Level reviews

"A beautiful Venetian setting at sunset here, and when you get to that balcony towards the end you can soak it in what a pretty setting the overall position of the buildings around the main canal create. The guided experience kept my running aimlessly at a minimum, but now and then Yoav would say "go back to this building", and I can honestly say I was a bit baffled I couldn't remember wherever that was, at least twice. I also noticed there were a bunch of areas which seemed to within reach that I never got to visit, I suspect they might have been tied to a secret as the stats screen suggests there are four of them in this level but only three of which are documented in the walkthrough. Still, for everything else that I got to play here I had a great time, the timed run with the boat was fun and the final showdown seemed to be overdone at first but there's a good reason why there were so many uzi clips scattered about... 60 minutes, 3 secrets. 01/24" - Treeble

"i'm with dmdibl there and can echo what he has written with the use of the boat and all. I also stumbled upon the same bug with the flame of which the trigger should have been a one-shot , i also had another game stopper farther on (this one cause probably by bad luck) as i saved after rising the two blocks for the movable lyres i saved and quit and when i returned playing the lyres were simply not there anymore. That and a very slow beginning trying to find something relevant to do , i don't know why Venice levels are designed in a way that you have to jump in water just to reach the next ledge , why not making the gap two squares wide instead. The atmosphere is not very there as i had no background audio loop in some areas. There is the occasional fun part but this game was not enjoyable to me although the design skills of the builder is obvious." - eRIC

"(7) Gameplay & Puzzles: I have very mixed feelings about the non-linear gameplay; it's charming and engaging at times, frustrating at other times. The beginning of the game is confusing, due to the many canal areas you initially have access to. The middle of the game gets better, with interesting tasks such as the timed speedboat run and general rooftop/awning exploration. The last stage of the game really drags and feels uninspired, as you insert 2 roses, pull a bunch of underwater levers and switches and then confront the final boss. The progression/flow feels muddy to me, as the player can be stuck running around in circles, lost, if they happened to have missed a jumpswitch somewhere; leading the player to ask themselves, "am I supposed to shimmy along this obscure roof over here? Is that what the builder wants me to do?" The difficulty curve is strange as well. Near the start of the game, there's a thrilling underground trap sequence in order to reach the crowbar, however, all traps after that point were not very interesting and don't take much thinking to get past. (9) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: The final boss fight (+ minions) was awesome fun (be sure to save some revolver ammo for it). Dogs in general seemed to die too easily to pistols, though. Decor was of a high standard (although the canal seemed a little lacking in object decor). It seemed strange that you need 2 roses to proceed on the main path, yet one of the roses was a secret. (8) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The atmosphere is absolutely breathtaking; I loved just idling on the balconies outdoors, marveling at the architectural design and the occasional birds flying up ahead. The sound/music selection is good; the boat not having sounds is not a big deal, and I understand why, given the builder's README. I would have preferred to have heard a tense sound cue to indicate timed runs, however. I have a mixed feeling about cameras. Sometimes they're helpful (e.g. the overhead shot of the shootable bell); sometimes they're not useful because the camera points at a room you've never been in, and have no idea on its location. Once Lara is exposed to the canals at the start of the game, I believe there should have been a flyby to guide the player, otherwise the amount of areas that the player initially has access to is too overwhelming and confusing. (8) Lighting & Textures: This level looks very lovely and the builder demonstrated a high skill in both lighting and texturing. I did think it was weird that some residential interior environments looked darker and gloomier than the stormy/rainy outdoors, though. A note about flares: due to the very non-linear nature of the level, the player can commence the underground quest for the crowbar before they pick up any flares, which means they only have the 3 starting flares. This is not enough given the dark nature of this area, and the fact that the crowbar is easy to miss if you don't have a flare lit (leading to more running around in circles). In sum, there are aspects I really liked and disliked about the gameplay, but overall it's a beautiful level, and there's not many Venecian levels outside of BTB2010 so I'm glad I checked it out. 7/9/8/8." - nerdfury

"A really cool, fun, enjoyable and beautiful Venice level. It makes good use of the original Venice BTB package from 2010, however updated and with some things added such as the much-needed boat. The level's strong point is definitely how visually appealing and well crafted its environments are, primarily the main outside canal area that truly feels like a big open-world environment and not just like a trench with dead-ends.

