Level reviews

"Perhaps my mistake might have been powering through this in a single sitting, and while there were a few things I've enjoyed (the topography of the island in the first level, for example, or the general atmosphere of the Ice Palace) for the most part I never found myself engaged with this levelset. There were too many levers and a lot of running back and forth which didn't seem to add to much in the end. Some things were also fairly too cryptic which I doubt I'd have had the patience to figure out on my own (or brute force it through trial and error), so my thanks go to Manarch for having provided a walkthrough. 80 minutes, 5 secrets. 07/25" - Treeble

"Oh wow, what a ride... among my favorites of this builder. It dares a lot but mostly succeeds. Wouldn't be too long if the final maze was halved. I didn't get the lever puzzles but they were solvable anyway. Map looks better with Vol FX turned off, and the fog wasn't overdone, but I would tweak with min/max values to improve the jungle haze. Speaking of which, one of best jungle bits I remember. Recommended." - DJ Full

"Here's another one of those Custom Level releases I downloaded a long time ago, but never finished. Picked this up again recently and got surprised with some cool (literally) and funny stuff I had missed. And it's funny how "Sharks swimming through air" is one of the only things I still remembered from years ago.
Lara seems to have been stranded on this mysterious island, which seems to be connected with different universes. So she travels through different places to unlock the next place until.. I don't know, either find a way out or find an artifact and then get out. (You can just finish the level without picking up the [Name of the artifact] at the end). What's remarkable is: Every puzzle through the whole game has something to do with symbols. Some of the puzzles were confusing and I just solved them somehow, others were tricky and required some thinking. The levels had their own outstanding design, same goes for the enemies. I think skeletons and ghosts were the only enemies here that were not changed in shape or color. And I'm just wondering: What the hell were those gigantic bug things? I could only find 3 of the 6 secrets." - Nuri

"You may think that this is going to be a shooter game with the amount of ammo you collect at the very start of this game, but it's really not that bad. Enemies are certainly plentiful throughout the two hours you'll spend here, often in packs, but you will find more than enough pickups for you to withstand the onslaught of tigers, bugs, skeletons and an ice Priestess (at the very end). This is split seamlessly into three levels comprising of jungles, city and icy environments. I found the city level a bit too bland and sterile for my taste in terms of textures and atmosphere, but the puzzles present throughout all three levels are actually really well thought out. Some of them (like the multiple lever puzzles) are a bit obscure and confusing, but the pedestal puzzle and the mirror rooms are quite ingenious touches. The music is perhaps a matter of preference, but I didn't mind so much in this setting. Overall, highly recommended." - Ryan

"This is a very random TRLE i must say, at least on the first level, which was without a doubt a very warming welcome to the game. Nice view, beautiful island, a good house and of course the random enemies, which are a bit buggy if i might add. In this level there's a forest well hidden that has a couple of puzzles which kinda require a bit trial and error, not really a fun of those, and eventually it will show you a way to a secret entrance. It was REALLY unique level and i loved it so much, apart from the "random" puzzles of course. Now the level with the desert look, was the most boring one. I found myself way too long inside the house with the staircases, just looking for the levers to push. This level has also a bit of back and fourth action going on, but since is relatively small it doesn't get to the point of frustration. The last level was beautiful and had probably one of my top puzzles on a TRLE (that i played so far ofc) it is pretty small when comparing to the other levels but it definitely boosted up the experience as a whole. CONCLUSION: Magnificent level, breathtaking sceneries, brilliant puzzle solving (some where random though) and some good music. Completely recommend this." - Zhyttya

"The right level if you are searching for great puzzles with a bit of a laugh. It has a great atmosphere, the enemies are fun to kill even if a bit buggy but the best thing about this one was the variety of puzzles, even the "push the block" was fun to solve! I could talk about each level but I think everyone should get the experience to discover. It really was a pleasant surprise. Every puzzle has some logic behind it and that is something that i rarely see on TRLE. The only flaw on this level was the sound (besides the epic musics, there was nothing) and some cameras that didn't trigger for enough time for you to see what happen. Still, highly recommended level!" - Leeth

