Level reviews

"The tree room has good lighting, other rooms could be improved. Texturing and room shaping is sometimes careful but mostly careless. There are two enemies one of which is too tanky and another is impossible to kill without the shotgun you never get. Effort went into flybys instead, but they're almost the slowest possible after I was already bored from a load of runtime being running back and forth [sigh] - so I was relieved when the game ended after 20 minutes max%. Optional." - DJ Full

"Well that search didn't take long, did it? The Scion in question is, according to the readme, a backup copy, and it's surprisingly easy to retrieve. Like Treeble and no doubt many other players, I spent most of my time here first locating the key that is rather cleverly hidden in plain sight (though getting up on that rock is a rather glitchy affair, and after dragging the skeleton you end up in an illegal slope), and then dealing with the Anniversary-style Atlantean mutant. This latter looks odd, does (as it turns out) no harm, and seems content with shoving Lara around when she's close and striking poses when she isn't (it was supposed to have a ranged attack, but it turns away from Lara at a 90° angle when employing it; either that or it's voguing and really wanted to be a dancer). It is either immortal or so ridiculously overpowered as to make no difference. It does the level a great disservice and nicely illustrates the pitfalls of using stuff downloaded from TRSearch without first testing whether it works at all.
In addition to the above, a rollingball is used as a pushable in order to make a dent in a wall that allows you to climb up to an opening, two variations of the unmarked piece-of-wall pushable, and a random raptor. That's quite a lot for a little level whose net gaming time does not exceed ten minutes if you ignore the two enemies; but this achievement is marred by too many sluggish and slightly wonky flyby sequences (all employed in cases where a quick cutaway camera would have been quite sufficient), and an instance of blatant padding in the form of an uneventful and unnecessary there-and-back-again, which isn't enhanced by the bland environment in which it takes place (but the curved underwater tunnel is a nice touch). Judging by this sample, the builder lacks the patience to give shape to large outdoor environments, so why does he make them? The interiors don't look inspired either; but at least the walls are properly segmented, so that the textures don't stretch. After reading Nina Croft's review I went back to check whether lighting has been used at all, and it turns out that yes, it has; but not to such a degree as to make much of a difference. The level was released around the time when it became customary for novice builders to tamper with Lara's animations before even creating so much as a first room, and I can't say I care much for the silly swan dive animation; but, as with every other aspect of levelbuilding, there are far worse examples, and on the whole did builder did reasonably well in this debut." - Mulf

"A nice little peru level, It does feal a bit unfinished and I was expecting a bit more from it 16/40" - JoeTheCrazyGamer

"This unfinished level of roughly 15 minutes duration is really quite good. Expanded it could develop into a really nice raid. It certainly has possibilities to expand upon. Yes, it is rather simplistic as it stands but nonetheless if given some TLC it could really stand out. Good use of flybys so that the raider is always kept on track. I quite liked it." - Torry

"Not bad at all, but possibly a bit too easygoing. It's basically a 15 minute raid through a South American setting to obtain the Scion (again). Along the way Lara meets up with a dinosaur, an immortal (?) Atlantean mutant and solves a brief block puzzle before destroying the temple containing the Scion. A solid enough first level from this builder, if a tad too brief." - Ryan

"This is an unfinished level as the readme itself claims and it's a rather odd one. It does look boxy most of the time and offers little in gameplay. Of the 15 minutes I spent here, I'd wager 5 I spent trying to locate the key in the very initial room and another 5 shooting the (immortal?) atlantean for no good reason. Then, in true Tomb Raider logic, you get the artifact before getting inside the temple, where the level ends. There were a few nice touches though, such as the use of TRL sounds (mostly the menu ones) and the creative way of making a way to the artifact. 15 minutes. 09/14" - Treeble

"Gameplay is simplistic, architecture too with square rooms. Texturing is nice, lighting still needs some work but it's passable. Cameras gone through walls, the flyby after pulling the uw lever even after got out of the water looks as if underwater all the way. The unmarked pushy blocks were okay in these particular setups, no other choices so didn't take much time to find them, just be similarly careful with them in the future. Short and easy, but not bad at all for a debut." - Akcy

