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My Home by Zip

bERT 1 2 3 2
CC 3 4 3 3
Ceamonks890 1 2 2 2
Chronicles5 3 4 4 6
Dimpfelmoser 0 2 2 2
DJ Full 4 2 3 3
eTux 1 2 2 3
Gerty 1 5 3 2
Jay 1 2 2 2
John 4 5 5 3
Jose 2 3 2 2
Kristina 4 4 4 4
Magnus 1 1 2 2
MichaelP 1 6 3 3
Miguel 3 5 4 4
Momster 2 3 4 4
Moonpooka 4 4 4 3
Mulf 0 0 0 0
Orbit Dream 1 2 1 1
RaiderGirl 3 5 4 4
Ryan 1 2 2 1
Sash 2 4 3 3
Sheevah 1 2 3 3
Treeble 3 3 3 3
 
release date: 18-Aug-2002
# of downloads: 70

average rating: 2.65
review count: 24
 
review this level

file size: 19.06 MB
file type: TR4
class: Home
 


author profile(s):
email(s):
pieter.debaets@belgacom.net

Reviewer's comments
"I could appreciate a cringeworthy agglomeration of speed-built texture-all roomboxes if it was made, or should I say generated, in order to serve up some interesting gameplay. This is not the case here. The level consists almost entirely of padding without purpose: huge rooms, all with wafer-thin walls (in the rare event of stacked rooms, wafer-thin floors as well), most of which are dead space (some also dead ends), a few containing pickups that are sometimes marked as secrets and sometimes not, according to a rationale that is at best elusive; and eventually that perennial favourite of gameplay-challenged builders, unmarked death squares. All of these are merely the pointless preliminaries to the builder’s one and only idea—a maze. But with hammergods!
As an exercise in aggravation, this latter works perfectly fine on its own. Had the builder limited his level to it, I might even have been tempted to give it a point for the sheer awfulness of it all. Then again, probably not." - Mulf (12-Jan-2021)
"The author himself states in the readme that "the big maze is very frustrating". Not quite a strong selling point, is it now? That being said, there is little else to speak of in this level. As you'd expect from a debut level back in the days, rooms are oversized, mostly empty, there are wafer-thin walls, textures are stretched all over and lighting effects are nearly non-existant. Plus, of course, a maze. For the completionists only. 25 minutes, 4 secrets. 06/20" - Treeble (14-Jun-2020)
"I thought I’d seen some pretty awful renditions of Lara’s mansion over the years, but this may just take the prize for all time worst. Having said which, the house sections were a delight compared to the other areas. Dreadful gameplay with very little indication as to what to do, e.g. unmarked death tiles. I think it was probably a good decision on the part of the builder to leave this debut level as his only crack at the level editor." - Jay (14-Jul-2019)
"Not a level to enjoy. I never spent much time into the house (not the typical Lara's mansion) but all around the surroundings. Apart of some defects like the paper walls, very elongated textures or tigers appearing in midair; it was not a nice gameplay for me: the long runs in huge areas with nothing to do, the backtracking, the unmarked deadly tiles or spikes in the crawlspaces and the very nasty final maze always being chased by the hammergods was not funny for me. There are several snowmobiles to use, so I never needed the provided guns and ammo (only to shoot a bat) and the atmosphere is not well worked too. Unremarkable and not interesting." - Jose (18-Jan-2018)
"What an unfairly designed mess. Horrible lighting and texturing, unmarked death tiles and spike traps, no fun puzzles. The final straw for me was the hammergod maze. Absolutely unbearable." - Ryan (20-May-2016)
"I'm really having a hard time coming up with positive aspects toward this level.The snow-mobile rides were sort of fun;as was the epic zip-line;but the textures were stretched almost everywhere.There was no atmosphere.Minimal attempts at lighting.Not even the merest hint of a puzzle.I had originally thought that the number of unmarked spike traps were the worst thing that could possibly be exhibited;but then I encountered the booby-trapped maze with the hammergods,which was the absolute nadir.This level appeared to advertise itself as a Home level;and it's significant that I actually ended up wishing that that was true!" - Orbit Dream (13-May-2016)
"Well, what else can really be said about this sole release from a debut builder that came out back in the early years of the level editor? Nothing too overly positive, I'll tell you that. In any case, texturing is repetitively done throughout(to the point of being nonsensical), level design is painfully uninspired with plenty of large wide-open spaces that have no life or purpose to them, plenty of sound effects are missing, lighting is completely flat most of the time and the gameplay is monotonous(with several infamous moments included, that just scream cheap.) Overall, the only real qualities I can praise the builder for in this release, is the object choices and the somewhat ho-hum traditional TR tunes that play at certain intervals. But that doesn't really mean anything, if the levelset in question isn't fun to play. And unfortunately, that is the main issue here. Avoid at all costs." - Ceamonks890 (22-Jun-2014)
