Reviewer's comments |
"The coziest from this builder. The compact town feels safe despite of all the hostiles. Some running around should be cut, and a few times you may need help, so I'll recommend it with a walkthrough nearby." - DJ Full (22-Oct-2024) |
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"While I absolutely loved the atmosphere and feel of the city, both the outdoor and indoor areas, I don't think the mazey approach worked well with the constant running back and forth. In that regard, the walkthrough is indeed a must if you want to reach the finish trigger in a timely fashion. There are a lot of minute details to be appreciated here, such as kicking a wooden railing off a balcony and shattering glass shard traps to clear your path (wouldn't have ever thought of even trying that, were it not for the walkthrough). Despite following the waltkhrough I managed to get lost often and wandered into a dead end alley with untextured walls. Beyond that, I enjoyed my stay here to some extent, just wish it was somewhat more streamlined. 65 minutes, 1 secret. 07/21" - Treeble (25-Jul-2021) |
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"A fun and slightly confusing romp through a TR5
Rome environment. Gameplay is fun with some
nice puzzles to solve, particularly one
revolving around the three button format from
TR4. It can be confusing running around so have
the walkthrough to hand. Enemies only appear at
certain intervals. Maybe a few more cameras
could have been added although the flybys were
nicely done. Recommended if you have the
patience." - Ryan (04-Jul-2016) |
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"Strange that a solid level like this has some missed textures
in the very beginning. The architecture is excellent, with a
"The Last Crusade" style. There are some small defects with
little textures but the aspect is generally very good. There
are not real puzzles, and the gameplay consists about run
around and around through the entire city looking for switches
or buttons to press and placing items to open doors; it's
difficult to figure out Lara can break a fence or even more
difficult to discover the floor trapdoor without handle. The
best for me were the enemies and the cameras. Better play it
with the walkthrough in hand." - Jose (17-Nov-2013) |
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"I don't normally play city levels, and now I remember why. It's confusing to get started and learn the layout of the city, it's difficult to find the correct place for a key when there are hundreds of keyholes nearby and its a pain to run back and forth trying to find a recently opened door. This level, however, manages to go the extra step by placing trapdoors that look the same as the flooring, a piece of kickable fence that looks the same as the rest of the unkickable fence and falling blocks that look the same as all the other pieces of non-falling floor. The puzzles, when you finally find them, are short and not particularly difficult. The main puzzle is in the art gallery, where the builder seemed to get bored and just placed some empty rooms you don't need to enter. In his defence, there are places where the gameplay flows quite nicely, but these moments are too few and far between. The town looks quite nice, but for a zombie/art level, its not creepy at all, and the zombies are more of a minor inconvenience than anything else. Sounds were barely used, but the camera work was competent. Overall, if you want to spend an hour and a half running around wondering what to do next in a nice city setting, then boy do I have the level for you! 95 minutes, no secrets. Not recommended." - Cory (28-Jul-2013) |
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"A very good level in a Rome setting. The map is not big but sometimes it was a bit disorienting (in a clever way) and there is plenty to do, many clever puzzles to solve. I quite like the use of some of some objects , very good work in this category. The"damned" guy who was keeping a pickup was hilarious. The town is cleverly built and very convincing. I think that the atmosphere could have been better with other audio tracks. An interesting and well made level that sometimes teases the player." - eRIC (27-Sep-2008) |
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"A tricky level, with much of running around, finding switches, then finding the doors they open. The cameras & the surrundings are pretty good. A must download if u r a TR Fan. It took me 95 mins to finish it." - Anurag (27-Dec-2005) |
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"Difficult puzzles, sometimes hard to find the next move; so my kind of a level, this is. To kick the railing on the balcony, and that the glassware on the floor is shootable, took me some time to figure out. The whole place is cleverly built, so much to do in a relatively small level with lot of going forth and back. The town looks nice, both in- and outdoors, the author has a sense for details, which raise the atmosphere: all the rooms well furnished, or has other issues, climbable, jumpable obstacles, traps, mist; so I never felt any room as empty, even when gone through several times, and the enemies - first time there - were long gone. The sreetlamps, fountains, paintings on the walls and not only in the main gallery, that child jumper thingy on the streetfloor (it's not in the dictionary, but hope you know what I speak of), were nice touch. Just like the rat, who found a key and brought it to his lair. There are no added sounds. The enemies are nicely retextured zombie dogs, zombie thugs, and a few rats. A must see, for seasoned raiders." - Akcy (17-Jun-2005) |
