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Skate or Die by Skateboard Kid

alan 4 5 6 7
Andzia9 4 5 4 4
Ceamonks890 2 5 3 4
Charles Kane 8 8 8 8
DatoDavid 4 6 4 6
dmdibl 7 9 6 6
eTux 5 5 3 3
JesseG 6 7 4 3
manarch2 2 6 4 4
MichaelP 4 7 6 7
Mulf 5 6 6 5
Neltharion 2 4 0 5
Nuri 7 10 9 10
Orbit Dream 3 5 3 5
rtrger 6 5 6 6
Ryan 4 4 4 5
Torry 7 9 6 6
Treeble 2 4 3 3
 
release date: 18-Nov-2005
# of downloads: 82

average rating: 5.19
review count: 18
 
review this level

file size: 31.52 MB
file type: TR5
class: nc
 


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email(s):
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Reviewer's comments
"Level based on an annoying spam of enemies and senseless parts, boring backtrackings, repetitive rooms and many other things. The only remarkable aspect of this level is the usage of custom objects, which in case the author made them, its a plus; other than that, pretty forgettable level." - Neltharion (14-Jun-2023)
"It's basically a big, trap-laden combat arena in the TRC engine. Not a premise I would expect, but there are certainly some interesting enemies like the giant statues that are put to good use. Unfortunately some of the enemies are customized and they can be glitchy, especially the green wasps. Those are invincible as far as I can tell, when you "kill" them they instead sink into the floor and continue to attack poor Lara, who can no longer target them. At least the readme acknowledges this. What the readme doesn't acknowledge is that twice the player must use the trick to go from a run to a crouch at just the right time to force Lara into certain crawlspaces. While it's good for builders to be aware of this trick, I wouldn't expect that of any given player. The puzzle piece is pretty jarring as it is hidden inside a static mesh, which it turns out has no collision so you just walk into it to claim your prize. There isn't much immersion or atmosphere to speak of here, between the large blocky rooms and repetitive textures, so this one's all about unloading Lara's shotgun if you are up for it. 20 minutes." - JesseG (12-Jan-2023)
"I don't get why people give relatively low scores to this nice level. Was it due to the level design? Hey, a custom Lara outfit, enemies and objects from various sections and games aren't easy to apply when you use TR5 engine, which alone is a nice score for the builder's effort. Or was it due to the challenges? Sure, this level isn't a walk in the park, but still fair enough (if you want to know an example of an unfair level, try "Bravo Alarm" level). Ammo and medipacks are quite plentiful, so you don't have to worry about that (on a related note, you can get the medipacks guarded by the deathrays by opening the gate requiring the Garden Key, and return to said room just before you enter the crawlspace.). Traps were abound, but they're not inevitable. Enemies are also a lot to deal with, but only the Tinnos wasps and the invisible ahmets that are invincible, and even they are avoidable (lure them into the water and just run fast enough, respectively). The worst offender(s) would be where you have to glitch your way to the crawlspaces from the room where you get the Garden Key and the last crawlspace before the level's end, but they're not impossible to do. About the Del's level.. I don't know what's the purpose of this level. Using an unfinished TR5 level from Core Design to experiment with some enemies and objects? I'm not sure. Still, a good effort. Anyway, "Skate or Die" is easily one of the best TR5 custom levels out there, and very worth of your time." - Charles Kane (17-Mar-2021)
"Not an obstacle course over a lava pit as you may think, and not a skateboard in sight (‘Skate or die’, or L’escatte ou la morte in its original 15th-century form, is the motto that accompanies the Skateboard family coat-of-arms). What you get here is a good old-fashioned shooter—old-fashioned in that the choice of textures and the room geometry is reminiscent of Doom and its ilk, and so is the character of the gameplay, even though it’s been adapted to better conform to TR (fewer enemies, more traps). You’ll have to tackle, in order of appearance: larger-than-life statues of Roman centurions, as seen in TR5 Rome; improbably fast-moving knights in armour (adapted from the “Colosseum” gladiators); TR3 Tinnos wasps (unkillable); lumbering green beasts (of unknown origin); spectral versions of the “Labyrinth” werewolves; and pink dragons (adapted from the three-headed gargoyle); plus, in the short “Del’s Level” that follows, little green men who throw stuff at you (adapted from the Icky White Things, who in the TR5 throw stones at you on one occasion), and two soldiers from the Russian base. There are also swarms of bats and of rats, and, as mentioned above, traps (fire, spikes, pendulum blades), the latter liberally sprinkled over the consecutive arenas to make your life more miserable; but there is sufficient space for you to manœuvre, and you get more than enough ammo and medipacks to deal with all these threats. Inbetween battles, you have to retrieve a puzzle item and walk a tightrope.
