Level reviews

"I ended up taking a whole week away from TRLE due to personal matters and the next pending level on my 2003 list, after Sheevah's, was this one. Much like Phil, I found it intriguing that people state this is a rather long journey all the while the walkthrough is very compact. Once the game boots, I understood why, as usual with this builder the levels are massive and there'll definitely be a lot of aimless running around if you don't stick to the walkthrough. I liked the use of fog and mirror effects along the way, and while this is a shooter down to its very core, I thought it was an enjoyable raid. Of course, Dutchy's walkthrough prevented me from unnecessary misery and at some point early on I feared I'd run out of medipacks, but otherwise it was good mindless fun. 45 minutes, 5 secrets. 11/21" - Treeble

"The amount of aesthetic work that must have gone into constructing this hotel must have been impressive as there are some sights worth a look at (the main hall and the disco room in particular) and the added sounds are a big part of aiding the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the gameplay is rather secondary and even very tedious at times, with countless guards to shoot, useless rooms to explore that don't have any bearing gameplay-wise and a dearth of camera clues, although I liked some of the flybys. Not really a rest, more of a red alert." - Ryan

"The rest? What a rest! Even when many rooms could be copied with the "copy room" button, I have to recognize the enormous effort to build, texture and light all this huge hotel with several floors and hundreds of corridors and rooms. I take my hat. On the other hand, and even when it's a pure shooter level with hundreds of SASs to kill, the gameplay was quite bad for me, running kilometers and kilometers with nothing to do except shoot a lot of enemies, pick up ammo and medipacks, visit dozens of empty rooms and pull some buttons and switches. Evenmore sometimes there's not a camera to see what you're triggering in a very distant place. Conclusion: my advice is to start the game, save in the first slot, download and launch a savegame editor, add the revover with some hundreds of bullets and also some dozens of flares, save, load that modified savegame and start to play following carefully the excellent Dutchy's walkthrough. All this if you don't want to waste your time running around and around like a dizzy duck 5 or 10 hours, of course." - Jose

"Excellent ideea in creating a set so realistic! The action goes up and down the stairs searching every room and every dark corner of this huge hotel. The interior decorations indicate it is a very luxurious hotel(tipically for LARA- I didn't expect less from her :) and the images offered by the fly-by cameras are great. too many enemies for my tastes and a very difficult ending. i liked the music in the bar :)" - dya1403

"I enjoyed this level as a refreshing change of pace. It provides some of the modern day trappings seen in parts of TR2 and TR Chronicles and thus brought back some fond memories. When I read some of the reviews which spoke of gameplay times of as much as two hours and when I saw Dutchy's walkthrough of only two and a half pages I thought that perhaps I was missing something. However Dutchy has given us a 'just the facts ma'm' walkthrough which directs us only to the essential parts of the level and omits all those rooms with no pickups. Because of that I was able to finish in about half the expected time which suited me fine. There's a lot of action here with plenty of SAS to kill but the puzzles are well thought out too. I especially enjoyed a new trick I had never employed before diving into secret places by use of the shift key. The download is quite large for a level that takes less than an hour to play (if you resort to the walkthrough) but it's well worth it. Recommended." - Phil

"The Hotel (5/7/7/8 30+20 min. 2 secrets death toll: 25 SAS): Starting from a nice flyby showing you the streets and the hotel you will be raiding through this part is a showcase of tedious gameplay and I really hated it. Loads of ever the same looking and completely empty rooms - very boring and very exhausting to open all the doors only to find mostly - nothing at all. First time around you can find a key and a disc later a fuse and a card. Remarkable is the disco club (well done) and the shooting range was kind of fun and the secrets were also worth to look out for. The Hall (6/7/9/8 20 min. 3 secrets death toll: 24 SAS): Ok this is quite a reward after the tedium of the hotel itself here you get a brilliant reception hall to roam around in finding the crucial universal door key and three neat secrets. The pool area was also fun. Kitchen/Larder/Garage (7/7/8/8 35 min. deatk toll: 34 SAS 3 cooks): You enter this part from various places and these areas have most of the typical gameplay with back and forth running from switch to switch finding another disc via turning of the light and fire in the kitchen and eventually entering the garage for the big final shoot out before you sprint to the exit. All in all this is an ambitious project and succeeds well in creating quite a realistic environment with nice little touches but I found it a pain to play. Decide for yourself but bring along some patience." - Michael

"Rest? Well maybe after killing that army of baddys but certainly not while playing. You start in a hotelroom on the topfloor I think in the somewhat luxurious part of the hotel. The rooms look the same but the furnishing is different in some rooms very nice. There's also a bathroom in every room. After exploring that floor you can go down to the more common rooms to find the conferenceroom key but you have to find a masterkey first they are all locked. The kitchen and the basement are to be searched too. The hall well the hall is magnificent I could just see myself in an evening dress coming down the big stairs for a night on the opera or something. To bad those triggerhappy guys spoilt the fun. The swimmingpool is great too I enjoyed the swim (not in evening dress ofcourse). I really liked this level except for the garage way to much baddy's there. I found two secrets there are five." - Josi