"That annoying hammergods in the maze... were the only challenging part of the gameplay. So have 2 points for that. And 2 more for puzzles (average finding keys to open a door and throwing some switches in the same purpose). Most of the enemies appear from nothing, so no points for them. Some nice objets to look at, but not so many of them. Four secrets, not challenging at all, but somewhat hidden. Good atmosphere, but in the mountain range part only. Nice sound. Some fine cameras. Average lighting. Texturing stretched and monotonous. SUMMARY: Average optional. Can be completed in 10 minutes without collecting any additional pickups, and in 20-25 with grabbing all of them." - DJ Full (03-Nov-2010)
"I loaded this one up and was tempted to bin it after a long and tiresome snow mobile ride through an ice cave, with slopes and a few pick-ups. However, I eventually came to this little orchard area where I was tempted to get out my picnic basket. Proceeded along to the mansion and smashed my way in. This is a huge mansion, and by that I mean the rooms are particularly large. But I liked the open plan design very much and began to fall seriously in love with this level. The textures are tacky and badly placed, stretched and wafer thin throughout the entire level, and yet this had me grasped to the very end. There are two fuses to find; one in the mansion and one in a huge outside slope area, but you get to use another snow mobile and that was fun. In the grounds of the mansion you will meet a number of snow leopards and it's easier to run them down with the snow mobile rather than shoot them. Sad but true! There are also a few levers to find to open doors, and spike and fire tile traps lie in wait in some areas; although they are unmarked and that was frustratingly annoying. So, after quite an enjoyable trek I entered the final room. Oh boy, I hated this maze with the two hammer gods pounding away at Lara as she attempted to find a lever to open a final door. The maze seemed endless, the various large pick-ups were trapped, and so were the little crawl spaces where you lived in hope of a miraculous escape from those hammer wielding fiends. I eventually found the lever at the south side of the maze; although I have no idea how I got there, and finished this level after 40+ minutes or so; 20+ of which must have been spent in the maze. Anyway, what more can I say? Yes the textures etc were bad, but I can't say I had a hideous time throughout. There are some nice colour schemes and some nice little moments." - Moonpooka (22-Dec-2008)
"Starting with a ride with the snowmobile and ending with a crawl into what clearly is a dead-end this level doesn't have anything good in it. Except the aquarium of course. Well since the aquarium has nothing to do with the level we'll forget all about it shall we? Okay... that leaves us with nothing good nice or fun at all... That's not good. Maybe I should just write about the aquarium instead then? Seriously though - except the aquarium there is noting good to say about this level. You get a lot of unnecessary snowmobiles an incredibly large mansion (with only a few rooms) and a boring maze which even the author himself finds frustrating. The maze isn't too hard though just remember to jump so that you won't get hit too much. Add wafer-thin walls boring texturing and bad lighting and it just doesn't bode well for the level. Thankfully it only lasts for twenty minutes but even that is too much for a level like this. It's always hard to say it but this level is incredibly bad and not recommended to anyone." - Magnus (29-Jan-2004)
"Got snowmobile drove through ice canyons into the grounds of the house drove around the assault course and gardens and killed white tigers (up to 20 all over the level) drove through the windows and around the house. I must say this was very satisfying. Because you can drive the snowmobile around everywhere naturally everywhere is huge. Found two 'keys' to open the last maze and a nice long zipline. Found five levers the last one lets you out of a really ridiculous maze with two (possibly three) hammergods. And dealing with these darlings didn't raise my opinion of the level. A very ho hum effort a quickie while you're downloading another level." - CC (17-Sep-2003)
"Glad this isn't my home and you probably agree with me after playing this level. This is a first effort and it shows that although probably every one could have a go at the LE to build a level. But then comes the hard part making it fun and enjoyable. Not every one can do that that is for sure. 20-05-2003" - Gerty (26-May-2003)
"My home? You can house the whole population of Belgium in this house and still have room for all the elephants still alive! Ok so far for the fun because that's not what I had playing this level with humongous rooms stairs and spaces wafer thin walls suddenly appearing wild life and ...and...(fill in what you can think of). I do hope this was just a 'learning to deal with the editor' level because it was just not at all inspired. And then we still have to face the end: a dead boring labyrinth where you're chased by two Hammer Gods (yawn). Next please!" - bERT (20-Mar-2003)
