Level reviews

"Older set of 3 levels which was playable but not too good.

• It's a really old level. It's to be expected that it's somewhat primitive.
• The entry area looks reasonably interesting for the simple and old texturing. Later on there are many other locations which are about similar in sophistication. It's nothing amazing but solid and not too bad.
• But there are also too many bare looking tunnels and chambers in other parts of the game.
• The gameplay ranges between not too bad to tedious. Most of the time it was serviceable.
• Some things are too well hidden (like that trapdoor), and since all levels are connected, there's a chance you will spend too much time searching and backtracking.
• Many climbable walls miss the correct textures and are not recognizable as climbable, which is unfair and got me stuck right in the beginning.
• Another one of the less nice things was in level 2, which had a wall that took at least 3 minutes to climb along, just to get a key, and having to go the same long and tedious way back.
• Especially towards the end there are some tricky moving traps to get through.

Conclusion: mediocre for modern standards, but OK to play if there's nothing else and you don't mind its outmodedness." - tuxraider

"I was overhyped for this one, it really wants to punish you too often. Mostly, it's too big. Secondly, it's not properly routed. Add those two errors up and you end up with painful backtracking and forgotten keyholes since your memory cannot catch up. Still, as only a second level of Cowboy, it shows his future skills in a stub, so I would recommend playing it for science, to realize how much a builder can progress." - DJ Full

"Enjoyable early level set by Cowboy that holds up well almost 20 years later. There are a few frustrating moments, like when you're forced to get hurt by spikes to progress or pick up a secret, but overall really fun levels with a cool setting." - Lorax

"A set of three interwoven levels with Rome vibes from TR1 and TRC, where Lara is searching for four tridents. To me the biggests strength is in the architecture, with quite a few impressively structured temple buildings and chambers. There is a fair amount of wallpapering in the texturing, and there are too many poorly marked climbable surfaces for comfort, but the textures in some of the more elegant chambers are pretty good. The lighting is great, except for the fog bulbs which are a bit too overpowering, luckily there are not many of those. My reception of the gameplay is mixed. Let's start with the negatives: Quite a few switches are missing camera cues. There is a very long ladder shimmy sequence above some spikes and darts, the player has to hold the right arrow key for over a full minute, and then they have to backtrack the same way. The lasersight is easy to miss, and if you get to the second level without it you will have some grueling backtracking in store (and you will also have been trying to avoid many skeletons). The trident in the second level has the same issue. There are multiple mazes, something I am never much of a fan of, at least they are not grandiose. There are some trial-and-error switches that require foresight to figure out which ones are deadly, and there is one too many of those sneaky camoflauged pushable blocks. On the plus side there are plenty of traps to dodge including huge boulders and spikes, a few atlantean monsters to fight, and a lot of different chambers to climb up and down in. You even get to taunt a bull into some switches within the colosseum. There is a lot of entertainment here, and despite the downsides I've listed I would recommend this one, but I would also recommend having a walkthrough at hand, and maybe even looking at it before play to note which items to grab in each level before getting too far ahead. 2 hours 10 minutes." - JesseG

"One of the earlier levels from this ever reliable builder and time doesn't seem to have harmed it in any way. The atmosphere is terrific and those wonderful Roman objects and textures have been used to good effect. Finding tridents is Lara's main quest here and she has to achieve quite a variety of tasks to get them. Great fun." - Jay

"This is an amazing level set that can seem overwhelming when you enter the first main area, but once you get into the flow of things, it moves along relatively smoothly. The architecture looks brilliant for a level of its age and luckily the gameplay holds up well too. Nasty traps, lots of exploration in big areas and enemies are placed strategically to provide an element of challenge (particularly those irritating skeletons). If you like exploration aspects of TR, this is for you." - Ryan

"Some ladders not very visible, otherwise this level omen of future very good levels of Cowboy. Loved me back into the scenery of the first tomb raider.Excellent." - Drakan

"Level has very nice roman textures and objects. Only a few moments of stumbling. There are some unmarked ladders. The game was good." - vienna

