Level reviews

"Weve got a bit of a TR2/TR3 home hybrid here, with textures used from both and with some areas or rooms missing or altered completely and a couple of new areas but mostly not for the better in terms of gameplay, the quest is to find 5 secrets around the house and grounds, and its all very simple stuff finding switches or a key to open these rooms or areas containing these secrets, the maze is a lot smaller with a lever and a door in it, the assault course is different and now theres a new motorbike race track in a different area which makes a refreshing change but at the end of the day theres no interesting puzzles or tasks or even any traps or enemies to keep you on your toes so it all ends up being short and disappointing once again" - John

"A Lara's manor with no glaring mistakes , but it is such a minimalist level with simple gameplay and no work on the lighting. I enjoyed the Coastal audio loop though. In a dozen of minutes you will be done, unless if you want to make more than one lap with the side-car. The Dagger of Xian is named Dagger of Xian but the cartouche of Ba is named Load. I think the builder could have implemented more interesting things to do such as timed doors and jumps to get the five 'secrets'." - eRIC

"Another boooooooooring mansion level. The mansion is almost the same, with some modified rooms, and the only difference is that you hear the secret chime here and there when picking up an item. I finally entered into the assault course with the motorbike, took a ride all around but I didn't find a finish trigger so after got all five "secrets" pointed in the readme file I left this anodyne level." - Jose

"Well, it's a traditional mansion level and after all these years it's hard to find much to enthuse about. Not sure I'd have felt much more drawn to it when it was first released to be perfectly honest. The usual elements are in place, but apart from finding a few secrets, the only real fun to be had is riding the bike round the race track. Depends how much you like bike riding I suppose!" - Jay

"This is pretty boring even for a Mansion level. The attic has been considerably shortened, the main hall looks rather empty and there's no finish trigger. You can choose to cruise around on the motorbike, but otherwise you may just want to quit the level when you've seen enough." - Ryan

"Yet another Core Design-styled Croft Manor release(although this version seems to be remade from scratch, with a number of defining aspects missing.) But aside from that, it doesn't really offer anything new that we haven't already experienced countless times before. So give this one a pass." - Ceamonks890

"Nice secret objects, but the places secrets are hidden in are quite obvious - especially because there is no significant modifications in the manor construction so we know potential hiding places as soon as we start the game. The whole thing is textured just like we are used to in manor levels. But the lighting is worse than in a standard manor, with the attic nearly as bright as the remaining parts of the building, and without any shadows... anywhere. And I don't know how many levels remained to review with the following phrase describing their gameplay: "Too short to bore anyone". Score for puzzles was divided in two - one point goes for puzzles, second one for secrets - as these two things are the same thing in this game. SUMMARY: Nooo! Another classic manor! APAGE!!!" - DJ Full

"This is a Home level of the simple kind with a few weaknesses in detail. One finds revolver and groats gun which are not used, however. One finds a few artefacts which are also not used, however. One can also turn a round by the motorcycle. Because, besides, however, nothing is to be done or to be found, one should leave it with a round. Result: If you have nothing to do, you can risk a look. Also lasts no longer as 15 minutes." - Scottie

"Guns? why did we need them? artifacts? like the tr2 Dagger of Zian? why did we need it? Whats the point? a very bland level, stretched textures and a boring moterbike corse with no end." - ColeMoles

"5 secrets to find within this Mansion, and it would take a player of unique talent to get into difficulties here. In fact, it would be an interesting challenge to see if a first-time player of this level could get through it in 5 minutes (1 minute to locate each secret); the Maze would present the only problem, but if you chose the correct path first time, it should be possible. If you're still in need of something to do after having achieved this (there being no finishing trigger), you might ponder the question of why there are no windows in the Mansion, even though there are quite clearly very many on the outside." - Orbit Dream

"I have played house levels before but I have not played a simple house level like this- nothing to do only to pull two or three switches and find key to open the door for the motorbike. " - Yoav

"A version of the Mansion, but very bland. We get an extra pool outside. We get to pick up the dagger of Zion in the treasure room. We get to push a block out of the way in the attic. And we get keys to a boring bike course, unless you get a kick out of driving over the piles of grass on the side. I'm not sure if those yellow gates open to end the level, actually there was no end trigger, beats me." - CC

