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The Heroes Hammer by The Mark

DJ Full 7 7 8 8
Drakan 10 9 9 8
eRIC 8 8 8 8
Gerty 9 9 9 8
Jay 9 8 9 8
Jose 8 9 10 9
Kyle Radames 8 8 8 7
manarch2 7 7 7 7
nerdfury 7 9 8 6
Phil 9 9 9 9
Ryan 9 9 9 8
Thiago 9 8 10 9
TimJ 8 8 8 7
 
release date: 08-Mar-2016
# of downloads: 102

average rating: 8.27
review count: 13
 
review this level

file size: 153.00 MB
file type: TR4
class: Rome/Greece
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
marcocastano93@gmail.com

Reviewer's comments
"Yet again another level inspired by Legends-Anniversary, but this one is rather well built and doesn't include any new movement inspired by those games. Even if the player will inevitably need to run in long dull corridors, there are still some interesting gameplay sequences. I liked the timed-run sequence to catch a rope after deactivating a fire and avoiding spikes, for exemple. The sequence in the mud with bats could have been better if the player was provided with flares beforehand. Being in a dark pit was part of the atmosphere, but those kind of moments need to be carefully crafted in order for the player to enjoy them rather than being annoyed by them. The chain puzzle was interesting but I went too far! I thought you needed to pull them in the greek alphabetical order but you only needed to pull the ones indicated in yellow in the clue. This puzzle was also linked to a secret according to the walkthrough and I have absolutely no idea what would have been the clue to discovering it by myself. There were some weaknesses like the darts that randomly shoot you in the back without being seen in advance and the final fight with a wraith in the middle was a bit too much. The same fight in a room full of traps would have been preferable : it would require dexterity from the player and provide a more tense combat, but without the unfairness of having Lara's life be drained by an unstoppable spirit. As the author managed to bring back the hydras from TR5 for the first level, I was really expecting to fight the roman statues at the end of the second level and was a bit disappointed to see that was not the case.
Some of the sound effects were broken. The bats were perfectly silent in the first level, as were the the clockwork men, for example (I also thought that Lara made strange noises when climbing). I've collected lots of uzi ammo but never found the uzis.
Regarding the atmosphere, the author managed to give the two levels a somewhat different atmosphere, with the sanctuary having outside rooms and darker places than the hypogeum temple. However, lighting is a bit too contrasted with some very bright room and other being too dark. When the first thing I want to do when launching a new level is lighting a flare, I know there's something wrong. Having a pitch-black place to go through with the torch was a good idea, but other places would have looked better with less intense shadows. I fortunately had enough flares to finish the adventure. Good use of the fog effects, notably in the underwater timed-run. There were cool flyby cameras, like at the beginning and when entering the room with the big tree.
The levels felt quite "blocky" at times, notably in the first cave. I have the feeling that the HD textures accentuate this feeling and that extra work is hence required to mask the limitation of the grid system of TR. Texturing was fine, but stretched textures and cracks were regularly showing. No credits was given in the readme.
To summarise, it's a short double level that will provide a medium challenge, but definitely not among the unforgettable masterpieces." - TimJ (12-Aug-2022)
"(7) Gameplay & Puzzles: I enjoyed the many timed runs and traps in this medium difficulty adventure, as well as the platforming. I would say there are plenty of fun moments, and some "meh" moments, the latter of which generally involved puzzles. I think the problem-solving tasks aren't very developed and robust; there's a 3 lever puzzle that's entirely trial-and-error -- why not provide a clue to the player on using levers instead? There's also a maze, which seems like "filler" gameplay to me. There was one puzzle, involving pushing a block into a pool of water, that I thought was poorly designed and frustrating. Initially, there is one marked tile on the bottom of a pool of water, and you would think that the pushblock needs to be pushed into the water so that it would land on that marked tile. But that is not the case. The tile that the pushblock needs to be pushed onto, when entering the water, is a normal-looking unmarked tile. The marked tile is actually for you to push onto later, once the water has been drained. There's too much softlock potential with this puzzle and it was very illogical. (9) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: As with the builder's previous "The Catacombs of Anubi", I found this to be the strongest category. Aside from bats (I don't think it's possible to make bat encounters interesting), most other enemy encounters were thrilling and a lot of fun. This included many "surprise!" lions, an outdoor area with a skeleton chase, a lava area where skeletons are immune, and the 2 boss fights. Object decor is beautiful, although I would have liked to have seen hallway connector areas be decorated with objects so it's not so dull running through them. The builder includes a great variety of traps. (8) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The architecture/atmosphere has some really nice moments; examples being the large, multi-level courtyard with a tree in level 1, and an outdoor arena area in level 2. These are memorable, iconic locations. However, on the flip side, there are many drab hallways that just aren't atmospheric, and the brief cavern areas are very boxy looking. The background ambience is done well, as is the epic music cue that plays during a battle or trap gauntlet. There are a couple of sound issues: there's quite a few timed runs in this adventure, and these would have been made clearer via a tense music cue (especially the timed swim in level 2); also, the tinmen are missing sounds. Static camera hints and