Level reviews

"Another instance of the fairly common prison break scenario and initially I thought rather well executed with the fellow prisoners helping to kill the guards while Lara has no weapons. From there however, it turns into a bit of tedious (albeit short, at less than 30 minutes) running around the prison for a series of switches and buttons, 2 keys, 2 keycards and navigating the same single laser trap (easily) 4 times in a row. And then to top it all off, when Lara finally finds weapons, unfortunately that also starts the rather annoying alarm sound - making the last third of the adventure a pain for the ears, even though it was of course fun to mow all those guards down with the shotgun on your way to the exit. Can serve as a quick diversion for the lunch break..." - MichaelP

"(4) Gameplay & Puzzles: This easy, ~30 minute level has very insubstantial gameplay. The crux of it involves running back and forth, using levers and finding keys. There are no puzzles (although you do push a pushblock once to find a key underneath -- pretty wild stuff, eh?). Near the end of the game, after shooting the guys in the 3-story room and using a lever, the camera shows a door opening and the backtracking to it is just awful. (4) Enemies, Objects & Secrets: I'm sorry to say that I found this category pretty unpleasant and unpolished. First of all, there are two areas where you need to get friendly prisoners to kill a guard, however, in both areas the prisoners wouldn't attack the guard so I was just running around in circles, hoping they would (they did eventually). There's a couple of really obnoxious moments regarding enemies/objects: a) There's a gun turret room where you're searching frantically for a key while losing health; b) near the end of the game, you're climbing down from a block and getting shot at and there's nothing you can do about it. Object decor is minimal, and I found an invisible block in front of a door. The traps consist of a couple of lasers and I think that the builder could have been much more adventurous in terms of trap setup. There are no secrets. (6) Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras: The architecture is OK in some rooms. In other rooms I was not convinced at all; the room would appear too large and empty, with the builder oftentimes attempting to "pad out" this emptiness by stacking a bunch of boxes. This doesn't look good, in my opinion. The background ambience is fitting as is the finale soundtrack, but I noticed a few objects with missing sounds. Camera hints are mostly OK, but there are no flybys to build immersion. Also, after you use the storage room key there should be a camera hint, as the trapdoor opening is not nearby. (7) Lighting & Textures: Aside from some excessively dark corridors, the level is lit attractively and with a strong sense of polish. Texturing is of a generally high standard also (a few misshapen ones here and there). I think this is the strongest category and the builder demonstrates skill in color usage, such as in the lovely-looking dining hall. It's unfortunate that my impression of this category was hampered by having to use lots of flares over and over in the aforementioned dark corridors. Overall, it's a good-looking level, but unfortunately not enjoyable in terms of gameplay and object/enemy usage. Contrasting this level with another base level that I played recently, "Lara Croft in Prison in Nevada", the difference is that "Lara's Capture" looks much more polished, but is really lacking in gameplay depth and variety. 4/4/6/7." - nerdfury

"That quadruple crawl through lasers and vents was evil and damaged the pace so much the conclusion didn't reward me as much as it was meant to. Even if the game didn't drag, it would still cry for some inspired moments, because what I saw here was exclusively basic yet random enough to make me wonder which passage is which. Ryan, your biggest and constant problem is safespace design. It's time to abandon it and trust in your creativity, because otherwise you will never get anywhere. Bring it on and make a good level." - DJ Full

"This short level is not bad at all; the design is good, as the texturization, and cameras and sounds are well implemented (except the nasty sound alarm near the end of the level, too much time). Not very friendly the gameplay, almost all the level without arms, the prisoners will help you, of course, but the guns appear too late for a final fight with no well balanced enemies, and it's not very pleasant let closed doors in distant rooms and go a long way back only to pull a switch or press a button and another long way back again to already visited areas to pull more switches or buttons. Even so, I found enough pickups to finish the level without problems, and as I said, the environments are very well builded. If you take a try, don't forget to look for a movable crate in one of the rooms. Entertaining." - Jose

"I think one of the best things about this builder's levels is their brevity and I don't mean that in a negative way. Sometimes a short, straightforward raid is exactly what the doctor ordered. This one involves Lara dashing (and occasionally crawling) round the prison, releasing other prisoners to deal with the guards for her until she finds weaponry and has a jolly good time taking her revenge. Undemanding fun." - Jay

"A brief adventure highly inspired by High Security Compound. The starting area highly mirrors the source material, but the level differs once you start to explore the rest of it. The gameplay is mostly running from one switch or key hole to the next, which isn't terribly exciting especially with the amount of backtracking required, but there are some turrets and laser traps thrown in for you to dodge. The end is spiced up with some combat once Lara reclaims her weapons. Even though you will find some flares early on, the lighting is still too dark, especially when you are trying to do combat. Overall a solidly built Nevada-themed level, but not a very substantial one. 27 minutes." - JesseG

