BACK TO BASICS 2007:

Hell Hath No Fury

 

 

Level by staticon (Kevin Learwood)

 

Walkthrough by staticon

 

 

Backstory

 

Disaster! Lara's favourite crowbar has been stolen by a London street-gang that is known to have a hideout in an abandoned complex of tunnels and rooms beneath the city.

 

The complex was part of the old Mill Lake Underground terminus. The station has long been disused, having closed when the tunnels collapsed. The whole area is now due for re-development and is, for the most part, fenced off from the rest of the city.

 

This will not deter Lara from getting revenge on the gang and retrieving her beloved crowbar.

 

Using a commercial wheelie bin as a jumping off point, she climbs over the fence and lands on the other side. At the end of the street is the barred gate of Mill Lake Station. All she must do now is get inside.

 

Filled with anger and a desire for revenge, Lara sets off on her crusade to recover her property. Pity the fools who stand in her way for, as we all know only too well, Hell hath no fury like a woman robbed of her crowbar.

 

 

There are five secrets in this level.

 

 

Walkthrough

 

Having used the wheelie bin to climb over the fence from Treadwell Road, Lara is facing East looking down Grabpenny lane toward the disused Underground station in Mill Lake Street. Even from this distance, she can see the closed and barred entrance. A look behind the grille will reveal some flares but we will get them a little later.

 

Head down the lane toward the station. At the junction, have a look around. At the North end of Mill Lake Street, there is a trapdoor in the road but it is closed. A look at the Southern end of the street reveals a pile of packing cases. Close examination of these may reveal something behind them. Shoot them to see what it is.

 

Aha! A button. Give it a press and a camera will show the trapdoor opening at the other end of the street. Go there and drop into the passage below.

 

As you climb the stairs at the end of the passage, you hear the trapdoor closing behind you. No matter, we still haven't found our beloved crowbar yet so we will worry about escape when the time comes.

 

At the top of the stairs is a small room with a closed door to the right and a large fan behind a grating to the left. The fan is enclosed and can do no harm and what the thing with the pipes does is anybody’s guess.

 

Press the switch by the door and head up the steps to the entrance hall. A look to the left and right reveals closed doors at both end of the hall. Leap over the barriers and a door closes the passage you just entered by. Look around and, near the computer, which, oddly, seems to be on and editing a TR level, you will see an electrical distribution box. Shoot it and see what happens.

 

A pair of doors have opened at the west of the hall allowing you access to the area inside the station gates. This is where you may have seen the flares so go get them.

 

You may also have spotted a jumpswitch just inside the freshly opened doors. Operate this, and the doors at the other end of the hall open. Just leap the barriers once more and head down the non-working escalators.

 

At the bottom, turn left and head out onto the Northern platform. Drop onto the track. Exploration will show that the west end of the tunnel is a dead end - this was a terminus station, after all. Head down the east tunnel. Near the pile of earth at the end is an alcove. Enter here and push the block to reveal a ladder going upwards. Though if you wish to collect Secret #1, keep pushing the block as far as it will go.

 

Go back to the ladder and climb to the top. You are in a small room with a lever in it. Throw it and a camera shows a door open in another collapsed tunnel. As we passed no such door in this tunnel, it must be the other one.

 

Back down the ladder and make your way to the platform, through the escalator hall and out onto the Southern platform. Dispatch the two gang members who attack you. Remember that the west tunnel will be a dead end so just head off down the eastern tunnel.

 

 

Climb to the top of the earth pile and crawl through the gap near the ceiling. Down the other side and through the door we opened just now. At the top of the ramp, enter the room and dispatch the armed thug within. Pick up the Shotgun Ammo that he drops.

 

In this room, there is an exit at the northern end of the room, three alcoves in the East wall and three electrical boxes on the West wall. Each alcove has two burners and a cage within them. The cages need to be moved out of the deeper alcove and placed on the bad in the non-burning part of the alcove. To do that without being barbecued, we need to turn off the front burner while the cage is moved out.

 

Fortunately, if you shoot the electrical boxes, you will see three switches. Operate a switch and see which flame goes out. You will also learn that the switches are timed. Why can nothing ever be easy in this profession?

 

Throw the switch of your choice and sprint to the appropriate cage. Pull it out before the burner re-lights and manoeuvre it to the pad. Do the same for all three alcoves. As the cages are removed from the back burners, you may have noticed items left there for you to collect.