flybys were great. (6) Lighting & Textures: On initial glance, this HD level looks good. When you look a bit closer, there are actually many misshapen textures and some of the triangular ones are quite jarring. The final pool of water has messed-up animated textures. I think lighting is the weakest aspect of this adventure. First of all, there are many rooms that have bright lighting on one side of the room, but then you wonder where the light is coming from, as there is no light source at all. In addition, there are many corners and hallways that are pitch black which is a no-no in my opinion. It's plausible that a player will miss the flare pickup hidden in the darkness near the pushables puzzle, and if they miss this pickup, they probably won't have enough flares to check each dark area. This is another no-no. One more thing about the darkness --  have you tried to navigate a trap gauntlet in the darkness, and you're on a monkeyswing, and your flare goes out and you can't light another one? That @#!$ drives me crazy. Overall, it's not a bad level, but a few specific things rubbed me the wrong way, namely one pushables puzzle and the lighting/texturing. I enjoyed "The Catacombs of Anubi" more, as there was nothing frustrating about its gameplay. 7/9/8/6." - nerdfury (13-May-2021)
"This is one of the few greek levels that I ever played, and my first one of the builder The Mark. I should say that was a very pleasing experience. The Heroes Hammer is a very good exemplar of a greece category level, with a great focus in exploration. Gameplay and Puzzles: The gameplay it’s pretty good, the level design is well constructed, principally in question of geometry, offering some very large and interesting locations. The level design presents some original ideas and inspired sections, with a great variety of elements and scenarios, and a plenty quantity of puzzles. The level design still has some questionable parts, like the skeletons in the maze, that is pretty annoying, and the trap session in the lava room, that sounded a little gratuitous. Enemies, Objects & Secrets: They are very good in general, they aren’t created by the author, but are very well chosen. Everything is well utilized and well placed, nothing necessarily special, but really well done. They combine very well, and increase to the level atmosphere. The only strange thing that I noticed, is that the lara hand mesh when she pulls the pistols is different from the hand mesh of the outfit, which is a little ugly. The secrets are very well hidden, besides that I found the first one a little unfair. You need to climb a wall that is identical to the rest of scenery, and I consider this a not so clever way to hide an item. I found 2 of 4 of them. Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The atmosphere is very well constructed, a combination of objects, good lightning and eerie music. It creates a really good immersion, together with the well constructed scenarios. The sound is good in general, principally the very good soundtrack, that enhances the feeling. The only thing that upsetted me was the lion roar, that sounds more like a microphone feedback, it’s annoying and causes discomfort (in a bad way). The cameras are very good, with excellent use of flybys in key moments of the gameplay. Lighting & Textures: The lightning is good in general, nothing special, there aren't a variety of colors or things like that, it’s everything concrete gray in great part of the time. And some places have very unrealistic shadows and lights, beside some unnecessary pitchblack corridors. The texturizing is good in general, they have a good quality and aren’t stretched, but with some misplaced ones. The Heroes Hammer is a very competent greek level, giving me a very satisfactory experience. Final Rating: 7.85 (Very Good)" - Kyle Radames (07-Jan-2021)
"A well built adventure. The builder has made a good work with atmosphere , enemies , puzzles and a few acrobatics passages. Visually it is often in the grey tones and sometimes it can be too dark. Also i found the progresion a bit confusing at times (better to be played in one sitting) ; still a good raid to immerge yourself into." - eRIC (22-Aug-2019)
"Nice level that had me scratching my head quite a few times. Thus exploring is high on the list and do remember where you have seen something as you have to go back there. The lighting was a tad too dark for my taste, so not enough flares, medipacks were also a bit short in supply I thought. Textures could use some TLC, quite a few squashed and there were also cracks, but hey the whole place (architecture wise) was very well done. The swimming timed run was the pits though and had me reloading way too many times. Lots of clever traps I have to admit. Enemies were nice placed throughout." - Gerty (20-Oct-2016)
"I liked this level. Although some defects. Some areas are 100% dark, the enemies horsemen are annoying as hell, but nothing to debunk the fun. I liked all the puzzles. What I admired most at this level was the sound and atmosphere. Approved and recommended." - Thiago (21-May-2016)
"I start to suspect if you play one Greek level of Anniversary type, you have played them all. I also think porting Crystal Dynamics into TRLE makes absolutely no sense, because games of Crystal Dynamics were good to play once and then forget about them forever; 2) trying to mimic visuals of 2006 in an engine from 1999 is futile unless your skills are incredible indeed. Otherwise you get blocky grey corridors lit with monochrome sunlight, a scenery no Greek architect would bother to build but you would rather experience down in your basement. The accompanying soundtrack which could suit a game as braindead and short as TRA becomes tiring after hours in a custom level which requires some thinking. This kind of misapproach also existed in TheMark's previous release and if it goes on I'm starting to fear after the Egypt and Greece this guy will give us something Peruvian of the same kind. But maybe I'm wrong as some improvements are visible, for instance we have binoculars (yay! hooray!), also more flares though still none in the second level so if you want to check