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Level: Return to Rome back home search
Author(s): levyhgb
total rating:6.25 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
davep83 7 8 7 8
dmdibl 6 7 6 6
Jay 6 6 6 6
manarch2 6 6 6 5
MichaelP 6 7 6 4
category averages
(5 reviews)		 6.20 6.80 6.20 5.80

Reviewer's comments

"The aim of the first part of this level is to open a door which has several bars keeping it closed, whilst doing this, you're challenged by chimps, blades, lightning (this confused me as stepping on certain squares didn't open a door which I thought it may have done), and Pierre. Followed by a watery area with more animals and a timed door. More chimps and falling swords. There's more doors that require keys or switches to open them. The switches are nicely textured. The gameplay is challenging in that you die quite a lot due to lack of medipacks. The architecture consists of a few beams, and the ceilings are curved rather than just square, and the texturing is nicely done as there's a good range of textures and the right one's are used on floor, ceiling etc, the floor ones are the best in my opinion. The lighting is again well done and there's dark and light spots where they're supposed to be. There's the odd camera shot occasionally too. Sound is all present and correct This TR1 level offers it all, good combat, not overly difficult gameplay, pleasant atmosphere, sound" - davep83 (08-May-2012)

"About 30 minutes of pure nostalgia here with a rather decent to play TR1 level. The flow will be fairly obvious but not without its challenges with the many apes, lions, crocodiles and good old Pierre keeping you on your toes. Gameplay generally relies on a few pushblocks and switches but also includes a short timed swim and a bit of backtrack with your acquired keys in hand. 3 secrets to find and how amazing to see that we were all quite ok not so long ago with that dismal screen resolution, as it was the only thing that was available at the time. Let's hope the author uses his considerable talent and applies it to the comparably more modern tools available today to present us with another level of his." - MichaelP (19-Feb-2012)

"This is a brief jaunt down memory lane to TR1 Rome, complete with the requisite apes, lions, crocodiles, Pierre (twice!), push blocks, a small timed swim and quite a lot of keys to collect, plus a version of the Thor and Damocles rooms. It’s interesting to be reminded how embryonic everything looked way back then and the somewhat disconcerting way the scenery comes and goes, but I’m uncertain just what relevance it has nowadays. Certainly, if you’ve never experienced TR1, you could take a look just to see how far we’ve come, but without the fondness generated by the sheer nostalgia factor you may fail to be overly impressed." - Jay (07-Feb-2012)

"What a nice suprise - the first TR 1 level after nearly seven years. The graphics were and still are very crude in their appearance and it takes a lot of time to install the levels using DOS-Box. But when you're done you get a 25 minute level, decent enough to have a few fun elements in it. This Greecian level reminding St.Francis' Folly is mainly a shooter with many apes, crocs and lions to shoot and two fightouts with Pierre, of which one didn't seem to end so I just ran away. But it also contains some smaller block puzzles, of which some could be a little less long. Two theme rooms of the original level (Damokles and Thor) were included here, but they weren't highly original or demanding. The textures were OK but they had many faults (not correctly placed, streched etc.) and somehow I couldn't hear anything while playing, that might be due to my configuration though. The builder did a good job in putting all the camera hints to guide the player through the level that otherwise would be a highly irritating raid. If the game wasn't so slow on my end I would have enjoyed it even more, but I didn't change my rating because of that because some others probably won't have these issues while playing." - manarch2 (07-Feb-2012)

"The most jarring aspect is Lara herself--most of us have become accustomed to an enhanced NG Lara, so TR1 Lara does look a bit clunky (the difference to TR1 Lara is a lot less glaring when a comparison is made to an original TR4 Lara). The surroundings here are good for TR1, except for a few brazenly stretched textures over or under doorways. There are no problems with a bleed-through transparency that occurred in early unofficial editor TR1 levels. Lara faces crocodiles, apes, and lions that usually inflict more damage than their TR4 counterparts. I muttered at Lara's early gun battle with Pierre, as Lara has no medipacks yet, and has little recourse except to get a high switch thrown in this room, and then to run for safety. We get some of the feel and features of a St. Francis level--the blue and deadly electrical discharge room, falling swords of Damocles, a door with sliding bars--as well as Lara dodging a series of swinging blades. This is a good showcase for the many essential features that were already present in the original Tomb Raider, and I was enjoying it when Lara abruptly hit a finish trigger after half an hour. It seemed like there should have been a few more rooms to play. Maybe could use more atmosphere, but play is logical throughout, and camera shots are helpful. It's good to be reminded of where this all started." - dmdibl (06-Feb-2012)
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