Reviewer's comments |
"I usually enjoy Rome levels and I'll admit
that I liked the overall look of this one,
but this level seemed underwhelming in
comparison to most out there. The
texturing of the hotel is fine to begin
with but becomes dull towards the end, the
sound of the continuous bells were rather
annoying and the gameplay isn't that
exciting and requires you to backtrack
quite a bit in order to find the next
respective open door or keyhole. The enemy
attacks somewhat spiced things up though
and I did feel it wasn't wasted time,
although you might need some patience to
get through this one." - Ryan (24-Mar-2018) |
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"Very easy to play this short level with certain backtracking. Simple tasks with moveable blocks, a couple of keys and a card to find, some dogs and bad guys to shoot and some dangerous jumps in the train station. Enough ammo for the shotgun, good use of the cameras, I think there's a problem in the station area with the background music. The environments have a good appearance. Not a great level but enjoyable anyway." - Jose (13-Sep-2016) |
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"This early level has some good ideas behind it, but the feeling of ordinariness was predominant as I made my way through it. For some reason it took forever for the cut scenes to kick in, and I probably would have missed something important if I hadn't been following Yoav's walkthrough. There's a locked door you encounter early in the level that remains locked, much as if the builder intended this as a demo release. You get to see areas through fences right away that you won't access until much later in the game, but the downside is that you have to backtrack to the opening areas to finish the level. Several of the enemies carry vital pickups, so it's necessary to kill everyone and everything in sight. However, you're provided ample armament for this purpose. I can't help feeling that with a little more effort and testing this 40-minute level could have been made much more satisfying. As it is, however, it's certainly worth the download." - Phil (12-Apr-2016) |
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"There's plenty here to enjoy: the Subway station; the pleasant courtyards; the Garden with the tall structure to climb; the genteel Hotel. None of it is particularly taxing but nor is it especially interesting either. You pick up a few keys kill a few heavies and run around a lot. The textures are interesting (although the Hotel could have done with a change of wallpaper) but become very stretched towards the end; a sure sign that the builder is losing patience with the whole endeavour. As indeed was apparently the case as this is Part One of a series that never materialised. As is the case with episodic levels taken out of context (unavoidably in this instance) this lacks a cohesive flow and purpose to it and ends abruptly at an arbitrary moment. Worth a look though; just be sure you turn down the volume or the bells will drive you mad." - Orbit Dream (27-May-2004) |
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"Trouble? The readme doesn't provide much information as of the story and settings of the level but if you do watch the provided Title file you'll understand that some underground organization has attacked Lara's House. Then when you start the game you'll be thrown back to the desktop - bravo. I found that using the original Title file worked pretty fine. The level itself is not really exciting although the ambience made me feel a little paranoid (and I loved that!) - but on the other hand the background sounds were very annoying. When you were outside there was that god damned bell that would never stop and when you were inside the hotel rooms there was that god damned piano music that would loop forever. They weren't actually bad but after ten minutes it gets annoying. Good thing is that you will keep changing between them and other ones including the Atlantis one from TR1. Gameplay is around finding keys and cards to proceed and the subway bit was a little hard. Scripting wasn't complete either - a key entitled 'Colosseum Key' would lead you to the Subway! The others were just called Load. Really a shame the project was cancelled because there is potential here - this level was definatly way better than the others I've played from this author (ie - Return For The Amulet)." - Treeble (23-May-2004) |
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"Nice level in Roma - when I played it I was feeling like in the city. Good atmosphere thug attack from TR2 excellent level." - Yoav (15-Dec-2003) |
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"Although this level is somehow down rated I had fun in it and it's certainly one you should look at. The player has to explore a nice city at night with Roman textures. In your quest for keys and a card dogs rats and bad guys will stand in your way. It's short but the atmosphere is nice with an underground area that looks like a train station a high up bridge. It took me a while though to figure that I was supposed to jump from side to side in that station in order to proceed and not try to make the middle stop burning. I will agree with someone that mention the bell sound it was rather annoying. It looks more like a demo or a level that will be continued than a whole game. The moving blocks weren't anything difficult and I liked the hotel. Do play it it's worth it." - Kristina (01-Jul-2003) |
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"At the start visit the Hotel and get the pickups and off you go. Shoot dogs and SAS on the way and solve some fairly easy block problems. That @##@%%** bell will drive you nuts as well. The end is rather sudden and unexpected with obvious areas not yet visited leaving you somewhat let down as the level is starting to get more interesting. The graphics at time is thin and "solids" you can walk through. A reasonable atmosphere though is created with good variations in lighting and camera angles." - Whistle (17-Jun-2003) |
