Level reviews

"I keep procrastinating the things I promise to do, so maybe I should stop making such promises in the first place? At any rate, as usual I believe if this was cut down to size it might have been more enjoyable, as it stands it's a two-hour long romp through environments mixing TR3LA and Tinnos, a number of fetch quests and enemies to take down. There's nothing particularly exciting to write home about, unfortunately. Phil's walkthrough makes it child's play so you can pretty much turn off your brain (well, at least you can try!) in these trying times we're living in and just try to enjoy things for a while. It's a bit dark at times and the standard running animation was tweaked slightly, as a result you might find yourself missing a lot of basic jumps until you get used to the (unnecessary and pointless) change. I also experienced a constant crash when trying to reload a savegame after the friendly undead gets released towards the very end, so I had to the final stretch in one go. 120 minutes, 12 secrets. 09/24" - Treeble

"Omg this was such a torment... one of those 1% of custom projects I consider overrated instead of the other way around... Technically correct and sound design deserves legit praise, but we get four levels of switches, enemies, pickup sidequests, from room to room, rinse repeat, and not even a single area during those four hours was outstanding. If you look for any meaningful content just forget about this one." - DJ Full

"If you've played the previous adventures from this author, you can imagine what awaits: lots of enemies and pickups, timed runs (this time were not so hard for me), moving blocks and pull many switches. Often you'll find keyholes or receptacles and you'll need to explore another areas to find the keys/gems/masks you need and go back. The levels have some TR3 touches. Sometimes you can get stucked 'cause some switches are well hidden or you can miss another one 'cause there are not covers for them and the author places them in any wall surface with no sense. I've got a problem in the room with three monkey statues and four crowbar levers (I saw the readme before starting); even following the walkthrough instructions some switches never worked so I tried to do it may way always saving and reloading and finally, after many tries, the gate opened (don't ask me how). As usual, the secrets were not difiicult to find if I explore carefully, the atmosphere is good and the lighting is well worked. Playable and enjoyable for me." - Jose

"This builder's games have a certain something about them that is quite pleasant and which makes them fun to play, provided you can overlook the shooter elements that are often present in his games. Thankfully that's not so apparent here. You do encounter a lot of enemies, but they are no match for the extensive weaponry you will no doubt accumulate along the way. I did encounter the crowbar lever bug in the second level, but didn't get caught by the boulder/trapdoor bug that Jorge mentioned. There's a nice use of audio throughout too. A pleasant two hour experience." - Ryan

"This is a well done level. I really enjoyed the custom sounds and the general lighting and atmosphere. The beginning was quite a bit frustrating with a very hard rope jump but I finally figured out how to grab that thing. There are also a few other challenges in this level. Some well hidden switches and goods. Also some timed runs and precise jumps. I don't know why, but I was never able to get to Secret #7 in the monkey room. Tried it many times with doing things in different order, save and re-load, shooting all the bones, even managed to keep the friendly monkey alive, but that door just wouldn't open. All in all, this is a well built level with nice lighting, good textures and interesting game play. Plenty of enemies, but also enough pickups and ammo. I would not recommend this level for the beginner." - Blue43

"Having passed through his 'learning curve' phase,Lukasz is now one of the most consistently capable builders on the level-building scene;and with this entry we are presented with perhaps his smoothest adventure in terms of gameplay enjoyment.Some of the puzzles are quite ingenious;there's a veritable pageant of spectacular and exotic enemies to defeat;and the various hidden levers are sneaky enough to have you exploring for quite a while.Although the adventure is well-paced,your enjoyment begins to flag after a couple of hours due to the lack of variety in the scenery (there is only one out-door area;and a small one,at that)and the general sameness of the room architecture,which rarely achieves any degree of spectacularity.Hence you tend not to stop and stare,but instead spend the three-plus hours of playing time running,shooting and searching for the way to progress to the next area; which gets a little wearying after a while,and certainly doesn't sustain the adventures epic length. Even the enemy attacks become an elementary matter after a while,as the spectacular arsenal of destructive weaponry renders all opponents harmless - although,in this regard,mention must be made of the particularly nasty invisible monkeys! It does ultimately build to a biggish Finale,but Lukasz needs to learn that (in level building terms) a long playing time doesn't necessarily equate with comparable enjoyment. Nevertheless,this is constantly entertaining adventuring;pepped up by a well-chosen music score and always competant construction. It isn't his best,in my opinion; but it's a very fine effort all the same." - Orbit Dream

