Level reviews

"I made a detailed review for Lore so I think I should just rate it and move on because he knows, but let's recapitulate: 1) too many things draw attention away from the main puzzles, 2) the foliage layer is missing natural grouping patterns, 3) some visuals are definitely too crude and 4) underwater switch puzzle should definitely come simplified and later in the game, what would be much more player-friendly. But this is a solid attempt, chaptered, on topic and I particularly liked the periodic comeback to the alien village - one of very few alien civilizations pictured in a package which was MEANT to be about them. So overall, sometimes a bit too tiring but still satisfying." - DJ Full

"Lara travels to a distant world to steal the Comic Cube. Gameplay consists of enjoyable exploration, with some action through in, although I would have liked to get more puzzles to get my brain going. I particularly liked exploring the various hills in the canyon area. I wasn't a huge fan of the underwater hunt for 5 switches though. It wasn't particularly unfair (no switches hiding behind a wall of seaweed) but I would have rather spent my time doing something else. Enemies are used well both thematically and towards gameplay...although I never found the plasma gun to use all that plasma ammo on. A little more advanced weaponry would have been helpful especially with the ending fight. Many decorative objects are used well, especially the underwater areas (which also made the aforementioned switch hunt trickier), and outside to give the world a sense of being bigger than what you see (like the distant mushrooms stacked on top of each other). The geometry is diverse but still sensible, so atmosphere is strong in this level. Cameras are used well, and cutscenes showcase interactivity between Lara and the world. The application of textures suffers a bit, and many outdoor areas felt a bit wallpapered and contained squished and warped textures. Luckily the lighting helps detract from this, providing various different color schemes between the different areas, helping give the same texture sets a different feel. Overall a pleasant space raid. 54 minutes." - JesseG

"The first two BtB levels I played were spaceship levels, whereas this one is an alien worlds level. It's a little more elaborate than the first two, requiring about an hour and 20 minutes for me to finish, and some of the special effects were seen here for the first time. Near the end there's a strange critter that Dutchy described in his walkthrough as a giant flea with a mushroom on its back. You also get the TR1 arachnid monster and other assorted aliens. I needed the walkthrough's help to find the five hidden underwater levers, but the rest is fairly straightforward. There's a nice but fair timed lever sequence near the end. The surroundings are colorful and sufficiently bright, and even the darker areas are easily navigated without the need to use flares. A well planned and well executed raid." - Phil

"Here we have a very beautiful game, and lovely landscapes, though somewhat overburdened with vegetation that makes paths a little difficult to follow. There are good sequences (the Push Puzzle, the rising platforms, near the end of the game, among others), and boring ones (scaling rocks, for example, and the frustrating trials to pick up one of the Secrets). The Spike Puzzle was a real puzzle for me, because I couldn't find at all where there were no spike traps, and had to wait for the walkthrough map. In compensation, I found this room's secret easily. The underwater cave, though gorgeous, was too choked with vegetation, and the finding of the underwater levers was a real ordeal; another one, was a certain monkey-swing along a very obscure rosy vegetation path. But I thought very interesting and creative the idea of putting in the game a beautiful area where Lara could go a number of times in order to pick up necessary items enjoying absolute safety! The idea of the Healing Pool was also different and good, but orientation was certainly a stumbling block in this level, and I certainly could have done without TR1's Torso Monster." - Josey

"I do not like sci-fi and not even the alien theme, but this level has very little "Alien" and space and has much fauna and flora. A nice mix between the environments and colors of "Avatar", the underwater world of "Deep Down Below", a rocky and red desert similar to Nevada and an alien temple of a strange indigenous tribe reminiscent of the Polynesian civilizations known in TR3. There is much Tomb Raider 3 in this level, and it is nice. The horizon is sublime, as well as some enemies extraterrestrials-tribal The gameplay is simple and intuitive, you hardly get stuck long (I used sometimes the guide, but nothing so difficult) suitable to spend an evening in pristine worlds and not so much extraterrestrials." - Talos

"Level number six in this year's Back to Basics competition doesn't appear to be named after anything pop culture-related, which is kind of disappointing. I guess the author didn't get the memo? Instead, they've gone for a more descriptive title, as Lara does indeed search for three wonders (or knickknacks or random doodads or whatever you want to call them) in this level. She does this on, what is for my money, the most otherworldly alien planet so far in this year's competition. It looks really creative, with a great use of color and alien plant life, and it's really varied - and it does all this without ending up looking like a patchwork quilt. What brings it down is the mostly simple geometry, with a lot of tiny rooms and long hallways - but the atmosphere is spot on. It does also have some larger rooms, and I liked making my way around these - platforming is always fun, and is severely underused in this year's competition. In general, though, the gameplay is a bit too simple. Puzzles generally land in the "wait it can't really be that simple I must be missing something" area, and there are a lot of switches that are right next to the door they open. But at least it's fairly varied, and you get forty easy, but fairly fun-filled minutes, which isn't a bad deal. There are three boss fights - which is thematically appropriate, if nothing else - and a way to return to a safe area to replenish your health and ammunition from time to time. Naturally, I didn't realize this until right at the end. Story of my life. While I think the level was a bit too simple, overall it's still a colorful and fun ride." - Magnus

