Level reviews

"A rather unknown, highly entertaining level. In fact I think the only reason that it is not more widely known is because it features the heavily used Catacombs style. Gameplay has sufficient length, plenty of exploring, some great work in texturing and lighting, traps are included in just the right amount, interesting switch use at times. Imagine the same level in a Chinese setting for example, it would be much more appreciated. As other reviewers put the builder had obvious potential, if he kept on building he would probably had a level or two in the Hall of Fame." - Nomad

"What I initially saw as a fun trait in level design, the fact that every room has several "useless" nooks and cranies, eventually became a bother - to be specific, when you reach the huge cavern area with the effigy head. I am not exactly a fan of the catacomb wad, but while I was somewhat enjoying the fast paced gameplay in the initial areas, it felt as though as that cavern tried too hard to look like a cavern, and ultimately not only it didn't look organic enough, it felt like a huge filler. As I already had found all three secrets up to that point, I said to myself "sod it" and gave up on checking all the useless nooks and crannies, and turns out I didn't miss anything at all, luckily. I guess the fact that there are wafer thin walls, weird room geometry and, on top of all that, missing textures (review is based on the Revised version) makes it all seem much worse than it is... I liked that each golden star had a crowbar readily available, although their only purpose is to unlock secrets. 50 minutes, 3 secrets. 12/2017" - Treeble

"What a shame this builder never made another level because this is definitely one of the better games from the early days. There's tons of exploring to do but somehow it doesn't become boring and the traps, timed elements etc., are well constructed and fun. It's very dark in places and some areas are better built/more attractive than others, but overall its quite solid and catacomb fans might feel quite well served by this one." - Jay

"This is a very lengthy, enjoyable and at times surprising catacomb level. A bit dark in places, but that is a minor gripe. You get a variety of hub rooms to explore and therefore perform necessary tasks to keep progressing through the level. You will also eventually end up at places you will recognise, but from alternate routes. Definitely worth looking at if you like the Catacomb setting." - Ryan

"It's a pain that this author didn't continue building. This is a very good debut. Great architecture and well applied textures, even when I found some missed ones in the huge cave and near an elevator. Many rooms are too dark, and the flares I found were not enough to properly explore the rooms. When you start to play you'll need to waste some time exploring the first areas and sure finding some dead ends, but later, when you find your way, there is no much backtracking, and there are a lot of shortcuts in many rooms so you wont need to retrace your steps needlessly. Even in the very huge cave area where you expect a lot of exploration, there are many small fires along the right path to show you the way. I missed another kind of enemies and not only skeletons and mummies; the secrets were not hard to find and the revolver and the shotgun were unuseful for me since I found the grenade launcher and the crossbow. There is a good use of the flybys and cameras, and also for the musics. Definitively a long and laborious level but entertaining and worth to play with variety of tasks and no many situations to get stucked. Good work!" - Jose

"Here's another level from the early years that plays quite well today. Unfortunately, it was a "one shot," and the link to the builder's site is no longer active. The level begins in a classic catacombs setting, but toward the end you enter a gargantuan cave that has to be navigated (including a nifty timed run involving two raised blocks). All good stuff, and I enjoyed the hour or so that I spent here. Gerty has provided a concise but thorough walkthrough that kept me from getting bogged down. Recommended." - Phil

"This older catacomb inspired level comes with a few surprises. Although the texturing is rough in places and there are quite a lot of dark corners (they don't really hide anything gameplay-relevant as far as I can remember), the lighting overall is very, very well done and there are a number of big impressive rooms that always feel slightly more overwhelming than they really are (the cave with the effigy, tower, room with the pool and burners come to mind). There is a sense of non-linearity about it, but it is quite manageable, so bar a few moments of confusion after I had made a break between playing sessions, I was never truly lost here and could figure it out by myself. The ideas are standard for most parts, but have some lovely twists as well - like a switch operating 2 doors, or a door and an expanding wall at the same time, clever jump sequences and courses set up to get to certain doors, the puzzle deactivating the burners. Add to that, you're always patiently shown what your actions achieved via well conceived camera hints and fly-bys. I also enjoyed the placement of the 3 secrets a great deal. All in all - this is a great 40 minute raid for an older level of its kind, and if you don't feel too spoiled by what's possible these days with the editor, or are not tired of the well worn settings, do give this one a chance." - eTux

"This puts paid (once again) to the occasionally-voiced opinion that no custom levels prior to the NGLE look as good,nor play so well.This is visually glorious and is filled with great,although straightforward,gameplay. It's basically comprised of a handful of huge and spectacular areas,with interesting puzzles connecting one with the next. Although more time could have been spent on better segmented walls (the few lighting flaws are evident here),the appearance and atmosphere of the whole is superb;with great use of shadows and contrasting lighting effects.Progression is always interesting,and more straightforward in retrospect that it seemed at the time.The three secret areas are well- clued;enemies are used well (although too many powerful weapons can be collected along the way to render them powerless);while camera's are well placed and always helpful.Most impressive,though,is the sheer size of the adventure;the builder crammed in absolutely as much as was physically possible and squeezed every last ounce of potential out of the original LE. This was Darrell Wright's only custom level,and it was built over a decade ago.What a pity he never gave us any follow- ups." - Orbit Dream

