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Level: The Adventure of the Hollow Mountain back home search
Author(s): Marksdad
total rating:6.30 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
bERT 7 6 7 5
Cory 3 5 5 3
Cuqui 8 7 7 7
Daffy 8 8 7 7
Dimpfelmoser 8 7 6 6
Fairy Godfather 7 7 8 8
Gerty 8 7 8 7
Kristina 6 6 6 6
manarch2 4 5 7 5
MichaelP 7 7 6 6
Momster 8 7 6 6
RaiderGirl 8 7 6 7
Sash 6 6 6 6
Scottie 4 6 5 5
Staticon 6 6 5 6
Torry 6 6 7 8
Treeble 6 7 7 6
Whistle 5 6 8 8
Xxenofex 6 5 4 4
category averages
(19 reviews)		 6.37 6.37 6.37 6.11

Reviewer's comments

"Textures streched to the maximum, long ladders, shimmying sesssions and a huge maze - I must say this level wasn't to my taste. It still has a sense for atmosphere despite the badly applied textures, as the lighting is substantially better and the outside areas didn't feel that unreal in comparison to the inside ones. There were a few smaller puzzles to solve and I liked the dive into the small water pond at the bottom of the huge room, but all in all I found this level rather tedious with too long corridors and all those pet peeves listed above. I even was utterly not able to finish this level because while dying in the skeleton pillar jump session every savegame got corrupted and Lara died everytime I reloaded. Too bad as I really wanted to see the finale. So bottomline this felt like a quickly put together level (even if it wasn't, I don't know) with only a handful of nice things in it." - manarch2 (24-Apr-2012)

"In this level there are a few nice riddles. And there are a few good-looking rooms. And there are all kinds of crocodiles and wild boars also. But I could not find more good things. Climbing textures lack. And there is no reasonable lighting. And the stretched textures do not look so nice. Absolutely superfluous was the Fixcam which had shown the long ladder if one climbed upwards. I could hardly recognise, how high I still had to climb. All together I must say which I had not so much fun." - Scottie (19-Feb-2010)

"It is a level which I thought very original in its conception, you should not feel dizzy, the jump of Lara in the small hole of water is a big instant, they would imagine to the circus. Decoration of game suffers from some worries of stretched textures which are quickly forgotten, attention is occupied by action, from rocks which throw you over accidentally and of many and voracious crocodiles. I had a good time well, thanks to the author." - Daffy (10-Aug-2009)

"You start off in a badly textured valley (this doesn't change through-out the trilogy) with some water pools and un-textured water. You have a long ladder climb and unmarked climable walls (this is why my score is so low) and after collecting 4 tridents you are finally allowed to leave this place. It contains the most obvious secret known to man. 15 mins." - Cory (26-Sep-2008)

“Ian claims it’s his first level and has many graphical errors. Well he exaggerates it isn’t that bad. We are looking for four tridents and four blues crystal which are secrets and easy to find they are in plain sight. To acquire those items some climbing is involved some swimming and a maze. I am not very fond of mazes but this one wasn’t that hard and had wild boars and a skeleton inside. Those and crocodiles are your enemies. I also liked the view while Lara was sliding onto the mountain. Half an hour of fun.” – Kristina (24-Jul-2003)

“Another splendid little adventure from Ian. As an eternal beginner I like these small little games that don't take forever to play. This one took just under an hour of game time. None of the enemies were too difficult to dispatch apart from those pesky skeletons which I had to dodge on the tops of the columns. I loved the maze and the firetrap room. Not so fond of fixed cameras especially the one on the long climb - but I can live with it. This is the second level of Ian's that I have played and I liked this one as much as the first. An excellent hour of fun.” – Staticon (20-Feb-2003)

“An enjoyable level. Quite easy excepting the big jump into a pool with a boulder after Lara and the pillars where you meet skeletons on each one. The huge room is impressive and the maze a little confusing. Here enemies are mainly crocodiles some skeletons and warthogs. And of course lots of unexpected boulders. A level to have a good time.” – Cuqui (22-Dec-2002)

“Although this one shows all the marks (...) of someone learning to work with the editor (at least 1 slope where ‘she’ gets stuck at the start on your right; swim-through grate below the extreme high building; like in the same author's Frozen the secret chime does not sound etc) again Ian shows he knows how to create a little but enjoyable level. Here and there some thinking by exclusion is needed (the big jump in little pool) running around a bit in a not annoying but still challenging maze fooling around with his players a bit (desperately wanting to grab that grenade launcher only to find out that...). Static camera's: very good again Ian giving us some drama/tension; one fly-by stopping a bit abruptly. Unnecessary darkness syndrome hitting again on the other hand making it somehow less enjoyable than it could have been. To conclude: a level to play either after an ‘impossible’ very big or just down-right annoying level. Hopefully a worthy appetizer for the two follow-ups.” – bERT (21-Oct-2002)

“Lara's quest in this fairly simple level is to find four tridents which open new paths for further progress. Quite easy but a little boring with the long climbing with the fixed camera and sometimes it was too flat to look like a natural environment but it was quite enjoyable. The end was actually right behind Lara in the beginning! 30 minutes.” – Treeble (14-Oct-2002)