"My very first review goes to the very first custom level-set I have ever played nearly 2 years ago. I was googling 'Tomb Raider Pompeii' and this level showed up. And of course my expectation was ruins with frozen(?) bodies everywhere as shown in most of the internet resources. And this level almost meets my expectations, except it doesn't seem like it was destroyed by eruption, instead it looks rather like it was abandoned, the castle is still standing as a whole, and the statues are still there standing beautifully. What I adore here is the Roman architecture, the grim atmosphere where angry spirits (skulls) could jump at you whenever you aren't ready, and the greyish dusk covered walls, floors and objects including the bodies, although textures and objects seem mixed with those of Egypt's, like the tridents and some of the wall textures in the first level. The lighting great although I expected it to be darker. The gameplay is cool. I actually like the idea of long shimming with the darts shooting on my way, rope swinging across the balconies, and finding tridents. It feels adventurous with them. As for the puzzles, they feel just right, not too hard, even though some things like moveable blocks and that one crawling space in the beginning can't be seen with bare eyes. Conclusion: this level-set is memorable, and is fun to play at anytime. I think I'm gonna replay this right away." - Nephilim

"I start be saying that this is one of the most beautiful level I've encountered. No just by the great atmospheric scenery but by design as well. Extremely well built with a logic that I've rarely seen on TRLE, the play went really well, with a few moments of stumbling and disorientation, but it didn't bother me. From the beginning when I tried to jump over the spike pits on the slope all the way to the Colloseum I had a lot of fun. Every room is beautifully decorated, colorful red lights and vivid textures compiled with specific Roman objects, everything was amazing! There are just a few cons that I wish were non-existent, like the random spike pits in the narrow corridors, the Atlantean creatures(preferred the minotaur in the maze over those)and rooms of huge heights(fell a lot from high platforms after the Colloseum episode) . As a feeling this adventure is close to the original TRs, in terms of authentic atmosphere and gameplay, I highly recommend it to anyone!" - young Lara Croft

"Another good work from this excelent author. Magnificent architecture and texturing with well worked lights, big areas to explore (sometimes you can't see the end of the very huge rooms) with a nice environment and a lot of work to get the four tridents I needed to get the final prize. Only some comments: I missed the first secret so I had to play all the game without the genade launcher, and was difficult to do some simply tasks with the annoying skeletons at your back. The very long shimmy in second level was unnecessary and bored. There are some places with unmarked ladders, the same texture is not climbable in another walls but it's climbable in certain walls. In last level I need to backtrack a lot; I arrived to the colosseum, did a lot of tasks and when I got the bronze key I wanted to use it in the nearby keyhole but it didn't work, so I had to came back a very long way to the very beginning of the level, take the other path to get the right key, return to the beginning again, return all the long way back to that room in the colosseum and finally take again the long way back to the very beginning to return to the 2nd level; all this was very insane for me. At the end of the game you can exit the level without the armor. Except for that details, the game was very good." - Jose

"This game really appealed me with its well designed underground city environment. Author has used roman textures and objects very skilfully and managed to make very nice looking and atmospheric sceneries.I found gameplay to be rather easy and usual but still very enjoyable including many smart ideas. All in all this is well balanced game which I can recommend to everybody who haven't played it yet." - Samu

"This is an incredibly atmospheric set of levels. The grey distance fog gives the impression that the air is still full of volcanic ash and the empty wide streets give a real sense of isolation. The architecture is also wonderful, the temples are lovely and some are reminiscent of TR1, the Lost Coliseum especially. There is plenty to keep you occupied in these lovely surroundings and even though a lot of the tasks are difficult they are not impossible, with only the long wall climb being annoying as you have to do it twice." - Kitkat

"Actually, this was among the first few levels I've played when I first discovered trle.net, but alas I didn't have as much level experience as I do now, so I never finished this level. Now with who-knows-how-many levels I've played, this wasn't such a confusing trip, and a rather fun one. This three parter takes place in Pompeii, an ancient roman city that was destroyed with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, yet the volcano hadn't destroyed the parts of the city we're visiting in particular. Throughout the three levels, the tasks are diverse, the lighting effects are quite lovely, and you're guaranteed to almost never be bored. The levels revolve around collecting a key and four tridents, which in the end you'll use to get to the armor that you've been searching for here, though the levels have their flaws. For one, I felt that some enemies were placed a bit too close to each other, like having to fight a demigod while you're being chased by a couple of skeletons. I suppose it isn't anything drastic when you have the grenade launcher, but I was without one. At some points, I also disliked the placing of the circle blades, as it's quite hard to bypass them sometimes, so there were quite a few reloading moments there. These are still quite fun levels, and are worthy of being played." - Relic Hunter

"I cannot for the life of me imagine how I let so much time slip by before playing these marvelous levels. This is raiding in the grand tradition, and I enjoyed every minute of the four hours or so that it took to navigate all three levels. The gameplay is challenging but not difficult, the scenery is consistently pleasant and at times spectacular (I'm thinking about the spacious coliseum where you engage the bull near the end, together with the huge temple you access using the trident heads after that). Gerty has recently provided a revision of Monika's walkthrough, both of which were very helpful getting me past the few trouble spots. There's a little bit of everything here, including tapestries you can walk right through, so you need to pay attention and be prepared to do a considerable amount of backtracking at times. The layout is quite immense, but I never had that feeling of frustration that I sometimes experience playing these wide-open levels. Highest recommendations for this near-perfect set of levels." - Phil