"This is rather short and simple level, with rather blocky architecture and too bright lighting at times, but as a debut, it is quite decent. Lara has two key items to find, a couple of levers to pull, two or three interesting enemies to kill and some blocks and boulders to pull around, in order to find the Scion. In all these are included some short swimming sequences, a bit of backtracking, and fantastic flybys to show you where to go. Gameplay is interesting, as there are no climbing or jump sequences, and even an absolute beginner in raiding can finish this level in one go, in 15 minutes or so. Texturing was not spectacular, but for a start, not so bad. Lighting was also not spectacular, but also decent and USED, which is not always a case with debut levels. What I found most interesting here were the flybys. I played this level for 10 minutes, and I am not sure whether the overall flybys time was actually longer than the play... I am quite satisfied with what I saw in this debut... I recommend this level to all beginners in level building, so that they can see how a debut level should look like." - Nina Croft

"A short level with TR1-like textures which looked good but annoying long cutscenes to get to know what to do next. Some items were hard to find and there were few puzzles here like the rolling boulder. Recommended if you search for a short (10-15 minutes) level." - manarch2

"Very short Level. I found it easy to play, definitely well suited for beginners. The camera flybys are long and basically show you what's coming next, instead of giving just quick hints. I enjoyed the textures and general atmosphere of this level, just wish it would have been longer. A great start, as this was the first level released by the builder." - Blue43

"This is a short raid in search for the scion. Room architecture is a little boxy, but altogether not that bad for a first try. There are only two enemies, a dino and kind of an atlantean monster, the latter was quite tough and couldn't be shot, so I had to leave it behind. Apart from that there is not much to do here, only one key and a puzzle item to be found, a pushing block and a jump switch. Camera work is ok, although I find it a bit annoying to have long flybys on each lever action instead of short fixed cams, so I'd suggest the builder to use some more of the latter in his future level work." - Jerry

"This level is a good result for a starting constructor. The author in knowing to avoid the big completely empty areas in uniform textures. Efforts of decorations of places are well present. The gameplay is simple with nevertheless of good ideas as for example a bowl to be pushed to change the decor. The enemies are less numerous and do not pose problems. I encourage the author to follow the building of level, I think that he is capable of making much better for our great pleasure." - Daffy

"A good start, and promising as a test/debut level. As mentioned by other reviwers most of the standard problems have been avoided. Same only the standard audio files were included as there were a couple of cut-scenes that could have been lifted atmospherically with the right music. Short, sweet and a great start, look forward to seeing more! :)" - TheStig

"The readme describes this as a practice level so be prepared for something short and simple. Having said that, it's quite a tasty little morsel and I thought it showed quite a lot of promise. The gameplay is minimal, but with some nice touches and there's a very strange looking enemy towards the end. It looked a bit like the love child of an Atlantean and a monkey, but apart from assuming some strange attitudes it didn't seem to do any actual harm so I left it alone. The builder appears to have mastered the basics quite well, insofar as I am able to judge at least, using the Peru Back to Basics set, and I really hope he continues to experiment with the level editor and bring us a full length game next time." - Jay

"A fairly short level which is a very good first try.There is a key and a few back and forth visits in this level. There is a raptor and a strangely textures creature which was very freakish. You grab the scion and escape: end of level. An excellent first try with most of the newbie problems missed which i congratulate you for. Next time, the builder needs to work on the length of the game and make it more fun buy adding different puzzles, adding atmosphere with lighting and sounds etc. Grade = B-" - herothing

"A short but sweet first level, not bad at all. Get your hand on the key that you need and from then on it is a bit back and fro, but not too difficult. Textures could use a lot of TLC as well as the lighting. There is some block pushing and lighting a flare the first time to look for them, made me jump in my chair. I had the volume up a tad too much LOL. There is one raptor and a retextured creature (one of the nasty mummies if I am not mistaken) and I just outran that scary thing. Find the amulet to get your hands on the Scion, so you can take it with you." - Gerty