"Don't let the name of this level fool you this is nothing like a rest... The hotel where Lara stays has been overtaken by terrorists a huge group of terrorists and Lara has to find the way out to escape. This turns out to be a real shoot out level as many of the times you encounter the enemies they come in crowds. The hotel is really well built with many rooms lounges and of course the main entrance with the reception. Lara gets to visit all of the above and the kitchen and the storage room as well as the pool room and the kazillions of toilets. Finally she finds the garage and the way out." - G.Croft

"Apart from the slaughter you get at the end I had a good time in this hotel. Although there was a lot of running to do it wasn't that difficult as long as you keep notes where is what. Finding some keys cards and a disk and traveling from top to bottom so you finally end up in the garage. Picking up the first key in front of a sofa was a bit hard. But if you use your crouch key Lara will pick it up. Didn't find all the secrets but the 3 I found were nicely hidden. I even didn't mind opening every hotel room the majority is empty but you have to look in every one of the rooms as there is a fuse you need to find. The lobby was great to see and I would have liked a stroll through the streets though. 30-06-2003" - Gerty

"This is a fantastic level. You start 'The Rest in the Hotel' and a flyby camera shows you the environment and the hotel itself. That's the first time you can notice how much work that level must have been. With every step in the hotel I got more and more impressed especially by the architecture textures and lighting as well as the atmosphere great objects and sounds. There are so many details that you feel you're really staying in that hotel. (You can admire rooms like the lobby nightclub pool room kitchen piano room storerooms .... and many more which are very realistic.) Lara has a lot to explore. She has to find discs levers and keys opening many rooms which are all alike. Sometimes it's a bit confusing but that's the way it is in hotels. Lara is also quite busy shooting baddies. But as you have enough medkits and ammo that's no problem. And at the end you can get rid of almost all the ammo you found on your way as there are even more terrorists in the parking garage. When you exit the level there's a flyby which is a real nice ending. You get the impression Lara can choose between going to the airport or downtown. The secrets are very well hidden. I only found two secrets and it took me several hours to play. Just give it a try!" - Tinka

"The players will see just what the title says a huge hotel with many rooms. It's not easy to go around and explore as there are many doors to open keys to find disks and in the mean time SAS guards after Lara. The chandeliers and all the details in the main hall are very good and the plants with goodies on them or essential items such as a security pass card are well placed. I have to say though that many times I got lost especially with that disk in the kitchen which is a red herring that had me going for quite some time. Also someone might get confused with all that jumping from one level to another searching items and proceed. I found all that room searching in different floors a bit tedious just to find an item and not even some ammo or guns. The end comes in a garage with vehicles sentry guns on the ceiling and even more SAS guards. The custom sounds were great but the download for us poor 56k modem user almost impossible to handle. Giving people a choice and creating a level with the usual sounds but offering an extra audio download is the best solution and I hope builders will start considering this if they don't want to exclude many players from playing their levels. All together a nice adventure." - Kristina

"I knew from the opening flyby that this was going to be a level that I would enjoy every minute of and I did - over 130 minutes by the time I reached the end and was on my way to the airport. Your exploring a huge hotel with the expensive penthouse rooms on the top floor less expensive rooms (though still nice) on the next few floors a huge grand lobby on the first floor complete with check in desk plus small movie theaters a conference room a disco the pool sitting areas and lounges etc the kitchen and dining room bathrooms etc and finally storage rooms engine rooms and a huge parking garage in the basement. I love exploring huge buildings like this especially when they're as realistic looking as this with complete rooms and nothing out of place like spike traps in the bathrooms boulders in the basement or machine guns in the lobby. There are a few keys to find plus two disks and there are no guests in this hotel but there are lots and lots of soldiers so keep your gun handy at all times. The lobby was definitely my favorite area with the huge aquarium pools and fountains statues chandeliers balconies paintings huge staircases and lots of other great things to look at but I think Piotr did a wonderful job building the whole thing. Gameplay is usually fluid though I had a hard time finding a disk on a table because I couldn't see it and I would never have known there were doors to push in by the check in desk without reading the forum. I was sad to see this one end though I'm sure there are people that won't find this as much to their liking. I only found four secrets but will definitely play again to find the last one. Thanks for a great time Piotr!" - RaiderGirl

