*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                              Tomb Raider                                    *
*             Completing the Game Without Using ANY Medi Packs                *
*              With Occasional References to Bugs and Glitches                *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Version   Completed
1.00      17 July 2007

1.50      17 Sept 2008
  *  Fixed several typos (I can't BELIEVE that no one pointed these out to me)
  *  Corrected some flawed information, specifically about the traps in the
     Great Pyramid.
  *  Gave greater detail to some battle descriptions.
  *  Enhanced information about the final battle with Natla.

1.60      12 July 2009
  *  Added improved method of getting Secret 2 in St. Francis Folly level.
  *  I'm sure I changed some other things, but the specifics elude me at
     present.

2.00      31 Dec 2009
  *  Added information about the glitches that create shortcuts through levels
     1 and 4.
  *  Identified some unnecessary tasks in the Obelisk of Khamoon.
  *  Improved efficiency of use of Save Crystals.
  *  Provided details about the "claustrophobic and confusing rooms and
     blocks puzzle" in Natla's Mines level.
  *  Added a strategy for passing through the "lava-painted-on-plywood" room
     in the Great Pyramid.
  *  Described how to skip the final fight with Larson in the Sanctuary of the
     Scion.
  *  Described an improved strategy for fighting Pierre in the Tomb of
     Tihocan.
  *  Added a really nifty life-conserving tip for opening the red door in the
     throne room in the Atlantis level as well as some fun glitch information
     about the thrones themselves.
  *  Described an improved method for fighting the 3 demons in the Atlantis
     level.
  *  Reformatted this version revisions section -- doesn't it look much nicer?
  *  Add a couple of puns that REALLY should have occurred to me earlier.

2.10      29 June 2010
  *  Added tip about avoiding the two demons just before sliding down the ramp
     in the Atlantis level.
  *  Added a very useful tip about avoiding damage in the Thor room of the St.
     Francis Folly level.
  *  Corrected some misinformation about the St. Francis Folly level and
     re-sequenced events in light of the above-mentioned tip.
  *  Added a tip about descending from the roof of the palace without taking
     any damage in the Palace Midas level.
  *  Added some information about the tall room with water in the City of
     Khamoon level, including various ways of dealing with the Panther Mummy
     at the top of the room.

3.00      16 June 2013 (Has it really been that long since I updated this?)
                     WOWEE!  Look at all of these changes!
  *  Played through the game from beginning to end following this guide, then
     played through a second time, retrying problem areas multiple times as
     necessary.  As a result, MANY changes were made, including the following:
  *  Made a minor change in the order of using Save Crystals in the Cistern
     level.
  *  Managed to finish some levels damage-free for the first time ever and
     described how this happened, which is probably of more interest to me
     than to anyone else -- a statement that arguably could be made for the
     majority of this guide.
  *  Added information about a pickup in the Obelisk of Khamoon level that
     makes one optional side trip considerably more worthwhile.
  *  Cleaned up the directions for navigating the room just prior to getting
     the Scarab in the Obelisk of Khamoon level.
  *  Fine-tuned some details about fighting one of the battles in the
     Sanctuary of the Scion level so that they could be fought from a position
     with better visibility.
  *  Added a Health target in between Save Crystal stops in the Great Pyramid
     level.
  *  Described the "Vanishing Cabin" phenomenon in the Natla's Mines level.
  *  Added a couple of Uzi clip pickups I'd overlooked earlier.
  *  Corrected an incorrectly worded statement about the shotgun guy at the
     end of the Natla's Mines level.
  *  Added a tip for getting safely out of the spike pit in the Tomb of
     Qualopec level.
  *  Added some long-overdue information about the difference between playing
     a "fresh" game and playing a "continued" game.
  *  Added an option for killing the crocodile just before the second Secret
     in the St. Francis Folly level.
  *  Added a tip about retreating into water to avoid the lions in the
     (misspelled) Colosseum level.
  *  Found a nifty way to use the shotgun to win the first battle with Pierre
     in the Cistern level without taking any damage!
  *  Used the same shotgun strategy to win the second battle with Pierre in
     the Cistern level, again without taking any damage at all!
  *  Outlined some options for using the first Save Crystal in the Tomb of
     Tihocan level as well as 2 additional strategies for the nearby fight
     with Pierre.
  *  Added a parenthetical comment just before the walkthrough begins about
     enemy names.
  *  Added a less frantic strategy for beating the 2 panthers at the end of
     the City of Khamoon level.
  *  Added a less repetitive approach to the last battles in the City of
     Khamoon level.
  *  Added a risk-free strategy for fighting the first panther mummy in the
     Obelisk of Khamoon level.
  *  Added a ridiculously obvious strategy for defeating the next-to-last
     panther mummy in the Obelisk of Khamoon level.
  *  Identified a better position from which to defeat the third flying demon
     in the Sanctuary of the Scion level.
  *  Added a summary of perfect levels (and not-so-perfect levels.)
  *  Described an alternate strategy for fighting the Shotgun Guy in the
     Natla's Mines level.
  *  Slightly adjusted tasks around the available Save Crystals in the
     Atlantis level.



Written by Bill Russell

The Tomb Raider series is (c) Eidos Interactive and
The Playstation version is (c) Sony Computer Entertainment of America.

This FAQ is copyright 2007 -- Bill Russell

This publication is protected by United States copyright law.
It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly
without advance written permission of the author. Use of this guide on any
other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright.  If you wish to post this FAQ or any portion of it to
any other site, please write to me.

Questions or comments can be sent to me at the email address that appears at
the end of this FAQ PROVIDED that they conform to the guidelines stated in
Section VII below.  PLEASE read those guidelines before sending me anything.
Thank you!

===============================================================================

Table of Contents

 I.    Have You Lost Your Freaking Mind?
II.    Why Should I Read This Thing?
III.    Who Is This "Colin" Guy Anyway?
IV.    How Am I Supposed to Survive Without Medi Packs?  (READ THIS!)
 V.    Index
VI.    I'm Tired of Reading -- Can I Just Play the Game Now?
VII.    Final Notes and Credits

===============================================================================

I.  Have You Lost Your Freaking Mind?

Probably.  I'll elaborate on this answer in a moment, but first a bit of
background.

When the original Tomb Raider game arrived in 1996, it became an instant
classic.  Its unique combination of action/adventure, puzzle solving, and an
attractive heroine generated immediate interest which remains intact over ten
years later.  As time has passed, gamers worldwide have learned to look past
the prodigious proportions of the main character and have focused more on the
richness and replay value of the game itself.

This is not to suggest that the game is perfect, for the flaws of the game are
many and widely acknowledged.  Jittery cameras?  You bet!  Blocky graphics?
They are something of a joke by modern standards.  Glitches and bugs?  Got 'em
in spades.  In fact, we will be examining many of these bugs as a means of
accomplishing our ends.  Still, despite these imperfections, interest in Tomb
Raider remains amazingly high a decade after its release.  Ultimately, it is
not dazzling graphics or other high-tech considerations that bring long-lasting
value to a game but rather the content of the game itself.  Tomb Raider is
always fun to play, and one can learn more about the game with each playing.

However, after ten years, even the best of games can become monotonous, causing
aficionados to seek ways to add challenge and freshness to the game.  In the
case of Tomb Raider, the most obvious (and fun!) choice is to try to survive
the game without using any Medi Packs.  I have previously written a No Medi
Packs walkthrough for Tomb Raider 2, and many of the strategies that I
described in that FAQ are applicable here as well.  In the Playstation version
of the original Tomb Raider, though, we have the complication of Save Crystals,
which only appear in distinct locations and in very limited numbers.  Thus, in
our journey we will try to optimize use of these precious commodities to
minimize repetition of long passages of the game.  We will discuss more
particulars in a moment, but first let's address my initial question.

The question I had to ask myself before embarking on this project was, "Why go
to the trouble to write a FAQ in which there will be very little interest?"
Realistically, at this point in time, interest in the game has dwindled
significantly and is limited to a very small group of hard-core devotees, most
of whom probably know much more about the game than I do.  Ultimately, I
decided that this lack of interest was a minor consideration.  I have completed
Tomb Raider many times over the past 10 years, yet there are still some areas
where I cannot remember how to proceed.  There is no better way to learn a game
inside and out than by writing about it, so I decided to undertake this project
in the interest of enhancing my own knowledge of the game.  If, in so doing, I
can enlighten any other members of the gaming community, then so much the
better.  Am I crazy for doing so?  I'll let you be the judge.

===============================================================================

II.   Why Should I Read This Thing?

Admittedly, this challenge is not all that difficult for someone who is
familiar with the game.  That is, many of you could probably figure most of the
content of this FAQ out for yourself.  Still, it is my hope that there will be
times that you read my suggestions and ask yourself, "Why didn't I think of
that?"  When we share information, we all learn.

You will notice that I said, "for someone who is familiar with the game."  I
definitely would NOT recommend that you try this your first time through the
game.  This challenge is for the experienced player only.  I am therefore
assuming that the reader has completed the game at least once and is familiar
with the controls, enemies, weapons, puzzles, etc. Likewise, I will not attempt
to describe every detail of the game.  For this, there are several other good
FAQ's posted and I suggest you refer to those for particulars on how to proceed
if you get stuck.  Likewise, I will not always remind you to pick up items (you
may not need the ammo and you definitely don't need the Medi Packs unless you
just want to see how many you can collect).  I will assume that you want all of
the Secrets, and I will remind you to get them when appropriate without
necessarily detailing how.  Rather, the focus of my writings will be how to
minimize damage to Lara so that she can survive each level without using any
Medi Packs.

Recently, I've seen a lot of postings about "Speed Runs," where the objective
is to minimize the time required to pass through each level of the game.  It
occurs to me that the philosophy described here is exactly the opposite of
this.  In general, I don't really care how long each level takes, as long as I
collect all the items (especially Secrets),don't skip any major portions of the
game, and do not use any Medi-Packs.  (Okay -- maybe I occasionally advocate
skipping an item or two, but I stand behind the essential truthfulness of my
previous statement.)  In fact, I go even further than that.  Really, my quest
is to minimize health loss and therefore finish each level with maximum health
remaining, even if dramatically less conservative measures would still allow
completing that level without using any Medi Packs.  To me, patience is
everything, and repetition of certain parts of the game is an inevitable means
to the end.  Thus, you probably don't want to undertake this challenge if speed
is more important to you than accuracy.

I will assume that you are playing the Playstation version of the game and
therefore have to contend with the aforementioned Save Crystals.  If you are
using the PC version and can save anywhere, then do so.  (If so, let me also
acknowledge that you are more skilled with computers than I am, because I've
never been able to get the PC version to simultaneously run, recognize my
Playstation controller with USB adapter, and allow me to save my progress.  If
you accomplished all of this, you are a better person that I am, and I'd
greatly appreciate it if you would write and tell me how you did it.)  I will
also assume that you are playing a "fresh" game and are not loading a completed
game that gives you all weapons and unlimited ammunition from the beginning.
(If you are thinking about loading a completed game, I strongly urge you to
read the passage labeled, " One Last Very Important Consideration" that appears
immediately before the index in section V.)Similarly, I assume that you are NOT
using the "All Weapons" cheat.  My logic is that it is better for me to
describe the worst-case scenario and have you adjust to easier circumstances
than to describe an easier approach and leave you to figure out how to adjust
for more difficult circumstances.  The choice of how to play the game is yours,
but I would like to remind you that this is supposed to be a challenge.  You
get nothing for completing the game without Medi Packs except the satisfaction
of having done so.  The magnitude of that satisfaction is directly proportional
to the difficulty level that you set for yourself.

===============================================================================

III.  Who Is This "Colin" Guy Anyway?

A couple of years ago when I first published my Tomb Raider II FAQ, I got a
very nice email from a gamer named Colin Chalmers.  Colin very tactfully
pointed out that there was a much easier way to get through the Barkhang
Monastery level of that game, information that I incorporated into subsequent
versions of my FAQ.  He also mentioned in passing that he had completed Tomb
Raider I without using Medi Packs, thus throwing down the gauntlet for me.

I let his challenge simmer in the back of my mind for a couple of years until
just recently.  Like many gamers, I bought Tomb Raider Anniversary in the hopes
that it would breathe new life into the series and give me some quality gaming.
However, a few hours into the game I began to yearn for the simplicity, the
control, and the purity of the first two games.  It was then that I remembered
Colin's challenge, so I undertook it and, soon afterwards, decided to write a
FAQ about it.

I then discovered that Colin had not been idle all those many months, but
rather had been busy writing a FAQ about the glitches in the first TR game.
Exploring these, I began to visualize how they would mesh nicely with the
content of my own FAQ.  I discussed with Colin the possibility of referencing
his findings in my walkthrough, and, with his consent, this FAQ was born.

When I feel that a glitch is of universal interest to readers, I will quote
verbatim from Colin's FAQ.  Otherwise, I will probably just say something like,
"Look in Colin's FAQ for a different way to do this."  His well-written and
very well organized observations can be found at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/199040/36533

I would encourage you to not only follow my references but also to read his FAQ
in its entirety.  I can pretty much guarantee that you will learn something new
from the experience.  For the record, I am not going to reference all of his
findings in this document, so feel free to explore the others on your own.

Sometimes these glitches and bugs save you time, sometimes they conserve life,
and sometimes they do neither but are merely curiosities.  We are mostly
concerned with those that conserve life, since we are trying to avoid using
Medi Packs.  If you feel that using these bugs is cheating (and would therefore
diminish that sense of accomplishment described earlier), then by all means do
not use them.  In the walkthrough, I will describe how to proceed both with and
without using bugs, leaving that decision to you.

Finally, Colin points out that although the titles of his glitches stay the
same, the numbers in updated versions of his FAQ may change.  Factor this into
your thinking before writing me to challenge my abilities with numbers.

===============================================================================

IV.  How Am I Supposed to Survive Without Medi Packs?  (READ THIS!)

*  You begin each level with full life.  Therefore, it is only necessary to
  reach the end of each level alive.

*  In my "Overview" of each section, I will tell you approximately how much
  life I had remaining at the end of the level.  Factor this into your
  thinking as you read along.  For example, if I indicate that I survived the
  level with 50% of my life remaining and tell you in the walkthrough to
  strive for losing no more than 10% of your life in a certain encounter,
  figure anywhere from 10% - 20% is OK.  The reason I give these low numbers
  and finish easy levels with lots of life remaining is that it is good
  practice for the more difficult levels where we will have to conserve every
  minute fraction of life we can.  Take personal pride in every encounter you
  can survive without taking any damage at all--it will pay off later on.

*  Each time that I recommend saving your game, I will give a "Health Target"
  expressed as a range of values.  For example, I might say "60 - 90%.  The
  high number represents a very good run.  Anything at or above that upper
  limit is excellent.  The low number represents a recommended minimum.  If
  your health is less than that number, I would advise going back to your last
  save and trying again or you may have difficulty surviving the level.
  Again, this is a ballpark number, but with a little practice these lower
  limits are easily achieved.  We have some variables here depending on
  whether or not you allow yourself to exploit glitches in the game to
  conserve health, but I will try to give you a worst case scenario for that
  lower limit.  That is, I will assume that you are NOT using glitches.

*  Always keep in mind our overall goal, which is to minimize damage.  This is
  going to require repeating certain segments of the game multiple times.
  Do not save until you are sure that you've done your best and have met the
  guidelines that I set for you.

*  Since the game only allows you to keep ONE saved file at a time, you should
  keep an extra memory card or two handy.  If you are uncertain about whether
  or not to save, you can save onto an alternate memory card.  If you complete
  the level, then play on.  If you run out of life and need to go back to an
  earlier save, you can just insert your original memory card.

*  Remember that eliminating enemies and triggering traps take priority over
  collecting items.  The loot isn't going anywhere -- clear the area first,
  then pick up the items.

*  This may seem really obvious, but proper use of the "Look" button can be
  very helpful.  It allows you to see around corners (and sometimes, due to
  glitches, through walls), thus telling you exactly where your enemies are
  and when they are going to be within your sights.  It can also be used to
  line up jumps, showing the true direction in which Lara is pointed.

*  Know where enemies will appear and, just as important, what triggers their
  appearances.  You will sustain much less damage when you can fight one enemy
  at a time and are prepared for their arrival.

*  Likewise, know the movements of your enemies, especially those with
  firearms.  Generally, Lara is much more agile than these guys, so use this
  to your advantage.  When confronted by an enemy with a gun, I will often
  run directly towards him, firing as I approach, then run past him, execute a
  roll, and continue firing.  Most enemies are VERY slow to turn and will
  continue firing in the direction from which Lara came, giving you adequate
  time to take them out.  If necessary, you can run past the enemy and roll
  again.  Henceforth, I will refer to this technique as the "Run and Roll"
  technique.  This is also effective on enemies without guns who are
  encountered in confined spaces.

*  If you are confronting an enemy that can "fire" at you (such as the
  fireball-throwing demons in Atlantis), try side-jumping left and then right
  while firing.  Lara is an excellent shot while jumping about, and her
  enemies are much less accurate.  In this game, this technique is actually
  much more useful than the "Run and Roll" technique, which is used more in
  Tomb Raider 2.

*  Unarmed enemies who come towards you can be efficiently dispatched by
  hopping backwards while firing.  This delays their approach and often kills
  them before they have a chance to reach you.  Henceforth, I will refer to
  this method as the "Backhop" technique.  If you run out of room when
  backhopping, you can run and roll past them or, if you are near water, dive
  in and wait for them to pass before trying again.

*  When an enemy is on a higher level than you, it is often possible to hide
  behind some kind of shield -- a trench or pit, for example -- then leap up
  vertically and fire as soon as Lara targets the enemy, then drop back down
  behind the shield.  Henceforth, I will refer to this method as the "Vertical
  Leap" technique.  It will be seldom used, but be aware that you have this
  technique as a tool at your disposal.

*  The most basic way to avoid damage from most enemies is simply to shoot at
  them from a safe (usually elevated) position.  Most enemies cannot reach you
  if you stand on a block, giving you plenty of time to take them out at your
  leisure using only your pistols, thus conserving ammunition.

*  The most annoying enemies in the game are Natla's thugs -- Larson, Pierre,
  et al.  They will appear multiple times, often in the worst possible places,
  and, most irritating of all, you generally cannot kill them but merely have
  to blast them until they go away.  There are bugs that you can exploit to
  minimize your encounters with these lowlifes, but for you purists I will
  include some tips on how to fight every one of these battles and still avoid
  using Medi Packs.  I have played the game both ways and assure you that
  you can complete this challenge either way.

*  This may seem really obvious, but always play with the sound on.  Many
  enemies will give some kind of auditory signal alerting you to their
  presence (thus warning you to draw your guns and be prepared) or their
  demise (alerting you that the coast is clear.)  I have a bad habit of
  playing with the sound off, and I often miss these cues -- don't let that
  happen to you.

*  Early in the game you are forced to use your pistols because that's all that
  you have.  Once I get the Magnums, I tend to use them, mostly because they
  seem to do more damage than your regular pistols.  Later on, the Uzis tend
  to be my default weapon.  Happily, the supply of ammunition seems to follow
  this philosophy.  Once you get the Magnums, an abundance of ammunition for
  them appears, and once you get the Uzis, there seems to be a profusion of
  Uzi clips to be had.  I tend to save the shotgun for close encounters where
  maximum firepower is needed.  However, feel free to experiment and see what
  weapons you prefer in each situation.

*  Finally and perhaps above all, if you try something repeatedly and it just
  isn't working for you, your best option usually is to take a break and come
  back and try again later.  You'd be amazed how often you will be successful
  on one of your first couple of tries after taking a break.  We are trying to
  accomplish something that is pretty difficult, so it is natural to become
  frustrated.  Be patient, get away from the game for a while, come back
  refreshed, and things will often go much more smoothly.

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                    One Last Very Important Consideration                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Before I begin this exposition, let me define a couple of terms.  When I refer
to a "fresh" game I mean that you began the game by choosing "Start Game" at
the main menu screen and begin with only your pistols.  When I refer to a
"continued" game, I mean that you have already completed the game and you
choose "Load Game" from the main menu so that you can begin the game with all
weapons and unlimited ammunition.

As mentioned earlier, I wrote this guide while playing a "fresh" game, and my
descriptions of battles and strategies detail how to proceed under these
circumstances.  If you are considering playing a "continued" game please read
the following very carefully so that you understand the challenge that you are
choosing to undertake.

At first glance, it would seem obvious that more powerful weapons and unlimited
ammunition would make the game easier.  Unfortunately, this is not the case
because playing a "continued" game also comes with an inherent liability.
Enemies in a "continued" game can withstand precisely TWICE as much damage
before expiring as enemies in a "fresh" game!  If you're standing in a safe
place shooting a helpless enemy, this makes the game more tedious, but not any
more difficult.  However, if you're in a vulnerable position and are being
attacked, this additional durability makes the game significantly more
difficult.  In such situations, time is often of the essence.  There are many
battles described in this guide in which you are barely able to eliminate
enemies before they can damage you.  In a "continued" game, those enemies will
almost certainly reach you and cause you damage before you can take them out.

I have completed this challenge use both "fresh" and "continued" games, and I'm
here to tell you that the latter is MUCH more difficult than the former.  My
point is this:  If this your first attempt at a "No-Health-Packs" challenge, I
would strongly advise you to use a "fresh" game, if for no other reason than to
keep yourself from giving up in frustration.  Believe me, it will be
challenging enough.  Once you have mastered the necessary strategies and are
more familiar with the battles, feel free to undertake the challenge in a
"continued" game, but first give yourself a fighting chance by taking the less
difficult route.

===============================================================================

V.  Index

To jump to the walkthrough for a specific level, click on "Edit" then "Find",
type in the level number (e.g., "L01" without the quotation marks), and either
click "Find Next" or hit the "Enter" key.

Level 01 -- Caves                    L01
Level 02 -- City of Vilcabama        L02
Level 03 -- Lost Valley              L03
Level 04 -- Tomb of Qualopec        L04
Level 05 -- St. Francis' Folly       L05
Level 06 -- Colosseum                L06
Level 07 -- Palace Midas             L07
Level 08 -- The Cistern              L08
Level 09 -- Tomb of Tihocan          L09
Level 10 -- City of Khamoon          L10
Level 11 -- Obelisk of Khamoon       L11
Level 12 -- Sanctuary of the Scion   L12
Level 13 -- Natla's Mines            L13
Level 14 -- Atlantis                 L14
Level 15 -- The Great Pyramid        L15

===============================================================================


VI.  I'm Tired of Reading -- Can I Just Play the Game Now?

Absolutely.  Let's get started.  I'm going to add one more parenthetical note,
but you can skip this if you're getting antsy.

