Level reviews

"Underrated. Maybe because it's too long underground, but I was unexplainably immersed regardless. A bit too many texturing errors, and the music occasionally too persistent, but the pace was good without much stopper (except from the final pushblock), fights were smart, traps challenging, secrets rewarding and the mood just fine. Recommended." - DJ Full

"I generally enjoy Lukasz' levels quite a bit, and this one was no exception. I have no idea how I'd missed it, but I'm glad someone (at some point) brought it up on the forums - it's been queued up on my raidlist ever since! We get three levels heavily inspired by the Rome levels in TR5 (although the last one delves deeper into nostalgia by using many TR1 textures). All three are quite straightforward, although at some times you'll be doing quite a bit of running to and from as you search for a number of keys and buttons. In that sense, gameplay doesn't really break the mold, and towards the end it seems as though as the author was running out of inspiration as you simply move room by room, killing enemies and opening the next door. Replacing the tinmen with gladiators made them a formidable opponent, they're fast and cause a lot of damage, but there are plenty of supplies to get you through without any worries. I loved the new sound effects and the aesthetics are pretty good as a whole, although some textures do seem blurry in comparison to others. The lighting effects are also pretty sharp and effective, I think I may have lit only two or three flares throughout the entire adventure. On the down side, at least one sequence makes no sense whatsoever (you have to hang from a monkey swing and turn around to teleport to the platform above - like, what?) and some of the pushblock sequences were far too lenghty for their own good, but other than that, I have enjoyed my time. 2h30min, 9 secrets. 04/20" - Treeble

"This is a very good level, there is a lot of research and a lot of enemies, the horsemen are very long to kill (quite painful because there are many), I must say that when I could do without kill them I did it. Why put the flyby when the wheel takes us from life? it would have been necessary to put the button in another place. The other negative is that there is a lot of pushable, the pompon the one in the last level, why the door did not open? Reading the solution, I saw that it was necessary to operate only one button.(I thus pushed the pushable for nothing). Otherwise I liked this last level which is the best of 3 (in my opinion)" - Drakan

"I wonder where this builder has gone? This was a demanding 3 level set that takes place within the coliseum grounds of Rome as well as the catacombs beneath. It's very combat heavy, with hordes of enemies ganging up on Lara, especially in the last level. Fortunately there are enough goodies and munitions scattered around to shoot 'em up, bang bang and level the opposition. Those players who prefer solitude and puzzles may want to give this one a pass! Those gladiators are a total PitA, if you know what I mean. They also have the tin man weak spot, which means they take what seems like an hour to kill. The levels are pretty linear, and at a few points the way back closes behind Lara, which can prevent needing to run around in confused and annoyed circles looking for something that was probably in front of your face all along. I can appreciate that! I thought the atmosphere and lighting was well done. I had a dislike for the loud 'hero music' that blared out on a loop while I was trying to kill gladiators and find switches though! The ambient background sounds were well done and the other pieces of music used to punctuate the mood/events were also fine. I was entertained for the duration of this lazy Friday afternoon and kind of sad to reach the ending." - Chel

"This is definitely one of Lukasz's better efforts, in my opinion, if only for the fact that it's less shooter-focused than his earlier levels. Lara gets to explore the Colosseum (the TR5 version, not the TR1 version, although the last level is somewhat reminiscent of that game). Enemies do still tend to attack in armies, but Lara accumulates more than enough ammo and medipacks to withstand the onslaught. I felt that the pushable tables were somewhat overused, but it's fun otherwise." - Ryan

"3 hours in Romanesque undergrounds, the first 2 levels use mostly the TRC textures , while the last one reminds more TR1. The setting is quite 'functional', not a lot of great rooms , and hundreds of texturing mistakes that could have been easily fixed. In general the game was quite pleasant and fluent , also dynamic with a few exceptions , for example a long and unnecessary use of a pushable table to get access to 4 alcoves to push 4 buttons. But these most uninspired moments are the exceptions to an otherwise quite dynamic progression. True I was somewhat annoyed by all the gladiators we have to kill , I was relieved to meet also lions and even raptors in the last level. Some strange oddities like static rays of light with collision , a pushable table that must go through an opened door , or another one that stands on thin air when placed on a trapdoor when opened later on. And the most remarkable oddity was at one point the new move to go upwards , looking more like a bug than an animation ; a chance this was referred in the walkthrough as the author has not even explained this in the read-me file. Puzzles and traps are rather simple, but sufficient to entertain, my favorite being the puzzle with the squishy block at the beginning of the last level , which level was in my opinion the best part of the game." - eRIC

