Level reviews

"Lara's sporting her TRU outfit as she runs and rides a quadbike over narrow sandy pathways. Nothing overly taxing, other reviews mention limited pistol ammo (and there were, in fact, lots of ammo pickups along the way) but you can easily outmaneuver all ahmets you come across. The save bug in the final area is kinda curious as it throws Lara back elsewhere on the map, never saw that before. I rather liked the strong orange horizon but otherwise there really isn't much going on here. 5 minutes. 07/22" - Treeble

"So you're supposed to ride two different quadbikes across a linear course made up of blocky platforms floating in a yellow nothingness, then kill some werewolves, and eventually use one of the bugs in the TR engine in order to hit the finish trigger. Obviously none of this makes any sense, but then this level is conceived as an abstract challenge, not as an immersive experience. Nevertheless the readme takes a stab at a story, which has Lara end up in - virtual reality'. This is apparently the reason why the level was made to resemble a 3-D platformer from the nineties (a look somewhat undercut by the realist style of the three or maybe four textures from TR3 Nevada which are on display throughout the level, often in squashed form, and which comprise the entirety of the textures used in this level), but narrative context is otherwise irrelevant.
I'm not sure about the function of the intermission during which you have to proceed on foot (which is what makes the second quadbike necessary). The level is too short for player fatigue to become an issue, so this sort of variety isn't really called for. I was surprised to find that each quadbike is required only for a brief stretch of the course, whereas the greater part by far can be done on foot - easily, too, as all the jumps are straightforward and simple, which makes the procedure rather boring and stands in marked contrast to the way the builder expects players to end the level. Regarding the latter, I do not take kindly to the practice of enforcing buggy moves and think the builder was being a tad too clever-clever there. Ironically (and frustratingly), the level suffers itself from a fatal savegame bug in the final area.
The title is rather a mouthful, especially for a level as short as this, which is of interest only to devoted motorists and not all that much of a recommendation for a full version (which, needless to say, never materialised), for whichever source material it was on which it is apparently based, or for the future of the levelbuilder (who, however, has since moved on to more interesting pastures). - Those who complained about the limited pistol ammo will be glad to know that the original download has been underhandedly replaced with an unacknowledged update in which this is no longer an issue, although the ammo pickups (now useless) are still there, as is the savegame bug, and the quadbike still won't go in reverse." - Mulf

"After reading all the negative reviews on this one I was mildly surprised that the level was nowhere near as bad as everyone suggests. Sure it is not a great level and yes, it is full of bugs but the quad bike ride was fun and mildly challenging and there was ammo a plenty but I did not find the magnums to go along with all the ammo I picked up but you don't need anything else in any event." - Torry

"Quite a curious little demo, although I'd guess that the inspiration for it was far too ambitious for what was produced here. The little gameplay is quite embryonic and uninvolving (and a couple of jumps are needlessly), with the quad bike being the only possible highlight, the minimalistic textures are OK as far as they go, and enemies are sparsely placed, and with limited ammo could pose a problem. Not really recommended." - Ryan

"There isn't much to say about this level. It lacked everything to be recommended. I hate the fact that you can't drive back with the quad bike, altho it does increases the difficulty for a bit. If it wasn't already bad enough, it's buggy. You can't save the game at a certain point, if you do and load Lara will either fall to nowhere or just appears in a different place. Good concept, good idea, but terribly executed." - Zhyttya

"Having never watched the animated series that this level takes its influences from, I decided to check out an episode of the show in question before starting the game up, in order to better determine how faithful this release is, in regards to its source material. And as far as adaptations go, this debut comes off as rather bare-bones, with only the desert wasteland-styled environment being somewhat representative of the original source, with everything else feeling rather slapped together, in a wasted attempt at playing it safe. And while I do understand that this is more or less a proof-of-concept demo after all, that doesn't mean it can't at least be properly tested before being let out the door, with a number of game-breaking bugs and poorly-designed tracks for the non-reversible quadbike(that require good memorization to get by on your part), only setting to prove how more time in the figurative oven, could have at least helped make this level seem much better presented. But as it is though, Klona has gotten a lot better at designing levels and has shown himself to be a very capable builder, in the years since this debut came out. So, unless you want to know how the builder got his start, you'd be much better off trying his latter releases over this. Not recommended." - Ceamonks890

"Slightly bewildering basic level. You find yourself in a yellow/orange world of floating rocky platforms. Gameplay: Combination of basic elements. Some run-jump antics, a few enemies, and the inclusion of the quad-bike from TR3. Completely bizarre final battle where saving on the platform effectively kills your game because if you re-load Lara simply plunges to her death as the platform is no longer beneath her!. Environment: Not the best I've seen unfortunately. Simple basic geometry with repetitive and often badly stretched textures. Sound & Music: Stock TR4 sounds and files apart from the quad-bike, which seems to have survived it's import into TR4 quite well. Overall [2/10]. It does avoid some of the common debut level issues (no wafer thin-walls or crashes to desktop), but it's still buggy and needs more work before that first public release. If you want a quick diversion for 10 minutes or so this will do fine, but unfortunately the last bug & annoying ledge jump leave me unable to recommend. Stiggy." - TheStig

