Level reviews

"For 20 minutes, I thought it would be only a shooter type of a level and a bit predictable, but it became more disorienting with lots of doors and keys to find as the area opens more and more, and also in the process it became more (and even very) enjoyable with the little trip on the roof and the puzzle with the elevator. There is enough ammo and medipacks to finish this without any problem, I ended with one key in the backpack but i missed one of the three secrets. Musics and sounds are ok. Good fun." - eRIC

"Quite an extensive TR2 level that has you exploring a small town and a couple of mansions for a lot of keys. It's in the shooter category, but there's also a lot of exploration and switches to pull to open new paths further along. I did try the easy version and to me the enemy quotient seemed quite balanced (although still quite numerous), so I actually found this one quite an engaging level, despite my usual dislike of shooters. You also get a bit of a side trip for three well hidden secrets (although no reward other than a sole artefact) and some quite nicely crafted environments for the TR2 engine. Overall, despite some tedious backtracking at quite a few points, I've definitely seen worse shooter levels than this." - Ryan

"This is one tough TR2 level with multiple enemies attacking at once and health packs as well as high end weaponry are at a premium. The only way to get through this is with stealth and tenacity. The basement fire fight was nearly impossible but I found that by positioning yourself in the corners you could draw the adversaries out one at a time and dispense of them with a minimum amount of pain. Textures would fade in and out, such as the elevator and even some of the baddies. Lara would target them but you simply could not see them so this is a minus. Also, it was very easy to get totally lost as to what key went where and you spend and inordinate amount of time running backwards and forwards looking for the next key or keyhole. With an M16 this would have been a much better adventure. Now proceeding this we had "The Mall" and wandering through that was nice. I took Lara to the Twin Cinema complex hoping to catch the new Tomb Raider movie but Lara was not impressed with Alicia so we left." - Torry

"This isn't remotely as bad as the ratings suggest. Yeah too many keys and enemies can be boring but this doesn't diminish the immersion in what's in fact one of the best TR2 cityscape attempts available while finding all the crevices, wall climbing and rooftopping is always enjoyable. I also had extra fun with those secrets. Recommended." - DJ Full

"There are choices to make when starting this one up and let me tell you the hard version is hard (as in starting with no medipacks and only the pistols and a lot of nasty people to shoot as well as dogs). As for the story… they are both the same. You run around a lot to flip a switch and then looking for a door, finding keys then finding the door it fits in. Not my cup of tea to be honest. But hey, it beats running outside in the rain." - Gerty

"This is the first review to be submitted after the revised version has been supplied, so I feel there's a little extra pressure here. I've not played the original (although I understand it's also supplied in the package, should you feel inclined to playing the "Hard" version), but I found enjoyment in this level, to a certain extent. It does rely way too much on finding keys to open doors, but that's probably the most common gameplay element for city based levels. It does recreate a city rather convincingly, with most of the action taking place between a couple of apartments of different block buildings -- and in true Tomb Raider logic, closets are opened by switches on the neighbor's apartment. Flooding a whole apartment also was a little odd, but hey, it is a game after all. My final stats read 46 kills, and although I have missed one secret, I guess there's a notable difference from the original version, as the walkthrough says there are 78 kills. I never had a shortage of supplies either. 55 minutes, 2 secrets. 06/17" - Treeble

"This TR2 level is classified as a shooter, but it's much more than that. It's also an extremely complicated, hunt-for-the-key-and-switch level that requires either a walkthrough, careful attention to what you're doing or where you've been, or uncanny intuition. Manarch2 documents 78 kills in his walkthrough (I got 77, even though I trashed everything in sight), and a bit more firepower for this purpose would have been appreciated. The shotgun pickups are profuse but stingy (only two rounds a pack), so I stuck with my pistols for most of the game. It gets a bit wearisome going back and forth in search of a keyhole that the key you've just found will fit, but for the most part this is an engaging level that will take most of us more than an hour to complete, even when using the walkthrough." - Phil

