Level reviews

"A very short romp through a tibet style temple area. Despite being so short, the quality is half decent. Considering that this is the author's first project, it ain't bad at all! There's some texturing issues and the lighting is set to full bright, so it kinda ruins the atmosphere. The fish in this game have been replaced by mermaids or something. They looked very glitchy, but were still entertaining to see. The release is very unstable and has crashed twice for me despite the brief length. The romp ends far too early as I was just getting to enjoy the pacing. A shame that the author probably wont finish this. Recommended for casual raiders that like a short adventure." - LuxQSD

"As a demo, there's not much to expect, even tho it's actually a decent game. I would like to see how far the actual game can go." - Charles Kane

"Reading the story that accompanies this TR2 short takes longer than playing the level. Shoot a few Tibet goons, jump over some blades, ignore the mermen, pick up a key, the end. The builder forces triangular floor tiles and diagonal walls which his chosen engine doesn't support (they show, but have no collision); this may be the reason that the game crashes on reload and when exiting the game with an - out of memory' error. Or maybe it's the fault of the mermen (poorly remodeled catfish who wield forks but prefer to bite you when they attack, which they don't do very often). Some textures have unclean borders, and the texturing is generally poor. Notable as a demonstration that you need to work with the engine, not against it; and for providing proof positive that fellow reviewer Nuri has been bred (and possibly born) by a hype machine." - Mulf

"As this is only a demo the length of the level is really immaterial but I can say that the author packs a lot into this six minute excursion. Health packs are few and far between and adversaries numerous. We have the normal texture fade outs for these levels and also an "out of memory" crash from time to time which will hopefully be resolved before the level is completed." - Torry

"Very, very short level and I didn't like the crash every time I wanted to reload. I for sure will play this if there ever will be a full game but for now nah. Textures can use some TLC and do fix that "out of memory" thing that makes it crash." - Gerty

"The architecture here was a bit messy with walls to walk through (collision should have been enabled?) and waterfalls that don't make sense because there's no water next to them. Push a block, avoid some traps, find a key and that's it." - Mert

"Although this is a very short demo, it's a very promising one. The areas look generally good, I was surprised with the remodeled eels, but in reality you just zoom by them and end up reaching the finish trigger all too soon. 5 minutes. 05/17" - Treeble

"That was, short, even for a demo, a grand total of 4 minutes 9 seconds. It was nice to be back in familiar surroundings as I always enjoyed the Barkhang Monastery original, even if we don't see much of it here. You simply shoot a few thugs (the friendly monks may not survive), swim with some mermaids, find a key and the level ends a bit later. Maybe a full version is still in the works." - Ryan

"Wow!! I'm really impressed by this level. I can imagine, that a full version of this demo would be incredibbly awesome! Someone may think that I rated this level too excessively, but it's a demo and I always imagine demo levels as full games and this demo so far is just a start of a magnificent adventure. Textures, enemies, objects... even the gameplay was very good, although I played 5 minutes. I didn't look up if there is any full version of this, but I would definitely play it." - Nuri

"A pretty short and to the point demo that has you dodging a few simple traps and fending off a variety of opponents ranging from a crow to mermaids of all things, while briefly traversing back and forth across a few rooms for a key(needed to open a trapdoor) and be capable of properly ending the level(albeit a little anticlimactically with gunmen and monks duking it out in the background and Lara being unable to join in on the action herself.) Nevertheless though, while many of the design aspects demonstrated here are more or less passable in terms of quality, there still isn't really a whole lot on offer to keep players of any skill level captivated for long. And with only 6 minutes of gameplay time in total, you can breeze through it with little to no problems at all. Hopefully someday, we'll eventually see the full version of what the builder had in mind for this project, but as of right now, I can't really recommend this unless you're really bored with nothing else to do and prefer to play something that isn't too demanding, compared to the usual custom level release." - Ceamonks890

