Level reviews

"Evil Dr Miller had some ruffians steal one of Lara's discoveries (a certain Book of Cherub), so in order to steal it back, she goes up to his mansion while he's frozen out of town (there's a funny typo in the German-only readme). The level, then, takes places not in the mansion, but still in a mansion, so I don't think it was unreasonable of me when, having circled all around the mansion twice without finding a point of entry, I was beginning to suspect the presence of a fall-through floor, or a pushable that looks like a piece of wall, or a key that blends in with the textures in some random spot - you know, the usual - , when the guard who held the key that gets you going finally decided to show up.
It turns out this is not a hide-and-seek level. Rather, it is essentially a maze (Orbit Dream seems to be the only reviewer to have noticed previously); however, the path of progression will be straightforward most of the time if you deal with it as you would with any other maze, namely by moving around the place with your left hand on the wall at all times. (Right would work too, but I think left is preferable in this case.) So, when you use a switch, don't run off to find out what it did. It'll usually be a door you've seen before, somewhere in the area where you are anyway; you'll come across it soon enough. If you don't go about the matter methodically and run here, there and everywhere, you may for example arrive in the basement without the crowbar. The place is huge. Have fun.
As a follow-up to the builder's Coastal debut and the result of his first experiments with a custom wad, this level is a letdown. It offers no challenges other than finding your way around the place. The final shootout with a host of guards and dogs was presumably meant to constitute a challenge of a different kind, but by the time get to it you will have amassed such a load of pickups that you might as well keep standing smack in the middle of the crossfire and kill all and sundry with just pistols while swallowing a few medipacks. Moreover, unlike the delightfully absurd warthog arena of the debut, this scenario is too obviously contrived - the guards and their dogs all start out safely locked away in several cells for reasons unknown; you are forced to release them because you need access to a switch which just happens to be located in one of these cells.
You meet other guards before you get there, but dispatching them poses no problem. They're usually triggered at a distance (rooms are large) and solo, whereas dogs appear more or less at random and attack from behind; they're also entirely silent. Other sounds are missing too, and the push switches trigger the wrong animation. There are several other kinds of switches and of course lots of keys, most of which have generic names (but thank you for the Cellar Key, builder). Near the end, the level is bogged down by some tedious crawling, which becomes particularly annoying when you're on your way to the finish trigger. Contrary to what some reviewers say, there are no puzzles in this level, unless of course your definition of the term is broad enough to include running around looking for keys, or pressing switches and not knowing what they did. (There are flybys, which tend to go on too long, but no camera clues until near the end when you don't really need them anymore.)
In addition to the rather large rooms, there's lots of dead space as well, with rooms sometimes not even containing a redundant pickup to justify their existence. Conversely, on the outside a layer of rooms is missing, so the world disintegrates if you look up, when you emerge from the shaft at the end, and during the final flyby. The looks are generally adequate but not outstanding. The builder compiled his textures and objects eclectically; this includes some odd choices, such as the torches which he employs instead of lamps and which light up automagically (the place, and the sauna in particular, should have gone up in flames long ago). Also, evil Dr Miller seems more interested in the TR3 artefacts than in what any of the cherubim (or some guy named Cherub, who knows) may have written. No area stands out visually, but I liked the way the ceiling of the library is textured, and one of the pool rooms - this mansion sports more than one of these, yet there aren't any toilets. I wonder if these facts are connected - has the distinction of giving me an idea for a secret, of which there don't seem to be any in this game. In short, a standard Home level of the labyrinthine persuasion, and as such unlikely to impress anybody today as it apparently impressed some back when it was released." - Mulf

"The pleasantly different textures and objects did make a welcome change from Lara's usual humble abode. In fact it's a different layout altogether. Unfortunately, the gameplay is as tedious and uninvolving as it ever was in this setting, with nothing much else other than locating countless key pickups and gunning down hordes of guards, dogs and bats. Bats, really? I got rather bored after a while simply looking for the next respective open door or switch to pull and the interminable crawling segments near the end were the height of tedium (not to mention Lara must have had really scabby knees after all that). Pleasant to look at, but not very enjoyable to play." - Ryan

"The pretty Scottish textures work well for the grounds of the mansion and the library textures in the house itself do at least make it a change from the traditional mansion. Otherwise, it's pretty much a case of running around shooting guards, dogs and bats and finding keys. It definitely looks better than it plays." - Jay