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"Art History is my favourite from the author's work, as far as I've played his levels - though it has the Rome setting which is not among my favourites it is very well done, and though pretty vast, it also is pretty easy to orientate into, and with camera hints being where they're due or the setting being made so, so that you see what opened through a grating, you should seldom if at all be lost (the strange camera view you get after shooting the bell can be fixed by saving and reloading). One of the first things that eluded me was the railing you're able to kick, which could've been a bit more obvious, but overall - this among other novelties of the level like the glass shards, the painting puzzle and innovative way of placing jump switches were one of the things which made the level so special. Also - the location of one key - inside the stomach of a rat might seem inconsequent, but it reminded me of an alike moment in another game (Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - might have heard of it) and thus I didn't mind. Though there are some minor nuances with the visuals that could've been done better it still is a very nice environment to play in, especially the use of fog is excellent in this level. If anything then the enemies felt terribly out of place. Since there is no background plot - there is no explanation for the semi-decayed dogs running around, nor for the demonic horsemen or thugs rampaging the city (the only enemies that actually felt being in the right place where the skeletons in the bell tower), nor actually why Lara is raiding in here? But this is not really such big of an issue that it will spoil your enjoyment here, not at all - so do give this a try - the original ideas of the author make it worthwhile. Definitely." - eTux (04-Apr-2005) |
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"This is actually quite an intriguing level in Leroy's style, set in a kind of Roman darkish city setting. And I really would have scored it higher if not for a number of annoyances along the way. First and foremost, I would probably still be searching the place if I did not have Dutchy's walkthrough at hand as some switches and trapdoors are well hidden and the level is entirely non-linear, meaning you can get to places early and has virtually no camera help to speak of as you desperately try to get your ends on five sets of keys and then find the matching locks for them. Also there are a few unusual moves (the kicking of the balcony gate, the shooting of the glass on the floor and the graveyard key pickup for example) that make progression harder than it needed to be. Had a good laugh at that poor rat that must have swallowed one of the keys. On the positive side though, the environment is really well constructed and exceptionally well textured and lit. I really enjoyed the small touches, like the shot-out windows that still have a bit of glass. You get a three-button-puzzle area (Mona Lisa included), two secrets and the 'dancing skeletons in the bell tower' scene is rather cool. Sadly, near the end you actually have quite a bit of backtracking to do when some kind of a shortcut would really have been better. Enemies are fairly evenly distributed tinmen, dogs and bat wielding baddies plus a few rats. My stats showed a net gaming time of 1:15 hours, but I must have easily spent twice or more the time running back and forth and then re-loading when I kind of knew what to actually do in what sequence. With a bit more camera work and a bit less backtracking this could have been a top notch level. As it is, it's a really good one nonetheless - if you have the patience." - Michael (20-Feb-2005) |
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"Leroy definitely has his finger on the pulse when it comes to designing great old style European cobble streeted towns and that is where you are located here. The feel and look of this environment with it's ominous lighting really is the star in this 90 minute level and even though the gaming concentrates mainly on finding buttons to open doors I never felt the tedium of what this kind of gameplay usually gives me because of the surroundings. To keep you on your toes you'll encounter zombie dogs mace wielding thugs and tinmen with many a corner in this winding level holding one waiting to ambush you this fact kept my nervous tension up as each new corner would come but Leroy played it well by then letting the player be left alone with only their anxiety for a while until you finally let your guard down and bang they start popping out again to make you jump. If I could point out any negatives the only one would probably be that I would have loved more secrets other than the two included as the placement of the one I found was nicely located and the other was just ingeniously but unfairly situated so that most if not all would never find it without the help of the walkie. Leroy I beseech you to keep building in this fashion environment wise as to be greedy I adore this style of which you and Piega seem to have brilliantly cornered the market." - Sash (04-Jan-2005) |
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"A nice level to play with beautiful classical settings and good puzzles. There are some original things like the way to put off the fires (shooting) or the paintings puzzle. I've played 2 hours and found all the secrets and although sometimes I was stuck (and I had to read a walkthrough) I think that Art history is a really good level." - Loupar (06-Dec-2004) |