I have scouted many Tomb Raider web sites trying to find the correct names for
the enemies in this game, but overall I have found that there is little
consensus on the issue.  For example, the bounding, exploding enemy first
encountered in the City of Khamoon level is called a mummy, a cat mummy, a
winged mummy, or a panther mummy, depending on what reference you are using.
Although every effort was made to name the enemies accurately, this is
difficult to do when different sources give them different names.  Since any
names I assign can be deemed both correct and incorrect, I chose the ones that
I liked the best.  I hope that settles the issue of nomenclature.

Level 1 -- Caves (L01)

Overview:
This is a really easy level, and it's very possible to survive with no loss of
life at all.  In fact, the only serious threats to your well being come from
dart-shooting pipes which, with a little practice, can be effectively dodged.
However, your focus should be on avoiding damage from the animals, since this
is a skill that will become increasingly necessary as the game proceeds.
Otherwise, just get accustomed to the controls and enjoy this level.

Particulars:

For what it's worth, there are a couple of useful glitches that you can exploit
to complete this level in under 2 minutes (without, of course, slowing down to
get Secrets.)  The one that allows you to glide through a closed and locked
gate is especially fun and interesting.  If you are interested, go to Colin's
FAQ and/or view the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psbza9I6jag.

As mentioned in the Overview, the darts just past the entrance are completely
avoidable.  Either run right down the middle of the path or just jump over
them.  If you get hit by a couple of them, it's no big deal -- they won't cause
much damage.  Go all the way to the end and pick up the first Secret, then
double back to the passage that you bypassed along the way.  Climb up, pull out
your pistols, and take out the 2 or 3 bats that come directly towards you.
Secret #2 is just on your left as you proceed down this passage, but beware of
the bat that comes to life when you pull up into the cave.  Take it out before
it can damage you.  Drop back down, hang a left past the dead bats, drop into
the pit, and open the door to the next area.

Draw your pistols and shoot the bat, then head to the area with the bridges.
There are two wolves below, and you can easily shoot them from above.  If you
want to have a little fun, climb onto the rocks just below the first bridge and
do a running jump parallel to the bridge.  You will magically pass through the
bridge and land on top of it.  There is really no advantage to doing this --
it's just one of the game's glitches.  (Credit to Colin C for this.)  Wind your
way across the bridges to the next room, jump to the platform with the Save
Crystal, but don't use it just yet.  With some patience you can target the bear
down below you and kill it from up here.

Safety drop into the pit, cautiously head to the left where two bats await you,
and when they are dead pick up the small Medi Pack.  Now return to the room
with the bridges, and retrace your steps to the Save Crystal (which you should
now use.)  At this point, your life bar should be very nearly 100% full.

As you descend the white stairs, there is some point where you will trigger two
wolves.  I'm guessing that it is just past the green portal.  Move forward far
enough to trigger the wolves, then backhop to a spot just before the portal.
The wolves will come up the stairs after you.  As soon as Lara targets them,
start shooting and backhopping.  When the first wolf yips (indicating that it
has died), release and re-press the X button (to target the surviving wolf),
and continue shooting and backhopping.  If you do this correctly, you can kill
both of the wolves without suffering any damage.  In this particular level, you
can afford to lose some life, but this is really good practice for when
conserving life is more important.  Since you just saved your game anyway,
practice this sequence until you take no damage.  Then retreat to pick up the
small Medi Pack and proceed into the open area from which the wolves came.

Jump over to pick up Secret #3, then drop down and get the small Medi Pack.
Now go pull the switch and race through the open door to the next area.  Run
and/or jump past the two dart-shooting pipes (these again are completely
avoidable), and quickly shoot the wolf in the next room.  Drop through the
breakaway tile, run to the end of the area and leap the gap, and turn left.
You will see a large MediPack, but before you can get to it a wolf will attack
from the far right corner.  You know what to do.  Throw the switch to open the
doors, drop down to the lower level, avoid a couple more dart-shooting pipes,
and exit this rather easy level with your life bar either nearly full or
completely full.  One down and 14 to go.

===============================================================================

Level 2 -- City of Vilcabama (L02)

Overview:
This is another really easy level.  The only challenges come at the very
beginning of the level, so you can really keep trying these battles until they
go correctly for you.  I suppose that it is possible to complete this level
with 100% of your life intact -- and you are welcome to aim for that if you
like -- but for our purposes, 90% is just as good (it's not like you get an
extra merit badge or anything for a perfect level.)

Particulars:
Four wolves await you in this first room, one coming from each corner.  They
are triggered when you advance beyond the opened doors.  Run into the room and
aim first for the wolf to your far left.  When he dies, aim for the one to your
far right.  As soon as the second wolf goes down, roll and backhop into the
area he came from, and take out the other two.  Now roll again and head deeper
into this area and kill one more wolf ahead of you.  You can do this without
taking any damage whatsoever, and since you just saved your game, you should
practice this one also until you get it right.  Feel free to modify my
suggestions if some other strategy works better for you.

We have one other rather "grizzly" battle to fight, so let's get that out of
the way now.  From the room with the fifth wolf, take a left to the room with a
small pool.  You will see a building to your left with two entries.  There is a
bear inside, and he can come out of either entry.  Unfortunately, this time
(unlike the last level), we can't take him out from the safety of an elevated
position.  He is triggered when you step on any of the squares in the row in
front of the entries.  Take a wide path around the structure (like near the
pool) and stand facing the entrances with the pool just to your left. Step on
the square (with guns drawn), and as soon as the bear appears, start
backhopping (to put some distance between you and the bear) and open fire.  If
you are lucky enough that he comes out of the far entry, you should have
"bearly" enough time to terminate him before he can get close enough to maul
you.  If you take significant damage, just reload the level and try again,
since we haven't really done much yet.  Once you are satisfied with your
performance on this level so far, it might be wise to make a quick run around
the perimeter of this area killing bats (there are several) and perhaps one
more wolf.  If you have the sound on and your eyes open, they shouldn't give
you any trouble.

You can now retrieve the small Medi Pack from the bear's abode and dive into
the pool to grab a pair of Secrets.  Return to the room with the pool and look
for the switch (conveniently outlined in white for you).  Throw it and follow
the path that it opens.  The large Medi Pack in the alcove ahead can be grabbed
either by moving quickly across the breakaway tiles or by using the block to
climb up and get it.  Either way, push the block into the next room, kill a
bat, and grab the Silver Key and the Gold Idol.  Use the block to get up by the
Save Crystal, kill 2 more bats, and use the Save Crystal.  At this point your
life bar should be at least 80% full, and 100% full is certainly possible.

Pick up the large Medi Pack, climb up into the window, and quickly kill two
bats (if you didn't get them earlier.) Drop to the ground, use the Silver Key
to open a door, and make your way past three dart-shooting pipes.  There are
two wolves in the near area of the next room, but because of the darts you
don't want to retreat or backhop.  Run into the room and kill the wolf on your
left, then roll and take out the other one.  You may take some damage, but
we've done pretty well so far so consider a small amount of damage to be
acceptable.  Advancing toward the building ahead will trigger 3 more wolves,
but you should have plenty of time and room to eliminate them without taking
any damage.  Enter the door on the left.

Make your way up the room.  The second time that you emerge into the pool room,
a bat will attack, so be prepared.  A second bat appears in the switch room.
Throw the switch, grab the loot, and safety drop to the ground.  Enter the
right door and again make your way to the top.  Jumping onto the last platform
in the pool room triggers a bat in the stairway ahead, so when you land have
your guns out and blast away.  Throw the switch and use the Save Crystal, then
safety drop to the ground once again.

Proceed cautiously through the center door, as this passageway is guarded by
three swinging blades.  It is pretty easy to time your runs past them if you
just remember that they are there.  Throw the switch, take a swim, head through
the narrow passage, and climb the stairs.  Throw a switch and then walk out
onto the balcony.  With a little patience, you can kill the bear below you from
up here -- MUCH better than trying to pull out of the water, draw you guns, and
battle it in a fair fight.  When the bear is down, drop to the level he was on.
(Side note -- if you are interested, read Colin's "Safety Drop Bug".  You can
use it to reach a ledge directly below you.  In this case, you can drop from
the balcony to the ground without going into the pool -- nifty!) You can throw
the switch if you really want to stop the swinging blades that you already ran
past, and don't forget to pick up the third Secret.  You won't see the Uzis for
quite some time, but when you do, you will want this ammo.  After this, you
need only use the Gold Idol and proceed to the next area.  Easy!

===============================================================================

Level 3 -- Lost Valley (L03)

Overview:
This is a particularly easy level to complete without sustaining any damage at
all.  There are few battles to fight, and most can be fought from the safety of
a sheltered location.  This level demonstrates the advantage of knowing where
and when your enemies appear.  On your first time through, you probably died
many times.  Now, it is a breeze.  Enjoy!

Particulars:
If you want to have some fun, check out Colin's FAQ for two easy glitches at
the very beginning of this level   The "Repeating Waterfall" glitch is
especially entertaining. When you are ready to move on, take a right at the
river and go down the stone steps, killing the two wolves below on your way
down.  Climb over the rock, then backflip back onto it so that when the wolf
that you just triggered comes after you, you can take it out from the safety of
your elevated position.  Take a right at the tall rocks, and you will see a
short ramp.  Sliding down that ramp will trigger three more wolves.  In fact,
you can just ignore this area completely, but if you want the kills, slide down
the ramp backwards, then immediately jump back up to safety and shoot the
wolves from above.  Having satisfied your bloodlust, return to the tall rock
cliffs.  Climb to the top and claim the large MediPack (its previous owner
clearly won't be needing it any more.)  Make your way down the rocks, but don't
drop to the ground just yet.

Touching the ground will trigger two raptors.  They can't touch you when you
are up on this ledge, but getting back up here is tricky.  As you are facing
the clearing, go to your far right and turn around.  Slide down the ramp, walk
forward a step or two, and jump back up.  You can now go back to the other side
and shoot the raptors at will.  If they are uncooperative and won't come near
you, you can drop to the ground and backhop, but they are relatively fast so be
careful.  When they are dead, follow the left wall until you see a small
waterfall.

You probably remember that you now have to face a T-Rex.  In fact, as I learned
from Colin, if you stand with your face against the waterfall and use the
"Look" button, you can look "through" the waterfall and see the T-Rex (and a
Save Crystal) waiting for you on the other side.  The recess that you are
currently in is not really safe because the T-Rex can actually get into this
narrow space.  However, if you look across the valley just to the left of the
other waterfall, you will see a small cave opening that IS safe.  Run over to
that opening, triggering the T-Rex, and when you are safely inside, roll and
fire.  Avoid the temptation of getting too close to the opening, as the T-Rex
CAN get his head partway into the cave and put a major hurt on you.  Be patient
and you can survive this battle with 100% of your life remaining.

While we're on a killing spree, let's eliminate the other major headaches in
the area.  Proceed cautiously through the cave that you are now in and kill
another raptor.  Exit the cave from the other end, move cautiously to the
right, and kill two more raptors by simple backhopping.  There is only one more
enemy to kill in this level but several items to collect.  Before we do any of
this, though, let's save our game.  Go to the far end of the area, enter the
building, dive into the pool and get the first machine cog, and use the Save
Crystal.  Health target:  50 - 100%.  Although you can certainly survive the
level if your life is below 50%, you should be aiming for a higher number than
that.

Exit the building and climb the rocks to your left to access the roof and score
a Secret.  You can descend safely by going to the far side of the roof,
jumping to the sloping rock below, and sliding to the ground.  Now climb the
rocks near your current location, jump across the missing section of the
bridge, and pick up the second machine cog on the other side.  Now you can jump
back across and use the Save Crystal you passed on the way up.  Safety drop
from the bridge and head over to the double-wide waterfall.  Grab the two
Secrets near the waterfall, then run past the waterfall (towards where you
entered this area) and enter the cave on the left.  Proceed cautiously -- the
last raptor in this level awaits you on the lower level, but you can easily
take it out before dropping down if you just remember that it's there.  Follow
the path and do some serious rock climbing to claim the third machine cog.  You
can now jump into the pool and swim through the passage, exiting at the double
wide waterfall.  There are no more enemies in this level, and if you have done
everything carefully, you should still have your life bar at 100%.

You have now collected all the items in this area, so it is time to head back
to where you entered this level.  Once you get there, jump back and forth
across the water and follow the convoluted path until you get to the bridge and
Save Crystal.  Cross the bridge, install the three machine cogs, and throw the
switch (observing that ironically the cogs that you just installed are the only
ones that are not turning.)  Go ahead and save your game one last time before
completing the level.  You can now collect a Secret upstream of your current
(ha ha!) location, take a short swim before pulling out to get the shotgun,
take a much longer swim, and surface to collect the final Secret of the level.
Finally, exit through the door and safety drop to the empty riverbed below,
drop down into the pool, and swim to the entrance that is behind where the
waterfall used to be.  Congratulations -- you just finished Level 3 without
taking any damage whatsoever!

===============================================================================

Level 4 -- Tomb of Qualopec (L04)

Overview:
This level is a bit more of a challenge in that you cannot avoid taking some
damage.  You will probably lose about half of your life, and most of this is
going to come in the final gunfight with Larson.  Therefore, we are going to
conserve all the life that we can for that final battle.  The key to this is
going to be undertaking potentially damaging tasks right after saving so that
you can try them multiple times if necessary.  With a little practice, I
finished the level with about 75% health remaining.  Stick with me, and I'll
show you how to breeze through this level.

Particulars:
Before beginning this level, I suggest that you refer to Colin's FAQ.  In it,
he details a way to collect more than three (up to 6!) pieces of the Scion.
However, collecting more than 4 pieces requires that you bypass Save Crystals
as you proceed, and you may want to decide whether or not you think that
exploiting the glitch is worth the risk.  I leave this decision to you, but I
thought that you should be aware of it before proceeding.

This level also contains a glitch that makes it is possible to "complete" the
level in less than a minute!  Clearly, this does not allow time for such
luxuries as collecting Secrets, but it is kind of fun to try at least once.
Colin's FAQ references a YouTube video showing how to do this, but I found it
to be lacking in detail, so I'll take a moment to expand on how to do this.

The key to this shortcut is to avoid stepping on the square of flooring in the
very first bend that you encounter at the beginning of the level (the one that
bends to your right).  You have to jump over this square, a feat which would be
a lot easier if you had some headroom.  I don't have a lot of advice about how
to make this jump dependably, but it is easy enough to check whether or not you
did it right.  Proceed into the first room and look up at the ceiling.  If it
looks normal, you screwed up.  If this is the case, you do not have to restart
the level.  You can reset the level by simply returning to the beginning of the
level and trying the jump again.  If, however, you see gray patches in the
ceiling (as it will look at the end of the level when the ceiling falls down),
then you did the jump correctly.  Proceed up the ramp straight ahead, bearing
to the left so that you can jump over the boulder (potentially without taking
any damage at all) and run in and pick up the piece of Scion.  The gate will
not drop and block your way unless you missed that first jump over the corner
square.  You can now run back out, dive into the pool, pull out of the water,
and beat Larson, theoretically without using any Health Packs.  Again, I
certainly don't condone this approach, but it is an interesting anomaly that
you should investigate for yourself.

Let's now return to going through the level the proper way.

Enter the room and look for the switch to your right.  When you throw the
switch, you will release two raptors from behind the (currently closed) door
closest to the switch.  Space is limited and the raptors are quick, so this is
a good time to break out your new shotgun.  Throw the switch, roll, and move a
little closer to the doorway and a little to your left.  One close-range
shotgun blast each will level these guys, and you will take NO damage.  Once
you have done this successfully, go to the ramp counterclockwise from where the
raptors were and trigger the boulder to clear this passage for later.  You DO
know how to do this, don't you?  Just run a ways up the ramp, roll, run back
down, and jog to the side out of the boulder's path.

Through the door that you just opened, you will find a Save Crystal and three </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
hallways.  Each hallway leads to a switch that you must throw.  When you have
thrown all three, another Save Crystal will be available.  We have a choice
about how to proceed, but I'm going to suggest we go ahead and undertake a
longer but relatively safe mission, then save, then go after a shorter but more
dangerous mission.  Sound good?  Let's go.

Go through the door to your left.  I should point out that if you are really
good at lining up and executing difficult jumps, Colin's FAQ outlines a less
complicated way to complete this area.  However, I would guess that for most
people his method will actually take longer because of the learning curve
involved with making these jumps successfully.  The decision is yours, but I'm
going to outline the "normal" procedure.

Ignore the first switch for now and drop to the ground.  Enter the ground-level
door to your left and follow the path until you are atop a pillar.  Turn right,
jump into the alcove, climb up, and follow the path.  When you have to make a
choice, drop in the direction of the red pillar.  Once you are on top of that
red pillar, jump into the adjacent alcove and throw a switch.  Safety drop to
the ground, climb back up to where the first switch was, and throw it.  Enter
the now-open door to the right of the switch and follow the path to the alcove.
You should now see a (relatively) straight path to the alcove directly across
from you, so jump over there and throw the switch.  You will see a gate open
but will also hear an ominous roar.  That is because you just released another
raptor who will be looking for you to return to the area with the Save Crystal.
Hey, I didn't say that this mission was completely safe -- I said that it was
relatively safe.  A simple jump from the alcove should clear the spikes and
cause you no damage.  Pull back up into the alcove with the first switch and
have your shotgun ready.  Take out the raptor with a single shot and suffer no
damage.  Now go to the Save Crystal and use it -- you've earned it!

The mission behind the next opening clockwise is the more dangerous of the two,
so let's do that now.  Follow the path until you see a switch. You aren't
fooled because you see that collapsing floor in front of the switch.  In the
area below are three very frisky wolves you will need to eliminate quickly.
Your best option here is Colin's "Collapsing Floor Glitch 2", so I will
describe that first.  Stand with your back to the switch (with guns drawn and
ready!) about one or two walking steps in front of the breakaway tile.  Hop
backwards, and when you hear the rumbling of the tiles, take one walking step
backwards.  You will be magically transported to the ground below, you will be
on your feet facing the wolves, and you will suffer NO damage from the fall.
Shoot and run like crazy until all three wolves are down.  I tried this with
pistols and with the shotgun, and my success with the pistols was just as good
as with the shotgun, so I'd recommend those.  In all, I lost maybe 10% of my
life, although if you get lucky you can probably do better.

If you are a purist and don't want to use the glitch, you can trigger the tile,
hop off it before it collapses, and then safety drop down to do battle.
Unfortunately, this method tends to cause the wolves to cluster right below the
hole, thus causing you more damage.  Ultimately, you can probably tolerate some
damage here.  Try both methods and see which you prefer.  If you survive this
battle with at least 75% of your life intact, you are probably OK.  (BTW, this
is why we saved right before trying this.)  Either way, you can now go up the
ramp, move the block, and climb up to throw the real switch, collecting along
the way a couple of small Medi Packs that you will never use.  A safety drop
will return you to the hall and then to the junction where the Save Crystal
used to be.

The last switch is a breeze.  Go down the hall, move a couple of blocks, watch
out for the collapsing floor, and throw the switch.  On the way back, you will
have to do a jump-grab to get over the spiked pit.  You can now return to the
main room (with the boulder and the dead raptors) and enter the now-open door
directly across from you (which contains the Save Crystal that I promised you.)
Yes, go ahead and use it now.  Health target:  70 - 90%.

Jump over the first three dart-shooting pipes, but stop at the bottom of the
stairs on the left just by the fourth one.  Pull up and pause before crossing
the room for the shotgun shells.  You are going to have to drop into the spikes
below the collapsing floor to get the next Secret, and the safest way I have
found to return from those spikes involves leaving the square immediately in
front of you intact.  Carefully angle a jump over that square and to the left
and run back to the solid square to claim the shells.  Use the Safety Drop
glitch to arrive unscathed at the safe square immediately beneath you.  Facing
the back wall, walk until Lara is against the left wall and just at the border
between the spikes and the safe square.  If you position yourself correctly,
you can now jump up, catch the edge of the solid square, and pull up without
taking any damage.  From here it is relatively simple to jump and/or run back
out of the room since you left that one crucial square in front of the door
intact.  You can now run up the stairs and pick up the piece of the Scion,
exit the room, go past the boulder, and save.  If you want a 4th piece of the
Scion, quit and reload your game and return to the room where you got the last
piece.  Miraculously there will be another one there!

When you've had your fun, go back to where the Save Crystal was, dive into the
water and swim deep and directly to the cave on your right for the level's
final Secret.  Keep in mind that Larson is at the water's edge shooting at you,
and he can cause damage if you are not really deep.  Get the Secret, then swim
back out, take a right, and surface as quickly as possible.  Pull out your
pistols and use the "Run and Roll" technique described in Section IV to stop
him.  He'll land a few shots, but you should easily survive the battle with
about half of your life remaining.  (Reminder:  If you have to try the battle
with Larson more than once and want that 4th piece of Scion, remember to go
back and get it each time you reload the game.)  Congratulations -- you
suffered some damage but still survived without using any Medi Packs.

===============================================================================

Level 5 -- St. Francis' Folly (L05)

Overview:
This level is somewhat longer than the first four, and there are at least 3 or
4 situations that will almost surely cause you to lose some life.  All that
this really means is that you need to be sure that you don't take any damage
that you can avoid.  I finished with a little over half of my life intact, and
you can probably do better than that if you are interested in investing the
effort.  There are also two glitches on which you can capitalize to avoid two
of these potentially damaging situations unless, of course, you consider this
to be cheating.  Finally, this level contains three Secrets that are
particularly difficult to obtain, and Colin and I will show you virtually
foolproof methods of getting them.  Sound enticing?  Well, let's get started
then!

Particulars:
When you enter the area, there will be two lions nearby.  Climb onto the ledge
on the left side of the screen and you can shoot them from complete safety.  Go
right and push the block to open the door ahead, but before proceeding you
should pause and consider your options.

