Levels listed...
TR5 - 33
TR4 - 3176
TR3 - 179
TR2 - 138
TR1 - 65
73291 reviews (20.4/level)
3578 (99.6%) walkthroughs
453 Hall of Fame levels
1252 levels rated >= 8
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release date: |
11-Feb-2019 |
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# of downloads: |
246 |
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average rating: |
8.36 |
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review count: |
18 |
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review this level |
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file size: |
48.70 MB |
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file type: |
TR4 |
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class: |
Rome/Greece |
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| Reviewer's comments |
"After coming across and downloading the sequel to this TRLE, I thought I better play the
original first. While I did enjoy myself for the most part with this level I did have issues
with it. Some of the puzzles were quite obtuse with no clear hint that I could find anyways.
If it wasn't for a walkthrough I would probably still be on the block puzzle in the 2nd
level haha! Also I seemed to be constantly asking the question "what did that lever do!?"
A lot of the levers didn't have camera hints and some didn't even have sounds to give me a
hint to what kind of door/object had been affected.
But other than that I had a good time with this level. Some might find the over-use of
boulders to be tedious but a boulder death is never not funny to me! Honestly there were so
many boulders it should be called Secrets of Bouldernassus! That was terrible I'll see
myself out haha!
Anyways despite the issues its still a worthwhile play, would recommend :)" - Feats (18-Aug-2022) |
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| "(7)Gameplay & Puzzles: This is a medium-difficulty duo-level nostalgic adventure, with decent exploration, enjoyable timed runs and platforming. There's a few puzzles involving pushables, one of which lasts way too long and is very dull (end of level 1). As a result, I would have liked to have seen more problem-solving variety. The gameplay suffers due to poor object usage and camerawork, which I shall elaborate on. (6) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: The lions and rollingball traps are overdone. It just gets repetitive exploring a new area, going around a corner, and thinking "Oh geez, I bet a lion/rolling ball is around this corner!". There's no element of thrill if a builder includes the same elements over and over and over again. I also didn't think that the final boss fight, Pierre, was executed well. The player will definitely have Uzi ammo at this point and Pierre dies super quickly to uzis -- in fact, it is strange that the final boss is significantly weaker than all of the 345351 lions encountered prior to the endgame. Object decor, while very minimal, was placed beautifully. (7) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The atmosphere and architecture is just breathtaking. The builder demonstrated great skill in crafting organic looking caverns and convincing desolate ruins. No area looked too boxy, even small connector areas. Music cues and general sounds are also utilized very well. I really wanted to rate this category higher, however the lower rating is due to the lack of cameras (in level 1) and the buggy, split second cameras (in level 2). It's unfortunate the camera work is so shoddy (or absent) because this really downgrades the overall polish of the level. It was frustrating to have a timed run in level 2 with no working camera (and the door is not near the lever). Also, in level 2 there is a vague pushables puzzle, involving 2 blocks. Once solved, this needed a camera to show the player that they had successfully placed the 2 blocks onto the correct tiles, and that the door had opened in another room. (8) Lighting & Textures: This category is the strongest, and the TR1 aesthetic looks great. Warped textures on skinny triangular tiles were not uncommon but it's mostly a very polished category, without any overly dark areas. Overall, I really wanted to like this level, as I just love the TR1 aesthetic and I'm also a fan of the builder's "Mystery of the Lost Pyramid". The visuals and sounds are of a high-standard, but unfortunately the gameplay and camerawork is not very good. Give it a go if you're a die-hard TR1 Greece fan. 7/6/7/8." - nerdfury (12-Jul-2021) |
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| "I loved doing this level that reminds so many memories.