"While this level does seem rather impressive for a shooter-focused release at first(with some well-chosen objects, cleverly retextured enemies, and decent lighting/texturing), I was incredibly drained by the end of it all, thanks in no small part to the tedious amounts of backtracking required, in order to figure out what key goes in which keyhole and be capable of proceeding onwards(despite the gameplay being quite satisfying in my case to get through in terms of combat difficulty.) Saying that though(despite some shortcomings), this is still a nice entertaining distraction if you're ever bored and looking for something that puts your skills to the ultimate test. Though if you're one of those players who are easily prone to frustration on the other hand, look elsewhere(as there are several times where the enemies can gang up and gun you down relatively quickly to the point of being unfair.) For those still interested however, ensure to keep that in mind if you're considering to give this particular release a go." - Ceamonks890

"An expansive TR2 based level here from Fabio. It's constructed in the best Tomb Raider II spirit making use of large rooms, with a good quantity of exploration and back-tracking on-hand. In terms of style I'd say it's a mixture of exploration & shooter. The only real puzzle element is working out how to make use of the lift. Texturing and lighting are to a good standard. I like the female Bertolli guards too!!! Structurally I feel this is a strong piece of work too, and always enjoy levels with scale vertically involving plenty of floors in buildings or jumping across roof-tops. You'll have to be good at combat and conserving medi-packs. All in all I netted 1 hour 45 minutes from Florianopolis. Don't dismiss it for being based on an old engine, and give this a go. You'll definitely enjoy this! Highly recommended, Stiggy." - TheStig

"To me this one will be etched in my memory forever as "the one with the massacre in the basement." Make no mistake - there's massacres aplenty throughout the entire level, but that one had me reloading the game a couple of times till Lara survived it with satisfactory results. I think this sets the tone well for what kind of a level you can expect it to be - you go on an unrestrained killing spree where everything is out to get you, and you either fight back or die. It would be a far cry to call me a 'shooter-fan,' but thinking about strategies how to survive the onslaughts of shotgun wielding hulks, masked gunwomen, wench carrying guys and dobermans was exciting in its own way. And if we stop deluding ourselves, "Tomb Raider 2" was but a glorified shooter, so it's what the engine the level is based on was set out to do best. While I acknowledge its shooter elements as a type of gameplay - I wasn't universally enamored by it - as it seems everything else in the level was a means to an end to either shoot more thugs or find more keys (which usually lead to shooting more thugs). The elevator part is nice, and the flooding puzzle a good, if somewhat bizarre distraction (you flood an entire apartment to get a key?), but what I'm saying here is that the tasks sorely lack in variety. The lighting is a bit on the simplistic side and the occasional paper-thin wall and stretched texture does pop up, but overall the looks are for most part commendable. By admission I don't know a great deal about the city beyond what the wikipedia article has about it, but I could not discern the resemblance in its design if it is indeed based on some famous or personally relevant architecture for the author. Which is a shame, since despite some good use of architecture the settings do tend to lack character. The 3 secrets I found where fun to get. Recommended if you enjoy a good old unpretentious shooter, still a nice distraction for the rest, but keep in mind to ration your health packs and ammo." - eTux

"I have voted this an 8 for enemies because I assume this is what is required. Realistically, from a personal point of view I wanted to downgrade that score because there are just too damn many of them. It was frustrating to get through this whereby it SHOULD have been enjoyable. Not NEARLY enough health supplies nor shotgun ammo. This completely ruined my game play experience. Frankly I am done with all of this "enemy around every corner" business when Tomb Raider MUST contain an equal amount of adventure and exploration. I voted more generously than maybe I should have but I won't allow my personal preferences to effect my judgement." - High Priestess

"First of all, if somebody wants to play this one, only one advice: don't waste medipacks!!! If you're a killer, it's your level, but be very careful to shoot the enemies from the distance, or you can't get it. In the garage, I was almost without life and medipacks, and I had to reload many times. Excessive enemies for my taste. Also, a lot of keys to look for, a lot of switches to pull and a lot of backtracking to find the keyholes or the open doors. No puzzles, the only features I liked were the well placed cameras and the interesting locations of the secrets. At the end I was so tired shooting enemies that I ran like fool to the exit door without shooting and using my last medipacks." - Jose

