where the level turned really into a shooter. Not a difficult level , a couple of easy and short timed doors, a very tricky action required to grab a ladder is the exception. There is enough medipacks to find, but rather early I ran out of ammos and had to add some MP5 ammos with savegameeditor." - eRIC

"By the time you find your guns, you will be holding some major grudges, believe me. I really wanted to go right back to the beginning and shoot every damn thing I initially just had to run past, because, yes, I am that vindictive. Actually, you won't get your pistols until right at the end of the game, but before the game progresses too far you do find some pretty good firepower to deal with the guards and dogs (just run past the rats). It's a typical Lukasz level - linear, lively, straightforward and a bit of a shooter." - Jay

"well i think all know allready Lukasz Croft style ....... this is another shooter strightforward one ..... all gameplay contain in finding keys pull some crates and some levers + some short timed timeruns (the only positive in this one ) and shooting badyes and dogs + a dino ...... wich realy dont fit at this game ....also u need to spare the medipacks cos they are loads off guys + dogs to kill i advice use the MP with explosive bulets .........all in all a boring one with even mediocre graphics and gameplay ......this one is even worse than last game off Lukasz ...... all in all playable but boring mediocre game ....." - Jack&