Level reviews

"I don't think age is an excuse for this level's problems. Some design faults are just universal, and I am sure they would be deemed as problematic in 2001 as they are now. You just shouldn't put situations in your level where players can get permanently stuck. Yeah I had a saved game nearby and would only need to redo a few tasks, but I don't want to, and what if I didn't have a file? Besides now I don't trust the level and I will always fear the possibility in my mind that I missed something, maybe even in the previous level where I forgot a key item. I find the invisible textures out of place in industrial settings. Turrets appearing out of nowhere is just weird, unless it was a bug or something. I will never get the point of unmarked death tiles personally. It is a real shame, because without these mistakes the game would be a joy to play, particularly due to its looks, setting, and atmosphere." - Nomad

"This level makes a change of many objects. Lara's outfit, sounds, pickups, textures. And it's a nice change. Although it's very dark in some places, it didn't bother me a lot because it looked like a mysterious base. The downside of this level is the lack of cameras and music. There's absolutely none of them. The 3 levels are quite short and not hard. I liked this mini levelset, and I recommend it. Found 4 secret roses (not all of them played the secret track)." - alan

"I'm sure that back in 2001, this three-level set would have seemed like the best thing since sliced bread to most players and I'm sure I would have felt the same way. Playing it 17 years later I found it to have stood the test of time fairly well, but I wasn't really overwhelmed by it. The gameplay is simple and generally tame, with a few guards to shoot, a lot of switches to pull, a brief bit of swimming, a rather dodgy invisible platforms sequence and a mildly challenging jumping sequence across slopes and deadly water. I was also a bit put off by the materialising out of thin air sentry guns, although they were surprisingly easy to blast away. The game also crashed to the desktop when I reloaded a savegame after dying, so be wary. The textures are quite sleek for its age and the atmosphere and custom sounds are quite neat, but overall I found this to be pretty average overall. Once you finish the final level too, you can just quit as everything just resets itself." - Ryan

"The atmosphere in this base level is rather good and the textures selected are, for the main part, effective. Gameplay is largely exploration based, finding switches, shooting guards and sentry guns (always fun), with some rope work and simple platforming thrown in for good measure. Pickups are lavish and somewhat unnecessary, but you will be glad of the flares from time to time. Despite being in three parts, net gameplay is well under an hour so if you really fancy a base level you probably won't have time to tire of this one." - Jay

"It seems that this levels were not properly beta tested. I found several strange situations here like in first level, where I didn't need to use a switch to release a rope (jumped directly over a fence); the machine gun which never appeared if I jump far enough; got stucked forever if I drop in the area at the other side of the pools; the room with seven switches I never needed to use; etc. The texturization is quite good, and even when the architecture is simple the environments have a good look, but some rooms are too dark. No cameras when pulling switches triggering distant doors, I missed some cd tracks here and there. I found excessive pickups 'cause there were not many enemies, and secrets were not hard to find. Cool levels, but odd gameplay." - Jose

"So after having finished the prequel I came to this level and just as the latest level I found the marks being rather generous mostly. This three-parter again takes place in a base which solid yet greyish-dull looks; sound usage makes up for a nice diversion, especially those weapon sounds and a nicely chosen ambient track which is rather atmospheric. Gameplaywise, there's a slight (but not very large) step upwards noticable, as there are a few mildly entertaining tasks in this level like a few jumps that will take more than one try, but to each decent task I could at least name one unfair or poorly executed sequence - the invisible ledges room (hard to find words for it), possibilities to get stuck for good if you haven't used a certain lever before, half-unmarked spike traps, and so on. The rest of the game is not so enjoyable too, because you'll be confronted with the usual uninspired lever-hunt, all without camera guidance which makes things even less interesting. Enemies and machine guns still appear out of thin air and I wonder why there is so much ammo to find, especially in the second level (advice: just skip it and move on directly, it will save you half of the time), since you won't need much to get to the end, which by the way is pretty pointless. I found two registering secrets in less than 20 minutes of actual net playtime." - manarch2