"Quite good TR2 level playable in about hour; the level has different settings related to the Opera Theatre of TR2, but has been personalized by the author who created his own environment in Brazil. The game consists of both surving because of the numerous enemies and solving puzzles. At the beginning, the level is set outside, but most of it developes into some apartments where Lara will find a multitude of keys, levers and other objects, and kill all enemies; Lara will go up on the terrace, she could jump on a roof, and go to the basement. The gameplay is pretty smooth in general, there are no hard parts to be made unless a jump from a certain location to make in the right space and time; the whole gameplay becomes more exciting because of the continuos fightings. As puzzles in general, as I said, Lara will have to collect many things and go from a part of an apartment to another one; among the most interesting parts definitely we can include the one with the lift, where Lara has to find 2 circuits to make it work and the lever that opens the door into which they can be included. In general there are no hard puzzles (sometimes some more hidden lever) but they are throughout the game too costantly even if after a while it all becomes rather repetitive. There are 3 secrets of easy-medium difficulty, not difficult, but some of them require a certain procedure-action. Let's speak of the enemies: according to the kind of the level (shooter) we already know that we has to be careful about conserving ammo, medkit and using the best tactics to kill all the enemies (gangsters, armed women, men armed with shotgun and dogs); sometimes the procedure is quite simple-linear, but sometimes 4-5 enemies arrive at once, as well as the record in the basement where we find 10 armed men and 4 dogs at once. As weapons we havethe 2 pistols and the shotgun: we find a great number of shotgun ammo, even though compared to the number of enemies, are quite insufficient, but is also a sign of strategy in choosing where to use them (and personally I preferred to use the shotgun exclusively in the basement and near the end where other 5 enemies arrive). Fortunately, we also find a large number of medikit, by which we can continue in more shootouts with more confidence. Discreet atmosphere, good presence of flyby and good textures-lights. In conclusion a medium difficulty level and in some parts, as in the basement, it becomes more difficult as many enemies attack from multiple different locations. Strong points are definitely the enemies, there are no weak points, except perhaps for the fact that we've to achieve too similiar goals for all the duration of the level. I suggest to play it, even several times, very entertaining and doesn't get in the unnecessary too much, despite the kind of game. In addition I suggest to keep weapons close at hand and stay alert because if you are'nt careful a shot in the back could unexpectedly get in trouble!" - Steven Svorticher

"And yet another TR2 level. Why? To me, as soon as I see 'TR2' it's an immediate turn-off. I still don't understand why builders continue to use TR2 when there's so much better on offer. If I wasn't reviewing I wouldn't have played it, just because it's TR2. OK, rant over, on with the review. This is advertised as a 'shooter'. Well, it's what it says on the tin, an unashamed, honest-to-goodness shooter. I lost count but the Boss says 50-60 baddies plus dogs and I'm not going to argue. I'm not averse to shooters but they can get tedious after a while and I'm afraid this slots into that category. The gameplay is of the 'find a key to pull a lever to find a key' variety and just seems to go on forever (I was surprised at the statistics only showing 1hr 15mins). That said, if you like shooters and don't mind TR2, then you could do worse than play this as it's well made, good lighting and you will get to shoot lots and lots of baddies." - Diz

"While I may think that Jack is a bit harsh in his scoring here, I also think the level is surprisingly highly rated by my other fellow reviewers. It really is only a shooter and key hunt level with way too much back and forth tracking in between and I found it very, very painful to survive the net gaming time of just over an hour and could not wait to see the end of it. It is not at all badly constructed with a few shortcuts to open up the place, some nice flooding and elevator scenes and three very clever secrets to find, but all the small good things pale with the massacre of killing about 50-60 baddies and a dozen or so dogs along the way, which really gets boring quickly. In between you get to flip a dozen switches and pick up a dozen keys and often need to run back and forth fairly lengthy paths again and again to get to the respective key holes. As for being a rebuild of the author's hometowm, the only thing I found noticable was the horizon, so also in that regard it fails to impress. Sorry - really not my kind of adventure..." - MichaelP

"Oh boy ... 7.5 mark? Come on ... this game is below 5 ... ok, lets talk about it a bit: It's a TR 2 game - again? - ... I really don't know why builders still use in these days TR2 engine to build games because it is very outdated ... and in this game we get more evidence of this fact ... you cannot duck ... and moustly you cannot sprint (!) which is very important because this game is a plain shooter ... and even not a good one ... in fact all the gameplay can be summarized as: get into a big house ... shoot loads of guys - yes LOADS ... which leave keys for next room to open and shot again loads of guys and dogs ... find another key and move into the next room ... You don't get enough ammo for the shotgun and only few medipacks ... and particulary at an underground room you get attacked by 4 guys + 2 dogs and you cannot sprint from them ... if you kill one guy or dog the auto targeting remains on it, in mean time other guys fill your chest with bullets ... very silly game with nothing exciting or challenging in it ... very bad game." - Jack&

