trle.net
Level: The Hills of Martinique back home search
Author(s): Martin Hill
total rating:5.10 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Dimpfelmoser 5 5 5 5
eRIC 4 5 5 5
Gerty 6 6 7 7
Kristina 7 8 6 7
MichaelP 6 4 5 5
Momster 4 4 4 3
Orbit Dream 4 3 4 3
RaiderGirl 7 6 7 8
Ruediger 5 5 5 5
Sash 6 6 6 8
Scottie 5 5 6 6
Torry 4 4 5 3
Treeble 3 3 3 2
category averages
(13 reviews)		 5.08 4.92 5.23 5.15

Reviewer's comments

"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)
Tag Cloud from Reviews:
back home search