trle.net
Your host for all Tomb Raider Custom Levels ever released!

Levels listed...
TR5 - 31
TR4 - 3137
TR3 - 177
TR2 - 132
TR1 - 60

72198 reviews (20.4/level)
3528 (99.7%) walkthroughs
442 Hall of Fame levels
1216 levels rated >= 8

TR Fan Site

 


One Room Challenge - Snow Business by Mystery-King

afzalmiah 7 8 9 9
alan 7 7 8 9
Blue43 6 7 8 8
Ceamonks890 7 8 6 8
Christian 6 7 8 8
Crofti 6 7 6 8
Diz 8 7 8 8
DJ Full 6 6 5 8
dmdibl 7 7 8 8
Gerty 5 6 8 8
Jay 7 7 8 8
John 5 6 8 8
Jose 7 8 7 9
Josey 9 9 10 10
Laras Boyfriend 9 7 8 9
manarch2 5 6 6 7
MichaelP 5 6 9 8
misho98 8 8 8 9
Mman 7 9 8 9
Mytly 7 6 8 8
nerdfury 4 6 5 9
Orbit Dream 5 7 7 8
Phil 8 8 8 8
Ryan 5 7 8 8
Shandroid 7 8 9 9
sonnyd83 9 9 9 10
Soul 7 9 7 10
Steven Svorticher 7 7 8 8
TheStig 5 8 8 9
Torry 5 6 7 8
 
release date: 18-Jan-2012
# of downloads: 81

average rating: 7.48
review count: 30
 
review this level

file size: 19.32 MB
file type: TR4
class: Cold/Snowy
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
kbb13@hotmail.co.uk