You are about to have your first encounter with Pierre, one of your
"unbeatable" enemies with a gun.  He will definitely cause you some damage if
you fight him.  However, this encounter is avoidable if you can execute a
couple of tricky jumps.  If you want to pursue this, check out Colin's FAQ
under "5.6.2  Skip the Gorilla Room and Pierre".  For more details, read on.

First of all, the tile that you are trying to avoid is the one with the Omega
symbol.  For the jump into the room, you want to stand fairly close to that
tile (about a half-step behind it) and to one side, let's say the left.
Remember that Lara can jump pretty far, so don't try to angle too sharply or
you'll run into the door or ceiling.  Jump more or less straight for the far
left corner of the tile, and bend your jump left so that she lands beside the
Omega tile.  You now need to throw the switch immediately in front of the door
(the one upstairs only opens the door, which hopefully you won't need), but
doing so releases another gorilla to the upper left as you are facing the
switch, so be prepared.  Once the gorilla is history, you need to set up the
jump back outside.  Position Lara just to the right of the Omega tile and maybe
one step closer to the door than the edge of the tile that is farthest inside
the room.  Angle her to land just slightly left of the center of the doorway.
When you make the jump, be sure to hold the X button to lower her trajectory so
that she clears the low ceiling.

These jumps will probably take some practice, but if you miss one, just go back
and keep practicing them before you reload your game.  You will know when you
get them right, and then you won't have to keep repeating the first part of
this level over and over again.

Whatever you decide, you will want to start by killing the two gorillas within
the building.  Do this from the outside.  If they get too close to you, just
backhop off the front ledge and onto the ground.  For some reason, these
gorillas cannot follow you there.  If you are trying to circumvent your
encounter with Pierre, remember not to step on the Omega tile.

If you decided to play fair and shoot it out with Pierre, kill all three
gorillas described above, throw both switches, and pause for a moment before
going back outside.

As I mentioned earlier, these encounters with shooting enemies who won't die
are truly annoying and represent the greatest cumulative threat to your health
in the game.  Your success, therefore, depends heavily on how well you deal
with these encounters, so let's discuss a couple of general tips.

*  Once you have inflicted a certain amount of damage, these lugs will go away
  on their own.
*  However, they generally have a preferred avenue of escape.  If you are
  blocking that path, they will continue to fire at you, causing you
  unnecessary damage.  Once you have damaged them enough, you want them to go
  away so that they will stop shooting.
*  It is not necessary to watch them leave.  If they have taken sufficient
  damage and are not visible on the screen, they will magically disappear.
*  Remember that damage is inversely proportional to distance, and this works
  both ways.  If you and Pierre are close together, you will cause more
  damage, but so will he.  Since we are mostly concerned with defense here, I
  generally prefer to shoot from a distance while hopping side to side if
  possible.

In this area, Pierre seems to prefer escaping to the far right corner as you
enter the area, but we aren't going to worry about that.  In this case, you can
use the huge pillars to your advantage.  Try to use them as shields to put some
distance between yourself and Pierre.  I did this by simply running down the
aisle between the pillars and then doing a roll at the far end.  Once you have
done so, fire at him while side-jumping.  When you think that he's had enough,
hide behind one of the pillars so that he is no longer visible, and with any
luck at all, he will disappear.  You are going to have to fight him again in
this level, so try to limit yourself to about 20 - 25% loss of life in this
encounter.

With Pierre out of the way (for now), you can push the block to the other omega
symbol to open the door way at the top, and then push it in the other direction
to access the first pillar.  Make your way to the ledge with the first Secret.
I have read many ways to execute the necessary jumps to get this Secret, but
Colin's is pretty much foolproof.  With his permission, I am copying it here.

"This secret is in a small room high up on the right-hand wall as you enter the
first room of the level.  Once inside, the hardest part is getting the jumps
right in order to reach the first ledge.  The following method seems a little
complicated, but as far as I know it works every time: give it a go if you're
finding this secret difficult.

Go to the ledge at the entrance to the secret room, then grab on to the edge so
that you're facing towards where you start this level.  Shimmy left as far as
you can, then pull yourself up.  Press Circle to roll, then jump to the right.
Sidestep twice to the right (don't release R2 between sidesteps), then press
Circle to roll again.  You're now in the perfect jumping position.

Do a backflip, and keep holding both Jump and Walk afterwards.  Lara should
collide with the back wall, rebound off both slopes, then dive onto the ledge."

I REALLY don't know how Colin figured that one out, but I know that we are all
indebted to him for doing so.

Return to the ledge and follow the pillars to the opposite side of the room,
turn left, and head towards the door at the end.  Just beyond this door is the
second Secret.  The following foolproof strategy for collecting this otherwise
tricky Secret comes from alert reader "Free Storage."

Follow the path and you will come to a long downward ramp.  At the end of that
downward ramp is a smaller ramp, and you have to jump from that smaller ramp
across the gap onto a ledge on the other side of some water.  To do this
successfully, start by backsliding down the long ramp, holding the Action
button so that you can grab onto the edge when you reach the end.  Pull up onto
the long ramp, and as soon as Lara falls towards the short ramp, press and hold
the Jump button and down on the D-pad.  Lara will do a backflip and will land
on the ledge across the water!  Understand that the key element of this method
is pulling up onto the long ramp first -- if you just drop onto the short ramp,
your backflip will come up short and you will fall into the water.  However,
you DO have to backflip off the short ramp and NOT the long ramp, so don't hit
the jump button too soon.

Before collecting the Secret, you should look straight down and try to register
a kill from this ledge.  There is a crocodile in the water you just jumped
across and you want to shoot him from up here.  However, if you don't get him
quickly he may swim away and be very stubborn about reappearing.  This is the
best look that you're going to have at him, and if you don't kill him now, he
can cost you some health in the near future.  If he swims away, go ahead and
collect the Secret before you forget it, and consider your options.  You can
try moving away from the edge and then coming back to try to get the crocodile
to move into range, but I've had limited success with this.  You have an
alternative, but it is not without its risks.  My experience has been that when
the crocodile swims away from here, he is usually hanging around at the other
end of this area.  You can go there and try to finish him off, but be aware
that this is a one-way trip. To get to the desired location, you have to drop
down a level with no means of climbing back up.  Overall, this is my
recommendation, but be aware that if you are unable to finish off the croc, you
risk taking damage from him getting the next Secret, which may or may not be
sufficient to motivate you to reload your game and begin this level anew.

To get the next Secret, you are going to have to dive into the water.  You can
do this from either end of this area, but be aware that there is a strong
current flowing away from where you entered the area.  With this in mind, jump
into the water, dodge the croc if necessary, swim to the opening that is
between the two ends of this area, and surface quickly to get the not-very-
secret Secret.  Return to the water and proceed to the next opening downstream,
keeping in mind that you can only pull out on the NEAR side of this opening, so
you will have to turn around before you can pull up.  Throw the switch to drain
the water.  If the croc is still around, you are going to have to deal with him
now.  Target him from above if you can, but if not have your shotgun selected,
hang from the edge of the opening, and wait for the croc to move away from you.
When he does, drop and fire.  One shot will take him out for good.  You can now
head up the stairs to your first Save Crystal of this level.  Needless to say,
use it NOW.  Health target:  50 - 75%.  If you skipped the battle with Pierre,
your health should be at 100%.

We have several things to accomplish here, and we have some latitude regarding
the order in which we do them.  Since there is a Save Crystal at ground level
that I never seem to use, I'm going to suggest this:  Let's slowly work our way
down, throwing all the switches, collecting all the items, and killing all of
the bats along the way.  We can then save when we reach ground level.  From
there we can climb all the way back up and start completing the four god rooms,
using a Save Crystal every time that we complete one.  After we complete the
last room and save, we can deal with Pierre (who will be waiting for us at the
bottom.)  Sound like a plan?  Then let's do it!

Jump over to the center structure, kill 3 bats, drop down a level, and throw
the switch that opens the Thor door.  Be sure to jump over onto the gray tile -
- it will open the door to a Secret for us.  Drop down another level, kill more
bats, and open the door to the Damocles room.  If you want the small Medi-Pack,
jump over to it and back again.  Down two more levels is the switch for the
Neptune room (and two more bats) and some Magnum clips guarded by another bat.
Finally, safety drop to the ground floor and throw the switch that opens the
door to the Atlas room.  Now use the Save Crystal, in accordance with our plan.
Your health should not have changed since the last save point.

You may have noticed the closed door in a corner of the lower level.  Behind
that door is the fourth and final Secret of this level.  When you jumped on the
gray tile near the top, this door opened briefly, but it is timed and since we
took our sweet time getting down here, it closed again.  However, if you now
reload your game, that door will miraculously open for you and you can collect
the Secret.  (In fact, if you watch closely, you can even see the door opening
when the game finishes loading.)  Yes, this is another glitch in the game, but
it is one that is definitely worth exploiting.  The "honest" way of collecting
this Secret requires that you race downwards at breakneck speed, taking severe
damage from some perilous but unavoidable drops along the way. To be honest,
even throwing caution to the wind, I have never yet been able to get to that
door before it closed.  If you want to play "Beat the Clock" and think that you
have a good enough run that you can withstand the damage(that is, your health
is at the upper end of the recommended guidelines), be my guest.  Honestly, I
didn't even know that the door was timed until I read about it -- I always
thought that it was just a really easy Secret.  My feeling is if the
programmers are going to make it this easy for you, then you may as well take
advantage of the bug.

From here, climb all the way back up to the Neptune room.  Since you will be
taking a slightly different path than you did on the way down, you will
probably trigger some more bats along the way.  It is better to take them out
now, don't you think?  I like doing the Neptune room first because it is
relatively risk free, especially if you know what to expect.  Dive into the
pool from the side where you entered the room and go straight down.  When you
reach the horizontal passage at the bottom you will see a passage to the left
and slightly up.  Take that passage and throw the switch.  Then turn around, go
down and left to grab the key, then turn around again, go to the end of the
horizontal passage, and go straight up.  It sounds like a lot, but it is really
easy if you are a veteran swimmer.  [Insert your own joke here about Lara's
lungs.]  Exit this room, jump back to the central structure, drop down a couple
of levels to the first Save Crystal, and save your game.  Your health should
not have changed since you saved at the bottom.

Next up (or down really) is the Atlas room.  Kill the gorilla that charges at
you as you enter.  Go behind the open gate, turn right, and look at the huge
boulder at the top of the ramp.  Run towards it, and when it starts to descend
the ramp, execute a roll and run to the pit.  In front of the pit, roll and
grab the edge and let the boulder roll harmlessly over your fingers (ouch!)
You can now go back up the ramp, climb into the alcove on the left, and climb
your way up to the key.  Exit this room by reversing these steps, go back to
the central structure, drop down to the next Save Crystal, and use it.  Again,
you shouldn't have lost any health since the last save.

This next sequence is fairly long, but it involves few risks as long as you are
careful.  Therefore, be careful.  You are now across from the Thor room, and
since you will be able to easily traverse it without damage, I am going to
recommend that we skip it for now and drop down a level.  There are two lions
on the ground beneath you, and they are pretty easy to pick off from here, so
let's get them out of the way and proceed to the Damocles room.  If you are a
fan of collecting items that you will never use, be sure to retrieve the large
Medi-Pack from the ledge above the Damocles door on your way in.

Enter the room and make your way through the rubble to the back room, where you
can claim the key and a small Medi Pack.  Before you head out STOP at the
doorway between the two rooms.  Those huge swords on the ceiling are now
activated and will fall if you get close to the points directly below them.  To
safely navigate your way back to the main chamber, WALK one step at a time.  I
don't mean like you would walk through spikes.  I mean walk a step and then
don't take another step until Lara completely stops moving from the step you
just took.  Do NOT rely on the shadows on the floor or the swords that you see
overhead.  Once false move, and you go back to your last save.  I know that it
is nerve-wracking, but really it only takes a couple of minutes, and if you are
patient you will never be hit or even nicked by any of the swords.

When you are safely back outside, go back up to the Thor room, which is
potentially one of the more annoying portions of this level.  Walk slowly
toward the dark room and lightning will start flashing.  See those gray tiles
on the floor?  Picture them as a circle.  If you step inside of that circle
while the lightning is flashing, you will get zapped and lose lots of life.
Fortunately, there is a virtually foolproof trick that will let you pass
through this room unscathed.  Instead of running or jumping through the room,
execute a series of dives.  You know -- press Jump, Up, and Walk all at the
same time, just as if you were diving into water.  Even if you land on one of
the gray tiles while lightning is flashing, you will be unharmed as long as you
do not linger too long between dives.  (I won't even speculate on why this
works, and I have to admit that I never would have thought of this one myself -
- I got this especially useful tip from alert reader Free Storage.)  Once you
are past the lightning, trigger the dropping of the giant hammer, and use the
blocks to get up to the alcove with the key.  Backtrack to the lightning room
and perform another sequence of dives across the circle to safety.  Be sure to
begin these dives BEFORE you reach the part of the floor that steps up a level,
because you can get fried waiting on that upper part of the floor.  Pause a
moment before stepping outside.

Now that you have all four keys, Pierre is strolling around the ground level
and will shoot you if he can.  You need to return to the central area to access
and use the last Save crystal (which is down a level from where you are now),
preferably without getting shot.  You should have at least half of your life
left at this point, perhaps a bit less if you got the fourth Secret "honestly."
Either way, you should have plenty of life to deal with Pierre, who we are
going to dispatch from up here.  I had my best luck when I positioned Lara so
that the door to the last Secret is to her left when she is facing outward.
Pierre had a tendency to wander into this room, giving you some good shots at
his back without danger of taking damage.  Remember -- you can't actually kill
Pierre at this point.  You just have to discourage him.  When you think he has
had enough, you can just go to the center of your platform and hide behind a
pillar, removing him from the screen and, hopefully, from your life for the
time being. (I'm not real sure where the game designers want us to believe that
he has gone, since there is only one exit down there and it is sealed up
tight.)  Anyway, with Pierre gone, make your way to the ground, use the four
keys in their respective locks (which, from left to right, are Neptune, Atlas,
Damocles, Thor), and open the door to the next level.  Oh, yes -- give yourself
a pat on the back, too.  You just completed a rather long and difficult level
without relying on Medi Packs to restore your health.

===============================================================================

Level 6 -- Colosseum (L06)

Overview:
Considering that we have to fight Pierre twice in this level, you can actually
lose surprisingly little life.  Well -- perhaps I should say that we are
"supposed to" fight him twice.  There is a pretty easy way to trap Pierre
behind a locked gate so that he won't bother you at all during the entire
level, making it MUCH easier.  This process requires a bit of backtracking, but
it can be done without taking ANY damage, so it is definitely worth
investigating.  As you may have guessed, you can find the particulars in
Colin's FAQ.  Most of the other enemies can be taken out from safe locations,
so other than the fights with Pierre we mostly have to watch out for careless
falls.  Even engaging Pierre twice, I lost only about 10 - 15% of my life in
this level, and I know that you can do at least that well.  Let's give it a
try!

Particulars:
As you enter the first area, shoot the crocodile in the pool.  Dive in, swim to
the other side, and pull up on the right as far from the building as possible.
Two lions are in this area -- one near the building entrance and one to the
left.  I'm not sure what triggers their attacks, but it seems that if you stay
to the right only the first one will attack you.  When it is down, you can go
left and fight the second one.  If either beast gets to close, you can safely
retreat into the water because, as we all know, kitty cats don't like to swim.
There is a third lion in the building -- to your left as you
enter.  If you don't go inside, it won't bother you, but if you are planning on
trapping Pierre so that you don't have to fight him, you will want to dispatch
this creature now.  Go inside the building and take a left.  Stand on the first
step and roll onto the second step.  Hightail it out of there and retreat to
the safety of the water so that you can eliminate this enemy at your
convenience.  Jump over to get the first Secret, then return and drop down the
hole.  Kill the two crocodiles, grab another Secret, and continue into the next
area.  Ignore the switch and pause before climbing the stairs.

Pierre is back, and when you emerge into the main area he should appear to your
left.  Unfortunately, his preferred exit this time is precisely where you are
now standing, but this isn't going to be a problem.  Face left and as soon as
Lara targets him, start shooting and side-jumping left then back right.  The
stairwell and your jumping will protect you.  When you think he's had enough,
just retreat down the stairs (to get him off the screen) and return, and with
any luck he will be gone for now.  I chased him away with only about 10 - 15%
loss of life.  You can now turn your attention to the two lions and the gorilla
frolicking around the coliseum (this is the correct spelling, by the way, not
"colosseum") floor.  Waste them from the safety of this upper area, then drop
down to the floor and head to the far left corner.  At this point, there are
some shortcuts that you can employ.  If you are interested, see Colin's FAQ.  I
consider these to be oddities more than real time-savers or life-savers, so I'm
going to proceed with the intended sequence of events.

Before you slide down the ramp, be prepared for the two lions that await you
there.  Since these are kind of cramped quarters, I splurged and used two
shotgun shells on each and took no damage from them.  Throw both switches and
head out into the pit with the Save Crystal, but don't use it just yet.  There
are 4 more lions roaming around above you, and it would be nice to dispatch
them before saving.  Climb out, draw your pistols, and blast until a lion gets
close to you, then jump back into the pit.  If they seem to hover near one
particular edge, pull out from another edge.  Repeat as necessary.  You should
be able to take out all 4 without suffering any further damage.  You've now
earned yourself use of the Save Crystal.  Health target:  70 - 90% remaining.

Go to the next corner clockwise from the one with the ramp, killing another
lion among the rocks on the way.  Enter the room and do the annoying timed gate
puzzle and open the way to the "Worst Spike Pit Ever" (see Colin's FAQ if you
are interested.)  I would bypass the Save Crystal for now (I wish these darned
things were spaced out a bit more evenly.)  Climb the rocks, leap over to the
outcropping, and jump/grab onto the balcony.  Oops -- gorillas!  Use your
shotgun on both of these beasts so that you don't get knocked down.  Pull out
the block, and throw the switch that opens the door.  You might as well use the
Save Crystal up here because the next time you come up here, another one will
be available. Now make your way back down to the coliseum floor.  Health
target:  60 - 90% remaining.

Go the next corner clockwise from where you did the annoying timed gate puzzle
and climb up.  Climb the bleachers and head into the corner room, killing two
bats on the way.  Run into the pit to avoid the boulder, then climb out and up
to throw a switch.  Slide down the ramp and catch your breath.  When you exit
from here, there will be a lion and Pierre to deal with.

You want to fight them in this corner if at all possible because you have room
to side-jump.  Unfortunately, the enemies' appearances seem to vary.  Sometimes
they arrive together, sometimes Pierre shows up first, and sometimes the lion
shows up first.  My advice is to exit towards the rock where you climbed up
here, then turn left.  Shoot at anything that comes towards you, and if it
shoots back, jump from side to side.  After a couple of unsuccessful battles, I
got the lion to show up first, so I was able to kill it without worrying about
Pierre.  I then inched forward until Pierre showed up, at which point I
backhopped until I got back to the corner, then I sidehopped until Pierre went
back into the dark.  With a little practice, I was able to chase Pierre away
without taking any damage at all, but frankly that is overkill (or is it
underkill?).  This was our last major battle of this level and aside from
dodging a crocodile and avoiding careless plummets, we're really home free.  At
this point, you may want to take a short side-trip back to use the Save Crystal
that you left behind in the spike pit just in case you take a nasty fall in
this next room.  Health target:  20% - 90% remaining.

Proceed to the next corner clockwise, kill 2 more bats, and do the fun-filled
jumping puzzle with a timed gate to finally get yourself the additional
firepower of the Magnums.  Throw the switch to open the door in the next
corner.  Go clockwise around the coliseum one last time, climb into the alcove,
and throw the switch.  Take a swim, push and pull a block, and get the rusty
key that you need to exit this level.  Go back out to the coliseum and notice
that there is one new gorilla on the floor.  You can eliminate it on your way
to repeating the climb up to the balcony.  Go through the open door at the end
to get a small Medi Pack and use the Save Crystal (although it seems a bit late
since we are nearly finished with this level.)  Health target:  20% - 90%
remaining.  Use the rusty key, dive into the water, avoid the crocodile, and
pull up into the first opening.  After you throw the switch, you can try to
clear your path by wasting the crocodile through the opening, or you can just
avoid it as you swim to the end of the level.  I was very surprised to see that
not only was Lara able to outswim a crocodile, but I finished this level with
nearly 90% life remaining.  (December 2009 update -- By trapping Pierre behind
the locked gate, I was able to complete this level without taking any damage
whatsoever -- you can too!)

===============================================================================

Level 7 -- Palace Midas (L07)

Overview:
Although I certainly would not characterize this level as easy, it is entirely
possible to complete it without losing any life.  If you have been practicing
the techniques described at the beginning of this FAQ, the knowledge of your
enemies' whereabouts and triggers should give you all the advantage that you
need to achieve a perfect level.  See if you can accomplish this -- if nothing
else, it is good practice.  If you lose health the first time through, don't
reload right away.  Instead, see the level through to the next save so that you
practice everything at least once, then redo it for real.  For the record,
there is a Save Crystal that we never use even though it is in a central
location and is accessible throughout the level.  If you feel the need to use
it, don't hesitate to do so.  For information on how to access it, see the last
two paragraphs in this section.

Particulars:
Swim through the gate and pull up on your right.  Our first order of business
is going to be eliminating the multitude of creatures that are roaming the
vicinity.  Remember that you now have your Magnums, which have considerably
more stopping power than your pistols.  Use your pistols when you are in little
danger of taking damage and can take your time, and use the Magnums when you
need to stop something in a hurry.  Save your shotgun for emergencies.  If you
are careful, you can clear the surrounding area of vermin without losing any
health at all.

Notice that you have 3 possible paths from here.  Let's start by going through
the opening in the center.  Kill the two gorillas (one on each side) by
backhopping as necessary.  Your pistols should be fine here.  Go to the back of
the room.  Beware of this passage to the next room!  Enemies have a tendency to
congregate near here, giving you little time or room for taking them out.  I
always equipped my shotgun before entering this passage.  Enter the next room
and kill two more gorillas -- Magnums are probably a good weapon choice here.
Go through the self-opening door ("Welcome to Wal-Mart!") and throw the switch.
This will release three more gorillas.  Yes, I know that there is a Save
Crystal here -- we'll use it a little later.  Remember that passage about which
I warned you earlier?  The gorillas are probably stuck in one of the corners of
that passage (usually to the left as you face the passage from this room.  That
passageway has 3 steps that lead up to where you are now.  Stand at the edge of
the top step as far to the right as you can get and rotate 45 degrees to your
left.  You should be able to target at least one or two of the gorillas while
they are stuck in that corner.  Do what you have to do to take them out with
your Magnums, and let's move on.