"For my 200th review, I was going to review a high scoring level that would leave me with a feeling of accomplishment when I had finished. As you can see, however, instead I chose this. A very simple level in a floating islands setting. You know there is going to be a fight at the end, but it is rather anti-climactic, and a bug when saving meant that every time I reloaded I was only half-way through the level. Therefore I had to dozy back to where I saved each time, which became incredibly frustrating. There was only 1 texture applied through-out the level, and no lighting whatsoever. All in all, not an enjoyable adventure, due to the bugs in the game, but it has given me my 200th review. Not recommended." - Cory

"In this little demo is everything I do not like in a level. Floating islands, driving a vehicle and last but not least the limited ammo. I can live with the floating islands, it takes me a bit longer than a normal"walk" through, through the level. With a vehicle (glad it was the quad and not the jeep, I can live with. But unforgivable is the limited ammo." - Gerty

"Well, the level is supposed to be a virtual world so I respect that, however it is not a very interesting virtual world in my opinion. Only one or two textures were used on the many floating islands in space, and no attention was given to texture sizing. The lighting is rather bright and flat. The only gameplay for the most of the 6 minutes I spent is jumping and grabbing platforms. Besides that you get a frustrating quadbike that has no reverse and gets Lara in a spasm whenever you get air. The no reverse bit is especially painful when you reach a certain jump that perhaps you didn't have enough momentum for, and thus you are stuck since you can't go back far enough to gain speed and clear the jump. There is also a pack of monsters that take way too long to kill (218 shots, and that was from a revolver) and some annoying flames before you finally reach the last platform. The one aspect I did appreciate was how the player was given some choice; at one point the route splits in two before merging into one again. It is not a bad start - others have done far worse - but there is much room for improvement in gameplay, looks, and the quality of the objects used. Some advice: If you are going to make a virtual world, make it seem like a reason to create something fantastic, instead of appearing to be a reason to be lazy with how your project looks. Also, try to make a good basic level before diving into the realms of patches and custom objects." - SSJ6Wolf

"For a mere Demo this is actually rather fun,in a 'bike ride over floating islands' sort of way. It's yellow;it's rather buggy when you try and save (which entailed me playing some of the level several times);the enemies only attack in a very round-about sort of way;and there's a sneaky hang-drop bug to reach the Finish Trigger. It's a fun ride,but it won't keep you occupied for more than 10 minutes." - Orbit Dream

"Well this was something different, it's not the best but it's not the worst. To be honest I think the creator needs to work more on this levelset. Since this is a Demo I hope he/she learns from these reviews. Gameplay, was okay. It was fun actually, jumping over those ramps with the buggy. With Enemies, Objects and Secrets it wasn't all that good. The enemies just pop out of no where in front of us, Making them come from behind a rock or even behind us would've made it more exciting. Atmosphere, Sound and Cameras, you really didn't do much. All you did was add Distance fog and I thought that was the only thing for this category. What I think you should do next time is you should add fog to the level and also get rid of the boring geometry and make it more interesting. Lighting and Textures, well you didn't do much for this either, that's why I gave it such a low score. I think giving the level a Yellow/Orange lighting with different Textures would make it look more like a desert. :) Well I would say.. Good Luck on this project and I hope you read these reviews so that they can help you. :)" - Ali

"This debut level is not at all so badly. Well, he is of course a little bit short. And you can not see how much ammunition Lara still has. And it is also not so great which one suddenly somewhere in the level is, if one saves in the last part after the slant and loads the Savegame anew and not at the Place where you have saved. But on the other Hand one could cruise around a little bit with the Quadbike. So altogether a nice welcome change for Occasionally." - Scottie

"Lyoko is a futuristic virtual world and I should think this is what the autor wanted to show us. It is not what a tomb raider player expects, it looks weird, but I don't think it is so bad. I have seen breathtaking atmospheres but awful gameplay. Here I saw such an irritating horizon, a place where lights and shadows don't exists and textures are stretched and shrunk. However, I could see some furniture, fog, and I think I could understand that the autor wanted to show a different world. This was a floating land and you have to jump in order to not fall. You can ride a quad and do enjoyable jumps. There are also nasty creatures which you must kill with limitated ammo. There's a lot of work to do to improve this. The horizon is not good, the textures should be better fixed, less linearity, need puzzles, sounds, lighting. Moreover, I dindn't find any secret of 70. I could see work behind this level, but the autor should improve texturing and learn a few things about lights, athmosphere, sound and cameras. It isn't a bad work for a beginner, so I hope to see something much better." - Miriam