The textures of tr1 were really pixelated but that did not bother me. There is good lighting because we have very little to use flares. Many lions and bats but not very resistant, I had to look at the solution for the last timerun because the camera did not work and I did not know at all what it could do. Interesting level." - Drakan (25-Oct-2019) |
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| "A good adventure with many fun moments in a classic way
but with the particularities of the TR1 world. Recreating
it is surely well done (with the help of the pluggins i
presume) many boulder traps of which some of the boulders
are triggered on flat ground. Many lions too , a few
crocs and bats (i like the sounds for them) and a special
guest enemy at the end.
Sabatu is really talented for the shaping of the blocks
and that gives both a good architecture and gameplay. The
absence of cameras isn't an hindrance except at the end
for the timed door it seems the 'split second' camera bug
happened here probably because of the boulders. Anyway
that timed door is the more challenging bit of the game
which is not difficult. Plenty of medipacks , i would
have liked to exchange a few against some flares.
Texturing could have been done better especially in the
first level there is some stretched textures but it does
not matter much. Good fun and atmosphere overall !" - eRIC (14-Jun-2019) |
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| "Now this is what I call an expertly done TR1 inspired level! I think it is probably the best one I have ever played in TR1 style. It kept me entertained from the start, that is once I made that almost impossible curved jump (took me like 20 attempts for some reason), then I properly started to enjoy the game. Everything is authentic down to music ques, sounds and pixely textures. It consists of 3 levels and level design is superb. The progression from one area to next is smooth and you feel a sense of discovery. The only problem I encountered was that the timed switch visual que only flickers, so had to guess which door has been opened. Other than that, great set of levels to play!" - Raina Audron (02-Jun-2019) |
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| "This TR1-like level (but with a modern engine) will take you to the past with all those old features and environments, the boulder and spike traps, the lions, the crocs and the bats, the rusty sounds... I don't know if there is a new set of textures available with a high resolution, because the 64 x 64 used here give a poor aspect to the environments, even when the architecture is quite good. I think another kind of items could be included, like the flares or the binoculars, even when in TR1 don't exist. The worst was the absence of camera shots to guide the players, even with the timed run near the end I think the author wanted to include a camera, but the time was not enough to see something. The musics are well applied in appropriate places. If you are a TR1 lover, this levels will be good for you." - Jose (11-Apr-2019) |
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| "A great TR1 adventure I would say. As soon as you start
playing, you will start familiarizing yourself with a TR1-
ish environment, using a great music at startup. You can't
wait anymore to test some cool TR1 features, such as the
disability of rolling in air, underwater, etc. Even I can
say the animations looked exactly like a TR1 game. One of
the bets games ever built. This deserves a HOF place. Great
job! Thanks a lot!" - Mehrbod (11-Mar-2019) |
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| "This is an absolute gorgeous thing if it comes to bringing back TR1 nostalgia but heck, how I wish it was another game which is simply FINISHED - yup... missing cameras, sneaky pickups, undershaded openings, openings out of focus, multiple passaging in case if you miss something, and the author says he's already working on something new instead of fixing issues here. Long story short, same talent as the master builders show, yet same bad approach as I often have when building, so in my case it's double aggravating even though I can understand it :P It just has to backfire at level reception so I think in this case it's totally fair to aid yourself with a walkthru, to restore the proper intended experience - because it will be totally fair and you really shouldn't miss out on this level. Recommended... Can you still fix and reupload, please?" - DJ Full (03-Mar-2019) |
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| "This level is honestly kind of difficult to rate, because
I personally love Tomb Raider I. I love the aesthetic, I
like the textures, I like the sound and I like how it
plays. In fact I casually speedrun TR1 from time to time
until I get bored by it. So if you too also love TR1,
this set of levels (2 exits) follows the TR1 aesthetic
and has the TR1 controls, with just about most of what
this entails (other than the engine, so you cannot just
jump into most geometry and clip as hard). So as opposed
to other TR4 stuff you cannot have a lot different styles
of puzzles and artistic goodness. Meaning the weight is
on pure level design, flow and general atmosphere. Jump,
run, shoot are the bread and better of Tomb Raider,
especially in TR1.
