Level reviews

"I like snowy levels in general. This one has atmospheric moments and may suit a warm day. With repeating landscape ideas, it's overall regularity and the only mission to get rid of the mutants, it feels like it needs more variety, though it utilizes different mechanics to beat the game. Would also serve much better with correct samples and distance fog. A bit more love given to it could easily elevate it from 4 to 7." - DJ Full

"A rather simple and straightforward romp filled with beginner's mistakes (broken geometry leading to untextured spots, wafer thin walls, the end of the world effect etc). The sentry guns didn't work, which I think was actually a plus, all things considered as all you do here is really gun down enemies as you search for the next key or switch. Not much else in the way (I think the only trap I remember is one slow boulder coming from the side?). Anyway, I digress. I enjoyed the new wolf sound effects though, so there's that. 40 minutes. 10/21" - Treeble

"So the cause for the mutations is a major radioactive leak rather than whatever it was in TR3, but you might as well forget about it the moment you learn it from the readme, as this tidbit doesn't inform the level in any way, shape, or form. Rather, as you're progressing from snowy outside areas (minus the ship and the rubber boat) through a base, orâ€"since it is apparently simply not on to have just one base in Antarcticaâ€"a sequence of several of them (minus the mines) to an area that looks texturewise like you're heading to the Lost City of Tinnos (minus the city, but you do get the maze), you soon realise that the level is a watered-down - re-imaging' of TR3's Antarctica, stripped of all the stuff that made it memorable, and undertaken by a builder woefully underequipped for the task, butâ€"and here's the surpriseâ€"managing to make up for it, to a considerable extent, by sheer enthusiasm.
Changes made to the TR3 template include the introduction of allies (in the shape of jliboy's remeshed and retextured TROOPS, slightly mismatched with the environment), who are useful and efficient, and Ice Ahmets (known from some older - Advent Calendar' levels) substituting for TR3's Hulking Mutants, who were prevented from making an appearance because the SCORPION slot was already taken by TR3's Crawling Mutants; and I love the fact that the builder (apparently having as much fun with them as I did while playing) simply left them in, however pathetically unthreatening they proved to be at every turn. Occasionally they crawl ahead of you like dogs, indicating the direction that the next serious enemy will be coming from. They are a great source of fun.
Gameplay focuses on combat while you're retrieving various items, mostly keys, but also including (honourable mention) the rarely used Weapons Code Key, so you don't even have to destroy the sentry guns for once. It's all a bit of pointless toing and froing, there is nothing resembling a finale, and the level looks perfectly atrocious (design doesn't really improve once you're past the dispiritingly huge, bland, boxy, ugly and empty initial outside area, but it appears less offensive once the action kicks in); but boring it was not, and I had more fun here than in many similarly-themed levels with a considerably higher score." - Mulf

"The strong point of this level is the placing of the enemies. In the beginning, wolves attack you at any corner, later on you have to deal with scary mutants, and when you shoot the human enemies, you have to be very careful not to hit any guards who are on your side, as long as you're nice. The weak point is the general look: stretched/squeezed/missing textures, end of the world issue, paper thin walls. Camera flybys have no real point as they sometimes just fly down an empty corridor and back to Lara. The gameplay is too linear, next key/next door. I found one unmarked climbable wall (ice just looked like the other ice around). The dark maze with the monsters wasn't bad, and a nice ending with a bike ride finished an hour of gameplay." - Ruediger

"Despite this level being adequately enjoyable to play (the bare minimum I'd ask of any level), I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed. In gameplay terms, it's not too bad, if a tad reliant on pulling levers and jumpswitches and shooting mutants and guards, but it outstayed its welcome slightly with the dark maze and the rather bland textures and surroundings. On the bright side, the ally guards are always a nice touch, and the brief snowmobile ride somewhat lifted things (although it was awfully anticlimactic), but that's nowhere near enough for me. Not bad, but I can't shake off the feeling that it had untapped potential." - Ryan

"This level is slightly better than the first one. The author successfully retextured ahmets, imported TR3 enemies (mutants), and Lara even has allies. I also found the shootable windows original. The lighting has slightly improved, but the textures are still streched, there are paper-thin walls, and some textures are missing. Gameplay mainly consists of shooting enemies, pulling switches and opening doors. For some reason, I felt like the gameplay was a bit monotonous at some point." - Sakusha

"Although entertaining for most of its leangth,this adventure is basically underwhelming due to the linearity of its gameplay and general lack of atmosphere.You won't be scratching your head wondering what to do next,but neither will you be inclined to linger anywhere,due to the continually stretched and missing textures,lack of lighting and wafer thin walls;all of which mean that the surroundings completely fail to stimulate. There are fun moments: the first mutant attack (which takes you by surprise due to its sheer strangeness);the ride on the clapped-out sounding Skiddoo;the mutant which falls from the ceiling as you pass underneath. It's fast-moving and generally fun,but you can't avoid thinking that the Builder has squandered a good idea;the infiltration of a nuclear research centre where dreadful accidents have horribly mutated many of the staff. This is all good stuff (and the soldiers who do your job for you are always good to see)but despite running a lot,Lara never really gets around to actually DOING anything. There's no big Finale (driving away in a Skiddoo simply doesn't count);nor does she manage to infiltrate any type of secret laboratory or destroy anything important.The architecture is without ambition and fails to emulate any sort of 'scope' to the adventure. It's fun for a while,but for the hour that it lasts you expect more." - Orbit Dream