Go back to the pool and take a left, but LOOK around the corner before you turn
right.  A crocodile will be coming after you.  Shoot him while backhopping and
you should avoid his attack.  Execute a roll and go into the garden.  Two more
gorillas await you there (one on each side), and you can probably take them
down with your pistols.  Throw the Secret switch now so that you don't have to
repeat this later, but do not attempt to get this Secret just yet. Instead, go
back past the dead crocodile, and when you have to decide, take the lower path.
Cautiously proceed to the left.  Stay to your left and look into the next-to-
last alcove on the right.  You will see two lions waiting to spring upon you
once they are triggered.  Lucky for you, they are triggered separately, so if
you proceed slowly (one walking step at a time), you can trigger and kill the
first one, then return and trigger and kill the second one.  Equip your pistols
for the last alcove on the right which only contains some bats and a small Medi
Pack.  Retrace your steps and go all the way to the narrow alcove at the end.
A gorilla lurks there, but he isn't triggered until you step on the square in
front of the alcove.  Equip your Magnums, jump forward onto the trigger square,
then backflip twice to put some distance between you and the big monkey.
Dispatch the simian and go claim 100 rounds of ammo for your Magnums.  Having
sanitized that area, exit and turn right to go up the stairs.  There are three
gorillas in this room, but you should have plenty of time to take them out with
your pistols.

We have now killed all peripheral enemies, and if you have been paying
attention, you should still have 100% of your life left.  Since we only have
easy tasks ahead of us before the next Save Crystal, I would advise
backtracking to the Save Crystal we left behind at Wal-Mart, then going after
the rather dangerous Secret in the garden.  So, go save now.  Health target:
80% - 100% remaining.  In the garden, a well-timed standing jump in each
direction will get you past the shredders, but it will probably take you
several tries to execute two of these in a row.  If you take any damage at all,
reload and try again -- that's why we saved right before trying this.  When you
have claimed this Secret, head all the way back past the pool and up the
stairs.  Go to the back right corner and climb onto the white blocks.  It is
actually possible to jump directly from here to the building top where the five
switches are (see Colin's FAQ if you are interested), but the intended path
really doesn't take that long.  Besides, if you use the route across the
pillars, you can collect some more Magnum clips and a small Medi Pack that we
REALLY need.  One way or another, get to the switches.

We have four doors to open, three of which contain challenges for us.  I
recommend doing the "Fire and Water" challenge first, since there is a Save
Crystal at each end.  Throw the left-hand switch down, go down the stairs, and
throw the switch to open the door at the bottom (GREATLY facilitating your
return to this balcony!)  If you want to have some fun, you can now exploit
the "Corner Bug" to get the impossibly high Medi-Pack near the platform with
the switches.  Refer to Colin's FAQ for particulars.  Back down on earth, enter
the now-opened door.  Shoot the three water rats from up here, and then save at
the Save Crystal.  Health target -- still 80 - 100% since we really haven't had
any encounters since our last save.

Make your way across the flaming pillars to claim the first lead bar.  Use the
Save Crystal at the other end since we won't be coming this way again.  There
will be a new gorilla in or around the switch room (I'm not exactly sure where
this gorilla was before this, since we cleared the area of all enemies and
haven't opened any doors) but once you locate him you should have no trouble
eliminating him.

Go back up to the switches and change the first, third, and fifth ones so that
you have Up, Up, Down, Up, Down from left to right.  Go through the open door,
walk through the spikes, and enter the ground-level entrance.  Move the block,
throw the switch, and go up the ramp past the Save Crystal -- we'll use it on
the way out.  Jump counter-clockwise around the pillars until you get to the
opening in the wall.  There is a gorilla in there, and he is triggered when you
land in the opening.  So, jump to the opening and immediately backflip back to
the pillar so that you can dispatch him safely.  Grab the second lead bar, jump
back to the pillar, jump down to the ground, and then go back up the ramp and
use the Save Crystal.  Health target -- still 80 - 100%.

Return to the switches and position them Up, Up, Down, Down, Up from left to
right and go through the now-opened door.  Head downstairs and use your super-
human strength to move a block that apparently was holding up the column and
ceiling in the previous room.  Wow!  Return to the main room to inspect the
chaos that you wreaked with your own bare hands.  Visibility is terrible, and I
can never seem to recall the jumping sequence, so for my own reference I'm
going to add that you perform a standing jump 45 degrees right, a running jump
with grab to what remains of the center pillar, and then a running jump grab to
the upper (left) side of the column of rock to the right of the opening.  Do a
standing jump through the opening, make your way up to the Save Crystal, and
use it.  Health target -- still 80 - 100%.

Look out towards the pool and shoot anything that moves.  There are at least
two gorillas, two bats (coming from the left), and two crocodiles (in the
water).  There is also a gorilla directly below you.  This is your best look at
him, and if you can take him out with your Magnums now, it is a real plus.  You
can jump over to the pool's edge for better targeting -- just be careful not to
fall off the edge.  You can lure the crocodiles out of hiding by jumping into
the water and swimming near them if necessary.  When the coast is clear, swim
to the far end of the pool and jump around the rocks to get the Secret.

Swim back to where you entered and try again to pick off the gorilla below.
When you do your safety drop to get the Secret, start from as far right as
possible and you won't lose any life from the drop.  Hop over the ledge and
finish off the gorilla if you didn't do so from above.  Straight ahead there is
nothing except a small Medi Pack.  Pick it up, then double back.  When you jump
to the ledge to your left have your Magnums drawn, because you will trigger a
gorilla in the second alcove.  Another one awaits you in the last alcove.
Needless to say, be careful not to backhop off the ledge!  Make an impossibly
long jump/grab to the large Medi pack across the way.  Before you shimmy left,
select your pistols as your weapons.  When you reach the end you will trigger
two bats, so drop down quickly, pull out your pistols, and blast the blasted
pests to animal kingdom come.

Jump back across the chasm and follow the path.  Beware of the breakaway tiles
where you see the Medi Pack.  When you emerge on a building ledge, draw your
Magnums because there is a lion who is well camouflaged by the stonework up
here.  It has been a long time since we saw a Save Crystal and we still have a
ways to go, so we can't afford mistakes now.  Follow the path until you come to
an opening, then jump across to the other opening.  Follow the path to the
water, shoot the crocodile, and go for a swim.  Pull out and go to the opening
and kill two bats.  Jump over to the roof and try to pick off the two lions
down below.  Go to the far side of the roof and get the third lead bar and use
the Save Crystal.  Health target -- 60% - 100%.  We're almost there.

Go back to the edge of the roof closest to the opening from which you jumped
over to the roof.  You can safety drop to the slanted surface beneath you
without loss of life. (For some inexplicable reason, I never noticed this slope
before alert reader Free Storage called it to my attention.)  Now return to the
garden, climb onto the roof of the structure, pick up the Medi Pack and proceed
with caution to the statue of Midas.  One at a time, place the lead bars in the
hand of Midas to turn them to gold, then save at the nearby Save Crystal.  If
you have never done so, see what happens to Lara if she jumps into the hand of
Midas -- just be sure that you save first.

Return to the room with the five switches and position them Down, Up, Up, Up,
Down.  Enter the tall structure with Magnums drawn and level the oversized
kitty cat that come bounding down to play with you.  Go all the way to the top
to get the shotgun shells next to the useless Save Crystal that we REALLY could
have used elsewhere, then go back down to the mid-level door.  Follow the not-
so-subtle hint carved into the wall above the alcoves and insert the gold bars
into their proper receptacles to open the door to the next level.  Slide down
the ramp and pat yourself on the back!

===============================================================================

Level 8 -- The Cistern (L08)

Overview:
I can pretty well guarantee that you will lose some life in this level.  For
starters, you are going to have THREE encounters with Pierre, which is never
good for your health.  In addition, there are a couple of places where the
enemies just have the advantage and will damage you before you can even get
your guns out.  On a positive note, you CAN survive the encounters with Pierre
with a little practice, and the cumulative damage from enemies with the
advantage is minimal.  Overall, you will be in good shape if you just remember
the basics -- know where your enemies will be and what triggers them.  Couple
that with an extra measure of caution when jumping (thus avoiding lethal
plummets) and you will totally own this level and can realistically finish with
about half of your life remaining.

Particulars:
When you drop down the hole, a rat will be on you immediately.  Your loss of
health will be slight or, if you are very fortunate, nonexistent.  If you are
very patient, you can target the rat from above and suffer no damage.  Push the
block, pull the switch, and kill two more rats from atop the block.  Get the
Medi Pack, enter the HUGE main area, and start taking potshots at the two
crocodiles and two rats below you.  Jump over to the raised ledge near where
you entered, killing the rat that is triggered by your arrival.  Shimmy
counterclockwise as far as you can (stopping to pick up the shotgun shells),
then pull up and run clockwise around the upper path for the rusty key.  Return
to where you pulled up, drop down, and pull up next to the Save Crystal which,
regrettably, we probably need to use since we are about to shoot it out with
Pierre again.  Health target -- 100% or pretty darned near 100%.

Pierre is inside the building, up the stairs and to the right, but my new (June
2013) strategy is to fight him on the balcony instead of going in after him.
He is triggered when you step on the second step in front of you.  Since you
are going to get up close and personal with him, equip your shotgun.  Stand on
the first step, roll on the second step, and retreat to the balcony off to one
side with Lara facing towards the inside of the building.  You will see Pierre
coming after you.  When he gets to the opening to the balcony, he will slow a
bit.  As soon as Lara targets him, blast him with your shotgun, roll, blast him
again, and jump back so that Lara is shielded by the wall opposite the one
where you waited for him.  Pierre should retreat into the building and best of
all -- if you did this correctly -- you should suffer ZERO damage in the
battle!

Run around this room gathering items and a Secret and throw the switch.  To
minimize damage after claiming the Secret, make an angled jump directly at the
wall so that Lara slides backwards down the slope.  Hold the X button on the
way down so that she grabs the edge.  She will still take a tiny amount of
damage dropping from here, but it is barely noticeable.  Go back to the water
hole near the switch and try to pick off as many of the 3 water rats as you can
before diving in.  Then take a swim, pull out, and waste the remaining rats.
Go around the room to get the rusty key, pick off another couple of rats, then
shimmy left and slide down to the Save Crystal, but let's accomplish two easy
tasks before using it.  First, swim out to the middle of the area and get the
easy underwater Secret (so that we don't have to do it later.) Then, swim to
the left door at the far side of the area.  Use the rusty key to open the door,
and waste the two gorillas inside.  Now return to the Save Crystal and use it.
Health target:  70% - 90%.

You are about to fight probably the toughest battle with Pierre, and we have
now set it up so that you can try it multiple times with a minimum of
repetition.  I am going to describe 2 strategies for you.  Start by going back
to the room where you eliminated the two gorillas.  Get up on the ledge above
the door, and turn to face innto the room.  As soon as youland on the next
ledge, Pierre is going to appear almost directly below you.  If you stay up
here, you are a sitting duck, and if you drop down you will be so close to him
that he can cause you lots of damage in a short period of time. To get rid of </pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
him with minimum damage, first make sure that you have your Magnums equipped.
Line yourself up with the center of the ledge that you are on.  Now as quickly
as you can, make a long running jump (without grab) to the next ledge, roll,
grab the far edge briefly (otherwise Lara will take too long to recover from
the fall), release the edge, draw your weapons, and fire while backflipping.
When you get to the last alcove, sidejump to one side and hope that Pierre is
gone.  You will take some damage, but with practice you will lose only about 10
- 20% of your life here.  This is really the worst that you will have to endure
in this level, so if you can survive with about half of your life, you are just
fine.

(June, 2013 update):  The shotgun strategy described for the first battle with
Pierre in this level works well here also.  Begin as described in the paragraph
above, but instead of beginning from the center of the ledge, begin from the
middle of the square to the far right as you are facing into the room.  Have
your shotgun equipped.  As before, do a running jump, roll, grab, and draw your
weapon.  The arch should shield you from Pierre momentarily.  Rotate 90 degrees
right, and as soon as he appears from underneath the arch, shoot, run past him,
roll, and shoot again.  At this close range, 2 shotgun blasts should send him
running through the arches and out of your hair for now.  On a really good day,
you can emerge from this battle completely unscathed!

Go back and climb the wall by the entrance again and jump/grab your way across
the room.  To get the magnum clips at the far end of the room, you need to
start a running jump from beside the left wall.  After jumping, hit the Action
button to lower your trajectory so that you don't run into the wall.  You will
then need to drop/grab your way to the ground and then cross the room again.
When you reach the end again, shimmy right, drop down, and drop into the next
room.

Slide down the first three ramps and you should see a crocodile that you can
eliminate from the safety of these blocks using your pistols.  Slide down to
the ground, quickly run and pull up onto the block with the Save Crystal, turn,
and kill another crocodile.  Get back on the floor, equip your shotgun, and
move very cautiously towards the passage on the right.  If you look carefully
you can see the head of a crocodile on the left side of the passage, and when
you get within a square of him, he will be triggered.  You can jump forward,
backflip immediately, and waste him with your shotgun without getting hurt.
That Save Crystal is very tempting, but we're going to need it much more the
next time we pass through here, and there is another one not far ahead with few
serious perils between here and there, so I'm going to suggest we leave it be
for now and move on.

Jump and shimmy your way around the room and open the door at the top.  To
avoid damage when dropping down a level (just before you shimmy left), simply
back up and run off the edge of the higher ledge instead of jumping.  Kill the
2 rats from up here if possible.  Watch out for the spikes as you jump into
the pit and finish off the rats.  Take a swim and surface in the room with a
rat on either side of you.  You will likely take a small amount of damage
before you can get your pistols out and firing (especially if Lara targets the
farther rat first!), but this is acceptable.  Throw the underwater switch,
collect the items, and use the Save Crystal. Health target:  45 - 80%.

We aren't going to see another Save Crystal for a while, so take special care
in executing the next few moves.  Dive back in and grab the nearby silver key.
Swim back to the central area and go to the locked door next to where you last
fought Pierre.  Use the Rusty Key to open the way.  There are some dangerous
looking spikes in the water below, but I'm pretty sure that you can swim right
through them without suffering any damage.  Grab the small Medi pack.  Before
you take the Gold Key, make sure that you are pointing towards the closed door
because as soon as you grab the key, a crocodile is going to come after you
from behind.  Grab the key, swim into the main area, pull up as quickly as
possible, and shoot the crocodile from safety.

Return to the switch room where we first fought Pierre in this level and pull
the switch to drain the water again.  You now need to retrace your steps back
to where you first entered this area by going clockwise around the perimeter --
much more difficult now that the water is drained!  Make your way to the room
where you most recently fought Pierre and duplicate your path all the way
across this room, and down the ramps.  If you followed my advice, there is
still an unused Save Crystal here, so let's use that now.  Health target:  45 -
80%.

Continue clockwise around the room with the ramps, and up to the door the opens
into the spiked pit.  Jump across the pit as before, but now that the water is
gone you can drop into the next room.  Kill the two rats before dropping down
if possible; if not, just watch for them to come from the adjacent room to your
right.  Make your way clockwise around the room to throw the switch in the
elevated alcove, being VERY careful NOT to fall into the water!  You cannot
pull out of the water back into this room, and it is a VERY long way back here!
Return to ground level, find the opened door with the key, and pause for a
moment.

When you pick up this key, Pierre is going to appear, and that is never good
news.  Fortunately, we don't have to shoot it out with him this time.  In fact,
it is entirely possible to escape from him without taking any damage (!)  What
you're going to do is this (don't try this yet -- just read):  Back into the
cubby with the key so that you are facing out.  Grab the key and then run along
the right-hand wall until you are even with the second lowest step to your
left.  This means that you are against the wall on the right but you have not
gone so far as the alcove past the second step.  From here, you can side-jump
left onto the second step, then side jump left again into the pool, then swim
away from Pierre without having to shoot him.  Remember that in order to make
the jump, you have to be pretty close to the right wall.  Now that you know
what to do, practice the run and the first jump (NOT the second one -- it is a
LONG ways back if you fall into the water!) until you are comfortable with it.
If you take some damage from Pierre, it is OK -- we're almost done with this
level anyway -- just keep your cool and concentrate on getting the run and the
first jump right, and you will be fine.  When you are ready, follow the steps
detailed above, swim back into the main area, and head to the yet-unexplored
building directly opposite where we entered this area and counterclockwise from
the Switch Room.

On your way in, grab the Secret, then use both Silver Keys to open the doors.
Pull up onto the block with the Save Crystal and use it!  Health target -- 10 -
80%.  Jump to the next ledge and look to the left across the way.  You will see
a temporarily "frozen" gorilla waiting to pounce on you when you jump across.
So, do a standing jump/grab to trigger the gorilla (you may have to actually
pull up onto the ledge to trigger him) and then safety drop to the floor.  Now
you can climb back up and get this monkey off your back safely.  Jump back to
the ledge with the (now deceased) gorilla and use the gold key.  This will
release two lions below you, but you should be able to take them out from the
second ledge.  In the next room, avoid the lower level of the floor -- it is
full of spiked traps.  Get on the first elevated level and go to the back of
the room.  Do NOT throw the switch!  It will only release lions that you can
otherwise avoid.  Use the moveable block to get up to the upper level and claim
the loot.  If you go through the opening to your right, do so by walking
backwards, because you will be pursued by two rats that you will need to kill
(lest they knock you over the edge), and you will see three lions below that
you can kill if you feel like wasting your ammunition.  Personally, I would
just avoid this area altogether as there is nothing to gain by going there.
When you have done all that you care to do, return to the lower level and jump
into the long shaft and into the water to end this lengthy and rather difficult
level, hopefully with at least half of your life intact.

(June 2013 update) -- By using the shotgun strategy for the battles with Pierre
and making a couple of other minor adjustments, I was able to finish this level
with my life 100% intact.  I have to admit that this required "cheating" in one
place.  When retrieving the first Secret, I scored the shotgun shells on the
near side of the ramps but I did not jump across for the shells on the other
side.  This allowed me to back out of this upper area without taking any
damage.  That is, I registered all 3 Secrets but left a couple of items behind.
Interestingly, the parts of the level I had to keep replaying involved
encounters with rats, not with Pierre (well, I guess he KIND of counts as a
rat.)  Specifically, I had to learn to take evasive action when pulling out of
the water near the Save Crystal and underwater switch. The major innovation,
though, was defeating Pierre by doing a run and roll with the shotgun.  Give it
a try -- it is fairly simply yet effective.

===============================================================================

Level 9 -- Tomb of Tihocan (L09)

Overview:
I suppose that it is possible to avoid any and all damage in this level, but,
as I will describe, I'm not sure that is a realistic goal if you also collect
both Secrets.  We have two more encounters with Pierre (our last two!), and you
are likely to take some damage from the first one at least.  Nothing else in
this level should give you any problems.  If you have made it this far, then
this first fight with Pierre is the only part of this level that should give
you any trouble at all.  I finished with 85 - 90% health remaining, so I am
confident that you can sail through this level too.

Particulars:
Swim to the switch and throw it, pull out and throw another switch, and be
prepared for the crocodile that comes through the opened door.  If you want to
have some fun, swim back to where you originally fell into the water and look
at the weird view you get of the shaft you fell down.  Climb around the room
counterclockwise BUT avoid the tall pillar in the middle of the room, as it
will make darts begin shooting from two locations.  You can easily dodge these
darts, but if you jump to the flat area to the right of the tall central
pillar, you can avoid them altogether.  Jump to the corner and then to the
alcove to throw the switch.  Dive down and get the small Medi Pack, climb onto
the white block, and head to the next water hole.  Dive down deep to throw the
switch, then go back up and watch the current carry Lara at superhuman speed
through the water.  Pull out and shoot the rat before it can do you much harm,
then move the block and climb up to the long ledge.

You will notice a Save Crystal across the way, and an argument can be made for
using it now.  You are about to have another encounter with Pierre, and you are
probably going to have to repeat it a few times.  If you defer use of the
Crystal until after a successful battle with Pierre, you will have to repeat
everything you've done so far in the level just to get another shot (ha!) at
Pierre.  On the other hand, if you use the Crystal now, then you will have
fewer tasks to repeat before attempting the battle with Pierre anew.  However,
there are some moderately risky tasks between the fight with Pierre and the
next Save Crystal, meaning that if you botch any of those tasks then you may
have to repeat the fight with Pierre.  The more experienced adventurer will
probably want to use the Crystal now; the less experienced adventurer is
probably better off saving it until after a satisfactory battle with Pierre.

Either way, get to the long ledge opposite the Save Crystal and face the alcove
across the way.  When you touch that block in front of the alcove, Pierre is
going to come up the stairs that are beyond the opening.  There is not much
room to fight him on the stairs, so I definitely advise against the direct
approach.  As before, I'll offer up three different strategies and let you make
your own choice.

Jump over to the block in front of the opening.  Pull out your Magnums and
retreat to the long ledge.  Pierre will occasionally (Pierre-iodically?) appear
in the opening, and when he does, blast him until he turns and heads back down
the stairs.  He may fire at you, but it has been my experience that most of his
shots from there will miss you.  After you land 10-12 good hits, Pierre will go
away (dis-a-Pierre?) and you can proceed.  If he lands more than a couple of
hits, you might want to reload because it only takes a couple of minutes to get
to this point anyway.  (My thanks to alert reader Lynne Moffitt who reminded me
of this strategy, which certainly results in less damage than my previous
suggestion of fighting Pierre on the stairs.)  Alternatively, you can stand on
the block to which you back-flipped and, when Pierre shows his hairy mug, you
can jump up and blast him with almost complete safety.  As a plus, Pierre can't
hit you unless, of course, he catches you in mid-jump.