"And another TR2 level. The author wants to present us his hometown, but I can't see this as an invitation to visit Florianopolis. This city may be everything but not a peaceful place. Gameplay is following a simple concept: Open a room, shoot some guys, get some ammo and sometimes a key to enter the next section to repeat the mentioned scenario. The main challange is to survive with a little amount of medipacks and not that much shotgun-ammo fighting against a hugh number of enemies causing - we know this from TR2- a lot of damage. The expoloring part is quite easy, rooms are properly built, but not outstanding. The same has to be said about atmosphere. For a non-builder it's difficult to rate the artistic creativity of a TR2 game - I don't know the limits of the machine it is built with. But concerning this category we have already seen more convincing TR2-works. The killed enemies don't disappear. If you like shooters, play it on a rainy day." - Christian

"Oh my goodness. In this town I would not like to live. I'm amazed that Fabio puts up in this containing lead atmosphere. No matter where one goes there, always a bunch of enemies come around the corner and shoot until the doctor arrives. the felt 1000 opponents would not be so bad if one found then enough ammunition for the shotgun. Fabio is quite obviously a stingy person, otherwise he would have distributed certainly substantially more ammunition. But he has show mercy with the Medipacks, because they were enough available. Indeed, I had to be on one's last legs several times, because repeatedly too many opponents had attacked and I had too few Medipacks and no more ammunition. But with the right tactics one can also survive such situations. No question, I like to play TR 2-levels. Only unfortunately, they have two big weak points., On the one hand, one cannot run. And on the other hand Lara does not shoot automatically the next opponent if the first opponent is already dead. Such a thing is irritating, but of course this is no criticism to Fabio, because it's not his fault that it is as it is.
Summary: I'm fine with this level in any case. The lighting was good, the few stretched textures are not so bad, sound and camera work was good and one can keep the opponents at bay with the right tactics. However, it would be quite nice if Fabio distributed a little bit more ammunition and a little less keys in his next level, because it is not amusing if one stands in front of a lock, but has no key, or has a key, but stands in front of the wrong lock. And because there are many locks and many keys in this level, one often comes into such situations." - Scottie

"Even if I really liked the builder's "Outworld", I think this one is not that good. Raiding around a quite complex map, I found there was too much key-hunting (here, you can see "use a key to find a key" in perfection) and too long backtracks through the whole level. While some parts were really fun (flooding a mansion (while the door closes), the elevator tasks that involve a secret task, climbing on the roofs and high walls), there simply was no real puzzle, not even one pushblock throughout the whole level, and there simply were too many enemies. When you explore a new room you can absolutely be sure that taking out the shotgun or pistols is necessary in any case. The shockingly highlight was the parking garage with myriads of enemies attacking at once, although the lighting of the garage was quite good and made it to the most real-seeming point in this level. What leads to another point - some outside textures (and also some inside) were simply streched, they didn't look good and the starting area, even if with an interesting architecture, didn't feel a bit of real, even if the builder wanted to rebuild his hometown. Surely, the best parts were the good use of objects inside the mansions, but I missed some outside and in the garage, at least two (as I haven't found a third yet and doubt if it exists) challenging secrets, some interesting textures (a good idea even if not that much is made of it), but there were many points on the downside, sorry." - manarch2