This tightrope walk is rather lengthy (especially since you have to do it twice), but as it is the original TR5 version, the tightrope is fully functional and Lara’s movements are properly randomised, so it’s more than a boring gimmick here (I never went down to floor level in this section, as it looked far too dangerous and proved to be unnecessary, so I never confronted the spectral werewolves.) I could have done without the rat and bat swarms (especially since at least the rats respawn whenever you cross the trigger tile), and the two unkillable Tinnos wasps may become seriously annoying—though I lucked out on that account, as one got stuck early on, while I got rid of the other by diving into the water (which is the strategy that the readme recommends, as I found out after the fact). They keep following you underwater, but apparently they aren’t able to resurface; later, after one or two reloads, both had disappeared. (Incidentally, to answer Treeble’s implied question: TR2 “Dragon’s Lair” is vestigially present in this section in the form of a large water room with many one-tile openings to the room above.) I had no problem with the crawlspace one click above the floor, as I’ve used that particular setup in a level of my own; albeit only for a accessing a secret. I regard the move required in this situation as a friendly glitch rather than a bug, but I wouldn’t force it during regular progression.
The game may not have a proper ending (“Del’s Level” is a brief appendix with no real gameplay and seems to be more of a showcase for diagonal walls than anything else), but as a demo, Skate or Die goes beyond the call of duty and becomes a good, at times fairly challenging level of its own." - Mulf (05-Feb-2021)
"I thought that this for the time of release was rather inspired but it does rely on some bugs (and the players knowledge of those bugs) to enable completion of this rather tough level. Enemies are numerous and many cannot be killed. I had one of those wasp things following me around for quite some time and Lara would not even target it let alone fire at it. I finally managed to get it stuck in a crack where it presumably still is. A long tight rope (or in this case chain) traverse is perhaps the longest I have encountered. Except for the bugs issue the game played rather well and kept me sweating for a good 40 minutes. I never found any secrets and am unsure if there even are any. Graphics were not so good unfortunately." - Torry (07-Oct-2019)
"This is truly the first custom level with TR5-engine, that has enhanced graphics. I love how Lara wears all her inventory stuff like flares, compass, binoculars, small medipack and pistol ammo on her outfit. Nice detail! Level design was beautiful too. And it has the classic Tomb raider feeling. I was about to love this level but suddenly it ended when it was getting exciting and seemed unfinished..... For all those who are annoyed of the wasps: They are immortal, yes, but they don't follow you through the whole level if you shoot them in the room where they appear and NOT in the next room. After shooting them a while, they fall down and seem like they'd fly on the ground. And they can't follow you in the next room because the step is in their way." - Nuri (26-Jul-2018)
"It does make a change to see a custom TR4 model in a TR5 level, which is probably the most remarkable aspect of it, aside from the mind-boggling range of enemies that may gang up on you, but you'll find more than enough Shotgun Ammo to defend yourself against gladiators, warriors, hydras and some sort of green lions (!). Surroundings are fine, but nothing to write home about and I wasn't fond of the immortal ahmets and wasps." - Ryan (13-Oct-2017)
"Even though the readme says this level was built using The Dragon's Lair (from TR2) as a starting point, I failed to see any resemblances to the original level. The readme also states that the main focus of this release is to put out new custom enemies for other builders to play with, so in a way, this is just a showcase test level. It's pretty linear and with plenty of enemies, indeed, but also enough weaponry to take them all down. I was surprised with the moving hydras toward the end, but the other new enemies didn't really catch my eye. Visuals are efficient although level design is a bit of an oddball - the initial areas were pretty good in my opinion, but towards the end they felt too constricted, for the lack of a better word. 20 minutes. 08/17" - Treeble (24-Aug-2017)
"Frustrating gameplay, no secrets, some weird and unkillable enemies... The room with repetitive textures and lots of traps was boring. You have to use bugs to get back to a crawlspace. I really didn't like it a lot, but the fights with the purple dragons were a bit challenging. Del's level was boring as well, with some large, empty and deformed rooms with nothing inside. I don't understand the purpose of these test levels." - alan (25-Oct-2016)