The problem that I usually encounter is that after Pierre shows up (a-Pierres?)
the first time, he retreats down the stairs not to be seen again for very long
stretches of time.  I'm talking 10 - 15 minutes easily.  If you wait more than
a minute or so for him to re-a-Pierre (okay -- that's the last one, I
promise!), I suggest that you try this.  Return to the ledge, and after you
pull up, rotate 90 degrees clockwise to that Lara's face is against a wall but
she is generally facing down the stairs.  Side jump left into the stair
opening.  If Lara aims her guns, fire quickly and then side jump back to the
right before Pierre can return fire.  If she does not aim her guns, side jump
back to the right, wait a couple of seconds and then repeat these two jumps.
Worst case scenario, you take some damage and have to repeat the level up to
this point.  On a good day, between the shots that you landed when he first
appeared (see -- I kept my promise) and the ones you land on the staircase, he
will be damaged enough to run away and be out of your hair for the time being.
From my experience, that takes considerably less time -- and is less tedious --
than standing around waiting for Pierre to find his way back up to the alcove.

(June 2013 update) -- Having had so much success defeating Pierre in the last
level using the run and roll technique with the shotgun, I gave it a try here.
Darned if it didn't work -- zero damage after just a couple of tries.  Start as
before -- wait on the block in front of the alcove, and when Pierre strolls by,
jump and land as many shots as you can.  When he retreats, jump over to the
alcove, pull up, equip the shotgun, rotate 90 degrees clockwise, and use the
Look button to watch for his return.  When you see him coming, rotate to face
him, shoot as soon as you can, run past him, roll, shoot again, and run past
him again.  Be careful not to run out of the alcove because it is a long way
down!  With any luck, he will retreat down the stairs without landing even a
single shot!

For what it's worth, you can actually skip this battle with Pierre entirely.
At the bottom of the stairs are some items on the floor (shotgun shells and
Magnum clips), a Secret and a crocodile.  You will be returning to this room in
just a few minutes, but first you are going to fill it with water.  Once the
room is filled with water, you can no longer get the Secret.  You can, however,
retrieve the items from the floor of the room.  The down side is that you are
going to have to dodge the crocodile while getting them.  Personally, I can't
stand to pass up a Secret, and I wouldn't feel right avoiding a battle this
way.  Besides, the fight isn't that tough and you should have plenty of life to
spare in this level anyway.  So, although I don't recommend it, I thought that
you should be aware that this part of this level can be bypassed altogether if
you wish.

Once Pierre has moved on to other things, descend the stairs and time a run
past the shredder.  A crocodile awaits you at the bottom, but he won't get you
as long as you are on the stairs.  Gather the loot and the Secret, and then
head back up the stairs.  (Note:  If you chose to skip going down the stairs,
continue with the walkthrough here.)  Make your way over to the Save Crystal
and use it now if you didn't before.  Health target -- 65% - 90%.  Jump past
the swinging blade to get the shotgun shells, then make a sharply angled
jump/grab to the adjacent alcove.  Shimmy right to throw a switch and drop down
into the water. Pull up onto the nearby ledge, and notice the inanimate rat
that isn't going to come to life and let you kill it until you get within one
square of it.  Take another swim, and when you emerge look to your left for a
lion that you need to take out.  Go to the hall behind the Save Crystal and
throw the switch.  Climb onto the ledge with the Save Crystal and safely
eliminate two gorillas on the level above you.  Climb up; jump, shimmy, and
pull up; grab the key and Medi Pack.  Get back down to the Save Crystal and
save your game.  Health target:  60% - 90%.

Move to the adjacent room, use the key, and jump across the water.  You are in
the room with five doors that you can open by moving the block onto the four
squares.  Just remember that when most of these doors open, they will release
creatures, but you are generally safe from them atop the block.  So, go through
this routine four times:  pull the block onto a square, jump on top of the
block and kill any enemies that you released, then grab any loot from behind
the door that you opened.  There is a boulder trap behind one door (the only
one that did not release any enemies), and the overhead room has a very visible
shredder, but otherwise there is little to fear here.  After you have
slaughtered all wildlife and looted all five rooms, use your Rusty Keys to
access the Save Crystal and use it.  Health target:  50% - 90%. So far, the
only place that I have lost any life was in the gunfight with Pierre.

Slide down the ramp, remembering that there is a Secret to the left on the way
down.  The changing camera angle makes it tough to gauge, but jump left on a
slow count to 4 after hitting the ramp, and you should do fine.  Besides, you
did just save, so if you miss it just try again.  By the way, who designs these
rooms with breakaway tiles?  Are we to believe that Lara is the first one to
tread on them EVER?  Anyway, slide down all the way to the water and quickly
swim to and pull up on the light colored square.  I say "quickly" because there
is a crocodile in hot pursuit -- one that you should neutralize as soon as you
reach safe ground.  Follow the path, jump off the ramp, climb up, and throw the
switch.  Slide down into the water and swim to the building with the two
statues in front.  You will notice a Save Crystal across the way.  This is
another example of uneven distribution of these things, because the very next
place that you are going has another Save Crystal!  So, use it or lose it
because this level is nearly over.  Swim to the other side of the building.
Almost directly underneath the statue on this side there is a bluish rock that
marks the entrance to a nearly invisible tunnel.  Swim into it, pull out, throw
the switch and (I guess) use the Save Crystal.  Health target -- 40% - 90%.

Swim back to the building, pull up, and QUICKLY go inside.  The statues are
going to come to life and they are very hard to fight from outside.  Once you
are inside, you can fight them or ignore them as you please. Fighting them is
basically a colossal waste of ammunition, but if you want to do it without
getting hurt, here's how.  Position yourself a few steps back from the door but
lined up with the door opening.  Shoot them as they go by (they won't come
inside), but be ready to side-jump to avoid their fireballs if necessary.  I
suppose fighting the statues is good practice, but it is totally unnecessary.

What IS necessary is fighting Pierre, who is waiting for you in the next room
to the left as you enter.  Equip your Magnums, run to the center of the room,
and shoot him while side-jumping.  This time you have plenty of room to avoid
his shots, and this time rather than run off, Pierre has the decency to die.  I
got lucky and never got hit even once in this fight.  Collect the items from
his corpse, collect the ammunition and Medi Pack from the ledges, use the key
in the lock on the upper level, and exit through the back of the room to the
next level.  Congratulations -- you are over halfway through the game and have
not yet used a Medi Pack.  (So far, I've collected 35 small and 30 large Medi
Packs, but I'm quite sure that I missed some along the way.)(June 2013 update -
- Through a combination of luck and patience in my battles with Pierre, I
managed to finish this level with a full health bar without capitalizing on any
glitches.  I had to fight both battles multiple times, but otherwise a perfect
level really wasn't all that difficult to attain.)

===============================================================================

Level 10 --  City of Khamoon (L10)

Overview:
We have a new challenge in this level.  For the first time, we are going to do
battle with panther mummies.  From a distance, they can throw fireballs at you,
and up close they move really fast, making them hard to target.  To add to the
fun, when you kill them they explode.  This means that if Lara kills them at
close range their death will cause damage to HER.  In addition, we are going to
encounter a situation where we cannot just pick off our enemies from a
sheltered position, but rather have to get down and duke it out with them.
Despite these new challenges, finishing the level with 80% or more life
remaining is a reasonable goal, largely because we are going to give ourselves
multiple chances at the tough battles.  So, roll up your sleeves and let's
prove ourselves up to the task.

Particulars:
Use blocks and the natural terrain to get across the pit, picking up some ammo
and a small Medi-Pack on the way.  Before dropping down, kill the panther
bounding around below.  Jump up the slope and look below.  It may seem peaceful
now, but there is a white panther mummy in the vicinity that you need to
eliminate before going down into this main area.  When he has exploded (!),
pick up all of the ammo in the area, go ahead and pull the block out, then go
behind the sphinx's head.  Pick up the items and use the Save Crystal. Health
target -- 100% (Yes, 100% -- we really haven't done anything yet to endanger
Lara's health.)

Use the (misspelled) Saphire Key to open the way, and before turning the
corner, climb up to your right.  This will give you a better vantage point from
which to kill the oncoming panther.  Go to the end, take a right, and have your
Magnums out because another panther will attack about halfway down the
corridor.  Backhopping should help you avoid any damage.  Just past the Save
Crystal, kill the crocodile below and then (I guess) go ahead and save your
game since we can't easily get back up here.  Health target -- 90 - 100%, but
if you lost any life since the last save, you could easily reload and try
again.

Safety drop to the ground, get the Medi Pack, trigger the boulder, and grab the
Secret.  Dive into the water, pull the switch, swim forward, and pull out as
quickly as possible so that you can eliminate the crocodile that is nipping at
your heels before he gets to you.  Move the block to access the nearby overhead
alcove.  Then jump up there, pull a switch, and get back down.  Now move the
block into position to access the ledge at the other side of the room.  Before
going up there, let's think about what lies ahead.

When you move that overhead block, you are going to be attacked by a crazed
panther mummy, and you are probably going to need a couple of tries to minimize
damage.  Thus, I recommend that you use the Save Crystal NOW to avoid repeating
all of this block-pushing and switch-throwing.  Health target -- still 90 -
100%.  When you are ready, head up and push the block out of the way.

I have tried this fight dozens of different ways, and the way that has been
most successful for me has been the direct method.  Panther mummies seem to be
nearsighted and not exceptionally bright.  If you are up close to them, they
are all over you, but if you keep your distance they often will not attack
immediately, even if you are pumping them full of lead.  So, as soon as Lara
releases the block, draw the Magnums, turn to face the room, and shoot.  Do NOT
move -- just stand and fire.  Sometimes the panther will charge you and knock
you off, sometimes he will explode right in front of you, causing you damage.
In either of these cases, just reload and try again.  Sometimes he will just
hunker down and look at you while you blast him to kingdom come, and you can
escape with ZERO damage.  This is what we want, so keep trying until it happens
for you.  When it does, go inside and throw the switch.

As an alternative, it is possible to shoot this creature from afar.  As soon as
you push the block, execute a quick side jump into the water.  From here, you
can return to the first movable block, stand on it, and (hopefully) blast away
at the Panther Mummy when it comes bounding out of its room.  There are at
least two possible problems here.  One is that your side jump might land you on
a walkway rather than in the water, resulting in unacceptable damage.  However,
after a couple of tries, you will figure out how to get the jump right.  The
other potential problem is that the Panther Mummy will get stuck inside his
room and will not come out and allow you to blast him.  If this happens, you
just need to reload and try again.  Personally, I think that the direct
approach from the previous paragraph is the best, but you be the judge.

For what it's worth, you can actually skip this battle -- and this room --
altogether.  The only reason that you go in here is to throw a switch that
opens the overhead trap door.  It turns out that this trap door is little more
than an optical illusion.  You can pass through it as if it weren't there.
Once you get to the ledge with the second movable block, pull the block towards
you once and climb onto it.  (The Panther Mummy will not appear because it is
triggered by stepping on the square where the second block was originally.)
From there, you can do a running jump with grab to the gold "bridge", and from
there you can pull up into the next room as if the trap door weren't even
there.  (Thanks to Colin for this reminder.)

Use the second block to help you get to the gold bridge and pull up inside to
throw a switch.  We are still a ways from a Save Crystal, and we are about to
execute some high altitude jumps.  My point is that you need to exercise extra
caution and WALK pretty much everywhere you go for a while unless you REALLY
want to repeat everything starting with your battle with the panther mummy.
'Nuff said.  Go to the gong and follow the path to the left.  Collect some
Magnum clips, slide down the ramp, and collect a small Medi Pack.  Jump over to
your right to the outcropping that points towards the green roof.  You may hear
a crocodile below, so pick it off now.  Jump over to the green roof for some
Magnum clips, then use the sloped green block to launch you to the next roof
clockwise for a Secret.  Safety drop to the ramp (NOT the ground!) and
congratulate yourself for having the foresight to clear away the boulder first.

Go to the new area that you just opened by the jade cat statue and drop down
cautiously.  Avoid the path with orange-and-black stairs, opting instead to
pick up some Magnum clips before dropping down a couple of levels.  Stand on
the ledge with the Save Crystal and kill the two panthers below.  Now throw the
switch behind you, pick up some more Magnum clips, and save your game at the
last Save Crystal of this level.  Health target -- 90 - 100%.  Pause for a
moment before proceeding.

When you drop to the ground and advance more than one square forward, two more
panthers will attack you from the far right corner. Panthers, you may have
noticed, are incredibly durable and can withstand a lot of punishment, so let's
plan out this battle before attempting it.  There are at least 2 good ways to
defeat them.  First, I'll describe the strategy that appeared in the original
version of this guide.

Drop to the ground, roll, move to your left, and draw your Magnums.  Run
forward enough to open the gate and release the cats, then jump back to
maximize the distance between you and them.  Wait for the cats to come to you,
and when the cats are within range, start shooting.  When they get too close
for comfort, jump over them, roll, and backhop to finish them off.  I know it
sounds hard to believe, but you can actually sustain ZERO damage in this fight.
You will probably have to practice a couple of times, but again, that is why we
saved just before this battle.  If you can get away with 40% damage or less,
you are probably just fine.  You probably don't want to obsess over this battle
because it is very possible that you will die in the next battle and have to
repeat this one anyway.  When you are satisfied with the outcome of this
encounter, skip down to the third paragraph below.

(June 2013 update) -- When attempting the above strategy, I had a devil of a
time duplicating my previous success.  I couldn't finish off the first panther
before it got to me, and backhopping didn't help because the big cats just
lunged at Lara and mauled her.  Side-jumping instead of backhopping helped a
little, but the cats proved to be just too agile, and I had a lot of trouble
targeting them.  I decided to try a different strategy -- one, it turns out,
that I had tried a few years back and abandoned -- and it worked fairly
reliably.

Drop to the ground, roll, and move to your right.  Don't bother drawing your
weapons.  Have Lara straddle the line between the first and second squares from
the right (you will see that line on the floor) so that you have a straight
line of sight to the stone pillar at the opposite end of the room.  Move
forward enough to trigger the panthers.  When they come romping out, STAND
STILL.  Notice that instead of making a beeline for you, they go the long way,
looping around the central pillar.  When both panthers have committed to that
path, run towards the aforementioned stone pillar while holding the Action
button and pull up onto it as quickly as you can.  If you do this correctly,
you will be able to climb atop the stone pillar before taking any damage from
the panthers.  Sometimes, the panthers will pin Lara against the pillar,
preventing her from pulling up.  If this happens, don't give up unless you see
her health meter falling! As often as not, I was able to jump and pull up onto
the pillar, sustaining no damage, even though the panthers had Lara cornered!
Overall, I arrived atop the pillar safely maybe one time out of 3, but since
you just saved the game, it doesn't take long to reload and try again if the
panthers outrun you.  Keep trying until you arrive on the pillar damage-free.
Don't bother killing the panthers just yet because  . . .

Whichever strategy you used, there is still some unfinished business in this
room, but let's save that until after the next battle in order to minimize
repetition.  From atop the stone pillar, pull up and proceed down the wildly
zigzagging hallway with Magnums drawn, for another crazed panther mummy lurks
at the end.  You do NOT want him to trap you in this hallway.  Rather, you want
to fight him in the open area that lies beyond.  Use this as a guide:  The
hallway jogs left, right, left, left, and then right.  As soon as you make that
last jog to the right, run forward, roll if necessary, and do your best to
shoot while side-jumping.  This one is not going to hold still for you like the
last one, but if you take the initiative, you will survive just fine.
Alternatively, since the panther mummy tends to stay very close to you, your
shotgun can be very effective provided, of course, that you can aim it towards
this maniacally bounding creature.  After practicing this battle several times,
I got away after taking only about 10% damage and considered myself very lucky
indeed.

Once you have satisfactory results from both of these two last battles,
backtrack down the zigzagging hallway and cross the bridge.  This will release
two more panthers below, but from your elevated position you can safely
eliminate these now-defenseless creatures and, if you didn't dispatch them
before, the first two panthers as well.  With the ground now cleared of
enemies, go back and get the Secret, drop to the floor, get the two Medi-Packs,
and return to the large room where the panther mummy once dwelt.

The rest of this level is fairly routine.  Go to the elevated doorway, follow
the path, and climb up to get the second (still misspelled) Saphire Key (Geez -
- didn't any of these programmers go to school?)  Run up the hill and go around
the ledges to get some Magnum clips and throw a switch.  Backtrack, take a long
slide down, make a U-turn, and go uphill to use this Key to open the way to the
next level, putting you two-thirds of the way towards reaching your "No Medi
Packs" goal. (May, 2013 update -- Finished this level with all items and
Secrets and a full health bar -- another "Perfect" level.  What made this work
was a rather fortunate sequence of events.  I took no damage when fighting the
two panthers on the ground and then had a very favorable encounter with that
last panther mummy.  When I entered the room, he was hunkered down at the far
end of the room growling, and I managed to blow him up before he ever even
moved towards me.  My point is that this last sequence is the only place that
you are really in danger, so if you try it enough times you can escape with no
damage whatsoever.)

===============================================================================

Level 11 -- Obelisk of Khamoon (L11)

Overview:
This level is more about jumping and throwing switches than it is about
fighting enemies.  You are going to cross paths with several panther mummies,
but since we already know their weakness, we aren't going to take much damage
from them.  My biggest problem in this area was carelessness -- taking
unnecessary falls because I wasn't paying attention.  I'm sure that you will be
more careful than I was.  If not, have a good laugh at your own mistakes and
reassure yourself that you won't have much to repeat because this level
contains no less than eight Save Crystals.  So be patient, take care of the
panther mummies, and you can finish this level with about 75% life remaining
without breaking a sweat.  (December 2009 update -- The only time that I lost
life in this run was making the jump to the Secret behind the gong, a loss that
I'm pretty sure is unavoidable.  So, even though a "perfect" level isn't
possible, it is definitely possible to avoid all damage except in this one
place.)


Particulars:

Follow the path to the room with the four moveable blocks. Behind each is a new
danger, although really only one of these routes is absolutely necessary.
Let's tackle the riskiest one first, keeping in mind that it is completely
optional.  Counting from the block that is more or less directly in front of
you, pull out the third block counterclockwise.  When you drop into this area,
you will slide down the slanted block beneath you, and a panther will attack
from your far right.  Have your shotgun ready and level the panther with two
blasts. If you take more than a little damage, just reload.  Throw the switch
and climb back out, picking up a small Medi Pack and some magnum clips along
the way.  Net result:  You traded two shotgun shells for magnum clips and a
small Medi-Pack -- probably not that bad a trade, considering that your magnums
are your go-to weapon at this point, and you're probably carrying upwards of 40
shotgun shells anyway.  Additionally, shotgun shells are about to become junk
ammunition since this is the last time -- other than one fight when weapon
choice is severely limited -- that I used my shotgun.  My point is that you're
in use 'em or lose 'em territory anyway, so you have little to lose by
expending a couple of shells.

Behind the first block (two clockwise from the one you just moved) is a panther
guarding a small Medi-Pack.  He is triggered when you cross the line that
divides the large room from the inner area.  If you REALLY want that Medi-Pack,
pull the block twice, roll across the line, run back and leap onto the block to
eliminate the panther with your pistols.  Again, you may just want to skip
this area since it, like the previous one, does not represent a very good value
for your adventuring time and resources.  Either way, move the block underneath
the (currently closed) gold overhead door. There is no reason to pull out the
next block counterclockwise -- there is nothing behind it except a panther,
making it an even worse deal than the previous two.

The last block leads to a watery area with a crocodile.  Swim in and pull out
ASAP, then blast the crocodile with your pistols from a safe position.  Scout
the waters for a key, a small Medi pack, and some more soggy ammunition.  When
you have accomplished all of this (hopefully without losing any life), leave
the Save Crystal unused for now and return to the room with the moveable
blocks.

Use the Saphire (still misspelled) key to open the overhead door.  Equip your
Magnums and save your game at the overhead Save Crystal.  Health target -- 90 -
100%.  We used this Save Crystal instead of the last one because you may have
to repeat this battle a couple of times, and this way you have to repeat less.
A panther mummy awaits you in the room ahead, and you know how crazy they can
be.  Again, I'm going to offer you a couple of different strategies to try.

Strategy #1 -- Run up the stairs with your Magnums drawn.  When you enter the
room and see Lara target the mummy, STOP MOVING and shoot.  With a little luck,
you can escape completely unscathed, but you will probably have to fight this
battle several times to achieve that level of luck and success.

Strategy #2 -- It is possible to retreat to the block below the opening and
kill this panther mummy from there with complete safety.  He is triggered when
Lara touches the second step up from the landing with the Save Crystal.  Stand
on the first step above the landing, roll onto the trigger step, and run back
out of the alcove and onto the block.  Turn around and hope for the best.  If
the PM decides to follow you, there is a very good chance that he will just
bound around on that landing and you can eliminate him without suffering so
much as a scratch.

You will notice that last sentence began with the word, "if."  More often than
not, the PM will not descend all the way to the alcove landing but rather will
retreat and hang around in that big room upstairs waiting to pounce on the
impatient adventurer.  If this happens, don't give up and reload yet!  Jump
into the alcove, run up the stairs, turn the corner, and fire into the room as
soon as Lara aims her guns.  I was surprised by how often I caught the PM
hunkered down growling in a corner, allowing me to finish it off damage-free.
If, instead, the PM springs on you, just reload and try again.  Overall, I
would guess that I was able to kill the PM on the alcove landing maybe 10% of
the time, but when the PM retreated up the stairs, I was probably able to
finish it off at least 30% of the time. By my calculations, this makes this
strategy about 37% effective, which really isn't that bad.  Arguably, it is at
least as effective as Strategy #1.

When you have dealt with this enemy one way or another, throw the switch, get
the Eye of Horus, and drop off the bridge into the water.  Gather the
ammunition and enter the opening in the wall.  Slide down, kill two panthers
from the safety of the ledge, and start climbing.  Go across for the large Medi
Pack if you like, but steer clear of that hole in the floor nearby -- it only
contains another Medi Pack (which you really don't need) and two more panther
mummies (which you really don't want to fight.)  Make your way to the top of
the room and use the nearby Save Crystal.  Health target:  80 - 100%.

