| Reviewer's comments |
"Those who have played Dominik’s Level will be glad to hear that while monkeyswings are present in this follow-up, none of them is excessively long, nor are you required to use any of them more than once. However, the builder’s urge to excess found another outlet. In this one, he has taken to carpetbombing his map with shadowbulbs. What happened here is what often happens when a budding builder commendably decides to tackle TRLE’s lighting system—with ambience left at default 128, he placed a number of shadowbulbs to make it darker, and a number of lightbulbs to selectively make it brighter again in some parts. As with the ambience, no changes were made to the default settings of these placed lights, instead the builder left them to battle it out among themselves. Many beginners fail to realise that these default settings are actually extreme, cranked up to eleven so to speak, and supposed to be turned down when lights are placed in the map. If you don’t do that, you get a persistent clash between shadows and lights, which results in splotches of pitch-blackness pierced by patches of inexplicable brightness, and ugliness all around.
So the level doesn’t look good to begin with, but not too bad either; there are levels with similar lighting problems which manage to get away with it to some extent. However, in this case it gets worse as the level progresses. For one, you never acquire any more flares than the three that you start out with; and then, about halfway through, you are deprived of any additional source of illumination (binoculars, gunflash) once the flare bug kicks in. This still wouldn’t matter all that much if you could simply ignore the parts that are too dark to see anything, but you can’t. In one case, the builder hides a crucial pickup in a black splotch; in another, you can barely make out the puzzle hole for the Music Scroll, and that only if you look at it from a certain angle against a slightly brighter wall in the background. The Music Scroll, incidentally, figures in both of the builder’s levels, and in both its puzzle hole is placed awkwardly on a two-click block rather than the pedestal that goes with it, which is also a common practice in beginners’ levels. The issue of invalid load screen coordinates has since been rectified, so the level no longer crashes on death or reload.
It’s a Catacomb level this time, and it takes the form of a room–corridor–room adventure. This loose format seems to suit the builder better than the more rigid hub structure of the debut. Occasionally you have to retrieve an item from somewhere in the vicinity, but the focus is on traps, which works better than the recreation en miniature of standard setups that the previous level concerned itself with. One quadruple-rollingball trap appears to teach a moral lesson (greed will get you killed). As in the debut, the builder demonstrates that he is adept with flyby cameras, though they are all of the pretty rather than the useful kind. At the end, the level “fizzles out”, as Orbit Dream put it, in a dead-end room with no finish trigger, even as it seems to gear up for a skeleton battle." - Mulf (09-Oct-2024) |
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| "Maybe a slight bit more advanced than this
builder's first level, but there's still
no real spark to the gameplay. There's a
couple of fire and boulder traps that are
easily avoided and a bit of swimming and
artefacts to find, so nothing at all
extraordinary. I was also annoyed by how
dark it was and there are absolutely no
spare flares around, and you'll need them
to locate a receptacle shrouded in
darkness. At the (presumed) end, there
doesn't seem to be any finish trigger,
which is always a bit deflating. Not among
the most exciting of levels." - Ryan (17-Nov-2018) |
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| "I'm not fond of catacomb levels but this one is fairly easy
except when the flare bug kicks in and you have to guess
your way through the very dark place. There's a simple
puzzle with fire tiles, some mummies and bugs that have to
be avoided, a wraith and a skeleton who has to be thrown to
the lava. You pick-up a trident and the level ends there,
even when there's no finish trigger." - alan (05-Mar-2018) |
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| "It's an improvement on the first level certainly, but it's still a bit lacking in oomph to say the least. There's the odd trap to avoid and a bit of swimming and monkey swinging - all rather standard fare with the added irritation of the flare bug towards the end of what is a very dark level in parts. There are a couple of mummies, which you have to avoid as there isn't any explosive ammo to be found, and a lone skeleton at the end you can shotgun over the edge of a platform. Nor does there appear to be a finish trigger." - Jay (05-Feb-2016) |
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| "While most certainly better in terms of texturing, I didn't really find this level to be much of an improvement from the builder's initial debut in all honesty, with dull gameplay, far too dark lighting, plenty of glitches and the lack of a proper finish trigger this time around, making the general experience all the more unpleasant to go through. So in conclusion, not recommended." - Ceamonks890 (02-Jul-2015) |
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| "Small level easy to play with a lineal gameplay and no puzzles to solve. Some traps to avoid, few levers to pull, I only got "problems" in the final room with the trident until I checked the walkthrough. There are some missing textures and no enemies to shoot except the skeleton. Rooms with many shadows, I didn't find enough flares to light my way. Playable but not very entertaining." - Jose (29-Jun-2015) |
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| "Aside from a missing Load screen this is not badly made,but it fizzles out completely without a Finish Trigger.