Reviewer's comments
"10 minute raid with nice Nepal atmosphere, the gameplay is minimalistic but basically well done. Enemies are only snow kittens. Despite the one room limit, potential was not fully utilized in my opinion. The fact that there is no music in this level would have enhanced the atmosphere significantly!" - Crofti (09-Aug-2023)
"Painfully short this level unfortunately and its a shame because it has real potential if it was to be ever extended, The snowy dark setting and lighting is very good and its little platforming challenges, timed runs with traps, and shoot challenge was enjoyable! so if your looking to only kill 10 mins with something fun give this one a go" - John (25-Apr-2022)
"(4) Gameplay & Puzzles: It's amazing to think about the ORCs out there which manage to jam pack a variety of gameplay tasks, including puzzles, into such a small space. Unfortunately, this ORC left a very dissatisfied taste in my mouth, as it was completed in 8 minutes. While none of the few tasks were frustrating, they weren't very creative or memorable either (there were no real puzzles). (6) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: There was only one type of enemy; more variety was needed. Object decor was applied well, and I did enjoy the use of the giant bell. There's one very straight-forward secret. (5) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: While the architecture and snow caves looked interesting during the very brief visit, the atmosphere was not convincing largely due to the fact that there is no background ambience. It's fine if the builder doesn't want to use background music, as it's a polarizing aspect, but at least include some ambient background noises, otherwise it's very jarring. I also don't recall a single camera. (9) Lighting & Textures: The builder demonstrated high skill in this category, and the texturing within the mini-temple was very attractive. Overall, the gameplay isn't bad in any way, but seeing as this level can be completed and forgotten about in 8 minutes, I can't recommend it except to completionists. Snow Business looks very attractive, but unfortunately it's really lacking in the category that matters the most. 4/6/5/9." - nerdfury (06-May-2021)
"Extremely short level of five or six minutes and the only time the player has to think is right at the start with the timed run/crawl. Nice excursion with good graphics and ambience but over way too soon." - Torry (08-Jan-2020)
"A seven-minute long raid through a Tibetan temple with a few simple but nevertheless fun traps and jumps to overcome, containing some really solid texturing, lighting and object utilization. And while I would have appreciated a bit more enemy variety and some general ambience to go along with the gameplay, this level does its job and it does it well enough. Would recommend as a quick little game to play on your lunch break." - Ceamonks890 (22-Mar-2019)
"A very short snowy level consisting in finding some puzzle items, avoiding some traps, killing tigers and solving a small puzzle with the torch (which I had difficulty to locate). The only secret is a blue gem and it's fairly easy to find. It was a fun level the short time it lasted." - alan (02-Oct-2018)
"This looks really attractive and plays perfectly solidly, but it ended far too soon - after about 8 minutes. There's a well thought out timed run, a couple of jumps, a few traps, a burner run and a small torch puzzle, but they're all easily overcome. It's fine for what it is, but it's unfortunately a little underwhelming." - Ryan (14-Aug-2018)
"Right, the last ORC completed, for the topic has raised to make another edition and I never played them all until now. Before I wrote anything, I searched through the previous reviews for the keywords of "audio", "music" and "background", because I again supposed these things were overlooked at possible repackaging of the game... Now I see the music wasn't intended indeed, but wait, what about the wind howling over the snowy mountains? What about it changing to subtly echoing stones when entering the monastery? What about the bubbling lava? Or a discreet flush of water heard roaming somewhere far beyond the room boundaries? It would feel far more spacious this way, and thinking removing it all will deepen the feeling of isolation is plainly mistaken - it all feels like a closed box instead of like a wild, remote landscape. I don't understand people who say it's a minor problem. I don't. It's the freaking ESSENCE. As for Mman mentioning a "soft ambience" - well I threw this "soft ambience" into Audio Editor and a waveform showed a flat line, on the maximum vertical zoom in. Not applying sound even to a secret item is a different thing, it just wasted some of my time I spent on searching for the slot (luckily, there's a statistic panel which dispersed my confusion). OK sorry for that whining, I'm especially sensitive to these things. Other things were fine - classic ice sloping, bell shooting and rock climbing, combined with obligatory transparent grating (just one but it's enough to awake memories) and a torch, here existing in form of a branch like we're used to - and the buried monastery is crafted decently and with care, with nice division into few trap sections, without cracks (more of which are outside) and with smooth lighting fallout, which made me forget the level only contains of one room. Or maybe almost fine, like a hungry snow leopard fight contained in every single room of the first half of the game (even in the enclosed monastery hall) - fighting few nicely placed enemies is nothing bad, but killing that many is a bit overdone. The final pickup ends it, and wait, I was supposed to stop the whining, but I simply can't - where are the falling rocks, the world-shaking earthquake and a total destruction as we run for life? SUMMARY: Somebody really wanted to achieve a good effect but obviously founded it on mistaken points. Again, you can see some work put into this level, but I'm rather seeing it as a training ground for this builder's skills. Recommended anyway, for it's pleasant graphics and and fast-paced, relaxing action." - DJ Full (09-Apr-2015)