Jump, grab the next ledge and pull out those Magnums.  Another panther mummy
will come down the stairs, but remember -- stay put and shoot and he probably
won't bother you.  If he gets too close, you can always jump back to the ledge
that had the Save Crystal and shoot him safely from there as he romps around
the areas.  When he is dispatched, throw the nearby switch and drop down to get
the bounty of treasures just below the switch.  Climb up the stairs, safety
drop down the hole, slide down a long ramp, and, when you reach the bottom,
pull up quickly into one of the alcoves so that you can shoot the oncoming
panther.  Throw the switch, run into the adjacent room for some ammo, then
start the climb up the steps that were clearly designed for NBA players.  Make
a quick detour left for some shotgun shells.  Jump over to the level with the
Save Crystal but don't use it just yet.  Enter the room with the pillar, take a
left, and pick up the Ankh.  Go past the door to the Save Crystal to throw yet
another switch and pick up a large Medi Pack, then return to the Save Crystal
and save your game.  Health target -- 70 - 100%.

Climb the new giant steps, jump/grab the crevice, and shimmy across the see-
through wall (you'll see what I mean), and drop down at the end so that you can
throw another switch that creates another set of giant steps.  Climb these,
pull up at the top, and whip out those Magnums because you are face-to-face
with another panther mummy.  You should know the drill by now.  Hey -- here's
something different -- a switch to throw.  Ok, make that two.  Throw them both,
grab the item, and use the Save Crystal since we aren't coming back here
anytime soon.  Health target -- still 70% - 100%.

Go out the door you just opened, past the three columns, and make a daring leap
to the Secret atop the pillar.  Now make a truly death-defying leap to the
ledge with the gong for another Secret, taking about a 5% loss of life in the
process.  Drop down, go around clockwise to get the Seal of Anubis, and then
backtrack to where you dropped down. Follow the blue walkway through the
doorway into the next room.  We are ultimately headed for the Save Crystal
directly below where you are now standing, but there are some items to collect
above us, so we'll get those first.  Moving clockwise around the room, climb
the steps, shimmy right, and pull up.  Jump/grab the ledge with the pillar and
follow the passage for a Secret.  Emerge from the other side and continue
clockwise by jumping until you get the ammo.  Backtrack all the way to where
you pulled up to get the Secret.

There are 2 panther mummies on the ground level that you can avoid altogether,
but killing them now will slightly facilitate our passage in a moment.  Descend
the blocks in the corner just counterclockwise from your current position, drop
to the ground, and then immediately pull back up onto the blocks.  The PMs are
released when you hit the ground, but they can't harm you (except by exploding
close to you) when you are on the block, so be sure that each is sufficiently
far away when it terminates.  You can now explore the ground level in complete
safety, but doing so is a complete waste of time because there are no treasures
to be found there.   Climb back up the blocks in the corner.

It is now time to head to the Save Crystal, and there are at least two possible
paths your can pursue.  The "honest" way is to shimmy clockwise around the room
using the lower path before doing a running jump/grab to the ledge with the
Save Crystal.  I prefer to just backtrack to the blue walkway and use the
safety drop glitch to get to the desired ledge, which is directly below you.
I'll leave this decision to you.  Either way, throw the switch in the room
behind the Crystal, then save your game. Health target -- still 70 - 100%.

You now need to make your way back up to the blue walkway, which is immediately
above you.  Sadly, there is no "Reverse Safety Drop Glitch" that teleports you
upwards, so you're just going to have to hoof it.  If you killed the two
panther mummies on the ground, it is easiest to jump to the lower ledge, safety
drop to the ground, and climb back up the corner blocks that you used to kill
the PMs. If you chose not to fight the panther mummies, you have to shimmy
counterclockwise pretty much all the way around the room.  Once you are back on
the blue walkway, go across the bridge, and claim the Scarab.  Now drop into
the water, and if you like, backtrack to the Save Crystal that we left behind
in the watery room beyond the room with the four moveable blocks so that you
can save before proceeding.

Swim into the opened door at the base of the pillar.  This is quite a long swim
and there are three items to pick up on the way, so don't try to do it all at
once.  When you finally get to the end, you are rewarded with a fight with a
panther mummy.  Try to pull out of the water on the side opposite where the PM
is.  Land as many shots as you can, then jump back into the safety of the water
when he gets too close for comfort.  It isn't too difficult to finish him off
without taking any damage.  Collect the items from the bottom of the pool and
use the Save Crystal.  Health target -- 40 - 90%.  Climb the steps and take out
this panther mummy from the safety of your elevated position.  Collect an item
and exit this area, returning to where you began the last level.  Go to the
column and insert the four items into their appropriate places, opening the way
to a new level and signifying the successful completion of yet another level
without using any Medi packs.

===============================================================================

Level 12 -- Sanctuary of the Scion (L12)

Overview:
This is definitely the hardest level to this point.  Near the end, you will
fight what is arguably the most difficult battle of the game, and after that
you will have another encounter with a gun-toting Larson.  In anticipation of
these challenges, it will be important for you to try to conserve every bit of
life possible.  With a little practice, you can avoid virtually all damage up
until those final two fights, so be especially conservative.  If you take
damage from an accidental fall or from an unlucky encounter, consider reloading
and trying again, because you will want to have around 75% life remaining for
those last two battles.  Having said that, I should also point out that I
finished the level with about 80% life remaining, so I know that you can too.
Let's get down to it.

Particulars:

First, note that this first sequence of events is rather long and is fraught
with peril.  There are many ways to go wrong here -- some from carelessness and
some from just plain dumb luck -- so exercise extreme caution, especially as
you get close to the Save Crystal.

Head about halfway up the stairs and wait for the two panther mummies to come
bounding at you.  As soon as Lara targets them, start backhopping to keep a
good distance between you and them.  Remember to periodically release the X
button so that you are always targeting the nearer enemy.  Using your Magnums,
you should blow them both up before they have a chance to scratch you.  Get the
ammo at the bottom of the stairs, ascend the stairs again and get some more
ammo, then pull up onto the back of the sphinx.  Go left just behind the
sloped block and slide safely to the ground, then turn and look to your left.
You will be confronted by a Demon, which is similar to a panther mummy except
that it can throw fireballs at you!  There isn't much room to maneuver, but if
you can backflip to a place where you can sidejump, the fireballs are easy to
dodge and you can survive this with no damage at all.  Go back and get the
Magnum clips that you left behind you in the sand and run counterclockwise
around the sphinx.  There is more ammo between the paws, and you can get that
now or later.  Head to the opposite side of the sphinx and climb all the way
back to the top.

Facing the same direction as the sphinx, WALK (you REALLY don't want to fall
from here!) to your left as far as you can.  Execute an extremely daring leap
of faith to the invisible block with the Uzis on it, losing a small amount of
health in the process.  Equip them immediately and point back towards the
sphinx to kill the two flying (and exploding!) demons coming towards you.  All
that stands between you and a Save Crystal now is a sequence of jumps, so take
care in lining up and executing each of them so that you don't have to repeat
everything in this level up to this point.  Turn your back to the sphinx and
face the cliffs.  WALK to the upper left corner of the invisible block, then </pre><pre id="faqspan-4">
sidestep once to the right to ensure that you don't jump off the block when you
jump back.  Look at the block across the way that slopes upward from left to
right.  You need to aim a running jump/grab for the LOWER (left-hand) side of
this block.  Pull up and start going around the cliffs clockwise, picking up
ammo as you go, until you reach a switch and a Save Crystal. Use the Save
Crystal, but let's pause for a moment before throwing the switch.  Health
target -- 80 - 100%.

When you throw the switch (not YET -- read this first) you will be attacked by
another flying demon.  You are in danger of either a) being knocked off the
cliff or 2) having him damage you by exploding near you when he dies.  Throw
the switch and quickly hit the L1 button so that you can see again.  The demon
tends to head towards the switch rather than towards Lara, so after you throw
the switch, make your way clockwise to the corner, turn right, jump over the
slanted rock, and stand on the elevated square block.  Walk forward a bit so
that the camera angle is more advantageous.  The demon will be coming from your
left.  Target it as soon as possible, rotate clockwise with its flight path,
and it should blow up harmlessly near the switch.

Continue clockwise as far as you can, then shimmy and jump back
counterclockwise until you can drop safely to the ground.  Go to the door you
just opened -- it is near where you landed when you slid off the sphinx.  Slide
backwards, shimmy, and pull up to go through the next door.  Slide into the
water to get the key, then make your way to the top of the NBA-sized stairs.
Slide and jump/grab to the bridge, and pause a moment before using the key.

Using this key opens the door at the other end of the bridge.  Behind it is a
centaur, similar to the living statues that I told you NOT to fight in the Tomb
of Tihocan.  Centaurs can take a lot of punishment and worse yet, they can
and will hurl fireballs at you.  This is okay if you have room to side-jump,
but you might have noticed that we don't have a lot of room to maneuver here.
Initially, I was tempted to stay back a ways and shoot from a distance, but I
consistently wound up getting pummeled with fireballs.  I found it best to be
proactive.  Run up close to the entrance but stay on the bridge and fire away.
The whole fireball-throwing thing seems to come in bursts -- either the centaur
trots around harmlessly or it stays in one place and pelts you with one
fireball after another.  So, if he starts throwing fireballs at you, consider
either jumping into the water, returning to the bridge, and trying again or
(heaven forbid!) reloading your game and trying again.  The faster that you can
put him away, the less likely it is that he will bring out the fireballs.
Remember that these guys do explode when you finish them off.  I felt fortunate
to take him out on my first try without suffering any damage. If you get hit by
more than one or two fireballs, reload and try again.  Once you have had a
successful fight, you can go inside and claim some loot and an Ankh and use the
Save Crystal.  Health target -- 75 - 95%.

Exit the way you came into this area and head to the pillars near the sphinx's
right paw for some climbing and jumping.  Make your way up to the Save Crystal
and go ahead and use it because you may have to repeat this ensuing sequence a
couple of times.  Time a run past the shredder, watch out for the gap in the
path, and make your way over to the switch.  Before you throw it, stop and
think -- in this level, what happens when you throw a switch?  That's right --
a flying demon comes your way.  This time he seems to navigate towards the
center of the path between the shredder and the switch.  So, throw the switch,
press L1 so that you can see, jump back across the gap, and wait for the demon
on the raised part of the path before the shredder.  The demon should come from
your right and navigate towards a point on the cliff to your left.  Keep
rotating left with his flight path so that you continue to shoot him with both
Uzis.  When he lands, you can backhop to avoid damage from him when he
explodes.  Your goal here is zero damage.  Don't feel bad if this takes you a
couple of tries -- be patient and it will work out.  Go back to the switch,
turn right, and do a standing jump to the Medi Pack.  You can get down easily
from here by sliding and grabbing on the sloped ledge below.

Go to the tip of the sphinx's left paw and climb the nearby white rock.  Jump
right and then make your way counterclockwise around the area, watching out for
the gaps in the path.  When you get to the door that you just opened and a Save
Crystal, go inside and push the block before you use the Save Crystal so that
you don't have to repeat this.  Health target -- still 75 - 95%.  Climb onto
the block and then to the upper level.  The room ahead contains another
fireball-throwing centaur, but this time you have enough room to side-jump.
Start at the left edge of the raised path and side-jump right to get your
positioning correct.  Go forward enough to trigger the centaur (you will hear
it clip-clopping inside), then hop back a step or two.  Shoot the centaur from
out here, and if he stops and throws a fireball at you, just side-jump to avoid
it.  Once you get the timing down, this is pretty easy.  Again, you just saved
so your goal here is zero damage.  Pick up the item and the Ankh and head back
to the cliffs.

Drop off the side and slide down the ramp.  You will hear growling, warning you
that a Demon is in the vicinity and this one can also throw fireballs.  I
originally advised fighting this battle from the block with the Medi Pack, but
from that spot it is nearly impossible to aim the camera so that you can see
your enemy.  Instead, try fighting from your current location at the bottom of
the ramp.  If a fireball comes your way, you can side-jump right to avoid it
and then quickly back left to resume your battle.  Camera angles are much
friendlier from here, and I think you'll find the battle less frustrating.
Again, your goal should be zero damage.  Drop onto the back of the sphinx and
climb back up to the top.  Put the two Ankhs into place and use the Save
Crystal.  Health target -- still 75 - 95%.

Carefully return to the Sphinx's back, slide down to the ground as you did near
the beginning of the level, and enter the door between the sphinx's paws.
Retrieve the soggy ammunition, surface for air, then dive really, really deep
between the dog statue's paws to throw a switch.  The current will carry you up
through a hole.  Climb out, jump around a little, and stop before sliding down
the ramp.  There is a flying demon in here, and with a little patience, you can
kill him from here without taking any damage at all(you know how I HATE a fair
fight!)  You can even switch to your Magnums to conserve Uzi ammo.  When he has
exploded, slide down to the Save Crystal and use it.  Yes -- I still expect
your health to be above 75%.

If you want to have a little fun, make your way over to the dog statue and see
what happens when you try to walk out onto his nose.  For even more fun, turn
around and try to execute a safety drop onto his nose.  (I'm not crediting
Colin for this because it isn't in his FAQ yet -- I found this one myself.)
Don't forget to pull the large Medi-Pack from the dog statue's right ear!  When
you've had your fun, carefully make your way down until you can safely jump
into the water.  To jump to the dark brown pillar with the sloped top, walk
back two steps from the edge and make a standing jump.  From there you can do a
safety drop to the statue without losing any life.  Climb out near the center
of the dog statue and throw a switch that opens a door.  Swim between the bird
statue's feet, pull out, and climb the really long ramp up the Save Crystal,
picking up two sets of Magnum clips along the way.  Save at the Crystal and
pause to consider what lies ahead.

When you pick up the Scarab in front of you, the gate will open, unleashing two
panther mummies (I'm pretty sure that these do NOT throw fireballs) and a
centaur.  Individually, each of these enemies is a nuisance; collectively, they
are a nightmare.  You really don't want to go into the open area ahead and risk
trying to fight all 3 at the same time because they will have you outnumbered.
You are welcome to try your own strategies, but here is what worked best for
me.

Run to the Scarab, roll, pick it up, and retreat to the end of this particular
hall.  Don't turn any corners -- just run until you hit a wall, then roll and
wait with your back against the wall.  Eventually one or both of the panther
mummies will come after you, but you are safe from the centaur for now.  When
Lara raises her guns, blast like crazy, releasing the X button periodically so
that you are not targeting a dead enemy.  If both panther mummies come directly
towards you, you are dead -- just accept it.  Within a couple of tries, though,
you should get a situation where only one comes down the hall and pauses
partway there.  You will finish him before he can even scratch you.  Now the
odds are more favorable.  You can either go back to the wall and wait for the
second panther mummy or, possibly better, wait about halfway down the hallway.
From here, you can get a few shots in without danger of being hit.  When the
second PM comes for you, he will be weakened and you can finish him
off more easily.

Once the two panther mummies are out of the way, the rest is easy.  In fact, I
usually switch to my Magnums here to conserve Uzi ammo.  Your success will
depend on where the centaur is when you engage him.  Ideally, you will enter
the room when the centaur is galloping up and down the stairs and you will have
time to position yourself before he appears.  You can always press against the
inner wall and use the Look button to scout his whereabouts.  When you are
ready, run into the open area, face up to the centaur, and shoot while side-
jumping to avoid his fireballs.  If you are too close to him, you won't have
time to react, so you may need to take one jump backwards as well, depending on
where the centaur is when you enter the room.  Fortunately for us, once the
centaur starts throwing fireballs, he stays where he is and doesn't move.
Moreover, he never realizes that all of his shots are missing their targets.  I
took him down with my Magnums and never got hit.  In fact, it only took me a
couple of tries to survive this entire battle with zero damage.  It's
frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it, this battle is actually
kind of fun.

You can now use the Scarab to open the nearby gate and climb into the overhead
opening.  When you drop into the next room, Larson will appear to your right.
Use the Run and Roll technique, and you will take him down before he can do
much damage to you.

For the record, you don't even have to fight Larson.  He is triggered by the
square directly beneath the opening, and it is fairly easy to jump over this
square.  Walk to one of the far corners of the opening (right worked best for
me, although this works on both sides) and rotate as far to the side as you can
and still have your jump clear the side of the opening. Press both the Jump and
Action buttons (remember that Action will lower your trajectory and prevent you
from hitting the ceiling.)  If you do this correctly, you will hear Larson
deliver his little speech, but he will be frozen in place and will not attack
you unless you go back and step on the triggering square.

Go pick up the last piece of the Scion and watch some videos.  Despite some
rather difficult battles, I finished the level with about 80% life remaining,
and I'll bet that you can do better than that if you try.  However, just
surviving this level without using any Medi Packs is a major accomplishment, so
congratulate yourself on a job well done.

===============================================================================

Level 13 -- Natla's Mines (L13)

Overview:
In this level, the focus is more on puzzle-solving than on shooting enemies.
In fact, you are going to rack up only three kills.   However, each of them is
going to require surviving a harrowing gunfight with one of Natla's goons.
Since you start the level with no weapons, your opponent in each of these
battles will have a weapon that is equal to or superior to anything that you
have.  You are going to have to defeat these enemies with superior agility and
intelligence rather than sheer firepower.  Fortunately, we will be able to save
immediately before each gunfight, so you can try each fight multiple times
without having to repeat long stretches of the game.  Persevere until you can
win each battle within the established health targets and you will complete
this level, like its predecessors, without using any Medi Packs.

Particulars:

Swim under the waterfall, pull out, and throw the switch.  Swim across the way,
pull a block, and access another switch to throw.  Return to the area behind
the waterfall, jump across the chasm, go back a couple of rooms, and follow the
tracks to the door that opens automatically.  Jump the hurdles and dodge the
boulders to get the first fuse and a Save Crystal, which you should now use
with 100% life remaining -- no excuses!

Dodge more boulders and make your way back to the room with the shack.  Be sure
to move the block a total of 3 times so that it is directly underneath the hole
in the ceiling.  Otherwise, you will lose some health when you drop down in a
moment.  Use the block to get on top of the shack, fall through the breakaway
tile, and follow the path to another switch.  From here, return to the water,
pull up onto the repositioned boat, and jump over to the area with all the
crrates.  Enter the area to the left and grab some ammo.  Move some crates to
throw another switch that moves the RH-75 (?) out of the way.  Swim back to
where the RH-75 is, follow the tunnel, and pick up the fuse but don't take a
single step beyond it!  If you do, you will be attacked by the cowboy, and
without any weapons you will be toast!  We'll get to him soon enough.  As you
backtrack, use the crate you moved to access the overhead area containing some
Uzi clips and another switch to throw.

Go back to the area behind the waterfall.  In the second room across the chasm,
go to the left to the conveyor belt.  Head to the left to throw a switch and
pick up some very well camouflaged Uzi clips.  Pick up the fuse, and head over
to the room with the overhead cabin.  Enter the building, pick up some ammo,
and put the three fuses in their receptacles.  Go to the now-lowered cabin and
exercise your Second Amendment right to bear arms by reclaiming your pistols,
noticing that simply hitting the triangle button will not cause Lara to draw
them -- you have to select them from the items menu this first time.    Feeling
somewhat less vulnerable now that you are armed, go back to the building and
use the Save Crystal. Climb onto the now-grounded cabin and jump into the
overhead tunnel.  Take a quick right for a Secret, observing that apparently
having her legs crushed by a trap door does not cause Lara any damage.  Slide
down next to the Save Crystal and use it with your life still 100% intact (but
not for long!)

If you have a couple of minutes to spare -- and since you're playing a video
game, I assume that you do -- there is another interesting oddity of the game
that you can now witness.  Go back to the room with the conveyor belt.  When
you return to the room with the cabin, you will find that it has mysteriously
vanished!  Go ahead and look up at the ceiling -- the cabin isn't there either.
To make the cabin reappear, go to the ledge with the barricade that overlooks
the water and the boat.  When you return to the original room, the cabin will
have magically reappeared!  BTW, if you make the cabin disappear before picking
up the pistols, when you return to the cabin room, the pistols will be lying on
the ground precisely where they would be if the cabin were there which, of
course, it is not. I ran across this glitch myself, and I don't even want to
speculate about why it happens.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled
programming.

You are about to fight what can be one of the tougher battles of the game.  It
is another gunfight with one of Natla's thugs (the cowboy.)  One problem is
that you are seriously out-armed -- he has your Magnums and you only have your
pistols.  It takes an unbelievable number of hits to take him down, and every
shot you absorb causes you beaucoup damage.  I have tried this battle many
different ways -- and as always, you are welcome to try your own strategies --
but here is what worked best for me.  Go back to the area where I previously
told you the cowboy would be.  He waits for you in the far right corner as you
enter, but he isn't triggered until you pass that big rock group (the Rolling
Stones?) in the middle of the room.  Run straight into the room, roll to
trigger the cowboy, retreat to the arched area just beyond where the path
slopes upward, roll again, and start shooting and side-jumping.  The arch seems
to provide an extra measure of protection beyond simply side-jumping.  The
camera view will make you dizzy, but just mindlessly side-jump and shoot until
the cowboy goes down.  If he decides to move in towards you, you are toast and
might as well reload your game.  I got away with losing only about 10% of my
life, though it took me a few tries to do that well.  Anything under 25% is
good.  (Update 9/08 -- I actually took zero damage in this fight.  I kept
hearing the cowboy's shots ricochet off the rocks, but he never hit me even
once.  It CAN be done!  It seems that position is everything.)

When you are victorious, reclaim your Magnums and go back to where the cowboy
was when you entered.  Do a safety drop over the edge by the Save Crystal and
use it.  Health target:  75 - 90%.  You can make it to the next rock by
jumping, but if you do you will lose some life from the fall.  The safe way to
proceed is to use the Safety Drop bug described in Colin's FAQ to drop to the
rock directly below you.  You can then pick up the small Medi Pack and shimmy
safely to that same rock to which you would have jumped.  If you have issues
with using this bug, make the jump, accept the minor loss of health, then
shimmy left to the Medi Pack and then back right.  For the long running jump
across the lava, be sure to begin from Lara's far left (the high side of the
ledge) so that you don't come up short.  Continue clockwise around the room,
slide down a ramp, and head into the room with the tall pillars.  Be sure to
take the side trip to the right for a Secret because you will get lots of great
items including your shotgun, which will be your weapon of choice in your next
battle.  When you return to the room with the pillars, remember that the ones
with the brown tops are safe, however, precariously sloped they may appear to
be.

