| Reviewer's comments |
"Bugs/Functional Issues
- Exactly one of the "crowbar doors" can actually be opened with the crowbar. The rest are used as regular doors.
Disliked
- Gameplay is menial; most of the time spent is finding the next switch to pull.
- There are no camera cues for the switches, to it is a guess which door is the next one that opened.
- Paper thin walls combined with wallpapered and boxy rooms make the lack of immersion very apparent. Aside from the place vaguely resembing Rome from TRC, there isn't much sense of what area Lara is actually exploring.
Neutral
- The fountain square was at least identifiable as such, and there is some sense of ornamentation here, although the fountain is actually a bizarre stack of three fountains.
Liked
- There are some goons to shoot down with various weapons.
Time: 12 minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Rating: 2.75/10" - JesseG (13-Jun-2023) |
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| "Having played The England Prison, I was rather sceptical of reviews claiming that NG’s first level was actually better than that, or indeed even the best of the three levels that oozed forth from the cesspool of this builder’s imagination; three levels that are variations of the same theme, a theme consisting of three notes: blank, bleak, and boxy rooms; SAS; and levers and corresponding doors being placed as far away from each other as the layout of the rooms would allow. That said, I realise that ‘cesspool’ is a metaphor inappropriate for describing the builder’s imagineering plant, since it implies that at least something is going on. even if it is unwholesomeâ€"while not much is going on here at all beyond aforementioned three notes being harped on incessantly. Even so, in this debut level tentative steps have been taken towards something resembling gameplay, such as the well-placed SAS in the beginning, or demanding of the player to think a little about how to get down alive from a humungous stack of crates onto a cutesy wee little trainlet. This approach is quickly abandoned, however, though fortunately the level ends, as reviewers have previously pointed out, too early for it to become too boring. (It ends, by the way, not inside a room without a finish trigger: you can actually leave that room, although it pointlessly requires the player to crawl backwards out of a perfectly regular door-sized opening and trek backâ€"yet againâ€" to the town square where another door has opened, granting access to a lever which opens another door...oh God, I think I gonna be sick.)" - Mulf (02-Feb-2018) |
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| "Another level with a poor gameplay; pull some levers to open doors, use the crowbar to open another door and shoot some SAS. The level is quite short, and it's easy you get disoriented in the pool room if you don't remember the closed door you left back in the main area. Simple architecture, dark rooms, not enough ammo for the uzis, I never found the shotgun; the author could place some camera shots when using the levers/jumpswitches. Nothing entertaining here." - Jose (17-Dec-2017) |
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| "If I hadn't been reviewing, I might not have
even bothered to play this one. But, I wanted
to get some of the lower rated levels cleared
up. This was an ultimately tedious experience,
and I was surprised to see French shop textures
in a Rome environment. Gameplay was not
fulfilling for me at all, consisting of
shooting hordes of SAS, and pulling levers
which opened doors with an absence of camera
shots...lather, rinse, repeat. This was a
tedious drudge from start to finish and is only
recommended if you are extremely bored." - Ryan (22-Jul-2016) |
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| "Oh for the delightful ambience of the original Rome levels - the wonderful textures, objects and sound files. Unfortunately, none of that happens in this 15 minute level. It's basically a lever throwing exercise with a few guards to shoot and rather unimpressive surroundings. If a sightseeing trip is what you crave, I should try another tour operator." - Jay (22-Jul-2016) |
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| "I'm cleaning up my harddrive a bit playing some of the levels I downloaded and never played - this one in particularly is finished quite quickly after 10 minutes, a thing I'm rather glad of because the constant to and fro after finding a lever is heavily annoying. The setup is always the same: push a lever, it opens a door somewhere on the map without a camera clue, search for it and find the next lever. This isn't gameplay, it's just a waste of time. Builders out there - if you have nothing to present to the player else than this, better leave levels like this on your own harddrive. Lookwise there's a bit of an effort concerning lighting and textures, but it's not really remarkable - the architecture is extremely boxy, the (too huge) outside areas are wallpapered and there are some unnecessary shadows in it. Not really worth the trouble." - manarch2 (29-Apr-2014) |
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| "Graphics: even if texturing is quite good, annoying lighting causes a player to waste lots of precious seconds on exploring the empty corners. Too much shadow also spoils an impression of the main square, which - with some good light and shade applied - could've been much better. Objects: nice idea of a fountain (a little bit unfinished, but nice anyway). Enemies: I always hate SASes, but at least their placement was good in this game. The already mentioned opacity error can be treated like the only one secret to find - but still, one secret is not enough to get any points. Gameplay can be considered as average, because it's another game without any time to get bored, but the puzzles are designed awfully - backtracking is not what players like. SUMMARY: A well-painted main square with a nice fountain can't compensate oversizement and backtracking throughout the rest of the game." - DJ Full (22-Nov-2010) |
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| "This level suffers from defect of beginner, from big too empty room and from the textures which are repeated in the infinity. Other defects, too slim walls and some stretched textures. The gameplay is simplistic and the enemies always the same. A level which is very quickly played, without passion." - Daffy (11-Aug-2009) |
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| "I think this is Fabio's most successful level. The gameplay and the textures are better than those from 'The England Prison' and 'Finland'. I enjoyed the fake ladders the well-placed SAS guards (there were more enemies than in his other levels) the winding path leading to the first jump switch and the first flyby camera. Unfortunately the gameplay eventually went downhill from the opening of the first door because the player can see very well the author's kind of gameplay which mainly consists of finding levers and opening doors. The textures were well-placed and they come from TR Chronicles (Rome) but they are sometimes boring and some of the textures reminded me of France instead of Italy (a 'Droguerie'?). Maybe the level should've been called 'Nice' instead of 'Rome' because Nice is a French city with an Italian twist (in the South of France). There are a few paper-thin walls and the water isn't animated and the horizon (from 'Coastal Ruins') combined with the sky from 'The City of the Dead' looked strange. However the load.bmp the author made was stunning." - Sakusha (30-Jul-2004) |