"Temple Creatures (8/8/8/7, 40 min, 3/4 secrets): A Tibet/Tinnos style setting welcomes you and this plays very pleasantly, easily and quickly with not too much killing, great audio added and spiced up with a series of smaller timed actions in balance with several push blocks you need to move arond and climb up on. The hammergod area was fun even though that lever acts a bit strangely and you get to kill good old Natla along the way too.
Catacombs Creatures (8/8/9/8, 40 min, 5/6 secrets): I got nervous as this starts with a small maze, but right after that it is again more of the same gameplay as in level 1. Push blocks, burners, many crowbar switches, some of which strangely need a reload for them to work properly and I noticed a few really nice flybys along the way too. Enemies are there but not too many and not too hard to kill.
The Increase Attack Creatures (7/8/8/8, 40 min, 1/2 secrets): The tile makes you wonder what to expect, but I did not feel that killing the creatures became any harder here. True, you do get those centaur horses to deal with, but by now have plenty of ammunition and fire power at your fingertips. There are many vases to shoot in this part and a rather long backtrack to go through and it did seem a little less inspired than the previous parts, but still flows along nicely in much the same fashion.
Tomb of Creatures - Final Conflict (7/8/8/8, 30 min): Slightly shorter and slightly tougher battling here, as those poisonous big mutants, dogs and monkeys dominate the place. And of course those squishing blocks, although they did not actually seem to hurt Lara. This was the part where I wondered if I had played through some of these rooms before in an older Lukasz level, but not sure. At the end you battle two more Lara clones which are no match for the explosive weaponry though.
All in all, a long and fast paced adventure that you should be able to play through with little difficulty and certainly one of Lukasz' best pieces of work out there to date." - MichaelP

"I'd never played any of this builder's levels, mainly because of his reputation as being partial to "shooter-style" gameplay. Two things about Tomb of Creatures attracted me: the high ratings and the fact that a walkthrough hadn't yet been provided for it. When I fired it up I was very pleasantly surprised, and I plan to go back to his other levels in the near future to see what I've missed. You get four fast-paced levels of 30 to 45 minutes each, and I found the lighting and overall look to be very well done. The first level has the most challenging moves, and once you get past that hurdle the rest of it is fairly easy (although I was obliged to scan the stuck threads on occasion). I didn't encounter any of the so-called "bugs" noted by others in the reviews and stuck threads, so I haven't made any special mention of gameplay problems in the walkthrough. And once you know what to do with the timed run past a crawl space in the first level, you can repeat it reliably with little difficulty. All in all, a nice little diversion that I can recommend heartily." - Phil

"4 dynamic levels in this game, and the first one is the more difficult as we have firstly a rather tricky jump with a rope, then especially a tight timed door requiring perfect accuracy in your run/crawl and dash moves. After this point it is an easy game, with plenty of rather simple tasks, many traps to avoid , and plenty of enemies, dogs , bats, crocs , 3 species of monkey , Tinnos mosquitos and Mutants , Sophia and her twin sister, it was funny to see one of them at the end trying to escape Lara's powerful weaponry , not sure it was intended. There was too many vases and boxes to shoot in the hope of retrieving some goodies, and the constant change of weapons to spare ammo was boring. Although well designed and having some good yet simple puzzles, the tasks at hand , given the number of obstacles in the levels, made the progression tiresome after a while, everything happens mostly in small size rooms, with hardly a place to relax a bit, except when there was a pushing block puzzle. It would have been a good thing for the game to have some bigger rooms with a concept , or a real non straightforward progression , as everything was becoming more and more predictable as you progress, despite some surprises and the good use of some objects. In the 2nd level I thought we would have a remake of the TLR Mastabas puzzle with the use of a monkey pulling a switch , but this was a non event, as Lara has to do everything herself. The rooms are rather well textured , but there are places with repetitive texturing and the lighting was too dark and 'shadowy', and as the rooms are generally small , the architecture is extremely simple with even a few thin ceiling/floors. Good secrets to find, the atmosphere is good, and so are the sfx sounds , but there are too many audio tracks used , and sometimes an overlapping of them. This is certainly a rather good set of dynamic levels with plenty to do, but it would have brought more enjoyment with less stuff, and with a better design [2 hours 30 - 9/12 secrets found]" - eRIC

