Level reviews

"Feels like some sort of remake of the entrance area to the temples in the backend of Vilcabamba but done ten times as big and ten times less interesting. And yet, it falls flat as you zoom across all these huge and empty areas and reach the finish trigger in less than five minutes. A bonus point for using the TR1 Peru textures but that's down to my very obvious and very public bias. 5 minutes, 1 secret. 07/22" - Treeble

"Hmm yes, this - Temple of Light' is very bright indeed because the builder didn't employ any lighting at all, but does that count? It's - based on Vilcabamba', the readme says, or to be more precise, it's a remake of the part where you climb the two towers and the subsequent area with a pool of water where you encounter your second bear. It's greatly simplified and looks very video-gamey with its wallpapering and lack of lighting, and since it's built with the Tut1 wad, which is characterised by its lack of bear, you'll have to make do with two ninjas instead. The walls are properly segmented though, so the textures aren't stretched, and everything works as it should, except there are serious disintegrating-horizon issues because the rooms are too large, and the audio triggers got oddly mixed up somehow, so the cues don't fit the situation in which they play. It's very simple and very easy, and you'll be through in six minutes or so, but I nevertheless managed to kill Lara once, namely when I did a swandive into the pool and the water turned out to be only ankle-deep. Kudos, builder, you got me. It does its job as a test level for the budding builder, but as a debut it wasn't going to make a splash. Still better than another builder's Temple of Darkness, though." - Mulf

"Loosely based on the City of Vilcabamba this ten minute excursion features huge rooms, bland texturing and nothing in game play but for a first attempt it is at least playable." - Torry

"A short remake of TR1's City of Vilcabamba. It's not bad as for as it goes, or as debuts go, but there's nothing much to do here as you perform two identical tasks, collect two Ba Cartouche pieces, fight some ninjas and end the level. I do see the builder has improved, however." - Ryan

"Simply a bad remake. Areas are too big, bad decorated, poor texturing, whatever comes at mind was badly executed when creating this level. I assume is this way because it was the first level done by townsieboy. Anyway, too short, too bad, not recommended." - Zhyttya

"Not really a remake but more a "sketch" from the "alpha" version of the original level. Just a big box with some stuff to pick and some jumps to do. There are no puzzles it self just pick 2 parts of and items and push two leavers.. go forward kill 2 guys.. put the pieces and that's that.. all in a big grey box.. Still, for a first level to show and test mechanics it kinda work but.. just that.. If you have 3 minutes free just play this level.. but there are better options in my opinion" - Leeth

"Now, what we have here is your standard debut release with many of the beginner builder problems that you'd expect. Huge boxy rooms, flat to non-existent lighting, repetitive texturing, simplistic gameplay etc. While the starting area is only vaguely reminiscent of the level it's supposed to be a remake of(in this case, City of Vilcabamba from TR1), everything else demonstrated here is practically unrecognizable. Overall, a rather short and uninteresting level that only really shows off that the builder behind this release at least understands the basics of how the editor works and has the potential to improve as he gets more of a handle on how things work. Not really worth playing as a whole though(from a reviewer/gamer perspective however.)" - Ceamonks890

"A nice simple 10 minute raid here from Townsieboy. It's certainly better than your average debut, and crucially everything put in here works correctly. Each lever gets a camera hint after it's pulled, and I felt that although the texturing was repetitive, you could see at-least that an effort had been made to avoid stretched textures. Looking on trle, I see the author has released quite a few levels since so I look forward to reviewing these too and hope they continue building. Stiggy." - TheStig

"A level which is minimalist , less than 5 minutes to place the cartouche that ends this little adventure , the 2 halves of the artefact are obtained by the same climbing sequence. There was no need to shoot the ninjas at end. No lighting and too big rooms to create some atmosphere. A decently made level for a first try with the editor but that lets the players on their hunger." - eRIC

"Vilcabamba, rings a bell? This is the very easy version of it. Quite bare, very bright and don't expect puzzles or traps." - Gerty

"Well... I wanted to write a review, but now I see every element I noticed and wanted to describe was noticed and described by the others. What is more, I agree with most of you and I have nothing more to say except one thing: I believe this guy is gonna make something remarkable in the future. SUMMARY: If you share my opinion, you can play this level to see the first steps of a gifted builder." - DJ Full

"A short level, less than 8 minutes of gameplay and I went into every nook and cranny, you could probably do it in 4 if you tried. Large blank areas of the same texture, constant bright lighting without any variation, only two enemies at the end even though you picked up plenty of medis, no timed runs, no agility tests and little gameplay. The one good thing you could say about it was that it was solidly made, no thin walls or missing textures, and it worked. There just wasn't much of interest in it." - Diz