“The Gameplay of the Level was not so bad. Certainly in puzzles there was not so much but the Level is probably more built for jump artists. The textures were really bad. Very slovenly processed and often repetitive. One could not necessarily call the lighting good as well. Sound no comment because hardly existing. However the opponents were well placed but only the skeletons. The pigs could be killed easily and the crocs came in masses 7 or 8 at once. However Lara could escape on a roof and lost no millimeter of energy. I liked the level however from the game enjoyment completely well. It is suitable for beginner who also want to try some risky jumps.” - Xxenofex (19-Aug-2002)

“Lara must swim her way into the hollow mountain to collect some unusable gems and 4 tridents which trigger the door at the beginning to open. There are no puzzles per se in this level just straightforward gameplay. When you picked up a key item one of many doors would open to lead you to the next adventure or to exit the present one. Lots and lots of crocs and a few skeletons. The one in the maze nearly scared me to death as I wasn’t expecting him after the warthogs. That bugger chased me all over the place as I managed to stay one step ahead of him. Ian shows great promise in this adventure and I too was disappointed to not use the gems I had so excitedly picked up.” – Momster (14-Jul-2002)

“Here’s another level that although pleasant to play is very straightforward and holds no puzzle that will make you stop and think. There are however some nice aspects like the boulder traps a fire tile puzzle that has its solution in the surroundings a tricky block jump with skeletons on each and one of the longest falls into the smallest pool of water possible. The goal in this level is to search for 3 tridents inside the mountain and then return to the place where you started to find the gates there are now open leading to the end there are also 4 gem secrets to find though they don’t register as such but they are not very well hidden in fact one is just sitting on a large step you must climb down. So don’t expect anything brilliant but it’s a nice way to while away half an hour.” – Sash (21-Jun-2002)

“Again a high number of enemies that usually appear in packs (6 warthogs 12 crocodiles a few skeletons) but this level impresses with its huge central room (ie the part inside the hollow mountain) and I liked the nice set of acrobatics Lara has to manage to get through (including a triple somersault dive into a one tile pool!). Fly-bys are well placed but a little rough around the edges. I liked the high waterfall (though simply done) but of course in such a huge room you face the 'disappearing horizon' issue. Like in his other works you often have to guess whether a wall is climbable or not and I am just not a big friend of mazes. There are a few boulders to avoid but the trickiest part for me was to pass those three pillars with a skeleton on each and no shotgun to blast them off. Nice 30 minutes adventure including four easy to find secrets on the way.” – Michael (21-Jun-2002)

“Apart from the huge cavern you get to play in and some good camera angles this level is relatively simple. I have one ‘bitch’ and this is not the only level to do this. If you lot want fire squares I don't mind that at all but make 'em burn. A square that looks like an ordinary tile that automatically burns Lara to death is just not on. Electrified is different but a burning tile (in the real world) will do just that burn. Sorry but this annoyed me! Other than that it was a fun level.” – Torry (21-Jun-2002)

“For the most part this is a nice relaxing level. You start out standing beside a large mountain only to find out the mountain is hollow and there is a gigantic room for you to play in. The puzzles were a lot of fun and all the rooms very nice looking. There were a few clusters of enemies that at times were even part of the puzzles and some of the traps especially boulders had me reloading a few times. The objective is to locate 4 tridents which will open the exit for you. However when starting you have no idea what it is your looking for and one of the tridents is difficult to find as it's hidden within a maze so I had a hard time figuring out how to end the level. I still really enjoyed playing this level - challenging but not too tough and very interesting as well.” – RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)

“This is the first level I played and that made me fall for Tomb Raider again. Marksdad made some changes some of them I like and some of them I don't. The shadows he added did give it more atmosphere but on the other hand it did hide the so called ‘wow moment’ a bit the way I felt when I first played the level. The camera angles in the maze made me feel a bit queasy but made it more confusing to find your way through. The whole concept I found very appealing and I loved the long long dive even though some of you might know my fear of heights LOL.” – Gerty (21-Jun-2002)

“This level flowed well through separate sections leading back to a main room. Finding a trident or a gem triggering a gate opening and a new pathway to take. Crocodiles galore and some annoying skeletons which an unreachable grenade gun would have dealt with. Even a shotgun would have been handy. However with tridents and gems collected it was back to the start and through some gates to end.” – Fairy Godfather (21-Jun-2002)

“Some really huge cavernous stunning rooms which provide some long climbs and traverses. Apart from some hogs the only other ‘enemies’ are lots of rocks. Occasionally you have to think but as the write up says-just get the route to exit. BEWARE I first played the original and could not get the last gate to open despite having all the requirements.” – Whistle (21-Jun-2002)

“Gameplay wise this is Marksdad’s best level I think. Unfortunately it doesn't have the textures and atmosphere to match along with some other flaws. The colonies of crocodiles you can kill from a safe distance are pretty pointless you get a swimthrough gate and I was slightly disappointed that there was no place to use all those gems. I particularly liked the jump into the square of water. You are so far above that you can't even see the bottom so it's a matter of faith and good memory. Mind you I managed on my first try only to be eaten by a crocodile shortly after that. The fixed camera angles in the maze where you get a distance shot from Lara being chased by a warthog are pretty neat and there are some other unusual angles that I found rather interesting. Ian would you be mad at me if I labeled this a very good C Level?” – Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)
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