"Certainly a very nice level to play, you'll visit many great looking rooms, some of them a bit empty. But that will give you the idea of a huge place. The only thing in this level that really bothered me were the way too long ladders and climbwalls... Boooring! Put something to do in between, maybe some jumps or stuff like that and don't make it so that you have to do that same lengthy climb back again. The atmosphere was really great, texturing done perfectly and also the lighting of the rooms was very good. I had a hard time getting that bull to move, but after the tip to shoot it that problem was fixed, there was one door I couldn't open, the one with a Secret behind it at the beginning of level 3. Your goal is to collect the 4 Tridents through out the 3 levels and when you finally use them the exit opens. There weren't too many cameras when pushing buttons, but maybe that was intentional?" - Dutchy

"This is a fantastic 3 level adventure. What is most stunning is the large beautiful areas. The lighting and textures are just perfect. All the temple like areas are very realistic. The difficulty is hard and sometimes you would have appreciated more cameras to show you what happened after pulling a switch etc. The view over the colosseum near the end was jusr breathtaking. This author really has the skill for large areas with amazing details! Way to go Cowboy!" - QRS

"These were three very good levels but it seems like I didn't enjoy it as much as most of the other reviewers. Yes - the new objects look good yes - the texturing is good and yes - the gameplay is quite consistent and the levels are enjoying. There's just something missing. What I don't know. Anyway the first level starts with a slide (very much like the slide in Tomb Raider 3) which is accompanied by the music you hear when 'The Times Exclusive Tomb Raider Level' starts. A hint would be to not jump too soon (even I didn't understand that hint... Well at least I know what I meant). After the slide the level may seem very confusing but it's really not - at least not after the first ten minutes. I said that the new objects look good (well many of them are taken from other Tomb Raider-games) but I wasn't too impressed by the large stones (you'll know which ones I mean if you play the level) - they just didn't work right. What I didn't like about the gameplay were the many hidden blocks. Are you reading this level-builders? No more hidden blocks! You think they listened? Well jokes aside hidden blocks are very unfair and especially one block was incredibly hard to find. The levels revolve around finding four tridents which you need to get to the armour you're searching. When you finally get to the armour you can choose to just leave it which seemed a little strange. The texturing is as I said good (even though I wasn't so crazy about the choice of water-textures). These are three good levels which I recommend that you at least try. They take about 90 to 100 minutes to finish." - Magnus

"The WOW factor is very high right from the start. Lara looks down a long dark tunnel and you just know it's not going to be a simple run to the end. Down into Pompeii and as we all know it was buried under ash from the eruption so the form of unfortunates who couldn't escape were preserved forever and here they are on the ground. Very nice touch. It's absolutely gorgeous temples pools objects. I really love Lara's hair and shades but her outfit is awful not because she's wearing a jacket and trousers but because they are very blocky and unreal looking. Particularly noticeable are the carved stone statues the window surrounds and the colossal gold statue you get to jump across onto it's hands. You get a lasersight early on for good reason keep a look out for lion's heads to shoot and a lot of the giant vases are shootable too. A great idea of just pushing open gates when I thought I needed a switch or key to open them. And into an enormous temple interior with run-through flags. I kept wondering why I got a fixed camera pointing at a square in the floor only to realize hours afterwards that it was a trapdoor a very clever idea Michael. Then in the enormous pool area where you have to use ropes to get to that curtained balcony I did my usual trick of doing things the way I'm not supposed to. I jumped from the side balcony over to one of the columns beside the flags and got into that room. Of course the door wouldn't open and I had to dive back outside into the pool only to realise long afterwards when I did get the ropes and thought 'why am I going back in there?' what I had actually done wrong. I would never in a million years have seen that pull-out block if I hadn't read about it to get the key. Outrunning boulders Lara makes her way further down into the bowels of the earth. The water textures in the first two levels are that white specks stuff from TR1 the last pool in level 2 has no water texture at all and here in level three they are starting to work properly even though some surface textures are not moving. She discovers another huge temple which is a bullfight arena. This looks terrific. Old Torro has been waiting 2000 years for a bit of exercise and he has to think for a few minutes just what he did to move his legs. We meet the hammergod here well I suppose he is a bull too. And finally onto another temple where we place all the tridents we gathered. That last room was a challenge with slamming blocks spike floor and Atlantean demigods. Excellent level. I didn't mind that ridiculously long shimmy job but I could have done with some camera shots and flybys to show what I did." - CC