"In all honesty, this is probably the worst levelset I've ever played, when it comes to TR5 engine-based releases. While I was at first pleased to see some custom models, music, textures and objects used for a change, the overall design is still relatively poor with far too much ammunition for the shotgun lying around(turning what would be a few relatively tense battles into a laughable cakewalk.) On top of that, there are unkillable enemies(such as the TR3 wasps and some semi-invisible creatures), which can make traversal through this trap-infested level much more of a headache, than it needs to be. Texturing is also pretty repetitive and inconsistent and there's even one point where you can get stuck(due to being unable to re-enter a crawlspace), leaving you to hope that the game's coding decides to bug out for once and allow you to continue onwards. But I wasn't that lucky and gave up on completing this level entirely after losing my patience with it. And I didn't necessarily find the 'Dels Level' inclusion to be much better, as I found it to be just as bland(if not moreso) than the main 'Skate or Die' level, only in that I thankfully managed to actually complete this one with little effort on my behalf. In conclusion, I simply did not have a fun time working my way through this unbalanced mess. And I very much doubt that any sane person would either. So, can't really be recommended to anyone." - Ceamonks890 (19-Jul-2014)
"This must have been one of the very first customs I have ever started, but I think it was the unkillable wasps that held me off finishing it because they got on my nerves back then. Today, they are still a nasty detail of this level, but somewhat more bearable and I finished this level in 15 minutes. Granted - there was not much I missed the first time - beside the plethora of custom enemies, hundreds of randomly placed (and partially unmarked) traps and finding way too much ammo around here (another cheap trick to prolong the game time), the amount of gameplay in this level is reduced to a minimum, and I'm surprised about the relatively high scores in the first category, since there's absolutely nothing remotely inspired in this level. It can be enjoyed though for the diverse fights here, especially the modified hydra dragons were quite hard to tackle. The looks of this level are rather basic and most of the time totally uniform, though solid enough without many glaring mistakes. After the main level you have the option to play through a short test level which is all about shooting a few enemies and running through a long hallway, so even less inspired than the first level. All in all I can't really recommend this game, maybe only if you want to let off some steam. Found no secrets." - manarch2 (16-Jul-2013)
"This is a bit confusing adventure. I enjoyed the fights with the gladiator statues and the dragons. They were my favourite bosses in TR5. Maybe the author used too many spike and fire traps and it gets annoying. Actually, there are no puzzles or nice gameplay. All you have to do is shoot, avoid the death tiles, use the lever and leave. The fightings were tough. I liked the idea of watching out for the death tiles while shooting a hard enemy. The last level is a test level, so I didn't expect to see anything. The lighting is very simple in both levels and it had some troubles. Also, I can't explain why the author build some places so incoviniently. I had to force Lara to do her corner bug in order to go out of the room with the rope. Anyway, I kinda enjoy the first level a lot, despite some drawbacks." - DatoDavid (24-Apr-2012)
"No actual skating to do here, but plenty of dying. From two Roman warriors in the first room to three purple dragons near the end you get to kill a few bizarre opponents. And it is not all that challenging after all, as there is always enough room to maneuvre, despite the swinging blades and spike and fire traps around. Gameplay is almost non-existent - all you really do is turn a few wheels to open doors and find and place one artifact. Something to play as a bit of a curiosity - not more, not less. 25 minutes. (The add-on test level is a quick run through rooms with diagonal walls - without much else to write home about)" - MichaelP (19-Sep-2010)