"And once again I have found a treasure! One does not believe at all what one can still find in the goldmine of nearly 2000 levels if one digs only deeply enough. There one feels almost like Indiana Jones. In any case, this level in spite of his small download is a giant what play fun, riddle and playing time concerns. Aim is to find a music scroll. But before I held this scroll in my hands, 80 minutes playing time had passed. The level is built complex and, besides, there are only a few mistakes with the textures. I have discovered, actually, only one place where a few textures have been absent. And I have also found a paper-thin wall. But otherwise this level has persuaded me completely. Though there were several dark places, but it existed enough Flares. You are exactly right here, if you search for a very good and long catacomb level." - Scottie

"This level starts out looking innocent enough with a few doors that need opening and a knot pillar and Portal Guardian to collect. Only after looking around for over ten minutes for what to do first did I realize that the switch I had found was a timed one. Then I was on my way finally and discovered what a huge maze of a level this really was. There are more timed doors rope swings spike and boulder traps skeletons and often more paths than one to choose from at a time. There are some very impressive huge rooms to explore by much jumping and climbing - one with a huge tower and a few huge underground caverns that are very tricky to explore. Only at the very end do you finally get to place the Portal Guardian. Once you locate the Scroll of Seti you are on your way to the next adventure." - RaiderGirl

"One complaint is that it is too dark in places and not enough flares and there are some textures missing. The flares are solved with the TRGGeditor and as there are only a few enemies and you'll even find the grenade gun and later a crossbow you don't need anything else. What caught me off guard were the timed runs. So better be save than sorry save before pushing a lever or a button. You start off at a room with a pool and get that star before anything else. Very nice of the author to provide again a crowbar with the next star LOL. Needing 3 of them and a pillar a knot and the Portal Guardian is the main goal here. This level is huge at least it felt that way. There are nice flybys and cameras showing that another door is opened. The elevator bug was fixed as I downloaded this level again and I was in awe seeing that huge cave. A skeleton was friendly enough to show me the way before I blew him off the rocks he was standing on. There are a few puzzles and some spiked balls and spikes and I like the little warning one gets so you know something is afoot. Had a great time playing this level. 29-12-2002" - Gerty

"Not having really played a catacomb level in quite a while and having become a little tired of them I didn't expect too much from this one but I was happily mistaken. You do find the normal plain catacomb look in this level but because of the use of fire and certain lighting in a lot of areas it gives the place a beautiful golden hue there are also some huge interesting areas that after the normal sized rooms just take you by total surprise like the vast cave that you find after being spat out of a water channel and the inclusion of the 3 secret rooms 2 with elevators to reach them which all needed golden stars to access them also added another side element to the level which I really enjoyed. Through the 70 minutes this took me to play there is only 4 key pick ups to find (one of these has two pieces to locate) so most of that time was spent moving through this large level which was fun especially having to make the 3 well placed and executed timed runs. I downrated by one point the gameplay score of this level however because of a very bad bug I came across after finally leaving the cave and getting to an elevator I found that it was partially raised which made pushing the button to make it raise impossible so I resorted to flycheating to above the elevator where I then found a door with wasn't opened I assume this too was activated with the button I couldn't get to so I had to flycheat all the way back through the cave to where I needed to use the key pick ups I now had near the start of the level." - Sash

"Despite being 'only' standard Catacomb WAD this level surprises with an intricate architecture and kept me highly entertained for 1:10 hours. Most of the time you are exploring to find levers to open doors but it never gets boring as you make your way through an ever changing environment. There are a few timed doors rope swings elevators pushable objects fires to put out to progress and more. I found two of the three star secrets early which is helpful as the grenade gun and the crossbow turn the dozen skeletons you come across into no threat at all. The way the secrets are built in is great though with an extra mile to go and a rewarding room to find them in. Cameras are used well and not overdone same with sounds. The flybys of the tower like structure and later the huge cave are very impressive as are those rooms themselves. On the downside I found there were too many dark corners and that had me explore with a flare and reload afterwards many times. Also towards the end there is the odd missing texture but it does not spoil the great experience this level presents. Try it out!" - Michael

"This standard level has a brillant gameplay. I had much fun to play but I hated the permanent darkness. But this was the only fault in this game the atmosphere is very good I liked the kind of secrets with the extra rooms opened by golden stars. The cameras were well placed especially in one scene: Lara is sliding down the cam is showing from the bottom upstairs where a skeleton appears. Before you reach the floor you can shoot the skeleton with the grenade gun. My net gaming time was 1:20 hours and I have found all 3 secrets. Recommended!" - Freeman Porter