"Unfortunately although a home level in the ice it has a lot of bugs. The idea might have been good but the outcome is not the desired one I believe. All the rooms have thin walls and that gives a very bad atmosphere to the level. There are many snowmobiles and some tigers. The only thing to do here is push levers and find two plugs to open a gate. After that and many fire traps and crawling a lot with spike traps as well you get to a frustrating maze. It's not that hard to navigate the problem is that two guys with hammers are after you and that makes it difficult to find the lever and open the final door as well as keeping track of the hallways so that you don't keep going in circles. Not to mention watch out for your health. I found three secrets. It needs more work." - Kristina (03-Mar-2003)
"Starting with a snowmobile ride to get to the mansion the objective is to find two keys that will give you access to the ice maze at the end. Lara's mansion is huge and has the living room dining room kitchen exercise room bathroom and the study/bedroom combo to explore plus an attic that gives you access to the roof. There is one key to find in the house and then the next key is found by using the next snowmobile in the outside obstacle course. I would explore the house first as I believe one of the doors in the obstacle course is opened by a switch in the house. After finding the second key there's a cool zipline to use to get back to the house - cool because it's a long one. Now all that's left is the ice maze with two Hammer Gods to get by and some evil booby traps [insert evil grin here]. Secrets found: 3" - RaiderGirl (13-Feb-2003)
"Maybe a first level because of the many errors you will see. Huge Rooms with paper thin walls badly textured. Outfit is really strange for winter and of course it is made very badly. Sound of the Coastal Wad with sea-sound and birds singing does not fit to the game ambience. Sky does not fit to the rest of horizon. Some of the Cameras I must say are okay - they were placed well. But here is so much to learn - only make a level to have made one is not enough. In fact it is very bad to make a 18 square room with fire or teeth spikes without placing some indication and then let the gamer look to find out where they are - normally somebody stops there without finishing that level. Far from reality - toilet for Lara with 4 places?? ;-) My first time giving such a low voting - but I want to tell the truth here too." - Miguel (27-Jan-2003)
"A bad first effort not very enjoyable and sometimes very annoying as at some parts it was not possible to think of the right way past some of the so called 'traps' for example I think the many crawlspace sections with the burning ice (???) were unfair since there's nothing that tells you which is the right tile to crawl on and the crawlspaces with the spikes popping out from the ceiling were a nice surprise the first time but not further. Actually not a very bad debut and I think I did rate it a little lower than it deserves but if there are such great debuts like 'Trapped V1' and 'Nethermore Castle' why should the others be spared from the bad ratings?" - eTux (03-Dec-2002)
"Four snowmobiles all but one unnecessary traps that are just an annoying hit and miss affair an architectural nightmare of a house (I mean really a gym kitchen dining area and aquarium in one large room) and two hammergods that just got on my last good nerve in a booby trapped maze make this a snowy wasteland of a level." - Sash (02-Dec-2002)
"Why oh why did I bother? From the time I got that winamp thing I knew I was in trouble. I know I don't like home levels and this was truly one of the most boring ones I've played. Highlight for me was the zip line I like zip lines but the rest was so - nothing. All that cold and ice gave me a headache and I was freezing in that ridiculous tank top. Even the tigers only took about 3 shots each." - Momster (08-Sep-2002)
"Not sure why the 3 mp3-files are in the download when these are standard TRLE files but I don't need to understand everything I guess. The level for me had three really good moments: 1. When you reach the room where a bunch of snow tigers is hopping towards Lara I still had a classical piece of music from playing ISS 101 before and it looked was a really poetic scene 2. The zip line was great (though totally useless) 3. The end - when I finally could leave this booby trapped maze and the two hammermen behind. Apart from that a really bad home level with thin walls and floors by the dozen no less than 5 snowmobiles in it - none of which you really need I think well maybe one. Lots of unmarked traps and huge and rather bare rooms with nothing to do in them as all you do need are two plugs and five or so levers. Found four secrets - and still not a fan of Home Levels." - Michael (26-Aug-2002)