"A nice level with some lovely rooms especially the main lobby area. Huge amounts of guards though which in the right place were quite a challenge such as the attack in the lobby liked that alot but in other areas not so I found the constant showing up of guards at every move a little tiresome and got to the point where it was so expected I had my guns to the ready before they'd even shown up. That's the only enemies to encounter however! I also found the use of the key on several rooms which were empty most irritating and spent a good fifteen minutes opening doors with a key then opening a small door to the loo in each room only to find nothing in them only one room out of twelve I think it was held a much needed item! Only those two small moans and groans however and the rest of the level and game play was brilliantly done and great fun. Some secrets to find with a shoot out at the end with a rather hard sprint past two guns or get torched I never managed it and Lara left the level in flames but she still gets to escape. Some well hidden doors that look like walls had me running about for ages and items hidden on tables also had me stumped for a while. Find the disks keys and fuse to open doors and some levers too. All in all a great level with impressive decore hotel was beautiful and the windows onto the street outside looked wonderful. Sound was good and the Madonna track in the club house was a real thumbs up job. Great level and a must to play!" - Moonpooka

"The flyby scans a city and comes up the side of a building showing rooms through windows and eventually into Lara's hotel room. I ran out onto the balcony as you would do if you had a balcony in a hotel room the Hotel Prima Warsaw Poland (see I read the readme!). Had a quick look at the city before turning to deal with two guards shooting at Lara. Now the searching starts room after room after room almost all the same which is not surprising as that is how it is in a real hotel. She comes across a target range and I hadn't a lasersight but I was able eventually to shoot the lot anyway. On into a groovy nightclub where the punters had drank too much wine and left their CD on the table. This was great. You move between three different levels but it's in the same hotel and one level The Hall is absolutely stunning where you get to do some clever chandelier hopping for a secret. It's quite clear the work that has gone into this level it's gorgeous and very realistic. I can see a lot of players becoming frustrated opening numerous doors to find little or nothing except an army of SAS (32 alone in the carpark). There is a lot of looking and searching for keys discs fuse etc. to open up this enormous hotel I found two revolvers and that's all regarding gameplay. Going from one level to the other is just a matter of running down a corridor. Piotr himself said that this level hopping actually helps you because you get a full health bar each time. Other enemies are the crazy cooks chasing after you with dangerous looking knives. The run past the guns in the realistic underground carpark was a nightmare and unfortunately that's the end. What a pity I wanted to go have a run around the streets." - CC

"Don't let the title fool you! There will be no rest for Lara in this Hotel! My first thoughts with the initial flyby were that the author spent a great amount of time making sure that this level appeared huge. Not only does it appear huge but also it is huge. Lara has many rooms to explore in this three-story hotel. You might find a surprise or not. Bad guys might blast you or not. As Lara explores she finds the various keys to gain her entry to the other parts of this enormous level. A nice surprise and great addition was the smoky club with Madonna playing. The lobby area with the back swimming pool rooms was very nice to look at. The detail was well done (yet sometimes thin). All in all this was an ok level. It was fun to explore a new set of rooms instead of the tired 'tomb areas' and I know the author spent forever building it but I spent the majority of my hour and a half of game play just running from room to room and floor to floor. And to me that just gets tedious. The last area to explore is the garage. Once you enter it the cut scene shows you the multitudes of bad guys coming to get you but doesn't show the way out. I followed the perimeter and eventually found the exit." - Wendee

"I have to say this level impressed me a lot because it is not what I was used to from this builder. Praise for the way the Hotel was designed with so much care - the whole architecture of the level was just superb. Lara needs to find keys CDs Chip cards all over the three levels. A lot of running around a few puzzles to solve and many SAS to kill but all manageable with pistols. Only at the end you need heavier armory (Uzi shotgun revolver) as the action rises so save it at the beginning ;). Sound was excellent especially in the bar. Not many cameras but Lara can find her way. More a matter of marveling at architecture and graphics. Lara also found four well hidden secrets - watch out for the one right at the start. The end was the toughest part: Lara needs to avoid two sentry guns. Then the final sequence comes up. It was not easy but a nice action-level. So it is a matter of taste but if you like action you should play it. Recommended." - Navi

"I like those levels that play in one certain setting. This hotel was a great idea and boy what a huge one. It starts off in a weird atmosphere all rooms being empty most of them staying closed until you find that first key. You quietly open one door scared of suddenly hell breaking lose...but unfortunately that only happens once you reach the garage. And that's a bit disappointing. Beyond the search for disks keys levers and what not the whole atmosphere/gameplay thing is lacking after a while because of the many hotel chambers to explore going up a bit when you reach the darker lower levels and giving it a more spooky look. However the building of this hotel must have taken a lot of time especially the wonderful hall big staircases small gathering rooms (bar with a vogueing Madonna conference room TV-rooms) so very well done Piotr! As far as the secrets are concerned I only found two but every time I went into one of those secret rooms again accidentally it kept registering the same secret so the counter said 8 after a while (while there seem to be only 5). Anyway if this were a real hotel I would not hesitate to book room. Do check this level." - bERT