"Another short level from Opaque79, it tooks me only 34 minutes. There was many unnecessary backtracking, we just running from lever to lever, from artifact to artifact. There were some enemies on end of level, also some traps and one classic lever puzzle. The good thing of this level is athmosphere, lighting and textures. They are really good. The prisoners which should help us with guards, they doesen't want to do this. They just running around somewhere and stucking into the wall. But despite this I enjoyed this level." - BlackWolfTR

"After a halfway agreeable start (but fairly reminiscent of TR 3) this level turns into an orgy in backtracking and that actually until the very end. Pulling a lever usually opens one of the farmost doors on the map, often without any camera hint; there are only one or two traps, a simple lever puzzle and one room with machine guns that you can try to avoid or just simply rush through to get the key and leave. The enemies culminate at the very end and I found the design where you have to climb down a block while being shot by several guards a bit annoying. Visually this is rather agreeable, with mostly good lighting and decent texturing (easy in this blocky areas), but there are several missing sounds and invisible blocks in front of doors the builder should know how to avoid by now. All in all, a rather pointless addition to the builder's portfolio as he can surely do better. 15 minutes." - manarch2

"This is another variation on the "escape from a prison block" concept from TR3, and unfortunately I have to say that this didn't work out so well for me in the end. The lighting and textures are perfectly capable (with a couple of neatly colourful flourishes in spots), but the gameplay is rather underwhelming throughout with just a few switches to pull and couple of keys/keycards to locate alongside some quite laborious backtracking (at least for its short 25 minute duration). There's also a couple of sections that didn't seem particularly friendly to the player: one where you're attacked by multiple sentry guns as you try and retrieve a key and another instance where Lara is besieged by a gang of vindictive guards. Certainly a worthwhile attempt, but not really one that I found to be particularly enjoyable. Sorry." - Ryan

"This thirty-minute tidbit is a welcome diversion from the far more complex levels offered in the current BtB competition. A much better title would have been "Lara's Escape," as the capture part is a fait accompli when the level starts. Also, the "story" synopsis on the level page bears no resemblance to what you actually experience during the game. What you have is another variation on the get-out-of-prison theme where Lara first escapes from her cell, then the cell block, and finally the prison itself. Everything follows in logical course, although you do have to remember where you've been and be alert to where you next need to go, or things can get frustrating. I couldn't find a separate sound file for the annoying alarm that follows you for the last quarter of the game, or I would have deleted it. In short, a pleasant but not memorable raid." - Phil

"Gameplay & Puzzles - Coming fresh off collecting the Golden Armour, this felt like a nice little bonus level to Lara's adventure. After obtaining the Golden Armour we never know where she goes. I like the change of scenery here. Overall, I was a little disappointed at some missed opportunities and some decisions. But I enjoyed the climax of this raid. Enemies, Objects & Secrets - The guards didn't really put me into any fear only the sentry guns. Not many objects here. The key placements were a bit tedious up until the climax. No secrets =(. Atmosphere, Sound & Cameras - Atmosphere is quite basic and boxy even but okay for the environment. Sounds are overlapping. If you are using TE, use #193 with a one shot on the very top of the triggers so there's no overlapping. But I enjoyed the climax with the alarm and the TR3 Nevada music with the ending shot. I thought that was really nice. Lighting & Textures - Both are pretty good. Some textures though are kind of basic though and I found one distorted texture. The lighting I think is the highlight here. I enjoyed the red rooms. Even the other colors used. A relatively small raid that took me 25 mins." - StudBuddha

"There are certain strictures that always seem to come into play when devising an 'Escape from prison' level.For a start,Lara must be unarmed - at least to begin with (otherwise it would be a pretty inefficient sort of prison).She must find a way to escape her cell - usually through some spectacular oversight on the part of her guards (in this case,the 'cell door-opening button' hidden behind a block). Then she must release other prisoners,so that they can deal with the pesky guards.Next up,some laborious back-and-forth corridor running in order to find various key cards (each one invariably opening the door that was located furthest away from the card in question).Throw in a bunch of machine guns (in the case of this level,viciously guarding a necessary key);and a climactic fight once you've finally acquired your weaponry. In addition,this level also includes some invisible door blocks;and a nasty moment where you're machined gunned as you clamber down a block from a crawl position. The lighting and textures are fine,and certainly create a plausible environment;while sounds and cameras improve the overall experience somewhat. For those in the mood for this specific type of level,it will probably entertain them sufficiently." - Orbit Dream

"A short but surprisingly decent level by Opaque which is slowly coming back to the quality we were used to be blessed by. This level is actually a sequel to Golden Armour and I do admit it is a pretty sweet idea! Gameplay is kinda easy only consisting in exploring and surviving some traps, there is even an easy enigma, nothing too hard and nothing as brilliant as the older game usually had. This is again a kind of empty level, but littler rooms and claustrophobic hallways do make you forget about this. Atmosphere, it's Opaque, so you know already that it is gonna be that good, the same applies to the texturing and the overall lighting. Great job! It is very short, just a half a hour raid, give it a try! Wolfy Regards" - Wolf7