This set of levels however, I would argue does not excel
at this. There are essentially 2 types of hazards in this
set (not counting water or death from falling), those are
enemies and rolling rocks. And both are so frequent in
this level that it boggles the mind. There is only 2
types of enemies in both of these levels, Lions (Greece)
and Bats, and this set goes out of it's way to make sure
that every area bigger than 3x3 tiles contains at least 2
Lions. To the point that it becomes predictable.
Another name for this set of levels could also be "Watch
for Rolling Rocks", because that would be the most
accurate description for both of the levels in this game.
The only thing missing is paralell dimensions. And I'm
not hyperbolic here, both of the included levels have a
ton of rolling rocks. At every point. When they fit and
when they don't. There is so many rolling rock hazards,
you could mistake this game for a cynical perspective on
vanilla TR1.
So what about the puzzles? There is also 2 kinds of
puzzles: pushing blocks and pulling levers. Overall
probably less block pushing, but in return more lever
pulling. Now while you could say that about many TR
games, the egregious thing about them in this set is,
that you never know what they do. These levels have maybe
2 levers in total that actually show you what they do.
Every other one it is up to you to guess what happened.
And it isn't like it would open the closest door, or be
in an area where you can guess what it opens. No, it is
always the most far away door. Figuratively speaking, but
this is how it feels like. The very first level bring you
into a fairly big area about 10 minutes in, and this area
will be where you will play for the next 60 minutes of
your time. These will be spent pulling a switch on the
right side of the room, and then entering a door on the
left side, and the other way around. You will constantly
run back and forth. So when in doubt, check the opposite
side of the room for answers. Best advice I can give.
The worst of these switch puzzles is a timed run in the
second level. Where the background music might be your
best guess that the lever is timed. Now the door that
opened is NOT visible from the timed switch. So not just
will you have to search the entire area for a door that
might have opened, you also need to be really quick. You
might end up finding the right door, but didn't reach it
quick enough to know that you indeed DID find the right
door. This timed run alone cost me about half an hour to
figure out, by which I mean that I gave up and checked
out Dogget's video for the solution. A watch that I'd
recommend to future players of this as well, because
right after that you need to figure out how to even reach
that door in time. The path for that is so obnoxious, the
video makes it look like a cheesing tactic. but mimicing
it perfectly I ended up reaching the door pretty much the
last second. I never would have found this without
Dogget's video.
So, let's talk about aesthetics and textures. The latter
of which are pretty bog standart, which is okay
considering the original Tomb Raider's tile sets were not
especially varied either. You have to deal with what you
are given. The tiles and textures used for both of the
levels are adaption of the Greece levels from vanilla
TR1. TR1 did not have the same freedoms for custom models
TR4 has, but what you can do, it build structures and
convincing level designs to achieve realism and
atmosphere. The strongest contender for this is the
"Aqueduct" the second level is named after. In fact the
whole interior design is pretty similar to TR1's
Colosseum level (which is my favorite TR1 level), which
has similar aqueduct-like structures. However the actual
aqueduct in this level is about 5-6 blocks wide and 20-30
blocks long. Sure, with the water flowing through it it
creates a nice little waterfall, but overall the actual
aqueduct is very small and does not play a big role in
the level itself, only giving you access to 2 levers.
Leaving me wanting for more.
So my overall rating for this set of levels is fairly
low. Which makes my heart bleed, because TR1 is such an
underrated game these days and a lot of TR4 level
creators could still learn a thing or two from it's
approach to level design. Elements I find especially in
Feder's levels. This set however does not excel at them,
and that saddens me.
If your love for those Tomb Raider 1 aesthetics and style
is however as strong as it is for me, give the levels a
try yourself and who knows, maybe you will come to a
different conclusion than I did.