"Of course it's a house level, but I thought it looked rather depressing with those bricked up windows. Finding 5 secrets is the main goal here and I was glad to read the reviews first as there is no finishing trigger. A bit hastily put together? 11-01-2003" - Gerty

"So Magnus, you actually think that this level is as good as The Lost Valley? That textures and Lighting are actually better than in the Lost Valley? Excuse me please, I beg to differ. There is no gameplay, is there? What use is a shotgun if there are no enemies? What use is the key to the motorbike if the course you get is so dull you'd rather walk home. The mansion is done ok but it's hardly very original is it? Compared to The Lost Valley for instance. Really, if you must create home levels why not give Lara something to do?" - Dimpfelmoser

"I think Lara's been hanging around in too many tombs lately as it seems she wanted to create that same feel in her own mansion by bricking up every window in the building, either that or Winston got sick of cleaning them all and bricked them up himself while she was out on one of her adventures, whatever the reason a window or two would have been nice. In this mansion level you have to go hunting for 5 secrets, one of these is actually the whole bike track and another the Dagger of Xian, and this shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes to do as the secrets are all quite easy to find, though seeing that some of the secrets are weapons it would have been nice to have had some enemies to shoot. There doesn't seem to be an end trigger so don't waste your time frantically searching for it, do either of three things, get on the bike and ride around the track until you become so dizzy you black out, sick beside one of the windowless windows and daydream about an end to this endless level, or just hit the Alt and F4 key and get the hell out of there!" - Sash

"For once this version of Lara's Home had me not running around searching the crucial lever forever. You can get through this quickly in about 15 minutes and the only remarkable 'challenge' is the to pick up the five secrets along the way (shotgun, dagger of Xian, revolver, cartouche and finally the race course). Some issues with the horizon and you can easily reach the 'end of the world' in this rather basic replica of the mansion." - Michael

"Having designed a level set in Lara's Home recently, I think the texturization and design of the level could be better. You get 5 secrets here, being one of them the TR2 Dagger Of Xian. You got extra firepower, but you won't use even your pistols. This mansion is very similar to the TR2 one, and includes even the labyrinth (though it's very different here). The motorbike track is very short. Oh, I didn't notice any changes on the illumination of the level. It's worth a download if you are a big fan of Lara's mansion." - Treeble

"I'm always excited to see a different version of the mansion, so was disappointed to see that this is only another remake of the original. Not only is there almost nothing new to do here, but some of the areas aren't even finished! The training room consists of only a few blocks scattered around the room, the pool room doesn't have even half the detail of the original, I was not able to complete the obstacle course correctly because of long empty areas, there was not even a balcony. The mansion has been redone so many times already that it would be nice if the creator would change it and give us something unique." - RaiderGirl

"In this level you have to find five secrets. No finish trigger, I think... But there are other things to do than just find the secrets (which is way too easy). Why not ride the motorbike or use the assault course? There's no Winston (I would have liked to run him over with the motorbike), but you can pick up 'The Dagger of Xian' (although you can't use it). The texturing is good and the level looks quite different than it looked in Tomb Raider 3, but the lighting isn't very good, it looks the same everywhere inside and everywhere outside. It's not too dark, however. This is a quite fun level and if you've got 15 minutes to spare, why not play it?" - Magnus

"One more level with Lara's house. The first thing you will notice is the sound of the sea even though you are in the house. None of the widows are open so it seems a little odd. The rooms seem to be lacking something, although this is supposed to be a house the objects are few. Also the sky has a problem, there is a black thick line between the horizon and the sky. The outside area is nice but with some stretched textures in the garden and one untextured square above a door in the kitchen inside. A race course is a secret but with no real cause. The walls in that area are disappearing. In fact all the secrets that the player must find are easy to access, some too obvious. The dagger of Xian though is a nice touch. A strange thing with this level is that it doesn't have any enemies so I wonder why the extra weapons, the obstacles are practically missing although you can count the missing trigger for the end of the level as some kind of obstacle. A nice try from the author but I think this theme has already been used more than enough." - Kristina