"There are a couple of things one can do on a Sunday and as the weather wasn't that nice outside I sat down and tried this level. Although there is now a walkthrough I rather play it without one and had a peek when I didn't know what to do anymore. Luckily for me once I knew to shoot a lions head I kept my eyes wandering in every corner nook and cranny. The ending had me baffled a lot as I completely forgot the trapdoor in level 1. This was such a great level to play only whine I would have that some of the climbable walls aren't identified as such so that was a bit of a let down. For the rest feast your eyes out. The bull had to be on pills as I had a hard time to let him smash the tiles instead of Lara glad there is a reload button. I also found a lever behind a banner that opened up a door behind a painting in the big room with a pool after using a golden key. You could get in that room from the balcony opposite and there is also a secret inside AND a lever. Never found out what that lever did though. There are nice traps throughout and not that many enemies but exploring is so much fun anyway. Found 7 secrets 28-04-2003" - Gerty

"Raiding the Lost City of Pompeii never looked more authentic than in this triple level feature. This is quite a difficult set of levels with some not so obvious moves that require you to go three steps forward before taking two back. Placement of some key objects was in my opinion just plain nasty but then again with the upheaval time subjected that city to I suppose it was fair enough. Amongst the petrified bodies there are many skeletons even some of a famous explorer who lost his way here and firepower is somewhat lacking until later in the adventure so the skeletons are a right nuisance. The demigods are easily taken care of with just the pistols and they in actual fact are less of a threat than the skeletons. You need in total some eight keys to proceed and on the way you will discover four tridents but it is only in or by the last area that you get to place these. To get there you even have to participate in a bullfight and the only thing that was missing was the roar of the crowd as Lara led the bull into one breakable switch after another. My one criticism was the unendurable shimmy along a wall that once completed you had to do all over again to get out. Other than that this set of levels offers some exceptional raiding." - Torry

"From a tricky start this is a great level with lots to tax even the most experienced of gamers. I nearly missed the grenade launcher right at the start and I'm glad I didn't as without it some of the later sequences would have been near impossible as I don't think there is another simple way to dispose of skeleton guards. The design is excellent and with the temple all laid out in a row gives the impression of a long distance being traveled to solve the puzzles and get to the end. The rooms are gorgeous and there's a nice mix of ruin and intact along the way. The secrets are behind doors on the main and it can be frustrating to not know what opens the doors - a few cut aways would have been very much appreciated when levers are pulled or pick-ups collected that opened the secret doors. This is quite important as the level is big and a lot of time can be lost just running about to see if doors have opened or not. The link into the final level is very poor indeed. I like levels to almost seamlessly link from one to the other but here you run down a corridor and end up facing the wrong way in an underground tunnel. I'm sure this could have been better integrated together as the other links between levels are very nicely done. A final gripe: there's a trapdoor in the floor towards the end and I would never have realised except for the walkthrough on this very site. I feel it should have been better marked or highlighted as you could spend forever searching for a keyhole for the last key and never find it. I also found that keyholes could be used more than once - not that it does anything except lose you a valuable key ... each key goes in a different keyhole. Overall an excellent level with lots of thought put into it." - David

"A three-part level with 'old' friends and good ideas. For my opinion too much colour - but I liked playing it. Enemies are skeletons bears an Atlantis-Demigod a lot of traps and balls and darts. You have to collect a lot of keys and of course the 4 Tridents to get into the Final Room. Some memories you will get of TR1 and TR3 - for the Coloseum and the Voodoo-Man. Pushblocks are not so easy to find - you have to try. Sometimes to much fog for me. But all in all nice Game and nice Sound." - Miguel

"I've loved every minute of the game even the traps and the big boulders falling. It's one of the best levels I've played: the graphics are perfect and the re-built of an ancient Roman city is very beautiful. Some of the rooms are simply breathtaking. There are only skeletons and few Atlanteans two crocodiles/fishes and a shark; all of them very well placed. There are 6 secrets and I got the six (thanks Kristina) each one with their own room. It's a superb level that all raiders must play." - Loupar