"Hey - what a very good level! I thought I was sick of Egyptian levels but this is one of the best custom levels I played in the last weeks. There are just a few enemies (skeletons) to fight so you can concentrate on solving your puzzles to find your further way. Some of the doors are timed doors so hurry up! You'll find enough weapons and ammo even more than necessary to get rid of those few skeletons. There are some very impressive rooms in this level e.g. the water room with the fire platforms and the giant cave later on. In there the lighting and atmosphere is incredible. - The bad point on this level is the darkness. There are too many dark places and corners and not so many flares to be found. And there is a very bad bug near the end that hinders Lara from using an elevator as she can't reach the button below that lowers my rating a bit. But up to this point this level is really worth playing." - Sheevah

"I can recommend this TR4-Catacomb-Level to everybody who prefers the the typical TR atmosphere. Impressive underground caves with marvelous light and shadow effects turn this level into an ingenious discovery tour. Countless directions are open to our archeologist here which want to be explored. Enemies (skeletons) are few but that makes the setting more believable. Secrets can be found using a star (crowbar always close by) and consist of useful pickups for Lara's backpack. Especially the grenade gun will be of help as you will find out for yourself. The numerous puzzle pieces from the Catacomb WAD are well placed and it is fun to find them. Textures are only the original ones but the level demonstrated what you can make of them. The few camera flybys are also well designed and the TR-sound fits them perfectly. A bug with the elevator near the end of the level (the switch was blocked by the platform and could not be used) prevents from progression and I had to end the level using the flycheat. The designer was notified about this and will hopefully correct it otherwise it would be a pity for this otherwise great level and the bug shall not impact my appreciation of this work." - Hendrik

"That was an entertaining level. It took much time to complete and the first difficult part was a timed door at the beginning. As you start it has many areas to explore so it is easy to get lost and therefore it might take some time to find your way. It isn't a difficult level as the author describes at his notes you will have to find three stars and the pieces of the portal guardian to end it. Although one of the stars points to a secret. The main idea is to find your way through long walks into corridors and climbing up and down. The textures are standard catacomb but with a major problem quite often. They are not aligned or parts of them are missing. Though the game play is good as it goes further the rooms are getting bigger and mostly empty with a lot of doors to open. I particularly liked the big water room with the fire blocks in the middle. Your way is yet again to open the door or doors to the next area with levers but in an interesting way you have to extinguish the fires and proceed. At the end it is a nice walk around to get to the start again. The skeletons are one step behind you and one step ahead basically they are your enemies along with a scorpion and a dog. It might get a little frustrating close to the end because of the big cave and the sharp rocks you have to overcome that area is huge. A bug prevented me for taking the short way back to solve the last puzzle therefore I had to use DOZY to get back to the beginning but as I have been informed there is a newer version without it so you can safely play it." - Kristina

"The level had only one mistake: it was too dark. Mainly I was occupied to use the pair of glasses. A lot of running to do for Lara. Nevertheless I found the level well done certainly the puzzles consisted only of the search of various levers and puzzle parts but nevertheless I thought the look was completely beautiful. An absolute highlight was the enormous cave at the end just exactly there I would climb gladly in reality. To the textures I do not need to say a lot there were hardly mistakes in there. The cameras were well used they always showed the essential. Each can do the time-steered elements quickly D-Ray can do much more with it. Who may not like dark levels better don't touch this one otherwise it is recommendable." - Xxenofex

"A rather good catacombs level with many rooms well textured some of them have a good architecture but there are also too many darkness to create an enjoyable level. Is it supposed to create a veil upon the emptiness of those rooms? That was not necessary. Not many puzzles to solve the gameplay is a little light; the progression in the level is good but I get bored right after the beginning to run in those rooms where there is not much to do. The secrets are not secret and you don't have to find the pickups as there are often placed right on Lara's path. As you find the explosive weapons very early the enemies have not even a chance to touch her once. So there is no opposition but a few challenging difficulties. The atmosphere is quite good and the author has no problem to use the camera. You can download this one although there are better catacombs levels around like CatacombTowers DarkFall Alexander'sTomb and others." - eRIC

"This is a long run for someone with nothing to think about but I like this well enough and apparently the bug has been fixed. Here we have a linear and fast paced gameplay that always brings you back to the starting point. The vastness of the area might be intimidating at times but all the levers are in plain view and actually help you to find your way. The timed runs and the elevators to the secrets are great and I always like it when the tasks submit to the environment and not the other way round. There are a few puzzles rope swings and spiked ball chases but they are merely highpoints on this atmospheric exploration. You get impressive flybys and stupendous camerawork on various occasions and the lighting and texturing nicely emphasizes the desolate vibe of those catacomb and caves. There are only a few skeletons to fight but I think more enemies would have spoiled basic mood of this adventure. If you find the secrets which is not too hard you will be able to reach the end without a single scratch. Highly recommended." - Dimpfelmoser