Gameplay & Puzzles are fun, however there are some of the usual frustrations that can arise: you need the crowbar early on and if you miss it, you'll be somewhat screwed, wandering around confused. The way to the crowbar is clear enough, however the room it is placed in sadly does not put it in a prominent position and it's easy to miss if you're not lighting a flare or examining ever surface carefully. After all that, you also only use the crowbar once, and on a crowbar door/wooden panel that doesn't really fit into the room it is placed in. There is also a very well-hidden underwater switch that is easy to miss and kept me stumped for a while, but hey, Tomb Raider is about exploration am I right? There is a very unforgiving trap gauntlet one must traverse early on when you're on your way to the crowbar that I felt was placed a bit too early on… I could see this sort of thing causing some people to rage-quite prematurely, and so I'd suggest placing this sort of thing later when the player is already heavily wrapping-up-in and committed-to your level. The only other downside to the gameplay from a structural perspective was the timed drive with the boat to get through that lowering door – don't get me wrong, it's great and actually one of the highlights of the level… however it starts better than it finishes. First you're sweeping over the water and turning with ease in big open parts of the canal, high on life and Venice nostalgia… then, you're stuck at some really tight turns and narrow passages, and finally the last turn to get the boat into the right position to fly up and over the ramp before the door closes is just too awkward to make this come off as a fun action packed ride for Lara. But as I said, the drive itself still starts off well, and luckily after that timed bit you don't actually need the boat again.

Enemies – what can I say? The author worked with what was given in the wad and those Baddy 1 and 2 dressed up to look like Mafioso guys aren't anything too profound. Otherwise we get some dogs, rats, and bats. I would've preferred a few more rats over the bats, and it was odd at one point how both bats and baddies were triggered at once, making it seem like both the bad guys and the natural fauna of the environment were in league together to destroy Lara – no doubt the evil magic of Seth. As to the boss fight with Seth – contrary to most people's opinions here, I quite enjoyed it. Yes, it's out of place for a Venice level, but this is addressed briefly by Lara in a cutscene when she finds the Seth statue (albeit in German). Also, he's not just popping up out of nowhere – the effect of the Seth statue awakening is really cool, and it helps imply a story that this statue was shipped from Egypt to Venice. Don't forget folks: TR2's Marco Bartoli was Italian and was interested in East Asian culture and wanted to become a dragon; therefore, it isn't too far fetched to believe that whoever the leader of the bad guys in Kaufi's story is happens to be an Italian who has a thing for ancient Egypt. Not everything has to always be cookie-cutter. Perhaps a way to better convey this would've been to have the statue and final fight in a warehouse environment with crates, to show that it was shipped from Egypt? I didn't think the boss fight was over the top or went on too long, it was just right. The only downside was the lack of ammunition. I collected everything in the entire level, even checked with the walkthrough in retrospect to make sure (which btw needs updating: it only lists 3 secrets but there are indeed 4 as the statistics suggest), did not use the Uzis until the final battle, and still I did not have enough Uzi ammo to take out the last bad guys, their dogs, and Seth himself. Halfway through Lara has to switch to pistols, no matter how much you conserve early on. Also, I never found a shotgun or grenade gun, even though the ammo for those two can be found, but it seems they aren't in the map and perhaps this is due to this level originally being planned as part of a bigger project that never came to be.

Moving on to other object issues: jumping onto the chandeliers is a bit awkward, so awkward in fact that at first, I didn't think I was meant to do it. Perhaps having a piece of the balustrade be broken or missing at the point where Lara is meant to jump at the chandelier would've been good? Some traps are placed in a rather cruel fashion and Lara will take a lot of damage in this level, so more medipacks would've been nice, but I actually managed quite well even though by the end I had used up 9 medipacks (!). Also, it's a little strange how some window objects can be shot and some can't – especially when they have the exact same window texture in the exact same room. Something else that is awkward is the boat itself. While it is fun and a must for a standard Venice level, it seems to be missing some sounds and it is also extremely picky in deciding if it wants to let Lara jump out or not, or jump at a ledge to the left or right of her. This sometimes confused me making me think I'm just not meant to jump from the boat to this ledge… but then I was. I do not know if this is just a bad design from the author or the boat as given to us by TRNG as being buggy and unreliable in and of itself. Perhaps a mix of both.