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"Perhaps I was just spoiled by this builder's splendid Troglodyte Technology but his latest venture just didn't grab me as I had hoped and expected it would. To be sure it's an enjoyable but rather pedestrian raid where you go back and forth between two town squares seeking switches to pull and buttons to push so you can progress. Dutchy's walkthrough helped considerably but near the end I was looking forward to playing the next level. For one thing the overall ambience was too dark for my taste especially since a large part of the level is played outdoors under blue skies. But I'm dwelling on the negatives which is perhaps unfair to the author since I did enjoy the overall gaming experience and would recommend it to anyone. The level is confined in terms of geographical space but it's laid out quite intelligently and doesn't require great technical skill to make your way through it. I'm looking forward to the author's next release." - Phil (24-Nov-2004) |
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"When I finally finished I realised this is not the huge level it looked at the start. It's very much a Rome level all those little streets give the impression of a maze and it was strange that even towards the end I didn't get to know it very well I still found myself running around all over the place trying to find where I thought I had to go next. A lot of backtracking to do and it can get confusing. The enemies (thugs dead knights rats and emaciated dogs) were well placed and showed up in streets you've been in before and thought you had cleared them so they were kind of like 'pointers' when they showed up you knew you were sort of on the right track. I didn't bother to shoot some of the rats at first until I realised that one had to be shot to get an essential item so you do need to shoot all of them. I really liked the way you can see other areas through windows and gates but you can't there yet. There are some really interesting and new stuff in this level like the shattered glass on the floor can be shot to clear it away I never saw that before. Another intriguing place was a fire in front of a switch how to put it out and then how to get the wood pile out of the way so you can use the switch that was great especially the waterskin part of it. I loved the hopscotch drawing on the ground and the circular manhole covers. I was stuck for a long time until I realised a certain balcony has to be kicked out and find a floor trapdoor in one of the houses these were almost impossible to see. I loved the run past the sword swinging skeletons up a collapsible staircase. The 'Art History' part is in an art gallery type place where there is a puzzle of paintings that is the old three push button puzzle we've seen before but employed to great effect here. At the start I looked behind me and found a serious dead end which wasn't a great introduction to the level. There were so many gates in this level placing another there would have made more sense. It would also have been an inducement to players to go back and have a look especially if they missed that first pull-down switch. The overall effect is twilight getting dark with a blazing sunset which is lovely and spooky in places like the graveyard. The map is small but very well designed all the elements are intriguing the enemies are well placed and altogether a great level. Possibly one of the best Rome levels out there." - CC (08-Nov-2004) |
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"At the start of the level I turned around like I always do just in case... And yes you could go there and be stuck forever staring at some missing textures that is plain sloppy. That was not a good start and it got even worse as I missed the jump lever also right at the start. I also had to make a map as I got hopelessly lost at times. I did however love the layout of this small city and once you got your bearing it was rather fun as well. There was one trapdoor I just found by accident and it is fiendish hidden. If you love cities and don't mind running around in them and have a mind for direction this is your game. There are nice puzzles in here some not so obvious but also luckily not too hard. Enemies are rats they do flop over ever so funny when you shoot them the nasty hounds they do scare me every time thugs and guards and don't forget what is hiding in the bell tower. Very spooky. Give it a go if you aren't fainthearted. 15-10-2004" - Gerty (28-Oct-2004) |
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"This game is so well conceived! Nice Rome... And at the same time I became so stuck for three whole days I had to do something I don't remember ever having done in custom levels - following the walkthrough. And the problem with walkthroughs is once you print it and find the solution to whatever is stopping you you'll probably use it until the end. What was stopping me then? First (and you may say I was blind) the wall lever just by the first gate. Secondly (and you can't say I was blind there) the literally invisible trapdoor that led to the mouse with the key - mean! Thirdly the crawlspace followed by a crack on the wall in the room with the pool and the fire which weren't by any means that evident. This has to be one of the sneakiest levels I've ever played! It's certainly not obvious but it is obviously very challenging. The enemies are 'tinmen' guards thugs from TR3 rats or mice and Baskerville hounds to which you may add the skeletons in the church bell tower. There's an interesting small cemetery a nice ride in underwater tunnels with currents and of course the art history room... I pushed the paintings by their chronological order only to find I probably had to push them in every possible order. I then checked the walkthrough again I confess. In the end I met a problem: after shooting the bell with the revolver after the flyby that followed it the image became horribly close and very slow and my eyes are still suffering from that. But never mind it probably won't happen to you. This is a game that you shouldn't miss. But do try not to use the walkie... (October 25 2004)" - Jorge22 (25-Oct-2004) |
