Level 1 - Caves

Welcome to Tibet and sorry about the plane but that is how it goes.

As the level starts an eagle will come swooping down to entangle its claws in Lara's hair so get rid of it and then run ahead following the obvious passage till you come to a drop. It is a trap so be careful. Stand at the very edge of this drop and do a standing jump forward and as soon as you land press the END key to flip around - by this time you ought to be able to hear the boulders rolling down towards Lara. As soon as you hear them do a running jump grab to the edge from where you just jumped. Hang there till the rumbling of the boulders is over. Flip back and start running up the path from where the boulders rolled down. Stay close to the left wall and keep running even when you hear some more boulders rolling. Don't worry about this next batch of boulders as you have plenty of time to duck into an alcove in the left wall. Once the boulders have gone past get out and start going up the path once again.

Climb the few obstacles till you are in a sort of tunnel, follow it as it winds to the right and you will come to a very deep pit, DO NOT FALL. If you look dead ahead there will be a funny sort of wall, it has cracks in it, it doesn't match the appearance of the rest of the stuff around you and it looks like it were made out of wafer thin paper (at least that is how it looked to me). Standing at the edge of the pit there will be a small ramp that is higher than the rest of the ground, climb on to this and do a running jump towards the wall and if you take my advise aim as much to the right as you can. The wall will break and Lara will go through it. Unfortunately she lands on a slide leading to another unfathomable pit. You can:

Slide along and jump at the edge to grab the wall on the other side of the pit and keep the CTRL key pressed. Lara will hang on to the wall. Shimmy to the right as much as you can, backflip to land on the slide, immediately hit ALT to jump and steer to your right.
Slide along and jump to grab the opposite wall, back flip, land on the slide. Slide to the edge steering to your right. Jump at the edge to again hang on to the opposite wall. Repeat till you can land on the flat platform on the right side of this room (you might want to practice this because you are going to have to do this a few times more.

After making past this area continue down the tunnel till you come out into the open air again. If you look across the chasm you can see a snowmobile, which is going to be a rather entertaining proposition once you get hold of it. Approach the edge, turn around, hop back and hang on to it then let go to drop. You will slide down, again press the CTRL key to hang on and let go when you are above a stable platform. You will now be close to the opening of another tunnel, enter it. Keep going down this tunnel and be careful of stalactities (in case you don't know what they are, stalactites are those spikes hanging from the ceiling which are formed in cold places as water gets frozen in the act of dripping down :)). The stalactities - like the sand bags from the Opera House level - have a tendency to fall down the moment Lara steps under them. If you take a look at them all stalactities will be three in number and each of a different size, just make sure that you don't run and that you are under the smallest one, Lara will take very little damage but she will also die if a big-un falls across her shoulders.

You will eventually arrive in a room with a shallow pool of water and three sets of stalactities suspended over it. Walk (or wade) through the water and keep running when you are out of it. When you arrive at the edge that looks over some more water go right, jumping along to avoid obstacles. Follow this new passage till you come to a hole in the floor and also a ledge that you can take to go upwards. If you go up will come to a gate with a silver dragon behind it, but you can't get it yet. So go back and take the other hole downwards. After dropping to the floor take the passage immediately infront of you and you will arrive at a ledge overlooking a large pool of water that runs in between two cliffs. Go right and jump to the elevated platform you find there. Go left and at the end turn left again, you will be facing a square pillar, do a running jump grab to this pillar, pull up. Two more eagles will come swooping down, you know what to do. From this pillar if you look downwards you will see a platform with a large medikit on it, do a running jump to this area.

After grabbing the medikit do a standing jump to the ledge immediately to the left of the platform with the medikit. Turn right and keep climbing till you reach the very top. Once you arrive at the top climb onto the waist high edge to your left and, hey, there is the snowmobile, and also a couple of bad guys. Draw your guns and let em have it. After they are dead collect the stuff they leave behind. Looking in the direction the snowmobile is facing go to the extreme right corner and you can collect the first secret that you have already seen (or maybe not).

Secret acquired, it is time for some new kind of fun. Hop on to the Snowmobile (same keys as were used for the boats in Venice, but you can't light a flare). Turn it around and enter the tunnel that you see. Follow the tunnel till you arrive at a right turn with a bad guy looming on the horizon. Ever played Carmageddon? No? Ah, well, just drive over him and you are done :) Save your game after you take your second right turn.

