Level reviews

"This 45 minute raid had me excited in the first five or ten minutes, then somewhat bored for the next 20 minutes trying to find doors that opened and that interminably long climb to the rooftop which had to be repeated time and time again. Then, after finally placing the two gems the level picked up again with mysterious alien corpses and parked submersibles (in the middle of a city building no less). Lighting was on the verge of being too dark but adequate flares are provided. The level was not bad, not great but certainly playable." - Torry

"This is a bit of a mash up of - Nightmare in Vegas' and' It's a Madhouse' that actually works most appealingly and I rather enjoyed exploring the night-time city. The gameplay is simple and straightforward and the alien base bit at the end gives an added frisson. If you're looking for a short, easy raid from the early years, that isn't yet another Tut1 clone, this would fit the bill nicely." - Jay

"Although admitedly this level isn't really engaging as far as gameplay is concerned, I rather liked the small city design. You spend about half the playtime going back and forth as you find switches and open doors, until you eventually retrieve the two horseman gems and gain entry to a secret lab. I liked the twist, but I'm not sure how much of a good idea it was to have Lara swim in those waters lol. The lighting is a bit tiresome in the eyes, so it's in your best interest to play in a dark room (flares are plenty, I finished with well over 50 in my inventory, so it's not necessary a "dark" level). 35 minutes, 1 secret. 03/18" - Treeble

"It's a shame that the gameplay is a bit repetitive in places because I really liked the overall appearance of this city. The alien segment near the end of the level may be a bit more appealing than the beginning city part which was rather dark and gloomy but I found both parts to be very attractive with nice usage made of the Madhouse and Vegas textures, plus the sterile base ones. There's a little too much lever pulling and running to respective open door for my liking and Lara exits the level with the Dragontooth at around 35 minutes and I was left with the feeling that a little more puzzling wouldn't have gone amiss. A commendable debut however." - Ryan

"Pull a lever, pull a lever and pull a lever; a lot of exploration with no entertaining tasks. The first part in the city was boring with a lot of backtracking and explore a huge and dark area finding often dead ends (I wasn't lucky in that sense); I had to climb the very long ladder three times. The second part in the aliens area after I found the couple of gems was a bit better, more lineal and fluid gameplay. Even so I was only shooting some enemies and pulling more levers. At least I found enough flares and ammo for the uzis and the revolver. The best were the lighting and the texturization. Good debut anyway." - Jose

"This is the debut level of a builder who was fairly prolific during the early years but who has not released anything new of late. The crudity shows here in the city environs, but the gameplay is quite varied and lively, and most of the tasks require finding various artifacts to open doors so you can progress. Enemies are dogs, guards and bats. When you get to the alien outpost the graphics improve immensely. Total playing time was a little more than 40 minutes. An impressive beginning." - Phil

"A very simplist level wich ends pretty quickly. The action takes place in a dark city with secret labs where the military have hidden some aliens bodies and spaceships. Very funny the warning: Don't climb the sculpture! and of course Lara is a bad girl and doesn't respect this warning.Some interesting posters on the walls, but too much darkness.A splash of colours in some windows brings life to this city." - dya1403

"A reasonably absorbing adventure which makes some attempt at developing a storyline; but you never really feel as involved as you ought, probably because the Gameplay is mostly about pulling levers to open doors. Quite a few nice touches abound (the floating aliens, the shimmy and the 'hidden' crawlspace), but parts of the level seemed unnecessary (the swim to the Big Medi - of which I had quite enough already; the raising block at the end) and the atmosphere in the city was a little too gloomy, with 'end of the world' problems all over the place. A decent first level, though; and it whiled away 50 minutes pleasantly enough." - Orbit Dream

"I loved these Madhouse-style cities but I do like a little more in the line of gameplay as well. This is a fairly big city and there's a lot of running around the streets to find a switch that opens a door a couple of blocks away and then find something else to allow you into another door around the corner. I had a fairly good idea where all the closed doors were that I passed but it became a little tedious running to all of them to see which one had opened. Then again I've just come from a split second timed run/defeat a tough boss/numerous death traps levels so this was a very pleasant change of pace. When the spacecraft is finally reached and you get to go underground where the alien bodies are things become even more spookier. It's very well designed lighted and coloured. And the ultimate goal is a crystal. Fairly straightforward only places I was stuck for a minute was a very well hidden shimmycrack and crawlspace. Just a matter of keeping the eyes open. A pleasant level." - CC

"A nice Level with new textures. The location was planed very well and the ambience does its work too. Cameras - maybe the builder does not like them - doesn't really matter - but would have brought maybe a bit more of this intense atmosphere. Good sounds and all in all I found my joy in playing it. There is a surprise - but you can smell it before. About an hour of playtime and not so difficult." - Miguel

"You play this in two stages the first in a darkly lit city block complete with large yellow sculpture looking for two gems that you place atop a skyscraper and the next spent in a base that is riddled with dead alien bodies in water and spaceships. These environments were nicely crafted although nothing brilliant but they were just not filled with anything other than levers to be pulled and one target to shoot. Enemies here were dogs and SAS I found only one secret right at the start and the atmosphere was fairly nice in this 35 minute level but we just need more to keep our interest than levers!" - Sash