Follow the path to the TNT room and pull the moveable crate so that you can
access the overhead path in the next room.  There is a Save Crystal here, but I
am going to recommend doing a couple more things before using it.  We have
another gunfight coming up, and you will probably have to repeat it a few times
to get it right, so I'm trying to minimize repetition.  However, let me remind
you that it has been a LONG time since we saved, so use extra caution during
these last few procedures.  Follow the path and make two very careful running
jumps to the brown patches above the lava pit to get across safely, pausing
before the second jump to let a rolling boulder pass.  Follow the path to the
switch, pick up the ammo, and pull the switch to blow up the TNT.  CAREFULLY
follow the path back and CAREFULLY jump back across the pit.  Now use the Save
Crystal.  Health target:  75 - 90%

Climb over the rubble created by the explosion, and mentally prepare for your
next combat.  You are going to fight a kid on a skateboard, and he has your
Uzis.  The skateboard gives him good speed and very good maneuverability.  The
good news is that you now have your shotgun, and it can take him down pretty
quickly.  As you enter the concrete area, he could either approach you from
straight ahead or from your right.  Hide behind the first pillar so that he
can't shoot you until he passes the pillar. When he emerges from behind the
pillar, do your best "Run and Roll", blasting him with the shotgun after every
roll.  Since he stays close to you, you can do a lot of damage quickly, and
five good blasts should take him down.  It may take a couple of tries (which is
why we saved right before this fight), but you can survive with minimal (10 -
25%) damage.  My life bar at this point was at about 80%, but anything above
about 50% is fine.

Remember to reclaim your Uzis from this brat, then scout the area for more ammo
and a Secret.  Just be careful not to fall into any of the lava pits --
repeating that last battle would really be the pits, don't you think?  When you
have stuffed your backpack with loot, go to the exit and use the Save Crystal.
Health target -- 50 - 80%.  Follow the path and dodge 4 boulders, then do some
jumping and climbing to arrive at the claustrophobic and confusing rooms and
blocks puzzle.  I am including its solution here because I always have trouble
remembering it, and I'm guessing that the same is true for some of you.

You arrive in a room with a movable block.  Push it forward two squares.  In so
doing, you have blocked the exit that you want to use.  If we could push this
block forward one more square, we would be nearly done.  Unfortunately, there
is a block behind this block that we need to move out of the way.  To get to
it, we are going to go up a level and then come in behind this block so that we
can pull it out of the way.  Go into the cubby to your right, and climb up
through the hole in the ceiling. You will see another movable block.  PULL it
once towards you, then push it into the corner above the hole through which you
entered this room.  Advance into the room that was previously blocked by the --
well -- the block, make note of the gold door on the left that we will open in
a moment, and drop down through the hole in the floor.  The block that you see
here is the one that is causing the problem described earlier.  PULL this new
block once, and now we just need to return to that very first block that we
moved twice.  Go up to the next level through the hole in the ceiling that you
used to get here.  Cross the room and drop down through the hole in the
floor.  You are now back where you started.  Push the block forward once, and
you will see a Save Crystal.  I am going to advise you to hold off using it
until after you have opened the door in front of you, because your third and
final gun battle of this level awaits you beyond it.

Throw the switch in front of the Save Crystal to open the aforementioned door
that is in the back of the room that is up one level from where you are now.
Climb up a level and go through that now-opened door and follow the path to the
block.  Push the block forward once, then go left and throw the switch on the
left that opens the door back on the lower level.  You will notice a gold door
in front of you that tantalizingly opens and closes.  For more information
about this door, skip to the last paragraph in this section.  To follow the
normal course of events, return to the lower level, use the Save Crystal, and
prepare for your last battle of the level.

This time, we are fighting a thug with a shotgun.  He is directly ahead of you
at the far end of this area.  If you aren't too concerned about life loss, you
can just charge at him with Uzis blazing and do your best "Run and Roll" on
him.  You are going to get hit a few times while closing the gap between Lara
and him, but since this is the last battle of the level, surviving this battle
is good enough.

If you've been paying attention through the past 40-some pages of this guide,
though, you should be aware by now that any unnecessary loss of Health goes
against my grain.  So, for the fanatics among you, I offer a more elegant
strategy that just might allow you to win this battle with no loss of life.
Sound intriguing?  Read on.

Exit the door, take a quick right into the corridor, and pull up onto the roof
of the building right where the brown stripe is.  While the Shotgun Guy is
running to where you entered the area, make your way to the right side of the
tall, sloped block to the right front of the roof (as you're facing the
pyramid) and pull out your Uzis.  Get Lara's left side right up against that
block.  Unless Shotgun Guy is directly in front of this ledge, his shots will
rarely -- if ever -- damage Lara. When he comes back down that center aisle, if
he sort of slides to the right along the front of the ledge, you need to hop
back and take cover because he will blast you when he gets close enough.  What
you want is for him to head into the open area and run around in circles.  When
(and if) he does that, step forward and fill him with as many Uzi rounds as
possible.  If you see him stop and plant his feet to shoot, make sure that you
are in your "safe" position -- up against the sloped block and slightly back
from its front.  One final piece of advice is to keep track of your spent
rounds.  It takes 200 rounds of Uzi ammo to bring him down.  If he disappears
down that center aisle when you are close to that 200 number, consider trading
your Uzis for your shotgun, get down off the ledge, and wait to "Run and Roll"
him when he returns to the open area.  Occasionally, he will head over to the
pyramid and get stuck in the entrance.  If this happens, you are going to have
to either reload your game or try to draw him out by getting down off the ledge
briefly before returning to your safe position. Experiment with this strategy
and see what works for you, but I suffered MUCH less damage up here on the
rooftop than using the "full frontal assault" strategy described earlier.

I should mention that this battle can be avoided altogether.  For specifics,
refer to Colin's FAQ under the section titled, "Beat the Annoying Door."
Essentially, it is possible to go through the tantalizing door that I described
earlier. By going out a different exit than the programmers anticipated, you
will never trigger this enemy (unless, of course, you backtrack to the exit you
were supposed to take) and he will stand inanimately by the exit to the level.
However, if you want to play fair, go ahead and fight this guy -- it isn't all
that hard.  You can get the best (or worst) of both worlds by beating the
annoying door to prove that you can do so and then triggering the Shotgun Guy
to prove that you can beat him.

When you've had your fun, climb the pyramid to throw a switch, go back to the
building for some loot and the pyramid key, and use the key to exit this level
with at least some life still remaining on your health meter.  Only two more
levels to go!  (June, 2013 update -- By using the "rooftop" strategy on the
Shotgun Guy, I FINALLY scored a perfect level here. I previously thought this
wasn't possible, but as it turns out all that was required was finding a new
strategy for this last battle.)

===============================================================================

Level 14 -- Atlantis (L14)

Overview:
Yes, only two levels to go -- and predictably enough, these will be your most
challenging.  For one thing, there will be many more enemies that can "shoot"
at you, meaning that some loss of life will be inevitable.  Knowing this, it is
all the more important that you conserve every sliver of life possible.  If you
take any careless or unlucky damage, you need to reload and try again.
Otherwise, even if you breezed through the first 13 levels, you may have
trouble completing this one.  This is complicated further by the positioning of
the Save Crystals.  There will be at least two long and difficult sequences to
complete without the possibility of saving, and any mistakes in any step of
these sequences will require trying again.  So remember to be patient, to stay
focused, and to take a break if you are getting frustrated.  For the record, I
only had about 40% of my life remaining when I finished this level.  Even
though I'm sure that I could do much better, I'm sure you get the point -- this
level is going to challenge you, so be prepared.  Follow along, and I'll give
you my best advice along the way.

Particulars:

From this point on, the Uzis are going to be your weapon of choice.  Even after
pumping 200 rounds into the shotgun guy, I started this level with 1400 rounds
of Uzi ammo and, thankfully, many more clips will be available throughout the
last two levels.  The fights are going to be hard enough, so don't skimp on
ammo.

Pick up the ammo in the hallway.  As you enter the area, the first egg on your
left will hatch.  Blast the creature with your Uzis, and if it stops moving to
throw fireballs at you, side jump to avoid them.  Turn right and face the first
egg on the opposite side.  Approach it slowly and it too will hatch.  Fire
while side-jumping and you will blow up the enemy before it can damage you.
Repeat this process with the last egg on the left.  Grab some ammo and head
upstairs. Approach the ammo on the central walkway, and a flying demon will
hatch below you.  Take it out from up here.  Throw the switch at the end and
then the switch in the next corner closest to you. Head back towards the other
end of this upper area.  You will see an egg hatch below you.  Watch the demon
bound to the nearby stairs -- it is coming up to get you.  Position yourself
near the central walkway so that you have some room to maneuver and blast the
demon before it can get to you.  Head down the new stairway to throw one last
switch, and exit this room.  I'm pretty sure that you can avoid having to fight
the demon in the last egg.

WALK onto the platform and look up for a flying demon.  Shoot him as much as
you can from here, but if he gets too close, retreat into the previous room and
shoot him from the cover of the hallway.  Drop down to get a Secret and follow
the path to drop into a hallway.  Proceed AWAY FROM the shredder!  In the room
with the broken bridge, jump/grab the crevice, drop down to the opening, and
throw a switch.  Grab the Uzi clips, jump back to the bridge, and do a running
jump/grab to cross the gap.  A flying demon will hatch below you, but you
should be able to avoid it, and you really don't need to kill it.  Go down the
hallway and use the much-appreciated Save Crystal.  Health target:  90 - 100%,
but really your health should be at 100% if you've been careful.

Enter the next room and make your way around it clockwise.  Don't linger in the
first notch to the left or you will get crushed by a falling boulder.  Go into
the upper left corner for a Secret, then continue clockwise until you get to
the room with the switch (and Uzi clips).  After you throw it, dive into the
water, pull the underwater switch, then swim and jump your way to the timed
door and on through it.  In the next room jump/grab the LOWER ledge in front of
you and go through the door at the opposite end.  Use the Save Crystal with
your life still 100% intact.  OK -- I'll give you 90 - 100%.

Follow the path, jump over the spike pit, and dive into the pool at the end.
Grab the ammo, throw the switch, and swim through the door.  You will see
shredder teeth ahead of you, but the shredder doesn't start until after you
pass it.  Do this next sequence quickly but carefully.  There is a flying demon
in the large shaft ahead of you, and you want to avoid it, but you really don't
want to fall down the shaft to a grisly death either.  Run to the platform,
grab the Uzi clips, carefully jump/grab the platform to your right, ignore the
second set of Uzi clips for now, pull out your Uzis and start blasting the
flying demon.  As always, if it gets too close, retreat into the cover of the
hallway.  After the demon has exploded, claim the Uzi clips and proceed onward.
Go for a short swim and pull up into the room with the Save Crystal, but don't
save just yet.

Stand facing the Save Crystal.  Let's number the five switches in the room
clockwise from your left.  So, switch #1 is ahead of you and to your left, #2
is directly in front of you (and the Save Crystal), #3 is ahead of you and to
your right, #4 is behind you and to your right, and #5 is behind you and to
your left.  To open the way ahead, you need to throw switches #1, #2, and #4 --
HOWEVER -- when you throw switch #2 (or #3 or #5), a demon will hatch from the
ominous eggs above you.  The good news is that the demon activated by throwing
switch #2 isn't triggered until you advance two squares past the Save Crystal,
so we can effectively avoid it altogether.  Throw the two safe switches (#1 and
#4), and pick up the ammo between switches #4 and #5.  Throw #2, then save your
game.  The demon should not hatch yet.  Do a swan dive into the water and head
way down deep and forward as quickly as possible, because the demon will be
shooting at you and can hit you even if you are in the water.  However, you
should be able to exit this room and swim through the tunnel without sustaining
any damage -- pretty cool, huh?

Pull out of the water and follow the tunnel.  Take a right and throw the switch
to enter the room where the boulder blocks your path.  Or so the programmers
wanted you to think.  You can play this one straight if you want, but I see no
reason to do so when you can just run to the right of the boulder, angle
sharply to your left, and jump past the boulder.  Sheesh -- if the programmers
are going to make it that easy for you, why not take advantage of it?  (oh yes
-- thanks to Colin for that tip.)  Follow the path to the platform and follow
the usual procedure -- run/jump/grab the next platform, kill the flying demon
from a safe position, but don't use the Save Crystal just yet.

We now have a pretty long and difficult sequence to complete before reaching
the next Save Crystal, and we really haven't done anything very difficult since
the last one.  Consequently, I'm going to advise doing two more things before
saving in order to minimize repetition.  The room ahead of you has two more
eggs, each of which will hatch a flying demon.  If you proceed cautiously, you
can release just one at a time.  The one to your left will be first.  Before
releasing him, let's get to know him a little better.

Flying demons do not excel at multi-tasking.  They can fly or they can throw
fireballs, but they can't do both at once.  When they first hatch, if they opt
to touch the ground, they will pelt you with fireballs, which is exactly what
you don't want.  If they have no immediate target, they will fly instead.  I
had my best success when I inched forward to make the first one hatch, then
retreated so that he would be unable to target me and would take to the air
instead.  After a brief pause, I returned to find him actually flying away from
me and I could waste him with complete safety.  I then repeated the process
with the one on the right.  Your goal should ultimately be zero damage from
these guys.  When you have canceled the demons' last flights, go ahead and save
your game.  Health Target:  90 - 100%.

From here to the next Save Crystal, you will encounter several tricky battles
and jumping sequences.  I'm going to suggest that even if you take an
unacceptable amount of damage, you should resist the temptation to Reload
immediately.  Go ahead and finish the entire sequence so that you will get the
practice.

Line yourself up with one of the red slopes across from you (you can use the L1
button to check your alignment), then slide and jump across the spiked pit.
Gather up the items and move on to the next room.  When you enter the room,
carefully side jump right twice to trigger a flying demon.  If you start
shooting immediately, he should pose you no real threat.  Pick up the Uzi clips
and head back towards the entrance.  Follow the path on the left of the
entrance and another flying demon will hatch when you make the jump to the
ledge around the corner.  You know what to do.  As you make your way through
the short tunnel, you will pick up some Uzi clips and hear the growling of
demons.  There are two of these beasts in the cave just left of where you are
now.  Make a running jump to the middle of the front edge of the severely
sloped rock in front of you, turn or roll, and STAND STILL.  If you do this
right, you will be in a place from which the demons can't hit you with their
fireballs, so they will just romp in and out of your range, allowing you to
take them out without being harmed.  If you see one of the demons stop romping,
WALK left immediately because he is about to throw a fireball at you.  Move far
enough to the left and you should be safe.

Occasionally, after the first one blows up, the second one will be stay holed
up in the cave, precluding you from targeting him.  If this happens, you may
have to move to your right a bit to lure him out.  Although it is scary, my
recommendation is that you carefully line up and execute a safe side jump to
the right.  When you get the demon's attention, quickly side jump back left.
Walking is safer, but in this case it can be too darned slow to keep you safe
from fireballs.  Just remember that you have very little room to maneuver here
and you cannot afford to either a) fall down from here or 2) get hit by one of
his fireballs.  However, if you do not get rid of both of these guys now, they
will make your attempts to exit this room very costly, so be patient and do not
proceed until both demons explode.

When the coast is clear, WALK to the edge of this central formation that is
farthest from the wall where the demons were and make a daring running jump to
the rock directly across from you.  Turn right to get some Uzi clips and throw
a switch, then carefully make your way to the opposite corner, BEING CAREFUL TO
JUMP OVER THE SECTION OF THE PATH THAT IS TOO STEEP TO WALK ON!  Pull the block
out and go through the short tunnel.  When going through the shredder, put on
the brakes quickly after making it through, lest you slide off into the lava.
Turn right and make a running jump to the tunnel ahead.  Follow it to pick up
some items and reach another platform.  You must jump to the next platform, but
this time, shooting the flying demon is optional. Head forward to the Save
Crystal, but don't use it just yet.  You are going to have to repeat the next
sequence many times, so let's do a couple of simple things before saving so
that we have less to repeat.  Do a running jump along the wall to the next
ledge, pull the switch, then do another running jump back to the Save Crystal
and use it.  Health target -- OK, I'll give you some slack here and say 75 -
100%, but my health meter is still full.  I know that this is a long sequence,
but keep trying until you can meet this target, because we have some tough
battles ahead.

If you want to check out another oddity of the game, try to return to the
platform where you last killed a flying demon.  A door closed behind you, but
an invisible wall keeps you from even getting all the way to that door.  No, I
didn't find this one myself, so thanks again to Colin.

We are now going to do lots of jumping and then fight a battle that you are
probably going to have to repeat many times.  As you are facing out across this
room, there is an alcove to the left and a doorway straight ahead.  First make
your way to the alcove to pull a switch, then make your way to the doorway and
jump into it.  Congratulations!  You just earned yourself access to a really
tough battle.

To your left in an area parallel to this short hall there are three demons, and
each can throw either those big fireballs or those smaller white bullets.  The
battle takes place in an area with a very low ceiling, meaning that you are not
going to be able to side-jump and avoid their projectiles.  However, I have
been able fairly consistently to fight them from the corner directly ahead of
you without taking any damage at all!  Draw your Uzis and go around the first
bend to the left.  When you get to the line where this hall connects to the
next area, roll across that line and run with Lara's LEFT side against the back
wall into the far left corner (as you are returning to it).  Roll again, MAKE
SURE THAT YOU ARE WEDGED INTO THE CORNER AS TIGHTLY AS POSSIBLE, and fire at
the demons.  Very often, all 3 demons will cluster at the end of the hall
against this same wall, and the fireballs that they throw at Lara will
harmlessly hit the wall.  Remember to release the X button each time a demon
explodes, and you have maybe a 50 - 50 chance of killing all 3 without
suffering even a scratch.  If you get hit by their fireballs, either you are
not all the way in the corner or you just got some bad luck and need to try
again.  Of course, if even one of the demons decides to run down the hall and
pounce on you, you're dead meat because even if you kill him, the explosion
will cause excessive damage.  However, it is a tad boring but not very time-
consuming to get to this point from your last save, so I would advise you to
keep trying this strategy until it works for you.  I have tried this battle
many different ways, and this is far and away the safest and most reliable
method that I have found.  A full health bar at this point in this very
difficult level is a challenging but attainable goal

However, don't breathe easy yet -- we have two more challenges before we can
save.  First grab the Secret on the right side of the long hallway (you may
have to go back to the short hallway to trigger the timed door again.)  Go
through the door in the red hall and immediately pull up left.  These platforms
should look familiar, except this time there is no flying demon and -- sadly --
no Save Crystal yet.  (If you chose to not kill the flying demon that I
designated as "optional", you can see it flying a couple of levels down.  Be
aware that it CAN fly up to your current level, so don't tarry overlong in this
shaft.)  Proceed cautiously into the area with the Uzi clips on the ground and
stay to the far right.  Another demon is going to appear at the far end of this
hall.  Unfortunately, the hall is too narrow for Lara to side jump without
running into the walls, and these collisions cause her to stumble and be
briefly immobilized.  Thus, we want to use side jumping only as a last resort.
Stay pressed against the right wall, and if you are lucky, the demon will just
bound in and out of the screen and let you blast it to oblivion.  If you see
the demon stop and prepare to throw fireballs at you, you need to side jump to
avoid them.  Two or three side jumps should be enough, so make them count.

One more challenge to go before saving -- the ramp with dart-shooting pipes, a
shredder, and a boulder.  This looks a lot worse than it actually is. The darts
don't begin firing until you step on the ramp (which also triggers the
boulder), and the shredder shuts off after the boulder passes.  Walk around to
the far side of the ramp and face the side of the ramp (high side to your
right, low side to your left.)  Be sure that you are positioned between the
dart paths (as indicated by the red pipes.)  Now just climb onto the ramp and
run off the opposite side.  If the boulder is not triggered, you probably need
to cross the ramp at a slightly higher place. Once the boulder passes, you can
pull up onto the ramp as close as possible to the shredder, the darts will miss
you, and you can proceed undamaged.  Go into the next room, but before using
the Save Crystal, go left and push the block twice so that you won't have to
repeat that later if things go awry.  Before using the Save Crystal, read the
next paragraph and proceed accordingly.  My life is now at 80% (Dec 2009 update
-- I got here with about 95% life, having taken just one fireball hit from the
3 demons in the hallway described above), so I'll give you a health target of
50 - 80%.  Congratulate yourself on completing that very difficult sequence and
consider taking a break for a while after you use the Save Crystal.

In the hall behind this room, you need to open the red door between the two
switches.  I will describe two ways to do this.  The first is the "normal" way,
but it will unavoidably cost you a small amount of health.  The second is a
more "creative" way, and it involves no loss of life.  The "normal" method
involves some risk, so if you choose that option, you should go ahead and save
now.  On the other hand, there is virtually zero risk to the "creative" method,
so if you choose that method, wait to save your game until you return from
throwing the switch that opens the red door.

The normal procedure is to go into the back hall and stand in front of the
right-hand switch.  Press X to throw the switch, then immediately hold Down and
Square so that Lara will backflip off the trapdoor before it opens.  Safety
drop down the hole, taking an unavoidable loss in health (about 5%) doing so.
Jump forward and then backward to avoid the boulder, then follow the path and
throw the switch before returning to the beginning by dropping off the nearby
block.

Alternatively, follow the back hall all the way around until it dead-ends.  If
you look up where the hall dead-ends, you can see the opening used to return to
this room after following the "normal" procedure described above.  It turns out
that you can reach that opening from here.  The seat of the throne is a
"movable" block (if you don't believe me, put Lara in front of it and press
Action, and watch her go into "ready" position.)  She can't actually move the
block because there is not a clear space in front of it or behind it, nor can
she stand on it because of the back of the throne.  However, she CAN pull up on
it long enough to execute a side jump to the opening.  Stand on the small
raised ledge behind the throne and sidestep left almost as far as you can.
Hold Up and Action, and Lara should pull up onto the block.  If not, move her
slightly to the right.  Once she appears to be standing (but before she slides
back down), side-jump left and you should land in the aforementioned opening!
You can now access the switch, throw it, and return to this room as before.  If
you didn't use the Save Crystal yet, use it now.  (I didn't discover this one
myself.  Thanks to Beau, a contributor to Stella's walkthrough at
tombraiders.net for this life-saving tip.)

After reading Beau's tip, I figured that if the back side of the throne was
glitched, then the front side is probably glitched as well.  Darned if I wasn't
right!  Approach the throne from the front (the room with the Save Crystal) and
climb up onto the "movable" block that forms the seat.  Aim Lara towards the
vertical seam between the throne back and the throne arm, and you will find
that you can run or jump right through that seam and magically appear behind
the throne.  Jumping is easier, but running also works.  This works on both
thrones.  It is pretty much useless in terms of conserving time or health, but
it is a fun curiosity nonetheless.