"It was rather amusing to read some of the gushing reviews that were written back when this three-parter was first released. I imagine that a dozen years ago this would have been considered pretty hot stuff, and I would likely have joined in the chorus myself. But we've come a long way since then, and although I had a good time playing this quasi-shooter, it's not very remarkable by today's standards. Yoav has provided a walkthrough that covers all the bases in concise fashion, and his guidance was especially helpful in warning me about the various unmarked traps. The idea of sentry guns appearing out of nowhere was rather disconcerting, but this worked out to good advantage in the second level with all the connecting halls, where the gun would materialize just outside firing range, and all you'd have to do is backtrack around to the other side and blast it away. Wish all sentry guns were that easy to eliminate. Anyway, when the short third level ends, there's no finish trigger but instead you're taken back to the first level where the doors you opened earlier are still open. This gives the false impression that the game continues on, but I took the walkthrough at its word and stopped playing at this point." - Phil

"I would sincerely hope that were Treeble and Torry to play this level again today,they would markedly change their opinions! Although an improvement on the earlier 'Company's Complex',this is so far from being a 'masterpiece' as to make their review comments unintentionally comical. The Gameplay is completely simplistic (run down corridor,open door,shoot guard),and there is one place where you can get irrevocably stuck if you missed the vital hang-lever;enemies are completely predictable and often poorly placed (how on earth could magically appearing machine guns be considered a positive attribute?);there are no added camera's,and the atmosphere is no more than you would naturally expect of a Base level. The only strong point is the use of (often amusing) custom textures,which would obviously have caused a positive impression back in the day. Certainly it's entertaining up to a point(and I enjoyed the 'back to the beginning' cyclical nature of the adventure),but generally underwhelming and in no way (either today or in 2001) deserving of a 10 in any category!" - Orbit Dream

"I can see that this is an old level 3 years olds to be exact and I can understand how people might have liked it back then but as a present day player it has a lot of flaws the most important one being what on earth you do at one point. It's a base and I love base levels but it all gets so huge and confusing. Elements that don't fit are the rolling balls (in a base!); the invisible columns with a secret down below you can get to but can't get back up from; machine guns on stands rather than on the walls that just appear in front of you!; no camera shots so you don't know exactly what you've done at switches; doors you open to be spiked as you enter. Oddly enough when you run around a bit the spikes disappear (perhaps it was one of those switches who knows?). I did not like the echo after shooting with the revolver. The good part was the jump sequence but then again - lava on the floor of a base! We've all learned to try to push blocks and that's what I did with each one and found things. I found a lot of golden roses but I can't remember how many. Then there was the rope swinging but it didn't quite ring true. The texturing is good and the lighting is good in places - I particularly liked the corridors with lights above. And the most annoying thing of all is what on earth was she doing there in the first place what was she looking for. I can't see it making the same impact on players nowadays that it did way back then. This level was kindly sent to me by Phil." - CC

"Like the first level this one is very dark as well but this time I had enough flares. I was confused at first in that tech-lab environment because of a jump over a balcony to reach a jump switch. I tried it by accident and I could continue but there are many switches here and no cameras so that's my excuse. SAS guards sentry guns and a few bats are what you're up against. The rest of the level is just open a door or better make that search for the door that has opened. It took me twenty five minutes to complete the first level with one golden rose about ten for the second with again one golden rose and five minutes to finish passing by the third. I am still confused with no idea why I was doing all that it just seemed pointless." - Kristina

"This small 3 level game is much better than his first one. The sound of the guns make is so good. The room with the graffiti was beautiful I thought. And the sewer is system I liked as well. Gameplay is again pushing levers but in this level there are some blocks to push some rope swinging and some nice block jumping to do. Sentry guns appear from nowhere but you can easily dispose of them. There is a jump over some invisible block and I found a secret there. Had to reload and leave the secret as I couldn't find my way out of that room. Beginning of the third level I found very familiar must have seen that in another level. I liked the way you get back to the beginning. 29-04-2003" - Gerty

"I'm not sure what this building is supposed to be maybe a base or some kind of government building. There are some computer rooms and a few storage rooms plus one water filled room with a large piece of machinery but I'm not sure what it was for. It looks nice and the music and sounds really add to the atmosphere but otherwise gameplay consists mainly of opening doors and pulling switches and the three levels together only take about 40 minutes to get through. There were some surprise traps like spikes boulders and fire tiles and I found four secrets that included golden roses." - RaiderGirl