Secrets are hidden very well – particularly the two that one can only reach via the rooftops. You'll have to pretend you're a beta tester and trying to reach the End Of The World in order to get to them it. You won't reach the EOTW – the author does a great job of always hiding that… but if you're thorough you'll find those hard to reach secrets. Yes, it is a bit odd that we have to find 2 Rose puzzle items to open a door as part of the main route in the level but then also find 1 Rose item as a secret. This did not bother me as much as some others it seems, although I know it could definitely be confusing to some. I saw it more as a way of letting the player skip a non-essential part of the game if they've managed to find the final secret.

The atmosphere is great, and something a little different for Venice. While I wasn't a fan of the neon-pink sky, I did like the rain and thunder effect. I don't think it was necessary to give us the changing weather patterns, because it felt more buggy than useful at times – often when the thunder sounds would trigger, the ambient track would stop entirely, regardless whether I was outside in the canal, the sewers, or in buildings. I know some people criticized that it was raining in Venice, but I'm assuming it isn't always perfect weather in Italy. Furthermore, Seth is the god of storms, so maybe these odd weather patterns and occasional rain and thunder are his rage at being stuck in a statue in a marble room in Italy? The few bugs with the weather aside, I thought atmosphere and sound/music was excellent, and cameras were also placed well and extremely helpful, so with the exception of the easy to miss crowbar, the game does a good job at holding your hand and telling you what you just triggered.

Lighting & Texturing is close to perfect. As already stated, the level is beautiful. It's particularly great to sometimes just stop when you're on a balcony and look around at the beautiful rooftops and houses crafted around you. It's especially great to see what looks like a rose garden high above on the roof of a large building, and then later you do actually get access to that rose garden. Sure, some of the environments are a bit kitschy… such as the marble room with the floor tile puzzle that lets us complete the harp puzzle. But the TGA file is a kitschy TGA to begin with, and the author does a great job at creating overtly beautiful rooms and also realistic areas such as the canals, sewers, and warehouses. One thing I didn't like was how a texture that is meant to represent a propeller fan was used on the floor as a source for burning fire traps. Also, something a bit awkward in the room geometry for me was the floor in the underwater canal all throughout… it's a bit too "jagged" for my taste causing Lara to get stuck or twisted quite a few times when swimming. It isn't a huge problem, but I do think it could've been crafted a little smoother to make for more fluid and elegant swimming.

All-in-all a very good level. The main highlights for me were: the beginning of the timed boat ride with the violins playing; the flying birds that are simply decorative and easy to miss if you don't take the time to relax and enjoy the scenery; Lara running over the rooftop bridge as the classic harp music plays and we get a nice camera angle for that; and finally, kicking Seth's ass. Now we wait for the - Fortsetzung' to - folg'." - Sethian

"I'm in Venice and it's raining? Come over here if you want rain LOL. Seriously though, this was a surprisingly entertaining adventure. The BtB2010 elements have been used well in this level. It starts off quite low key with some warehouse exploration and then suddenly explodes when you get to the main area, with window shooting, a timed boat ride and a hefty boss ending. Nice." - Ryan