"Great set of three levels really brilliant and beautifully designed. Lara's new outfit is very nice. She has her hair tied up and wears pink glasses. The gameplay is exciting and quite difficult. There are impressive rooms and few crawl spaces very well hidden. The atmosphere is superb. In some areas it's spooky. The room with a skeleton and a man hanging on the wall is a macabre touch. You find different kinds of enemies: gladiator skeletons reptile fishes a shark Atlantean demigods a hammergod a bull... and a lot of triggers: pushable doors movable blocks lion's heads to shoot spike traps boulders rotating knives... Flybys are amazing. Secrets are Golden Skulls. I finished the game with a Breast plate left greave right greave left gauntlet and right gauntlet in my inventory. (???) I didn't know what to do with. It is a fantastic adventure worth to play. Don't miss it!!" - Cuqui

"The Lost City of Pompeii (8/9/9/9 45+10 min. 3 secrets): I just love those outfits where Lara has her hair tied up and wears sunglasses. This time she begins to explore a Roman style environment after a tricky slide avoiding a few spike gaps - getting the grenade gun here will make your life with the Roman skeletons (great!) much easier later on. There are also nicely reworked 'Atlantean demigods' and pumas to battle as well as a lonely fire wraith to extinguish. It's all about exploring the beautifully crafted environment for two Gold and two Silver keys and two tridents. Secrets are accompanied by golden skulls. Very good object placement along the way a few good and helpful camera shots and well hidden movable blocks. The big statue is always impressive and I like the gauntlet passage with swinging spike things spikes and darts plus a few enemies thrown in. On the downside throughout the whole series the climbable textures are not always that obvious and the five ropes swing was rather tedious even though it was linear and not diagonal. At the end of the levels you will come back here to place all four tridents around the magnificent underground temple and end the level after avoiding some squishing blocks and more enemies. The Lost Temple in Pompeii (8/8/9/9 45 min. 1 secret): Continuing happily along here are a lot of vases to shoot still pumas and skeletons to blast away and this part has the biggest gameplay downside which is the utterly boring endless sideways climbing wall. Again a Silver and a Gold Key needed and the third trident to acquire. The maze with levers is thankfully small some of the flybys are really good and my heart skipped a beat with the three huge boulders. Some very nicely crafted caverns to explore later in the level and the central pool room with the stairs and paintings looked awesome. The Lost Colosseum at Pompeii (8/9/9/10 45 min. 2 secrets): Biggest amount of skeletons in this part I think plus a few croc-fish and a shark thrown in as well. After making your way through the caves for a Gold key you will then reach the beautiful coliseum with its huge arena. Both the maze you find the trident in while being chased by skeletons and the hammergod and also the arena bull fight were thrilling and fun. Pick up the Bronze key and off you go making your long way back to Part 1. All in all a thoroughly entertaining series in a very well crafted environment. Of course it is easily being frustrating as you can go long ways only to find out you needed to do something else first but if all fails there is always Monika's walkthrough ;-)" - Michael

"I don't want to mention everything about this great series or it would take too long but I do want to comment on some of the best architecture in a level I've seen in a long time. Room after room of gorgeous temples pools and buildings - all perfectly planned textured and lit. Gameplay was exciting as well though sometimes frustrating with the well-hidden keys tridents and pushable blocks. There's a great bullfight in an arena a maze with a hammergod seven secrets to collect Demigods that look like Atlantean mutants a huge statue great puzzles and traps rope swings and finally a piece of armor to escape with in this series of levels that is truly worthy of being in the top 50." - RaiderGirl

"As someone who enjoys fluid game play although this is enjoyable and difficult game I think it's possible to say that this level is over-complex. Clearly a lot of work has gone into this game it was delightful to see unusual elements and game play such as the bull or the maze of switches but the over-ornate (possibly rococo) design of some of the quests was a bit too 'rich' for me and dying a lot tends to reduce the 'fun' aspect but increases the 'ordeal' aspect in this game. I guess I have plainer tastes. There seemed to be an awful lot of weapons pick ups later in the game without any tremendous need for them and I wondered what all the gold skulls were for but perhaps I don't understand that element (have only played TR 1 2 3 & 5). Anyway probably just not my sort of game - as other reviews attest many people love these complex ordeal type of games and the author kindly replies to email requests for hints." - Coral

"Lost city of Pompeii has very nice and excellent work of lighting and making secrets. All 3 levels are very interesting and good for playing. Finished game in about 5 hours and found 8 secrets. Nice is the changing between some parts of lost town and after when you go into area of caves and dungeons. Wide surround very well colorful easy to see big areas like colosseum (this time there are no monkeys and lions):)) excellent rooms with water pools and stairs floors balconies and a lot of other very nice skeletons enemies (YES there is our old 'friend' mummy from Tomb raider 1:))). Congratulations for making great levels and looking for the next!" - Ivan

