Level reviews

"This is a bit of a mess really. The flashes of decent gameplay are sadly completely overshadowed by the bad bits and the best thing I can say about it is that it doesn't last too long. I hate being so negative about a level, but I'm really struggling with this one." - Jay

"Many kilometers to run in this level with very huge and empty rooms with nothing to do except pull some levers. I think there's a big error in the design near the starting area, 'cause there is a door at the top of the wide stairs which will close if you are not very fast and in this case you'll be trapped forever in that starting area with the blue ghost chasing you continuosly and you'll have to reload or abandone the game. Later there are a mirror room (only to get the crossbow?) and an easy glass maze, but nothing really special to get some fun except the exploration and the very short rides with the motorbikes. Take a try but don't expect much fun." - Jose

"Huge boxy rooms, mostly empty, lots of doors poorly placed so you have the door collision bug, missing sound effects, wallpaper effect, wafer-thin walls, etc. To be fair, however, there was a (pointless) working mirror and the glass hallway was nice, but hardly worth the effort. 15 minutes. 01/18" - Treeble

"Well, at least the flybys were well done. But aside from that, this level was fairly slapdash. Long corridors which seem to exist simply to pad out playing time, lack of sounds for the bike and the enemies, custom textures which don't fit to the environment and the necessary use of DOZY to even progress through the game. Not really a whole lot to recommend it." - Ryan

"This level is huuuge. But it's one of the two levels which hugeness I didn't bother, as it can be repulsive in the very beginning only. I think it's because of the properly designed cameras which help to keep the atmosphere among all of these oversized chambers. And thanks to the sound, always fitting the situation. The main gameplay is average, but has two fine mazes - a glass maze and a bike maze. Also, apart from the main thread we find a very fine secret here, requiring a whole parallel trip for it. SUMMARY: 1 extra point for the atmosphere. It's one of the few simple levels having good climate despite of the monotonous texturing and room oversizement. But still only optional." - DJ Full

"Let me think: What have I seen and heard in this level? Big to very big rooms. Stretched textures. Paper-thin walls. Motorcycles without sound. SAS-Soldiers without sound. Missing camera hints. Doors who remained close. A time run door which did not open. Have I already mentioned big to very big rooms? I believe. Have I also mentioned that these rooms were not only very big, but also very empty? I believe not. Then now this is also checked off. Though the time run has not functioned, because the door did not open, but with a former saving the door was quite open. Hence, I am quick run through the open door and have ignored the lever. Is there, otherwise, something what I would still have to mention? I do not believe. So I say nothing more and lower my thumb." - Scottie

"If you asked me to describe this level in just one word, I'd probably choose 'painfully dull'. But then you'd get on my case about how that's really two words and it'd turn into this whole thing, so let me explain what I think about the level a bit more eloquently instead. The Castle of Vimercate is a level set in the same place as all those other first attempts you're unlikely to play, where good gameplay comes to die and bad texturing reigns supreme. I like first attempts - even the mediocre ones - when the author's unbridled enthusiasm for the Level Editor shines through. When you can tell that, even though we've all seen the traps and puzzles a hundred times before, the author thinks he or she is being clever and is proud of his or her work. And then you get levels like this. It's not that it's bad (though don't get me wrong - it is), it's just that it's... painfully dull. The whole level seems to have been made with a 'whatever' kind of attitude. The texturing changes very little throughout the level, making every room look alike. There are a lot of doors everywhere and there's always a nagging feeling that you'll get to the final door and end up having to go back through the entire level because you've missed a key (but there aren't any, so don't worry about it - whatever). There's very little gameplay. Once in a while you'll pull a lever, and then you'll run through an open door on the other end of the level in search of another lever that opens a door somewhere else. There's a small glass maze and a motorcycle ride, but they're both done with the same sense of not caring as the rest of the level, so you're unlikely to get much joy out of them. The level ends after just over ten minutes and I'm sure I'll have forgotten all about it by this time tomorrow. Thinking about it, I guess the best word to describe this level would be... 'whatever'." - Magnus

"To be fair,there are one or two good moments in this:the glass maze;the mirror room;the boulder-chasing-the-motorbike;and some of the fly-by camera's.But that's about it. Otherwise,it's a huge,unlit and blandly textured environment which isn't even remotely castle-like.The few custom textures don't fit the environment,and progression is just a case of sprinting from one large wallpaper'd room to another (you can even get stuck at the very beginning if you don't manage the timed door on your first occasion). Nothing to get excited about." - Orbit Dream

"For those that still want to play this level there is a timed door right at the beginning of the level. Had to read about it as I wouldn't have guessed. The camera work in this level is quite good so why not using one in the beginning to warn the player about it. And..... there is a bug with that timed door. So the way I did it and it worked like a dream every time I tried it save your game right at the start and make a run for the room on the right of those stairs and up some other stairs. Draw your guns you don't shoot the SAS man but drawing those guns makes the invisible wall disappear. At least it worked in my level. For the rest you need some stamina as the rooms are huge and empty. Finding levers and shooting the odd SAS soldier one bat and outrunning a skeleton is all you do apart from driving that bike down a ramp and a second bike to the end trigger. What I found remarkable are the textures used like a pop-art room a nice mirror room (the crossbow is in here) a water maze with a secret (the uzi) and a glass maze. The readme file talk about a wav file but it wasn't in my download. 21-05-2003" - Gerty

