trle.net ::: Level Reviews

Level:	The Lunar Apocalypse
Author(s):	Dario Romero

total rating:	8.75	Gameplay & Puzzles	Enemies, Objects & Secrets	Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras	Lighting & Textures
	dmdibl	10	10	10	9
	eTux	9	9	10	8
	Gerty	8	8	8	8
	Jay	8	9	9	9
	Jerry	8	9	10	9
	manarch2	8	9	9	8
	MichaelP	10	9	9	8
	Sarikman	8	9	8	5
	Shandroid	9	9	10	9
	SSJ6Wolf	9	9	9	8
	category averages (10 reviews)	8.70	9.00	9.20	8.10

Reviewer's comments

"And so this is the third and last level of Dario's space series and it is by far the best. The moon environment is superbly done, the architecture is great and the gameplay also is much more fun than in the two previous releases as Dario managed to not make this feel like an everlasting lever search as there are a few really clever block puzzles and several must-see minecard rides in between. He however still sticked too much on long ladders and crawlspaces which only slowed down progression and made some parts feel tedious. The enemies were mostly remodelled for the environment as you can fight enemies in spacesuits and even very cool robots. The objects used were also quite fitting to the scenery and the change of the telescope at the end to reveal a hole was great. Found three not too challenging secrets. The ship themed texturing was actually quite fitting to the interior rooms and inside they were quite well placed but in several outdoor areas it seems like they could have been fixed a little bit as some were missing, there were several "save book" textures and some were slightly streched or squeezed. Still, the outdoor environment was very convincing with the greyish textures and a great atmopshere, which only suffered a little bit from missing lever and trapdoor sounds and all in all I wished there were a few more camera hints to show which door opened with the respective trigger. I spent 2:15 hours in this huge level but never was confused that heavily or completely stuck as there is quite a lot to do." - manarch2 (15-Mar-2012)

"Hmm... I don't know hat exactly to say about this level. It is very nice, well constructed and pretty big. On the other hand, I found so many drawbacks which made me feel confused and I don't know how to rate it. The places where well constructed and huge. That made me sometimes gey lost and don't remember exactly where to go, but that's not a drawback to me. I liked the changes in enemies appearence and the minecraft was enjoying. The gameplay was aboyt performing some good jumps and sometimes avoiding boulders. The only real puzzles you are gonna face here is movable blocks puzzles. There could have been more. I didn't like that you have to run big distances when you activate a trigger. Now let's talk about the bad things. That level has an unforgivable mistake. Many many many untextured walls, floor, ceiling. When I started facing these walls, I thought I'd better quit this game, but I gave it a try. Also, the there were many low resolution TR2 textures which made some parts not so good looking. Despite seeing Nevada's textures only in black and white (very good thought), that was not enough to make me change my mind about the texturing. Lighting was a bit boring. There were few spots that it was great. Many times there where troubles in rooms connections, for examble, one room was lighted with green colour and sudenlly the light was stopping where there were room connections. I think all these will make me score this game lower than I was gonna do if there were not these drawbacks." - Sarikman (18-Nov-2011)

"The builder has really managed to create an atmospheric TR3 level here. It’s a longer level than I was expecting and fairly action packed. There are plenty of weird and wonderful enemies around and there are some great outfits on view, especially Lara’s space suit. The gameplay is not exactly onerous, but you will need to try and remember where you’ve been and what you’ve done/left undone in any given area or you could get seriously confused. The biggest plus point for me was getting to ride a mine cart again. Wonderful. Definitely recommended whether or not you’re a particular fan of TR3 levels." - Jay (12-Feb-2011)

"Here is another space-themed level from Dario. You have to hand it to him for his amazing talent for detail, object usage and atmosphere. The lunar base was really great to look at. I had total TR3 waves of nostalgia when using the mine cart as well. The level had many challenges that were fairly difficult and I of course, got plenty confused. There weren't nearly enough medipaks, but I had enough to get by. I only found one secret and I am just perplexed where all the other ones were. I will be checking the walkthrough for those. The level isn't perfect though. There was a lot of pop up and for some reason the passport texture popped up a lot, as though that texture is a primary texture that must be covered, kind of like primer paint. I don't know why that is, but I am not a builder, so that can't be explained by me. Here again is too much backtracking. I hate to have to travel five miles to find a key in an area I left like a year ago. UGH. I really can't give the level bad marks though, because the achievement is still evident and deserves high marks despite the faults. Looking forward to my next Dario adventure!" - Shandroid (01-Oct-2010)

"Wow - where do I even start describing this immersive adventure? Easily 2.5 hours of net gaming time spent here in the quest to finsh the series and the author has continued to refine his skill and presents us with an intricate environment. Lara wears a much more comfortable spacesuit this time round and it all starts easy enough with a push block puzzle and a boulder, but soon you realize that there is plenty of exploration to do and you go back and forth between major areas several times, so make sure you can keep your orientation. Yes, there is an occasional missing texture and yes, sometimes it feels like there is a bit too much crawling and climbing and to and fro going on, but the very clever course and the exciting mine cart rides make more than up for these small deficiencies. I loved it from start to finish and highly recommend it!" - MichaelP (29-Aug-2010)