"I just couldn't stop playing this level, which is the best recommendation. It takes more than an hour to reach the exit, but finding all three clever secrets meant that I spent over two hours here. The author tells us this is his home city, Florianópolis, and that he has used Photoshop to create textures where necessary, so players expect that this will be a pleasant stroll through a home/city, and indeed the opening looks great. What one gets is a tough shooter. I counted close to thirty bodies on the main floor, and when you include the mayhem left in the basement, upper apartments, and outer courtyards, the total must surely surpass fifty, which is the number of corpses left in Toni's Villa. Lara's health bar often gets down to dangerous levels. The best thing to do was run from those masked gunwomen until Lara finds a spot to side flip while firing. For TR2 the design is well done, but does show the limitations of not being able to use TREP for large areas, or access a wealth of TR4 objects. Like any mansion/city level this has a lot of back and forth as Lara gets a key or throws a switch, but shortcuts open as Lara progresses, so often a route back goes quickly. There are spots where players may have problems. I loved the bit with the TR2 elevator, but if players are unfamiliar with it, they may miss things. Enemies in the basement are almost impossible to contend with, but if Lara goes up to the floor above, and runs down the hall until she is over the basement, it resets enemies that were stuck running against a wall. Then they will run in front of the basement entrance, and Lara can take potshots at them. I could have used at least one more camera shot (or two) showing where a key goes. Lara used pistols a lot of the time, and finished the game with two shotgun shells and a small medipack (Lara at thirty percent health). This is certainly possible to do with what is provided, but Lara found only one pack of flares, which is ridiculous. I hope this is not giving away too much, but if Lara is supposed to find a switch in the basement, and also contend with the elevator, at least three packs of flares should be available. The only way I got through was to save the game, have Lara explore the basement with a flare, then reload to restore the flare. Most of the interiors are simple and well lit. There is plenty going on here as far as gameplay and secrets, and I really enjoyed it." - dmdibl

"This level is intended to invoke the builder's home town, but in all honesty it recalls TR2 Venice more than anything else. It's very much a shooter, which isn't my favourite genre, but even for me it had its entertaining moments. Medipacks and ammo are fairly generously supplied, but you will definitely need to keep poor Lara on her toes to avoid taking too much damage, as the thugs really do gang up on her at times. There's a lot of running around finding keys, but also some fun moments with flooding scenarios, interesting gameplay with a lift, nicely hidden secrets and (always a favourite) lots of lovely windows to shoot out." - Jay

"I personally like TR2 most, so whenever a custom TR2 level is released, I am happy as a kid with a new toy... However, it also means that I expect a lot from TR2 levels, especially when it comes to puzzles and lighting/textures, not to mention action element and secrets. This particular level has a lot of great things to offer to a hard-core TR2 fan, but also, a few downsides that can spoil the fun at times. When it comes to gameplay, it is very well developed, with a lot of things for Lara to do, a lot of areas to explore, a zillion of keys to find or doors to open, and approximately a thousand of heavily armed enemies to kill. I would label this game as a Shooter, and not as a City level although it is situated in a city. Lara goes from one alley to another, from one house to another, searching basements, attics, garages, closets, sometimes backtracking (with some nice and useful shortcuts), so the level is very nicely built to support this very dynamic gameplay. However, at about a half of the game, you really get annoyed with so many switches or keys which lead you to another key, and I think the builder should have omitted half of the keys and switches at least. Puzzles were nothing spectacular, decent, but ordinary, with the elevator puzzle as the only exception. Some elements from TR2 which are trade-mark for this kind of game, are missing here, such as pushblocks or some interesting traps, which are minimal here. When it comes to enemies, that is the strongest link of this level, because there are so many human and canine enemies here that you won't be able to count them all. Lara must economize with her health and ammo supplies, and at times, use some clever strategical moves to avoid being killed by all these thugs and baddies. For example, there are rooms where you will encounter ten enemies (garage being the prime example), and the best possible tactic for this bunch of goons is to lure them so they come out of the garage one by one. If you enter this garage and try to kill them all, you won't have a chance, even if you have the maximum amount of shotgun shells. Objects are quite nicely used, some of them custom, some other borrowed from the original game, so, no complaints here whatsoever. When it comes to secrets, I must agree with previous reviewers and say that they are perfect, just as the TR2 secret hunts should look like. Atmosphere is nice, with perfect sounds and cameras, although some camera hints are missing here, but in all crucial points, they are used to help us. The lowest mark goes for texture and lighting, since the textures were nicely chosen but badly applied, with too many cracks and stretched textures, where the builder did not divide high walls to sectors. Lighting is nice at some areas, and not so nice in some other areas, so use flares very carefully, since you don't have many of them. All in all, this was a really nice shooter adventure, with a huge map to explore and a lot of work to be done, with very challenging enemies, and more than one hour long. Despite the downsides already mentioned, if you know how to rationalize the supplies and like to have some tricky parts, then this level is highly recommendable to you. I enjoyed it immensely, because it is very dynamic and never boring, but these flaws are there and could not be ignored by me, unfortunately." - Nina Croft