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Test Levels by Slash

Ceamonks890 3 3 3 3
dmdibl 5 5 4 4
eTux 3 3 2 3
Gerty 3 3 2 3
manarch2 3 4 4 5
MichaelP 4 5 4 4
Mman 3 3 2 3
Orbit Dream 3 3 3 3
Ryan 3 3 3 3
Treeble 4 4 4 4
 
release date: 21-Jul-2007
# of downloads: 67

average rating: 3.40
review count: 10
 
review this level

file size: 40.73 MB
file type: TR3
class: nc
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
slash@orihime.net

Reviewer's comments
"I believe this is the last batch of test levels I had yet to play. As usual with these, you get several independent ideas, and in Slash's case he does feature Winston quite often, as pointed out by Michael — you even get to witness him walking underwater; what a fine specimen! You have a few "doubled" levels as well which build on top of one another, and perhaps the most remarkable in this sense is He Is Back Again! and He Is Back Again and Again!, which are actually two abridged versions of He Is Always Beside You. One last comment I want to make is about Black Beauty, which is rather creative in making a pitch black room look interesting by the use of flame emitters, smoke, water reflections and that blinking light effect. It actually looks nice, despite being, you know, pitch black. 60 minutes, a handful secrets. 02/20" - Treeble (16-Feb-2020)
"More test levels here, which were probably released for building purposes. I admit to getting deeply annoyed when playing through these levels. These are either exact copies of others included, so short they can barely breathe, frustrating (the bike ride in He's Back Again and Again, which I couldn't accomplish so had to skip that one, visually repetitive (maybe apart from Golden Lara in Greece) or repetitive gameplay-wise. Only for hardcore completists out there..." - Ryan (04-Jul-2017)
"The title says it all, a demonstration what can be done (or not). You get to play 12 short levels and I wondered what is up with Winston? There is still one other level to do but for now I pack it in. Too much of the same can be sometimes not such a good thing." - Gerty (05-Mar-2015)
"Much like what I said in my review for Vinci's series of test levels, this release also sets to demonstrate a large number of gameplay concepts to potential builders(although in this case, I don't believe Slash accomplishes this feat nearly as effectively, due to a lot of the maps offering rather bland samey highlights.) So again, only worth a look at if you're a builder planning to create something under the TR3 engine, a curious passerby who wants to play everything available on the site or simply someone looking for a few ideas to add to their own hopefully more fleshed-out and substantial release as a whole. Everyone else on the other hand, are better off skipping this one." - Ceamonks890 (12-Oct-2014)
"As the name suggests, this is a demonstration of various concepts of differing interest and quality; some are just test rooms, other are short but full levels. They all have incoherent texturing and lighting that's either not present or is so garish it makes you wish it wasn't present, there are a couple of stronger rooms though (I sort of liked the large dark room in the first level, which looked initially dramatic). The only level especially of note can be almost completely skipped if you don't realise there is more to it, and contains a quad-course with restricted saving that could be very difficult for many (pro-tip: you can save between the carpets). Not really worth playing, but maybe someone interested in TR3 editing could find something of interest." - Mman (03-Feb-2012)
"Black Beauty Lara - a curious title, though I failed to see the connection with the actual level. This brief level consists of 3 stages: the first room with the jump sequence and the randomly fall-through tiles you have to traverse for a key, the dark room with a crocodile pool and invisible tiles made visible by flares and the last - an icy prison for Winston and his guard.
Door to Hell - if your idea of hell is walking through a monotonous grey room where wasps, fires and monsters materialize spontaneously out of thin air, then it's very well depicted in here.
Golden Lara in Greece - so this is where Lara goes after she's been turned into a statue by either of the now numerous Midas's hands out there! Visually interesting, but the tasks are not that exciting - you go for a swim, collect gold bars, place them, slide down a slope and the level ends.
He is Back Again - a mix of odd looking areas where you face the South Pacific natives, use a key and rush to the towards a door via a jump sequence over lava.
He is Back Again & Again - a mix of odd looking areas where you face the South Pacific natives, use a key... haven't we done this before? As can be guessed - this is sort of an update of the previous level. Initially it may seem like the differences are merely cosmetic, and you can indeed play it pretty much the same way as its predecessor, but as the load-screen indicates - the game actually goes on beyond the first finish trigger you encounter. You can hunt some extra secrets in the first part that were not there in the earlier version, but if you jump over the initial finish trigger, you can tackle the quadbike track and everything that's beyond it. The author has made sure you can't get away with saving mid-track while on the red carpets - but if you're a bit of a daredevil, you actually can save your progress if you save in the middle of a jump. Some bizarre flipmaps and a raptor-massacre later you actually do reach a definitive end to the most substantial of the test levels in this package.
