Level reviews

"Undoubtedly a level with good potential: the effort made with the custom objects/weapons is pretty neat and the way some of the elaborate architecture is laid out is certainly impressive, but unfortunately the gameplay completely destroys it. Even following the walkthrough word by word, I encountered more than my fair share of crashes, too many to mention and I reached a stage where they got so frequent that I couldn't continue any further whatsoever (just after the underwater crawlspace section), so that was it for me. You also have to endure a nightmarish crawlspace maze with jagged and sloping geometry everywhere, so getting stuck was the order of the day for me. This was possibly a too ambitious undertaking for the author and as a result it's earned a rather notorious reputation over the years." - Ryan

"Part of me wanted to leave this as one of the last 2002 levels to play in this weird playlist of mine, but part of me also wished I could just never think about it again, so I decided to play it with the walkthrough close at hand. While I never experienced any crashes (thanks to Harry's pointers), I have to say that the "difficulty" in this level is extremely artificial. In one of the three readmes included, the author states he set out to make the hardest level he could build, and while level design does look overambitious, with several areas I never even needed to visit (and some I couldn't, even if I wanted to), simply navigating this place is extremely annoying (not difficult) as there are so many crawlspaces -- above and under water -- that are too tight for their own good so you get Lara crawling on the same spot perpetually. And, to help matters, at least one scorpion is included in one such crawlspace. "How fun," said no one ever. Visually while some areas looked like a weird mash-up of different sets, I actually liked the rather psychedelic feel, but I can't in good conscience recommend this level to anyone. There are plenty of objects I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else, which is sort of a plus, but for the most part I felt Lara's new outfit was a rather unfortunate choice of color as it often looked as though as she had no shirt on due to the lighting. 80 minutes, 1 secret. 04/18" - Treeble

"Unlike what other reviewers stated, it is possible to finish this level without using cheats, since the "steep monkeyswings" can be simply traversed with angled side-swings, and the crashes are seemingly intended from the builder - he simply didn't want players to go the wrong way first, but those things alone don't quite make this a better game. It's indeed a heavily confusing one, with some rather non-player-friendly tasks like the spike traps which will definately cause you a lot of health and overall a tendency to annoy the player as much as possible, with those incredibly tedious underwater passages and crawlspace mazes - of which the latter actually pose some challenge, but in a way that is simply not enjoyable at all. The progression is overly obscure at times, there are non-resettable timed doors not marked as those and lots of other things that make this a mild torture to get through. On a positive note - the variety of custom enemies and objects is a fairly strong element in this game, with most objects being refreshingly unique, although they don't always quite fit to the scenery. The atmosphere is most different in the rooms, with architecture being sometimes rather intriguing, sometimes not realistic at all (many wrongly connected rooms and badly executed transitions between areas), and the efforts put in lighting and textures is as welll best described as so-and-so, but the lighting is overall stronger than you would expect in a debut level, and texturing, while having several obvious mistakes, sometimes feels quite detailed and there's a neat customization in the textures as well. But the main critisism is that it's not a well worked on and rather unfinished level, although I somewhat stumbled on the three quest items and to the finish without having explored each and every area in this game. What a pity, really, the builder shows glances of genious here and there along the way. 50 minutes." - manarch2

"If ever there was an award for the most annoying level in the history of trle scene, this one should be nominated. Firstly it can't be finished in a legal way as more than one monkeyswing does not work. Added to this , very annoying moments , which are not only annoying but also boring. If you like navigating in narrow crawlspaces mazes, both on ground or underwater , you will have a great time ! There is also some bigger rooms , not a lot of puzzles , many fixed cameras , and challenges with ramps where you have to beat a spiked ball. (For the first one I simply placed Lara under the spiked ball to shoot the box, so this one was easy-peasy). Gameplay wise it is not that great while the playability is abysmal. The author has made a good work to create custom objects , puzzles pieces , enemies , or statics , but that alone does counterbalance things a bit except for the rating. As for the looks , they are not bad but average with a mixing of textures , both for the rooms and for the objects. I played this one for it was in the wishlist, and I can say now its reputation was not usurped." - eRIC

