Level reviews

"A short but challenging VCI-themed level, which immediately kicks off with a tricky flame gauntlet for Lara to overcome. There is also a boulder gauntlet, a puzzle with prison cells and levers, as well as a floor tile puzzle to claim the Iris. Combat isn't ignored either: there are some turrets to take out from sneaky angles, and quite a few guards. It was great to play, my only critique is that the player can be softlocked if they reach a certain turret room without the lasersight (the entrance gets blocked by flames). The visuals aren't as strong, as there's a lot of wallpapering and usually not much going on in terms of lighting. 49 minutes." - JesseG

"As base levels go, this one is rather enjoyable, mainly because it's not exclusively a shooter. True, there are quite a few guards and dogs to deal with, but there are also some good puzzles, agility tests and traps to negotiate, some of which I would have found quite challenging if I'd played this level when it was first released. Add in the blowing up of a few sentry guns and you've got a fun level here." - Jay

"The very first thing you come across in this level is a very ellaborate fire and steam trap, which takes a few tries (and reloads) to finally get across. Then, there's a cell block with several levers switching which cells open and close -- I resorted to the walkthrough as I wasn't really getting anywhere on my own. Past that point, however, it was a pretty standard base level with a few nice moments, I particularly enjoyed the cameras as you crawled through a ventilation tunnel in the main room of the base. The final sequence to retrieve the Iris is a much better version of something I've used in one of my own levels, wish I'd been able to conceive it like this instead. A pair of sentry guns gave me more trouble than they should, but otherwise I had a good time here. 40 minutes. 12/2017" - Treeble

"This is a fairly standard but enjoyable romp through a military base environment that took me close to an hour to accomplish. Admittedly there's nothing too taxing gameplay-wise (although a couple of sentry guns proved a challenge) and nothing extraordinary, but it's enjoyable enough and there's a nice trigger tile puzzle until Lara finally escapes with what I assume to be the Iris. Fun, overall." - Ryan

"This base-lab type level has a good design. Not easy to play 'cause the numerous enemies almost in all rooms, SAS guards, dogs and machine guns; but the tasks are not very hard. I was stucked until I found the key under the shootable object. There are some good ideas, but the author should provide more revolver ammo in the rooms near the machine guns, more ammo for the uzis and some more medipacks (I got totally out of medipacks in the final control room). Good use of flybys, cameras and musics, the texturization is well-kept. Enjoyable and recommended." - Jose

"I enjoyed The Secret Temples so much that I decided to go back and play this builder's only other release. This one is not quite as ambitious as Temples, but it still provides a high-quality base raid that lasts about an hour. It's fairly pedestrian as these levels go, with SAS and dogs as enemies, along with a few sentry guns to sneak up behind and destroy, but it stands up remarkably well after eight years. The highlights are a couple of precision jumps and a tile-jumping exercise near the end (but a map is provided that reveals the location of the key tiles). With all the embellishments we've seen in the game engine lately, it's nice to know that in the earliest days of the level editor we had enterprising builders who were able to give us some top-notch entertainment without any of the frills. Recommended." - Phil

"Despite having some generally excellent gameplay (and a number of other inspired moments), I was rather disappointed with this adventure. Perhaps it was the lighting, which was rather non-existent throughout and hence made everything appear rather flat; or maybe the texturing, which was often wallpaper-like. As a result, the atmosphere wasn't anything like as potent as a secret Military Base usually is. Then again, the music was kept to a minimum where it could instead have been utilised to create tension and therefore make up for the lighting and texturing weaknesses. Nevertheless, the level had a rather pleasing sense of adventure behind it; with a progressing storyline and some splendid camera angles lending it a certain cinematic quality. The room with the two sentry guns and the drop-down lever was probably a little too aggravating, and shooting a PC Monitor is simply too oblique, but the challenge was undeniably there. If you're prepared to experience a certain degree of frustration for an hour or so, you'll enjoy yourself here and will ultimately find it rather rewarding." - Orbit Dream

"Having just finished I'd be inclined to say this was an easy level but during the game it certainly was not. It has a curious mixture of Maria Doria/40 Fathoms and Base textures. I had no readme in my download so I read about shooting the computer in the thread. I did look at that computer a few times and if I had just shot it it would have been a surprise in more ways than one. There are a few little intrigues like this that make this level stand out from the usual base-type setup. One room looked like a prison with 16 cells above and below a walkway. You can see levers behind the gates and it took a long time to get them all open and I've no idea really what they all did but the result was a card swipe device and a route to another area. That was an intriguing little puzzle where a block rises and bars your way to a card. Also the two machine guns in the large room how to dispose of them! Well if you can get the first one on the left as you enter to shoot at you you can then make you're way around and shoot it easily with the lasersight. There was a time I was totally baffled I followed the route of a flyby only to arrive in a different looking room! How to proceed. Without giving the whole thing away gameplay requires brains and stealth rather than running in all weapons firing. Quite a challenge." - CC

"As is now obvious by others this is a base level and yes a nicely set out one. The only downside is that you come across some brilliantly placed automatic guns this is of course not the downside but as there is also a lot of SAS and you have the revolver you can use up all of your revolver ammo only to find out that you have to get rid of a couple of automatic guns to pull a jump switch. If you are lucky you can go back on a savegame but some playing this may have overwritten theirs and then it's back to starting all over again. I had this problem but did have a savegame just! So for those looking for a nice shooter with a little puzzling and some smart traps this is a good 40 minutes one just be conservative with your ammo." - Sash