"Conceptually, this was probably my favorite of this particular series of competition levels. The visuals are nice, and the architecture is believable. Sadly due to the constraints of the challenge I only netted 8 minutes of gameplay. There's no flip rooms or clever double use of spaces so you find yourself running out of things to do perhaps a little too quickly. A nice little diversion, but not really quite enough here to offer a high score. Stiggy" - TheStig (17-Feb-2014)
"A very short level but then what can you expect in this one room challenge. What stands out are the timed challenges and it took a few tries before I figured out what I had to do with the first one LOL. For the rest it looked good and indeed a nice challenge." - Gerty (25-Apr-2012)
"This was a good ending for this One Room Challenge levels. Not difficult but not so easy tasks, nice environment, good lightened and textured and some leopards to disturb in some places. Only stucked near the end 'cause the torch is not easy to see in the place it was placed. Waiting for a longer level from this good author." - Jose (15-Feb-2012)
"This level was the first One Room Challenge I played and I found it pretty good. The gameplay was good except for the beginning with the timed gate. I had to do about 5 tries to finally shoot that bell! Enemies were only jaguars or whatever they were. Not exactly a christmas level but fun anyway. It does get hard at the end with the two passages for the two puzzle pieces. It was really hard to get past them (The fire one was easier though). The texturing and lighting was great as well. A great level and recommended for a short raid." - afzalmiah (29-Jan-2012)
"It's difficult for a non-builder like me to know how to review and rate these one-room levels. Not being familiar with the constraints of the level editor, I don't know how much gameplay one should be able to milk out of a single room. Can a builder pack in a half hour, or is ten minutes or so the limit? I'm not sure, in any event, that I share the philosophy of an earlier reviewer who opined that a restricted competition such as this one is no reason for cutting the builder some slack in the scoring. My own philosophy is that a level should receive scores that are commensurate with the rules that have been set for the competition. If one level stands out from the others, it should be rewarded appropriately. This particular level clocked in for me right at nine minutes, although I had the advantage of manarch2's walkthrough. I very much liked what I saw here, however, especially that sneaky timed crawl at the beginning. And yes, I must raise my hand, I did dash into the open doorway the first time and found myself fried on the lava. The environs are well crafted, the limited tasks are well conceived, and I enjoyed the short time I was able to spend here." - Phil (28-Jan-2012)
"A short timed run to shoot a bell, two items to find after some not really challenging tasks to reach the exit after 5 minutes of gameplay. Nice little level!" - Christian (28-Jan-2012)
"A pretty solid mini level by Mystery-King, who apparently sticks with his "special" building style, after doing LEGOtropolis. I finished the Level in 10 minutes (7.36 in statistics) and was quite satisfied with the fun I had in this little time. Especially the timed jupm(s) on the fire columns was a tricky part, it took me several attempts to master it. The blade room was quite easy though and I usually went out of it without a single scratch. The secret wasn't either that hard because the pushable was easily spotted when you light a flare (darned TRLE engine of course). I even didn't notice I found a secret at first because of no secret sound. It was a choice of the builder though to make it without music, (which I personally don't understand and makes the level a bit empty for me) Anyway the slope jumping was also nice too, but the leopards as enemies were easier to kill than flies. Afterall, a very nice short level which can be played any time and anywhere" - Laras Boyfriend (27-Jan-2012)
"The first thing you notice in this level is the beautiful texturing and attention to detail. e.g. the lava at the bottom of the wall in the timed flame room. You begin with a timed run, which I found confusing since I couldn't see the bell you had to shoot. Shortly after, you make a few jumps and mid air turns, and collect a key - the jump before the key you have to be positioned exactly right on the ladder. Then you collect 2 stones by compelting a timed run and negotiation of traps. There's a few wild animals to challenge you too. Although this was a very short level, it's a one room challenge, so I think the clues in the title. In conclusion, It's quite an easy going level, but has just enough to keep you busy." - sonnyd83 (25-Jan-2012)
"This nice looking level was the shortest one in this One Room Challenge. The game play was simple and fairly easy, yet entertaining. The texturing and lighting looked very nice and it had an overall good atmosphere. Very enjoyable and therefore recommended. I just wish it had been a bit longer and had there been a little more game play, this would have definitely been my favorite of this series. (8min, 1 secret found)" - Blue43 (24-Jan-2012)
"A nice level where you find good ideas, for example: a couple time trials, jumps on slopes-ladders, reasearch of some objects, to jump along a corridor with traps, to find and ignite a torch, to shoot to some snow ghepards. What a pity.. the elvel is too short, but I know it's a One Room Challenge contest, otherwise it was really to become interesting. Gameplay-enigms ok, some enemy and object, good setting-places and textures." - Steven Svorticher (22-Jan-2012)
"I think it took longer to read the readme than to play this really short level. What there is to it is very nice to look at, with updated styling and a couple nifty things to do. Hopefully, this author makes a longer level next time as opposed to this short little one room challenge. Keep building, Mystery-King!" - Shandroid (21-Jan-2012)
