Level 1 - Caves

Ok first thing to do is to shoot that bell. Yes, shoot the bell. After it goes <<<<BONG>>>> the door will open. Go in.

After entering the door go right, to your right and left there will be cages and straight ahead will be a passage blocked by two layers of vertical bars. As you approach these bars note the darkish looking tiles on the floor. Tread lightly because they aren't tiles. Avoid them like the plague because they are spring-boards, as soon as you step on them BOOOOOOOOIIIINNNNG Lara will go flying upwards and unless you are careful she will die when coming down so save your game often.

NOTE: You CANNOT get OFF a spring-board using the direction keys once you step on it, the only control you have is to make sure you have positioned yourself carefully to reach your destination (usually a ledge waaaaay up where you can land or hang on to). You get two jumps to clear a spring-board, after that Lara dies (don't waste medi-kits by healing her in mid-air). However there are two ways to control HOW the spring-board launches Lara into the air:
1. WALK over it
2. RUN towards it

Ok as you go through this room you will come to two spring-boards lying close to each other. Go right, here you will find another spring board and if you turn right yet again another spring board close to the wall and below a hole in the ceiling. Turn your back to this spring-board and go to the one immediately infront of you. As you approach this spring-board you will see that in the opposite wall there is a VERY narrow corridor consisting of nothing but sliding ramps going up, up and away.

For the next few areas in this level progress is going to be by the means of using spring-boards and shooting bells. That is what you have to do now. Face the narrow corridor, draw your guns and RUN (RUN dont walk or you will crash into the cieling) towards the spring-board. As you launch, wait till you get to the very top, as soon as you can see the bell fire. If you have difficulty shooting the bell on time then use the Uzis, they are excellent for this job due to the rapid rate at which they fire.

Shooting this bell will raise the first set of vertical bars that were blocking the passage you saw at the beginning of this level. After you have shot the bell, disarm and as you fall on the sliding ramps keep the CTRL key pressed to hang on to ledges as you slide towards the floor.

Ok, now go to those two spring-boards that are lying next to each other. Face the direction from which you entered this room (that put your back to the passage that is blocked by the remaining set of vertical bars) and approach the spring-boards and look up, there will be a rectangular opening. Position yourself so that your jump will make you land on the floor ABOVE this opening or at least help you grab on to it. Also keep in mind that there are two floors above you, you have to land on the second floor. In other words, fly through the first floor and grab on to the next one. Don't waste your jump by landing on the first floor).

On the second floor find and pull the switch. This will open the cages and let loose the Yeti. You can dispatch them from where you are but feel welcome to climb down if you prefer hand to hand combat, however, don't go to the floor just yet.

Return to the corner that is aligned to one of the cage doors that is now open and do a standing jump to enter this cage. Go right to find another switch and pull it. This switch will cause some windows to open (vertically) which will be a great help further on in the level.

Go back to the entrance of the cage and look right. Hmm, that corner in the wall looks a bit odd, eh? Well pull it out and then pull/push it out of the way and go in to find the first secret of the level. But wait there is something fishy here, where is the floor? Have you seen the movie 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'? Remember the final trap? Well this one is similar, just walk straight ahead towards the dragon, run if you want, it doesn't matter, as you go past the edge you will naturally fall but - surprise - an invisible platform leading all the way to the secret. Grab the dragon and return to the ground floor.

Go into the passage leading to the two set of vertical bars (one of which you have already raised). The remaining set will open when you have rung another bell. As you enter this passage there will be another spring-board on the floor. Face the spring-board keeping the vertical bars to your right and WALK over it. After launching keep the CTRL key pressed. If you remember you opened some windows in the cage just a while ago, you are to hang on to those windows now. Pull up, face the bell and do standing jumps (WITHOUT direction keys) and keep shooting the bell till it rings (again, the Uzis are certainly convenient).

After shooting the bell, do safety drops and slides to reach the ground floor. Now that the second set of the vertical bars has been raised go in. There is another spring-board in the corner. You can tackle this one in two ways:

WALK over it while keeping your back to the two sets of vertical bars.
WALK over it while keeping the two sets of vertical bars to your right.

In either case you have to hang on to the highest ledge that you reach. If you keep the bars to your right then you will hang on to a sliding ramp and can't pull up on flat ground, keep your back to the vertical bars will land you on a flat ledge.

It doesn't really matter one or another. If you land on the flat ledge then directly ahead will be another closed gate, meaning another bell to ring. Jump on to the sliding ramp that you will face if you keep this closed gate to your left.

The trick is simply this. The bell that you need to ring is hidden in the far right corner. If you landed on the flat ledge then put the closed gate to your left, jump on to the sliding ramp and hang on after dropping. If you used to spring-board to land on the ramp then you are already suspended from the edge. Shimmy all the way to right till you can see an opening up and ahead of you with the bell in it. Now it gets a BIT tricky.

