Level reviews

"A level with young Lara in the classic Angkor Wat setting. You'll find an annoying bat that'll be bothering you at some parts, and this Lara is too young to use guns, apparently (when will we see a young Lara with pistols?). The jeep ride was fun, but I was unsure of where to go with it. Many of the areas are accesible without it. So, in the end I didn't like this one as much, since I think most of these levels with young Lara are a bit boring." - alan

"Undoubtedly the most interesting level by this builder. At the end of the level , you haven't accomplished much but it was pleasant all along , although a ladder seemed a bit buggy , spikes without spikes holes , and i found the last flyby well done but unpleasant. Playing with young Lara , there is no weapons nor flares but you don't really need those, despite a few small places being dark and the presence of two enemies. I was a bit annoyed by the bat at first, but then got used to it, and i had a chuckle to see the wild boar running into the jeep. The setting is rather solidly built , some places look better than others , and in many rooms lighting is absent except for shadow bulbs. The jeep ride offers a bit of challenge especially with the spikes, other than that there is a few jumps and some silent spiked balls." - eRIC

"Young Lara in a Cambodian setting once again, but this is actually a bit more lengthy as far as these types of levels go, lasting a full half an hour. Progression is strictly linear and is spiced up by the occasional trap sequence and a fairly extended jeep ride. Enemies were nothing more than irritations (consisting solely of bats you can't dispose of, young Lara having no weapons) and the tight spike path and crawlspace maze were questionable additions, but the aforementioned jeep ride was a nice touch and the unnerving atmosphere and environment (complete with unsettling final flyby) were well executed." - Ryan

"I have not understood anything for the first twenty minutes I played this level. We have young Lara all alone in a Cambodian setting and I guess she is dreaming but it is not clear what the goal is. After a while I found the jeep without the car keys and it started to get a bit interesting as now I had a purpose! Finding the keys I drived the car over the platform I couldn't get across on foot, then some hard maneuvers followed and eventually I arrived to a lever which caused some spooky sounds, then the level ended. I guess the nightmare was over? I have no idea. The level was overall boring in my opinion, and unmarked spikes, unsafe water and worst of all bats following you all over the place were definite problems. On the plus side it had good atmosphere with its use of thunder sounds and different structures. It would be a better level if your objective was made clear and maybe if there were secrets scattered around the place but in this state it is not very entertaining." - Nomad

"Young Lara, so obviously enemies aren't a problem, although the ruddy bats definitely are a nightmare. There are some nice traps and a bit of general leaping about going on so it's not nearly as boring as Young Lara levels can be and the Cambodia setting has been rather well done. It's annoyingly dark in places for a level with no flares, guns or binoculars, but on the plus side there is some fun jeep riding to be had. I did wonder about the Stephen King reference in the title, but I suppose the ending flyby with the creepy laughter just about covered that." - Jay

"Explore this big temple area with young Lara avoiding some traps and escaping from some enemies. No puzzles to solve, few switches to pull, an entertaining (and dangerous) ride with the jeep and a nasty (again!) crawlspace-maze. Good use of cameras and flybys, decent texturization and huge areas to explore with few objects and decoration. I reached the end of the world when exploring the roofs area, but found always where to go except the (no a good idea) phantom wall in the last pool, I thought there wansn't a finish trigger, but after the final creepy flyby the game crashed. Enjoyable." - Jose

"Entertaining level, with a mix of spooky and dark places proud of the name of the level.. The thing that impressed me the most is a mysterious part where Lara slips into a kind of "hole" and suddenly she dies for an odd cause that I still don't know... Recommendable for beginners!" - AlexCroft

"Admittedly, the inventive title and promises of weirdness enticed me to start this up. I suppose one knows you have played a great deal of levels when something like this appears perfectly normal, and could've been way weirder according to you. The final fly-by is wonderfully creepy, and the settings almost had a desolate, abandoned feeling to them, but apart from that this is a perfectly mundane raid through an Angkor Watt setting looks-wise. Young Lara levels generally don't have that many things to do in them, but the author has mastered that challenge valiantly - there are jump sequences, boulder traps, and most notably a nicely set up jeep ride (though you technically don't need it for anything but jumping over the deadly channel at the start). At some point I was annoyed, as it seemed that the spikes blew up the jeep at the slightest inconvenient angle, but more than that I was annoyed with the inclusion of a crawl-maze (though I actually managed to do it with the jeep, making it both more fun and surreal), the unmarked climbable texture right next to a correctly textured one on your way for the Jeep keys, and the opaque waterfall textures at the end that might mislead the people into thinking there's no finish trigger and thus miss out on the most redeemable thing about the whole experience. The texturing is OK for most part, but the lighting is pretty dull. There actually isn't anything gameplay-relevant in the dark places, so I did not mind them - but overall I felt the lighting was lacking and the atmosphere would've been so much improved if it had had the proper attention. All in all I found it to be not that bad for an older level, and it certainly had some fairly memorable moments worth experiencing." - eTux

