Level reviews

"I enjoyed my time in these levels. Feels nostalgic because it's been a long time since the author contributed anything in the TRLE community. Wish his ideas here can benefit a lot of the builders, and wish he can come back someday to see how far this community has come." - Charles Kane

"Test levels are always short and fun, just like here. You can examine the projects and play the examples. Not so relevant 20 years later, nice to see for historical reasons but you can still experience some variety of mechanics, and one map you can cleverly finish but it's designed to repeat half of it, not so nice." - DJ Full

"The ratings for these test levels are mostly based on the Demo 2 test level, as it's actually a playable full level. There's a barebones version as well (DXtre3D v1.1 Demo 1 has you running through the very same level, but devoid of any objects or lighting effects), but with the added doors, levers and enemies there's a bit of enjoyment to be had for a casual player here. The final battle against the T-Rex was rather rough, with only two small medipacks available, but once it finally fell I noticed the "explosive trap" setup and I decided to play with that instead. It still took me about 10 tries, but I managed to blow the beast to pieces eventually - unlike that other TR3 level which tried to use this concept where it just didn't seem to work at all. So, there's that. All the other 6 testlevels included in this bundle are pretty much tests of what they're named after. Zone Editor features bears, first time I've seen them in the TR3 engine, but sadly they behave exactly like the tigers... 30 minutes. 01/20" - Treeble

"This is another of those series of levels to test several TR3 features, but this time I found a playable mini-level with some enemies, pickups, switches and jumps; the T-Rex was really hard to kill for me 'cause it always moves fast out of the zone with the mine field. Not very enjoyable but playable anyway." - Jose

"These eight short test levels again test different level editor capabilities including lighting, mine carts, different enemies and different forms of texturing. One of them (the Demo 2 level) shows glimpses of gameplay with a few jumps, key hunts and a T-Rex destruction scene, but none of them are particularly involving from a gameplay or visual perspective, and are probably only recommended for aspiring builders than potential players." - Ryan

"Some more test levels from Turbo Pascal and much like I assumed during the review for his TR2 test release back in July 2014, this demonstrates a couple of the same features as previously(such as room lighting and a major boss fight map), but offers enough new content at the same time thankfully, to make it worth a look for those who intend to build a level under the TR3 engine someday. For interested actual players on the other hand, I'd highly recommend checking something else out(unless you're a completionist), as this will provide very little replay value for you in the long run." - Ceamonks890

"Eight levels,and most are very basic (and even difficult to actually envisage what it was they were supposed to illustrate). The best of the bunch is a fun dino and T-Rex level,with a hilarious death scene (once you get the timing right). Another is simply a replay of the same level but without any of the enemies.This collection is perhaps a little more interesting than others of its kind;but can't really be recommended to anyone other than completists." - Orbit Dream

"A few test levels where the author experimented lighting , diagonal walls , a mine cart , perhaps new textures for his levels , and especially some tricks for experimenting animals behaviour. These files have surely been of interest for TR3 customlevels builders. There is also one real level and the rating of this present review will be for this one alone which lasted 14 minutes for me. At the beginning although we get the shotgun I did not shoot the raptors immediately but ran to reach higher places and shoot them from above as otherwise they had a great impact on Lara's health , later on I did the same for another couple of raptors. At one moment , one of the raptors seemed to eat the rests of a dead body on the ground. Good details in that room to give the illusion a battle happened between guards and raptors, and it seems that the raptors won by score of 2-1 ! Gameplay is simple with mainly easy jumps on ledges worthy to be mentionned . The rooms are pleasantly textured and lit , but simple and rather empty in general. For the finale , Lara did succeed once to kill the T-Rex by exploding it, this was great but it is not that easy to have the victory over that beast." - eRIC

