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Level: Mystery of Rome (Il Mistero di Roma) back home search
Author(s): egyraider
total rating:5.61 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Dutchy 6 5 5 7
eRIC 4 5 6 7
eTux 4 4 4 5
Gerty 4 5 7 8
Jay 5 5 7 8
Jose 6 5 5 7
MichaelP 5 6 7 7
Orbit Dream 3 5 7 8
SSJ6Wolf 4 6 6 4
category averages
(9 reviews)		 4.56 5.11 6.00 6.78

Reviewer's comments

"I seem to be having a bad streak with picking unfair levels. This one gets the silver medal of unfairness with its unmarked insta-death floors and climbable walls which are in some cases not distinguished at all, and in other cases poorly distinguished. The climbable walls are not too hard to guess at when you reach a dead-end, but the magical death floors are used to the max, including two "puzzles" in large rooms full of pillars, and you must jump from one to the next, guessing which ones won't make Lara spontaneously combust. In addition much of the level is quite dark and you only have your 3 measly flares, so you will find yourself stopping to use the binoculars often as the dark hides essential things. When the level is not dark, it has blinding 128-128-128 lighting, and there are paperthin walls and stretched textures to break what feeling of the level could have existed; what I mean is that I kept thinking that I was on some sort of ancient spaceship instead of someplace Roman, though that also means you can look forward to a more unique-looking level. Some objects are nice and ornamental, but most of the traps placed were not too effective, unless you consider the whole level a trap. Brace yourself for an interesting experience, have the walkthrough ready, and jump in." - SSJ6Wolf (05-Nov-2008)

"This time Lara explores a kind of palace full of traps and enemies: lions, ninjas and crocs. Lineal level, full of dark corners, sometimes you can get stucked 'cause there are several unmarked climbable walls, but the level is easy to play. It could be the level with less pickups I've ever played; only four puzzle pieces and a medipack! Where are the flares? Where are the guns and ammo? Even so I had no problems to finish the level only with the items I had at the start in the inventory. The level is playable but I missed some real puzzles. Textures were the best for me. At the end the game crashed." - José (15-Apr-2008)

"Certainly not the Rome I remember from my last visit here. Instead a 30 minute long debut level with interesting architecture and texturing, a few ninjas, crocs and lions to kill and lots of swimming and running, some blade traps and four pieces of the Horus Eye to find. If there were indeed clues to the symbol textures I totally missed them, but try and error worked as well, even if a bit tedious. The occasional missing texture and not very consitent handling of climbing textures were a big no-no, but nothing too bad here either. Worth a look for its different looks." - MichaelP (15-Apr-2008)

"A very atypical Rome setting you won't see in many other levels out there - it's certainly a departure from our classic understanding of Rome levels and somewhat decently done at that, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that the author had used only a handful of textures to set the whole level's scene. On one hand - as said the looks are somewhat ok, so kudos if he could achieve that with his laconic approach, but at the same time I couldn't overlook the simplicity of it all and didn't enjoy it as much as I would have with a little more work devoted to the settings. Gameplaywise there weren't that many memorable moments and it mostly resolved with taking Lara from one area to the next one - sometimes revisiting some of the previous ones and so on. What added some spice to the mix were the faceless ninjas, the battering rams making your task of maneuvering across an (not entirely obviously portrayed) deadly floor, the few rooms with interesting architecture after that particular moment and the high pillar jump puzzles. But I have to be ants at the picnic as far as depicting those particular moments as well - since the climbable walls after the battering ram parts are not depicted as such, and the pillar and colonnade puzzles closer to the end seemed entirely trial and error as I could not make out an obvious pattern when I tried during the game. But at least you can somehow unintentionally make the colonnade puzzle shorter half the time - by simple performing a long running jump past every 2nd set of pillars without bothering to look for the safe one there. Now - you could certainly do worse than playing this level, and I have no doubts that there is a small gem behind all those flaws, but I'd probably wait for the author's further releases to see his skills shine, despite the good moments had here." - eTux (08-Apr-2008)

"And still the debut levels keep coming. This one is quite good, although the biggest mystery for me is why Rome is full of ninjas. It looks a bit different – not particularly Rome-like, but definitely interesting. The gameplay is uncomplicated, involving finding eye pieces and shooting the aforementioned ninja hordes, plus the odd crocodile and lion. It may not be exactly edge of the seat stuff, but it passes the time pleasantly enough and is definitely a most creditable first attempt. Certainly I would like to see this builder’s work again in the future." - Jay (02-Apr-2008)

"This level for sure looks good at least I think so and architectural it is quite interesting. Nice use of textures and well placed enemies. There are however some missing textures and paper-thin walls. Gameplay is poor I found, as the whole lay out is rather empty, so running through empty spaces feels weird. What I didn’t like at all is where Lara has to do some jumping into sort of corridors without being fried and without any inkling which tile was dangerous and which wasn’t. The levels does end rather abrupt but this builder for sure has a lot of potential. So when will there be a next one?" - Gerty (30-Mar-2008)

"Built around the Karnak with some modifications (like the ninjas with a different head or the lions), the main interest of this level is in the textures used which are not seen often. The lighting has been worked on, but the builder still lacks some practice in this category. The main task here is to find two Eye artefacts before reaching areas with symbols. The end is a bit strange with this moving spiked wall that does not seem to serve any purpose. A good first level , not very eventful , but not unpleasant either." - eRIC (28-Mar-2008)

"Visually this is a refreshingly pleasing little adventure with a striking use of unconventional textures and some interesting lighting effects.The ninja's are well placed and extremely athletic,while the cleanliness of the surroundings is rather impressive.As far as Gemeplay is concerned,however,it's really very poor indeed.The first ten minutes involve a very straightforward search for two sets of eye-pieces (one of which is slightly sneakily hidden)and an interesting battering-ram sequence;and then it all degenerates into a dull sprint along endless corridors and huge empty rooms,before ending in a veritable (and pointless) orgy of unmarked death squares. There's not even a reward for any of this frustration;the level simply ends quite arbitrarily. Despite a pleasing appearance (commendable for a first level) there's otherwise not much here to get excited about." - Orbit Dream (27-Mar-2008)

"Certainly a refreshing level after having played the previous 2 (Atlantis&Zone). Good use of textures, although there were some missing in spots as you looked back. Too easy maybe, cause there wasn't much to do yet. I really liked the architecture of this level, surprising at certain points. the room with the pillars you had to jump over had nice corners (with the burners and rays) although it wasn't very clear which pillars were safe or not. Same goes for that labyrinth you had to jump through, nice idea but the hints could have been a bit more obvious. Lighting was a bit flat, with some more colours and less dark shadows it might have been so much better lloking. Couldn't find any additional pickups exept for a medipack. Nice level..." - Dutchy (27-Mar-2008)
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