| Reviewer's comments |
"Another level from Debbie's early building phase and this one features motorbikes - a lot of motorbikes. There is fun to be had riding about, but otherwise the gameplay is only showing slight hints of the accomplished builder to come. Quite atmospheric and, if you like motorbike riding, you might enjoy this." - Jay (19-Oct-2018) |
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| "Very much in Debbie's early style: many
huge rooms to traverse with not a whole
lot to do other than find items and the
textures are rather plain with little
variation. You also get multiple bikes
rather than just the one, but at least
this makes the pace a hell of a lot faster
than just simply running. The atmosphere
is gloomy and all aspects of the City
levels are present and correct from the
audio to the sentry guns that'll set you
on fire if you're not careful. But at
least the camera hints are helpful, the
ravine is impressive and it represents
some progression from "The Haunted"." - Ryan (03-Apr-2018) |
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| "Another complete level from this author. As usual, the rooms are very huge and there are a lot of areas to explore with nothing to do except pick up items or secrets. It's a pain that the builder didn't force the players to pick up all the items Lara were looking for here, 'cause I finished only with two armour pieces. The tasks are simple, pull some levers and shoot some swinging balls, and you'll find several motorbikes to better explore the wide rooms; you'll find some traps too and some sentry guns near the end difficult to avoid, Lara can easily catch fire. The best were the camera shots and the flybys showing always where to go. Enjoyable." - Jose (17-Jan-2018) |
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| "This is a massive step from The Haunted, but still misses the mark. Most of the rooms look very alike one another, and it seems they're overly long to justify the many disposable bike rides you get here. There was a set of flames lighting up in an underwater tunnel, a cool visual effect I guess. Along the way you come across a series of 'streets' with lots of side rooms, usually holding either goodies or traps, but I don't remember getting anything crucial out of those so opening each and every one of them is ultimately up to you. A few wafer thin walls, the end of the world right within reach as the level gains height for a few moments, and ultimately the titular "Stolen Artifacts" seemed to be just randomly scattered throughout the vast areas: I myself reached the finish trigger with just three of them. 25 minutes, 2 secrets. 01/18" - Treeble (13-Jan-2018) |
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| "I remember Debbie Overstreet as having had something of a reputation as a level builder back in the olden days; I don’t know if this is still the case, but either way, I never understood the hullabaloo, and this, her debut level, is certainly inauspicious and does not do a very good job of auguring an up-and-coming TRLE genius. It’s a City level in which the usual beginner’s mistakes are very much in evidence, and its distinguishing featuresâ€"in the visual department, the grave aesthetic error of using the doom-and-gloom City wad (including its poisonous green sky) alongside the brightest and sunniest texture sets in all of TR4 (Coastal); and in the gameplay department, a prominent streak of meannessâ€"are not all that endearing. Add to this a meaningless objective (ostensibly you’re retrieving the various pieces of the Armour of Horus which have been randomly distributed throughout the level, but you don’t actually need any of them to finish the level) and an amateurishly constructed, hopelessly fragmented map (as evidenced by the fact that no fewer than six different motorbikes had to be placed in it), and you have a pointless, visually unappealing endeavour that isn’t any fun to slog through." - Mulf (10-Jan-2018) |
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| "One word to describe this level - fun. Very fast paced and to make it even faster you get lots of bikes in each area to help you cover the ground. You also get lots of lasersights and revolvers to shoot things which is just as well because I think I would have died of boredom if I had to 'go back' each time I found a swinging ball to shoot or some other action to do. Dead guys everywhere that can be pulled but it means Lara backs right into walls to do it and pops out again when finished and Lara's animation when picking up underwater is extremely odd. Texturing is not great but I did like the look of the areas even though they are huge and mostly empty. I particularly liked the huge area near the end of the level of slopes with castle walls high up and the trapdoors that drop to a scary deep pit. There's a lot of swimming in long tunnels that had me wondering if I will make it without feeding Lara with medpacks. There are two endings! I feel that it can be called just one. That is to say when you get to the big room up the steps of the sand slope. Leave the bike up there and go back down the steps and find the lever beside the water. This way you'll get to shoot the helicopter and come back to the room where you left the bike anyway. From this room both endings are the same. Not the best of Debbie's levels but very unusual and good fun all the same." - CC (12-Feb-2004) |
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| "This is the Debbie Overstreet's lowest rated level, by a considerable margin, and I'm not sure I know why. I found it to be much like her earlier levels, brief but entertaining. I suspect it may have something to do with all the wide open spaces, but I rather enjoyed driving that motor bike up and down those hills near the ravine. Actually, we have a series of disposable bikes here, which is a fresh touch. The walkthrough provided with the download ensures a brisk and risk-free diversion which I rather enjoyed. I've noticed that Debbie's later levels are more difficult and complicated, but that's to be expected where a level builder is feeling her way around and becoming more confident in her creations. But this early one is not bad at all, and worthy of a download." - Phil (08-Aug-2003) |
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| "This level is from the early days of Debbie's work. It does have problems mainly with textures and it's all about pushing levers to open the next door but interesting to look to see how the author improved with time. There are a lot of bikes and walls to smash also seven easy secrets and pieces of the armor to collect. Some times it looks like a desert the outside areas and some others we are indoors in empty big rooms. The enemies are just a couple of SAS guards and we have many trapdoors. Try one of Debbie's more recent levels." - Kristina (22-Jul-2003) |