"This is a fairly long and highly enjoyable adventure set in a rather consistent and believable setting, so before going into a few details, I would already recommend it to be played!
The Colosseum (70 min, 4 of 5 secrets found): Initial impressions are almost more like Angkor Wat, but Rome is shining through quickly. Many key holes and no keys at the start, but that gets remedied soon enough as the game flows at a fairly fast pace. Many bats to kill, an occasional boulder, a small burner/push puzzle, skeletons, a cute timed jumps sequence and more. There is some pushing to do which gets a bit too long and maybe a few too many wraiths show up in sequence in one area and those rotating blades can cause a lot of pain, but there is an ample amount of medipacks provided. I liked how some of the secrets are connected and have their own rooms/areas to explore. The enemies include Roman warriors, skeletons and lions and usually come in pairs.
The Colosseum 2 (40 min, 4 of 5 secrets found): Essentially a continuation of the first level with more push tasks to do, more enemies (of the same type) to battle and still a rather swift and easy flow. Mostly buttons and switches to find and use with an occasional timed run thrown in for good measure.
Catacombs of the Colosseum (60 min, 4 secrets found): I actually liked this part best with its mix of Roman and Cistern looks and tasks centered around trigger tiles and buttons. The 'boulder alley' was clearly a highlight and there is even a Midas room and a battle with raptors and lions combined. There is again one rather tedious push exercise, but the sword room was fun and another battle with lions and warriors serves as the last climax before you hit a rather sudden and anticlimatic ending. Still - as mentioned at almost 3 hours of smooth raiding, you cannot go wrong with this level. Try it!" - MichaelP

"This level of Lukasz Croft me well distracted. I found it intriguing enough to still want to go further, I did not see the time which is a sign for me, a good level. The places where the game takes place are not extraordinarily beautiful, but it's work with very clean and decorated nice enough places to cross. Like other reviewers I found some music loop a little nervous but overall the tone of the game is good. The gameplay linked together without too many major problems with good puzzles to solve, but I still used the solution for a few annoying points. This level is accessible to most players and I recommend it for a good time. Congratulations and thank you for this author who built many for our viewing pleasure." - Daffy

"An excellent 3 level set here. Texturing and lighting are very good for the most part (a few repetative ceilings and floors in some rooms where the textures could have been rotated better for better effect). Nice use of a customised tomb raider exe, and I'm always pleased to see someone have a play with the opening fly-by title :) The most important element however I'd say is the gameplay. Normally when I review TRLE levels I play them for no more than an hour at a time, and sometimes there's a break of a day or two as I play & review. I found however that I couldnt put this one down, which I suppose is the highest compliment I can pay. The only major critism was a sequence involving a monkey climb to a trap door. You had to pull a fall switch and then climb over on a timed basis. The time-slot for this was just far too tight, and at one point had me screaming at frustration at the screen. I think it took me at-least 30 attempts to get that right. I've said this before and I'll say it again, but elements like that do not equal good gameplay (2 marks deducted because of this inclusion) and only serve to needlessly frustrate. I'm glad to say that the rest of the timed challanges are much more senisible. Finally the atomospherics provided by the music were great, all well chosen and well time. All together the level took me 3 hours 42 minutes to complete, however I only found 8 out of the 14 secrets in the level. This one will definately be on my re-play list - Recommended. Stiggy" - TheStig

"After having played Tomb of Creatures from the same author, I thought I would give this one a try and was not disappointed. It is a 3 level design with nice textures and lighting throughout the level. A lot of the textures look familiar from TR5 and also TR1. Good general atmosphere with sometimes very dramatic sound in the action scenes, although I found that part a little annoying after a while specially if it was during one of those parts where I had to replay multiple times, because Lara died in a battle with a gladiator or lit up on a burner. Talking about about enemies - this game had quite a few of them, and some are really hard to kill. Specially the gladiators acted as if they were immune to everything except UZI and regular pistol ammo and it took forever to kill them. Jumping back and forward, left and right and hammering them with the pistol and not jumping into wall torch by mistake did the trick when it was a little more open, while the tight spots and hallways made battling them a little more difficult. Good thing there is no shortage of medipacks and ammo. The puzzles in this level were nice and so was the progress, except for one game stopping moment with a custom move (at least I had never seen it before) where Lara needs to get on top of a pillar, but the walk-through was very helpful. I felt a bit cramped at times and Lara seemed to hang up in a lot of spots and underwater passages. I found 13 out of 14 secrets and it took me 6 hours of net game play to complete. This level is definitely worth playing, specially for those who enjoy combat situations and shooting matches." - Blue43