"Really good texturing. Several stretched or rotated tiles I can forgive. Barkhang Monastery thugs. The best enemies ever core-designed. And some very nice, hungry mermaids by TheGreatChi, challenging Lara's harpoon gun to defeat their forks. One inactive trap making us sure we will be back there soon to make it work... and right after we save (or kill) the monks, use the key to open the trapdoor and hop through it, everything ends. Great Barkhang atmosphere is given to a player, and taken from him/her in a least expectable moment. SUMMARY: 6 minutes of awesome gameplay... and an awful feeling it's all over. A kind of loss. If You wanna play it, do it in one case - only if You have a good TR2 level downloaded to compensate frustration after this one. EDIT: Accidentally, I hit Action while falling through the trapdoor and landed behind the finish trigger. If You do so, You will see some more mermaids and the Golden Dragon (inaccessible, though)." - DJ Full

"Quick short technical demo here and not bad for a debut. There's a good premise behind it but obviously there needs to be more development time behind it for a full release. One wafer thin wall also noted as well. Texturing is mostly ok, but there wasn't really much in the way of lighting. Completed in 7 minutes. Never seen the Mermaid enemy's before which was a good inclusion. I've also missed underwater combat for a long time, so it's nice to see someone developing levels in a version of the engine that supports it. Stiggy" - TheStig

"Wow, story was longer than level! Gameplay was minimal, pushing a block, pushing buttons and searching a key is not much. I gave 6 to enemies because of the mermaids, some creatures I've never seen in a custom level before. Else, this level was mediocre. Hopefully, the demo becomes a full level." - manarch2

"For one thing - I am glad TR2 levels are still released, but this one in particular could've given the players something more to sink their teeth into, even if it is only a demo. Apart from getting some initial feedback, I don't really see any reason why it should've been released in this form. But it is fun while it lasts, so it's all good. The mermen room is a highlight, and the other fights are nice and intense, but that about sums up the gameplay part, so I hope the next installment offers more than this. The looks are solid, but more could've done with lighting, the irregular room geometry looks awkward where Lara can interact with it (TR2 could not utilize diogonally split tiles, so Lara will either look submerged into such a tile or standing on thin air) and the author could eventually give some thought to the logic of the architecture, so it doesn't look like water comes out of nowhere or ends up nowhere, among other things. But all in all it's too short of a glimpse to make an elaborate judgement, but I do hope we either get a full version of the level or simply a new full-level experience from the author in the future, since this seems promising." - eTux

"As much as i liked the story, this level didn't deliver as much as i expected it to. The gameplay is fairly short and the lighting is almost ignored completely in my opinion. The texturing and the geometry, on the other hand, are fairly well done and there werent any anomolies with enemies, texturing etc. The atmosphere was also good, camereas were almost perfect but i'm not sure if i am the only person who experienced this but the camera didn't follow lara the first time i loaded the level, although after i reloaded it was fine. To improve, the builder must spend more time on lighting and also increase the length of the level slightly. Grade = B-" - herothing

"The level is very short to can say something about it, but I found a rolling blade behind the moveable box which doesn't work, a paper wall in the door near the pool and no-existing lighting. I liked the enemies and the textures, but I didn't find puzzles to solve. No much more I can say, ah! the game crashes when you try to return to the title screen." - Jose

"This level is very short TR2 shooter with minimal gameplay. It was nice to see the old harpoon gun again, which came in handy in getting rid of some pesky mermaids. I killed one of the monks by mistake in that massacre, but that was never a problem as the level ended shortly after. The textures were OK, although the graphics can get a little weird when using the look button. It was fun while it lasted. I'd definitely play through the whole level if one is released. A very promising debut level!" - Blue43

"A disappointingly brief demo but with potential. By hurrying through to the moveable block after killing the bird, one can avoid two of the three mercenaries. A quick dip in the pool after killing the prong-brandishing mermaids to find some harpoons and a key and I found the mercenaries had been killed by two monks when one returns through an open gate to the starting area. Using the key ends the level after a short swim to a new opening. Nice to see the TR2 regulars and familiar textures but some appeared to have flaws." - High Priestess

