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The Hills of Martinique by Martin Hill

alan 4 4 5 4
Dimpfelmoser 5 5 5 5
eRIC 4 5 5 5
Gerty 6 6 7 7
Gonxii 6 7 7 7
Jay 3 5 4 4
Jose 3 5 5 5
Kristina 7 8 6 7
MichaelP 6 4 5 5
Momster 4 4 4 3
Mulf 3 3 3 2
Orbit Dream 4 3 4 3
RaiderGirl 7 6 7 8
Ruediger 5 5 5 5
Ryan 3 5 4 4
Sash 6 6 6 8
Scottie 5 5 6 6
Torry 4 4 5 3
Treeble 3 3 3 2
 
release date: 05-Apr-2001
# of downloads: 56

average rating: 4.87
review count: 19
 
review this level

file size: 14.76 MB
file type: TR4
class: Egypt
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
martin@nessie77.freeserve.co.uk

Reviewer's comments
"From the date of this release and from its punning title it should be immediately clear that you won’t get a glimpse of a French-governed Caribbean island in this level, indeed even rounded natural elevations of land lower than a mountain are conspicuously absent. When I previously elaborated on the dangers inherent in levels that come with a title punning on its builder’s name, I granted that there are exceptions to the rule; but this is not one of them. So it should come as no surprise that players are immediately greeted with the same old legend ‘The year 2000’ etc., and as soon as you take one step forward, the congratulatory musical cue for finishing the level plays. Now, I could be mean and say ‘Wish it were so!’, but I won’t; except I just did, didn’t I.
Anyway, most of your time here will be spent in three large rooms. The first is a blocky outside area, put on display in all its disappearing-horizon glory by a wonky flyby that passes through walls and ends up zooming in on…the Eye of Horus door! Surprise! Your task is obviously to locate the two Eye pieces, but there’s something else in here that I found much more entertaining: Can you spot the butt floating high up in the sky? Whatever might it be that the builder thought fit to place there? Next comes the horrible, no-good, really very large room with stripes. The attributes refer to the room’s design; gameplay is reasonably interesting here. You have to negotiate various ledges inhabited by ninjas (who, however, have a tendency to float down and then walk around the floor of the water room below), mummies and fireproof scorpions. All jumps are straightforward and simple. When you’ve reached the top, the Incredible Stretching Room (here treated as an extension of the Room with Stripes) brings you down again. The third room is the level’s claim to fame, or rather notoriety—another huge room, underwater, chock-a-block full of blocks, all but a single texture. Now find the impossible-to-spot exit! If you’ve read Dimpf’s review, you may think he’s exaggerating, but he’s not. I defy anyone to find the exit without help from the walkthrough or Fexinspect; and even then you still have to look real hard.
I’ve always remembered the title of this level because back when it was released, it appeared to promise a rare respite from Eternal Egypt. Then word got round that the promise didn’t hold up and I didn’t bother, preoccupied as I was with my own debut level anyway. It was a wise choice. Fascinating to read how taken some reviewers were with this back in the day." - Mulf (09-Feb-2021)
"Repetitive textures, huge rooms empty of objects, a tedious jumping sequence in floating platforms; you can find that in this level. Though there are some flybys and tracks used. The 'puzzles' are easy, only finding the eye of horus. Both halves are somewhere in the outside room with palms. You can get rid of the mummies, ninjas and scorpions with the crossbow and explosive ammo, there's even a grenade launcher. But it's not recommended." - alan (28-Feb-2018)
"This Egyptian level seems very amateurish, even by the standards of the time it was constructed. It's a debut (and only) effort and I'm sorry to say it's not one of the better ones. Gameplay is rather uninvolving and tedious for its short duration, and there's a huge underwater room containing a hidden crawlspace so devious that even with Yoav's instructions, it took me a while to find it. The textures are stretched, repetitive and unattractive throughout the level. I did find the use of ninjas quite well done (nicely perched on precariously placed ledges up a high room), but this remained an unsatisfying level and probably not worth recommending it." - Ryan (08-Dec-2017)
"Easily the best thing about this level is the play on words with the builder's name for the title, which is actually an Egyptian setting. This appears to be the only level the builder attempted and in all honesty it's not very good. There are thin walls, stretched textures etc., and the gameplay is fairly minimal. Beyond shooting mummies, ninjas and scorpions, plus finding an Eye of Horus, really all you get to do is some tedious climbing. Can't really recommend this one." - Jay (28-Jan-2016)
"What we have here is a simply and easy level with big rooms but easy to deal with. What I liked best was the big swimming pool with lots of slopes to make you angry and frustrated. Enemies were blue ninjas and red scorpions. All in all a very entertaining level to spend twenty minutes." - Gonxii (01-Dec-2015)