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| "Em right ok. Rome yes it has Rome textures very well applied but boring. Nice huge courtyard with fountain and jeeps parked outside shops (probably the highlight of the guards day getting sweeties and drinks). A huge warehouse stacked skyhigh with crates and a jump climb setup. Low wall pulldown levers and a floor lever. It's all over before you've finished that first yawn. Pass this one and go straight to the England Prison by this author." - CC (17-Sep-2003) |
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| "It has the Rome theme but all the areas are empty which leaves us with some levers and SAS. There is nothing else to do rather than climb some crates then find the crowbar and after a few doors and one swim you end the level. I wouldn't load this one." - Kristina (25-Aug-2003) |
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| "Actually the best thing I found in this level was the outfit which was new. Other than that you can expect some huge rooms some switches to push and open doors to proceed and in 15 minutes to finish it. Some SAS guards are around also but they are nothing against of Lara. The whole level seemed to be scaled 5 clicks being the default 4 so you would always see an empty space above doors and in one room there was an aquarium which Lara could drop in but there is no way out. It was an opacity error." - Treeble (30-Jan-2003) |
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| "I am getting spoiled but on the other end this level was released a year ago. A city level an empty city level to be exact. With a couple of SAS men and some goodies to find. Main goal is the crowbar and you have a fight on your hands to get it. Opening doors and finding levers and...running that's what you do as the lever is way back from the door you opened. And oh also a tedious climb. The best part was jumping those crates and even that was not very hard to do. As I was in a room with another lever to pull I got all excited as behind glass there was beautiful blue water but helas no way to go there just window dressing. 02-10-2002" - Gerty (07-Oct-2002) |
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| "The trouble I went through to get hold of a copy of this level was considerably more interesting than the level itself. However I have to say that this (first) adventure was easily the best of Fabio's three. The gameplay covered a very small area (and you re-crossed it several times due to the backtracking nature of the gameplay); the central Town Square was a little too large thus causing the vanishing horizon problem; wafer-thin walls were everywhere and there were only a few baddies to potentially ambush you. On the plus side the layout was a little more interesting (and certainly far less bleak) and pleasing on the eye than the other 2 levels by this author; the two guards on top of the ledge posed an interesting little quandary (to climb up and confront them for their possible rewards or not?); the medipack on the canopy was a good indication of where the gameplay was going to take you later on in the level; and the large room with the boxes even attempted a couple of puzzles (I was actually caught out by the monkey-swing 'red herring'). The rooms (although devoid of lighting) are not as depressingly empty as those in this designers later levels and the whole thing comes to an end before it's had time to get too boring. This is OK for a first effort but this designers particular brand of gameplay (pull lever door quite a long way away opens enabling access to another lever which activates a door quite a long way away etc) is already in evidence although rather more muted here than in the next two offerings." - Orbit Dream (07-Oct-2002) |
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| "Actually having played Finland by the same author and seeing that this is his first level I was pleasantly surprised. Well for once it's not as long (i.e. tedious and boring) as Finland and I quite liked the main square with all the jeeps. Frankly there is not much of a gameplay here; you merely run from jumpswitch to jumpswitch which for some reason are all placed very low. In between you spot the crowbar and kill a handful of SAS guards. When Ian was asked why he prefers to play the small levels he said there was not that much to write about the classics apart from: 'Yeah it's a great level' (although I'm pretty sure that Ian would find something to nag about no matter how perfect the level) whereas I find it increasingly difficult to review the small levels cause all you can say is: 'Yeah it's a small easy and pretty dispensable level.'" - Dimpfelmoser (23-Aug-2002) |
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| "This level started with a little promise but it soon fell into the 'square nearly empty room with the sole purpose in finding levers' scenario which just holds no interest for me. After taking me about 20 minutes to finish I felt as though I had accomplished nothing and that I had hardly even moved far from the starting point which actually I hadn't!" - Sash (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "A short adventure of around 15 minutes which could be enjoyable for some people due to a special outfit for Lara a few funny 'shop' textures and some quite nice visuals overall. But gameplay really does not exist - there are a few SAS to kill a sequence of 'find-and-pull-lever-to-open-next-door' puzzles and an 'unhealthy' jump in a big warehouse at the beginning and that's about it." - Michael (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "This level looked promising but unfortunately did not deliver. It is a simple 20 minute romp finding levers killing a few SAS and is really very simple. One of my pet hates is that this level (like so many others) is way too dark. A little bit of extra light and a few thought provoking puzzles would save this one. As it stands however it really is not worth the download." - Torry (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "Other than figuring out how to get Lara safely down from a huge stack of crates early on there really isn't much to do or see in this 25 minutes level. The level feels oddly empty and the textures and lighting give the whole thing a very dreary feeling." - Tombaholic (21-Jun-2002) |
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| "From the name of the level I was expecting a nice looking area but sadly a fountain was the nicest thing here. The only other things I found were warehouse rooms full of crates large empty rooms and a few rooms filled with water that seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. It will take you around 15 minutes of running around to shoot all the guards pull all the switches and get from area to area. The hardest thing is figuring out what door the switch you just pulled opened and there's a lot of dark shadows to check. I only recommend this if you're looking for a short easy level." - RaiderGirl (21-Jun-2002) |
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