"Sorry but this has to be one of the most annoying custom levels I've played. Start with the game crashing in many places (I can't remember how many times I had to restart the LE). Throw in some extraordinarily dull and irritating crawling where Lara is stuck at nearly every turn then add a mish-mash of textures and colored lighting and here's the result. It seems the author created some neat custom objects and enemies and decided to cobble together a level to showcase them. Too bad his skill or interest in the LE didn't match his skill with Meta." - Tombaholic

"Why is Lara doing Statue of Liberty impersonations with her flares and why is she wearing a furry animal round the back of her head? This is a hard level to rate. On one hand there are some interesting things going on - really well re-textured objects and some entertaining moments of gameplay. On the other hand the game crashes in various spots for no apparent reason which is soooooooo frustrating I almost gave up on it and the crawling through those claustrophobic tunnels is unbearable. It's all a bit of a mess really which is a shame because with a bit more effort this could have been such a good level. A conversation piece rather than a thing of beauty. 25.07.2003" - Jay

"I have to reiterate what everyone else has mentioned. There are too many crashing points though to me this was the least of the bugs I also found monkey swinging areas that were too steep to pass and I'm not talking the kind you can just pass on an angle but ones that make you come to a complete standstill so I had to flycheat through you also sometimes had to save before pushing a button or level as most things were timed and if you didn't make it then they wouldn't reset and finally the worst of the lot was the fact that there was way too many areas that I couldn't access although I could still finish which was very frustrating so I flycheated to see what I missed and sometimes the level would crash again or you could just go a certain way before coming across a closed gate that meant I was coming from the exit way and not the entrance. All this is a real shame because with the wonderful new objects great warrior woman enemy fantastically hard boulder chases and quite interesting route through although sometimes extremely annoying at times with the crawling and swimming through small entrances this had so much going for it and was a pretty fun 100 minutes of play." - Sash

"Crash level that should be the title. I was warned and I even kept score to a certain point and probably was my own doing that the minute the game crashed I could slap my head as I sort of knew that I choose the wrong way again and again. The textures are a mishmash and for me it didn't work. Lara's hair for crying out loud sometimes I think people go out of their way to alter the girl please please do yourself a favor Dave I rather would let the author focus on gameplay than how the girl looks in this case. Nice touch was the rope (or whip) Lara carried on her belt. Also the poor girl have to hold up her hand when she uses a flare must have hurt a lot after a while. For the rest do pay attention to Kristina's review she says it all. 08-01-2003" - Gerty

"Now Dimpf zero for gameplay is a bit tough isn't it? I mean you are right - it is significantly interfered with by all the crashing and such and I hated the level for that but despite the fact that it could have been sooo much better if the author had cared just a little more about his offering you do get a lot of work to do here which does value some number in that category. Now not trying to repeat to much from Kristina's thankfully very elaborate review here are a few of my likes and dislikes in this level. Likes: Lara's outfit (special mention for Torry - this is one for you! And later there are even more explicit textures on the walls J); very intricate architecture creates a bit of realism; fancy weaponry great custom objects spikey crocodiles and a great female warrior; Lara's new way of holding a flare (that arm must hurt after a while). Dislikes: The attempt to modify Lara's ponytail failed miserably in my opinion; the crawling through one triangular opening after another becomes downright tedious after a while; some of those boulder traps were really a bit tough; the long sideways climb totally uncalled for. Interesting to have a look at - not necessarily needed to play it to the end - it's kind of tough to achieve that anyway with various places where the game crashes to the desktop." - Michael