"Well, at least it's an initiation so a new builder can knows how to begin to build a level and see a final result so another players can comment the work. Well triggered musics but perhaps not aproppriate for the concrete situations. The best were the well triggered cameras to show what happens when pulling the switches. Now the builder "only" must think about to get better the architecture (rooms are unnecessary enormous) work a lot with the lights and textures, place some objects in the rooms, think about some puzzles and traps, make a larger level... He forgot the secret chime when the player enters into the small room, and from that moment, the background music disappears... Still a very long way to release a good level." - Jose

"A nice back can also delight. Err, sorry, I meant of course a short level can also delight. Is able, but does not have to. In this level it is rather dull. One runs through very big and very empty rooms, sees many stretched textures and a not available lighting. Moreover, one can shoot two Sons of the Desert. But this was already the one and only change in these 5-minute playing time. But OK, as a beginner's level it still goes. I have already played level, who were much worse." - Scottie

"This level is called Temple of Light, but actually lighting haven't been fixed. Anyway, gameplay was fluent, easy and quite enjoyable. Texturing looked good and I found sound cool. However, there wasn't any furniture or plants and rooms looked amazingly big and empty. I think, the autor should work more with lighting. Water could look much better if the room had blue lighting. However, this wasn't neither boring nor irritating as it happens with beginner builders. I hope too see those thing the level needs to achieve at least a 5." - Miriam

"as I don't build levels myself I don't know how long and hard the way is to create such masterpieces as they can be found here. But seeing such debuts I get the idea it could be a long one. The tasks to do are quite obvious and done after a few minutes. Two levers, two cartouche-pieces, two ninjas - that's all. The climbing sequences in two (large!!) rooms show first signs of gameplay. Creating those oversized rooms is often seen in beginner-levels, I don't know why. There is no atmosphere in these rooms without furniture, plants or anything. Lightning doesn't exist, sounds are triggered, but they don't fit to the following sequences. All in all: We have seen quite worse debuts. There is potential that can be developed." - Christian

"Every level builder needs to start somewhere, so what we have here is the first steps of a junior builder, learning the ropes of the editor. The gameplay flow is essentially a simplified version of the original Vilcabamba and it is all over after about 5 minutes, but a few of the essentials are there, audio is triggered, cameras are used and you get to kill two ninjas that seem rather out of place in the setting. The main rooms are however way too large and much more work needs to go into lighting - starting with the placement of a sun in each room to avoid that Lara looks very two-dimensional." - MichaelP

"A level with Vilcabama Setting. The two jumping parts to get the cartouche were equal After that beginning, I ran into the second room where I killed two beduines (in Peru!) and placed the cartouche and suddenly the level was over. Easily done in 4 minutes. Quite annoying end and level isn't remarkable." - manarch2

"As a first level,there have been many worse than this - but,if a builder is resolutely determined to remake a TR1 original,they should at least attempt to come up with a few variations of their own. In this case,although keeping the gameplay absolutely identical to the original (the second half of Vilcabamba),the builder has actually removed all of the enemies and put nothing in their place,bar a couple of distant and avoidable ninjas. Camera's are well placed,although thoroughly unnecessary;sound is used,although equally unnecessary;puzzles are non-existant;so too is the lighting. Textures are wallpaper'd,but not badly applied as such. This is one of those levels you'll be through comfortably within ten minutes,while experiencing no surprises nor finding any need for a single medi-pack. Quick and easy,but I hope the builder continues and gives us something a little more ambitious next time." - Orbit Dream

"You'll see from the readme that this is based on City of Vilcabamba and certainly it does give a real flavour of that level. This is a debut level so you almost certainly won't be expecting a lot from it, but it's actually not at all badly put together. The rooms are a touch under dressed and the use of music somewhat arbitrary, but the builder has obviously well mastered the basics of the level editor and there are no 'howlers' such as wafer thin walls on display. The gameplay is very simple, so experienced raiders might find themselves a bit unstretched to say the least, especially since the entire thing can be completed in less than ten minutes. However, if you are really new to raiding, this would be an excellent chance to try yourself out on the nursery slopes, as it were." - Jay

"A debut level which can be completed under 5 minutes. It looks a bit like the City Of Vilcabamba, but everything is over sized. No difficulties or traps. No decoration and the rooms are big and boxy. 2 Ninjas are the only enemies and they fall quickly (unless their TR4 counterparts). Lighting is very flat. Not bad for a first level I guess, everyone has to start somewhere. At least it loads correctly and doesn't crash or have any other oddities like missing sounds etc" - Blue43