The textures are applied competantly,with the occasional mis-placement;and gameplay is simple and straightforward and will never have you standing around for long. If it was all young Dominik's achivement,then good for him!" - Orbit Dream (14-Jun-2009) |
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| "Normally the first level is bad and the next is better. Unfortunately, it has exactly turned back with Dominik. The second level is worse there than the first one. These are not necessarily the textures, they are cleanly applied, as far as I could recognise this. And there is the problem. One could recognise too often nothing at all because it was too often too dark. This would be not really so bad if one had then enough Flares. But they were here goods in short supply. Or more exactly to say around it: They were non-existent. And such a thing is an absolute no-go. Besides, there was the Savegamebug. If Lara sometimes died or one wanted to load a former savegame, one fell immediately onto the desktop. Both Horsemen Gem and the scroll were to be found easy. One searched a Finish-Trigger in vain. Opponents were a skeleton, little beetles, a ghost and a few lonesome mummies
Result: Not necessarily recommendable" - Scottie (12-Jun-2009) |
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| "Although technically this level is better than the first I had more fun with the first one. Probably because Catacomb levels do not appeal to me but even so I am being accurate with my ratings. This level is pretty straightforward but in the end it seemed to be just a rushed work because in the last room there were several missing textures a monkey swing that didn't work and no finish trigger. Besides every time you reload you'll be bumped back to your desktop. It's not likely to happen though because the level is easy and short." - Treeble (11-Apr-2004) |
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| "Ten to fifteen minutes of gameplay the flare-bug (there are also many dark areas) easy gameplay and no finish-trigger or load-screen. There these are the bad things in this level. The texturing on the other hand is quite nice even if it could have been improved in many ways. If it hadn't been for all the bugs the short time it lasts and the fact that it's rather boring this level could have been much better - now it's really not worth downloading." - Magnus (29-Jan-2004) |
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| "A good level and it is a shame that the load screen was absent also no finishing trigger. Also encountered a wraith that stalked Lara although it gave me some light at the dark places as the flare bug kicked in as well. Apart from the above a good level and with a bit more though it could even be a great one. Where is the next one? 22-12-2002" - Gerty (29-Dec-2002) |
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| "This is a really cute level that is set in many nicely designed small to medium sized rooms. Having some well executed traps usually involving spiked boulders or fire I found myself having to reload from scratch quite a bit because it would crash back to desktop which did become slightly irritating another downside was the lack of flares as it was a really well lit gloomy level there were a few dark areas that they would have come in very handy. Taking me just under 30 minutes to finish well I assume I did but I found no end trigger this is a constant well paced level." - Sash (13-Dec-2002) |
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| "Because I couldn't get rid of the wraith I had to use dozy to add some more medi packs to Lara's backpack and from then on it was an easy sprint to the trident but before that I had died quite a few times so I cursed the missing load screen. The spiked boulder traps were quite good but they are no fun without a load screen. Has anyone of you ever noticed that it's mostly Catacomb levels that have no load screen? There must be a reason for this I guess. Anyway apart from those drawbacks it's a entertaining adventure through a simple and linear course. The setting is solid catacomb standard with a convincing atmosphere that is a little dark in places." - Dimpfelmoser (13-Dec-2002) |
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| "It's not going to get higher marks because of the missing load screen. I am sorry but with the firetraps it's impossible not to get annoyed or mad. It's not too much to care about those 'details' is it now. Anyway the textures were better this time and the environment is standard catacomb. A scroll two gems and a trident that I never used are the items the player will collect. It's rather dark with skeletons and mummies at the last room you get the shotgun. I didn't find a finishing trigger although I spotted a block in the wall that could have easily been one it should have lowered when picking up the trident but then again how should I know what the author had in mind. Only for the trouble I got in the loading process I don't recommend this level." - Kristina (10-Dec-2002) |
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| "Having enjoyed Dominik's 1st I'm pleasantly surprised by the further success of Dominik's 2nd. Nicely thought out gameplay enemies are not terribly difficult and some decent traps to avoid. Falling boulders fire tiles to get 2 blue gems a scroll and finally a trident but no ending trigger. It took me about 20 minutes to play." - Momster (03-Dec-2002) |
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| "This was a fun catacomb level to play with good ideas for the gameplay/puzzles. There are good puzzles and traps in little rooms with a good atmosphere. In two places you can do things in two different ways one way is more clever than the other. Lara does not die often here but the annoying thing is the flares bug I found no flares and I could not even see where to place the scroll. I suppose that the room where Lara finds the trident is the last one. So she is happy to have found it but how will she come back home?" - eRIC (29-Jul-2002) |
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| "This could be quite a fun little catacomb level if it didn't have so many problems. Most annoying was the fact that the game crashed every time I died which was too often for me with all the traps that are sprinkled throughout the level. Plus there weren't enough health packs and unless I missed how to turn them off I had to run through a lot of fires. Also with all the fires the flare bug occurs towards the end and there are quite a few dark areas. During the level you encounter a skeleton or two as you find two gems a scroll and finally a trident and I assume this room was the last as I found nothing else to do. This author has some clever ideas and the textures and camera work were well done - I hope he continues building." - RaiderGirl (28-Jul-2002) |
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| "Especially if you consider that Dominik is only 8 years old this is a fairly standard but solidly built catacomb level which will entertain you for half an hour and I promise you will have to reload a few times as there are some pretty good traps. The improvement areas are water textures some corners are too dark and no flares provided and a load screen is missing so it crashes back to the desktop but anyway the level is worth a quick try." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "This would be a well done little level for anyone let alone someone who hasn't yet reached the ripe old age of 10. The gameplay elements are all there including some puzzles and traps and the texturing and lighting are handled quite well. Cameras are used effectively too. The only things really missing are a load screen and an end trigger. Keep up the good work Dominik!" - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002) |
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