Level reviews

"Ignore the first skull puzzle hole, it's a dead end for the rest of the level. The proper ending indicates a not really finished game. Notorious with darkness and intense music, it takes overtime to beat with just 3 flares and binocs, even though the map is rather tiny. The result is quite tiring. I'd rebuild this properly - until then it's not fun to play." - DJ Full

"This is the sole offering from this author and it definitely feels like the author was playing around with the editor at hand. As such the result isn't something you'd write home about, but can keep you engaged for half an hour. There are unmarked climbable walls, you can get potentially stuck as you only have one skull but there are two receptacles (and nothing in game suggests you shouldn't use it on the wrong spot), and there might be something off with the triggers as well as Yoav states the Uzi door is opened by using the skull in the wrong place but in my game it was already open. 20 minutes. 08/22" - Treeble

"If just a little more more time and effort had been spent on seeing this level through to completion, then the overall impressions would have been much more favourable. As it is (in its current beta state), it certainly has potential but is somewhat aggravating to get through, not least due to the overarching darkness everywhere and the somewhat tedious backtracking in the gameplay. The choice of textures are interesting, but the unmarked ladders were just annoying and unfair, especially in such a short level. When I got to the first skull receptacle, the door with the Uzis was already open, but I believed the dead end would have still existed, so I did as the walkthrough suggested and placed the skull in the second one. Overall, not without promise but a bit hard to fully enjoy." - Ryan

"This level, even if it just was a demo, had some good atmosphere in it reminding me on Matie's ORC level. Texturing was generally good, there were some flaws in it. Gameplay was OK, I didn't find the puzzles like the block one near the start really interesting but some parts were quite fun. A good debut, but not recommended since it is not really a finished level." - manarch2

"This is a very short demo (beta) level with modern look and feel and rather uninspiring game-play. There were lots of unmarked climbing walls, which is never a good thing and it made this rather simple raid way more complicated than necessary, unless a player enjoys jumping up on every wall to find out if it is climbable or not. I am glad I was reading about the wrong skull placement before I fell for it and probably save me a lot of useless running around. Many places were really dark and there were no additional flares to pick up - at least I didn't find any. The background music wasn't bad but since the same loop played over and over again it became rather annoying after a while. Enemies were a couple of crocs (one was real nasty because if a tight underwater area where Lara just couldn't get away) and a few bats. The texturing looked pretty good but could not really be enjoyed because of the blackness and general darkness in many areas. The end came sudden and none of the weapons and ammo picked up was ever used. I wouldn't mind seeing a full version of this level with much better lighting, less monotonous music and visible climbing walls. The way it is now it is just too short and has an unfinished feel to it, so therefore a rather low rating." - Blue43

"I cant really think of any Beta level that ever tends to attract favourable reviews. I'm afraid here that the score here reflects the completness of the project and the flaws in it's delivery (all of which would have been spotted and easily rectified had the author used the Beta Forum). So, lets get to the good points first. I liked the character selection, texture choice, and ambient music selected. Objects seemed to fit the scenario well, and there wearnt any pixel-perfect jumps to worry about. The level's single biggest problem is the overwelming gloomyness of it all. I'd seen the cautionary notes about available flares so I reserved to use a trick I've had up my sleave since Tomb Raider II, and nagivated large sections of the level using just the muzzle flash from my guns! Some parts are so hopelessly dark that you really are left wondering what you should be doing. The inclusion of non-climbable blocks seems odd too. This problem has been cracked now and the author needs to get these swapped to avoid confusion. After some jumping around early on I found myself trapped inside a block which was supposed to come up through the floor. The biggest dissapointment is unmarked climable walls. I'm not sure if this was a concious decision or not but unfortunately which ever way you look at it its a bad one. Then there's the matter of having '2 places' to use the skull. I wasted a good 30 minutes running around having put the skull in the most logical receptical before realising I was hopelessly lost and needed to resort to the walk-through (which indeed confirmed that I was now stuck and needed to resort to an earlier save). You also cant proceed if you drop into the water too early at the beginning of the level. Both of these are very poor game-play decisions in my opinion and do nothing to endear the player to continue (every save slot I had was filled just in case I found myself stuck by anything else). All in all it took me 37 minutes to complete, but you can add another half an hour to that for the time wasted after placing the skull for the first time. This level is by no means without merit. The flybys are mostly good, as is the texturing and room structure. But it's let down by some poor gameplay decisions and overly dark lighting. I hope the author wont be too discouraged by the scores and feedback, and will make use of the Beta forum for their future releases rather than using the wider public to test. Finally if they do release any beta or demo levels in the future - include this in the title name. Again this adventure is not without merit, but sadly the design and gameplay leave me unable to recommend. Stiggy." - TheStig