"A wonderful adventure of three levels with a little backtracking. One can easily guess what the atmosphere is from the title. You guessed right all the levels have the scenery and textures of Rome and at some point you can enter the arena and get chased by a bull. Demigods skeletons and animals that looked like dogs plus the big guy with the hammer in a complex maze are your enemies. As much as I enjoyed all of the levels I have to say that a couple of times I was bored. Like when Lara had to climb across a room well more than three rooms with small spikes down on the floor and every time Lara got to a corner she was loosing health. It must have taking me five minutes in total back and forth. In another area at the first level she didn't want to get out of the water so I was there for at least two minutes trying to convince her to get out. The good things though in this level are much more but unfortunately the puzzles are keys and tridents not a big variety. I particularly enjoyed the secrets not very hard and not too easy golden skulls all of them with the crossbow coming too late but still needed. The player will come across stargates rolling balls deep pits pools ropes and much more. The music at the end was quite good. The reward for reaching the end is the five armour pieces with moving columns and spikes blocking your way out. I could never have guessed that in one room there was a movable block it was perfectly textured but then again I could have never finished as there is no hint to point at it. Another nicely covered trapdoor which once again I could never have found without help made me think that what really makes this game so enjoyable is that although you play alone you actually don't not with all those raiders out there sharing the same fun as you do and willing to help at a difficult time. All I can see is that it was worth the entire four hours I spent playing it and it is highly recommended." - Kristina

"This game has three parts and they were to my hearts delight. My enthusiasm was dampened in between when I didn't open a door the way it was meant to and was stuck for a while. Tricky tricky. Then I just couldn't find the big pit in the third level. I had done almost everything in the arena but had no key to open the trap door. Oh my does one feel stupid when the solution is so simple. More by accident I found the grenade gun right at the beginning and I just can't imagine how one can play on with them skeletons on Lara's heels and no way of blasting them away. I found 6 secrets (I left the seventh where it was because of health problems). Lara met skeletons Atlantean creatures panther reptile fish a shark a hammerman and a bull. Real nuisances were the skeletons coming up single or even in fours. I liked the atmospheric big rooms and caves. I didn't like the to my opinion unnecessary accumulation of rotating knifes. Then the already mentioned long way to transverse a climbable wall and back again was bit boring. It took some persuasion to get the bull going. The bull race was fun because Lara just had to run straightforward towards the tiles. At the end you have two options. Either you leave without the piece of armour or you get it and leave the hard way. It took me about 4 hours (statistic) to finish the level but then I normally don't hurry when I play." - Monika

"Absolutely amazing level will certainly have another go at this one in the future. Everything was just so nicely balanced and the whole of the three levels just seemed to flow along. In most levels I have difficulty remembering where things are but in this one it was so easy. Not that the route was always so simple but there were so many interesting landmarks to help you on your way. Loved Lara's new costume as I must admit to getting sick of looking at those pneumatic boobs all the time. The richness of the textures the imaginative temples and sumptiousness of the surroundings all helped to make it a slow level for me. I just could not help but stand and look around me and marvel how much work and thought had gone into this game. Anything else I say would just be a repetition of all that has been said. I am still gob-smacked by this one and will remember it for a long time to come. It was also nice of the author to look in on the Forum and help out. Well done Michael cannot wait for the next one." - Tortoise3

"The petrified bodies the authentic architecture the gloomy and spooky caverns... put all these things together and you have the makings of a great Pompeii adventure. Amazingly for a game set in Pompeii you won't find any lava here. What you will find is a set of three perfectly intertwined levels that will provide you with 3 hours of prime tomb raiding. One thing I liked about this game is that it challenges you to 'think outside the box' - for example I was stuck for over an hour searching for a key or a button to open a gate when all I had to do was push it. It goes to show you how conditioned we can become in our reactions to standard-looking objects. There's nothing standard about these levels though the look and feel of the whole thing is completely unique. From eerie caves to magnificent Roman temples you'll relish every minute you spend here. Even secrets (of which I found 6) are located in their own specially created rooms. I can't really pick out any highlights as practically every second of gameplay was a delight. If I was to be really mean and pick out a couple of low points I would only mention as other people have the long shimmy around the walls and also the minotaur maze (but that's only because I hate mazes). Also I would have liked to have seen just a few more flybys and some more camera work. Other than that this game is a real winner and I am absolutely dying to see what Cowboy will offer to us next. If it's half as good as this I'll be one happy woman. Great fun and very highly recommended." - Bex

