| Reviewer's comments |
"For a level purportedly built within three days, and a debut at that, this is surprisingly well-constructed; especially the central area, which features glass walls, a stairwell, sliding doors and folding doors complete with proper frame. Most of the rooms that go off it, though, are obviously speed-built (simplistic, boxy, and too large) and thus detract from the overall favourable impression. It’s a VCI level, so you will be shooting guards and workers, searching cabinets, and acquire keycards—nothing out of the ordinary, though you will probably appreciate that the duct-crawling is kept to a minimum. Since it’s a debut, you will also encounter random stuff like a vending machine that dispenses small medipacks rather than the fizzy drinks it advertises (an optional one-off occurrence), or an inexplicable explosion that has no consequences whatever; but these are minor issues. What’s a shame, though, is that the builder didn’t give it a couple more days to restore the samples (almost all of which are missing; there are a few situations where you might not even notice that you’re being shot at), and also have a good night’s rest, maybe give a second thought to that excessively long pole climb, which pretty much destroys the game on the home straight.
I never used the M-16 because I encountered barely any enemies after I acquired it, and a final shootout sadly didn’t take place. This is all the more surprising in view of the fact that the builder previously threw enemies at you in bulk, to the point that the shooting (with pistols only) became rather tiresome. Thus, enemy placement overall isn’t well-considered, which is a bit of a drawback for a shooter; but I liked the laser traps. They’re not insta-kill, and you could simply run through them and swallow a medipack afterwards, but if you want to avoid taking damage, you have to roll at the right moment. If the level’s enemy / medipack ratio were better balanced, this could have made for a good timed challenge. As it is, though, the level is merely an average shooter that plays out in a setting realised somewhat better than average, and ultimately undone by the builder’s bonehead decision to refuse players a proper finale and instead provide them with a very good excuse to use the flycheat." - Mulf (15-Mar-2022) |
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| "Yup, a shooter through and through. You gun down a small army of guards and workers as you gather three security cards to eventually reach the helipad rooftop where you see the enemy fly away in the nick of time. Lighting is quite flat, but I liked the general aesthetics of the place (granted, generally empty rooms, but there's something about the use of VCI textures that appealed to me), and the side-sliding doors were a perfect fit. There was a huge shaft where you had to use a pole to climb down and then back up (and another one just next to it for a secret) which felt like pure padding; that alone might have taken me about 4 or 5 minutes, which is quite a bit considering the overall length here. 20 minutes, 2 secrets. 10/20" - Treeble (04-Oct-2020) |
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| "This is a short base level that's
incredibly simple to get through if you
manage to keep your bearings inside this
complex. Not that the rooms are
complicated to explore, but you will be
revisiting certain locations so you'd
better have a good memory. No real
puzzles, but plenty of guards and workers
to shoot, some crawling, cupboards to
search and an excruciatingly long pole
climb up a lift shaft. One guard seemed in
painful contortions which I thought was
quite bizarre. Nothing really enjoyable
here." - Ryan (10-Dec-2017) |
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| "A pain all the missed sounds in this level, I think the author got problems with some tool or so, and excessive number of sounds are missing. The architecture and texturization are Ok, but the gameplay is quite simple, kill some enemies to get some cards and use them to open some doors; I didn't need to use the coin to finish the level, and the bad detail were the tedious tasks to climb the too long poles in the last part of the level. I missed a lot an extra weapon to deal with the numerous enemies 'cause the secret uzis appeared too late and I never found the revolver or the grenade gun to take advantage of the ammo I found for that weapons. Nothing interesting in this level, but playable anyway." - Jose (01-Sep-2016) |
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| "I'm not a great fan of VCI levels but had a degree of fun
here. The rooms were somewhat oversized and I never did find
the refreshments machine for the coin (it wouldn't go into
the soda machines), but this was a good time-waster of about
30 minutes killing both armed guards and mechanics with
wrenches. The long ascent up a pole was rather tedious -
about 60 pulls in total - especially as you have to do this
twice if you decide to ascend the secondary pole for ammo and
the Uzis. Sadly, after getting the Uzis there was nobody
left to kill." - High Priestess (01-May-2015) |
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| "Try this for a laugh: At the start you're standing beside a helicopter on a building with the city at night background all around. A guard comes towards you to shoot at you. Run behind the helicopter and turn to watch him hop on top of the helicopter. He's trapped there now and if you go in the door along the corridor then back to the helicopter he's gone. Voila - disappearing guard. You are inside the building now and it's the VCI set you know brown walls glass paneled offices desks brown cupboards and shelves to rummage through Lara gets the coolest M16. Loved the concertina gates that rise with each pass card you find. The next guard you meet totally ignores you until you meet the next one what a coward. The orange mechanics are maniacs and have no problem charging at you with their gynormous wrenches. Careful each time you open cupboards guards creep up on you. You find a coin and there are Cola machines nearby but the coin didn't work in them and I've no idea where else it can be used. You drop out of an open window on the side of the building to the office below. As you enter an explosion occurs - beats me what it did. And when you finally run back out to the helicopter it rises in the air but as you approach under it you get a quick flyby of a guard coming after you through the door. Great stuff. Very easy level to do. Loved the load screen. BTW those very long poles I was able to do a run jump from the second entrance back to the first pole but unfortunately I couldn't do it the other way round because that would save a lot of climbing. Perhaps someone else will be successful." - CC (08-Aug-2003) |
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| "Not a very thrilling adventure through the VCI alike surroundings here - basically it is yet another shooter where you search for cards and shoot a bunch of innocent workers. What was extremely boring was the looong pole climb - fun to get down but very boring for getting up. Also the secrets were almost too obvious - you see where it is what matters is if you bother to get it (for example the secret to which you get from the other pole rope). Also there was no real reason for the explosion / earthquake to take place on the lower level. And of course there's the issue with the missing sounds. Well go ahead and download this if you lust for a VCI type level." - eTux (27-May-2003) |
