Level reviews

"I remember Nero as a CD burner so I was curious here. After a few minutes of prologue, we enter the main room to understand the emperor's true atrocities: 25-minute pushblocks. After that the caesar leaves you like a true king and refuses to elaborate any further. Sorry, this leaves no room for being recommended despite of relatively short game time. Burn it, burn it together with Rome..." - DJ Full

"Taking a quick break from Tomb Raider Peru, I skimmed over pending 2011 releases and spotted this one, reviews suggested it was a quick raid so I quickly picked it up. It took me a while to realize I didn't even have my weapons (and when they showed up, ammo was limited too), and I burned through all of my flares in the very first room but fortunately the later areas weren't as dark, but still the complete lack of flare pickups was rather unnerving. Despite being a short level it suffers with ultimate padding as about 80% of the time you spend here revolves around dragging a pushblock around several tiles to raise blocks and open more pathways to drag said block across, with an added twist towards the end in the form of six or so skeletons bothering you all the while. Not a particularly enthralling raid, but good for a break from the more expansive releases out there. 25 minutes, 1 secret. 11/22" - Treeble

"This is quite a nice taster of a demo, but the gameplay and duration is relatively brief. The flipmap sequences were quite a creative touch, but the pushable puzzle was too tedious even for a level as short as this and, alongside skeletons you can't kill, turned into a bit of a chore. I wouldn't have minded if the gameplay had been more fast paced, but oh well. The settings aren't too badly put together, although maybe a bit too samey and dark in places (I found the beginning areas to be too dark for my liking). Nonetheless, it'll sufficiently pass the time for around 25 minutes." - Ryan

"How many times I try to tell builders that demo's are not the way to go at it. Better get some testers around you and listen to them and then make a full game. A demo will never give you the points you are hoping for. Why you ask? Well it is a demo and most demo's never see the end of days, so in a way a bit of waste of time. It for sure is better made than the first level, but what stands out is the push puzzles that was way too long in this short demo and the darkness. So Bradley, you shown us that you can built and this demo has a lot of promise, but no more demo's please.." - Gerty

"Many questions after playing this short demo. What are the teleporters for? Where is the shotgun? Why rooms are so dark? Near the beggining, the flipped dry room was insanely dark, but I couldn't find flares; also the room with the raisable blocks is too dark. In that room, it's very tedious to move the cage all around forward and back, and once skeletons awake, it's very difficult to move the cage over the last two tiles with the enemies at your front and at your back; many times Lara refuses to move the cage when an enemie is near it so you need to lure the skeletons far away and return, losing a lot of time. Perhaps place the switches to flood/drain the rooms in seperate locations and not in the same rooms could be more appropriate. About the game, usually it's not so bad, but if the final version is so dark and there's no flares to pick up, sure that I'll never play it. I don't want to force more my (already) burned eyes." - Jose

"This level's biggest flaw from a gameplay perspective is the never-ending push-block sequence,which is well constructed but predictably tedious.If it had featured as the mid-section of the level (framed on either side by fast-moving gameplay) it wouldn't have seemed quite as dominating as it was,but there you go.Creative (if somewhat contrived) usage was made of flipped water rooms,and there was a neat little introduction;but,overall,the flow of the adventure wasn't especially enthralling.Technically,it was of decent quality;if unexceptional.Enemies didn't appear until the very end;sounds and cameras were well used;lighting and textures displayed a sure hand.All solid and enjoyable,but what it needed was a little more zing.Recommendable,all the same." - Orbit Dream

"A big improvement over the builder's first level, as this was much more playable and easier for the player. We get here a 20 minute level, the last ten minutes you spend doing a tricky but at some point getting boring block puzzle. The first half was set in an underwater cave and in a high room where you had to do exploration, a little water puzzle and platforming. I found this level to be well built, texturing was mostly OK, lighting at some places could be brighter. The atmosphere was at least as well as in the builder's first level, but - I remembered having said this - this time it isn't spoiled so much by the darkness; camera hints were used to give reasonable hints. I didn't like the skeletons at the end as you cannot shoot them (shotgun ammo but no shotgun) so you had to (while pushing) wait for them to run away, then push on, which was very annoying. Also, the two triggers for another parts of levels were unnecessary." - manarch2

"The author's first level wasn't bad, but it needed something to enhance gameplay. This new demo promises more, as it begins with a water puzzle, and Lara finding a secret that doesn't register. But soon Lara is involved in a protracted push-block puzzle which wasn't exactly what I meant when my earlier review suggested adding excitement. The demo is short so the push blocks take up two-thirds of the time. My complaint here is that this section is way too dark, even with a monitor set close to maximum brightness. There are four pesky skeletons and Lara has no way to deal with them, although they aren't really much of a threat. (Two squares teleport Lara back to a previous room for no purpose; I had hoped the tiles would do the same for the skeletons, but no such luck.) A pleasant play, but I hope the author considers changes before releasing the final level." - dmdibl

"The level builder has luck that this level is only a demo. If it was not a demo, my Review would look completely different. Because it is, however, only a demo, the level builder can change many things, so that we get a well playable level. The lighting must be absolutely improved. Though I play with brighter settings, but even then it is too dark in some areas. Moreover, it cannot be that the inclined player is busy with push two grid cages nearly half the playing time to the right places. There is also the fact that one is irritated in the last part of the pushing action by skeletons. Thereby it can happen that Lara does not want to push the cage because a skeleton stands before it. The player should have at disposal absolutely at least the shotgun. Moreover, it would be better when in this room more than two grid cages would be stood. The textures look completely good, the same is valid for the sound and the camera work. I hope very much that the level builder many things reworks, because in this form it gives little pleasure to play the level." - Scottie