"Well you start off in some snow passages which lead to the house inside you will find a huge main hall gym kitchen library and bedroom. These rooms are huge I have never experienced such big rooms in a house the rooms need more lighting and a lot of the textures are stretched there is a lot of wafer thin walls as well. Your quest is to find two fuses which will allow you to enter the final maze with monsters. To find these you have to explore around the house and several snow mobile areas. The traps that were used were spikes and fire which were trigged under crawl spaces and such basically it was a matter of trial and error with these traps which in the end got a bit tedious and annoying. Riding the snow mobiles was fun and so was the zip line but I'm afraid this home level doesn't have a lot to offer. A few more puzzles traps and better designing would have made it better and more fun to play. There was also a lot of white tigers to avoid around the place and I must admit some of the camera work used in the level was very good! This is a level for a beginner and is very simple and easy to do. If this is the authors first level then I congratulate him in making it as we all have to start somewhere and this level wasn't too bad and it was nice to see the outfit and snowmobile which I used in my level again." - John (22-Aug-2002)
"I really don't know what it was that kept me sticking to this level till the end. The only positive thing to mention is the lighting. You start the level with a snowmobile and after driving through an ice cavern you reach Lara's house. I've never seen such huge and empty rooms in a house. There are lots of paperthin walls and stretched textures spike and firetraps that are not obvious. There are 4 secrets to find but you needn't search them but rather stumble into them. Your opponents are a dozen snow tigers that are easy to kill and at the end 2 hammergods in a huge and terribly confusing maze. It was impossible for me to finish this maze without using dozy because there is no way to avoid those hammergods who take a lot of energy out of Lara. I would recommend this level only to real hard core fans." - Sheevah (21-Aug-2002)
"This was a first level by Zip and an awesome start it is! Everyone remember's their first level it wasn't too amazing no puzzles too many enemies this one was much better than some other 'first levels' I've played. The snowmobile was fun and though Lara's house was a bit big it was well done I liked the outside area with the pond :) the fish tank was pretty cool. I would have liked it if the butler had shown up but maybe Zip didn't have the butler object (I have it if you want it :D) some of the snowmobile parts were a bit pointless just to kill the tigers but some of the jumps were really cool and the long zip line area took a lot of work I can tell :D There wasn't much to speak of for puzzles sort of guessing where the door you opened is and killing some tigers. However I liked the crawling death area it was pretty cool :D There were lots of tigers and nothing else but the tigers were plenty there were way too many of them...the atmosphere in the blue caves was small in some parts then it got big and the 20-click limit came into play... also in the house.. The wafer thin walls can be easily forgotten in a first level sometimes these just can't be avoided. The secrets were easy I think I got them all :o) the texturing sometimes it was stretched but that's no big deal it didn't always look like it. :) The texturing was pretty good and I noticed some custom textures in there as well :) overall not a bad level and I do hope Zip improves off of his weaknesses :) Play it if you don't mind a few bugs but you like house levels :)" - Chronicles5 (21-Aug-2002)
"One of the very few levels that I didn't finish cause right near the end (I suppose it's the end as it has only 44 rooms and I reckon I've been in 43 of them) you enter the ice maze where you are chased by two hammer gods and constantly run into booby traps. I consider this as an affront to the player and what little gameplay there is was ruined completely here. Mind you I've run into 20 booby traps before. You get four snowmobiles that serve no purpose than to run over the white tigers thus rendering the easy to find secrets completely useless. In between you ride/run through monotonously textured rooms and corridors with a mansion kind of building thrown in for good measure. Therein you find some nice objects and I liked the fish tank but that can't disguise the fact that there isn't much to do there apart from pushing two levers. I'm not sure what the monkey bars and ropes were for and to be perfectly hones I don't care. There is one jump sequence but even that seems to be put together rather listlessly. There is so much that annoyed me here that I almost didn't notice the wafer thin walls and the lack of atmosphere. I would stay clear of it but if you're into masochism you might find the final part enjoyable." - Dimpfelmoser (20-Aug-2002)