"An okay level. I thought the mansion could be better and more ornately designed but when you think about it it has everything a mansion should contain from libraries to kitchens to multiple bathrooms so I guess I can't say it was bad. Gameplay entertains as you keep exploring the mansion but there are some issues with it. Much of the level consists of finding keys and pulling levers and there is too many action involved. The dogs and sas keep coming at you and it becomes boring after a while. Besides that the length is satisfactory and the ending looks quite good. I really liked the sight of the misty mountains at the final outside area!" - Nomad

"At least it's not the same old Lara's manor, but neither it's not entertaining. Pick up a lot of keys, press a lot of buttons, pull some levers, shoot a lot of dogs, soldiers and bats, too long crawlspaces near the end... Tedious and boring. At least I found some guns and ammo, and also a book I couldn't use in any place. The best was the texturization." - Jose

"By the luck of the draw I wound up playing two house levels in a row, one quite recent and the other dating back to 2001. The difference shows. This one is what I think of as "the typical house level," with much of the gameplay consisting of having to remember where you were and what you needed there, and how to find your way back once you've accomplished what you need to do in that particular place. Not much fun, as you can imagine, especially when the surrounding textures are unremarkable. On top of that, there's some excruciatingly extended crawling to do near the end that added to the tedium and stretched out my playing time to an unwieldy 60 minutes. The enemies are soldiers, dogs and bats that seem to be everywhere. Yoav has provided a streamlined walkthrough that kept me moving in the right direction, although I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find my way back to the library once I had located the cellar key. This was probably an entertaining level when it was first released, though I doubt that many of us would find it particularly exciting today." - Phil

"Not Laras Mansion,but still a rather uninteresting place which resembles a labyrinth more than a house.Provided you have a good memory and keep track of all the rooms you've been to (and what you saw in them) you should have little trouble.Indeed,this is a game where it's actually very difficult to die as you're loaded down with ammo and the attacks(although well-staged) are consequently quite easy to overcome. The excessive crawling slows things down a bit and most the rooms tend to look bare and empty but there are no distracting constructional errors,the atmosphere is well handled,texturing is accomplished as are the fly-by's,and the adventure even has a semblance of a storyline about it.It's still a Mansion level,though,and therefore probably has a rather small fan-base." - Orbit Dream

"A great looking level set in a picturesque mansion (no really) with lots of rooms on lots of levels. It seems that the object of the level is to get in to the mansion and once this is achieved you have to get out again. The level is not very difficult and has well placed enemies (made me jump at least once) which are as you would expect from a city level. The 'boss' room gets you firing wildy at anything and everything hoping it will stop. Eventually it does stop and you can relax again. Great textures and atmospheric lighting." - Jez

"It's not Lara's mansion mainly because it's about ten times bigger and they can afford to furnish and decorate in style. But what a mansion! It's gorgeous beautifully textured and constructed. So Lara is here scouring the place for a book. She's gone all Gothic for the occasion with her black lips and top. A lot of key finding and door opening to be done. Just some of the rooms to drool over are the library the swimming pool the private pool in one of the bedrooms piano areas entrance hall bedrooms - single and double and garden area after the final flyby. BTW if you really want to roam around that area when you come out go to the wall and run along the wall to the end I was able to get down and run around then. Perhaps the end trigger is only at the opening! It's really straight forward even at the end in the underground vaults and the big shoot-out with guards and dogs is ok because you get a lot of medpacks. A lovely level to play." - CC

"Not particularly fond of Lara's home levels this didn't disappoint me. Although very nicely appointed essentially Lara is wandering around picking up keys opening doors and shooting guards dogs and a few bats (that were let out of the belfry). Nothing terribly difficult or exciting" - Momster

"I love mansion levels having made a haunted version myself so I had to play this one and I wasn't disappointed. The mansion is massive but looks great and is a joy to explore. As the other reviewers have said the gameplay is unbelievably repetitive and did get on my nerves towards the end because I must have picked up about 20 keys overall. One minor thing made me laugh the map of Great Britain in one of the rooms is upside down amused me. But I did have an enjoyable hour in this great looking mansion!" - TrueRaider

"This level takes place in a big house with beautiful rooms. Very well textured and well done. However it is a very easy level. There are lot of rooms to explore and lots of keys to find. Lara looks nice and different (may be because she's on holidays). The flyby at the end is remarkable. An entertaining level to play." - Cuqui