"The Lost City Of Pompeii is a three leveled game that will get you by your computer through enjoyable hours. Taking place in Rome Lara starts of in the city which is PERFECT awesome very well designed then she gets deeper and deeper in the city so she reaches a temple and finally a lost Colosseum which is very similar to the TR1 one this is an arena where Lara fights a bull. Lara must find four tridents in order to get inside the temple where the magic armor is. The enemies on this level were of many kinds: and mostly they were new! There are TR1 panthers different kinds of skeletons and even demigods that were completely a surprise for me! The unique things I would have wanted different were a few extra cameras showing what each switch did as there was one that left me in doubt but you can make your way though it without them so they would be only an 'extra help'. I already said and I repeat: this level MUST be downloaded. It gave me 2 hours of fun and I found 4 secrets." - Treeble

"First and foremost to me this is not the Pompeii that is near and dear to my heart. I first visited Pompeii in 1960. As I learned then Pompeii was a rather decadent vacation area for the wealthy escaping the heat of Rome's summer months. Lost City of Pompeii does not play on the sexual proclivities of the early Romans. But it is a fun game. The enemies are rather easy to kill save for THUNDER. And the secrets -- I found seven -- were not too tough to find. The feel is VERY good. Each of the environments were well drawn and blended together comfortably for me. The flow of the game was reasonably logical and I only had to rely on the forum for assistance once (thanks again guys [gals is implied in guys]). I enjoyed the level more than many." - Dougsan

"A very enjoyable 4+ hours of nonlinear gameplay. It seemed that almost all of the needed pickups and switches were an adventure of their own. I really enjoyed the Arena it was easy to figure out what to do but getting that damn bull to cooperate was a bit of a challenge and the maze with the skeletons and the Minotaur. I also liked the way you had to move back and forth through the 3 levels. The enemies were well placed and the atmosphere was great. The Cowboy has made great strides from his first level and maybe read an earlier post of mine requesting an artifact to take home. Highly recommended!" - Moon

"This level took me 4+ hours. A completely non-linear adventure having Lara traipse through the ruined city of Pompeii looking for an artifact (armour). In the 3 parts of this romp you will collect I can't remember how many keys and 4 tridents flip numerous switches and suffer some horrendous hazards. You will be defending yourself against very nicely dapper in Romanesque attire which in my case was done without the benefit of a weapon in addition to some demigods a bull and a pretty nasty minotaur. There is nothing simple about this saga and I must confess to being ready to give up more than once thank goodness for the forum. There are lion's heads to shoot sliding squishy blocks and a exceptionally abhorrent swinging spike thingie while jumping over spike pits with nasty skeletons on your ass. I know I'm not alone in believing the absolute worst part of the level was the loonnngg shimmy around and around walls. Totally unnecessary as there was plenty of stuff to keep you occupied without this boring piece of work. A definite must play." - Momster

"Another great level! This time you can really get the feeling of being down underground in Pompeii with all those dead ashy bodies everywhere. You're both in palaces and underground in caves. You have to find several keys so that you can locate and pick up 4 tridents which opens up the door to the treasure - The lost Armour of a Roman general. What creatures could be guarding this treasure but skeletons! And they have a little help from Atlanteans (for some unknown reason ;-). ) Lots of puzzles and an non-linear gameplay. This is a must play level for sure - 4 hours of fun!" - G.Croft

"The Roman levels in TR5 are among my favourite so I was pleased to raid in Pompeii. There is no outside areas here only caves and beautiful roman temples. The graphics are really beautiful the textures are mainly from TR5 with some from TR4. I was also happy to see again the railings with greenery from TR1. The lighting is well done worthy of a professional game. I found the shotgun only at the end of level 2 and the grenade gun in level 3 so the battles with the legionair skeletons and the Atlantean demigods were great fun with only the pistols. There is a lot of enjoyable things in this adventure both in the fluent gameplay and in the new features. By the way I like very much Lara's new outfit and haircut. I would have given a perfect score with a few more puzzles or difficulties. No this quest for the armor was not too much difficult no timed doors no tricky jumps the most difficult was to spot the movable block and the trap door in level 1. The corridor in the amphitheater was a great idea someone had to create it. Some authors have proven that a lot of additional music is not necessary to create a great atmosphere The Cowboy is among them. I want to thank deeply the author I had more than 3 hours of happiness in Pompeii." - eRIC

"Superb series of interconnected levels. Easily missed grenade gun right at start which could cost in health. Puzzles mainly involved finding the triggers; lion's heads moveable blocks and the keys which don't fit the level you are in so must be taken elsewhere. The bullfight I found the easiest ever with no loss of health once you find the right method. A thoroughly enjoyable level." - Fairy Godfather