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| "Now I didn't know what to expect from the title but it really intrigued me a good title name is a great selling point what I got was your fairly run of the mill VCI encounter which didn't thrill me all that much. I would tell you about everything you'll find but you all know by now what they entail so for the diehards out there add it to your level conquest list but we've all seen better. It does have one outstanding feature though one of the longest pole climbs I've had the displeasure of meeting!" - Sash (18-May-2003) |
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| "Run around an office area to start and then progress to two very very very long pole climbs. Collect various key cards and end up seeing the 'copter take off. Some "puzzles" in finding your way but nothing overtly a puzzle. Scenery standard with nothing out the ordinary but the sound was a problem with certain moves and baddies being silent. Was it me who missed a download?? Short level but worth a play if you like shoot 'em ups." - Whistle (17-Mar-2003) |
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| "A short shootout level. A lot of baddies either shooting at you or banging on you with a wrench. Find three access cards to get around the office building. Search cabinets for medi-packs or ammo. Some sounds are missing and Lara doesn't have the animation for lighting a flare." - G.Croft (15-Mar-2003) |
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| "This level reminds me of the Skyscraper from TR5. You have to collect 3 Cards. The blue one is dropped by a soldier and Lara can use it several times. The red one can be found beneath a moveable block descending through a window of the skyscraper. The yellow one awaits Lara in the basement of the skyscraper in a wardrobe. You can get a M16 and a Uzi too as I found 2 secrets. Although there's a closed door in the basement and I saw a few rooms after a crawlspace but I was not able to discover none of them. I managed to pick up a Snack Machine Token too and I used it at the slot machines to the extreme right but I didn't get anything for this. There are plenty of enemies both soldiers and workmen. The textures are cool they fit well to the level. The gameplay is quite simple I think you can't really get stuck. I suppose the level will be continued. There are no added sounds but they aren't missed as well." - Obig (12-Mar-2003) |
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| "This is an efficiently made smallish level but (as is the case with almost all the VCI adventures) it's essentially charmless. You simply run around collecting key cards and shooting the menacing men (many of whom enjoy running pointlessly into doors) occasionally varying the gameplay with a visit to the toilet or a really utterly tedious climb up a very long pole in order to get a pointless secret. I wasn't too sure of the significance of the room with a small earthquake either; but it's well-enough made to provide you with a half-hour or so of fun in a somewhat predictable 'shoot-em up and open cabinets' type of way." - Orbit Dream (04-Mar-2003) |
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| "Nothing out of the ordinary here but a nice half hour run through the familiar base/office environment. Like bERT I had lots of sounds not working. You get to search cupboards battle lots of guards and baddies (the M16 is cool but there was not a lot of ammo for it). Two secrets found (Uzi and grenade ammo - is the grenade gun another secret?). You need three cards to make it through and while the attempt to use the coin to get a medpack out of a snack machine should be commended - I would suggest to only do this if you have the building skills of a to name one Tomo ;-). The pole climb in the elevator shaft was ridiculously long and spoiled the overall fun a bit but it's a nice level for in between anyway." - Michael (03-Mar-2003) |
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| "After learning that her 'colleague' John Stone has tried to rob her of an important artifact Lara flies her helicopter to his skyscraper and tries to hunt him down by searching the many floors of the building. She first has to find a number of key cards that allow her access to the many security doors one of the most important being the 'toilet access card' - why is the important stuff always in the bathroom? There's also a snack machine token that can be used on a soda machine though I'm not sure what that did exactly if anything. I found at least two secrets which helped with the many attacking soldiers and wrench wielding thugs who often attacked in groups but John Stone himself was escaping with my helicopter by the time I made it back to the roof. A fun half hour level with overall easy gameplay." - RaiderGirl (03-Mar-2003) |
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| "A base level. Find 3 cards and you have access to all the rooms. There are some SAS men to shoot as well as some goons. Cupboards to open and finding a token you either can take with you or exchange it for a small medpack. Found one secret the Uzi and some ammo and a medpack. The sound files are missing so no sound while shooting. In one room everything turns black and Lara has the wrong animation when a flare is lit. Finding the Roof Access card will give you access to the roof where a helicopter takes off leaving Lara to defend for herself while some goons are coming at her. It felt as if the level wasn't finished as I found some doors that are still closed but as the readme tells you about 'more levels' I sure hope all the doors will be opened in the end. 02-03-2003" - Gerty (03-Mar-2003) |
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| "A basic sort of tech level. Many key cards to collect therefore open doors and a lot of workers and guards attacking Lara the rifle and Uzi were very handy. She can pass through a few objects and many sounds were missing. I liked the idea of using a token in one of the machines to get some health. I wonder if there was another token somewhere as two of the machines had medi packs but I could only get one I tried them all by reloading a savegame just to be sure I am not missing an important item. I found two secrets and after half an hour Lara got up on the roof and the level ended with a helicopter the same way it started but this time it wasn't Lara in it. I think inside was John Stone making his escape." - Kristina (03-Mar-2003) |
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| "Nice little tower office level with the feel of a small story. Nothing really new maybe but not boring either. Lara lands in a helicopter but will she get out in time to get back on it....? Prepare for a lot of 'orange overall' people and guards trying to stop you at finding all the necessary security cards. Not sure what the cause of the little earthquake was other than maybe it just being ... an earthquake (or was this September 2001?) Something went wrong with the enemies' sounds which can already be noted when the compiling of the TOM file ends with a few errors. Two secrets I found were easy. Oh yeah before I forget you have to pay for your 1/2 medipack now..." - bERT (03-Mar-2003) |
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