"There are some missed textures, wafer thin walls, missed sounds opening and closing the cupboards, the TR3 mutants don't send you their toxic breath, most of the cameras don't have any function. Architecture is not good, only square and rectangle rooms, there aren't interesting puzzles, only advance open doors and kill many enemies. Objects are well made and sounds are correct too, lights and textures bad. You can play it but there is nothing new in it." - Jose

"I got more than I expected here with about 45 minutes of gameplay. It is very, very linear and straightforward, set in the Arctic with the occasional excursion down into a Base. The flyby at the start is nice (while all the others are rather pointless), there are several beginner mistakes (end of the world, thin walls, missing textures), but I still enjoyed the relaxed progression, collecting key after key, pulling one jump switch after the next and those mutants were kind of cool - especially the way they died. Maybe a few too many ice ahmets in the small (unnecessary) maze near the end and kind of a wild mix of objects and textures throughout, but still some good clean raiding fun to be had here." - Michael

"This level has better graphics than the author's previous level, but I find it less interesting. A lot of large areas with nothing to do, thin walls and stretched textures. I think this builder has skills and imagination (it shows in 'ninja academy'!) just that he might release his levels too early! 2005-05-30" - QRS

"The innocence I liked with this author's first level hasn't transferred to this one for me. The entire time I was playing this 60 minute level I felt I was just moving non stop forward to the end without doing much of anything special, this feeling was helped along by the use of lots of tunnels and winding snowy exteriors. What pushed me over the edge with my not really liking this level too much was the maze near the end filled with ice demons (retextured ahmets) that came at a time when I was quite over with the level and I almost just stopped right there without continuing. The one thing I did like was meeting up with the crawly mutants that spit poison but for some reason they were all poisoned out in this level so were as detrimental to Lara's health as drinking a soy latte (unattractive but not lethal), instead when they reared back ready to envenom Lara all they seemed to do is look like they were dancing to an unheard version of 'Nutbush City Limits'." - Sash

"This level is set in the Arctic and the further you go the spookier it gets, hence explaining the name. This is mutants heaven. Luckily there are some friendly chaps that help you along the way. The story is OK, so I would say keep at it and in the meantime learn about paperthin walls and how to apply textures the right way so that they aren't stretched. 05-05-2005" - Gerty

"Now this is a much better level than the first one of its creator. We are adventuring in snowy environments, in rocky caves and then in a mine. The enemies are gunmen, workers, beasts. We don't have to hurt the mutants; they won't hurt us either. We can get some help from the soldiers, who do the dirty job instead of Lara. The textures are various, and we also get added sounds. I couldn't find any secrets, but there's none in my opinion. I suggest this easy adventure to everyone. You can find a Hungarian walkthrough (as we don't have an English version), savegames and pictures here: http://treditor.hu/15/uranium_death.htm " - Obig

"This level was a bit better then its predecessor. Lara starts in a snowy landscape and needs to find a few keys. Puzzles are easy, a few levers to pull and a few SAS to kill. There are also other enemies known from TR3. Textures were standard and a bit stretched. A level for in between." - Engelchen Lara

"I found this level an improvement on the author's first one. For one thing, the setting is more imaginative and the wolf packs make most appropriate enemies. There are also baddies in ski masks and various mutants to contend with along the way, but you get a helping hand from some friendly guards. The gameplay is very linear and undemanding and you get a short but enjoyable ride on a snowmobile at the end." - Jay

"The second level from the author isn't as bad as the first but we still see stretched and badly applied textures and it's very tedious with all those doors and keys. There are mutant creatures with spikes, dogs, workers and masked men and it is the base type level only in a snowy setting with thin walls and the end of the world bug here too. The maze near the end with those creatures appearing in every corner wasn't fun at all. I believe the author must first correct the bugs and then concentrate on creating some good puzzles." - Kristina

"This in some aspects is a nice improvement from author's debut - while this Arctic setting is still full of beginnerish design - paper-thin walls, purposelessly big and empty rooms, stretched, chaotic textures, uninspiring lighting, also the gameplay mainly consisting of killing loads of enemies and gathering a bunch of keys, and the ice-demon filled maze not being my favourite bit - this took me much longer to get through than Ninja Academy, and some of the key locations were quite sneaky, not mentioning the addition of the seldom used machine gun/card puzzle and kept me well satisfied till one rides into the icy wastes on the snowbike. There are quite lot of ice demons, wolves, mutants and goons, with the latter being the biggest setback - but at least you get some friendly army guys to handle all of them along the way. You also get some flybys along the way - though they don't sync well with the audios and maybe don't show any great level of care put into them, they're nice to have anyway, and at least you can always skip them if you don't like them ;-) The author has still a long way to go, but so far he has achieved to make a totally enjoyable experience for the player, so worth a look, especially if you don't need too much to be pleased." - eTux