"WARNING: People reading this must know any of my reviews written on Venetian stuff must be treated with a lot of distance because I tend to obsessively overhype at this particular group. Chandeliers! Awnings! Gondolas! Yes, yes, yes! AAaahahah... << Those come to mind every new level of this group I see, so keep in mind that no matter who You are, no matter what You do, You WON'T enjoy this game as much as I did. End of warning. Let's immediately prepare You for the weakest spots: the channel the action takes place around is simply too long, I'd rather cut it in smaller section and doze the underwater exploration bit by bit instead. Moreover, the canal feels really too empty - there are no objects except from occasional poles, there isn't even a single gondola. You will have enough of swimming around after the first ten minutes... and pulling levers will become tedious during next five. Of course the obligatory harp pushable, bell switch and window breaking is here, but nonetheless switches of all sort prevail significantly. Apart from that, I felt a lot of puzzle inconsistency: 1) one crucial item and a keyhole is set as secret, another one isn't; 2) some secrets require rooftop shimmying, some other locations reached this way are dead end of graphics (as players we should know if we're expected to platform this way or not; 3) no matter of the moment of taking the detour for one secret, You will be forced to backtrack anyway; 4) as well as with the swipe card; 5) and the crowbar is really too easy to miss, especially while it's surrounded with a trap (intended to be non-repeatable) on the way in for it and a long monkey swing on the way out. I hate to sound as a betatester or as a whiner again, but there are really LOTS of issues the author must realize their seriousness (on the contrary to minor glitches mentioned in the readme), and I know he cares, so I tell all. Good thing is that on the other hand the visuals look really good, despite of the general lack of clue where the light falls from, forgotten ambience changes and odd object tinting. But the geometry is well used to form convincing city architecture I felt good enough in. Plus, to highlight, there aren't many authors who apply bump mapping to Venetian environments - I think I only saw Codo and Piega do it so far, and now kaufi joined them with a really good effect. Add to that rain from dark clouds, some thunders and obligatory mafia filling, and You're ready for a battle. I somehow missed the uzis and the ammo secret, all in the same place, so I intentionally went back and replayed the ending fight utilizing these two - and in this situation the boss encounter, and the game in total, was manageable with only half or full medi taken, so I consider all shooting fair enough despite of Lara getting exposed to unfriendly fire too often than acceptable. Oh, and those classic, majestic tunes... they always work no matter what happens. SUMMARY: Very solid audiovisually, but sometimes inconsistent, tedious and frustrating gameplaywise. Still, it's Venice... VENICE! Play it NOW!" - DJ Full

"A visually impressive Venice level with some nice timed runs. The biggest problem for me was the ending as i didn't have enough medipacks left which forced me to stop playing. As long as you make sure that you have some medipacks left for the ending you will be fine. I dont know for how long but i had to run around the map for a long time which made my experience worse. I think the ending was over the top fighting against the gunmen and the dogs and then also the Seth creature, in my opinion it would have been enough with just the Seth creature. The timed boat ride wasn't my cup of tea because of the narrow spaces. Well to sum things up it's a level with very good texturing and atmosphere and maybe you will like it more than i did." - totizedger

"Quite a pleasant surprise this one - features the BtB Venice package and would have fared well in the competition had it been submitted there and then. You get the usual exploration around canals and roofs, but constructed very well and in a very organized Fashion. A lot of care went into lighting, which also pays off for the believable atmosphere overall. The speedboat is put to nice use for a timed ride and the secrets are quite tough to find. As others have said, I found the well intended boss fight ending a bit over the top, but that still did not spoil the trip back to Venice once again - definitely worth a look! Just over 60 minutes spent here - if you know where you are going..." - MichaelP

"Ok lets start with the good. I really enjoyed this one. Visually it's excellent, with consistent texturing & lovely lighting. It's well structured into a believable series of sunken buildings & canals. You can feel a bit on the edge of the environment sometimes but I think that's inevitable with Venice Levels. Based on a single level you have quite an expansive space to explore. Despite this I didn't run into too many issues and found most of it had a fairly logical progression. Just be prepared to do a little back-tracking for the odd key-hole or door as you go on your way. While there's a few timed runs here and there for doors it's nothing that should have you shattering your keyboard in frustration. Throughout you've got the odd classic bertoli villain to deal with. Just be wary that you'll need to conserve medi-packs to make it through the sequence at the end. It's the end itself I found a smidge disappointing. Firstly you're ridiculously outgunned and then set-upon by a Seth creature which I'm not sure really belongs in a Venice level. Never the less it's a cool sequence and the music plays to the tension accordingly. All in all I netted just under 2 hours from Trouble in Venice. It's a strong showing from the builder, and shows imagination and skill. Hopefully we will get to see more :) Recommended! Stiggy :)" - TheStig

"Yup, I had trouble in Venice. First no binoculars, that is big trouble, then as a secret finding a rose while that is a must to find or else you cannot proceed...? I have no idea how long I was going back and fro, swimming wise and later by speedboat as I couldn't get Lara onto the higher decking and she has to. In my book that is rather sloppy, no matter how many testers one has. And no finishing trigger I could find after fighting Seth (maybe exciting for some but this character just didn't fit in the level). What could have been a rather good level fell a bit short in my opinion." - Gerty