"Okay I guess I'm going to be the lone voice in this review wilderness when it comes to this level. I found these 3 combined levels the first 20 minutes the second 15 and the third a measly 3 minutes very tedious as the extent of play was only pulling some levers shooting some men and completing a couple of block jumps (one invisible and one sloped) but what I found even more tedious was the look of the environment which I assume was set in a warehouse of some kind as the texturing was bland throughout except for a graffiti filled room which felt just so out of place with the rest of the level. Maybe it was my femaleness that stopped me from fully getting this level like the rest but at least I found 4 gold roses of which only 2 registered as secrets to keep me slightly interested till the end." - Sash

"While I share the great enthusiasm of Torry & Treeble about these three levels I simply have to rate it a little lower. There is no denying the fact that texturing lighting sound and atmosphere is absolutely unprecedented and indeed you have to see and play it to believe it. There is custom music custom sound custom textures (e.g. fantastic graffiti walls) a custom camouflage outfit for Lara movable blocks etc. etc. and having the desert eagle with this boosted sound was the greatest fun I ever had since a long time. Having said all that on the other hand there are a few things I did not like so much compared to other great levels. The gameplay is solid but pretty standard if not even a little easy and boring just running from one lever-switch to the next. Sure the scenery makes up for it but I do not feel a higher rating than 7 would be appropriate in this category. There are two places where you can actually get caught without dying. On a number of occasions automatic machine guns appear out of nowhere and I am simply not a big fan of invisible ledges and pillars. With all the levers being pulled one or the other camera could have been a useful add on. There are plenty of objects to pick up and I finished the game with 13 (!) large medipacks as the only real danger to health are the soldiers and machine guns and you can blow them away easily with the desert eagle. Also because the environment is so nice and every room seems to hold another surprise to the eye I was a little disappointed that it ended so quickly. The first two levels took me about 20 minutes of net gaming time each and the third seemed to be just a path through towards the end so I was done in well under one hour although I must have missed a few of the secrets." - Michael

"What can I say? This level(s) blew me away. It is fantastic. There are 3 levels to make up a mini game as the 29 MB download would indicate. Textures are from many different games, not only TR. Tijay has imported objects from TR3, 4 and 5. There is new, never before heard sound effects and ambience noise, pushable blocks, a street-cam outfit for Lara. I am stunned. This is what level editing is all about. No more boring Szenario we have all seen 100 times before. This is the best from all of the last 3 TR games and then some. There is a minor bug in the game, nothing too serious. That is why the 9 in 'objects'." - Torry

"These are simply the best levels I have played! This mini TR game has 3 levels, very well designed and textured. Lara has a very nice outfit, has the Desert Eagle, and the secrets are tantan: Golden Roses. Simply excellent. Though it is the largest file, every tombraider fan should have a copy of it! The levels are not boring, which will give you a will to play everyday more and more. Excellent! Great!“ - Treeble

"These three short levels play out to about one long level. It deserves a nod for bringing some new objects and weapons to the LE realm - most notably our beloved Desert Eagle. Movable crates are used to good effect here as well. The gameplay is straightforward with a couple of pretty tricky challenges and well-placed secrets along the way." - Tombaholic

"These levels are very short even though there are three of them and they only last for about 30 minutes. One part of the level can be skipped but I don't know if that was intentional or not. There are a lot of enemies in this level but also a lot of medipacks (too many medipacks actually). The texturing is good and the lightning too. It annoyed me that in some places spikes would shoot out of the floor for no reason. It also annoyed me that the turrets appeared out of thin air. These levels are actually fun (even if it may seem like I don't think so) and I believe that they were even more fun when they were new." - Magnus

"Excuse me please with all respect what is this level doing in the Top 50? Ok the room with the graffiti is one of the most beautiful I've ever died in but that can't disguise the fact that the gameplay is rather ordinary (pushing levers) the enemies (a few SAS guards) are thrown in listlessly and there is a distinctive lack of puzzles. Apart from that I found some other flaws like the sentry guns that spontaneously pop into existence a lot of black walls and the new sound of the guns are just well silly if you ask me. Maybe you have to be a level editor yourself to appreciate this level and give it the recognition it deserves but for me as a consumer it really didn't do much. Considering the size of the download well if you want to see some Graffiti I would suggest that you rather nip down to your local Youth Centre." - Dimpfelmoser