"Well, this is a Lukasz Croft offer, his latest, meaning hordes of enemies all over, namely skeletons, lions, crocodiles, pesky bats, dinossaurs and huge loads of gladiators. It also means lots of traps, but most fortunately quite doable. And it means epic music everytime danger approaches. I must say this three part game is an improvement and that's great to see, even the final homage to TR1 looks and feels pretty cool. A shame that the diary is there for no apparent reason and that there really aren't any memorable puzzles but that's just a detail. I also would have liked to see some action out in the open, instead of just catacombs. Not a favourite, but still quite fun." - Jorge22

"Many time ago I didn't play a level from this author (impossible timed runs and extreme tasks), but when I saw Phil's comments I decided to give it a try. This time was not the same as before. The author maintain his peculiar style: lots of enemies, dangerous tasks which hurt Lara a lot, recharged textures, hot lights... but this time it's possible to finish the level without getting frustrated. Lara will explore the undergrounds of the Colisseum and there await a lot of danger with many traps and many enemies. Fortunately she'll dispose of enough weapons and ammo, and with her intelligence it will not be very difficut to reach her price. The only thing I didn't like was the very tricky movement from the ladder to the top of the ledge; Lara always grab the ceiling and falled to her die, but after several tries I got it. Recommended to all those players who love action. Very enjoyable." - Jose

"We never hear from this guy, so we have no way of knowing what he might think about our reviews of his levels, but I would have to believe that he's pleased with the gradually improving scores. It shows that he's making progress, and that's what I assume motivates builders more than anything else. I've played his more recent releases for the purpose of writing accompanying walkthroughs, and one thing is fairly clear about his style: he likes linear levels where you finish up one area, move on to the next area, and so on. There's a little backtracking, to be sure, but for the most part you're moving steadily forward, and there's none of this confusion about where to go or what to do next. I kind of like it that way. I also like the bundled releases, requiring the investment of several hours of net gaming time. I'd place this one on a par with his most recent levels, fun to play and not too difficult. He's demonstrated that he's quite a prolific builder, and I hope he doesn't slow down anytime soon. Recommended." - Phil

"I am not a huge fan of levels made by Lukasz, but “Lara Returns To The Coliseum” surprised me very much. This three level custom contains various locations inspired by Chronicles, and original Tomb Raider as well. The atmosphere and design of first two levels reminds me original maps, such as The Colosseum, and Trajan’s Markets, except the fact, that exploration includes mostly underground tombs and catacombs. Third map is a tribute to the classic greek levels of TR1. I really like music and sound effects taken directly from Chronicles, however the score from Anniversary was TOO LOUD and didn’t fit to the rest. Architecture is rather simple, but there are some really good built and textured locations. Unfortunately there are places, which are simply ugly – big rooms, with stretched textures and monotonous lighting. I suppose it's just author’s laziness, because he proved he can build something much better. All in all, quite good level with nice oldschool gameplay, enemies, objects and atmosphere, but also with several flaws, wich are effect of Lukasz rush, and lack of proper beta testing before releasing." - Kat

"Another playable outing by Lukasz, though with some of the elements of pulp fiction, for hasty action and quantity count more than careful revision. Sometimes Lara is put into cramped and awkward positions, pressed up against movable objects, or making leaps where ceiling sunbeams push her aside (Lara had to do banana jumps around sunbeams and a hanging ball). A lot of the awkward maneuvering is deliberately included as part of the architecture. But by the third level the action was going along briskly, with good moments. A bunch of lions and a gladiator attack, Lara triggers a cascade of rolling balls, and the attackers are wiped out before they even get near Lara. Then there was a game stopper bug. In the third level Lara had pulled out a block to stand on, to reach a higher level. Now she returns back to the beginning of the level, and has to use this block again to reach a second set of high gates. But the block is no longer solid: Lara passes through it, so she can't stand on it, and this is the only way to the higher level. Normally when this bug happens Lara is supposed to move the push block back and forth, until it becomes solid and standable again. But here a secret trapdoor has opened, so it was no longer possible to move the block. It was either replay the entire level and forgo the secret, hoping this might solve the problem, or cheat to reach the higher ledge, so....Anyway the ending is enjoyable. As the title indicates, there are a few textures from TR1, and a couple of raptors have escaped from Lost Valley and gotten into the third level. Good for whiling away a rainy afternoon." - dmdibl