"This is a nicely built and enjoyable level, set on 3 different planets (or environments): an icy planet, a desert planet and a jungle planet. There's also a night-time desert area that forms a sort of hub that you can keep returning to via transports, in order to pick up goodies. The gameplay is fairly straightforward and linear (which is, IMO, a good thing). There are plenty of enjoyable tasks: the spikes puzzle on the icy planet, climbing around the cavern walls on the desert planet, and the timed switches in the temple on the jungle planet are my favourites. A few tasks can get a little tedious, such as searching a large underwater area for five switches on the icy planet. A couple of others are a little too simple, such as the pipes puzzle on the jungle planet.
There are just a few enemies: a boss fight in each of the three locations, when you pick up the main items; a final boss fight; and some alien dogs and bats. The secrets are not hard to find – I found the first one literally by accident. The one on the desert planet involves an interesting, though slightly obscure, task of running through poison gas and into a healing pool.
The settings are mostly lovely. I especially like the desert planet – the blue plants contrast beautifully with the brown rocks, and the cavern and canyon are nicely built. The icy planet is nice too, but a little too bright blue. The jungle is fairly colourful, but very boxy. The temple façade is pretty, though.
Overall: A very pleasant level in a variety of nice settings, though a little lacking in complex gameplay. Recommended." - Mytly

"I really had a lot of fun with this adventure. My only complaint, if you want to call it that, is maybe its predictability in terms of the gameplay flow, as you literally get sent from room to room, solving a task in that room and then move on to the next room and so on. But the tasks are diverse enough to be entertaining and then when you complete a branch you get a little boss fight thrown in to spice things up. I am not a big fan of the search 5 switches in a large area "puzzle", but I really enjoyed the parts where he had to find your way jumping and climbing around an area. All in all though, the main reason for me to have fun here was the great use of plants, the intense play with colors and lighting and the beautiful flybys and strong use of audios. For the atmosphere that all these elements help to create, this level really stands out from all the others for me and deserves highest praise." - MichaelP

"Here is one level that I simultaneously enjoyed and didn't enjoy. There were some nice things such as getting back to the desert to get one more round of goodies and at least the huge spider enemy. Also a few puzzles I'd seen before in one version or another. I'll admit it's nicely designed, very colourful even though there may be too many objects at times (not the kind that make the game slow down; just the kind that gets confusing) but I'll add there seems to be a little too much platforming. I'm not sure I found any secret but I don't usually go to great extents to find them - I read they were easy to find and I'll buy that at face value. What can I say? It's interesting, especially for players who like a certain type of colourful, alien-fantasy environment." - Jorge22

"So far, this is the "least alien" of all BtB-Space entries. What you get here is a pretty standard Tomb Raider experience, and also following the old formula of different elements. You have to retrieve three artifacts, one from beautiful ice caves, one from the desert, and finally one from a forest environment which also houses a very earthly temple. As far as gameplay is concerned it's also a very linear and straightforward adventure, and there are even camera hints as you're running around to make sure you don't miss out the hidden niches with keys. Some fun puzzles and quite a bit of platforming (especially in the desert section) will keep you engaged throughout. 60 minutes, 3 secrets. 06/18" - Treeble

"This TRLE was one of the easier Levels in BTB space, With no real challenge at all, Also the secrets were not hard to find." - JoeTheCrazyGamer

"As with Lost in Space, this is a bit less of a challenge than some of the other levels, which is not to say it isn't entertaining, because I certainly enjoyed it. There are some rather good puzzles and I especially liked the 'what's my route' section whilst clambering round a huge cave area. The builder has generously left portals in the different areas, allowing Lara to return to a hub to stock up on medipacks and ammo, although you probably won't need to use that option as the enemies are infrequent and generally not difficult to deal with. Another good entry in what has been a high standard of competition this year." - Jay

"This is quite a pleasant entry, and another one that isn't overly difficult or frustrating. Don't take this to mean that I thought it was boring in any way, on the contrary I found it entertaining. The different planet environments you explore are beautifully constructed, atmospheric and complimented by a really neat choice of music. There were a couple of gameplay moments that I thought in particular were well thought out: the ascension of the high cave requiring utilisation of Lara's new movements and the multiple timed run across different sides of a temple. There's also a cool feature that allows Lara to teleport to a village a couple of times to pick up extra supplies, although enemies aren't plentiful." - Ryan