"I didn't have any of the bugs or butts that other people seemed to have but I also didn't find the castle like one I was expecting. This one is a huge building full of empty rooms and long hallways that you must explore for jump switches and floor levers. The rooms were a bit plain and the only one I liked in the entire first half was the huge checkerboard room in black and white. The second half had more interesting points and had two motorcycle rides a glass maze and a mirror room. Soon after finding the second bike the level ended as I was riding it down a long hallway. I was disappointed that it didn't seem to hurt the skeletons when I drove over them." - RaiderGirl

"Some people are trying to tell you that this is full of butts and not worth downloading but they are wrong; there were no butts and it's definitely worth a peek. I had a go at this when it came out but never got very far because -as my understanding of it- it starts with a timed run and if you mess it up you're stuck. This time I was lucky to run straight to the appropriate door and from then on it's rather easy and straightforward. The rooms are huge boxy and empty and you don't do much more than pushing levers and hopping to the jump switches but still you come across a few things I rather liked: There is one room that has chessboard textures all over and if you stand in the middle of this room and turn around over and over it looks really psychedelic. The glass maze the mirror room and the orange bridge were nice as well and some of the camera angles were pretty neat. Most of the time the textures are a bit repetitive and also rather inappropriate for a castle but don't let that put you off." - Dimpfelmoser

"A relatively simple level with a few high points to make it worth playing for the 20 minutes it lasts. The timed door right at the beginning was hard to pick up and had me wandering around aimlessly for quite a while all the time being swatted on the butt by one of those pesky wraiths. The mirror room was well done as was the see through wall maze. Although I found and used two motorcycles you could have gotten through the level without them. They must have been CIA bikes as they made no sound when you started them up." - Torry

"Although there was a WAD included besides a TOM this level was full of Lara's butts - nothing more than butts! And several lever switches. And invisible doors. The rooms are very huge and empty (except for the butts) not even a vase or torch anywhere and mostly very badly textured. The gameplay is reduced to pushing the above mentioned switches. - I'm sorry but this level can't be recommended in any way. Every minute spent with it is wasted time." - Sheevah

"A few points about this level there are supposed to be 3 bikes I only came across two I also only met two skeletons and there should have been four at the start of the level a gate opened and had an invisible block in its entrance making it impossible to pass without flycheating a sprite that chased me early on just suddenly disappeared without me jumping into water to have it follow me there seemed to be a huge area that had no purpose whatsoever and finally the textures in the castle were unattractive and at times just wrong. I can't recall how long it took to play this level and truth be told I couldn't really care I'm just happy I'm not playing it now." - Sash

"This definitely seems to be a first attempt at level building. It is a journey through really huge rooms with a few good ideas but all in all rather boring for the 30 minutes it takes. A few SAS and skeletons along the way several levers and doors and two bikes to ride. I liked the occasional funky custom texture (although they did not fit in at all) the mirror and the glass maze and at the beginning the camera work was very solid. On the other hand you find all the typical beginners bugs: thin walls missing (water) texures wallpaper effect in texturing door bug and the bikes had no sound for me. Also I left quite a few doors unopened and areas seemed to be pointless and only there to get stuck in with no hope of escape other than reload a savegame. Found one secret (the Uzi)." - Michael

"This level is really bad! The graphics are horrible: a lot of large room without lighting effects and full of nothing. The puzzles are so obvious and simple so the gameplay is kind of boring. Simply doesn't deserve a download!" - Leandro

"Unfortunately this is not one of the best levels I've played not even medium. At the beginning you can get frustrated because of a nasty bug related to a timed door. It seems like there is an invisible block that's preventing you to enter although you can catch it open in time. Loading five to eight times a savegame to be able to get started isn't my kind of fun. A lever can be very misleading in that room and quite useless unless I missed something. Besides that the game play is very poor just some levers that open doors and practically no obstacles except from some spikes later in the game and a couple of SAS guys as well as some skeletons but both of those enemies have serious problems the SAS guys have trouble locating Lara sometimes and they can just walk around her when finally they start shooting at her the sound doesn't come out of their weapons again not always. The skeletons have the same problem they seem blind at times as well. The rooms are 'dressed' with the same texture tile all over which differs though for each room boring wouldn't you say. Not to mention the missing ones at some places I can even say that they are so sadly mixed a few colourful ones near the end have nothing to do with the rest of them. Continuing though the rest of the level you have to swim a lot get some guns more than enough the revolver the crossbow and the grenade gun which are also quite useless because of the ability to avoid your enemies. The bike is given to you two times the first time I don't have a clue what I was supposed to do with it I hope I haven't missed anything the second time you just finish the level. That sums it up." - Kristina

"Very badly textured level: Lara runs by big empty rooms no water textures were applied hardly light. Opponents and motorcycle were without sound however it gave at least camera indications. Lara searches for lever and finds them also very quickly. Nothing more to do. Definitely not worth to play." - Xxenofex