"Others have called this one a tough cookie, but I'm not sure it's as much difficult as it is random and confusing. The spikes, flames, swinging blades and deadly beams seem to be thrown in haphazzardly with no real purpose or design, and although you are swarmed by many of TR5's trademark enemies like the Roman statues, stone gladiators, some odd greeen beast that probably used to be a regular TR5 baddy like a dog, the Serpent bosses, the Labyrinth monsters, rats, bats and an unkillable Tinnos wasp, none of them are much of an issue as you get plenty of ammo pickups as well. From a gameplay standpoint - the Star object hidden inside a static object and the irregular room geometry requiring you to use a rather obscure trick to get into crawlspaces were what threw me off the most here, but other than that - the level's lack of structure is a bigger problem than any task in particular. Looks are entirely functional, and while they can be enjoyed in a somewhat non-conformist, surrealist kind of way, if that was the author's intent, he just should've went for it straight ahead. As it is - it feels rather patchy and lacking character. I recognized the initial 3 bigger areas as essentially being inspired by (if not a modified original of) TR2's The Dragon's Lair, but that was just a nice curiosity. The Del's level following this one offers an interesting moment or two in the modified Ireland imps confronting a Lara that can fight back this time, and an interesting effect where flames seem to move along with Lara (try jumping around near the pools with flames on the side to see it in action), but it's all over soon - with amounting close to 20 minutes for both levels combined. It's a level that's hard to make sense of, and not necesserily very pleasant to look at, but maybe not something that should be written off as well if you enjoying playing those from middle range occasionally." - eTux (03-Jul-2010)
"Another title that completely threw me off; I thought this would be skateboarding through an obstacle course. Actually it is a TR5 level with strange enemies, such as a green beast that looks rather stupid, sort of a rhinoceros without the horn. The purple dragons hop about on their one appendage. When Lara shoots them sufficiently they explode in stages, starting with their head. There are semi-invisible beasts with claws hands, maybe something like an ahmet, but they sound fierce indeed. The knights with swords and shields move with blazing speed, plus there are those giant gladiators. And in a tiny bonus level, Lara gets pelted with animated projectiles by small green insectival creatures. I tried to get a better look at them, but they kept lobbing projectiles, so Lara eventually used the shotgun on them. There's quite a bit of shooting in this level, but Lara has space to move and use some strategy. Lara uses moves that were added for TR5, such as tightrope walking, and doing a forward roll from a crawlspace, though these are now common in custom levels. Lara did use Dutchy's move: run at a low crawlspace that is off the ground, and crouch to get into it. Unexpected things in a TR5 level, and much better than I thought it would be. Recommended." - dmdibl (20-Apr-2010)
"The first level has designed for the fans of fustrating gameplay. It's not that hard like a Taras game but it has many challenging parts. After a few dies, I got used to the level's difficulty so I could go through the final part of the level easily. I must note the enemies too. They're too many in the first level, and they pushed me into spike traps every time. But I liked the invisible enemies were in the room with the tightrope. The second level wasn't hard for me. I sprinted through the whole thing in less than 3 minutes(and the game crashed at the very end of the level...). But the texturing is weird in that one. I didn't like those green textures for the walls. The 1st level's texturing is very nice. Give it a shot if you want to play an exciting unofficial custom levelpack." - rtrger (07-Mar-2010)
"Not bad, but there is still lot work to make good level. There are a lot of traps in every step. One mistake and you are die. Levels are short and nothing really interesting to do. Only fight with quite good enemies and picking up weapons." - Andzia9 (28-Nov-2009)
"This was the first Unofficial level I've played,and from a technical standpoint my admiration knows no bounds.Undoubtedly it was a major technical challenge to get it up and running,but that doesn't excuse the frustrating (and occasionally unfair) Gameplay,which devotes itself entirely to running and shooting.Some of the enemies are indestructable;spikes shoot up all over the place;lightening bolts zap you;Dragon's burn you;mutants and dragonflies sting you.You run though all of this,dying and reloading (which takes a frustratingly long time),placing 'load' objects and eventually sliding down a slope to freedom.Textures are placed well-enough,but are limited;while atmosphere is minimal as this is a 'shooter' level,and who needs atmosphere when the whole purpose is running and killing? 25 minutes of somewhat stressful gameplay." - Orbit Dream (29-Aug-2009)