"There is a nice built up in this level set although I am not sure what went on but I had serious problems with some of the levers in this game. A pity that there was no better camera work to indicate that a timed run was afoot. Watch for very well hidden levers and I am not even sure what did where at a certain time. The first level has a nasty rope jump as well as a nasty timed run, but for the rest there were no such surprises. I had in the last level some problems with one of the masks that one of the enemies dropped way down below and no way to get that, Turned out you only need one mask. Pushing (quite a lot), jumping, swimming it is all there and do keep your eyes open. There are more small things that just don't add up but overall it is a nice little mini game with some creepy creatures and I found only 6 of the 12 secrets." - Gerty

"This is a talented author who knows how to create a series of challenging and sometimes creepy rooms. The theme and texturing is TR3, so we have the Tinnos mutants attacking Lara. While I was complaining to myself about having to confront these enemies (two Sophias?) the game ended. I was really disappointed that it was over, that I couldn't continue playing it, so it must be pretty good. That said, when you have authors who know their stuff, I think more should be expected of them. While these four levels did a good job of reproducing the eerie settings found in parts of TR3, they lacked the spaciousness or the wow moments of that series. Near the end of the Tinnos level in TR3 there is a bridge which Lara has to leap, and then mutants attack. But in "Tomb of Creatures" we mostly get smaller rooms, and the texturing seems hurried. I felt the author was taking the easy way out, throwing in a maze, rather than trying for a dramatic effect. And what's up with that horrible rope swing right at the beginning, or the screen shots that show only a tilted blank wall when Lara throws a switch? And I never did figure out the four switches with the three monkeys--all I know is that the door opened. There were too many times when Lara went on a trip to find a key, then had to traipse back over the same route to use the key in the starting room. It is hard to feel that any progress is being made with such a layout. Instead the author could have designed a circular route, so that when Lara drops back into the starting room, now with the key in her possession, we are surprised. If you can get past the opening you'll begin to enjoy these levels more and more. They grow on you. A recommended play." - dmdibl

"This set of four levels doesn't start too well with a problematic rope in part 1, Temple Creatures, that took many attempts before Lara grabbed it. Not only did it prove difficult to get on, but getting off was a bit of a chore too. Once able to progress beyond this little annoyance, we find ourselves in dark passages with no flares at all and I begin to wonder if I'll tire of this one quickly. Just around the next corner and there is a slightly tight timed door to get through, so things are looking up a little. Holding my annoyance at the lack of flares in abeyance I wander around the next dark cave a bit lost and it takes me a while to find a couple of levers, one very well concealed in plain view. Some flares finally found and things begin to run a bit more smoothly for me. The texturing here is all TR3 Antarctica and the sound too, so I'm at least comfortable on that score. Soon enough the pace and intent is set as we tackle a number of timed events, deal with some of the ever annoying wasps, the occasional 'hell hound' and the odd black scorpion here and there in this first part before things are done and it's on to the second. There is much more to do in part 2, Catacombs Creatures, once we get beyond the obvious Tinnos maze copy (including the wasps lurking around given corners) at the start, and having pushed the five switches there I am beginning to appreciate the variations in the lighting and coloured bulbs used. The secrets too I am finding a pleasure to discover, each placed in ways which are not too obvious and not so obscure as to virtually guarantee they remain hidden. Even the custom secret sound tickles me. There are plenty of pickups to be found throughout, so no worries here about running out of supplies. On to part 3, The Increase Attack Creatures, the gameplay continues to get better, with, not surprisingly, an increase in the frequency of enemies that attack. The pressure on the player continues apace, with more demanding hazards to tackle and little let up in the timed events. All good stuff in my view. I seem to notice the mood created by the lighting more too. Secrets continue to be just as enjoyable to find and seem to entail more in their discovery. Some of the wasps are a bit buggy around a double secret area, but I can't complain as it just made them easier to get rid of. By this time things are really getting tough with the introduction of more enemies, especially in the shape of several 'ghost' monkeys attacking at the same time and a number of the Atlantis horsemen. Excellent! Onto the final part then, Tomb of Creatures: Final Conflict and the opener puts the player straight on the hop by being attacked by two of the large mutants from Tinnos, with accompanying up tempo, dramatic music. Actually, such stuff does annoy me as I don't need overly hyperbolic music blasting at me like this when I'm trying to play a game and most times I simply save and reload to get rid of it, or wipe the audio file to silence if I can't do that. Anyway, that said, on we go and this last part is full of more of these giant mutants. So it's pressure on pretty much all the way as this level provides a consistent and sustained challenge in terms of enemies. That is, until we are introduced to another enemy in the form of the men with holes in their chest from The Lost Artefact levels. Considering the gradual build up in the ferociousness of enemies throughout the levels, this one is a bit of a let down, and by this time I realised I had exploding arrows so then every enemy became a breeze to deal with. Throughout there were some nice touches with fixed camera angles, which normally annoy me, but these were not at all intrusive or limiting. Camera cues could have been more helpful, and, well, more. Some of those which did appear were often either off or just bewildering, but that said, and aside from the dodgy rope at the start, I was never seriously stuck throughout for very long at all. There was one quite odd moment in the last part involving a spiked boulder which I'm sure was supposed to have fallen on a raised platform to knock it down, but that didn't happen at all. I'm not even sure my shooting at the boulder made the platform drop, but it did, eventually. All in all though, bugginess and oddness aside, this set was a very enjoyable play." - Czar