Point of advice for everyone actually trying it out: The
moment you get the Uzis - use them. Shut up and just use
them, there won't be a better use for them later, there
is no reason to save ammunition. Just use them." - The Snarky Lesbian (26-Feb-2019) |
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| "This builder has went to great lengths to
keep the essence of TR1 at its highest
level; even Lara's movements have been
drastically reduced as she cannot crawl,
shimmy round corners or perform a
backflip-turn. At times I even forgot that
this was actually the TR4 engine being
used. The latter manoeuvre was a bit of
annoyance in the final timed run and it
took a few tries to find another reliable
method, but it's doable. Apart from that,
a bit of an overuse of boulders, a bit too
much backtracking near the end and a
tedious block puzzle, this is a well
crafted classic Greek adventure. The old
textures do look a bit jarring to the eyes
nowadays, but the construction is decent
and the atmosphere well up to standard,
particularly the music choices. I see the
latest version has now eliminated all of
the fatal bugs, making this well worth a
download for those in a nostalgic mood." - Ryan (26-Feb-2019) |
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| "Retro set of levels that does a wonderful job of using the TR4 engine to almost perfectly imitate the TR1 experience. Everything has been scaled back, Lara, her moves, enemies, grainy pixels in the environment, the menu ring. This is as old school as it gets. Both levels draw entirely from the Greek levels of the first game for graphics and enemies. Some secrets are dastardly (I found 5). The last timed run is brutal. Pickups are generous and appreciated, since there's a large number of lions waiting to chew on Lara. For me this was a completely immersive experience. I was immediately taken back to childhood and playing through St. Francis' Folly and Palace Midas. Spent a few hours here and got squished by boulders more than once or twice. I think that players who don't have good memories of TR1 will probably be annoyed by this set. Those of us who did play the original waaay back are the intended audience. I hope Sabatu keeps creating levels like these. I've really enjoyed playing through these two!" - Chel (25-Feb-2019) |
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| "This builder has given us an excellent two-part TR4
adventure with a convincing TR1 ambience (Feder and others,
please take note). Even the limitations of TR1 have been
incorporated here: no crouching, no shimmying around
corners, etc. I had a marvelous time playing this game while
writing a walkthrough at the same time, so I didn't bother
to keep track of my playing time. The two levels fit
together seamlessly so that you have the perception of one
continuous level. I had a few game crashes early on that
were annoying, and I had to disable my antivirus in order to
download the bug-free version, but those were minor
distractions. The gameplay negatives in my mind were the
plethora of boulders and the frequent backtracking required
to get back up to that elevated canal. The timed run near
the end was a doozy, but once you figure it out and spend a
little time practicing the route it loses much of its
intimidation factor. Well done, Sabatu. Thanks for a
nostalgic romp down Memory Lane." - Phil (23-Feb-2019) |
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| "This is a very solid TR 1 style game that manages to create a nice nostalgic atmosphere and even spices the thing up using various TR 1 features. Some of them are quite nice, others do not work particularly well for me - like the jump animation being slightly delayed, causing a lot of unnecessary deaths (IMO there is no need to remake even the bad things of the old engine). The gameplay is generally nice, with a nice variety of puzzles, traps (though a few boulders less would be welcome) and exploration. The lack of cameras in this level is a serious issue and even some of the present ones are corrupted. Many times it is very hard to orientate in this game because of that, and - while actually one of the best tasks in this level - figuring out the timed run to the key in the second level is very annoying. The looks are what you'd expect from a TR 1 level, also including a few misplaced textures, but texturing and lighting are still quite effective. It's not an especially dark game, but I wished the builder had provided at least a few packages of flares because even using pistols do not light the slightly darker rooms and occasionally it's hard to see where to climb up next. The enemies are well used too and the six secrets are decently hidden. All in all a nice level duo with some drawbacks that might've been ironed out by testing, but none of which are too heavy to put players off. Finished in almost exactly one hour." - manarch2 (23-Feb-2019) |