"This is one of those levels where I had mixed feelings after finishing the game. For the gameplay, some parts of it were good, but there were some tedious parts of this game. Some enemies were just extraneous. That's all I have to say. The atmosphere was okay, but it got a bit dull when I progressed. The textures were also bland. Some places were a bit stretched for my liking. It's a good game, but not one of my favorites." - MegaGamer

"This is definitely one of those levels where I think creatively the author has excelled themselves. Visually it might not be the cleanest level you'll ever play, but the creativity here and imagination that's gone into each of the environments is excellent. I love the unusual sound-track too. Quantic Island is a very different and refreshing adventure which starts off on an small island in the middle of an ocean. During your travels however you'll soon find yourself teleported to an old Citadel, and an ice-palace. Gameplay is very well judged, with nothing that's going to frustrate anyone. The puzzle elements require good observations but again I think everything here is well suited to players of all abilities. The author has also made some skillful use of mirror rooms, so make sure that your observations are good or you might miss the way like I did once or twice! There's variety of different and unusual objects included in Quantic island (I don't recall seeing the Giant bug or the Green tigers before!). All in all I netted just over 2 hours gameplay from Quantic Island. Greywolf has succeeded in producing a uniquely stylized and entertaining world. I look forward to seeing more from this author. Highly recommended. Stiggy :)" - TheStig

"One thing I really don't like if getting at places way too early. But if you keep saved games at strategic places the harm is small. Annoying was that the builder had too many fixed cameras and way too much long, long crawlspaces for my taste. For the rest you get three adventures for the prize of one. Some enemies were a bit bizarre, like the flying sharks and the other annoying, like crawling while getting pestered by piranhas. Could have had some more camera work in the second level as I sometimes had no clue what I did and where I needed to go. The multi lever puzzle for me was trial and error, as I couldn't find one clue how to solve it. The last level (in an icy world) had a maze (there are two but the first one wasn't too bad). Luckily the pick up are plenty full and quite handy with all the nasty skeletons you will encounter." - Gerty

"This is a very competent three-part release that took me about two and an half hours to complete. I would place it on a par with Lukasz Croft's more recent levels, which to me is very good company indeed. I do appreciate the time and effort that Manarch2 devoted to writing the walkthrough, because the gameplay can be quite confusing even to the seasoned player. I agree with him that the middle installment is perhaps the weakest of the bunch, but I enjoyed the varied settings encountered in all three of the levels. It was a bit dark in spots, but there are plenty of pickups scattered about the playing area to make life a little easier. I wouldn't nominate it for any awards, but it's well worth the time to download and play it. Recommended." - Phil

"Very interesting !!! Everything was great !!! At one point, the sharks were swimming in the air (land sharks ???), but the whole thing was very imaginative, should have been longer - it could develop into a whole new world !!!" - Juno Jim

"This levels were not very... "real"; they were psichedelyc levels. Sharks flying, piranhas following you out of the water, going through solid walls, Pink Floyd music (eh! I love PF music!). I liked some logical puzzles, but another times like the 12 switches near the lava room were tedious and bored, always moving lara from here to there to look what the switches did; also was very nasty the second level finding often dead ends and going upstairs and downstairs so many times in that dammned building. Third level was a bit better; I loved the textures and nice areas, but gameplay was not so good 'cause it's easy you miss a crawlspace or a switch and it can turns you fool exploring again the same areas a lot of times. Pickups are always welcome, but in this case I think there were excessive. There are many cameras to help the player, but sometimes you must figure out where to go when triggering something. Good ideas but not one of my favourite adventures." - Jose

