| Reviewer's comments |
"Definitely an early effort with the editor, with lots of the common issues in place (wafer thin walls, broken geometry, selective lighting, etc), but everything works. It's also a rather short and uninspired adventure, and I suppose nobody would be surprised that the water challenge room is an underwater maze because of course it is. But for what it's worth, we need smaller adventures such as these. It's quite hard to stay in the mood playing lenghty streaks of levels that take two hours or more to reach the finish trigger, so I was happy to stumble upon this one when looking for something for my daily raid. 20 minutes. 05/20" - Treeble (17-May-2020) |
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| "This is the first and only effort by this
builder and as such, it's not badly done
for all that. It's a bit of a mixed affair
throughout, though. The surroundings are a
bit haphazardly textured and there are a
few thin walls, missing textures and
illegal slopes around that do impede
progress quite a bit, and the gameplay is
a bit uninspiring, mainly reduced to
throwing levers and shooting countless
ninjas (far too many for a level like this
and in an unimaginative and tedious
manner, accounting for my lower score in
the second category). The fire tile
sequence also seemed to rely infuriatingly
on trial and error. But I did like a
couple of the neat camera angles, the idea
of opening up the three main gates in the
tower room and the copious amounts of ammo
due to the aforementioned ninjas. One
thing I thought was odd was that the
underwater maze seemed entirely
superfluous and only contained a few
pickups (the necessary lever could be
reached through a different area anyway,
negating all of that) and I'm sure I could
find nothing else. This isn't a level that
I would replay anytime soon, but I've seen
far worse debut efforts, so that's
something." - Ryan (02-Feb-2019) |
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| "Not bad this level, even with all that ilegal slopes, paper walls and missing textures. There are a couple of errors in the gameplay design where you can take shorcuts avoiding part of the gameplay; from the block near the shotgun and from the slide after the fire area, this time avoiding all the nasty underwater maze section. The worst for me was the fire section, 'cause I didn't find the hint for the safe tiles and I had to did it by trial and error. The remaining gameplay is not so hard, with simple tasks but I think there are excessive ninjas to shoot, even with all those provided pickups. Not very entertaining but enjoyable anyway." - Jose (22-Jan-2018) |
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| "Bad lighting, stretched textures, missing textures and a monotonous sound. Thus one could describe this level in short form. Oh, I see, I have forgotten the opponents. They are in good supply. Now I could write of course that the level is boring and dull. But he is not at all thus boring and dull. Well, the Gameplay limits itself to search lever and fight against an army of Baddies. But anyhow it makes absolutely fun. And the inclined player finds almost all weapons, richly ammunition and many Medipacks. However, it would have been better if the level builder had placed one or two packages of flares immediately at the beginning. Who wants to play a Shooter level without a lot of useless rubbish, is exactly right here." - Scottie (17-Feb-2010) |
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| "Fast and furious fightin' and fumin'. I've never seen so many ninjas before and a good few of them made me jump in my seat. The score for enemies is low because I don't consider shooting hundreds of ninjas as exceptional and a lot of them appeared out of thin air. I've also never picked up so much ammo but then again you need them for the ninjas and a few scorpions too. There's a big problem with textures in each area no animation in the water missing textures you can see through stretched thin walls and invisible blocks at gates but the architecture is good for fast gameplay. Areas are an ice cave to jump around a tiered room with levers to open three gates underneath which is an underwater maze where you get tons of ammo. And what you're looking for are two half cartouches. Right at the start you get the revolver and lasersight but I saw nothing to shoot! Perhaps it was a secret. And in the ice cave a boulder was stuck on top of a slope I did everything I could think of to get that to move but it didn't perhaps that was another secret! Good value for a quick download." - CC (02-Feb-2004) |
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| "There's nothing good about this level. Really there isn't. All you do is kill enemy after enemy after enemy while searching for lever after lever after lever. The texturing doesn't make the level any better either. Luckily it only lasts for fifteen minutes. Fifteen long minutes..." - Magnus (29-Jan-2004) |
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| "First impression: you begin in a horribly wallpapered room with paper thin walls and scorpions that crawl over ice and leave ammo behind. Omigod. But once you have entered the inside of the temple everything becomes better: the textures the gameplay the puzzles. It's not too difficult to play like the underwater maze for example which always offers a hole in the ceiling to take a breath. Thus 'The Elements' evolves into a nice average level - something I didn't expect from that beginning. Occasional good camera work is worth mentioning too." - Rüdiger (07-Nov-2003) |
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| "As a debut level this is a very good work. It's a nice adventure in an icy environment and you get to see 'the elements' in different rooms. There are also ninjas scorpions and a very good puzzle with fire tiles in which I got stuck. I liked the straightforward gameplay although there were quite a lot of ninjas and many goodies as well. (That's why I didn't bother to pick up the goodies later on.) Every now and than you notice the author cared about his work as he e.g. textured the 6 tiles in front of the entries to the different elements indicating what Lara will be facing next. Although I was a little bit disappointed in the way he textured his level in general. You can see the wallpaper effect untextured surfaces illegal slopes wafer thin walls. But I think the author has potential and I would like to see a new level in the future. (17-06-2003)" - Tinka (18-Jun-2003) |
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| "Please bear in mind that anyone who builds a custom level puts in a great deal of time and effort (with no financial incentive) and thus is deserving of praise. So it is not in any way meant (as indeed none of my reviews are) as a personal criticism when I say that I thought that this level was really quite horrible. The concept itself wasn't at fault (it's been done before but that's OK) but the whole adventure looked bland was boringly and rather scrappily textured had puzzles that were either too obscure (the fire squares) too boring (the underwater maze) or too simple (pull 3 levers to open 3 doors). The enemies were plenty but predictable and the lighting was pretty much non-existent. Only the corridor with the levitating corpses and the nifty camera view showed true imagination. This really is a level to play only if you want to up your review count. Sorry." - Orbit Dream (15-May-2003) |