"A Beta level, of which the builder wants to know what we think. Better use a Beta test forum the next time... First of all the Flares weren't enough, I soon finished all three and didn't find any others. 1-at the start you can already have a dead stop if you happen to go down to the water because you cannot get back up again. 2-the spike trap with a fluby trigger behind it, when lara dies she falls on that trigger and before you can reload you have to watch that flyby and in my case that was about 3 times...That trigger should be placed before you slide down into that room. 3- the pitch blackness at those risable pushblocks, it's too dark and not nice to see. 4- a climbable wall where there's no ladder texture and the ladder texture next to it isn't climbable... (button next to the skull room) 5- no camera hints for what switches do. 6- the nmaybe already mentioned put the skull in the wrong place bug... If you didn't use so much hard shadows, I think this would have looked even better than it already does. Certainly can become something after some more work and of course adding another room or 50 Well gameplay, wasn't much yet, but is promising Enemies were missing and objects, the secret sound was in the download, but I didn't get it...Or was there no secret? Atmosphere good, sound not too bad and except for the flybys I didn't have cameras. Lighting was too dark in certain spots and texturing could also use some extra attention (missing texture, misaligned textures and ladder textures where there is no ladder)" - Dutchy

"All I can say is that releasing a level just to beta test it; is not the way to do it. Unmarked climbable wall, textures could use some fine-tuning, you can get the Uzi quite early as I found out, two receptacles for the skull (placing the skull on the wrong one and you will be stuck forever), no water textures and when you reach the last lever, turn around and everything disappears. Apart from a flyby, there is no camera work. Too dark in places, that is not to be solved by flares, just get rid of the shadow bulbs." - Gerty

"Good attemp, but a bit obscure this demo. First, it's not for my taste the try/error with the jumpswitches and the moveable blocks; could be any hint. The ambience is too dark, abusing of the shadow bulbs, and no enough flares for the dark areas. When I entered into the outside area, a music starts, but the background music was still playing so two songs playing together sounds horrible (the second song perhaps has a number >100). Not marked ladders is unacceptable for everybody. No cameras for the switches. I placed the skull and got the uzis; when I found the second receptacle I waste a lot of time looking for a second skull; finally I had to read the walkthrough and at that moment, immediately abandoned the level. If you want many players play and enjoy your level you have a lot of work ahead; otherwise your work will go directly to the recycle bin in most cases." - Jose

"Another debut level, but unfortunately, this time it is simply bad. Builder had some good ideas for gameplay, but ruined everything by lack of skills, or rush - maybe both. The level is definitely too dark, even the outside areas are just pitch black. I haven't found any flares, but I found shotgun and uzi, which were totally useless because there was nothing to shoot, besides two crocodiles and several bats. There is also several flaws very characteristic for debut/beta levels – thin walls, cameras flying through walls, wrong button animations, some problems with triggers (like this one which activates final flipmap – I think Lara should push the button first…), and the pickup item describe as a “Load”. Another anoying issue are unmarked traps (you pull the wrong lever – Lara dies, push the block on the wrong tile – Lara dies, step on the ordinary looking ground – Lara dies again, without warning) and climbable walls (I spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do). There is also a risk, that you will stuck permanently, if you use the important item in the wrong place. Well, it could be a good level, but only after some serious corrections and betatest. The author however decided to release it anyway, pity." - Kat

"As this is a beta test version, expect a few iffy things; such as misplaced textures, unmarked climbable walls and a skull that if you place in the wrong receptacle will have you stuck for good. Apart from that though, this level was great. I liked the game-play and the rooms were really atmospheric and well designed. The BG audio, I'm sure I've heard before somewhere (Passage to Mu maybe? It certainly made me think of it). Saying that, I had to turn the audio volume down after a while as it started to get on my nerves. I would also like to see some more flares in the finished game. Other than that, this was most enjoyable and I'm really looking forward to playing the finished game." - Moonpooka

