trle.net
Level: Community Level 1 back home search
Author(s): AL_COLLOT Apollo Brad Casali Data DJ Tech Driber eTux GeckoKid hteS Jeffrey van Oort KingSpyder Kiopo LeeO MichaelP Netslider NoAngel Sage of Time Seth Suzie Croft Treeble TrueRaider VonCroy zozo
total rating:7.22 Gameplay &
Puzzles		 Enemies,
Objects &
Secrets		 Atmosphere,
Sound &
Cameras		 Lighting &
Textures
Anurag 6 5 6 6
CC 10 8 8 8
G.Croft 7 7 8 7
Gerty 8 7 8 8
Glow 9 7 8 8
Jorge22 8 6 9 9
Josi 9 7 8 8
Kristina 6 6 7 7
LePerk 4 6 5 5
Loupar 6 5 7 8
Magnus 6 6 5 6
manarch2 8 7 8 6
Obig 9 8 8 9
Orbit Dream 6 5 8 8
RaiderGirl 9 8 8 8
Sash 6 5 8 7
Staticon 9 7 8 8
Whistle 8 7 8 8
category averages
(18 reviews)		 7.44 6.50 7.50 7.44

Reviewer's comments

"A good idea for a level, 23 builders that put their individual room in it - must have been very hard to combine all rooms so that they fit with the key items -, that lasts around an hour.
Data: Only few pickups to find here, but an interesting architecture of the central structure, I think. The little tile puzzle at the end was good.
Kiopo: A bit more gameplay than in the first level, but this is only about searching the way up, which is not so easy, but quickly doable.
DJ Tech: Again an interestingly designed room, but - again - only few pickups here.
Sage of Time: A really short room with a mummy to avoid and a floor lever to pull.
GeckoKid: A well designed building with Asian touches, some nice jumps to get up here. 2 minutes.
zozo: The first "real" room. You have to perform some hard jumps over slopes and also avoid fire tiles and mummies. 5 minutes.
True Raider: A cave area with not much to do, except some mummy avoiding and lever pushing, and of course finding the exit of the little maze.
AL_COLLOT: A way too dark underwater maze, afterwards a little jump sequence with some well placed bedouin to shoot.
MichaelP: The room that I liked much more than the previous ones. There were some nice boulders to activate, in two different ways, one way was avoiding the rolling boulders, the other was a clever little curved jump with holding Action. Interesting idea, reminded me on "Lara Croft and the Holy Grail".
Apollo: This was only for a secret hunt, but again with a nice avoiding of a boulder, but the statue puzzle was a bit too simple for me. The jumps however down this room were fun.
Suzie Croft: This was - compared to the last two or three levels - a let-down, as this was very easy, with only one lever to find. However you get the Uzis here when you are attentive.
Driber (Driber Ball Z): Again a room with a secret, this one is rather easy to find, but the other part is well built and was a nice ride with a little amount of backtracking involved. I liked the different kinds of underwater openings much.
Seth: A very long underwater maze with some unnecessary medikits, since when you get them, you need them because you have no air left.
Brad Casali: You get the Grenade Gun in this room, else there is a bit monkeyswinging. Not much to see here, but texturing was a little better than average in this game.
Von Croy: A nice slope sequence with hard and perfect-to-time jumps, however with an unmarked ladder, which was not so good, as the players could try to catch the ledge directly, which not works.
hteS (El Diablo): Some jumps and monkeyswings in a deadly-floor room, not too hard, but also some mummy avoiding again and a little statue puzzle, more logic and harder to solve than the other one.
Jeffrey van Oort: Not much to do here, a little architectural cellar here with the Shotgun to find and also a bunch of enemies to shoot.
eTux: A very hard room. Some backflip jumps and slope jumps to perform here, one with a tricky curve including.
LeeO: Finally Lara gets outside for a little time, she has to explore a little maze and also get the Crossbow and find a lever that opens the exit door. Nothing harder or special here.
Netslider: The last secret can be found in this room, with an interesting swim-over-trigger and also a double-use of the fires. Very good idea, but also very short.
NoAngel: The price for the hardest jump doesn't go to MichaelP or eTux, it goes to this builder, as the backflip has to be timed nearly more than perfectly. The climb up was very interesting, also the puzzle with hint for deactivating the spikes for the eye piece.
KingSpyder: Only an underwater maze with nice architecture to find here, not too hard to solve.
Treeble: The final room begins with a little underwater part and ends a final shootout with two bedouin. The fixed camera in the very end was nearly epic, as well as the nice ending.
This level was all in all thouroughly enjoyable, overall texturing I found not that nice, at many places it was too dark, but gameplay was of a high standard, because of the hard jumps. Of course, some rooms looked better, some not, but I will rated this as a single level, as you can see, I didn't make ratings for each room. As I said before, a very good idea and I am already downloading Community Level Deux at the moment..." - manarch2 (22-Feb-2011)