"A fairly easy shooter when you think of all the guns, ammo and medipacks you get, with several puzzles thrown in along the way to keep things balanced. Certainly the best game this builder has created so far. The well done, creepy-ish atmosphere will remind you a lot of TR3 and most especially of its golden companion. You even get all those poisonous mutants with flipper like arms, bald headed men with a hole in the heart and three Sophias to fight with the weapon of your choice (explosives work quite fast for the couple of Sophias near the end). The monkey puzzle (and the many monkeys) is taken from The Last Revelation (even though it has a bug) and there's also another bug I found near the end, when I had to shoot a boulder on the ceiling many times and save and reload until it finally opened a trapdoor when I wasn't really counting on it anymore. A shame that nobody in the forums took a second to reply to my cry for help there! Anyway, I think this game is well worth playing and I recommend it." - Jorge22

"well what i can say about this one .... is for sure the best level from '' shooter knight Lukasz'' hehe is a 4 level game .well balanced with some bloskd pushing ....... some interesting squash walls , some alien creatures ... was easy to deal with with the armory wich provided the builder ;) not so manny foes like i was expected from Lukasz - and is the bright side ... the stuff here is to find masks and gems to progress in the game ........ some timed runs - not hard through - not hard jumps too - relaxed old style TR game .what i was like the moust on it was the music in the game very well assorted with the momentums from light to alegro ....worthy game to download and play ..... i was stuck once or twice cos i missed a JS in the darkness and a ceiling trappdor wich was very well masked (same patern with the adiacent wall)but all in all i was like this game .......cheers" - Jack&

"Well done Lukasz , its getting better all the time ! This game offers some interesting gameplay . We all know that Lukasz is not the peacekeeping kind of a builder and makes Lara use her weapons well , in this game he has provided more than enough high-end guns and ammunition for her to blast all her enemies out of the way ! But there`s also a number of fairly good puzzles to solve and a mean timed run that you cannot win by crawling only ! I was surprised by the enhanced quality of Lukasz newest issue and recommend it to all the players in TRLE.net and others." - Ruben

"I love the new secret chime - it sounds as though the fairies have left the secrets. Sorry, I'm not usually quite so fanciful. I have to say I think this is Lukasz's best level to date. It's fast paced and lively and not so much of a shooter as is often the case with his levels. True, there are lots of enemies, but rather than guards they are mutants, hell hounds and common or garden crocs and scorpions so it seems less like carnage somehow. The readme mentions 'friendly' monkeys, but the first one I encountered bit me so I shot the lot of them - hah, bite me would you, you little buggers. It's quite a long four part level, but it moves along so briskly that it feels shorter. It's all eminently achievable and you'll pick up so much in the way of medipacks and ammo that you won't even come close to finding yourself in actual peril. Good fun." - Jay