"A great three-parter which is a lot of fun. Most impressive was the variety in colourful lighting and the gameplay. There were really a thousand ways leading to Rome. The retextured objects need to be mentioned as a lot of work went into them. I did not like the style (not the selection) of room texturing which could be seen mainly in huge rooms and there are quite a few of those. To apply only one texture for a huge cave or area is already brave but to then not even rotate or mirror it makes it look kind of unreal. You almost see that the author seemed too bored to care but it would have been worth it for this gameplay. A pity this would otherwise be a total masterpiece. Also the many unmarked climbing walls were rather annoying. Still: a definite must-play as this is one for the adventurer in each of us. The Coliseum in level 3 reminded me a lot of TR1. It was a copy but a very good one. Lara's outfit was also a nice idea. After seeing many things (and smiling at some) here she had her hair tied up - nicely done. Cameras and sounds were rather scarcely used. I would have preferred a little more support here. Nevertheless a great work - I had five hours of addictive raiding with it. Note that the many traps in this level are really devious so save a lot."" - Hendrik

"What a nice set of levels this was I enjoyed every minute of it. I recommend not to waste your medipacks though cause even though I found at least 6 secrets which were very generous in pickups (therefore the high rating) I still ended the level without a single medipack because deadly legionairs Atlantean demigods gladiator skeletons a bull the Minotaur loads of stargate blades darts and spikes forced me to use them frequently! Sometimes the legionair amount was a bit exaggerated but it's ok. There are some nice new objects like the remains of the Pompeii people the big collossus and the face like statues. The fly-bys are nice and the cameras helpful so be sure you don't skip them cause you might go around wondering what to do like I did in the beginning searching for the gold key. I also would've rated the textures a bit higher but I didn't like Lara's outfit very much. Even if these are not the type of levels I like to play I enjoyed these from the start till the end (where you can choose to get the armor or not but if you went through the trouble of playing the levels you might as well get it." - eTux

"I really wanted to like this level cause I didn't care much for Michael's debut rated it rather low and got a very nice mail from the author wherein he explained a few things I found strange and then he went on and thanked me for my criticism. He promised to try harder with his next work and to make the secrets not that easy to find. Well what can I say it was definitely worth the effort cause this is a fantastic adventure that kept me entertained and glued to my computer screen for 210 minutes and there wasn't a dull one amongst them. Wait a second I tell a lie; there is this never ending sideway climb that you have to do twice. That must account for six dull minutes but otherwise it's just top quality raiding from start to finish. Well there is one movable block that gave me some trouble and the placement of a lion's head seemed rather illogical to me but otherwise I could manage. Where shall I begin to list the many virtues and marvelous aspects of this triple feature? I can only give you a few appetizers cause there is so much to see and do. Right the highpoint for me was the climatic bullfight in a beautifully textured and built arena. Honestly I was missing the cheering crowd here cause it seemed so real. I never care much for the encounter with the dreaded animal but if the scenario is as spectacular and apt as it is here I couldn't help but feel totally overwhelmed by the experience. Shortly after that you run through a maze looking for a trident while a hammergood is in hot pursuit and some mean skeletons are lurking behind corners. It's such a thrill and worth the download alone. But this is not by any means the end of it. There are some very awesome rooms that are as authentic and atmospheric as the settings from Inchdix and they are among my absolute favourites. I loved the little areas that you get with the secrets the roman skeletons are great (I'm not so sure about Lara's outfit though) there are quite a few utterly wonderful textures that I haven't seen anywhere else and the petrified bodies added a nice Pompeiian touch. Michael employs all of Lara's abilities to maximum effect and all those tasks make perfect sense with the storyline the setting and the course. Everything else you better find out for yourself. There is only one thing left to say: Don't take the easy way out once you reach Neptune's temple but go for the grande final. It's brilliant. If people continue to build level like this I dare say that we will continue to play them." - Dimpfelmoser

"These three levels were well designed not only for the atmosphere but also from a visual point of view. Lara has here much to do. She must the find four tridents in each level and they are well hidden. Many traps to overcome e.g. climbs jumps labyrinths levers and switches in quick succession therefore you stay for a long time in the same area. There are numerous opponents waiting here for Lara and those are well placed. The puzzles are well though out. Lara has to find altogether 8 keys... But it is no easy task. I found 6 secrets. One can find the shotgun and two grenade guns when you observe carefully ;) The opponents looked very much alike above all the skeletons to the Romans. But one thing I have to complain about if one takes the head and to the switch Lara loses a lot of energy and I find that somewhat unfair otherwise is it very well designed and I would recommend it to everyone." - Engelchen Lara