"Rather than being a level, this consists of examples of level editing for TR3 with DXTRE. Here we have lighting, diagonal walls (most levels don't have them but it is possible in NGLE using certain objects or collisions), objects (this includes a nice dinosaur fight), building architecture and giving levels height, depth etc, how to use a minecart (great fun), water rooms, dinosaurs, and how to keep enemies in certain areas There were a couple of bugs, the screen seemed to look strange after being in the water room, and Lara kept blinking on and off screen in the one with bears, who don't cause much damage This is a good showcase of what you can build in the editor, although it would have been useful to be given tips on how to do it in game." - sonnyd83

"City "Lighting" Test Room - a room decorated with Tinnos wall textures, Lara in her Antarctica outfit and big white light in the middle of the room. Move on folks, nothing to see here.
Diagonal Walls - a brief showcase of what types of architecture you can make with the diagonal walls. Again, not very exciting from a player's perspective.
DXTre3D v2rev2 Demo 2 - the closest thing to a proper level in this bunch. Not much eye-candy, but still decent looking - this takes you through a series of rooms as you master jump sequences, gather keys and fight off raptors. The uncontested highlight is the brilliant way you must overpower and kill the T-Rex, the level is worth to play for that alone.
DXTre3D v1.1 Demo 1 - basically the same level as before, but stripped of all objects, enemies and gameplay. Might work as a preparation for part 2, but not that exciting to experience them the other way around.
Mine Cart Demo - the room is textured somewhat haphazardly, and the only thing you can really do with the mine-cart here is sit in it and wait for the ride to end, but it does give some insight into the mechanics of how they are set up in TR3 levels, so interesting, though maybe not necessarily for players.
TReditor3D v1.0 Rev.B Example - a room with a pool. Not sure what was tested here, but maybe the pool explains why the marble floor sounds so squishy and wet here?
T-Rex - it's Lara vs a T-Rex here. The mud tiles are safe for Lara as the dino will not pursue you there, so you can base your strategy on that. But the only other thing remotely interesting here is to just observe how much ammunition you need to bring the dude down. I counted roughly over 800 pistols rounds.
Zone Editor Example Level - an interesting showcase of how the bears will not pursue Lara outside of their territory, though, again - from a player's perspective this probably loses it's novelty very soon.
" - eTux

"A large level package including eight levels, four of them without any sense and bad texturing at most parts of them, one with a T-rex shootout, one with a bear shootout, then one with few jumping parts and the final one, absolutely the best, as an enhanced version of the last one, with many shootouts, but still I don't think that was much fun, until the end with the epic killing of a T-rex. Completely linear gameplay here, lighting was better. I could rate each level and then calculate the average, but this would not really show there's at least only well level, so I tried to be a bit generous. Still not as much as the two other reviewers (until now), but if the author complains, I could tell him he never should never have released at least six of the levels." - manarch2

"Early shades of Fenician Temple in the Demo 2 level here, which is the only one that actually gives you almost 20 minutes of gameplay. Nice idea with blowing up the T-Rex, although it took me a few tries to hit the switch fast enough. The rest of the levels shows off a few things of more or less interest, but I always like the mine cart." - MichaelP

"This contains eight levels, but only one is truly playable. Some small selections are visual displays, such as "City Lighting" and "Diagonal Walls." Others demonstrate a zone concept most players intuitively know from game play: bears only attack when Lara walks into their territory or--same idea--a T-rex charges when Lara stands on a blue floor but not when she is off it. A mine cart demo is curious in that the cart carries Lara about the room without tracks to indicate where it will go. This leaves DXTRe3D Demo 1 and Demo 2, both including the same basic area. Demo one has the bare bones of a level, without objects, so Lara climbs up and wanders through barren rooms. Demo 2 is a fleshed out playable level with switches, gates to open, wall torches for lighting, raptors behind the gates, and a T-rex waiting. For those with patience it is instructive to first examine the early version, and then play Demo 2, to see what the author was planning all along. The highlight here is the end battle with a T-rex. Lara lures it onto an exploding floor, then side flips over a slope to pull a switch, to blast the beast to pieces, an effective finish." - dmdibl