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| "Some good points to this level especially in the game play with one difficult puzzle-flaming floor tiles. However with all the ammo etc the scorpions and ninja you have to face are easily dealt with. In fact there were far to many pickups and in the swimming areas to many air holes made the underwater maze simple. The textures had thin walls at times and poor Lara must have frozen assets by now-running round in her tropical gear in this frozen waste. The lighting was fine and set a good mood for the scenes. Well worth a play with the very short download time and around 40 minutes playing time." - Whistle (10-Feb-2003) |
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| "Another tut1 level set mainly in an icy environment with plenty of ninjas and scorpions. About 40 minutes to find 2 cartouche halves and 2 hands. In doing this Lara will push a multitude of levers do a fair amount of swimming through a water maze which thankfully has plenty of breathing spaces in it. A trial and error fire tile trap a not-so-dangerous rolling boulder paper thin walls and textures and quite a few illegal slopes. Plenty of fire power is provided as Lara seeks the cartouche to open the final door." - Momster (01-Feb-2003) |
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| "Apparently this level is set in the future. The climate has changed so much that Egypt is now filled with snow instead of sand. The title 'The Elements' is very appropriate as all of the elements can be found throughout the level including fire tiles and underwater mazes. There are a couple of hands and cartouche pieces to collect and lots and lots of ninjas and scorpions sneaking up on you while you're doing it. I got tired of all the enemies after a while and was glad for all the ammo and weapons available." - RaiderGirl (24-Jan-2003) |
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| "This game started off a little poorly. The textures were not very good. Then as I progressed it all got better. There was a tricky part with some floor tiles that caught fire and an awkward jump down a slope to get to a switch. If this was a first level then I look forward to more from Martin. Worth a play." - Doug E (19-Jan-2003) |
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| "Luckily the gameplay is very fast paced and seeing Lara in her shorts in this ice level I hope that she is warm enough with all that running around she had to do. Finding two Hands and the two pieces of the Cartouche will eventually lead Lara to the jeep so the girl can get away and into a hot tub (and I hope with a stiff drink to warm up). In the beginning you'll get the revolver and I was glad as there are numerous ninjas and scorpions to slay. There is a firetrap with some jumping and nice swimming to find levers so you can open the 3 gates to get the second piece of the Cartouche. Some jumping in an ice cave with a boulder but the thing never came down. Lots of missing textures as well some thin ones too and also some invisible door blocks. There are some dark corners but you'll find enough flares. 06-01-2003" - Gerty (11-Jan-2003) |
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| "I'm really in two minds about this one. Firstly the textures in the icy environment were somewhat patchily placed and it all looked a bit fake but on the other hand I felt really comfortable in the setting also gameplay was sometimes annoying especially with the fairly large sized underwater maze and the hit and miss fire tile jump puzzle well it's hit and miss if you overlook the subtle but not so subtle hint beforehand but as it only lasted 30 minutes I found that every second was filled with activity that made this feel like a longer level. So in the end I decided that I liked this level and that it was pretty enjoyable but maybe there could have been a little less weaponry as the thousand or so ninjas yes this is an exaggeration....but not by much were not a great threat." - Sash (09-Jan-2003) |
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| "This level was good for its size. Only 689 KB for downloading and I was playing 58 minutes. The enemies were ninjas and scorpions and the textures were okay. I did not find a cartouche-piece in the beginning and I had to seek for it. Only 43 rooms but the area was big. I did not find a secret. There were some objects you must find and some levers. I had fun to play this level. It is good when you just have played a hard level. For in between." - Andi Croft (08-Jan-2003) |
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| "It lasted thirty five minutes after finding two hands and a cartouche. The whole level is based in just that to find the two halves of the cartouche and finish. The textures are badly placed as we see the paper thin wall bug and the rooms are quite empty. There are a lot of baddies and some scorpions I was so relieved when I found the revolver I also had the crossbow which is given early in the game and the shotgun but it's not the same. Pushing levers and going through an underwater maze with goodies but also a lot of air holes the final gate opens after yet another lever and the cartouche is complete. The flybys are helpful and the last one showed the outside area with a jeep but when Lara stepped foot there the level ended. A nice level." - Kristina (06-Jan-2003) |
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| "This is a good level for a beginner but will not hold much interest to the experienced raider. Way too many of those wretched ninjas and scorpions. They just get tedious. Quite straight ahead play and some improvement needed in level building e.g. thin walls. Thus said I enjoyed the play as it was restful after playing some very tough levels recently. Lots and lots of pickups plenty of air holes in the water maze and no real difficulties encountered. A good effort for a first time level builder and I hope he does more." - Sherry (06-Jan-2003) |
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| "A debut level and yes it does show a bit as you have wallpaper style texturing several textures missing in the triangular areas thin floors and walls here and there and the invisible door blocks. But putting that aside you get some rather entertaining gameplay in a mostly ice/water environment with only a little fire thrown in at times. Well a lot of firepower though as you get revolver shotgun crossbow and later the Uzi and plenty of pickups throughout - but you will be happy for those as you have to deal with 20+ ninjas and about a dozen scorpions along the way which I thought was a bit overdone for a 35 minutes level. Two hands and two pieces of a cartouche to find and many levers and vases. What I really liked was the rather good and helpful camera work the multi-level room and the gameplay around it is really well done and the puzzle with the fire tiles has a nice hint." - Michael (05-Jan-2003) |
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