"I started this level right after it was released, played the areas out of sequence, overlooked important things and therefore got stuck for a long time and finally lost interest and played something else. Weeks later after I noticed that there was a walkthrough available I had another go at it and I have to say, that even with a walkthrough, this set of levels is rather confusing. The game play was very unusual and lots of it was puzzle based, unfortunately some were really odd and did not make much sense, and so I just followed the walkthrough after failing to understand how to solve them. I found several areas like the building and the sewers in the ghost town very tedious to play because of those multiple wraith runs - the same I would say for the Ice Palace as it seemed the back and forward between doors and switches was getting strenuous after a while. There were plenty of enemies, some odd and unusual like green tigers, flying sharks or giant robotic bugs, while others like the skeletons were trying to overwhelm Lara by sheer numbers and it took a lot of shotgun ammo and later in the game a lot of grenades to dispose of them. Almost forgot to mention the annoying Piranhas, who not only followed Lara in the water, but also through crawlspaces onto dry land. The levels had a good atmosphere with interesting mix of ambient sound track and a few music tracks in between. Texturing and lighting appeared nicely done; some of the areas were really beautiful to look at, especially the indoor areas at the ice place looked impressive. Definitely recommended, and a treat for those who like to solve complicated and sometimes confusing puzzles - for the rest of us there is always the walkthrough :-) (1h 55min, 6 secrets)" - Blue43

"Although this level has many old style qualities, what really shines here are the interesting puzzles. I am not a huge fan of worlds that don't make sense and this level lives in that world. I wasn't fond of all the skellies, they were out of place, although there were some neat creatures, like the giant bug. I think the level would have benefitted from more of those type baddies. There was too much backtracking, although the distance wasn't far, it was annoying to have to escape a wraith downstairs, then do it again. There were some really easy to miss places that would drive someone like me insane, which was one of the reasons I waited for the walkthrough to finish this. This level was all in all very nicely done." - Shandroid

"Phew - I really had problems to get through this three-level game, but finally I could finish it.
Quantic Island (8-9-10-8), that serves as a hub level, starts rather sloppy, with a too wide sea and quite strange looks, then a gem that has to be found when swimming through a non-marked wall. The mansion was rather bare and there simply were too many items in it. But after you climbed down the lighthouse and got into the jungle this level turned out to be quite impressive, with nice atmosphere and a great variety of new enemies (and nice enemies from earlier levels like the flower snake from Skribblerz Stonez) and clever puzzles, even if they sometimes were too obscure for me. The piranhas were quite enerving and, once there, you cannot escape them. After the temple part I really didn't know what to do, until I found the exit door which was too well hidden without any camera hint.
Bolzedura Ghost Town (7-8-7-7) was my least favourite level in this pack, just because it was not really player- friendly - the puzzles were even more obscure than in the first level, they had too many bugs in it, the sewer part was really making be nervous as there were often no camera hints what to do next, then the many-switch puzzle near the end was really a "trial and error" one, the monotonous backtracking through the "hotel" that really does not felt like one was really annoying, the too many skeletons too. The atmosphere was not really there - way too high or too uniformly textured areas, I only liked the color pillar room here, then the dark hotel corridors with not well looking rooms in it, the TR 2 reminding sewers that did not feel real, the mostly bare rooms with only ammo in them or wildly placed objects, or last but not least the strange pyramid in the town that had many burning slopes and was quite confusing because one expects something to do with it. On the other side, I really liked the sound choice, as well as in the other two levels, but actually, I found this part did not fit to the other two very well.
Ice Palace (8-9-10-9) was my favourite level, with good object placement and beautiful looking rooms. The gameplay varied from nice mirror rooms over some exploration, and, best of all, a "freezing" of a lake by a wraith, but unfortunately strange mazes and a even more obscure pedestal puzzle that let me being stuck for three weeks. The boss fight with Fairy that looked really good was really a nice ending, but I expected a cutscene or something instead of just jumping outside. Well, we don't get everything we want, but I liked this level, but this level still was entertaining.
All in all a good series, well as I said the second level was the let-down here, but still recommended. The builder has nice ideas and he should keep on building." - manarch2