Jeeves in the Water - the title is pretty self explanatory, though even as a builder I have to ponder what the author could have possibly meant to experiment with here. I'm also not sure I even want to know where Lara got the extra head from.
Jeeves plays for Mummy - this one was just as perplexing as the test level before it, though Winston has at least smartened up and put on some armour around Lara this time.
The Attack of 1 Shiva Statue - you'd think the level would end after the expected Shiva attack, but you do go on mini quest for another Scimitar that involves some tedious climbing and monkey-swinging before all is said and done.
The Attack of Several Shiva Statues - as expected, this is kind of like the previous test level, just more of it. You fight a total of 3 Shivas, a cobra that materializes out of thin air and a monkey (I'm not sure the monkey has to be killed, I just automatically blast him to pieces, before I noticed what exactly was approaching Lara). The few traps have been made more interesting, but the tedious long climbs and monkey swings are still present.
The Attack of T-Rex - there are actually a total of 3 T-Rexes, both versions of Winston (with and without the armour), and an odd-sounding quadbike which I used to handle them all. Didn't find much else to do beyond it.
Visible Transparent Blocks with Flares - I love how these titles of test levels summarize the essence of the actual levels. As you can guess - you use flares to spot an otherwise invisible block, find a key, use it and the game ends.
Water to Air - obviously the purpose here was to see how you could possibly travel from water to air rooms, but I found it hilarious that the author could not resist throwing in Winston and a rocket launcher just for the fun of it.
" - eTux (03-Mar-2011)
"Many levels here with no real sense and just with few enemies. Only one level was a bit more longer and better in terms of gameplay. The textures were more interesting in few levels. Some of the parts could look brilliant in full levels, but when you play these levels, you soon find them to have no fun in them." - manarch2 (10-Jan-2011)
"So many levels,so little enjoyment.Alright,fair enough;they were probably only constructed for the benefit of the builder,but did we really need (amongst the dozen separate levels in this collection) two sets of almost identical levels (one of which could mercifully be completed earlier than intended),all four of which contained the same irritations in gameplay and visual appearance without obviously remedying them? The gameplay itself is never particularly inspiring but often deeply frustrating (one level has a one-way timed jump sequence to a one-shot timed door,with no way of performing the task again without reloading an earlier save);while the visual appearance of the dozen or so levels is uniformly bland (with the possible exception of a retina-burning bright golden excercise);and the joke about Winston being stuck in unlikely places falls rather flat after the 2nd of its five or six appearances. Ultimately,potential players should take great heed of the 'test' title and only attempt these if they fancy an hour or two of continual irritation." - Orbit Dream (05-Aug-2010)
"A bit hard to rate. You get 12 short levels, most of them last less than 10 minutes and showcase something without being overly engaging or exciting. It is obvious that Slash has something going on with Winston though, as he makes an appearance in almost every level. Only for the completists out there." - MichaelP (13-Jun-2010)
"A mixed bag, so while there is much good in these twelve levels, it is hard to appreciate among the clutter. At the start "Black Beauty" is a pleasing vignette: slope jumps over lava, but overhead ledges have surprise fall-through textures, then a dark atmospheric room with platforms illuminated by flares (pick up flares from the crocodiles). This is a genuine micro-level, and good. But then the concept that has just been successfully demonstrated is repeated in a basic earlier test level "Visible Transparent Block with Flares." Players may enjoy "Golden Lara in Greece," though I suspect it wasn't more fully developed since it is blinding to the eyes. A rather crude "Shiva Attacks." Then "Several Shivas Attack," where it feels as if Lara has to go through the same routine, nothing improved (such as the problem ladder), but now she deals with multiple Shivas. There are several simple tests of Winston (called Jeeves) and water, that look like preparation for the author's TR3 level "Run Down Cliff." Most important, included here is an entire solid level to play, "He's Back Again and Again." The problem is that players soon recognize the major parts as an almost exact replay of the author's "He's Always Beside You." The early test version had difficulties that were later cleaned up. Lara has to drive over flame emitters (red carpets in this version), and players must not save on them, or Lara will burn when a game is reloaded. So a long sequence of quad bike jumps over the tops of pillars has to be done without saving. After players complained about endless trials, the author relented for the final version, and made certain corner pillars safe areas to save. The test level presented here not only has the old annoyances, but it is an abbreviated version of the final release "He's Always Beside You," so it isn't very satisfying to grind away at the test level. There is a wealth of information here for builders, but the twelve levels can be exhausting to players." - dmdibl (11-Jun-2010)