"looks like a pretty old level, with many slopes & rough ground. Enemies chiefly constitute of ninjas, scorpions & mummies. There are plenty of streched textured walls & ladders scattered throughout the level. Its an average level as far as gameplay is concerned but I think it would have been a great project at the time when it was built. I liked Lara's outfit." - Anurag (21-Feb-2006)

“Most of you already know the story behind this level so I won’t go into that but in the end I was a little disappointed with this level. Sure I understand the limits the authors had to work with but still… I really don’t know what I expected because this level actually turned out okay. The worst part about this project is probably that it feels so linear. Usually I’m all for linear levels (I hate not knowing where to go) but this level is too linear. You solve a puzzle in one room go to the next jump a little walk into the next room walk into the next room and so on. The rooms are very different in feel and quality. Some rooms look great but there’s nothing to do in them. Some rooms look horrible but instead there may be more to do in them. However most rooms look quite good and contain at least something to do. The level lasts for forty-five minutes which I feel was a good time. Not too long nor too short. Overall a good idea that turned out quite nice in the end.” – Magnus (29-Jan-2004)

“The only flat floors will burn you. This is built by many people and plays like it. In theory this is an Egyptian level but it really is just a whole lot of stuff thrown together with Egyptian textures. I like a level that has some kind of narrative theme to in which the play progresses towards something this is probably impossible to achieve in such community effort. Some areas are good but most aren't this is probably due to restrictions placed on the builders. It's good to see builders getting together and cooperating like this but I feel more could have been done if builders interweaved their area more so the gameplay wasn't so linear. Some builders were trying to show off there skills as room crafters others were going for difficult puzzles. Every builder has tried to maximise their area by making them big so you just go from one big room to the next. Warning to players there are three mazes two underwater and one of those is dark. This level deserves to be played simply because it is one of the those unique levels what other level can claim to have so many builders.” – LePerk (07-Nov-2003)

“What a splendid fun level this was. This is the first custom level I played after playing AOD and it was good to have a responsive Lara back. This level was created by 23 level builders from the Eidos forums and was a great showcase of their various talents. Rooms ranged from very easy to challenging. The few enemies encountered do not pose too great a threat but the Ninjas do catch the unwary by surprise on occasions. And some of the puzzles are vexing to say the least. I particularly enjoyed the four-boulder room and the room with the high bridge over the water (Gave me a chance to practice my diving). A little more camera work would have been appreciated but I can live with it as it is. As an eternal beginner I found the whole two and a quarter hour challenge enjoyable (I could have done without a couple of the awkward jumps but hey this is TR). Overall well worth a play. I do hope that a second community level will be created sometime in the near future.” – Staticon (15-Aug-2003)

“As a member of the Eidos community I felt curious and I'd certainly like to give this level a top rating. But what did I expect? It is worth for the experiment of a joint effort between several members and that's where its richness comes from. Still it's well done and for an Egyptian level well it does offer more than you may usually expect. True most of the rooms have practically nothing in action terms which may make the level a little boring at times as I've already seen mentioned in another forum. Still you can tell there was good planning and successful planning in making the level homogeneous. The sand room made me think and perhaps because I wasn't patient enough check the walkthrough. I did manage to find out what to do almost till one gets to the top of the central structure but I somehow needed to see what kind of final jump one had to make. Oh well... The spikeball room was fairly interesting too and it took me a while before I realized how to get to the levers. In the room with a large medipack in the center and flames all around I did take a swim around the pool but I must have done something wrong for the central flame didn't go out. So I simply ran to it grabbed the medipack and jumped back until I reached the water while using a small medipack - that was enough. Then there was a room with water and a lever where I had to make a hundred backflips before Lara finally grabbed the wall - I wonder why... On the top the pick up of the second eyepiece was original and ingenious. I almost forgot there was that part with the rooms with water the burning floor and levers that gave me some work - but I must say I did it the wrong way because I simply started by jumping above the burning floor and doing everything on the other side and then got back and finished my tasks. In the middle of it all one thing I didn't like was the placement of the first hand of Sirius - in such a dark place it took me quite a while to find it. I also didn't like the lack of cutscenes making this one of those games where you simply have to find out by yourself what on earth the lever you just pulled was for... And also of course there was no need for any guns apart from the faithful pistols - more than enough to kill several awkward ninjas. Finally the last room was also interesting and one had to find the way out was in the big black spot which wasn't totally obvious. But I liked the mechanics of that room... Well and as I said even though a lot of rooms are there just for show this is more than you usually may expect from an Egyptian level. I believe I can say this is good work. Thus even though I can't give it four tens I think you should give it a try. It's a very nice experiment (we're waiting for number two) original in that sense solid and without bugs not that I have noticed at least and a small download. Good reasons in my opinion for you to give it a try.” – Jorge22 (19-May-2003)