"A great set of three interconnected levels in each of which I spent about 40 minutes of net gaming time. They are all quite different in overall atmosphere: Quantic Island is rather stunning with its Jungle/island atmosphere that comes across very convincingly; Bolzedura uses City, Catacomb textures and is more brown/grey and less elaborate and the Ice Palace is - surprise - blue/white and cold and personally I liked the atmosphere here least as it mainly lived by the choice of objects and less by the textures, lighting and sound used. Enemies are quite unique here, with sharks and piranhas that follow you on land, a very cool giant locust mother and many skeletons that are not really a match for the generously supplied grenade gun ammo. The artwork textures used are great, as is the choice of Pink Floyd music and I only found 1 of the 6 secrets (in Bolzedura), so must play this some time again to pick up the other 5. As for the actual gameplay it varies between standard, interesting and rather obscure. As you often need to do more than one thing to trigger something, the camera hints may seem odd at first and become clear only later on. The ymbol puzzles are well done, but the one multi lever puzzle seems more trial and error than logic. In Bolzedure there is maybe a bit too much running through corridors and up and down the stairs (courtesy of a few wraiths). The ice maze is a pain (like any maze) but not too bad to get through. The symbol push puzzle is quite ingenious in its design, but you may not be able to figure it out too quickly (or at all) and once you do it is then rather tedious to push the five items to their rightful place. The two mirror rooms are well done and you need a keen eye to get through them. And then the end is almost a bit anticlimatic with a quick fight with a lady on a horse... So - as you can tell from this review: great variety in this adventure and many rather original elements, so definitely worth a look!" - MichaelP

"This is a well made set of levels, no question about it. It looks good and everything does what it should. So why was I bored? Well because mostly I found it to be be a case of 'going-through-the-motions'. Tomb Raider-by-numbers. There are lots of levers, and things to shoot, and plenty of back-tracking. But I didn't feel any sense of tension, of building to a climax. And ultimately what was the point? The objective of Lara's mission? The abrupt ending certainly didn't shed any light. It's a pleasant enough raid, free from irritatingly near-impossible moves, but a bit light on plot and drama." - Tim

"You know that wonderful feeling when Lara is swimming with a shark chasing her, and you judge it just right by surfacing in just the correct position to pull up out of the water, tumble, draw and shoot the shark? Well, enjoy it - for about 3 seconds, 'cos in this level the sharks sometimes come out of the water and FLY after you! If that was not enough, the bedbugs are about twenty feet high and the skeletons have developed the herding instinct. The rest of the level is just as entertaining, ice palace, desert island, mansion(ish) and a ghost town with sewers. The builder has tried to include lots of differing areas into one level, and it works. Don't worry about the herds of skeletons and the rest, there's enough ammo for a good, old fashioned, blastfest. A thoroughly enjoyable romp. One to recommend." - Diz

"This is really great, original stuff! From the flying sharks, to the dimensional changes, to the fish that chase you out of the water, to entering through a Moebius painting and coming out of the floor, to just about everything... And it even looks and sounds pretty good (I didn't realize it was an Italian band playing Pink Floyd at first, but I must have been distraceted since the guy does make a presentation in Italian). The balance between discovery, action and puzzles is definitely there and I can't complain the final boss wasn't too tough because, quite frankly, I dislike tinman (or women in the case, amazons maybe) on horses, they take too long to kil and suck your health, they're really boring usually (here, the amazon was acceptable because she didn't take forver to go down). Maybe this doesn't sound exactly like I mean it but Greywolf showed me good things for all do come from Italy too (and I don't mean in the Renaissance period). Keep up the excellent work!" - Jorge22