Since both infront and behind you there are nothing but sliding ramps shooting that bell is a nuisance. However it is a lot easier than it looks. Pull up and keep the jump key pressed, don't let go off the jump key and Lara won't fall. In mid air, draw your guns and shoot the bell. Once you have shot it disarm and:

Press the left arrow while Lara is in mid air and keep the jump key pressed, you will soon reach the flat ledge on your left.
Slide down and hang on to the ramp you are facing, shimmy left as far as you can, pull up, keep the jump key pressed and use the left key to land on safe ground.

Ringing the bell opened that gate. Enter and climb the ladder to the top. Go right towards the big rectangular opening and jump on to the room with the block in the middle of the left walk. Watch out for the Yeti. Go through the opening from where the Yeti came to visit you and drop down the other side into a dark tunnel. Go down the narrow path you will see a ramp to your right. Going down this ramp you will come to a door, remember this and go back to the tunnel and continue in the direction you were going. Alternatively you can climb on to the ledge to your left and wait for the few prowling cats to come around and kill them from this safe place. Once they are dead, follow the tunnel into the next room and go left to pick up another one of those masks. Return to the dark tunnel.

Make your way back to the door that you just saw. Coming at the door, turn around and head in the opposite direction and you will find a half concealed opening that leads to the second secret of this level. Once you have got the secret, use the mask to unlock the door and go in.

Follow the corridor and drop down at the end. A Yeti awaits to ambush you so dispatch him with a grenade (the one shot cure for the Yeti :)). In the this area there will be some big rectangular openings in the floor. Peeking down will reveal a floor covered with spikes (if nothing reveals itself to you then drop a flare and try again). Go the the last such opening and face the wall. Put your back to the edge of the opening (dropping a few flares to the ground really helps here). Drop and hang on to the edge. Depending on where you were shimmy towards the center of the edge, if you have dropped flares you will easily notice that as your shadow approaches the center of the edge there is an area of the floor that is free of spikes, save your game and let go.

As soon as you land get ready to dispatch another Yeti. Facing the original direction - the one in which you landed - go right and keep moving along the wall to your left till you find an opening, ignore this opening and go further ahead till you reach a second opening. Climb up and use the mask you have to open the door next to the opening you ignored earlier. Climb down and go through the door you opened.

Run along the narrow bridge and turn left at the end. Follow the passage out of here till you come to an area with lots of ledges scattered about and a switch at the other end of the room. Start hopping till you reach the switch and pull it.

WHOA! You just melted the ice covering the water. Well, well, slide down to the ground floor using the ramps and dive in through the hole-in-the-ice you just created. Go deep down and get your hands on the Gong Hammer. Go through the opening that you will fine and surface on the other side. More Yeti prowling around here. After settling scores with the Yeti go right from this location.

Careful now. Step slow and easy. As you approach the big opening step at the edge of the room and look right. See those boulders? So many boulders? They are ALL going to start rolling as soon as you step in. There is an easy way out - RUN :)

Enter the room at full speed and go left, after turning left head of the upper right corner where you will find some rocks, head for them and do a running jump to land on top of them. Whew! Wait for the rocks to stop rumbling or don't, then take the passage you find close by.

When you reach the edge, turn around, hop back and slide, and hang on to the edge. Shimmy left as far as you can, pull up, keep the jump key pressed to back-flip and you will land on a safe place. Turn around and walk to the edge. Look up towards your right to see the opening. From here jump and grab the opposite wall (Yes, you CAN do that). Once you are on the wall shimmy right and up and climb through the opening you already saw. Enter the opening to find a hole in the floor. Turn around, slide, hang on to the edge. Make sure your health is over 75% and let go.

For now, let the gong be as it is. Go away from the gong to some steps that ultimately lead to a ledge looking over a wide snow covered area. Step back a little and turn right. Jump over the obstacle, go right, at the end, turn left and keep jumping down all the way to the floor. While on the way to the ground make sure to keep looking to your left to find some false walls (you know, which look off color and flimsy). Once on the ground, go to the upper left corner. You will see a ladder going down. Step into the small rectangular patch of flattened snow and jump and grab the ladder. Climb down. Turn left and keep hopping till you reach the ground (be careful of spike traps). On the lowest level turn around and pull the switch and make your way back up the ladder and the wide open area.

Once you have jumped off the ladder face the gong and go to your right (Gong's left) till you come to a small shed like structure whose door you just opened by using that switch. Go in and collect the third secret of the level.

Now reverse your steps and climb up back to the gong (from the gong's right hand side). Approach the gong and use the Gong Hammer on it. This will cause those false walls you have already examined. Climb down again from the side of the Gong and go through the passage opened by the breaking of the walls. Jump to the central structure and get the Talion Key.

Make your way to the ground floor and run straight. A wall will crumble to your right and one helluva big bird will start chasing you making the earth shake with every step it takes. Don't stop running. This part goes easier if you go AWAY from this wall first (you can see it is fake) and approach it from the opposite direction so that as you run past it you are heading straight for the path that leads up to the gong.

This beast has no long range weapons so the easiest way is to let it loose and then simply run back up to the gong and kill him without any fuss. The choice is yours if you want to remain and fight or kill it from safety.

The Talion Key will open the doors of the The Temple of Xian. See you there.

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