"A level you'll never play twice. There are basically three huge rooms in this level: the first one where you must find two eye pieces, the second one where you have to take dozens of running jumps to the ledges around the room and the last one where you have to look for an exit hole in a very huge water room full of blocks in floor and ceiling. When I entered into this last room I was directly to check the walkthrough, but even with Yoav's instructions it was very difficult for me to find the exit. As usual, only white ninjas, red scorpions and mummies as enemies (aren't there more types of enemies in the wad?); the texturization is very monotonous and there are very elongated textures in the large wall panels; there are a couple of flybies, I think a lonely switch to pull and that's all. Tedious and boring." - Jose (18-Jun-2015)
"After a short stay in the beginning room it goes outward. Here Lara must find both parts of the eye of Horus. Then it becomes really interesting. Lara is in a gigantic hall and has to go above floating stones from the bottom to the top. A fall is no problem, because there is a water basin at the bottom. Indeed, the degree of difficulty is not very high. Merely a few mummies and Baddies hinder the rise a little. If one is on top then, one reaches a big underwater cave. And here it becomes a little bit frustrating, because the exit is very hard to recognised. After about 20 minutes one is already at the level end. The level is built quite substantially, above all the big hall looks good. The exit in the underwater cave is hidden too well. The lighting conditions are ok. There is no Endtrigger, but if one reaches a room, where the word END stands on the ground, one is at the level end. Result: A little bit briefly and uneventfully, but it is enough for the level hunger occasionally" - Scottie (06-May-2009)
"There is bit of folly in this Tut1 level that TrGuru would not deny : A huge room to climb with plenty of jumps and some enemies on the ledges. That was the best moment of the level. Aside from that nothing really interesting, the search for the 2 parts of the eye was a bit tedious , and I had a look at the walkthrough so not to loose time searching for the opening in the big underground room. The last fly by shows the END, which was original." - eRIC (25-Dec-2007)
"I don't really know how to say it but this level is somehow boring. In the beginning it looked like it could be a nice level but when I got to the first huge area I got bored. Finding the two pieces of the Eye Of Horus was not really easy because the area really is huge with several hidden alcoves. A little later after you got through the Eye portal and such you get to a huge area with several floating platforms it was pretty easy but a little tiring. And later the worst part of the level - a huge underwater room texturized all over with one single tile - and you have to find a small narrow passage to exit it. Then the level is over. Not really long but surely there's time enough to annoy you. Don't get me wrong though if only a little more work were put into the textures to make the places look a little better..." - Treeble (11-Apr-2004)
"The level kicks off rather easily with a few jumps and a key in two parts but then it gets more challenging. The climax is a fight on platforms in a dizzy height where Lara after some dangerous jumps has to shoot 4 baddies. There are some of the usual beginner's mistakes (illegal slopes end of the world some too boxy looking places stretched textures) but it's not bad for a first try." - Rüdiger (07-Nov-2003)
"This 15 minute level also made me nauseous. Thank goodness for reviews or I'd still be swimming around in that horrible water room. As it is I left Lara wandering around in a horrible empty room instead which I'm assuming is the ends as the only place to go is back to the water room. There is really not much to this level unless you are a fan of jumping. The most promising area atmospherely (new word) speaking is the beginning area. After that it becomes repetitive dull and boring." - Momster (19-Aug-2002)
"This 30 minutes level is nothing spectacular. You need to locate two pieces of the Eye in an outside area negotiate a very high room with lots of jumping to do find the exit in an underwater cavern that will have you gasping for air and finally end the level by getting stuck in a flyby loop." - Torry (11-Aug-2002)
"This level is set mainly in large spaces inside and out the beautiful outside area had me running around madly looking for the key to open the large round door only for it be triggered open without any knowledge of how I did it inside there are 3 more large rooms that lead to the end but only one the first had been used to any real use with some fine jumping moves this is a nice level that should have been extended a little longer to have made it a great level." - Sash (21-Jun-2002)
"This 30 minutes adventure starts out a little dark and with some crawling and an easy to find secret. It does have some occasional small bugs like a door placed the wrong way round a thin wall and missing water textures but it also has some good use of fire a visually very nice outside area with palmtrees in which you will find the two halves of the Horus eye after some exploring (one high and one low) and the huge room with some classical 'platforming' gameplay is fun (are these scorpions actually fire resistant?). Not sure I liked the 'hide-and-seek' the tiny exit in the underwater room but the 'end' flyby was nicely done." - Michael (21-Jun-2002)