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"I had a really difficult time with this level and I can't really explain why....the maze-like city and the many turns back and forth may be a reason though. (Thank God for walkthroughs - or rather Dutchy in this case J). It is a well built city anyway with a spooky atmosphere inhabited by ghost dogs ghost tin men skeletons and thugs - and of course a rat or two. Find keys to open the many doors combine the two pieces of the bell key to finally be able to get out of this scary place!" - G.Croft (21-Oct-2004) |
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"What a lovely city and how much I could have used a map. Did you stop for a game of hopscotch? I bet you did. As usual with one of Leroy's levels there is a lot of sneakiness going on - some of the things you need to shoot are delightfully unexpected. A lot of keys are required and they turn up in all sorts of places (a rat was carrying one of them - damn well trained rodent I thought). The art gallery variation on the three button puzzle was a very nice touch and running the gamut of the sword swinging skeletons up the bell tower staircase might not have been all that difficult but it looked spectacular. I thoroughly enjoyed myself." - Jay (21-Oct-2004) |
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"This is an interesting level filled with levers that can't be pulled just yet and halfs of staircases and with gates that let you see where you will soon be going. Confusing at first it doesn't take too long to see what to do and where to go. But I was stuck at the fire column before I realized I would have to leave it and go back later in the game. Turns out that was the right thing to do. The title refers to (I think) one of the puzzles with pictures/buttons to press in different orders for different gate openings. If you know your art history you'll know the chronological order the pictures were created and you'll know the correct sequence that opens the gate to proceed. Every sequence will open other gates. The first secret is sneaky and wonderful and for the second one Lara has to be standing just so to pick up the medipack. It was fun seeing textures from Chronicles(?)/Troglodyte demo and at times it had the great feel of that demo. I don't remember seeing the broken glass floors before and it's tricky 'till you know what to do. Definitely worth the download with lots of exploration and a spooky graveyard. Thanks Leroy." - Bene (21-Oct-2004) |
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"Although this level was supposed to be interconnected with others so I hear from the author it is quite good as a stand alone. It's a dark Rome level with keys and other items to find. I liked the textures very much and the pictures in the room with the three buttons puzzle. There are times that the player will get confused or even lost in the dark alleys but it's not a hard level generally. As enemies there are rats floating skeletons with swords and goons around. Be sure to shoot all the enemies because some might drop a key and watch out for a trapdoor that's perfectly hidden. One of the secrets was very sneaky and in my opinion not fair I only found one anyway. I had close to two hours of fun and would recommend this level but play it only at night." - Kristina (15-Oct-2004) |
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"A historical city setting that really is a big maze - if one likes such things this should be fun. Lara needs to run and run and then run back and forth some more to find keys and switches. The repetition I found a bit tedious. I also did not see any connection to Art History. There are three buttons decorated with famous paintings but one needs to make six combinations to get all the doors to open so the paintings don't fall in any pattern. Aside from my griping this is a well done level and is worth a look." - Duncan (15-Oct-2004) |
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"My compliments to Leroy Perkins for creating a level that has the feel of the original games while bringing many new enjoyable aspects to the level editor. At first the game has the overwhelming feel of a labyrinth with all the twists and turns that you experience down the 'Orange Brick Road'. Like any game it's not as difficult once you get used to it and map the hallways and streets out in your mind. The creator has brilliantly employed textures and objects from Chronicles such as the fountains windows and certain enemies. The enemies especially were craftily deployed; I can't think of how many times I was caught off guard by a dog coming around the corner or from a box gate stairwell.... That makes it all the more fun as you just sit back and laugh at yourself. I can't recall any other custom levels off the top of my head that might have had this but facial expressions were an appreciated welcome for Lara. She's not inhuman after all! Game play was very enjoyable with new puzzles and actions to compete with. The Art puzzle was different as there were 6 different combinations you could go through; some yielding pickups and puzzles but only one would open the way forward in the level. The fence kicking was really fun I just wish I could have done it a few more times. ;-) The ruined stairwell courtyards graveyard and the numerous building making up the town square made for great locations to explore. I loved the cut scene with the skeletons floating down from the ceiling and it was a relief to not have to fight them but they were taxing in their own way. Overall Art History was a great experience that shouldn't be missed!" - Celli (15-Oct-2004) |
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