 

Placing the third cage on its pad opens the door at the North exit but the flames are still burning bright in the alcoves. We'll come back to them in a minute.

 

Exit the room and find yourself in a small chamber with a Yellow Dibber on a low raised section of the floor. Pick this up then throw the switch on the west wall as we do not yet have any keys which, obviously, are needed for the lock by the door.

 

Throwing the switch causes a flyby camera to show you the fires in the alcoves going out, as if you hadn't guessed that that was the function of the switch already. Go back and collect the goodies from the, now cold, back burners then return to the small room and use the Friss Key in the lock (the red one).

 

Enter a new, dark room with its central area enclosed in a cage. There are also a couple of passages leading out of this room but one is behind a closed door. Go down the open passage and use the Hann Key in the green lock. The door to your left opens.

 

Enter. There is a ladder on the wall directly ahead but you cannot climb yet as a trapdoor is blocking the opening. Instead, turn west and head toward a pool with a flaming pillar at its centre. Atop this, we can see a Blue Dibber which, if you looked through the glass in the open passage we just left, you will know we need before too long.

 

As the pillar is burning, there is no point in losing health to retrieve the Dibber even though you can do it that way if you like seeing Lara burn.

 

Instead, dive into the pool and explore. In the East wall, you will see an opening. Swim in and along a passage to an underwater switch. A camera will show the trap door opening that was preventing our climb just now.

 

If you wish to pick up Secret #2, then take a look to your left as you leave the square underwater tunnel. In a tricky to get into alcove in the rock, you will see some more flares. The best approach angle to get them is 45 degrees to the square.

 

Climb out of the pool and go up the ladder to a short passage. At the end of this, you can monkey swing to a passage on the other side of the room. Do so, and on the way, admire the smooth curve of the superbly domed ceiling.

 

In the opposite passage, you will find another Friss Key and a lever. Take the key and throw the lever. If you are listening carefully, you will hear the flames go out in the pool room.

 

Do a run/jump from this passage and land on the formerly burning pillar. Collect the Blue Dibber and see the door to one of the glass passages open. Make your way back to the glass passage and place the Yellow Dibber. The door to the other passage from the dark room opens.

 

Head down the aforementioned passage and use the Friss Key to open the door to your right. Enter and follow the passage to a shaking room with pillars that are alternately sloped or flat. Get the timing right and jump your way to the other end.

 

At the end, turn right and throw the lever that you find there. A camera shows the last door in the glass passages opening. Exit through a corridor and staircase in the South as a glass wall now prevents you from enjoying the changing pillars for a second time. Head to the glass passage and place the Blue Dibber.

 

Though you don't see it, a section of the cage in the dark room has sunk into the floor allowing access to the interior of the room. Go there and discover a ladder. Due to an idiosyncrasy, you have to jump from the floor and only grab when Lara is at the highest point of the jump. She will, then, grab the ladder and you may climb into a small room with only one other exit and an infuriating fixed camera view that is apparently, looking through the wall. There is also some Shotgun Ammo to be picked up before exiting.

 

Draw a weapon before leaving this room as you will be attacked almost immediately. Having disposed of the thug, wait a moment as he will drop the Shotgun which is very useful but he hangs on to it for a while. Just be patient. You may also notice that there is, in fact, an observation window into the small room you just left, after all.

 

Continue on, around a corner, and find yourself in a bizarre, pulsating passage. There is also another thug running toward you. Dispose of him - the shotgun is very quick - and pick up the ammo that he drops.

 

Continue along the corridor into a black area with a fire to your left and, apparently, a tall building's roof directly ahead of you. Above the flame, there appears to be a brick lined passage that opens into the empty air above you and, to the North-West, a passage set into the darkness. It's all very strange.

 

Jump to the roof. The obvious exit in the North is, for the moment, barred by a door that requires a Yellow Dibber to open. As we don't have one at the moment, there must be one in the strange dark place.

 

To get to it, stand almost opposite the exit in the North and slide down the roof. Grab the edge and see an alcove. Drop, grab and pull up into it.

 

Follow a short passage to a hole in the floor with a ladder down one wall. There is also a crawlspace to the right in the East wall. You only need go in here if you want Secret #3 but you can easily work out how to get it.

 

At the bottom of the ladder, you find a short, brick passage with two great stone blocks. These are, of course, pushable. Start at the East end of the passage and push the block as far South as it will go. Turn West and head toward a pit with a trapdoor at the bottom of it. No way down yet.