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| "For me there was a really memorable moment in this one. Halfway through Lara is cruising down an alley on her motorbike when suddenly the road narrows and there is one of those footless soldiers dying on the left. Lara brakes dismounts but instead of helping the poor chap she just walks over and drags him away to see if there is something underneath. There isn't but now the brave man is positioned between the bike and the doorway. What the hell thinks Lara he's dying anyway and then she gets back onto the bike and drives over him. Makes her seem really mean. But it was an act of mercy you see. This adventure is rather fast paced (with the help of four motorbikes; hey I must have missed a couple) but gameplay wise there is not much to do apart from pushing a few trial and error levers and collecting large amounts of useless pickups. The biggest excitement is riding past the sentry guns and trying not to get fried; everything else is a bit dull and the empty and bleak rooms don't do much in terms of atmosphere. Definitely not my favourite from Debbie. Quite the opposite in fact. But there is one great moment when you slide down the side of the mountain. That valley looks damn impressive." - Dimpfelmoser (06-Dec-2002) |
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| "This 40 minute level seemed to be filled with nothing other than long tedious swims and long tedious bike rides on 6 separate bikes. Well there were also 5 pieces of armour to locate and at the end I was astonished to find that I had collected 7 secrets without even realising. If I had to pick a highlight then it would have to be the canyon area as it was huge and quite awesome but the rest just had a sameness to it that I could have reloaded any one of my saves and probably wouldn't have known how far along in the level I was." - Sash (04-Dec-2002) |
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| "I was a little surprised to see a newer level that called for the original wads and had to reinstall the level editor to play this one. As with her Haunted Mansion levels this is made up of large rooms and long swims to reach the next switch finding lots of pickups and secrets along the way. A few memorable things were: finding a dead body behind a door and seeing rats scurrying away from it the large ravine where you have to ride the bike around to find a piece of the armour the long drop into the water that you get to do twice and the motorcycle ride past the machine guns at the end. Right before you get to the end there are a lot of pickups but since the level is over I'm not sure why you'd bother to get them." - RaiderGirl (24-Jul-2002) |
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| "Debbie sticks to her style and the areas here are again rather huge and the gameplay rather straightforward. Along the way you pick up the armour pieces and seven secrets (mostly weapons) deal with locusts SAS wraiths bats and sentry guns and way too many rather useless levers and doors. I did like the outside areas though and especially the bike ride on the sandy slopes was fun. Speaking of bikes I thought it is a little overdone to place six (!) of those in this level. There are two possible routes near the end (as I found out in the walkthrough) but I did not bother to go the second path." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Is there any texture set more depressing than the city wad? This level is no exception in this regard. What a very strange world Lara finds herself in here: rooms of gigantic scale mind numbingly long swims runs and bike rides all in the gloomy dreary city style. The amphibious bats were good for a smile at least. I hate to say it but I was relieved when this one came to its abrupt end." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "This is the second level by Debbie and although I do like the ideas this author has it falls a bit too short of gameplay in my book. Probably because almost every goody is in the open waiting to be picked up. Even the pieces to make the suit of armor. Goodies are a bit over the top 2 grenade guns 2 laser sights even 2 revolvers. Secrets to be honest I lost count about 6 or 7? And what's with the bikes I counted 6. There is even an area I hadn't been luckily I had a saved game or else I never could go there after I passed an underwater door. But hey 1 secret and 1 bike I would have missed so no big deal. Not much enemies as most of them are dead eaten by rats yuck. But you will encounter some sentry guns but with the bike you can drive past them. The idea with the underwater rooms was nice even better to drain them and have another adventure there. There are some traps but you easily avoid them just don't open too many doors. There is some fire underwater and even a bat. Found that hilarious. That huge ravine was awesome. 08-06-2002" - Gerty (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "It's the City Wad so what would we usually expect? Dark skies gloomy atmosphere baskets with locusts in automatic machine guns guards firing harmless grenades a motorbike or two breakable walls to drive through? This is why I am always so pleasently surprised when I overwrite a wad and discover that the resulting level rings the changes on all the old ideas. This one doesn't. In fact it reiterates those old ideas so remorselessly that the experienced player can pretty much get through this with their eyes shut. Everything about this level is magnified to a stupendous degree; huge rooms vast outside areas loads of locusts great swathes of grey sky numerous motorbikes large amounts of machine guns a plethora of breakable walls umpteen dead guards. It's almost as if the designer was positively revelling in the predictability of it all. All right so there are unexpected moments. The pathway opening up comes to mind. But it needs so much more and anyone who has grown tired of the City environment will grow tired of this within seconds. It is big though and the gigantic ravine impresses." - Orbit Dream (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "I do not like playing city levels so much nevertheless I was surprised pleasantly that there were so few opponents here. On top of that one could find all weapons massively ammunition and health-packs. In the beginning of the level it felt like being in a department store then the levers for the different departments also were directly before every door. Then however this improved a little and one had to go a bit longer ways. Certainly cameras sound and textures were not inserted particularly well but the level designer handled the lighting well. The bat under water was also not very convincing. For beginner the level is well suitable." - Xxenofex (21-Jun-2002) |
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