"One of the most short levels I've played. Only pull some switches, place a couple of objects and move some blocks. Not bad but very short. The best were the cameras showing you the way. No pickups, only two enemies, no secrets and a fast gameplay. Nothing more to say." - Jose

"I have taken little more 8 minutes to finish this level than that lara adventure I seemed a level test. Start was promising with a well hidden key but the follow-up was boring and granted. Not you issue the international community levels so short and imperfect." - Pablito_it

"In the Readme writes the level builder which this level is a practise and he asks for feedback. Now, this request should be fulfilled to him. Level construction, textures: Here the level farmer must still invest a lot of time. Most rooms are too big and too empty. There is simply not enough atmosphere. The rock walls in the outside area look not very realistic. Moreover, the outside area is also too empty. The level builder must place a few rocks. And grass, bushes, trees, fallen columns et cetera. One must be able to see which this is a desolate place. The textures are, so far as I can see, ok. It needs here and there a bit more variety and one can see a few irregularities But, at least, one sees no stretched textures. Most of the beginners have here her problems. Sound, Flybys, Gameplay: The sound is ok. Indeed, he does not fit in the outside area with the outside area. One hears bird's noises and, besides, sees this absolutely empty surface. This does not fit anyhow. The Flybys feels quite well. But the level builder should pay attention not to drive with the camera through the rocks. In the Flyby to the symbol the level builder should carry out a few changes. It does not look so nice as the camera drives into this small room. To the Gameplay one cannot say yet a lot. There are a few good attempts. The Rollingball animation looks, for example, quite good. But all together the ah-effects are still absent. The level builder must wake up the curiosity in the player. Summary: One can see a few good attempts, but the level builder has still a lot of work before himself." - Scottie

"This is what comes of going without TombRaider for two weeks (due to having a holiday);I become rusty! Where other people breezed through this in a matter of minutes,I was stuck for ages due to a pushable block which looked like a section of wall - ordinarily I would get irritated by this;but in this instance all the clues were there,I just didn't see them. Once I'd got that sorted out it was a very simple matter to complete the level;and,to be honest,there's not that much to remember. The fly-by's,although helpful,were a little ragged and went on for too long;texturing was similarly patchy in the outdoor areas,although generally well applied for the interiors.Lighting was either too dark or non-existent,and the enemies (including one bizarre monster I'd never encountered before)were sparsly placed. As it stands,it belongs in the "difficult to remember a couple of weeks down-the-line" category;but as a first level it's nonetheless fine and entertaining,and shows that the builder has potential.I'd be interested in seeing what he can achieve next." - Orbit Dream

"I read it in another review the other day: Peru seems to be the new Egypt. Just like we had primarily Egypt levels in the early days of Custom Level building, we have many, many Peru levels since the BtB 2008 package was released. Nothing wrong with that though. What we have here is (according the readme) a practice level and it does show, mainly in the relatively simple and crude room geometry, not very refined texturing, almost non-existent lighting and of course the short duration (about 15 minutes). The biggest challenge is to find the very first key and from there it flows smoothly, guided by some fairly well done flybys that show you the way. A few blocks to push, a bit of backtracking, a raptor and some strange other creature to fight off and a boulder to push so you can grab the Scion and make your escape - that's it. One for the lunch break, but a nice enough start for this new builder to be interested in what else he can come up with." - MichaelP

"A short Peruvian mission for Lara in this level which has average looks and poor lighting , but rather good sounds , there is a few pushable blocks to move so to reach higher places, a raptor to kill and another creature which was more scary/funny than dangerous as Lara did not lose health. As the creature was long to die , I gave up the fighting and continue raiding , bringing back an amulet to trigger a boulder and finally grab a custom scion, very good quality of this object by the way. I quite like the position of the key at the beginning. Not bad at all for a first level, which does not pose difficulty. [15 minutes]" - eRIC