Tomb Raider Custom Levels

[Blín D'ñero]

Finished. Superb.
Open ending: Lara goes to Melanesia(?).
It says Crystal Skulls Part 1. Looking out for the next episodes then: parts 2 to 10, Matie and Tombraider95!

TR engine overhaul? This version is proof it can be done right, this doesn't suffer most bugs which really is an improvement.

I wished this game were much longer.
I rate this 10 / 10.

[Blín D'ñero]

Alcatraz by Mugs.
Shark blocking the way in the very first section of the very first level. A gamestopping bug right in the beginning.
Swimming with head above water goes right through all solid metal pipes, but when swimming underwater those pipes are a blockade.

Oops it is the other (earlier) overhauled engine with that rediculous Lara behaviour: from a grab/hang position pulling up, she catapults like a rubber ball.
Mugs cannot help it- the guys that changed the engine are responsible. How is it possible no-one held them back?!

Back to this game.
In the garage. There is a big carton box on the grating. Standing under the grating looking up, it is gone. At the box, Lara makes the push/pull reflex but it is not a pushable at all.
This game in its details, is put together too sloppy, or clumsy.

Lara can pull up through a solid metal railing but she cannot jump through that same railing (so from one side it is penetrable, from the other it isn't).
Doors that open through solid stone balustrades.

There's an uncountable amount of sloppy things, like metal grating opening right through solid boxes. Manhole cover Lara moves right through as if it were a gas. Due to the location of the ladder, she ends up on this sde on the pipe. How to get through to the other side would normally be a complete tomb raider challenge. Not according to this builder apparently. Lara gets to the other side by just walking through the solid metal cover.

Some of the puzzle challenges are quite good on their own; it is the whole that is very weak here. I have seen better from Mugs.
6 / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

The Skull of Dunelie by Will Gell

It looks good, but the game as challenge is a little too easy. Much too easy. From the readme it seems builder cares more about the music he composed.
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Bug: entering the second smaller building to pass through can result in Lara trapped, and outside Map view.

The three knights at the end only come to halfway the stairs, so they're even easier to kill than the knights in this game already were.

I rate this 6 / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

I downloaded and started Back to Basics, the first series, 2005 Back to Basics Catacombs.
01 Another Catacomb
02 Catacombs of Tisaria
03 Desert Ruins and the Serpent Tower
04 Dwellers of the Abyss
05 High and Low
06 Laguna
07 Lara of Persia
08 Mourning Palace
09 Operation Golden Star
10 Palaces of Pharaoh Hepatitis
11 Pseudo Tomb
12 Quest for the Golden Beetle
13 Rapid Fall
14 Skellycombs
15 The Origins
16 The Red and the Blue
17 The Underground City
18 Through the Shadow of Death
I don't know which builder made which; it doesn't say.
A Bojrkraider / Simen S.
B Cuahiano Small / Nicolas T. Zimmermann
C dhama / Terry Barrett
D eRIC / Eric Claire
E eTux / Elvis Tupcijenko
F GeckoKid / Jackie Wu
G George Maciver
H Harly Wuson
I Horus / Nadine Lannte
J Idealist / Loren Golden
K Marksdad / Ian Smith
L Michael Prager
M Miss Kroft / Monika Pawlus
N staticon / Kevin Learwood
O Storm Chaser / Peter Tedstone
P Tinka / Catherin B. Bendig
Q Debbie Overstreet
R Uvavoo / Richard Szydelko

Starting with the first one, Another Catacomb. Ah, found out, it is by Kevin Learwood.
It is very good! Very well crafted, keeping it simple. Beautiful in its simplicity.

I must say however, i always find it weak when simply picking up an object from a pedestal opens a door somewhere else. But then, this 'magic' is used in so many a custom level....
And the six pointy boulders were missing any sound when rolling down, as well as the doors after placing Pharo's Knot..
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Nevertheless, Another Catacomb by Kevin Learwood is of the freakin highest order, a little masterpiece. If it weren't part of the BtB project i'd say it is too dammed short, so i'm not gonna say that.
I rate it 9 / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

Catacombs of Tisaria by Peter Tedstone.
Hmm. You can get seriously stuck. At the end of the corridor, where the rubble is.
In a dancing loop, or this with Lara's upper body in the rocks.