"Despite the ratings, this is one level I enjoyed -- maybe because I apparently always took the correct path. You set off in a search for a lever to open a 'garage' (you even hear a familiar TR3 audio snippet when you enter it), then in a search for the car keys. Along the way you come through a few mazeylike areas (including one crawling section) and sloped jump sequences. After driving through lots and lots of areas, you reach a seemingly empty waterfall room, which I assume many would take for the end. I had, but then I decided to check the walkthrough and what do you know, there's a swim through pathway underwater, which leads to a lever where you can throw a lever. Lara didn't seem very excited with the outcome, though... 25 minutes. 08/07" - Treeble

"Here's another adventure to be included in the 'Beware of ambitious sounding titles for Custom Levels' category. I spent an hour running around in here and I can quite successfully say that of those 60 minutes 3 were pretty good. The rest were tedium. Don't explore behind you at the start as this can (and indeed must) be traversed later quickly by Jeep. Instead proceed straight ahead and search search search through huge empty courtyards for the lever to give access to the aforementioned vehicle and the area where the Keys are hidden. Then you must negotiate a frustrating spike route (where the Jeep inexplicably explodes if you give them even the slightest touch) until ending at a waterfall. If I hadn't already had a peek at the review of the estimable Dimpfelmoser I would never have found the finishing flyby..but then again I would have missed nothing either. It's all well enough assembled; and the Angkor atmosphere is reasonably well conveyed; but it's as boring as a very boring thing and has in no way changed my attitude toward Young Lara levels." - Orbit Dream

"I can't believe that someone put young Lara in a pitch black level yet he has. Really my eyes hurt without being able to use flares or binoculars and even playing this at night was quite difficult to find your way. I was lucky to finish in twenty five minutes with a secret though. You only have to find the jeep keys although it's possible to proceed without the jeep up to some point and push levers to progress. The crawlspace maze was a nightmare indeed; start by the left side and keep going left until you reach a hole to access the next area. The waterfalls around along with the textures are from Angkor Wat so you can imagine what the level looks like. The flybys were good and the last was long. If you decide to play this be sure it is at night and search well everywhere." - Kristina

"This is the first TRLE with Young Lara I have played. I am not a fan of Young Lara though I don't quite know why. I found it quite odd not to be able to shoot the annoying bats - why are virtual bats so annoying - but I had some fun making the jumps and riding the jeep (didn't know the runt was old enough to drive). There were no puzzles of any merit that I can recall though I was stuck at the end with the sun drenched room and waterfall. I thought I was supposed to get the jeep up the waterfall somehow and didn't understand how I could get the jeep into the room at the end of the causeway (an area Lara couldn't get in on her own). The atmosphere is quite good - the temple grounds are large with an interesting mix of oriental and Indian motifs but nothing appears to be in focus. Maybe my monitor needs adjusting. I do wish there was something for the runt to do while she explored this large and interesting area. And the ending was very anticlimatic. It felt like the game failed rather than ended. I recommend the game but ... I guess I have some reservations I can't put my finger on." - Dougsan

"This level starts out in the open and my first impression was that it was going to be a walk in the park. That changed drastically after playing it for a while. Finding a lever that shows you were to find the jeep isn't that hard but finding the keys for the jeep kept me going for a while though. Then my nightmare started as you have to drive the jeep through a field of spikes. Do get out of that vehicle as you need to find a crawlspace. This level is pretty big as I tried first everything on foot (so far I could go on foot) then went back to a saved game or just by running back again to get the jeep. Getting out of that vehicle to have a good look around just to see what was all around me and carefully maneuver the thing around holes and over bridges. Took a dive into the water by the waterfall and found a swim through wall Boy it was very creepy after pushing that lever. Found one small medpack which you don't need although I could strangle that pesky bat at a certain point. Overall this was a good level too dark for my taste as there are no flares and most of the darkness didn't serve a purpose at all. 11-02-2003" - Gerty