"This level had a lot to live up to, since it was the sole reason for me starting up Dario's space trilogy, as I hate to skip out on any levels in a series if they are presented as such. I'm not sure if it had met my expectations on its own, but having lived through some of the frustrations presented by the previous level, my opinion of this level ultimately was more positive. [When comparing to the previous level] I still experienced some seemingly random crashes on two occasions (which disappeared, thus allowing me to continue the game, just as randomly as they appeared) and was not all that excited about the prospect of traversing the numerous crawlspaces to be found here, but as a level, this is more mature than its predecessors. The mine cart rides offer some excitement, as do a number of other tasks, like escaping the boulders, infiltrating the base among others. As far as looks go, I have mixed feelings. I think the texture set has been assembled very cleverly and I couldn't pick a texture that seemed out of place in the nicely crafted, vast lunar landscapes you get to traverse. The lighting is somewhat meek though, and texturing is filled with squashed tiles and missing textures in other places. The game itself might seem overwhelming at first, but if approached systematically, it can be done without outside help for most part. I did not make the connection that the Door-unlocking-gun was meant to be the TR3-crowbar substitute, so that part stumbled me initially, and there are at least 2 occasions where you can skip out on parts of gameplay - one being closer to the end where you can use one of the rock walls to just run straight inside the base without needing to move the satellite dish, and another not so far into the level where you can pick up a keycard guarded by the spinning wheel device with good timing as opposed to doing the entire task meant to turn the device off. All being said and done, this is probably not the epic I expected it to be, judging from the responses of other players, but it still is one of the better sci-fi/space levels out there I have played due to the compelling atmosphere, vast settings and interesting gameplay elements. Found 1 secret." - eTux (09-May-2010)

"This is the third level Dario in space and I have to say, what an adventure. It is quite confusing at times and even with the walkthrough I sometimes wondered around to find the way to continue. I love the small mine car and have died a thousand deaths to maneuver the tracks. There is so much to do and the level is huge. Be careful as medipacks are scares and there are not many enemies, but still you will have a good fight on your hands. Getting cards and keys and finding levers, buttons and push blocks to get finally into the space ship. I had problems starting the level and Elvis was so friendly to give me the advice to delete the config file and that did the trick. By all means, this is not done perfectly but even then I had a great time playing it. If you have time aplenty to spare give this a go." - Gerty (10-Dec-2009)

"Phew, this huge level took me almost two hours to get through. It is a very interesting alien environment with robots, mutants, swamps, ships, and other structures abound. The underground structures aren't too impressionable at first, but once you reach the outdoor area it is almost overwhelming. The lighting is rather colorful to add to the chaotic mood of the level. It is too bad that missing textures deteriorate from the mood (they are replaced with the red passport texture) or some portals will cause some rooms to disappear from view. Still, I applaud the author for this ambitious creation. I only wish it was structured to involve less backtracking (such as letting the player accomplish everything in one area before moving on to the next). There are some places where the player can get stuck, such as a random tunnel that you can run through only to drop into a pit you can never get out of again. I was also thrown off by the strange "unlocker door gun" which I eventually figured out was like the crowbar and not really a weapon at all. Anyway, if you can remember where everything in the level is, this is sure to be a delight. Otherwise keep that walkthrough handy!" - SSJ6Wolf (22-Nov-2009)

"Like in the previous NASA level, architecture, texturing and lighting are well done again here. But then, the level did not impress me equally. Sometimes I felt like being in the sunken ship of TR2 rather than on a space base. The mine cart ride was fun to play, but it did not help ignoring the weak points in this level. There is so much crawling, crawling and more crawling, and a lot of backtracking too. Very often I was confused, not knowing where to go and what to do next, and I needed the help of the walkthrough much too often for my liking. I found the difficulty level higher but doable. There are not so many medipacks and ammo, but in the end it is enough. I needed 2'45" to finish." - Jerry (25-Oct-2009)

"An intricate, complex, and beautiful base on the moon, superbly done. I was afraid this might not live up to my memories of it, but on replay this seems even better than I recalled. Since Lara will need to venture outside she starts the game in a spacesuit with headlamp. There are trenches filled with slime. Apparently the mining activities are busy turning the moon into a toxic waste dump (probably not an environmental statement by the author, but just a recognition of reality). Outside there is a large moon base that is somewhat bewildering on first sight, though one can explore it step by step. Who knew that the moon was so colorful? Soon Lara finds a second principal exploration area that is connected by a long mine cart ride, with sections of track which require skillful touches of the hand brake. The player might assume this is a massive level, stretching the limits of TR3. Actually, this is not yet half the level, for there are further areas with a large antenna dish, and another mine cart ride. I did notice a few missing textures, which is a shame, since this is otherwise so well done. There are a huge number of textures applied to a variety of base rooms, and to outdoor structures and landscape. And if Lara is wearing a spacesuit, why does she lose air when underwater? The enemies are guards, one-eyed robots, and crawling mutants. Medipacks and ammo are at a premium, so a couple of times when mutants poisoned Lara, I reloaded a save and tried to avoid getting poisoned, thus conserving a medipack. It was a relief when Lara gets the Desert Eagle in the alien autopsy room. The lighting effects are excellent; when needed, camera shots show the results of a thrown switch; and music cues prompt one. I think this took me a week to play the first time. Even after years, I still did much better the second time, but this may be the longest single level I have ever played. The end, after using the Twilight Zone key, seems fitting as a climax. Wonderful." - dmdibl (23-Oct-2009)