"The Author admits that this is a beta-version,and you'd do well to bear that in mind throughout this 25 minute adventure.Texturing is absolutely fine,although spoilt by a few climbable walls which are not indicated as such.Lighting is excessively and ludicrously dark in places,while the music is omnipresent and rather distracting.It's the Gameplay,though,which aggravates most;if it's not the constant back-and-forth progression in order to discern the results of each cause-and-effect scenario,it's the terminal bug which prevents the end of the level from being reached if a pick-up is used in the wrong place.This is a shame,as there are plenty of solid ideas here and the overall adventure looks rather accomplished for a debut. If you keep the Walkthrough handy you'll make it to the end without any problems,but that takes some of the fun away. Play only with caution." - Orbit Dream

"A level where the best things are the rather good shaping of the blocks and the use of raising movable blocks , it is the first time i see this in a level. On the other hand , the texturing and flybys could need a bit of fine tuning and the author got the heavy hand with the shadow bulbs. The gameplay is middle of the road spoiled by climbable walls which are not very obvious." - eRIC

"I think the author rushed this level very much. Texturing is horribly repetitive. The level is too dark. Lots of glitches. Terrible ideas to the gameplay. Unmarked ladders. Just a few more work and it would've been a great level." - rtrger

"Don't play if you're afraid of the dark because that's all you'll get, and lots of it. With very few flares at your disposal you'll find yourself re-loading time after time, just to save them - very annoying. There aren't many games I wanted to finish, just so I could stop playing but this was one and it was all down to the lighting. Large dark areas with very little to do in them, a pointless shotgun pick-up near the end, textures missing from the flyby, unmarked climbing textures, two places to place the skull, one of which prevents you from finishing the game. I could go on but I won't. On the plus side, the game was well constructed and the areas that were lit were very atmospheric. The use of a fixed camera at one point made a simple manoeuvre just that bit more interesting - a nice touch. The camera flybys were well made, not too long and not too 'swoopy'. As a debut level, there's lots of promise but please get your next level beta-tested before release, there are lots of experienced players more than willing to help with that." - Diz

"A commendable first level release that was simply released too early. The atmosphere created, the choice of textures and general flow is very promising, but faulted by things any decent beta tester would be pointing out for correction: unmarked climbable walls, missing water textures, too much darkness, invisble door blocks and of course the stuck moment if you place the skull in the wrong place. But none of these thing are hard to fix and with a little more patience this builder can really come up with a winner eventually." - MichaelP

"Beta level or no beta level, if you're going to make it so ludicrously dark then at least provide a decent amount of flares. Yes, I am grumpy. Having to constantly flare around and reload, or run around with guns blazing will do that to me every time. Nor do I understand why half the areas had to be so pitch black when the other sections were so beautifully lit. Anyway, having taken a few deep calming breaths, I will say this shows promise. For a debut level, it appears to be well constructed, although having unmarked climbing textures is definitely a bit naughty, and the camera work looked pretty professional to my admittedly untrained eye. It's a short level with simple tasks to achieve, but if viewed as a demo it most certainly could be worked up into something good." - Jay

"Well, this level is the beta version, so it can become even better. The level builder would like to know my opinion. Should he have.
The level is too dark. One can see time a little and sometimes one can see very little. Either the level builder must screw massively in the lighting conditions, or he must distribute a lot of Flares. As well as now there can remain by no means. On the walls the climbing textures are very often absent. It is not so great if one stands below and wants to go upwards and does not know that one is able to do this. The Flyby's are good, indeed, the level builder should pay attention to the fact which does not drive the camera through walls or massive stone. The music is ok, but as a permanent background noise really annoying. Moreover, one can hear two pieces of music at the same time. Furthermore is the music too loudly. The Rollingballs have no sound. The textures were applied partly every which way and form many a time no unity. There be missing a few camera hints, so that the inclined player knows what happens if he presses a switch. The Jumpswitches are right too deeply, the level builder should put that further upwards.
All together one can say that the level has potential, but the level builder still has a lot do" - Scottie