"And it was a mysterious city. Imagine that there will some sort of base under your city bear the thought. Getting 2 gems so you can enter the base is the main goal here. You can't get lost but take care to look at crawl spaces and jump levers. I liked the little touches the author put in and although dark not that dark that I couldn't find my way around. Found the revolver and later the uzi (secret) so all those SAS men and some dogs and even a lost bat were no match. In the base itself you have to enter some of the basin the aliens are drifting in yuck. But all in good course so that at the end Lara can escape with the Dragontooth in her backpack. Hope the girl will slip this tidbit of news to the press. 15-12-2002" - Gerty

"You start out in a city at night dark and gloomy. You meet some guards and dogs. You have to find two gems to open the door into the secret alien area where your task is to find the 'dragontooth' (what I suspect is an alien artefact). Pretty linear easy gameplay with a lot of levers to pull." - G.Croft

"In 'Mysterious City' what looks to be a normal little town is really a secret project funded by the government. Your first clue of this is the fact that there are Elvis posters everywhere (we all know that he never really died - he's just being hidden by the government). Your objective is to figure out how to get into the secret lab which is located high on a rooftop. Once there you will see the hangars where the alien spacecrafts are being held and the green pools in which the aliens themselves are being stored. There are a few soldiers around but if you kill them (just pretend they're politicians) you can collect the green alien artifact and then make your escape. Remember don't tell anyone else about this city or one day you'll wake up to find some mysterious unmarked vans parked across the street from your house." - RaiderGirl

"For what I assume to be a first effort by the author I think it's well done. The very believable and mysterious city darkness pervading throughout. Some difficult bits in this such as finding the lasersight. After that it's basically linear finding what the lever or jump switch did. But I enjoyed it and after placing the 2 gems I expected it to be the end but there was more and quite entertaining. Enemies were easily dispatched and no threat and a well done portrayal of aliens." - Momster

"The first half of this 45 minutes level is spent in a nightly city area with a nice piazza a monument you are not supposed to climb (nice touch) several levers to pull and two gems to find. Liked the flower and aquarium textures as well as Elvis and some good care was taken of lighting. I found only one secret (Uzi) rather early. After the gems the setting suddenly turns into a base environment with UFOs and aliens which I thought was kind of fun especially as more sound music was used to enhance the atmosphere. At the end you find the Dragontooth artifact." - Michael

"Not my way of fun. The whole environment is quite dark at places more that it should be. The player has to go through a city with not many objects and quite a few SAS guards with some dogs wandering around. Your goal is to find two gems within this city and flip many jump switches to proceed. Some swimming and climbing is involved and it's not going to get any better along the way. Although the aliens and O.U.F.O near the end were a nice change. After getting the dragon's tooth the level ends leaving the player unsatisfied." - Kristina

"A fine level especially because it's the authors first. Like in many debuts there's not much to the gameplay just a few levers jumpswitches a search for a well-hidden crawlspace and trapdoor. The whole setting is nice but I kinda got lost here cause I didn't know where to go after activating a lever or a switch but with the help from the forum I didn't get stuck for too long and finished this adventure in 35 minutes. The textures are nice and I liked some of the lighting effects from the shop windows and lanterns. Also the aliens in the water and the Lost Artifact subs as spaceships were a nice touch. This reminded me just a bit of the 'It's a madhouse!' level from the Lost Artifact and I loved that level so my ratings could be a bit higher than the level actually deserves. But all in all a fine level to which you can give a try if you want to." - eTux

"It starts out in a gloomy and deserted city where you have to explore around in order to find all the crucial items so that you can access the main building complex. From then on the setting becomes more spooky and the gameplay rather linear. Mind you it's more or less about flicking levers and jump switches from start to finish with a bit of crawling swimming climbing in between. Nevertheless it is fairly entertaining cause the atmosphere is very believable if a little on the dark side at the start and the game has a nice flow by and large (apart from one cleverly hidden crawlspace near a misleading jump switch). I liked the little details like the Elvis poster the display of flowers and of course the aliens floating in the pool. On the other hand the placement of enemies was rather predictable while the storyline is a little half baked; it struck me as too contrived with two gem slots high on a skyscraper and the one dangling sphere that you have to find revolver and lasersight for. But the final room with all the crates and the three flying saucers was nice to walk through and bearing in mind that this is a debut I think it's a solid and original first effort." - Dimpfelmoser

"For a debut level - respect! A pretty small city level. Textures were partially very well applied. In my opinion it was not too dark although one needs many flares. The puzzles were not difficult. Well for beginners aptitude opponents were usually SAS. Lara must run much here to pull levers. Lara finds in the end a blue artifact. The camera did not always show what happened however one knew where one had to go next as the level was not too large;) The sound came in the end more to the validity... But overall a very fluent gameplay... and well designed." - Navi

"This short and very linear level gets my vote for the most cosy fireplace: I immediately wanted to rest Lara in the comfortable chair and let her read a romantic novel. But hey the girl had to work so she was treated to some greenish and foremost dead aliens lots of them. Although it was night and...ahum...pitch black (ok it was do-a-ble this time with all the flares you could find) she also had some time for window-shopping (nicely done) monument climbing (oh what little children we are when we read a sign "Don't climb the monument" ha-ha-ha yes we will!) and rather good apartment climbing. Short and sweet." - bERT