"Actually you are very mistaken if you think the waterfall is the end of the level. You've missed the best bit. There is a swim through texture down there which leads you to the final lever that ends this Angkor adventure with a nightmarish fly by. So as far as levels with young Lara go I think this is one of the better ones; in fact if there had been a little more to do in all those rooms it could have been a great level. But there is still some action here. A few good jumps a fun ride with the jeep the occasional spiked boulder and some pop up spikes along the way. You can explore for ages but sadly enough there is nothing there to find. I thought the bat that is following you around was quite a nice idea in that it provides a bit a excitement without really doing any harm. The atmosphere is great and though not that many textures are used to design the place it looks very real." - Dimpfelmoser

"I was actually a beta tester for this and I thought then that the architecture of the level was wonderfully put together as I still do but it felt a little empty so I suggested to Nigel that he should place some secrets in the level golden skulls as this is a young Lara adventure or even just normal pick ups no matter how useless they are there is only one small medipack to find that way the adventure would be given an extra dimension to it but unfortunately it seems that he just left it as it was. At least Lara gets to drive a jeep in the second half of the level through some very tricky situations a spike room where you will have to inch your way through using the reverse button quite often as well as the reload button and over platforms with holes placed throughout. After about 25 minutes you end the level in a waterfall room with no end trigger and nowhere to go so was this a nightmare? That pesky bat sure was!" - Sash

"Another young Lara adventure in a vast Angkor setting which will have you explore quite a bit in the 30 minutes you will spend in it. Clearly the level could be expanded a lot but I understand the author did not have time to work it further. Well at least a finish trigger would have been nice but the level ends when you reach the bright white light. Basically all you will have to do is find two levers and the Jeep keys and then navigate the Jeep through a tricky and fun course to the end. Very few pickups too - I only found two medipacks." - Michael

"This is a young Lara level and don't be deceived by it. It is brutal and frustrating and I have no idea how my fellow reviewers got through this in 30 minutes. It took me just over an hour. The object here is to find three levers and the jeep keys to go for a ride but whilst the keys were pretty simple to find some of the levers were not. Add to this a pesky bat that followed you around everywhere nibbling your butt and with no weapons or even a stone to pick up and throw at the thing this certainly was a nightmare. Once you have FINALLY got the door to the jeep room open there is a tricky and narrow path to negotiate with lots of death traps until you finally get to a waterfall which is the end of the level but alas there is no finish trigger so you could be running around in there for days." - Torry

"Young Lara has to find the jeep keys while being attacked by an annoying bat. Then you have to polish up your driving skills through a 'spike maze' that means instant death if you touch the spikes and over a 'bridge maze' that means instant death if you fall down. Finally after 20 minutes of gameplay there is a spooky surrealistic ending!" - G.Croft

"This level reminded me again why I don't like the young Lara levels. I had a bat follow me through half of the level so that I was constantly taking damage and could do nothing about it. I found other things about it hard too - the drive through the spikes and the crawl through the long maze that had spikes coming out of the ceiling. I did like some of the slide/jump puzzles and the rope swing and the architecture was just amazing and fit the atmosphere perfectly. Not a bad level but I couldn't do it again." - RaiderGirl

"What I hate most about young Lara is that she has neither flares nor pistols. That means that you don't have any way to see anything in dark rooms. Thankfully there aren't that many dark rooms in this level but there are a few and I didn't like them. Actually I didn't really like the level either. It's easy doesn't take more than fifteen minutes to finish and there aren't any real challenges in it. The hardest part in the level was to drive the jeep through a short maze made of spikes which actually took me a while to manage. Other than that nothing fun except for a short drive with the jeep in the end. The texturing is quite good but it could have been much better. Overall a short level which isn't very good." - Magnus

"A strange but very atmospheric level. Young Lara revisits the Cambodia textures of her youth but this time in a nightmare (sort of). The level is short but contains original gameplay elements with the jeep - which were great fun. The overall look and feel of the level is also good. Apart from being too short my only other gripe was those bats. It's bad enough when you have to shoot the damned things - but when you don't have a gun...? Ahh! The ending leaves me feeling this could be more than a dream or maybe a dream with an underlying message. No idea what that is though - bet the author doesn't know either." - Dick