How did i come there: i was crawling. As a raider, you have to try to access all places. You never know, it might lead to a secret. Then i stood up.
No way out except reload savegame.
To then discover that you can just walk around the rubble, if you take the other route!
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Pointless (mis)use of the fixed camera is what i dislike.
It all seems a bit random in this game, i hope i'm wrong.
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Another pointy boulder with no sound. I guess the whole BtB project is missing that sound.
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This level isn't bad.
I rate it 5½ / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

Desert Ruins and the Serpent Tower by GeckoKid / Jackie Wu.
A pointlessly fixed camera right at the start, and then another one, yuck.
But this game looks good, especially the tall building interior!
In the room with the burner-blocks in the water, i chose the way (the opposite direction of course) that the skeleton had traveled running towards me, and that proved to be a fire-free route!
Then just for fun tried another block and whoops instantly burnt myself!
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Nice and all, shimmying along a crack in the wall, and around the corner, but in this part of the shimmying Lara is hanging from anything but a crack!

...and a few meters further to the right, the invisible "crack" suddenly like magic goes upwards diagonally over the decoration! There IS no crack at all, on that side! Weeaaak.
Oh and when you reach the ladder and go up, then down again, you can't get Lara to grab the invisible crack again, proof that there IS'nt any. A true crack would work both directions not just one.

Nevertheless for the most part this game is a great pleasure to play i must say.
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Yes, very good! 9 minus invisible crack = 8½ / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

Dwellers of the Abyss by Debbie Overstreet.
And another one suffering the fixed camera "desease" right after the beginning... ! While you are chased by a cold ghost, and it kills you within a few moments unless you figure out how to prevent that... meaning: you will die dozens of times before you figure that out while the only way you can view your world, your surroundings is from a very great distance, in bird's view!
I'll skip this one.
I believe i quickly stopped playing another level from this person before.
0 / 10

[Blín D'ñero]

High and Low by Michael Prager
starts underwater, with an easily located "secret" (but seems essential to have, contains a trident), that is however nearly impossibile to get because of the buggy tomb raider engine underwater that keeps blocking Lara to proceed at almost every angled positioned texture [ RUUUBBish! ] Which means during trying to manipulate Lara through that tiny triangular opening you keep drowning. I got the secret once, then died. This gamestart is ruined by an engine-bug, so keeping it in was so extremely silly, i quit.
0 / 10

Next.

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Laguna by Nicolas T. Zimmermann
Sigh. This one sofar doesn't even have the tiniest attraction to play. It looks totally boring. I need a pause. Maybe i'll skip this one too.
I continued for a little while but then i definitely stopped.
0 / 10

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Next one!
Lara of Persia by Bojrkraider
Ohh seems just as bad... starts with spiketraps all around and white ghosts chasing Lara. Totally unbalanced product.
I then retried for a little while but then i definitely stopped also this one. I cannot find my way into a new level at the start when constantly being chased by two annoying deadly white ghosts.
0 / 10
Next!

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Mourning Palace by Horus / Nadine Lannte
Finally. Seems a good one.
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No. i HATE it. Overly complicated. Not a single moment is it a joy to play. I don't know why. I stopped at the timed-jump-sequence over pillars and a monkey swing, too frustrating while i don't even like the game in the first place!
I rate this 4 / 10
Next!

[Blín D'ñero]

Operation Golden Star by Catherin B. Bendig (Tinka)
starts with a two minutes monkeyswing (why?!) around one of the most boring rooms i have ever seen. Sigh.
And a few narrow triangular openings where you spend a lot of time trying to manipulate Lara through her buggy problem with narrow triangular shapes. To get a Token, in was relatively easy, out took about two minutes.
And another 5 minutes searching around the whole place for something, anything, then i felt that i'm done here.
0 / 10
Next!

Palaces of Pharaoh Hepatitis by Uvavoo / Richard Szydelko.
And another one (what's wrong with these people?!). You are chased by a bunch of lethal ghosts before you have any idea how to get to the nearest cross-statue. Luckily i found it before losing my temper completely.
After a while in another room: while under attack by 3 skelotons i push one lever and then another and then run and jump ontop of a block for safety. Yet STILL: a pointy boulder comes rolling and stops against the block i am standing on. Result: that kills Lara. Later, Lara can climb a rope (in the corner) but she cannot back-jump off of it.
I've had enough.
I so want to play another GOOD game! Where are they in this set?!
2 / 10

Next!

[Blín D'ñero]

Pseudo Tomb by eTux / Elvis Tupcijenko .
Oh how genious, and what a surprise! A pointy boulder "hidden" right ontop of that push tile with a face on it. That is: i think it will become a push tile later, because at the moment nothing happens when i touch it. Why doesn't that pointy boulder come down yet? Thanks, i'll remember it for later. Relaunched the game and this time, the push tile worked. Hmm kay.
Then, a narrow (triangular) opening to the grenade launcher. Why?! Trying to manipulate Lara through that hole is again a torture.
I've had enough, again.
0 / 10

Next!