When you emerge from this tunnel you will be in a large square open air area. In the middle of this area is a ramp. And running along the inside edges of this square is a series of ramps. The first objective is to use the ramp in the middle to jump on to the ramp immediately opposite it. So let us do it, drive up the ramp and aim as much to your right as possible, do not forget to press CTRL for extra speed. As soon as you land on the opposite hit the brakes and at all costs avoid falling off, though that will not do much harm except that you will have to work your way all around this area to arrive at the ramp in the middle. If brakes don't help simply crash into the wall you find after making the jump.

In case this jump seems to difficult there is another way, though it is not in any way easier, it is still there. After making the above jump chances are you will fall onto the other side of the platform on which you were intending to land, never fear, take the narrow passage you find there to the left, you will be going towards a wall that has two moveable blocks aligned with its edges. Take a left at the end and you will be facing another ramp going upwards. Take it and make another jump and as soon as you land hit the brakes. From here it is a series of accelerate, jump, hit brakes, moves. Keep the snowmobile exactly in the center of the ramps. Following this path you will go around the inside walls of the square area drawing a U.

In either case the idea is to get the snowmobile onto the ramp that faces the two moveable blocks you have just seen. The second objective of this area is to clear the path by moving those blocks. Park the snowmobile and make your way towards the blocks. Climb up from the gaps next to the blocks and go behind them, to your left is another tunnel. Entering this tunnel will cause some wild cats to materialize, well de-materialize them and then pull-push the two blocks so that they are inside the tunnel and out of your way. Once this is done go back to the snowmobile and speed up the ramp to jump through the path that you made by removing the blocks. Save your game.

Stick close to the left wall and keep the Action key pressed for extra speed to clear the pit that lies in your way. Once you have jumped across go left. You will arrive at a fork, you have to go left but before that something else needs to be done. Get off the snowmobile close to the fork or where ever you want and run along the right arm of the fork. Keep running till you come to a room with a ladder. Take the ladder up and flip the switch you find there and make your way back to the snowmobile killing the two bad guys which show up. Back on the snowmobile drive along the left arm of the fork, jumping the pits. At the end turn left, squash the bad guys that come in your way, no need to stop or anything.

Keep following the tunnel till you are back under the blue sky and riding on a ramp going upwards, but wait, not so fast. Get off the snowmobile at the point where the tunnel ends, run towards the ramp and when you come out of the tunnel look right, a-ha, the second secret of the level. Do a running jump and grab the prize. Well, the act of grabbing the prize causes some wild cats to materialize. Handle them the way you want, either wait for them to come out of the tunnel and blast them from where you are, or jump back to the ramp, climb up and show them what stuff you are made off. The easiest way is to do a standing jump grab to the ramp, shimmy-ing to the extreme right, climbing up and giving them the stuff. Anyway once they are dead get ready for one helluva jump. Get back on to the snowmobile and race for the ramp, keep the CTRL key pressed for extra speed and whoooops...

After this stunt you will arrive in a room with really deep pit, a ladder going down. Looking to your right you will see some boulders stacked close to the ceiling. First let us get rid of the boulder menace which a lot easier than it might look. Drive the snowmobile with the CTRL key pressed. Stay close to the edge of the pit but also make sure you go straight because you are on a slope and the snowmobile will tend to steer left and into the pit. Once the boulders have rolled away get off the snowmobile and go back to the ladder going down. Postion yourself so that the ladder to your is to your right and do a standing jump on to the slide and keep the CTRL key pressed to hang on to the edge after sliding down, then start descending the ladder.

I forgot to mention earlier but I find climbing ladders VERY boring cause they take too much time. If it is the same with you, here is a handy formula that speeds up at least the descent if not the ascent. When you are on a ladder your CTRL key will be obviously pressed. The technique is simply this, let go of the key and as Lara begins to fall press the CTRL key again as soon as Lara has cleared 4 or 5 rungs of the ladder. It is nothing but timing just leave, press the CTRL key and you will go down much faster and best of all, Lara won't take any damage. Neat eh? :)

As you are climb downwards you will come to a gap, here climb down step by step till Lara is hanging by the lowest rung of the ladder, then let go and press CTRL immediately to make Lara hang on the edge. Climb up and go through the passage. Follow the passage till you find a key. Going further from here you will arrive at a wall on your right that can be broken. If you don't recognize it don't worry because you will recognize the sound of someone shooting at you. Shoot the wall and run through it or whatever you want and get rid of the bad guy there. Running along you will come to a room with a switch - above which hang some stalactities - and a closed door. Not much of a puzzle, make the stalactites fall, go behind them and pull the switch to open the door, go through open door. Outside turn left and climb the ladders to the top and enter the tunnel and you will be back at the top of the pit. Go to the point closest to the ladder and do a running jump grab to the opposite edge (basically from one of the edge overlooking the ladder to the other) and get back on the snowmobile. Drive on and towards the right till you come to a wide open room.