"Great Venice level with dark atmosphere. The rain sometimes showed up, sometimes not and sometimes was raining in the inside. Gameplay was great, I enjoyed the boat timed runs and the traps to avoid. Everything was textured perfectly, lighting was also on a high level. I found a lot of uzi, shotgun and revolver ammo, but from the weapons I got only the revolver. The ending boss was hard to kill. It took me 1+ hour. Recommended!" - misho98

"At 1:45 minutes,this somewhat outstayed its welcome;but,then again, when the builder includes such fun things as boat- jumps;a challenging gauntlet;superbly devised progression and a barnstormer of a Finale it's difficult to complain. The construction is first class (the Venetian location is intricate,beautifully lit and immaculately textured),with the (somewhat forbiddingly) large playing area designed and mapped out to perfection.Nonetheless,the gameplay is a somewhat stop-and-start affair;with progression coming to a complete standstill at one point due to my having missed a small ceiling opening,which really should have had a camera clue,coming as it did within such a vast playing area.The whole adventure is a surprisingly placid affair,actually;as the enemies are fairly few and far between and the gameplay is mostly about exploration and memorising all the various locked doors - which probably made the trap gauntlet all the more exciting,as it appeared somewhat out of the blue. Aside from a cloudscape that couldn't decide if it was moving left or right,the technical accomplishments of the builder are pretty much second-to-none;and this remains a splendid example of level construction. Highly recommended." - Orbit Dream

"It notices a good evolution from the first level of this author. There are interesting features, like the timed run with the boat or the final boss you can kill. Also the architecture is quite good, and the environment was well designed. Cameras helping you to know the next steps were a good feature too. On the other hand, I suffered some errors in the gameplay like the very difficult jump from the boat to the high ledge with the timed switch, etc. (see dmdibl's review) and it's easy you reach dead ends and have to re-explore huge areas to find what you need to continue playing. Enemies are not very hard to kill, but there is few ammo for the guns I found (only revolver and the uzis) and at the end of the game I had to shoot the final boss a long time with the pistols. Even so it's a good level worth to play." - Jose

"This is a 75-minute level that appears to have been built with the BtB Venice package of several years ago. If these packages continue to be made available (Complex Simplicity also comes to mind), I would welcome builders to use them liberally for future releases. Trouble in Venice would have been a worthy entrant in that year's competition, if only for the charming Venetian ambiance. You get full exposure to the canals, architecture, flora and fauna offered by the package, and it's all put together in a very appealing way. Yoav has provided a good walkthrough (I bypassed one or two of the documented secrets because of the required backtracking) that carries the player all the way through the adventure. The surroundings are well lighted, and I had a thoroughly good time here. Recommended." - Phil

"I enjoyed playing this level and for a second release from this builder it is really good. I thought the texturing and lighting was really good. The gameplay was good as well but there are some bad parts like long monkey swings and ladders. Also the area is pretty big so you can get lost but I don't think anyone got that problem. Enemies were gunmen, bats, dogs and a boss. There are quite a lot of enemies in this level but some of them are not too strong so it isn't too much of a problem. This level is pretty long and there were some parts that I didn't enjoyed like the timed boat ride for example. I had a lot of fun however and really hope this talented builder keeps building so we can play more levels from him/her! Recommended." - afzalmiah