"This demo level starts nicely with some good use of above and under water levers where rooms have to be drained, flooded and then drained again, but after the fairly nice first 10 minutes of game play the level turns into a rather tedious block pushing exercise. In between block pushing there are a few levers to pull and one of them wakes up a horde of nasty skeletons, which relentlessly beat up on Lara, and there is not much she can do about it. I noticed two tiles that teleported Lara back into a previous room but since there was absolutely nothing to there, I assume it was a bug and not intended. There was an early secret - the Stone Dragon - but it didn't play the chime sound or register in the final stats. The atmosphere was a bit on the dull and dark side although it wasn't bad either. In general, except for a few short sound sequences, the level was rather silent. The lighting was a little dark and flat for the most part and I think a torch here and there would have helped a lot. The architecture was relatively simple and some rooms were still boxy and sterile but the overall looks of the game weren't too bad. I am looking forward to play the full version, as there is definitely a lot of potential! (30 minutes, 1 secret found)" - Blue43

"Yes another demo, but the 25 minutes spent here are actually quite fun if you are patient enough for the rather too tedious block pushing exercise that makes up the entire second half of the level. Before that you are treated to simple yet clever water flip puizzles and then reach the main room where you have to clear a path to move a block from one side to the other. The Peru setting works pretty well, although texturing was maybe a bit to same/same and lighting often a bit too bland and dark and the rooms a bit too square. At the end though it works as a nice little diversion and is certainly worth a look." - MichaelP

"From the title, you will probably be expecting Rome, but what you do in fact get is South America (perhaps Nero fancied a holiday tomb, possibly a time share). Still that may be explained in the full level and, nitpicking aside, this is actually quite enjoyable. It starts off intriguingly, with a nice bit of flooding and draining action and then Lara gets to take a block for a long walk, 'aided' by half a dozen skeletons. I did find some shotgun ammo, but no shotgun to go with it - perhaps that's for the full version, or perhaps I just missed it. Who knows? Anyway, I would like to see a full scale level worked up from this taster. Not bad." - Jay

"A certain improvement is obvious in this second level of Bradley, compared to his debut level. The biggest improvement is seen in the gameplay/puzzles area. Lara has some rooms to dry, then to flood them again, to open a few gates, pull a few levers, and finally, to move that cage along the long ledge. I must say that this last part where you must push/pull that cage, is rather annoying, since it lasts too long. And I hated the last part of it, where you need to escape the skeletons and continue with pushing the cage around. There are no enemies here that you can kill, objects are scarce, as well as pickups and secrets (only one secret). Atmosphere is okay, thanks to great sounds and tracks, but camera hints are missing most of the time. Lighting is dull and too dark in the last area, and textures are not so good. Too many cracks, too many stretched textures, water texture that doesn't animate, and too many times "Texture all walls" button used in the editor. However, despite the flaws, this level is not so bad at all. It was a nice way to spend 20-30 minutes, and a great pleasure to see a huge improvement in the building. Keep building, Bradley, you've got potential and talent!" - Nina Croft

"This level starts by swimming around in the semi dark and running around in the nearly full dark. This seems pointless as you're given the binoculars which means you stop every few yards to check through the binos. Boring! I don't know why builders do this, it just irritates. The demo ends with a long, and I do mean long, push block. It's simple and straight forward and just as I was starting to yawn again, bang, skeletons all over the place. Suddenly it wasn't so boring. There's a good basis for a level here if only the builder would do something about the terrible lighting. I found one secret but not the shotgun, I hope I didn't miss it as there's nothing I like better than blasting skellies into the water." - Diz

"Small demo level that's quite nice although it isn't so long (playable in about half an hour) with quite sufficient or discrete characteristics. The level begins underwater and Lara has to swim between cracks, find a lever, a key to continue; it isn't so simple at all considering to be able to do this we've to raise-lower the water level. Later, after avoiding a boulder, we will be in another high room in which we've to use the levers that raise-lower the water level once again to reach another goal. Finally in the third room, things get more complicated: we've got to be very patient and use a couple of blocks that we've to move along a path on several different textured tiles throughout the area of the room; we will lose most time to play this series of actions, but beyond that to continue we've to find other levers and a key, and we will be even hindered by a group of skeletons. Once positioned the block on the last tile, a grate will open where the demo ends. So an almost sufficient gameplay even if not at all because of too dark areas or the patience in order to move the blocks, while I quite enjoyed the puzzles, especially in the last room. I found one secret (the dragon stone), although not counted in the statistics and it's impossible not to be able to find it. Let's speak about the great flaw of the demo that I hope in the final version will be rivisited: there are about 6 skeletons and Lara starts the game without weapons, she will find a revolver further, its ammo and the ones for shotgun, but not the shotgun itself; this means that at a certain point we have to move the block while the skeletons still annoy, we cannot get rid of them because of the absence of a shotgun, so I wonder the presence of revolver, considering it's definitively useless! Soundtracks from TR3, TR last revelation, TR anniversary and the title from TRAOD, few flybys, sufficient atmosphere. Too many dark areas, especially at the beginning and we shall consider that there are no flares along the whole level, so it's a big disadvantage for the evaluation point. Conclusion: A nice demo that certainly after the first level of the author sees progress in particular thanks to the puzzles, but there are a lot of things to revisit and this may be the good occasion for the author to demonstrate his potential with a future full game. I look forward confidently!" - Steven Svorticher