"This offers a exquisite collection of new object and weird places but the gameplay is a total disaster. In fact I think it's virtually unplayable. There are no less than six places were the game crashed on me and I have no way of knowing if the areas that thus become inaccessible are vital for finishing the level. I find it quite odd that the author states in the readme that he has worked for so long on this project that he can't be bothered to put any more effort in it. Young and upcoming Level designers let that be a warning to you. Rather start with a simple and small tutorial exercise if you have no idea how to fix those bugs. Also right at the start you get the most horrible crawl maze that I've ever encountered. You'll have to feed Lara medipacks so that she can shimmy through spiked pits the ceiling is so low that she gets constantly trapped and at times completely vanishes in the floor (reload time). There are moments when all you see are the stalagtites that make this maze extremely tricky to navigate. It's just utterly frustrating and boring. There is one frantic boulder chase that is pretty exciting (complete with dramatic camera angles) but you also get long climbs and a never ending pushing object puzzle. True the object you have to push is darn good but after five minutes of pushing it loses some of it's initial appeal. There is some great experimenting with textures but most of the time it doesn't really come together and results in an eerie patchwork tomb that seems just too unreal to die in. I think the author should have split the level in two or make it a bit smaller. As it is it's just an experiment in terror but those waterfalls and translucent vessels give you an idea how great this could have been if David had tried to stay whithin the limits of the Level Editor." - Dimpfelmoser

"Well it looks like I ran into all the same problems that Kristina did like the bugs and problems with the level crashing so I won't repeat all that again. The level itself looks absolutely amazing though with its wild colors and textures the use of lights and water and the new objects spread around. Even Lara's outfit is new as is the way she holds the flare. The enemies are new and include a croc with spikes all over its body and a new ninja woman that looks like a female body builder on steroids. This would have been so great if the author had been able to fix some of the problems." - RaiderGirl

"What a waste and I say that because if it weren't for the bugs this level could have been very good. There is also a lot of confusion in it. To start with you don't know where to go one room leads to a pool the other is the one you have to place the three artefacts to proceed and a closed door I never got to open which needs a key got me thinking that it needed more work. Well the author does warn about the bugs and that he wasn't willing to try and fix them because of something else going wrong every time. The game crashes to the desktop at areas you are not supposed to access yet although there were at least two areas I couldn't access even after I got the three items I needed so I don't know what to assume. At the beginning you need to pass a pit with spikes but you will loose a lot of health so be careful of how you use your medipacks from that point on as you will need to get back the same way. The player has to crawl a lot in more than one occasion and remember even the small openings that seem not accessible they are you just have to use the right side. The crocodiles had spikes on them and the enemies apart from the dogs were retextured ninjas to women warriors. Most impressive I would say that with the sun bird you will place in a kind of bar birds stand the sword of Ramhaktak and the jar of Zuzuzalu made me give a high mark at the second category. There were two other things when Lara was lighting a flare that had beams and she was holding it high up and her hair were long but obviously not well patched as you could see them swing and tell where the connection was with the rest of her hair a good try though. A very complex area was one with levers in between closed gates which you have to get back and forth so many times that gets a little frustrating not to mention the many trapdoors in the same area. What really got me bite my lips though was the underwater tunnels with the narrow openings Lara barely made it through every time and I did that over and over again in order to save my health and of course after I found out the correct route I had to follow. Another room that the player has to climb side ways is huge meaning not tall but you will be doing it for so long until you reach the lever that you might fall asleep unless you use a useful bug here what I found out was that if you jump to grab the climbable surface above in the middle Lara will grab the ceiling and you save a lot of time by monkey swing instead of going around the whole room I did it both ways by the way. The movable objects are new and the textures although colourful and interesting are mixed and looked like they are patched together rather than giving a complete picture. At the room which you will get the sword though I noticed a couple of images on the wall that were showing Lara with a flare in her hands in one I can't remember the other one so I guess they were taken from inside the game. Close to that room there is another room which you have to outrun a boulder the corridors are narrow and many and you have to run like the wind I have no idea how many times I did that part to actually get through it. There is another one like that combined with a jump switch further ahead but not as bad as that. The end comes after placing the three items you required along the way and in a sandy area. I did have a shovel I never got to use plus an opening I never got to in the first pole at the beginning and the key for the door I mentioned above. I don't know if it has to do with the couple of areas that were still crashing so I just want to mention those parts in case I missed a part of the level so that it's only fair to the author. Normally I would say to try this one as it has very good elements to show but because of the bugs mentioned above I will leave that up to you to decide." - Kristina