"Excellent level set in Venice, particular and similiar to the BTB2010 ones. As we start to play, exploring the global environment we can notice we're going to deal with vaste areas and with lots of doors to open; obviously if we start from the wrong section, we'll waste time, but once found the right way, we can proceed on and on. Excellent gameplay and enigms. Interesting parts in gameplay: to jump on breakable tiles above lava being careful at the same time to blades, but especially a time trial by using the boat, a bit longer than the Tr2 original one and of middle difficulty; other time trials don't miss rather than dynamic fightings like at the end where there are 6-7 mafia men and the boss (Horus possessed by Seth). a positive note about enigms: not only pulling switches or finding keys.. more hidden switches, other ones more tricky to reach, to trigger farther sections, to use the boat in order to reach higher parts above the water, to find the crowbar, where to use revolver with lasersight, and to walk on particular tiles to open a door. I appreciated where secrets were put.. in fact to reach them, we need to make tricky proceeding, such as jumping among roofs while staying hanged or recover a bundle of keys remembering a key hole at the beginning of the level, while an other one is easier; unfortunatelly I wasn't able to take one of them, mybe the first one.. I read the walkthough but I didn't understand how to get it.. what a pity. excellent presence of enemies (mafia men, dogs, rats and the boss).. not so many kinds of them, but numerous.. what I mean? Their attacks are very effectivev. excellent atmosphere, music and cameras, light-textures. A couple of negative aspects: I think jumping from the boat to an higher ledge is a bit tricky.. 2nd: even if we find shotgun and granade ammo, the relative weapons weren't put.. so it's more difficult to front final enemies and the boss, but at the same time more funny (uzi ammo are in large ammount and we can use even for the boss eheh). Globally I appreciate this level a lot, then when I deal with Venician contests and if Venician levels are built well, I get very happy.. so the amusement is assured!" - Steven Svorticher

"Here we have a really nice Venice level with entertaining game play. There is plenty of jumping and swimming through good-looking areas and a short timed boat ride with a ramp jump brings back memories from TR2. At times it is not always clear where to go next, but since the map is not overly big a way is found quickly. There are plenty of enemies in form of dogs and gunmen and a rather tough final boss. I am normally not too crazy about Venice levels in general, but I sure did enjoy this one a lot, maybe it was rather fast paced and felt never tedious at all. The builder did a very good job with texturing and lighting and the whole level has a very solid feel with a pleasant atmosphere. This is definitely a good one that should not be missed! (1h 20min, 4 secrets found)" - Blue43

"This level makes great use of the BTB2010 Venice objects (and a few extras) to create a convincing level of that theme. The main structure is the mainstay Venice style of a large canal with various areas around it. While the main area perhaps isn't completely distinctive there's a nice sense of gloomy decay and ruin to the side-areas that makes them feel different to the usual, and helps sell this being some sort of run-down part of the city. I saw no real issues with the lighting and texturing either.
The structure of this level is somewhat complex and non- linear, with various potential ways to go after some initial exploration. It can be quite easy to overlook a path (especially as the side-areas are mostly accessed by concealed underwater levers), and the tasks are on the challenging side, but everything can be found with some care. The only thing I didn't like is one jump-switch that is both easy to miss and requires a large amount of backtracking to get back to if you do. It ends in a boss- fight that could have perhaps done with a bit more ammo (as finishing it with a pistol takes ages even if you've done a lot of damage with other weapons), but it provides a decent end nonetheless. There seems to be some sort of story to the end, but unfortunately the level is both not in English and no transcription is available of the conversation. If you're looking for a good Venice map this is one on-par with some of the better maps in BTB Venice." - Mman

"This was a pretty fun Venice level with lots of fun exploration on foot and in a boat. I thought gameplay was very well done and interesting. Some of the texturing was a bit off, as was some lighting, as it didn't always look natural. I also noticed how the stairs didn't always go up flush with the landing, which is a bit lazy. I wanted to say that there are 3 roses, two for the door and one as a secret, so that is not a problem. What IS a problem is placing shotgun and grenade ammo but not giving us the guns! Finishing off that final boss would have been easier if I had those guns. I am really surprised that neither six beta testers nor the author caught that there were no guns to match the ammo. I liked this level so much that I would have rated it higher, had this oversight been caught prior to release. Nonetheless, this is a great Venice level and should not be missed by anyone who loves this genre. Looking forward to the next installment!" - Shandroid

"A nice venice level with a rather unexpected twist at the end. Gameplay revolves around finding a boat, which can be fun especially since you are thrown into a timed run with it at one point. However the boat also gets frustrating as you are expected to dismount from it onto rather high ledges, and that is a hard thing to do (putting the boat at an angle sometimes helps). Other than that the raiding is pretty simple as you collect various keys and roses while avoiding some blades and rolling boulders. The back to basics objects are used pretty well here and the final battle was engaging. Camera shots are used well and the textures are generally applied well (with a few oddly shaped window textures here and there). Overall an entertaining venice raid if you can get over those nasty boat dismounts. Finished in an hour and 13 minutes." - SSJ6Wolf