 

There should be large blocks to the left and right of Lara at the moment. Start with the one on the right and push it as far North as possible. Run back round the central pillar and push the block into the alcove with the ladder. If you wish to collect Secret #4, go back to the first block you pushed and pull it back to where you originally found it, run back round the central column and find an alcove with a Medipack.

 

Having picked up the secret, push the first block back into the South wall them go toward the pit and pull the last block as far as you can. Back around the pillar for the last time and find a switch in the newly opened alcove. Operate it and hear the satisfying sound of the trap door opening.

 

Go down the ladder and drop into the bottom room. In this room, you find two burners alight - one with a cage upon it - and a grating in the North East corner. Under the cage, you should be able to see a Yellow Dibber. Simply slide the cage from one burner to the other and the flames will extinguish. You will also find that the trap door has swung shut again so, no way out that way.

 

Pick up the Yellow Dibber and stand on the grating.

 

As if by magic, you are transported to an enclosed corridor. Run to the end and climb up the shaft. Near the top, backflip into a small room with a wheelie bin. There is a door in the West wall and, up in the ceiling, a passage leads off somewhere. This passage is too high to reach so it must be the way we need to go.

 

Sadly, we cannot move the wheelie bin as the floor is slightly buckled. Hmmm, what to do?

 

Go through the West door. To your left, note the oil drums - stacked in a Health and Safety approved manner at the top of a slope. Operate the switch on the wall and get out as quick as possible. The drums all roll across the room and down the convenient slope in the North wall. Fortunately, the drums have shaken the kink out of the floor in the previous room and allowed the wheelie bin to roll down the slope where it now provides a useful and convenient means of accessing the roof hole.

 

Go up. Follow the passages to another shaft with a ladder. Continue the ascent and backflip at the top. Be prepared to defend yourself this time, though. Another of those pesky thugs has heard you coming.

 

Run through his very empty flat once you have disposed of him and open the door ahead. Climb down the ladder and drop back out onto the platform by that strange rooftop. Fortunately, the flame has gone out now so it is quite safe.

 

Jump back onto the rooftop and head for that passage in the Northern darkness. Inside the passage, place the Yellow Dibber and enter the next room. The door closes after we entered so, once again, no returning by that route.

 

This room has two exit doors, an exit crawlspace protected by inordinate amounts of barbed wire and two switches protected by glass covers. One of the doors has a keyhole by the side of it. As we are still carrying a Donn Key, this must be exactly what is required so go use it.

 

Eureka, you may call out in glee and amazement. It worked and the door has opened. Well, don't just stand there - go in and have a look around. Find a room with a raised section in the centre with a burner on the go. (Strange that no-one has put a kettle on yet.) Through a grating in the wall opposite you can see a large fan spinning and, beyond that, a switch on the wall. In the ceiling, the inevitable, unreachable, passage.

 

One of the plates on the raised floor section is more ornate than the rest. For the moment, stand with your back to the door and face the grating in the South wall and jump onto the ornate plate then back off again. A large block rises from the floor. While it is up, walk up to the block so that Lara is as far forward as she will go without climbing the block.

 

Wait - and the block drops once more. Now, take one step forward and rise up with the block. Jump forward once then jump and grab into the ceiling hole and pull up. Run along the short passage and safety drop into the room with the fan and switch. Did I mention the thug with the gun in here? Well, there is so do the business and show him who is boss. Conveniently, he drops a LaserSight that we may need later.

 

Press the button and see one of the switch covers opening. Exit this room either by running through the fan blades and taking a little damage, or climb one of the blocks either side of the fan. Out through the grating which snaps shut behind us and back to the barbed wire room.

 

Press the newly revealed switch on the block to open the door at the North end of the room. Go here now and find out what delights await ahead.

 

Wow, a swingy bar. Run, jump, grab, swing, etc. to the other side and follow a short passage to a room with climbing platforms and a pool of lava. Lovely.

 

I don't know about anyone else but, me, I'm useless at these collapsing tile puzzles. I have found, however, that it can be done a variety of ways but, personally, I prefer the easy route.

 

As the fly cheat is disabled, that option is out so we will have to climb.