"Quantic Island: The first map is a sort of hub for the rest (although your path through the levels is overall linear). As the name suggests you start off on a small island, with some notable sights like a Monolith, a house full of Moebius artwork (apparently the inspiration for the pack in general) and a strange rock with a door leading elsewhere. The latter place is important after your initial exploration, and leads to a desert infested (the only real way to describe the numbers here) with skeletons and a portal to a Jungle temple. There's some nice puzzles in the temple that require some observation and paying attention to earlier clues. I didn't really get how one switch puzzle worked though (the first part of it anyway) and solved it with trial and error. There's various enemies including Sharks that can somehow fly, plants, massive beetles and Skeletons among others. The only negative aspect I found is one tunnel that kills you off with no warning and hints at another section of the level you never access (unless I missed something); it seemed unnecessary.
Bolzedura Ghost Town: This is a city level that twists the basic theme in a way that's a little hard to describe; the closest analogue to it I can think of is part one of Cordoba from Reign of Chaos, with various Moorish details. There's also an interesting sky showing a city with a shining golden obelisk, adding some background intrigue. Lastly there's some sewers that use blue textures in a very unique way. Gameplay feels slightly less solid here though, with one extremely hidden jump-switch, and a middle section involving trying a lot of doors in a hotel (although the gameplay behind those doors is decent), and some backtracking with a lacking camera hint. There are a couple of good puzzles though. Combat is mostly Skeletons (a LOT of skeletons), with a few Wraiths as well; you get a Grenade Launcher very early though, which actually makes dealing with the Skeletons quite enjoyable. Another good level and the unique theme twists stick out, but the gameplay feels like it could have been refined a little more.
Ice Palace: The last level (after a short trip back to the Island with a surprise battle). As the name suggests this is a very icy level, with various interesting details like murals and frozen statues; it manages to be very convincing. The lighting felt a bit dull in a couple of parts though. Gameplay starts as a hunt for three switches, with various challenges along the way, including a maze (not too bad a one), Wraith escapes, and a nice rune pedestal puzzle (although I'm still not 100% on the logic of solving it). Unfortunately it ends a bit weak, with a horseman boss fight and then an ending out of nowhere. There's also one mirror puzzle where the thing to be seen is near-invisible even when you know where it is (although I managed to stumble across the way by luck). There's some speedy swims needed too, as the freezing water from TR3 is present here, which is a nice touch. Beyond the boss fight, combat is much less of a presence here, and the exploration and puzzle solving provides a good finale beyond the unsatisfying ending.
Overall this is great set with multiple quite unique themes and good gameplay. Combat has quite a presence in the first two levels, but the game hands out high-level ammo much more freely than a lot of packs; going crazy with the Grenade Launcher and Shotgun and still having a ton of ammo to spare ends up being quite a lot of fun. A new must-play map-pack." - Mman

"Quite apparently immediately at the level beginning an unnoticed mistake has crept, because, actually, the level builder or the level testers would have had to note it that the sharks floats in the air. Or should this be so? Personally I don't like those things. The big palms look really good. A nice detail is the carnivorous plant which reacts to Laras presence. However, so really interesting it becomes only in another part of the island. The green tigers are certainly a mood of the nature, but the gigantic bug cannot be from this world. The riddles are logical and understandable, up to a ground lever riddle in one room. Though I have got to open the door, but I could not recognise a logic. The skeletons are, actually, no problem, because Lara has at disposal the shotgun. However, it is a little bit unfair that at the end of a crawl space already a skeleton waits., On the one hand, it is hard to crawl out and on the other hand one is defenceless for a short time. Moreover, there is no very important hint what a lever causes which was surrounded before by stings. A short Flyby or a camera hint would have been very helpful, because one could nowhere recognise a change. Though I was informed in the forum that there should have been a Flyby, however, I have seen none. In the second level one or two camera hints would have quite felt more well. But this was all only one prelude, because in the third level the riddles were quite difficult. And, unfortunately, there was still a labyrinth. And in both mirror rooms both crawl spaces were hardly to be seen. But enough grumbled, because it gives also to report a lot of positive. Except a few exceptions one knew as a rule where one had to go there. Most riddles were well thought through and absolutely solvable. Many skeletons and other opponents were generally no problem, because one had at disposal the shotgun and the Grenade Gun and one could find enough ammunition, Medipacks and Flares. There were only few texture mistakes and the lighting was good. So it's everything within to have a lot of fun." - Scottie