"Good exciting game in three levels with plenty of enemies, skeletons, gladiators, lions, bats and rats. In some places, lots of them all at once. That said, there is plenty of ammo and more than enough medis. Varied weaponry to be had. Lots of figuring routes and some short timed runs, personally I would have preferred a couple of longish timed runs but I realise that not everyone likes them. Fairly stock textures and lighting but used well. Well worth the playing with just under 4 hours of gameplay. Found 10 of the 14 secrets." - Diz

"I've always tended to think of Lukasz's levels as 'cheap and cheerful', i.e. they may not be the best levels you'll ever play, but there's something appealing about them and they are very playable. However, I think he's reached a whole new stage of his building career with this latest three part offering - it's far and away the best thing he's ever made. It's something of an old school raid, with Lara making her way through the subterranean passages and rooms of the coliseum, battling the inevitable gladiators and lions along the way, plus some rather pallid crocodiles and, at one point, dinos(?). The gameplay is nicely well rounded, with something for everyone and just challenging enough to be interesting whilst still being accessible to players of all abilities. It isn't entirely without its longeurs - I could for instance have done with fewer block pushing exercises - but there's plenty of excitement to offset that aspect. There's also a mix of traditional and newer textures, which works very well and some good music. It's quite a long game, but for me it didn't outstay its welcome and I had great fun with the boss ending using the ample supply of guns and ammo." - Jay

"Lukasz Croft has slammed again. Exactly, the level builder who builds the levels like on the assembly line. Now this must not be bad. If somebody has good ideas and can build accurately, he can give to the player's municipality a lot of pleasure. However, the problem with Lukasz is which he not always builds very accurately. And he sometimes builds level which are simply too long. There this level is a very good example. It is really nice to run through the Coliseum and his catacombs, but the level is quite unequivocal too long. And for my taste there is a lack of vital sparks. It is dull in the long run to fight constantly against gladiators. Particularly as these gladiators endure too much. One shoots and shoots and shoots and the dudes simply want and want not fall down. The other opponents rats, bats, crocodiles, lions and skeletons are not so bad, but the gladiators are over time only annoying. And I really ask myself, why one still sees stretched textures from Lukasz. He has built already so many levels and has so much experience. I'm really surprised about this. A similar problem is the sound. The background sound sounds quite well. But if he is played again and again, one is only irritated over time and would put down the sound. The next problem are the faulty sounds with the pushblocks and the pushtables. Now this must also not be. Here generally there are too many blocks and tables which one must push to and fro. The tables are so big which they sometimes disappear to a small part in the wall. And it is already very irritating if one has only one block which, however, must push to two opposite places, so that one can jump upwards to two switches. And then one must ascertain afterward that one must press only one switch. A good thing is which the inclined player finds plenty of weapons, ammunition and Medipacks.
Result: No question, Lukasz can build good levels. But sometimes he simply exaggerates it. And this level belongs in my opinion quite unambiguously in the second category." - Scottie

"To this levelset, don't expect brand new things from Lukasz. It's an average levelpack from him: Lots of shooting, repetitive gameplay, you know. Well, maybe the gameplay difficulty is a bit harder in this one. But I think this levelpack has some serious problems. First: This levelpack is horribly "demoralizing". In a room, there are plenty of things to be done. And after 10-15 mins of gameplay, you finished with the room. Then you progress to the next area, and guess what...another big room to do. It's not bad, but definitely annoying. I've nearly binned the level thanks to this. Second: Some of the rooms are terribly textured. Wallpaper effect, or the textures are streched. Third: The repetitive gameplay. Hundreds of enemies to kill, which is simply horrible in Tomb Raider, and the puzzles. I think some of them are cleaver and creative, but I think Lukasz has ran out of ideas sometimes. Like the final level. A WHOLE room for a push-pull puzzle!(and the room is ugly) And they're more of these puzzles in the previous levels. I thought, "no push-pull puzzles again, please!". But let's say some positive things. The "jumps and such things" are tougher in this one than in the previous Lukasz adventures. Some nice puzzles and some intimate rooms. Great music. Well-hidden secrets.(not every of them but oh well...) But to the end, I'd say that's a bit rushed level." - rtrger