all the corners you're back to binoculars. Thankfully this release is not that dark, the shaded corners don't store anything important so if you're not obsessive to check them all you will not suffer (I did). The distant fog also finally helps instead of disturbing. What I possibly liked the most was nice combat handling, as I never lacked bullets and all the fights were perfectly fair maybe excluding the quicksand encounter - I have seen exactly the same idea in dnf's training and I really don't know what makes you builders think such setups are good. In simplier words: they are awful. Or maybe they're just like Crystal Dynamics, good to experience once bat never again. As always I don't approve secrets which are clueless, unmarked or force long backtracking to a door you had to remember half a level ago. In simplier words: secrets should reward not punish, you need to make a player WANT to collect them not count down to when the nonsense will end. SUMMARY: A solid Greek level, less annoying than Catacombs of Anubi however still very typical. This author has a lot of building potential but he should get more crazy about it." - DJ Full (29-Apr-2016)
"This was a very enjoyable and well put together Greek adventure. However, it can be quite dark at times although plenty of flares are provided. There are some good puzzles, such as flooding a couple of rooms and agility tests. The music was excellent too. Highly recommended." - Ryan (26-Apr-2016)
"Whenever I play a level for the purpose of writing a waklthrough, I inevitably pay a lot more attention than usual to what's going on around me. And more often than not, my sense of appreciation for what the builder has done is increased rather than diminished. In this case we have a two-part adventure, each part of which takes the better part of an hour to complete. The gameplay is inventive and challenging enough for most seasoned players, the lighting is quite good and shows off the well-crafted surroundings to their best advantage. The rather drab connecting passages didn't bother me much, as they serve only to take you from one scenic area to another. The secrets were cleverly placed, and two of them in the first level require a little backtracking and so can easily be dispensed with if you're not a completist. The clues for the chain room were too obscure for my clouded mind, but the needed tasks aren't hard to accomplish through trial and error. The final secret behind the omega door in the second level stumped me until it dawned on me that there were more than three possible combinations in the three-switch room. But then again, no one has ever called me the brightest bulb in the lamp. As easily impressed as I am, I found this to be a thoroughly delightful adventure that all raiders should enjoy." - Phil (05-Apr-2016)
"This is quite an adventure and kept me quiet (well, apart from the occasional bout of cursing) for just over two hours, net gaming time. It has some lovely settings but is undoubtedly very dark at times and I had to play in a darkened room - ah for the days of being able to give myself unlimited flares. The gameplay is super, with lots of timed runs/swims and puzzles. You will definitely need some experience under your belt, but I managed everything unaided so it's not aimed at the elite players only. Enemies are very effectively used and comprise a good mix of bats, lions, crocodiles, tinmen, skeletons and, at one point, a horseman (I think I'll gloss over the four hydras). Enormous fun." - Jay (12-Mar-2016)
"Continuing from the style of his debut level, the builder has made another modern style interpretation of a classic theme. There are some quite atmospheric areas in this game - particularly the hub room where you go on search for the three keys in the first and the main area of the second level, but generally also some nice architectural elements. The sad thing is that the areas are always connected with long, dark, grey and very shabbily textured hallways that don't spread much charm. The texturing is very unclean and leaves a lot to be desired, the lighting is often good but has a few irrealistic shadows. Thankfully the flare bug didn't appear in this one. Still the general impression of the visuals is not too bad, somehow. The gameplay is actually better than in his previous level, with a few rather interesting trap rooms, good timed runs and decent puzzles - but once again, there are a few parts which aren't that creative (especially the progression through the mentioned hallways) and should've been cut down or changed to the better. There are a lot of enemies again, all quite nicely placed - but that ice wraith at the end in combination with three horsemen (one mounted) was at least a questionable idea. Overall the time spent here was fun because of the better parts. Spent 55 minutes in here and found all four nice secrets (though the last one has an incorrect hint - it should've been 24 instead of 14)." - manarch2 (11-Mar-2016)
"Very nice level of The Mark. I like this kind of levels and gameplay. There are some bugs (spikes walls in the beginning, the final battle with the rider (especially not backup before passing the gate), the author forgot to remove the dowy. Some defects in texturing. There are some timeruns but all very easily feasible. In the first level, some nice puzzles to find the 3 keys needed to pass the 2nd level. Excellent!" - Drakan (11-Mar-2016)
"Excellent. Good architecture with some interesting puzzles, but I couldn't find the hint for the 5 chains puzzle; well placed enemies, I think the author could give us some more medipacks, but the guns and ammo were enough. The atmosphere was great, with well placed cameras and cool musics in correct locations. There are some defects with the textures in some places, and also some rooms are too dark, but usually the environments are nice. No difficult tasks to do, there are some defects 'cause the game is not properly beta tested (bad placed doors near the beginning, not "one shot" for the music in the main room in second level...) but alltogether an adventure worth to play and highly recommended. Thank you for that hours of fun." - Jose (11-Mar-2016)