Go through the now-opened door.  Ignore the Uzi clips for now and focus on the
egg directly in front of you.  It contains a centaur that is going to pelt you
with very damaging fireballs as soon as it hatches.  You can avoid them by side
jumping, but you have to get uncomfortably close to the egg -- just beyond the
last red "pillar" on the left -- before it will hatch.  I generally had more
success when I started from the left (closer to the exit door) as opposed to
starting up against that right wall.  Once you have a feel for where it
hatches, try jumping forward, then backwards once to get some distance between
you and the centaur, and then jumping to alternate sides, firing all the while.
You should not take any damage here.  Find what works best for you, but be
aware that we have several more battles yet to fight, so try to keep your
health above 40% or so.  When you are satisfied, pick up the Uzi clips and
pause for a moment before throwing the switch.

You will notice that there are two more eggs overhead, each housing a demon
(one flying and one bounding), but it is fairly easy to avoid hatching them.
Notice the two reddish "ramps," one on either side of the door you are about to
open.  If you step on either of these ramps after throwing the switch, the eggs
will hatch (if you step on them before throwing the switch, nothing happens).
If you avoid these ramps, you will have safe passage to the room below.  So,
throw the switch, make your way to the Save Crystal without stepping on the
ramps, and save your game.

Slide down the ramp, where two more demons await you.  Stay near the bottom of
the ramp and to the left, and with any luck at all you can blow them up before
they pounce on you.  Remember to release the X button occasionally so that you
are always targeting the demon that is on the screen.  If you take any damage
from them at all, you should consider reloading, especially since we just
saved.  We have two more difficult fights ahead of us before the end of the
level, so you really want to have about 40% or more life remaining after this
battle.

When the demons are history, dispose of the creepy skinless version of Lara (I </pre><pre id="faqspan-5">
trust that you know how), go through the door, pull up, grab the Uzi clips, and
pause.  Ahead of you, the corridor bends to the left and opens into a room that
has a centaur and a demon.  You want to fight them one at a time, and you want
to fight them from this end, NOT in the room ahead -- you will see why when you
get to this "room."  The centaur will be to your left and will be triggered
first, and the demon will be to your right.  With Uzis drawn, go down the
corridor and stop when you reach the "seam" where this corridor intersects the
next one (if you look at the ground, you can see the actual line.)  When you
step over that line, the centaur will be triggered.  Turn 90 degrees left so
that you will be facing the centaur and side jump right.  You should start to
hear the horsie noises of the centaur.  Take one (walking) sidestep right so
that you can stay on this square when fighting, but stay centered (front-to-
back) so that you can see what is ahead of you.  When the centaur enters your
sights, shoot while side-jumping, first left and then right.  As before, the
centaur will consistently miss you with his shots, and he should stay immobile
while you blast it.  Do not try to use the previous corridor for shelter.  If
you move out of the centaur's line of sight, it will pursue you, and you want
it to stay right where it is.  After a couple of tries, I took zero damage from
the centaur.

To take out the demon, let's try the same strategy that (hopefully!) worked
earlier in this level.  With Uzis drawn, wedge Lara into the back corner of the
hallway with her right side and back against walls.  Run forward (still with
Lara's right side against the wall), and when you get to the Uzi clips, roll
and quickly retreat (still against the wall) into the corner.  Make sure that
Lara is wedged into the corner, and start shooting as soon as Lara targets the
demon.  If you are fortunate, he will stay at the corner and throw fireballs
harmlessly into the wall while you blast him to oblivion.  If you are less
fortunate, he will charge at you and you will have to fight him straight up.
Reloading may be necessary, depending on how much life you have stockpiled and
how quickly you can take him out.  Remember -- all that you have to do is
survive this battle, for it is the last one of this level.

With these last two enemies duly dispatched, get the ammo in front of you and
run clockwise around the perimeter to get the Uzi clips at the far end.  Do not
throw this switch (let's call it switch #2) yet.  Go all the way
counterclockwise to the other switch (let's call it switch #1) and throw it to
open the timed door to the exit.  Roll and run as quickly as you safely can
back to switch #2 and throw it to raise the (also timed) bridge to the exit
door.  Roll again and now race across the central bridge before it collapses
and through the timed door before it closes.  If you botch the run, you might
consider staying off the bridge, because if time runs out while you are on the
bridge, you will fall and die and have to repeat everything since the last
save.  It is much easier to just repeat this last portion.  When you do make it
safely across, get the ammo, peer through the opening at the large egg and
platform below (where you will begin the next level), and touch the Scion.  You
can now make some popcorn and sit back and watch the movies, content in the
satisfaction of having completed this very difficult level without having to
use any Medi Packs!  (January 2010 update -- With a little luck and a lot of
perseverance, I completed this level with a full health meter.  A damage-free
level is entirely possible, so if you want an additional challenge give this a
try some day.)

===============================================================================

Level 15 -- The Great Pyramid (L15)

Overview:
OK, kids -- this is it!  The same rules apply as for the last level -- no
careless or unnecessary loss of life.  If something goes wrong, reload and try
again.  This level contains an unavoidable fall that will deplete about 20% of
your life and an area where you will almost certainly lose about 30% of your
life.  In addition, you want to have about 50% left for the final battle.
This doesn't leave a lot of room for error.  On the positive side, we are only
going to fight two battles in this level, and in the first one we are going to
sustain zero damage.  This level is all about traps, and once you learn their
locations and weaknesses, survival is just a matter of practice.  So put your
best game face on, and let's show how much we've learned so far on this run.

Particulars:
Many consider this first battle to be the toughest of the game.  Depending on
how you choose to fight it, it can be very tough or ridiculously easy.  Since
we can't afford to take any damage here, we are going to opt for the
ridiculously easy way.

As soon as the level begins, equip your Uzis, move towards the left corner of
the room, and start blasting.  The creature will start crawling towards you.
When he gets to about the halfway line of the platform, holster your Uzis, hop
back off the edge, and grab the edge.  Eventually, the creature will retreat.
You want to pull up again when he has his back to you and is almost all the way
to the back wall. Since you can't actually see him, you are going to have to
try this a couple of times to get a feel for the rhythm. If the creature has
not gone beyond that halfway line, drop back down without shooting and try
again in a few seconds.  When he has retreated sufficiently, blast him again
until he reaches that halfway line, then drop over the edge again.  Repeat this
until he blows up, which should be after about 600 Uzi rounds.

The greatest danger that you face here is waiting too long to drop off the
edge. When Lara drops over the edge, the creature will scoot forward another
time or two before retreating. If you let the creature get too close to you,
its claws will reach over the edge and nick you while you are hanging over the
edge, causing a small amount of damage.  This seems to happen less if you are
dangling near the corner, which is why I directed you there earlier.  However,
any damage from this fight is unnecessary and unacceptable, so if you get
nicked even once, reload and try again.  To a certain extent, shimmying away
from the creature's trajectory can help avoid this, but your best defense is to
be conservative and put your guns away too early rather than too late.

When you have put this evolutionary nightmare to rest, grab the Uzi clips from
the four corners of the platform and proceed through the door.  In the hallway,
move a couple of blocks to access the overhead Save Crystal and use it with
100% life remaining.  You heard me -- 100% and not a sliver less!  Run past the
shredder and breakaway tiles, move another block around, throw a switch, and
move into the next area.  Jump into the safe places on the slope, retreat to
the bridge if you want all the Secret items that you will never use, then make
your way back and jump across the lava.  Dodge a couple of boulders and arrive
at a breakaway tile at the end.  This is an excellent place to use the
"Collapsing Floor Bug," but if you want to play fair, roll onto the tile then
off again to get rid of the tile and safety drop to the bottom, shaving about
20% off your life in the process.  Does this room look familiar?  It should --
it's where you ended the last level.  Opening the door past the Save Crystal
requires that you shoot the Scion, so do so and then save with 80 - 100% of
your life remaining, depending on your decision about the Collapsing Floor.

From now until the end of the level, you will be more or less constantly
annoyed by the "earthquakes" you just caused by shooting the Scion.  You're
going to have to learn to live with it, for there is really no way to avoid it.

In the next room (which should also look familiar,) there are three demons
lurking, but there is no reason to fight them.  Drop off the bridge and run to
the hole to the right in the black rocks, where you can drop down and avoid the
demons altogether.  Shimmy across the wall with the darts and curse the
unavoidable loss of life that you will incur.  I don't think that I have ever
taken less than three hits from these things, and each drains almost 10% off
your life.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone knowing a good way to
avoid these things.  At this point, my life bar was just below half, and I
fully intend to keep it there until the final battle.  Drop down and backflip
off the ramp lest you slide into the lava, but don't rest yet because some
darts may be aimed right where you are standing.  Quickly hop back once and
move on to the next room.

The sequence of events that you just completed is probably your greatest source
of damage in this level, at least until you get to the final battle.  Some of
this damage is unavoidable, but some can be minimized or avoided.  You cannot
avoid damage from the darts while shimmying, but you should not lose any life
from the 3 demons or from darts after you backflip.  In light of the fact that
you have a serious battle coming up, I would advise you to repeat the events
after the last Save Crystal until you can arrive here with at least 70% of your
life remaining.

Go down the right side first to trigger the boulder on the left.  Time a jump
past the pendulum onto the spike-free area and WALK through the spikes, and up
to the ramp.  Do two standing jumps on the breakaway tiles to get to the
opening.  Turn left and do a daring standing jump/grab to the impossibly small
seam in the wall so that you can shimmy right to the end for the Secret.  If
you are having trouble grabbing the wall, you are probably standing too close
to the wall.  You need to be back about one square from the wall.  You can use
the Safety Drop Bug to get to the Save Crystal below you, but you will lose
about 25% of your maximum health doing so.  Instead, backflip onto the ramp
below and immediately jump from there to the next-to-last Save Crystal in the
game.  Health target -- at least 40%.

From here you have to pass a sequence of seven traps to get to the last Save
Crystal and the final battle.  Needless to say, there is no room for error --
you want to pass through all seven unscathed or start over.  I'll do my best to
help you through.  Start by shimmying and then jumping over to the opening.
Stand in the middle of the corridor just at the edge of the first breakaway
tile.  When the pendulum just passes the bottom of its swing going AWAY from
you, start running across the tiles and turn right when you get to the opening.
If you run too close to the right wall, the pendulum will damage you, so stay
centered, then cut sharply to the right.  My success rate on this trap is about
80%.  One down, six to go.

The first boulder trap is easy -- just run down the ramp and turn right before
the boulder squashes you.  If you desperately want that small Medi Pack, go
back and get it, but since you will probably have to repeat this sequence
several times, you are going to get awfully tired of doing so, and after a
point you are going to ask yourself why you have been bothering with it.  The
second boulder is easy too.  Line up in the middle of the ramp and start
sliding when the pendulum is at either extreme side of its swing.  Jump at the
end to dodge the boulder.  My success rate on each of these is about 90%.
Three down and four to go.

I don't know why I always have so much trouble with this next trap, but I can
tell you that this lava room kills me more than all of the other traps
combined.  Since my last update, I have done some experimenting with this room
and found some tips that might help.  For one thing, the lava in the front of
the room and the lava in the back are triggered separately, so you can divide
your crossing of this room into two parts.  Run straight towards the small Medi
Pack and stop, and you should be safe from the lava behind you without
triggering the lava in front of you.  Turn slightly left, take one walking step
forward, and then jump forward and run straight towards the doorway, which,
with minimal jogging to the sides, should get you safely past the lava.  This
"lava," I might add, is depicted with possibly the cheesiest graphics since the
advent of the Playstation.  It looks like someone painted flames on pieces of
plywood and then had them pushed into the room.  Maybe I'm just bitter because
I die here so often.  Anyway, throw the switch when you make it through and
proceed to the next room.  My success rate on this is maybe 40%.  What can I
say?  I'm a klutz, but you can probably do much better.  Four down and three to
go, and the good news is that the last three are essentially automatic and
risk-free.

When you go through the door, there are Uzi clips to the right, but I doubt
that you need them.  Face left and you will see two boulders and a pit.  Run
forward until the first boulder rolls over your head.  You can now walk up to
the edge of the pit and jump/grab the far edge at your leisure, causing the
second boulder to roll harmlessly over your head.  Your success rate on this
should be nearly 100%.  Five down and two to go.

Stand on the far right corner of the first ramp and do a running jump/grab over
the first burner to the second one.  Pull up and do a standing jump over the
second burner, again staying to the far right.  Finally, repeat your running
jump/grab to get over the last burner and safely to the other side.  This one
is pretty easy, really.  Even if you miss, you land in the water and can try
again.  I'd say my survival rate is 95%.  Six down and one to go.

If my success rates are accurate, I would only reach this last trap about 25%
of the time -- roughly one try out of four.  This means that you don't get many
chances to practice it because it is at the end of the sequence.  Luckily, it
is pretty automatic.  Walk to the edge of the ramp and center yourself on the
opening ahead.  Take 4 walking steps backwards.  When the pendulum is at the
bottom of its swing, start running and hit and hold the jump button as well as
forward on the D-pad.  You should hit the breakaway tiles but then continue
through to the Secret across from them.  Sadly, this won't register as a Secret
because of a bug in the game, but it's not like you get a huge reward for
finding them all anyway.  The important thing is that YOU know that you got
them all.  Your last challenge is how to get from way up here into that itty
bitty pool of water below.  The answer is easy -- stand at the very edge of the
room and do a swan dive (or simply do a standing jump), and you will land
perfectly in the pool.   Swim around, grab the Uzi clips, surface, grab some
more Uzi clips, and use the last Save Crystal of the game with at least 40% of
your life remaining and hopefully around 3000 - 4000 rounds of ammo for your
Uzis.

You will probably have to try this final battle several times since your
remaining life is very limited.  When you enter this last room, Natla is flying
around to your left, probably just past the first big rock cluster.  Have your
Uzis drawn, run past that rock cluster, and turn left.  About 80 - 90%% of the
time, Natla will stay aloft, hovering around above you.  In these cases, you
are pretty much dead since she is much more agile than Lara is and has superior
firepower.  Often you will die before you even figure out where the heck she
is.  Be thankful that you just saved, reload your game, and try again.

The other 10 - 20% of the time, however, she will swoop over Lara's head and
land on the ground behind her.  This is your chance.  Keep running away from
her and look for a place where you have room to side jump, then roll and fight
her as you would a centaur. With a little luck she will behave like a centaur
and stay put (on the ground!) throwing fireballs towards you but will miss
because you are side jumping.

It takes about 200 hits to make her go down the first time.  When she does, use
this opportunity to square up your position (so that you are pointing directly
towards her) and to put some distance between you and Natla.  She will come
back to life on her own, so keep your distance and be prepared when she does.
The good news is that she is now grounded and thus loses her mobility
advantage, plus she will now be shooting those bullet-like objects instead of
her fireballs, and you can withstand a few of those.  Keep side jumping to
dodge her shots and after about 200 more hits, she will go down for good.

After a little practice, I survived this with about 20% life left. (9/08 update
-- I actually beat Natla while sustaining ZERO damage in this final battle.  I
attribute this mostly to luck -- she landed right away and my side-jumping
dodged all of her shots.) Of course, all you have to do is survive -- anything
beyond that is just for bragging rights.  There are some more Uzi clips to pick
up in this area but really, why on earth would you need more ammo when you've
already defeated the last enemy in the game?  All you really have to do is find
your way out of here.  You can take the conventional long path or you can just
use the Corner Bug to get on top of the pillar that is closest to the overhead
platform that is just in front of the exit and save yourself a lot of
unnecessary walking.

Either way, let me congratulate you on undertaking and completing this
challenge.  Tomb Raider is not an easy game in its usual form, and trying to
complete it without using any Medi Packs magnifies the difficulty tremendously.
It is the dedicated gamer who voluntarily adds challenge to a game, and you are
to be commended for your fortitude and perseverance.

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*                                                                             *
*            Summary of Perfect (All Secrets, No Damage) Levels               *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

"Perfect" Levels (10) -- Collected all Secrets and finished with a full Health
Meter

Level 01 -- Caves
Level 02 -- City of Vilcabama
Level 03 -- Lost Valley
Level 06 -- Colosseum
Level 07 -- Palace Midas
Level 08 -- The Cistern*
Level 09 -- Tomb of Tihocan
Level 10 -- City of Khamoon
Level 13 -- Natla's Mines**
Level 14 -- Atlantis***

*   Avoided otherwise unavoidable damage by opting not to pick up an item.
**  Avoided otherwise unavoidable damage by using the Safety Drop Glitch after
   defeating the Cowboy.
*** Avoided otherwise unavoidable damage by using a minor glitch to jump from
   one of the stone thrones into the exit from an area.

Clearly I have issues with games that contain "unavoidable damage" and feel
perfectly justified in using "creative" methods to negate the effects of these.


Levels (5) in which I always take some damage and why:

Level 04 -- Tomb of Qualopec -- I can generally get to the last battle with
Larson without losing any life.  However, the fight with Larson is unavoidable,
and you begin with the extreme disadvantage of having to pull up out of the
water to fight him.  I don't see much way to avoid taking some damage when
pulling out of the water.

Level 05 -- St. Francis' Folly -- Again, getting the end of the level with a
full health meter is fairly routine (as long as you capitalize on a glitch to
reach one of the Secrets).  However, I have yet to avoid getting hit by Pierre
in that final battle. Part of the problem is that from your elevated vantage
point, the central structure interferes with your vision of Pierre below, and
you have trouble pinpointing his whereabouts at any given time, making it
difficult to dodge his shots.  Unlike Level 4, I would guess that a perfect
level here is possible, but I just haven't had the patience yet to achieve one.

Level 11 -- Obelisk of Khamoon -- Losing some life jumping to the Secret behind
the gong seems inevitable.  Otherwise, a perfect level here is completely
possible.

Level 12 -- Sanctuary of the Scion -- The jump to the Uzis causes an
unavoidable loss of life.  I see no way around this.  Avoiding all other damage
in this level is totally doable.

Level 15 -- The Great Pyramid -- I have definitely defeated Natla in the final
battle without taking any damage.  However, when walking through the spikes
next to the lava, I always seem to take small amounts of damage from the lava.
The biggest problem, though, is shimmying past the darts.  I just don't see any
way to avoid damage here.  I have read that in the PC version of the game, you
can shut off the darts by saving and reloading your game, but I'm going to
claim that a perfect level in the Playstation version of the game simply cannot
be accomplished.

*******************************************************************************

Shameless plug:  If you enjoyed this, I invite you to read and follow my FAQ on
completing Tomb Raider II without using any Medi Packs.  Although the save-
anywhere feature of that game facilitates the process, the game itself is much
more difficult to complete in this challenge format.  Many of the skills
employed in the walkthrough are relevant to TR2 as well.  However, because TR2
contains far more enemies with guns and a much wider variety of enemies
overall, many new skills are also necessary in that game.  I think that you
will find that walkthrough entertaining and informative if you are the die-hard
Tomb Raider fanatic that you must be if you are reading this now.

===============================================================================

VII.  Final Notes and Credits

I don't pretend to be a very skilled gamer, nor do I profess to be any kind of
authority on this or any other game.  As I said at the beginning, I wrote this
FAQ primarily to enhance my own knowledge of one of my favorite games.  Wow --
did I ever accomplish this goal!  I would guess that I have invested at least
100 hours writing and editing this guide while playing through the game,
repeating sections over and over until I was certain that I had found the most
health-efficient way of getting through.  When you spend that much time
examining anything, you are bound to learn much that you did not know before.
Still, since I found the subject matter interesting, I didn't see this
enterprise as work but rather as an enjoyable way to spend some time.

In my efforts to put my findings into writing to share with you, I'm sure that
I have made some omissions, typos, and just plain mistakes.  If so, I would
certainly like to hear about these.  My current email address is

                         [email protected]

Please feel free to communicate your thoughts with me IF you can meet the
following two guidelines:

*  Courtesy, please.  Keep your wording and tone polite and people in general
  (and myself in particular) will be much more likely to heed your words.

*  Please do your best to use proper grammar, spelling, capitalization, and
  punctuation.  How you write is a reflection of who you are, and if you want
  to be taken seriously structure your writings within the boundaries of
  commonly accepted norms.

Finally, there are a couple of people without whose assistance this guide would
not exist, and I would like to give them due credit for their contributions.
In no particular order, I would like to thank the following people.

*  Colin Chalmers, not only for prodding me into writing this FAQ in the first
  place but also for his many bug and glitch contributions.  Additionally,
  Colin has tirelessly answered the questions that have arisen as I wrote this
  and has taken the time to review some of the sections and provide me with
  input.  Colin is possibly the most hardcore Tomb Raider fan that I know,
  and this walkthrough wouldn't have been as complete, as informative, or as
  accurate as it is without his help.  Many thanks, Colin.

*  My friend and GameFAQs contributor Chad Steele.  Although Chad has
  absolutely no idea that I have written this guide and, as far as I know, has
  never even played Tomb Raider, he has long been my inspiration and motivator
  for undertaking these projects.  As I typed each of the over 30,000 words
  contained in the FAQ, I continually asked myself whether it was good enough
  for Chad.  Chad, I hope that I maintained the standards that you have set.

*  The good people at GameFAQs who provide this service for the gaming
  community.  Here in the information-bloated 21st century, we tend to take
  such things as this wonderful web site for granted.  Some of us, however,
  remember the day when getting stuck in a game meant that you had to call an
  800 number (or worse yet, a 900 number that charged you by the minute) or
  fork over big bucks for a printed guidebook that probably contained
  misinformation anyway.  Your walkthrough postings are invaluable tools, and
  I cannot adequately thank you for providing this free service to the crazed
  game players around the world. I am honored to be a tiny part of what you
  do.

*  Finally, thanks to you, the reader.  I hope that you have found my guide
  helpful as well as entertaining, and that you enjoyed undertaking this
  challenge as much as I enjoyed writing about it.

Congratulations again on your accomplishment.  Now put down that controller,
turn off the TV, and go outside and get some real exercise before all of your
muscles atrophy from disuse!

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*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
*                             -- THE END --                                   *
*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
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