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"The first level in a never to be completed series this really didn't stand up as what I would call a must play because the level just ended too abruptly with the feel that things were not totally finished. The aim is to find a couple of keys and a card while battling some gun slinging thugs and a handful of dogs. The look is fairly nice with a hotel subway and a couple of courtyard areas to play in but sometimes it felt a little empty. For me this 40 minute level wasn't really to my liking and the download size is just ridiculous (get rid of the title and accompanying Bon Jovi song to cut it down) but it is an easy laid back adventure if you are a bit tired of all the tougher epics that have come out of late." - Sash (18-May-2003) |
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"A fun little level 45 minutes of gameplay. Set in Rome (of course!) Lara has to find her way through. She comes to a hotel a subway station storage rooms and she runs the streets of Rome. Finding keys and a key card shooting baddies and dogs. A lot of custom sound which I like - how it approves the atmosphere. A very good title flyby but you have to put the original back in otherwise the game won't load." - G.Croft (06-May-2003) |
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"Starting with a custom title flyby that shows interesting camera angles of the mansion which apparently has been under fire the level actually takes place in Rome. The city streets are nicely detailed and it's fun to explore the many areas like the hotel and the subway system that's under construction. With a few keys to collect and some pushable blocks plus a few baddies here and there the only objective seems to be opening the door at the top of some steps which I assume leads into the building but unfortunately the level ends there. The highlight of this level for me was definitely exploring the many nooks and crannies of this great looking city (with the crickets chirping and the churchbells in the background) and I spent at least an hour doing that I only wish there had been more to do and hope the author makes another one. Secrets found: 2" - RaiderGirl (20-Apr-2003) |
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"Action takes place in a small city at night. That doesn't mean that it is a dark level. Finding keys and a card and pushing some buttons. There are some pushable blocks and of course some goons to stop Lara of finding out too much. Also some nasty dogs and some scurrying rats. All in all a rather straightforward level and I liked the look of the city the hotel and even a visit to the underground. Some textures are missing and the sound of those bells got on my nerves in the end. Found 2 secrets that counted but had 3 chimes. 19-04-2003" - Gerty (20-Apr-2003) |
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"This level didn't do it for me I'm very sorry to say. I feel that with more work it would be a brilliant level but as it is there were too many strange things (for me anyway). The textures and lighting are not great textures being very plain stretched blacked out or missing. Right at the start I couldn't use the wavs supplied I got a message 'wavs cannot be replaced by an alias with same name' so I had to copy and rename existing wavs. I found two uzis in the hotel that had the most peculiar rooms. And one room with the moving block at the fireplace what was the purpose of the block up the ladder? I pulled the switch and climbed up to the secret on the roof but couldn't figure out that block. In the basement I saw a row of tyres which made me think was I supposed to see vehicles here? Goons appear from nowhere and shoot at you through floors/walls! The Subway area was ok one graffiti slogan was 'BZ was here' nice touch BZ. Very peculiar block puzzle here which only had shotgun ammo. I really started to question my raiding skills either I missed loads of things or the level just didn't have them to start with. There was a gate with an obvious lock that needed a key which I didn't find. There seemed to be no theme at all just find keys and push buttons and do a few block pushing puzzles. I read that there are supposed to be bells ringing throughout the level now that would have sent me over the edge altogether." - CC (20-Apr-2003) |
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"There wasn't any really - trouble that is. Everything was very straightforward and frankly not all that exciting. I love Rome it's one of my favourite settings and I was quite happy to run around in pleasant surroundings but I would have liked a bit more stimulation. Ah well perhaps I was due for a relaxing holiday after playing Mysterious Underground. About an hour of gameplay (including the sightseeing) in a quite nicely put together setting a few thugs and dogs for enemies and not much to do apart from finding a couple of keys and a passcard. The audio files were good although that church bell became a bit irritating after a while but I did think the hotel looked a bit down market for such a nice area. I'm not sure I would want to stay there! If you like Rome you might want to visit." - Jay (20-Apr-2003) |
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"It kind of shows that this was intended to be the first level of a series that apparently the author is not planning to continue to work on. Overall a rather solid setting with the texturing and lighting clearly above average some rather straightforward and not to taxing gameplay of about 40 minutes that has you explore a Hotel with a few rooms kill a few baddies and dogs and roam around in a subway area for two keys and one card. A few movable blocks spice things up a little bit and one door with a lock never opened for me. There is a collision error and an occasional missing texture but the most annoying thing was the perpetual bell tower sound outside. It got on my nerves so much I had to turn the sound off." - Michael (19-Apr-2003) |
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