"This is the first BTB map so far that seems to focus mostly on the alien themes, which is nice change from the others. The designs are interesting and varied visually, especially the coral cavern type area. The scale is pretty small at times and the main outdoor parts are quite room-corridor-room, although there are a few bigger areas. The setting changes to support the level name are nice, although it felt like the structure was supposed to be more non-linear rather than doing each one sequentially. Gameplay is mostly pretty easy but the challenges are pretty fun and varied and don't bog things down much, however, some bigger areas feel barely used, especially the grassy one later where the corridor structure is most obvious and all the gameplay content (a few enemies aside) is in side-areas. A good entry, but could have been better with a stronger overall structure." - Mman

"The first level without a base/lab style, and certainly a good use of varied environments: from an icey water world to a desert landscape, and finally a jungle scenery. Objects matched their respective environments, as well as the enemies. I think this makes this level quite unique, as it accomplishes the immersion on a journey through different and unexplored worlds. Tasks are entertaining but there aren't any elaborated puzzles, just the good old search for key/switch and push some objects into very noticeable places. The desert climbing parts were really fun. Enemies were plenty, plus one big fight after each special object collected. Pickups are abundant and the "return to base for supplies" was a useful feature. I missed the shotgun so I had to face the final bosses with the pistols (it took me a while). Nice work!" - Feder

"Another good entry with quite fluent and varied enough gameplay and decent visuals. The smaller puzzles in the ice section are quite enjoyable as well as the platforming in the desert. The enemy placement is pretty well done and the objects help to create a nice atmosphere too, the geometry of the desert areas stood out in particular as well and actually made this area look quite beautifully. The other two sections are sometimes a bit more simple in their design but still decent. I didn't like the overall lighting so much, while not especially dark it's pretty greyish and sometimes uniform throughout and colour is only created with textures and object lighting, which feels slightly uneven and does not match the surroundings so well. The overall concept is sweet, although I think the straightforward connections of the three areas are a bit simple and the level is fairly linear and without major surprises. Found the four secrets the first time around, but I think the teleporter idea to return for some is a good one. 40 minutes." - manarch2

"Summary: With three distinct missions, simple gameplay is combined here with captivating environments. Think of a classic, straight-forward Tomb Raider level, about the same difficulty as Tomb of Qualopec, but set in space. With the platforming of TR3's Nevada Desert, well-placed enemies, abundant ammo, and straight-forward but satisfying puzzles, this level was easy but nevertheless engaging to play and beautiful to look at. Details: I seldom felt lost during the journey through a frozen fortress, a desert canyon, and a short (but hostile) jungle. Gameplay consisted of pulling switches, and occasionally finding keys or pushing blocks, in the pursuit of three pickups which unlock the final boss and the level's exit. Each area has a small number of puzzles, and although many were similar to simple Tomb Raider activities that have been around since 1996, three stood out in particular. One was a monkeyswing puzzle that, although difficult to guess, was nevertheless interesting to work out. The other two involved pure exploration, and this is truly my favorite activity in any Tomb Raider game. A series of underwater levers, each of which glowed once thrown, was actually really fun to search for in a glittering, phosphorescent underground cavern, complete with a secret to find and plentiful air pockets. Clearly, the goal was to explore rather than face a particular challenge. The other, and in my opinion the best part of the entire level, was the desert platforming section, which took advantage of Lara's new moves to scale the rocky walls, finishing in a rope swing. There was even an interesting bit with deadly steam and healing water which was fun to experience. I think I only died once the entire time, including each of the boss battles (the first boss glitched and never attacked unfortunately), and with the hub of the friendly alien village and pod for topping up Lara's health, pickups were more for fun than a necessity. However, I did find I used flares during the underwater search, and I did unload my full battery of Uzi ammo and some of the shotgun (Plasma Gun ;) ) as well for the final boss fight. Lovely lighting, even underground in the desert, well-placed objects, a definite storyline with discernible goals, and the traversal and exploration, which are lacking in some of the more Space- station/lab/base oriented BtB levels this year, make this one fun to play. I would have enjoyed quite a bit more challenge, and perhaps a greater number of enemies in the frozen fortress and desert sections (they appeared a lot in the jungle). 3 secrets, 1 hour 45 minutes on first playthrough." - Cbl

"This is a solid level nice to play with easy puzzles and suitable for most players. Even the secrets are not very hard to find (I found all 4). Never frustrating or with hard tasks, you'll always find something to do or somewhere to go, helping with a lot of camera hints and a lineal gameplay. "Natural" environments to explore, well balanced enemies, good use of musics and correct texturization and lighting; I think the author had not get enough time to properly tint the numerous objects, but the environments are still good. Very enjoyable and playable, it was a pleasure to play this easy level. Only in the area with the big Torso, Lara was able to stand at the end of the slide to shoot him without danger. Anyway a recommended level to have a good time without complications. Good work!" - Jose