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| "Next time let the levels be tested so you are sure they work on different computer systems. Still like the old games but after playing too many TR4 ones it was hard to get used to the controls one had to use. What is wrong with having a screenshot what door you opened as well as having flares? It is exploring what you do here and the secrets are very cleverly hidden, as well as the keys you need to find. They are so small that it is easy to overlook them. There are a few puzzles and quite some jumping to do. For my taste too many enemies come at you at once. Oh well… so have a go at this level set; you won't be bored." - Gerty (23-Feb-2019) |
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| "It brings back old memories when I play this kind of games, it's entertaining without major puzzles. Unfortunately for me too many lions that end up being annoying. I would have preferred to have waited a little more to play it and give time to the author to fix bugs (Level 1 and 2, although it was made an update) and not launch it so that the player is completely trapped without return. The idea in general is not bad and makes it entertaining." - McRaider (20-Feb-2019) |
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| "This is a set (with two maps of relatively similar theme)
designed to evoke the Greco-Roman segment of TR1 (with a
focus on The Colosseum and Palace Midas); it's very
faithful visually with the old models, lack of coloured
lighting and control tweaks to match TR1 (including
irritants like a lack of hotkeys and TR1's worse jump
behaviour) and even the ring menu is present. Despite the
lean on nostalgia the visuals are still very
accomplished, with large-scale cave structures that do a
great job evoking the best looking parts of the TR1
segment, and it's pretty much perfect for what it's going
for. The gameplay is mostly exploration based, but
there's some challenging platforming that leverages the
more limited TR1 moveset, some traps (including a
slightly overkill amount of boulders) and the old TR1
enemies used. There's nothing bad here but part of TR1 is
the semi-unique puzzles and obstacles like the Midas Hand
and Lighting in St Francis' Folly, and since this set
mostly relies on traditional TR obstacles that aspect
isn't really present. There's also an odd lack of camera
hints, and the few there were in the second level broke
later on. Despite that this is a good job at evoking the
TR1 style with overall strong design." - Mman (19-Feb-2019) |
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| "Very solid and highly recommended. Sometimes it costs a bit
to guess the door that has been opened by the lack (or
failure) of cameras and the author abuses a bit of the
traps with boulders. The latest timed-run was quite hard
and clever." - requiemsoul (19-Feb-2019) |
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| "I'm back again to reviewing after a long absence, and I'm
not sure I could of picked anything much better than this
to start with! Sabatu has managed here to really give one
of the most authentic TR1 experiences I've played since
the original 1996 game. Proper TR1 ring menus...YES!!! I
love the non-filtered, ever so slightly over-gamma'd look
to whole thing which just brings memories flooding back
of playing the original PC game in 256 colours and
software rendering. Considering how much the tweaks to
the game's engine effect the character and look of the
levels as the series progressed it's impressive just how
close this TR4 engine version feels to the original TR in
terms of look, right down to the perfect black draw
distance and every proper TR1 sound correctly mapped.
Normally I spend a fair bit of time tweaking levels for
widescreen or even ultra-wide resolutions but this time I
felt to respect the author's efforts I'd play 4:3 for the
full nostalgic experience! The two levels featured here
take you back to the typical tried and tested early Tomb
Raider formula namely isolation and exploration, with a
few animals to nibble at you when you're running around
unawares! The distribution of enemies just gave that
feeling of slight tension I always remember from the
original game about wondering what was ready to leap at
me from the next corner. It's nice that the author thinks
vertically as well as horizontally and you'll find
yourself scaling spaces to make progress whilst looking
down on your prior track below. There's also a tight
timed element. Music is entirely from TR1 along with the
ambient sounds which is absolutely perfect for the
setting. If there was one criticism of the game play
it's that the 'surprise' boulder mechanic was perhaps a
smidge over-used, and I'd of liked Pierre to be a bit
more of a challenge at the end. All in all it took me
2hrs 45min to finish Secret of Mount Parnassus.
Absolutely brilliant and loved every moment. Highly
recommended. Stiggy" - TheStig (18-Feb-2019) |
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