Level Review: "Tomb Raider: LittleBigTemple" by marcocatena

"Tomb Raider: LittleBigTemple"

I found this level while surfing Youtube's Little Big Planet channel. I was drawn to the level because it looked like a level created by a Media Molecule designer. The clip on Youtube was edited, so I was skeptical how the overall level design would be like. Here is the video posted on Youtube:

So I proceeded to search for marcocatena's creation in the LBP Community. To my surprise, he is a veteran level designer with several published levels already (others levels will be reviewed in the future).

"Tomb Raider: LittleBigTemple" successfully recreates the Tomb Raider game/movie environment in the Little Big Planet style. The design of the level is well thought out, and the use of materials are thematically coherent. The level's horizontal and vertical linear progression is very easy to follow. No messy multi-path maze. The level had a finished look right from the start. The quality of the way things are put together is superb. No jagged edges on the objects or visible patch work. I was able to immerse into the experience immediately. The use of different camera angles was also important in presenting the environment to the player.

The player enters the game over a small waterfall and river creek. As you proceed further you will encounter a waterfall as the backdrop over a broken stone bridge. Marcocatena's use of glass elements to depict calm flowing water is simply ingenious (slow moving plane of rippled glass combined with water sound and gas elements makes for a perfect combination in this case).

The design of the ruin is very well conceived, using predominantly the stone palette, you really can't sense how vast this temple ruin is until you actually experience it. The linear progression is not only horizontal, but it takes advantage of the vertical planes as well. The same scenic element at a lower levels of the game, is used to create additional obstacles on the upper planes (i.e. columns that you might be walking pass by in the lower level, becomes island steps that you will have to skip on when you get to the higher ground).

Booby traps makes this game very enjoyable. They are strategically sprinkled through out the level. Some are in plain sight and obvious, others are hidden, but all of them gives the player just enough time to think and get out of trouble. Wobbling columns that shifts when you step on it, rolling fire giant balls and logs, disappearing steps, walls that closes in on you. [spoiler alert] A very memorable scene in the game is near the end when you fall into a chamber with spikes on the side walls with no apparent way out. Suddenly, the walls start to slowly close in on you (I particularly appreciated the 1/2 a second pause after you dropped into the chamber before the walls started to move, a very cinematic approach). Remind you, at this stage of the game, you've already survived numerous booby traps along the way, so instinctively you are prepared for the worst. You see in the background a proximity switch (a regular LBP gamer will know that the switch is there for a reason), so you are desperately jumping up and down trying to activate the switch hoping to stop the advancing spiked walls. Just when doom is eminent, a trap door on the floor opens and you fall into a sacrificial chamber below. Only if LBP had more dramatic music score for situations like this...

There were some clitches that I found:

1. Near the entrance of the temple where you encounter the first fire log rolling obstacle, there is a section of the floor that changes material creating a joint line on the floor. That joint line created a bit of a log jam if you accidentally stumble over a fire log at the right location, the pile up makes it impossible to jump over and you will be forced to restart the level.

2. The spiked wall chamber, once you drop into the sacrificial chamber below, if you do not have the D-pad control all the way to the right, you will find yourself on the left side of the sacrificial table after your fall. Unfortunately, the table is "just" tall enough that you will not be able to jump over it which will force you to commit hari-kiri and restart from the previous check point.

I recommend everyone to give this level a try and not get discouraged by the level of difficulty in getting pass certain stages. After all, nothing in Tomb Raider is ever easy right?

I rate this level as follow:

Overall Impression: A

Replay Value: B+

Story Line: B

Craftsmanship: A

Prizes and Gifts: B