“I have to say that this one just didn’t really grab me. I think someone has said it before but it just seems like you move from one large room to the next in this 90 minute level not really accomplishing anything although as you progress things do start to build up but still apart from two rooms that spring to mind the 4 boulder releasing room and the room with the purple structure and Hand on top which has a few good jumps all the others have just blurred into one. I can’t imagine that all 24 builders just happened on creating non puzzling rooms so maybe it was a directive from up on high and if so it was a mistake. If there happens to be a community Level part 2 please think of the players and give us something to sink our teeth into.” – Sash (18-May-2003)

“What a very enjoyable level. Sneaky sometimes like the first receptacle for the hand easy to miss sometimes tricky like getting up someplace high to get the second hand. I found three secrets there's enough ammo around (although I only used the pistols) and I found the grenade gun and the crossbow. Not so many enemies some scorpions mummies and ninjas. I really liked this joint-venture so start building again people!” – Josi (03-May-2003)

“This level is marvelous! Congratulations for the authors it was a great fun for me. I can recommend it to anyone although there are difficult jumps at some places eg. in the end before discovering the second Eye Piece. I had a problem at a certain place. I didn’t jump up onto the roof so I didn’t manage to find the Hand of Orion for a while and it was difficult to get back for it. Unfortunately I didn’t realize it while jumping. The secrets were not too hard to find. I found total 3 secrets and it was ingenious to find them. I can’t emphasize a room separately ‘cause it was always something which I liked in them. This level is good for practicing for the beginners. The enemies are not particularly dangerous and you have the Shotgun Grenade Gun Crossbow as well as enough ammo. Although you don’t need them too much as there are plenty of medipacks in the level. The textures are various - thanks to the great authors.:-) The only thing I missed is the added sounds although they may not musicals.:-)” – Obig (26-Apr-2003)

“I've read that up to 23 builders have gone together to make this level; I think that in this case they haven't put together their ideas. The gameplay is like they were built one after other and then linked each part with another. I missed some help cameras and flybys and more clues about what to do next.” – Loupar (03-Apr-2003)

“Not a great many puzzles except "find your way". You have to look for non-obvious routes/ways out of situations. Large rooms to search but beware of trip floor tile switches. The puzzles have twists but if you think logically you will succeed. Some of the jumps do look impossible so don't be reticent about trying them. Enemies include scorpions and zombies but cause no great problems. Graphics good and set the atmosphere for each of the sections which can be very different in character as they were written by different people. Which also applies to the camera work. Definitely a level worth playing.” – Whistle (31-Mar-2003)

“I think it is amazing that 23 people from around the world can get together and build a level very much thanks to Treeble of course. The result is an interesting mix of rooms some harder and some easier. The ones that I will remember the most is the room where you have to trigger four rolling boulders and the ‘pink structure’ room. You have to do a series of difficult jumps but as so many others I made a jump to the wrong spot and that made me miss the second hand. Be sure you get up on the structure’s roof! Enemies are ninjas scorpions and mummies.” – G.Croft (22-Mar-2003)

“First of all Treeble deserves a big round of applause for all his hard work on this project and the great job he did keeping it together and going despite a few problems. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started playing this but what I got was a fun level with great puzzles some challenging jumps and climbs (those four boulders and that second hand!) few enemies and some surprises as well (especially that floor in Treeble’s room). For some reason I assumed it would be easy to spot where one builder left off and the next one started but the whole project was so smooth it looks like it could have been built by one very talented author. Because each person only had a few rooms though it was apparent that they put a lot of time and effort into making their areas challenging and exciting. This was a great way to bring the building community together and I hope to see more projects like it.” – RaiderGirl (20-Mar-2003)