 

Jump onto the solid platform supported by thin poles. For now, ignore the other platform with a door by it. It is of no use to us yet. Standing in the centre of the platform, face the South wall and do a standing jump and grab to the block ahead. Do not pull up yet but, instead, shimmy right until Lara is facing East.

 

Pull up and do a short run angled slightly toward the wall. Do not run off the edge of the block. Face the next block at the East wall and do a standing jump and grab to the edge. Shimmy left until you are facing South once more.

 

Pull up and immediately do a backflip and turn to the next block. Do a fraction turn to the left and standing jump/grab to the platform on the North wall and shimmy right until you reach the wall.

 

Pull up, do a running jump to the platform on the West wall, turn 90 degrees and standing jump and grab the platform in the centre of the West wall. Shimmy right as far as you can go and then pull up, angle slightly to the left and run/jump to the final platform. Before it collapses, pull up into the passage and enter the small room ahead.

 

And what do we get for all that hard work? A switch and a closed door. Throw the switch and see the last cover open in the barbed wire room. The door in this small room has also opened, so follow the passage and slide down. There, it was worth the climb after all. Follow the passage back out to the lava room and exit the way we came in. Yes, you have to do the bar-swingy thing again.

 

Back in the barbed wire room, press the switch on the block by the wire and, hey presto, it dissolves into nothingness. That was a bit of luck.

 

Crawl through the space and come to a ,surprisingly, open door. Step through and enjoy the spectacle of a set of oil-drums bounding down the steps to harm you. But you are too good for them and they fail in this intent, leaving the thug at the top of the stairs to have a go.

 

Polish him off and pick up the Revolver he drops. That was nice of him. Now we have something to combine with the LaserSight. Move on into the small room he was guarding. Hello, what do we have here? A hole filled with water.

 

Well, there is only one thing you can do here, jump in.

 

At the other end of the flooded tunnel, there is a small opening in the wall to the South. Ignore for the moment and, instead, go down the pit and follow the tunnel to its end where you will find an underwater switch. Do the business and watch a door opening in a passage we have not yet visited.

 

It is, in fact, the passage through that small opening in the South wall of the flooded tunnel. Go there and swim in. Follow the passage until it slopes out of the water.

 

You will now find yourself in a small hall with a collapsed roof that blocks the way West. There is, luckily for us though, a door in the wall to the East. Open, enter and follow the passage to the next room.

 

We are in a room with eight cage-like structures, each with a switch mounted upon it. Four switches are protected by covers and the other four by burners. On the North wall, there is an electrical box. Head toward it and shoot at it. It will break, revealing a switch within.

 

Operate this switch and see which flame goes out. Wait for it to reset then repeat the process. This time, though, run to where the flame has gone out and activate the switch there. This will open a cover on one of the other blocks that will let you turn off the next burner for a while and so on.

 

Work around until all the cases have been opened and the final switch will open the exit door in the North wall.

 

What, did you expect me to do it all for you?

 

Run through the opened door and pick up some Revolver ammo. Follow the passage around a corner and over a bridge. Don't forget to admire the bridge construction. Simple yet functional.

 

Continue along the passage with the sloping walls and deal with the thug by the door at the end. Now all you need to do is to open that door. Hmmm.

 

Look up. There is an electrical box in an alcove in the ceiling. Hopefully you have collected the Revolver and LaserSight along the way, so, unless you have already done so, combine them, take aim and fire.

 

Another thug will set about you as soon as the door opens so give him a couple of bullets and he will quieten down.

 

Go along this new passage and come out on the other side of the hall with the collapsed roof. You will see a door here. Just open it and enter the large room. Oh, by the way. There are three more thugs in here for you to deal with.

 

Once they have been neutralised, have a look around.

 

Aha! There on a high pedestal is the object of the quest - the crowbar. And it is completely unharmed. Claim it.

 

Now, to find the way out. But first, there is one last secret to collect. Shoot the oil-drum by the East wall. A hole appears. Drop into it and follow a passage to Secret #5 - a small MediKit.

 

Return to the big room once more and pull one of the cages out from the West wall. Either will do. Enter the room beyond and locate the switch on the North wall. This opens a door in the South wall for a short time so run through quickly.

 

Follow the short passage out onto the street. The door closes firmly behind us but, no matter - we have retrieved the crowbar.

 

This is, in fact, Treadwell Road where the adventure started. Time for home, so head South. As you near the wheelie bin, the level ends.

 

Thanks for playing and I hope you enjoyed this little adventure.