"Life's hard. You come home after weeks of raiding thinking you'll have a good night's rest and what happens? Someone shuts the door behind you so you're locked up. Your butler seems to have disappeared with all your artifacts (did not find any) and probably left all the windows open because your mansion is infested with bats and last but not least your cellar is ruined what with all the weeds growing there (addicts obstain please). Second level of 6 of 9 I played and it's a builder who knows how to put a lot of rooms together: small bathroom big bathroom little pool sauna ...it's all there. But a lot of rooms ask for a variation of gameplay and that's the weaker point here: a lot of key finding button pushing book turning without much imagination only interrupted by a guard and a dog. The final battle however makes your adrenaline meter go sky high so that made up a bit for the lack of tension. Final movie was nicely done: very 'soft' after the final battle and ending in a dark area...things to come maybe? If there were any secrets they were surely tucked away well (0 found). Anyway nice level if you like to roam people's houses." - bERT

"Wow what a house I could sure use a floor plan as I got lost a couple of times. Like in a maze I tried to keep the wall on my right. Terrific built by the author nice little details in every room. Gameplay gets a bit boring after a while shoot a dog shoot an SAS man and every now and then a bat for good measure. Still very puzzled what a bat is doing in a house but hey I'm a city girl. Pick up a key or a goody and run to the next door. In between all the climbing and jumping this was a very welcome level to do. 23-07-2002" - Gerty

"This may be called the mansion but it isn't THE mansion or if it is then Lara's had the builders in. I have to say I absolutely loved this level and even though the gameplay may have been a lot of searching for keys I think I counted 8 opening doors and fighting many SAS and dogs that suddenly attacked from behind scaring me half to death I just felt the level got better the further along you went. Texturally this level was just brilliant and although there seemed to be room after endless room to traipse through they all looked lovely there was even a sauna snooker room gorgeous pool room dungeon like rooms where a mass battle takes place and even hidden rooms behind bookshelves. It is such a shame though that after playing for an hour I finally came to an outdoor area where a flyby scanned the inviting surroundings only to end the level before I could get a chance to go exploring." - Sash

"Well apart from the 20 SAS soldiers 15 dogs and 10 bats in this mansion it is for a change not a replica of the Croft mansion but only loosely attached to the overall theme and that is really a plus. There is an amazing number of rooms all textured differently and equipped with a different set of objects which makes the journey rather fun even if gameplay is a little boring and mainly about finding yet another key or yet another button to proceed. I liked Lara's black top and black lipstick the flybys are nicely done the pool table the sauna and I hated the long crawl sequences but all in all this is almost an hour of nice and easy running around finding and escaping with the Book of Cherub." - Michael

"A nice departure from the normal Lara's home levels but I must admit it was quite confusing with passages and rooms going every which way. The ending fly-by sequence was nice though. Again take care where you are going and look around as it is easy to miss keys and there are lots of them. This level should keep you busy for just short of an hour." - Torry

"What a cool mansion level! Instead of another mansion for Lara this is a house that Lara has to raid! She is after a book left inside it and to find it she will have to do a lot of exploration through the mansion. In the 1 hour that I spent in this level I enjoyed every second of the level as the textures were perfect to the environment of the level. I figured out that only in the final rooms you will need the crowbar -- and this was the first pickup I found in the level! Though it's not Lara's mansion it worth a download for all Lara's Mansion fans." - Treeble

"Good looking level but I found it a little boring. Lots of keys to find and lots of doors to open but no real puzzling. SAS-baddies dogs and bats to shoot. I agree with Freeman - a level for beginners!" - G.Croft

"If you're expecting yet another remake of Lara's mansion boy are you in for a surprise. It starts out simply enough with Lara standing outside the house trying to find a way in and soon shows a short fly-by that makes it look as this is going to be a short simple level. After a little exploring you'll realize just how big this mansion really is. The rooms are beautifully textured and decorated but the layout of the house can be quite confusing as each room leads to another room and so on. There are many keys and switches to find as you make your way through the house killing soldiers dogs and bats along the way. Your objective is to obtain the Book of Cherub and then make your way out of the house with your loot. I found most of the level to be quite easy though interesting but did get stuck for a bit until a very special person suggested I try shooting those grates instead of looking for a way to open them. I had a lot of fun playing this and highly recommend it to anyone especially if you're like me and enjoy a really good house level." - RaiderGirl