"What happened? I blinked and the level was over. Seriously, this is a very short level - about eight minutes and it deserved to be longer 'cos there's plenty of quality in there (if not quantity). It's mainly snow leopards and agility and a nifty timed run to shoot a bell (hands up all who ran into the room and burned to death?). Well lit and very nicely crafted areas bring a professional look to the whole thing. Good, fun gaming, just a pity it was so short." - Diz (21-Jan-2012)
"This is a good looking and fun level, but it really is over in a blink (less than 10 mins). You get two timed runs which likely will take you a few tries to manage and a short trap gauntlet and a few snow leopards to kill, plus a fairly easy secret. I had some trouble after picking up the key, as the ladder to get out was stubborn and did not want to function as a ladder. After a reload, it eventually did work though. Good one, but only as a prelude to something more elaborate..." - MichaelP (21-Jan-2012)
"I don't think a level should take longer to review than it did to play. So I have less than 8 minutes and 50 seconds to write this review. ;)
This is a fairly nice level - the main things wrong with it are the extremely short length and the tepid ending. It starts off ambitiously enough, with a timed run/crawl in very cramped spaces, which almost inevitably ends in Lara running blindly into lava the first time around. After that, there's some pleasant slope jumping to get the key to the temple, and some fun traps and a timed run inside the temple. And then it ends ... with a simple little fire lighting exercise.
The looks are pretty, especially the final temple room with the Buddha carving and tree, though the trap area is unnecessarily dark. Enemies are some leopards, and there is one secret to be found. And ... no, I really can't think of anything more to say about this level.
Overall: Too short and rather simple (except for the initial timed run). A bit more of this would have been welcome." - Mytly (21-Jan-2012)
"The best of the bunch, in my opinion! Not very easy (see that initial timed run in order to sound a bell), nor very difficult. Beautiful, and to the point, considering that it's a "One Room Challenge"." - Josey (21-Jan-2012)
"This is good as far as it goes--good appearance, the beginnings of good play--but it doesn't last very long with about a dozen minutes of play. The timed run at the beginning is by far the most demanding, and then there are snow leopards to shoot, an easy single secret, and dodging spikes and fast swinging blades at the same time. Some parts were too dark, but really there should just have been more of this. I hope the author continues to develop a level, perhaps extends this promising one, as everything has a solid feeling, a nice sense of place. Short but good." - dmdibl (20-Jan-2012)
"Yes, this is the shortest of the four ORC levels, but it clearly isn't the least fun or visually appealing. Right from the start you know this level is fun as there is a nicely triggered timed run - but actually not for getting Lara inside the timed door, no, for shooting a bell. Nice idea here and the level went on with this standard. The areas are nicely designed and there are many agility tests which are not too hard but great fun. Some enemies in form of leopards to shoot here and even a not too hard to find secret, and a nice placement of the torch. I was really sorry this level only lasted 7 minutes." - manarch2 (20-Jan-2012)
"I thoroughly enjoyed this for the ten minutes it lasted;but,even within the confines of the challenge,this ended rather too soon.A smart timed run and a straightforward trap gauntlet comprised the bulk of the gameplay;but(when compared with the three other entries in this challenge) I feel that more could probably have been achieved.The technical side of things has been handled with skill,though;and it all looks good and plays well - it'll keep you entertained,but is unfortunately a little underdone." - Orbit Dream (20-Jan-2012)
"In this nice little adventure Lara gets to explore a temple and it's surroundings and while MysteryKing did everything right in terms of visuals the game ended way too early after less than 10 minutes. This however doesn't mean, that it's bad gameplaywise. There weren't any puzzles (and I guess this explains the short time) but there was a nice amount of traps and challenges that kept me entertained until the very end. My only nitpick would be the total absence of music but according to the author this was intended to capture the feeling of isolation. All in all a very good entry though - would love to see an extended version of it as there certainly is potential." - Soul (19-Jan-2012)
"Watch out for the snow leopards - they're very frisky. This is an oriental-themed one room challenge entry and for the 15 minutes it lasts, there's a timed run to shoot a bell, a spike and pendulum obstacle course, a secret gem to find and a little torch puzzle (well, perhaps puzzle is overstating it somewhat). The last one of the four levels (in the order I played) and a pleasant conclusion to a very nice treat from the four builders." - Jay (19-Jan-2012)
"In the beginning I wasn't very optimistic, since everything was dark, but later on I really liked it. The gameplay was simple with some traps to avoid, timed jumps through pillars and some leopards to kill. Everything was textured and lightened great and I loved the last room. Recommended!" - misho98 (19-Jan-2012)
"This is probably the best looking level in the contest; Texturing is excellent, objects fit well and things are interestingly lit (although the caves seemed slightly dull). Sound is an issue though; there's only a very subtle ambient track and no "event" music, this was apparently intentional by the author but I don't really agree with it, and it especially sticks out when you find the secret and there isn't even a chime. The length is an issue here as it's quite easy to finish in less than seven minutes without trying too hard, however, what challenges there are decently challenging and varied and make that short playtime an enjoyable one." - Mman (19-Jan-2012)