"This is a fun hour-long raid through a beautiful Venizian setting. It cleverly combines exploration with traps, timed runs and puzzles and thus enjoys thoroughly. Some reviewers complained about jumping out of the boat and climbing a ledge, but for me this was easy to deal with. The textures are really well applied, at some parts they were squeezed a bit and occasionally there was a texture that absolutely didn't fit to the rest of the room ambience, but I can forgive that. The usage of the boat in the timed run is great and reminds on TR 2. There also were few small puzzles to challenge the player a bit, and some more difficult trap sequences to master, but I think this level wouldn't suffer if it has more complex puzzles in it, and the waters in the town could have been a little less long, but after getting the speedboat this was no problem anymore. What was not so good about this level is that one of the secrets is necessary to finish this level, which could have been easily avoided in my opinion by simply using only one rose; and the boss fight was maybe a little too hard for some players, especially the fight against four gunmen and several dogs at the start. Also, I think the boat and one or two buttons didn't have sound (I loved the boat sound in TR 2, so this was sobering). The best thing about this level is that the author claims at the end it's going to be continued." - manarch2

"In many ways this is a solid Venice level with good elements such as a timed speedboat run, and awning jumps, and a tough boss ending that should be a climax. After using two roses to gain entry to a hideout, Lara looks over the canals for an effective sunset view--a lot of this does look good. I just felt a little put off from the beginning. There are no binoculars, yet places like an early warehouse are dimly lit, and need to be thoroughly examined. Even in the hideout there are warehouse crate rooms, where Lara needs to spot a distant jump switch, so I often found myself reaching for binoculars when there are none. There are details that could be better, such as stairs that don't even go up to the landing of a room, making for a giant step at the end. Lara had trouble jumping from a speedboat to higher canal ledges where she needed to jump and grab. Sometimes no matter how the boat is adjusted, she won't jump. I had to drive the boat off, then return to a section of canal, before she would exit the boat. The author could easily fix this with lower canal ledges, since it always works when Lara jumps out on top a ledge, rather than having to grab it. I made a mistake early on, failing to jump to an awning and window, so Lara was eventually stuck. I tried to correct this, but couldn't. Lara triggers a flame in a hole over a collapsing tile, then the first time through she switches off this fire. If she returns this way again, the flame in the drop hole is re-triggered, but the switch to put out the fire no longer works (Lara tried flipping the switch up, down, up, down, checking each flip to see if the fire went out). There is no way past this, since if Lara tries to drop into the hole she burns. No matter how much time players have invested, they must start the game over because of this one-time switch. Many players may not encounter problems, and will enjoy this visit to Venice." - dmdibl

"It's a good level Venise.I have especially liked the part with the speedboat. Jumping out of the speedboat to the edge of more than 4 clicks is not easy. Btb2010 textures are very constrasted, giving some relief. It is recommended to get the most out of kits and ammunition for the final battle. recommended" - Drakan

"I like a Venice setting so much that I can sometimes almost forgive a bad level a lot just because it's Venice rather than, say, Egypt. The good news with this particular trip to Venice is that it's far from bad, in fact it's rather good. I certainly had a most enjoyable time with the obligatory window shooting, leaping about on awnings, shooting the baddies and their dogs and, oh yes, the timed speedboat ride up a ramp - always a favourite. Perhaps there's nothing we haven't seen before, but it's well presented and the action unfolds in a fluid, fast paced manner, with a big boss ending, and the level is very well made, with plenty of atmosphere. If you like Venice, you really can't go wrong with this one." - Jay

"I like Venice levels, I like shooting windows, I like using the speedboat, I like 'Boss' ending. Ergo: I liked this level. A fairly standard style of Venice level with lots of baddies, white suits, black suits and dogs (and a few bats), whizzing round in the speedboat, jumping ramps, bouncing round the rooftops (not in the boat) and swimming down tunnels - what's not to like? Well made with fairly standard textures and good lighting throughout. A good romp of just under two hours, especially for Venice fans." - Diz