"The mansion plays in a big house with lots of rooms to explore many keys to find and to shoot many dogs and soldiers. The details are very good every room is nice textured and has nice placed objects. In the beginning I got a little bit bored because the gameplay and the puzzles are very easy but at the end the game is getting better and better. A beautiful level for beginners professionals give it a try!" - Freeman Porter

"Either Winston has done some rebuilding of Lara's mansion while she was in Egypt or Lara has just got to the wrong mansion (they all look alike)... or maybe it's explained in the 'readme' (which is in German!) but the mansion doesn't look like it usually does. I think there's something for everyone in this level. You can just go and explore the new rooms if you want. There's actually more gameplay in this level than I expected and in one place you have to release a couple (maybe more of an army) of enemies to reach a button. My only real complaint about this level is that the last area held so much promise but instead the level ended before you got to do anything in it. And don't forget to watch out for the dogs! They like to attack you when you least expect it." - Magnus

"The Mansion is a really brilliantly done Level with beautifully decorated rooms and an interesting story. Atmosphere and light are set very well in scene and lend a mystic character to the house. Particularly the ultimate final battle was exciting. I must also do a small criticism - unfortunately, the puzzles are too simple. However, altogether the level is fantastic and I can recommend the download.“ - Seemeister

"I enjoyed playing this level a lot it is such a big house! There are loads of rooms with some wonderful textures and objects in terms of structure texturing lighting and camera's I thought it was excellent! I do feel though the gameplay was a bit tedious it was just a case of finding a new key/switch to open another door. I would have liked it more if there had been more puzzles and traps also I missed playing outside as most of the level is indoors. But I loved the textures and objects they were great and this level is must download for anyone! Well done!" - John

"There was nothing spectacular in this level. This is just a remodeled version of Lara's mansion. There was a little bit of camera work but it only showed the already obvious and didn't help in any way. The only good camera work was the flyby at the end. No puzzles to solve which was a disappointment. The textures were all right but there was nothing new. The beginners of you might like to play this for fun but if you are a hardened Tomb raider I would give it a miss." - Jason

"The Mansion is a really brilliantly done Level with beautifully decorated rooms and an interesting story. Atmosphere and light are set very well in scene and lend a mystic character to the house. Particularly the ultimate final battle was exciting. I must also do a small criticism - unfortunately the puzzles are too simple. However altogether the level is fantastic and I can recommend the download.“ - Seemeister "Above average level - nicely set in scene unfortunately the puzzles were way too easy and the enemies boring (could have been some other than the standard TR4-buddies but this can still be changed with TRWest). The torch holders were too colourful. But the atmosphere camera flybys and hideouts were great and I have hardly ever played anything like it." - Silent Viper

"Although it has a good atmosphere and a very nice flow of events it loses some points from the puzzles. They are not all that challenging. The secrets too but I have played some levels that the secrets were so difficult that the fun was gone. In some part of the level SAS and dogs are so many and they are coming from everywhere but the guns provided are not good enough. It has many keys and from time to time you have to retract your steps to find a door that opened but it's done very good so you don't have to get frustrated or even lost. Another part I liked it's that besides the outside area you don't have to cover very large areas in order to get somewhere. Basically it's a fun level especially if you like levels with Lara's mansion." - Kristina

"Now I don' t want to annoy you here but I can't understand why this level is rated so high. I mean we should give the author credit for having the audacity to create a game that is devoid of jumps climbs and everything else that made Lara popular in the first place but this exercise seems utterly pointless to me. For 15 minutes you run around well lit rooms to find various keys to open various doors and every once in a while you bump into a guard or dog. Big Deal. Even the showdown at the end is a piece of cake with 10 medi-packs in your backpack. I liked Lara's black lipstick though reminded me of my sister in her Punk Period." - Dimpfelmoser

"I just liked this level. I was always looking for the best 'Lara's Mansion' level and even though this is not Lara's Mansion it's the best. The atmosphere is really great. Gameplay is as good as it gets when you have everything happening in one building. And it was really something to look at." - Tombraidergirl

"OK so I have a confession - I like levels set in Lara's house (actually I like levels set in any grand mansion setting - even better if they are original). This is the best house level I have seen. Really great design and attention to detail. Lots of new rooms (sauna guest rooms many more). Gameplay straightforward but fun. There could have been more enemies but I admit that I got taken by surprise by that influx of SAS/dogs in the basement and had to reload a few times because I didn't want to use any medpacks. Even if you don't like house levels this is worth playing!" - LadyLara