“If this means there will be a second one I am all for it. A dark very dark level at certain points had to add some flares as even finding them was not enough. I found this level sort of straight forward and the only time I got really stuck was in the room with that purple thing hanging in the air as the jumping was quite different. My heart was in my throat when Lara suddenly landed on that slanted block. You are underground and you need to find 2 Hands and the two pieces of the Eye and a Cartouche. Found 3 secrets (and with one you have to step into the flames) and the shotgun revolver uzi and crossbow. I think it was the uzi that I got by accident as I reloaded from a saved game a ninja popped up and after I shot him he left a nice package. There are some very tricky jumps to do and some nice traps I liked the four boulder one. I am still a bit baffled with the statues you had to push (or pull) as so far I can tell didn't do anything apart from letting me climbing that pole. Don't know if that was the meaning of it but I shimmied through the spikes. There are some floors that will burn Lara to a crisp and no indication whatsoever I hate that. Enemies ninja's mummies scorpions that's it I think. Some nice swimming and there is an underwater maze not too hard though. Placing the eye is the end of the game. 15-03-2003” – Gerty (18-Mar-2003)

“Seeing this getting started at the Eidos forum a while back I was sure that it would become a great level with all those builders working together. I am afraid the outcome is not very good but rather poor I dare say. I would expect the textures to be at least pleasing to the eye but they were very plain and the rooms looked boring with no objects in them. As far as the gameplay well two hands and the Eye of Horus and the rest of the level being just jumps and climbs through rooms with burning floors isn't much fun and gives no challenge. Some baddies scorpions and a mummy or two and some spike balls isn't what I call an obstacle. A few rooms at the end looked better with not many slopes or triangular shapes but with greenery although there was nothing to do but proceed to the next area. The levers for the gates that need no puzzle item to open aren't very close at first so be sure to search everywhere and look behind you for receptacles. Rather dark at areas or should I say pitch black. I disliked the underwater maze it was long and served no real purpose there wasn't any crucial item inside or anything just medipacks and the exit. An hour and fifteen minutes is all it took to get through it with three secrets found. I hope if this is going to be a sequel it will have real action and god puzzles next time.” – Kristina (18-Mar-2003)

“This is the first level from the Eidos Community and a nice one! Never boring always difficult every second a surprise waits for you round the corner...Enemies are not a lot but jumps and moves are very difficult and will keep you busy for hours: some rooms are really puzzles in themselves you don't know how to exit them! Textures are nice and quite unusual well placed and I didn't find bugs. Lights are ok and so music. The atmosphere is menacing danger is always with you you must be very careful when you walk or enter a room...Secrets are difficult to find I missed some of them puzzles are quite a headache! I really enjoyed it!” – Glow (18-Mar-2003)

“First of all the good points. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the difficulty level was raised continuously throughout this adventure from its placid beginning to its extremely difficult final rooms; the lighting and texturing was (as you would expect from such experienced builders) never less than accomplished; and the sheer variety of activities was impressive. However that being said I have to admit to disliking the experience quite intensely. The gameplay can best be described as ‘big tricky show-off room after another’. Find a way to get across it to access the next big tricky show-off room’ which after a while gets quite wearing and not a little exasperating. Many of the jumping challenges while often being fun and involving were also quite glitchy; particularly the room with the purple lit structure near the end where it was quite easy to get irreversibly stuck without a crucial puzzle piece while being under the impression that you'd done the right thing and could now progress to the next area (a big tricky show-off area needless to say). My biggest complaints are that despite there being a plethora of builders involved no-one seemed capable of including a cut sequence or a fly-by to give some indication of where to go/what to do next; challenges which involve shimmying through spikes are just not on; inexplicably combustible 'normal looking areas' are also best avoided (and engender the impression in the player that they have been deliberatly ‘gotcha'd!’);many rolling balls seemed to roll for no particular reason (they didn't go anywhere near Lara); and how the heck could an entire Committee agree to the inclusion of a large water maze?! One builder working on their own could be forgiven for such a hackneyed device but a whole group?” – Orbit Dream (17-Mar-2003)

“Absolutely brilliant just when you thought you'd seen all an Egyptian style level had to offer along comes this level. At first I thought it was a joke the way the textures were a bit all over the place but further into the level I couldn't care less. There's never a dull moment. Plenty to keep you busy but nothing is so awkward or seemingly impossible to become tedious. I learned that 23 authors collaborated to create this level and as I said before it shows. The room with 4 boulders was an excellent puzzle. There was only one moan I had to go back to get the star-shaped 'hand' from what the author calls the 'purple structure'. A word to the wise this 'purple' structure is at the top of the room with burning sand floor and greenery high above where you climb up do a few awkward jumps and a climbable wall and backflip back to the 'greenery'. The first time I landed beside a 'window' jumped in and carried on. I didn't realize I had to jump on to the roof to get the hand. The room where you have to shimmy around more climbable green walls to a switch and then up to get the 2nd half of the Eye is also brilliant. I really don't have any complaints at all. More please... Lara's outfit is great and her hair is . . .Gosh! is that the time gotta go . . . runs away.” – CC (17-Mar-2003)
Tag Cloud from Reviews:
back home search