"IMO demo levels are completely different story and should not be rated at all, as they are incomparable to normal levels. They are often unfinished and full of not yet repaired mistakes, just like in this case. Techically, THIS LEVEL IS A MESS. Wafer-thin textures, identical lighting in each part of the level, an invisible wall... NOTE: Players, DON'T SAVE WHILE STANDING ON MULTI-AHMET PLATFORM. It disappear when reloaded. NOTE: At first look it may seem there's no finish trigger, but don't become discouraged - it exists and can be hit. SUMMARY: A five minute race, which took me fifteen - only because I was looking for secrets (found none). It's 4:09 A.M. and I don't regret I am awake - maybe because of the happily yellow sky texture I just saw... So this level is perfect for a short break at the specified moment when you don't know what exactly to do with your lives . So if you're sure the next 5 minutes of your existence on this planet will be wasted anyway - you'd better lose this time playing the game than doing nothing. I also strongly recommend this level for those who love YELLOW. It's probably the most YELLOW custom ever." - DJ Full

"There are so many errors in this short level that make the gameplay unbearable. If you load a savegame from the platform with firegate you end up falling to death (TIP: Jump to the slope you came from, save there and come back). You can't drive back with your quad so that you have to reload if you are too close to the ramp and don't get full speed. The textures are uniformly placed. It's an unfinished and not recommendable level." - manarch2

"It's always difficult to score a demo, the only gameplay here was the quad bike rides, always fun but not difficult, no puzzles at all and the only enemies were some ahmets at the end which didn't cause any problems as they didn't seem at all interested in Lara. The textures were unbelievable repetitive but, there again, a desert texture is a desert texture and sand, by its very nature, is inherently boring to look at. As a demo of a future level this shows promise but it will require a lot of development to make a decent game. P.S. Don't play this level if you're allergic to yellow!" - Diz

"This is a strange little demo - think Nevada meets Floating Islands in a giant bowl of custard. It's an imaginative idea certainly, but apart from a bit of quad bike riding and killing a few strangely unaggressive ahmets, there's not a lot going on. Admittedly, demos are only supposed to provide a tiny taste of things to come, but it would need a great deal more work before it could be a real crowd pleaser. On the plus side, for a demo, debut level, we've all seen far worse." - Jay

"Much has already been said about the yellow horizon, so I won't even get into that =) What you get here is a quick 10-minute u-shaped run, jump, Quad bike drive - not more and not less. And for that, I had fun while it lasted. The ammo is actually limited but with only the five beasts to easily kill there is more than enough around. As said by others, do not save on the platform near the end or you will drop to your death on reload. And yes, there is a finish trigger you can reach. If you cannot find it, have a look at screenshot #5 on the level info page ;)" - MichaelP

"Like a film-preview should give an idea of the storyline and the atmosphere of what's coming up a demo for a level should give similar hints.... I don't know what the author intended to demonstrate with this demo. I played demos and couldn't wait for the release of the adventure. In this case that didn't succeed. All we know is that pistol-ammo will be limited. And that it will be yellow. Very yellow...." - Christian

"This was kinda fun , by quadbike and by foot , going to the end of this platforms_in_the_sky game. Not enough ammos to deal with the beasts but you don't need to kill them. Still I wonder why there was weapons and ammos at all ? Repetitive texturing. After finding the way to the end , by curiosity I saved , then reloaded and I found myself in an earlier part of the level , safe but certainly unable to return to the end :] [ 6 minutes ]" - eRIC

"Simplistic play and layout under an orangish sky; everything else in these floating islands is yellow. Lara makes jumps with the quad bike, but they are easy jumps, and this being TR4 there is no reverse. I thought the quad bike had a sprint-key booster, though maybe I imagined it. Sometimes Lara travels on foot and picks up ammo for the pistols. On a flat platform, four ahmets march back and forth in their own files, strangely uninterested in Lara as she shoots them from the side. If players save and reload the platform disappears, but Lara can jump to the slope slide that brought her here, and save the game there. Takes a few minutes to play." - dmdibl

"You are driving around on a quad bike. There are a couple of jumps and tight corners, but nothing challenging plus few creatures to shoot and ammo to pick up. A minimalist debut demo level with no texturing other than the platform itself. Play it if you have nothing else to do, or are on the quest to play every level released." - Blue43

"A lot of work awaits to this author to release a good level in the future. Only a ride with the quad, some jumps and no more is very poor to can entertain somebody. You can easily avoid the enemies 'cause they won't follow you so you don't need the ammo for the pistols. I can't understand that huge bug when you reload in the platform with four ameths. Not a level for my taste." - Jose