"This should have been a pleasant TR2 'blast from the past' what with friendly monks, speargun and homicidal mermen/maids (I didn't get a good enough look) and, to some extent, it succeeded. However, my main impression was of how clunky and awkward the TR2 engine was and how far it's progressed. This level is only a few minutes long, kill some guards, find some switches, find a key and go through, but even in that short time there was a lot of promise with differing triggers, pushblocks, switches, keys etc., none of that tedious 'throw a switch to find a switch' nonsense. Well laid out and, if there was a lack of imaginative lighting, at least it wasn't gloomy! A good little demo that will hopefully be expanded to a full-length level." - Diz

"[ 5 minutes ] Some of the enemies I did not killed. A demo that promises a good level to come IF the author works on these two main things : the lighting to give a more atmospheric feel to the places, and find a way that savegames can be loaded without making the game crashes to the desktop." - eRIC

"Shame, it is just a demo. I liked this level very much, especially the evil mermaids. I hope the author will provide us a sequel for this great little adventure. :)" - Obig

"For a Demo with such an incredibly epic storyline I was expecting somewhat more than the 3 minutes and 30 seconds of gameplay which I ended up with.Textures are fine (although a few are noticeably compressed);not much has been done with lighting,and the traps are easy to avoid (a rolling blade wasn't even triggered).Enemies are the strongest feature:you get a battle with a couple of mercenaries,a vulture and a trio of antagonistic mermaids (which was fun);but the Demo ended shortly after.With such a tiny playing area it's hard to create much atmosphere,but everything looked solid enough for the short duration.If the builder can create a full level to the same standard as the Demo,all well and good;but 3 1/2 minutes is still 3 1/2 minutes,so (as it stands) it isn't really worth the bother of downloading." - Orbit Dream

"Yes indeed, it almost takes longer to read the story than playing the demo - even though I ended up with 8 minutes, so must have enjoyed killing the enemies slower than my fellow reviewer ;) As an initial release to test the waters, this demo accomplishes little, other than encouraging the builder to stick with it, as the potential is clearly there to come up with a decent and more comprehensive level eventually." - MichaelP

"This is actually rather fun whilst it lasts, but as tasters go it really is only one bite big. It's just a quick dash through a monastery full of friendly monks and most unfriendly enemies, but I loved the mermaids and using a harpoon gun again was a real blast from the past as I haven't played in TR2 mode for a long, long time. I would definitely be interested in seeing a full length version." - Jay

"A TR2 monastery level with monks helping Lara and, aside from the usual enemies, several bad-tempered mermaids guarding a harpoon gun. Those parts I liked. I mistakenly thought the key had fallen into a wall along with a mercenary, which can happen in TR2. So it took Lara four or five minutes just to get out of the initial room. The rest of the level isn't much longer. My main complaint is that this seems like an early version of the unofficial editor because of flickering textures and insubstantial diagonal walls; I'm sure those could be better. If there is a continuation, I hope the rooms are opened up more." - dmdibl

"This level has made me so properly on the taste to play once more TR 2. And because the Barkhang Levels were actually still the best Levels, deserves this level already an extra point. Of course there are still many problems which the level builder must repair. Though one can save the game, but if one wants to load a Savegame, the game crashes on the desktop. Immediately at the beginning is a Trigger, which triggered a monk and a mercenary. The level builder had used for this Trigger only one Square and if one does not step on this Square, both people do not appear. After the pushblock stands a big wheel on the other side of the folding knives which apparently has no activationtrigger. And one can also see a few wrong applied textures. But otherwise it has really given fun. Thus one does not see, for example, every day male mermaids with a trident as a weapon. If the level builder can fix the problems, we get guaranteed a really amusing level." - Scottie

"Even a demo should keep the promise the (epic!) story makes. A demo should communicate the story and the atmosphere from the coming adventure. I've played other demos and couldn't wait playing the full version. This didn't succeed here. It was nice to use the good old harpoon-gun against some unfriendly mermaids, the traps are too easy. There is no atmosphere at all in this very short sequence." - Christian