After entering the room climb off the snowmobile and use the key on the lock to the right of the entrance cause the draw bridge to fall into position. Then drive the snowmobile up the ramp, going up and left and from there over the draw bridge. Past the drawbridge go left and you will see a cute sign showing some boulders rolling. Well it is not there because its cute. Climb off the snowmobile and go up the path, soon you will hear the familiar rumbling sound of rolling boulders, jump backwards to avoid them. Keep doing this till you have entered the tunnel at the end of the path. Turn back and ride the snowmobile over into this tunnel. As you enter the tunnel and go left you will be hit by an earthquake. After things have settled down use the snowmobile to jump across the pit. Past the pit go left again till you are back in the room with the draw bridge.

As you return to this room climb off the snowmobile and look around for a very brightly lit area among the new geographical structure courtesy the earthquake. Here you will find another key. Save your game. As soon as you pick up the key a bad guy will come riding on a snowmobile and to make matters worse his snowmobile comes mounted with a machine gun. The machine gun is not a problem but make sure that he doesn't get close to Lara because he can just run over her. Side flipping and 180 degree flipping, use this combination to stay away from his path and all the time firing away till he is a deader. After this take your snowmobile (yeah you can take HIS snowmobile too but it can't give you the speed that the red one can) and travel all the way back towards the place where you found the snowmobile. Well not exactly all the way. The snowmobile can't go past the point where you squashed the very first bad guy you encountered after acquiring the snowmobile. Get off it at this point and climb up to complete the rest of the journey on foot. Some cats are also prowling about so put them to sleep.

When come out of the tunnel use the key you have to open the door of the hut. Go in, first collect the goodies lying about then pull the switch in the hut and run out of there as fast as you can. Kill the bad guys that show up. When they are dead go through the door that was opened by the switch. Save your game.

Entering this new area you will arrive at the edge of a wall. As soon as you jump into the room from here another bad guy with a machine gun equipped snowmobile shows up. Start jumping around again but if you find it too difficult then after entering the room run straight ahead and climb the square tower you find there. You can't be squashed here. Once the bad guy is dead take his snowmobile and keep on riding till you arrive at the mouth of another pit. This snowmobile can't make the jump so get off it, notice also the ladder going down, down, down. Use the slanting ledge running along the left wall to clear the pit. Once on the other side take the ladder to the bottom of the pit. Side flip to your left when you land on the floor and wait for the rumbling of the boulders to stop. But wait ... because ... this trap has two sets of boulders. After the first set rolls by keep standing where you are and a moment or two later the next lot will roll by, then enter the tunnel and grab the third secret of the the level. Take the ladder back up and run along the passage.

As you emerge from the tunnel keep going straight and soon you will hear the familiar sound of a snowmobile. This time there are two of them and both equipped with machine guns. If you find it too difficult to handle them both at the same time here is what you do. As you emerge from the tunnel examine the wall to your right, you can climb it and the snowmobiles can't, got it? Yep, as soon as you hear the bad guys coming run back and climb this wall and blast them from there. You can also side flip while staying on the wall to avoid their guns.

After they are gone back to their ancestors you could grab a snowmobile or just proceed on foot. Make your way downwards and then left. After turning left keep an eye on the wall to your right till you see a moveable block - which like all other blocks is highly conspicuous and easily found. Keep pushing the block into the wall till you can enter the room behind it. More bad guys, dispatch all, mark package 'with love from Lara'. As you go ahead from here you will come to YET another pit with water at its bottom. There is also a bad guy taking pot-shots at you from an opening in the wall to your right, ignore him or shoot him, doesn't matter. Either way, do a nice graceful dive into the water, or in case (like me :)) you like to hear Lara scream, just jump.

Swim to the left corner and climb out of the water. From there climb into the opening and run along to end this level.

Jitender Saan G10@Doubt.Com
http://www.lwbbs.net/userpage/g10/index.htm