"With a very tough start (that steam fire slide-and-jump-to-monkey-swing passage was a bitch) this evolves into an impressive base level. The magnum is always a fun weapon and if you look around a lot you find enough ammo to deal with many of those SAS - the main enemies apart from a few dogs. Gameplay is actually quite linear and I liked the textures and lighting even though there is the 'wallpaper effect' in some of the larger and at times rather empty rooms. The prison (?) room with the cells was a little tedious and some of the jump passages are tough as is the maneuvering past those sentry guns in the second half of the level. You find cards and a key there are movable blocks and a few nice cameras thrown in for good measure. Next time though the red lasers should be deadly as one would expect - took me a while before I tried if I could survive crawling through them." - Michael

"This was a great level with a rip snorter of a start that REALLY had you going. Gameplay was smooth the puzzles devious and items short in supply so you really had to be careful about how you approached things. My only real complaint is when you picked up a disc or passcard and later went to use it it was called the canopic jar or some such and this to me really shows a lack of attention to detail. OK a minor thing but annoying nonetheless. Hence the low score on 'objects'." - Torry

"You have a lot of sneaking around to do and a lot of guards to shoot in this level. I think that is quite fun as you sometimes have to try out different ways to enter the danger. The surroundings are common but ok." - G.Croft

"The puzzles of this level are very simple and the lighting too. The architecture is quite unreal and some textures haven't been very well used. But I have to be honest: I really had fun while playing 'Under High Surveillance'. But I don't know exactly why... Maybe because even if the puzzles are simple they aren't boring. And the graphics may be simple too... but aren't bad. It's a nice mix of Area 51 and VCI some levels from the original Tomb Raider games that I love. Anyway: this is a simple but fun level. Worth a download? Well it has only 2 MB then I think so!" - Leandro

"Your objective in this level is to break into a high security area steal an artifact and then use the computer disk to make your way out again. As the name of the level implies there are many guards that will try to keep you from achieving this. Though there are not any tough puzzles there are some difficult jumps and moves to get through starting with a small 'obstacle course' at the very beginning and also an area where you have to destroy two machine guns that are guarding a jump switch. The rest of the puzzles were easier and included a switch puzzle a small maze movable blocks an underwater area to drain and a checkerboard puzzle. This is probably not the best looking level you'll ever see none of the rooms are meant to be pretty but it's been done very well considering the theme and has nice 'strategy rooms' a shower room a prison area filled with many cells and of course some hidden crawlspaces to get around. I spent a fun hour collecting and using cards and solving puzzles sneaking around shooting things and people and really felt like I had snuck into a high security compound." - RaiderGirl

"After playing this level I had to lean back in my chair and was glad I made it. I am not a fan of SAS base levels and I never will be so this one I will not replay. I had a hard time getting through this level. Had to adjust my thinking big time. Got stuck quite a lot and afterwards I simply could slam my head of not thinking straight. This game you better be sneaky and crawl at certain points. The revolver bug is still there so I could save a bit on the ammo as SAS men are plenty and don't forget the sentry guns. Pulling levers and finding cards to open doors so you can find yourself again amongst more SAS men. The tile puzzle was a good one the jumping had me scratching my head in the beginning. This game could use a bit more small medpacks instead of the big ones but that is my personal opinion. Texture wise nothing out of the ordinary although I did like the offices (now I know you can shoot a computer to smithereens). 01-05-2002" - Gerty

"One or two difficult jumps to do but mostly quite easy level. Short of health near the end battling machine guns and fire. One good puzzle of the tile step on variety with a subtle clue in a previous room. A pleasant evening's play." - Fairy Godfather

"Starting in water and after some difficult jumps through fire and monkey bars you enter the level. Basically it's a level with the usual SAS guards a lot of them with many levers to begin with most of them not that useful and sentry guns. Generally the player has too much shooting to do and the guns can be very annoying at times. Some movable blocks are used to open the entrance for the next area. Nothing too difficult though. An interesting puzzle was the last one with the tiles and the Iris on fire but as the solution is given to you in another room as a wall map it's a little easier than it's supposed to be. My impression for the textures is that they are a little mixed and not always fitting the environment. Nevertheless it has some good elements like a clever way to open an entrance in a room with a dead man elsewhere a well hidden underground area near a sentry gun. The lasers in some crawlspaces might fool you as active. I spent some time enjoying solving Lara's 'troubles'." - Kristina

"Finally a SAS base game with a twist. This level has its flaws but the gameplay is inventive and exiting most of the time. Right near the start you get 16 rooms with eight levers and I never found out what that was all about since the two rooms that are vital for your progression are accessible after you pushed the first two levers. I appreciate that the author has incorporated some jumps and swims here but the biggest thrills are getting past the sentry guns and fighting the baddies. Only here it's not a simple matter of happily shooting away but coming up with something of a strategy. For instance you come to a room were all the guards are up above and you know if the enemy is a long distance off your pistols won't hurt them that much but their guns do some serious damage so you have to play hide and seek for a little while and shoot them when they are not looking. Also there is a room where you face two guards and a sentry gun and that took me some tries to manage. The atmosphere is appropriate perhaps nothing extraordinary as far as textures and lighting are concerned but as long as there is a bit of rust I'm usually satisfied. After I jumped over the spiked pits (yes you heard me right spiked pits in a SAS base) the game crashed onto my desktop which was highly irritating as I wanted to finish this clean and proper." - Dimpfelmoser