"Lara is presented with an intriguing landscape. Throughout each of these three levels the environment is either fanciful or menacing as needed. Wall pictures look as though they were drawn from a comic book, and whether all this was inspired by a graphic series I'm not sure. The outdoor landscapes of the first two levels, and the chilly ice palace, all have an other-worldly feel. The interiors can be overly dark in places, but I liked the brightness of the starting outdoor area. I thought a few things delayed game play, such as the number of switches--eight floor levers together, or twelve switches together. In the second level Lara has to run down tower steps to avoid a wraith, then climb back up to continue, and then has to do this over again. In the third level Lara also has to run back to the beginning to flee a wraith, then return to continue. This seems an interruption in game play. But to compensate there are strange things like huge mechanical creatures or flying sharks. There is a generous supply of grenade ammo to get rid of pesky skeletons. One of the puzzles, with symbols on top pushable pedestals, was maddening if Lara mistakenly tries to match the symbols to those on the floor, but was good when the solution finally dawns. The general atmosphere makes these fun levels." - dmdibl

"I always get somewhat nervous upon picking up lots of ammo and medipacks at the start of a level; it makes me assume that poor Lara is going to be up against overwhelming odds. To some extent that's an accurate assumption in this case, what with the massed skeleton attacks, sharks (who also fly!), biting insects and fish, carnivorous plants, fabulous giant insects of some sort, green tigers and a boss ending with a fairy riding a unicorn. I still ended the game with a huge surplus of medipacks and ammo though. If I'm making it sound like a shooter, I apologise as the gameplay is actually very nicely balanced, with plenty of clever puzzles and excellent use of mirror rooms. I even enjoyed the maze section, which was well used rather than randomly thrown in just to irritate, as can often seem the case. The idea of entering different universes certainly does make for a delightful variety of scenery from the gorgeous tropical island with jungle interior, to a coastal style city and finally an exquisite ice world where Lara also has to face the additional life sapping elements of stalactites and freezing water. It's a quality product and a definite must-play." - Jay

"A strange beginning with flying sharks, aggressive flowers, fishes coming out of pictures leading to other levels - some unorthodox but nice ideas. Nice gameply with some to and fro or up and down, but never annoying. The quality of this set of 3 levels is growing from the 1st to the last one. And this in every concern. A lot of undead enemies are waiting here, but ammo and health are provided in enormous quantity. Highest quality can be seen in the last level. The ice-palace is absolutely wonderful. Highly recommended!" - Christian

"This time the author has avoided a scenario including impossible solutions like in his previous issue but it is plain to see that he is always searching for something special . A beautiful 3 piece adventure awaits the player here with lots of interesting things to do. The "Quantum Jumps" from one location to another seem a little bit over the top , who of us would ever dare to jump right into a picture on the wall or even dream of emerging back into the world through a solid floor ? Any player may judge about flying sharks as either a well deviced joke by the builder or just an inconvenience created by the NGLE itself ... I liked playing this game very much and recommend it to all TRLE players. Shine on you crazy diamond !" - Ruben

"what a surprize ...... how much evolved this builder .. simply he jump from average game at a top one ...... ok lets go to the review itself ... This is a top game containing 3 levels .... each level have its own magic . from lush jungle setting at caves / sewers and a ice palace ....gamplay is smooth and intuitive ..no useles backtracking ...very well choosed music ... moutly at the begining off the game ..... very good visuals . and the highlight was the puzzles ..... very very clever ones .... moustly the last 5 pushables catch me for 1 hour !!! alot off enemyes from carnivore plants skeletons .wraits- to a giant dino !but alot off ammo and weapons too - the powerfull weapons u get late in the game so the dealing with skeletons is a bit tough at the begining ....alot off traps and mirror rooms . well hidden crawlplaces a nice maze room... very nice constructed areas ....... the jungle was simply perfect .....and a glorious boss fight at the end ....cameras and screenshots are profesionaly made .... all in all one off the best games top 10-15 all time and close to max mark from me ( 9 for gameplay cos too manny enemyes and weak weapons at start)..... and Hall of Famer in my opinion ....." - Jack&