"Now this is one of the most complicated custom TR levels I've ever had the pleasure of playing... I think I'm going to have some difficulty in putting my feelings about it into numbers... It's a huge hotel and full of rooms and bathrooms and places with laundry hanging where there's absolutely nothing to do. That doesn't mean there isn't action - there is plenty for this must have been the greatest SAS get together ever! It can become a little frustrating and I'm not sure I would already have finished if I hadn't had a little help from the forums. There were several things that left me hanging too even though I arrived (not in one piece) at the end of the game... Before the main hall there are chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I spent some time doing some jumping there - was I supposed to do anything with those? There's also a door before we enter the stairway down to the garage that remained closed at least for me. And as Lara gets back to the room with disco music she always turns to look at the wall by the entrance - I couldn't find out why even though I really tried. So I arrived at the ending with my Lara in flames (I certainly hope there was a pool right afterwards) - what a way to go! The ending now that I come to think of it reminded me of the garage scene in Max Payne - but one can't build Max Paynes out of the Tomb Raider level editor... The textures had several flaws too and I wish the author had left some more flares for the darker places... Secrets: I only found one in the toilets. Anyway I'm not going to go back and search for more the vast emptiness and the world SAS convention must have somehow traumatized me. And after reading all this you must believe I'm going to rate this level very low. Don't even think so. I also admire all the work that was put into it - I believe the author probably doesn't know yet how to use all the level editor's potential and so he used what he knew to the maximum extent. And he used it well in spite of everything that has been said and which is true nevertheless. Maybe it's even more realistic not to find some ammo here and some med-packs there everywhere in a kazillion places and we're just not to used to that way of building. It takes in fact a lot of patience from the player but it doesn't seem a case of inefficience I'd say more a case of the author's TR building philosophy - and well that should be respected. Therefore as I come to the end of my speech what I have to ask myself is: have I enjoyed the level in spite of all I've said? And I have to clearly say I have. It is an interesting level - and different no doubt about it. Therefore I hope the author will learn more level editor techniques on one hand and I also hope he'll offer us something more down to earth the next time. But if he won't I believe I'll still play the next game. With all the confusion that a level as different (not in surreal surroundings or weird puzzles or anything like that) as this brings about I confess the time wasn't at all wasted." - Jorge22

"This hotel is ENORMOUS, honestly you'd need a map to find your room. It's not much of a rest either, having to explore countless rooms, shoot loads of guards and find very little to pick up. All the searching does seem rather tedious initially, but some of the rooms are well worth a look at, particularly the disco complete with Madonna track, and once you start to make progress things do become a little more interesting. I liked the homicidal chef who attacked with a kitchen knife as I was going into the larder. Prepare to be dazzled by the magnificence of the foyer. Obviously, this is a very superior establishment and the trappings are sumptuous. Such a feast for the eye in fact that you may not immediately register that you are being shot at by practically a whole platoon of guards. I must say I thought it somewhat unfair to be shot at during a flyby when I was unable to defend myself, but it was such a spectacular flyby that I shall forgive, just this once! The huge underground car park also deserves a mention as definitely one of the most convincingly realistic settings I've seen. Really all you are doing in this hotel is running around looking for levers and keys in various forms and killing baddies, so the gameplay is a little bland, but the look of the level is such that you won't necessarily notice that you aren't actually doing all that much. Ah, perhaps THAT was the 'rest'. Do try it. 14.06.2003" - Jay

"There was definitely no rest in this hotel! It seems as if Lara has accidentally booked herself into the same hotel that is hosting the annual SAS (Single And Sociopathic) conference so what's a girl to do to get some peace and quite yep you guessed it 'watch out here she comes the home coming queen's got a gun'! The three interconnected levels in this game all combined to give you an all over view of this enormous hotel from the countless rooms to the beautiful and majestic foyer from the kitchen to the pool room from a small nightclub with Madonna's 'Vogue' pumping out endlessly to the dining room all ending in the most authentic and vast car park I have ever seen which holds not one not two but at least 31 SAS to deal with phew! This level always held a certain expectation of what was going to come next but sometimes it didn't pay off and this was no more evident than with all the hotel rooms you have to enter with and without a key to find nothing to very little in them once you leave the hotel rooms though it picks up a little but never reaches a real high level of gameplay. I did love the secrets of which there are five as three have their own rooms a hidden toilet block a hidden pool and a not so hidden mirrored piano room with the other two secrets both needing certain single jumps to reach them. I spent 2 hours playing these levels and probably would have spent many more if Piotr hadn't given me a hint as to the location of a disc hidden in plain view. For the setting alone this is a great set of levels but I would have preferred a little more in terms of gaming." - Sash