"Lots of fun surprises in this level. It starts out innocently enough a little fire jumping a little climbing - I was afraid it was going to be a boring level. By the end of the level I had completely changed my mind. Aside from finding a few items there's not really any puzzles in this level nor is there very many pick-ups as there are very few enemies. However there are a few really cool rooms worth checking out. My favorite was a huge room with a doorway at the top and the bottom filled with water. All you have to do is jump and climb your way up to that door - better watch out for the traps and stuff you'll find around the walls though - soldiers mummies scorpions dart traps and fires oh my! I also loved the huge water puzzle near the end and the little message the creator leaves at the 'end'. Overall a very fun without being hard level." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002)
"It was a pleasure to play this level nice and easy till I got to that huge pool room. As I suffer from a major fear of heights it means sweaty palms and setting up for a jump and close my eyes and jump. Crazy I guess I am. After that there is another room with jumping involved although it was a bit smaller and I was glad Lara had her feet on the ground once more. You need to find the two eyepieces to open the door to the tomb. You will find the crossbow and inside the explosives so the mummies roaming around there will not pose a thread. You even can outrun them. A bit later you'll find the grenade gun. You don't need it but do pick it up. The last room was terrible playing wise. As for looks it was great. The walls of that underground room are not steady so after swimming around and drowning a lot I felt a bit sick to my stomach. I thought that I need to join Matthias doing it over and over again but I got lucky. Near the ceiling is the exit hole. The end flyby is a loop but very original 29-04-2002" - Gerty (21-Jun-2002)
"I had to give this a try as it's clearly a play on words of the designers name. Regrettably it's a simple running jumping swimming level with a complete absence of puzzles of any kind. At one point you encounter a locked door - but the opening lever is located right next to it. The rooms are generally huge but usually empty. The attempt to create a large outside area was brave but the 'vanishing horizon' phenomenon prevents it from being successful. No attempt has been made to add a top layer to the scenery (which would have created a more satisfying 3d effect) resulting in the flat horizon of the hilltops merging with the sky. There are several wafer-thin walls and the 'end of the world' can be reached on a number of occasions. But pride of place must go to the texturing. Each room has it's own 2 tiles which are repeated ad-nauseum; the exception being a huge underwater room which contains only one tile. This latter room is structurally quite well assembled with a tricky exit and loads of nooks and crannies none of which (as far as I could make out) were properly utilised. And he'd forgotten to texture the water as well! Still the ending is pleasantly overdone." - Orbit Dream (21-Jun-2002)
"Starting from the inside and progressing outside you get a lot of jumping with not a very good reason. The goal is to collect the two pieces of the eye and open a new area with a lot of jumping to do again. The rooms are huge and apart from mummies scorpions and baddies you get the grenade gun nothing too difficult. The textures are Egyptian like with a touch of greenery I can't say that the lighting is good though. I am guessing that by hills the author meant those big rocks outside and the huge indoors area (?). Anyway ten minutes is all you need to complete it and proceed to the next level." - Kristina (21-Jun-2002)
"This Level has become an old friend and a screensaver to me. At one stage in this quest you arrive at a huge underwater room where you have to find the exit. Well I haven't so far but I'm sure it's there somewhere. When I came to this cavern I searched for 45 minutes drowned countless times got fed up with it and finally gave up. That was three weeks ago. I stored away my savegames and started another level. After I finished that I had another go at the Hills of Martinique. Without success. Now after each level I complete I always try afresh to find the exit in this one. Also when I can't get to sleep I swim a bit and look for an opening and soon enough I will find myself in the noddy land of blinkum. Or when I have to endure endless and boring phone conversations I usually fall back onto this game to pass away the time. Frankly I've completely forgotten what happens before you reach the underwater room but fortunately I always take some notes while playing (makes writing the reviews a lot easier) and it says here under Hills of M.: Textures stretched to the limit. So there you are. Speaking of textures this underwater cavern has only one texture which makes a systematic search nearly impossible. I always start out telling myself now you cover the lower third of the upper back on the left or something but since it looks the same wherever you go it's hard to tell where you have already been and usually after a few tries I fall back onto swimming to and fro at random hoping that I will spot the exit by sheer luck and will continue to do so till I finally succeed. It's amazing though from time to time you come to areas that look kind of unfamiliar. I would be grateful for any tips hints. Like if the exit is rather in the back of the room or somewhere along the ceiling. To the usual address please." - Dimpfelmoser (21-Jun-2002)