BUILDING
COMPLEX A
Level by
Jonson
Walkthrough
by Phil Lambeth
Begin by
sliding down into a small outdoor ravine.
Hit the look key to regain camera control and run forward and to your
right. Slide down into a lower ravine
and go to the other end. Look to your
right and you'll see a large structure built into the canyon wall. Before going down further, draw your pistols
and shoot the mesh entrance in the south wall.
It will shatter, allowing you a way inside. Jump down to the sloped concrete block and stand beneath the
entrance. Using only the action key and
the up arrow, jump up to grab the opening and pull inside.
Run along
the glass floor toward the south doorway.
As you approach it, a barrel will start rolling down toward you, so
avoid it with a simple jump to your right or left. After it goes by, run up the ramp and turn left at the top. As you run along the bridge toward the
opening in the east wall, an MP starts
taking shots at you from the room below.
You may as well drop down and deal with him now. After he's dead, search the cabinet against
the north wall (standing about a step away from it) for some uzi ammo and note the closed door in the east
wall. You'll need a couple of cards to
open it, so get back onto the same bridge you dropped down from, either by
using the short block opposite the cabinet or by taking a back flip to and
jumping off the sloped surface near the east wall. Note the parallel bridge running alongside the south wall in this
room. You'll be using it shortly, but
for now, go through the east opening into a small room.
Search the
cabinet for a small medi-pack, then
shoot the grate in the NE corner to access a crawl space. Crawl forward to the end and pick up a small medi-pack, then turn around and crawl back
toward the opening. Avoid the dark
tiles in this area, as they're all death traps. Make a counterclockwise circuit around the crawl space area,
passing over a steaming floor tile in the process, and you'll come to another
grate. Hit the space bar to bring Lara
to her knees, draw your pistols and shoot the grate. This alerts the MP standing
inside, so quickly crawl inside and kill him.
(If you'd shot the grate from further back, you would not have alerted
him and he would have stood there like a statue as you entered. You may have been tempted under those
circumstances just to leave him alone, but it's essential that he die.) Pick up the E-CARD
I that he dropped, then take the desert
eagle ammo from the computer station against the west wall. Shoot the barrel SW for some uzi ammo.
Crawl
back to the small room and exit through the west opening beyond the
cabinet. Use the bridge to cross over
into a new room and shoot the MP who
challenges you from your left. Go
around the glassed-in enclosure and pick up the flares
near the SW corner. Hop over the pipe
and go into the opening in the south wall.
Run up the ramp and hop or vault up into the alcove at the end. Pull down the wall switch for a cut scene
showing a timed door opening in the previous room. Wait before hitting the look key, and you'll know how long you
have before the door closes again.
Throw the switch again, and this time you won't get the cut scene. Reverse roll and run back down the ramp,
jump over the pipe and turn to your left.
Use the sprint key to get around the glassed-in enclosure and hop over
the pipe to enter the timed doorway in the north wall. (You may have to wait until the laser starts
moving away.) Jump over the laser and
then hop onto the ledge to your left.
Go
through the opening and up the ramp.
Find the wall switch at the top and get ready for another timed
run. When you pull down the switch, a
cut scene shows a door opening in the east wall of the room below. Wait until the door slams shut, then hit the
look key and pull the switch down again.
Reverse roll, slide down toward the previous room, jump off at the last
second to clear the pipe, turn left and sprint around the glassed-in enclosure
until you reach the open doorway. Dash
inside and immediately draw your pistols to deal with the waiting dog. Take
the E-CARD II from the NE corner of the
console, then go through the south opening and follow the passage until you
reach a ramp leading down to a closed door.
The door opens briefly as you approach it, dumping you back into the
room where you killed the first MP.
Use the
E-Cards in the slots on either side of the closed east door, which then opens
for you. Go inside and greet another MP with gunfire.
Then step forward into the depression, which opens like a trap door and
sends you sliding down a slope into a room guarded by a solitary dog. Kill
it, then proceed about halfway down the east hallway. Pull up into either alcove on your right and left and shoot out
the grates. You'll find a small medi-pack and some flares in the north room, and some desert eagle ammo and the CROWBAR in the south room. Go back down and use the crowbar to open the
door at the end of the hall. An MP steps up to the attack, so kill him before
picking up the flares in the corner of
next room. Search the nearby cabinet
for a small medi-pack and note the fuse
receptacles in the far wall. Go through
the east doorway into a dark and drab room.
The door closes behind you, seemingly trapping you inside. Stand near the edge of the floor with the
burning tiles below, and take a standing jump either to the left or right of
the box. Move the box to one side and
pick up the BLUE FUSE. When you do so, the door reopens.
Return to
the previous room and go over to the west opening near the fuse receptacles for
a little block puzzle. Enter to find three moveable blocks arranged in a
row. I'll call the one nearest the
doorway Block #1, and so on. Push Block
#2 to the right (N) once, then pull out Block #1 and move it out of the way
into the previous room. Go back and
pull Block #2 back once to its original position. Then you can go around and pick up the YELLOW FUSE in the NW corner.
There's no need to move Block #3 at all.
Go back
outside and use the fuses to open the door in the south wall. Step into the dark passage, hop onto the
ramp ahead and immediately back flip to avoid the barrel that rolls down from
your right. Do the same thing with the
next length of ramp. Take standing
jumps up the ramp until you reach the opening.
Two MPs come running toward you,
so just slide back down to safety. The
MPs will go back the other way, so draw your pistols and take them by
surprise. Be careful, though, because
when you step onto the threshold another barrel will be released from your
left. The shorter barrel standing by
itself can be shot, revealing a large medi-pack.
Go south
and you'll emerge in an enclosed outdoor area.
Shoot the dog, then find the small medi-pack in the nearby NW corner. An MP
is shooting at you from high up in the far south wall, so try to take him out
from here. There's a small room east
where you'll find another MP and a closed
door requiring another fuse. There's
another open area to the SE flanked by spinning radar stations, but there's
nothing to do there right now. Head
west and find a doorway leading to another room. Go inside and shoot the panel box on the wall to your left. Pull down the switch for a cut scene showing
the outer doors opening beneath the radar stations. The doors are timed, however, and even at a full sprint you don't
have enough time to get there, so don't bother trying.
Continue west through
the next two openings into a room guarded by two MPs. Kill them and find the uzi ammo on the floor SW. Go to the SE corner, where you'll find a
grate. Shoot it, enter the space and
get the UZIS. Come back out and go to the sloped block at the NE corner, back
flip onto it and jump off to grab a crawl space in the duct. Pull inside and turn to your right. Crawl forward until you're able to stand
up. You're overlooking a large
funnel-shaped room with what looks like (and is) deadly liquid down at the
bottom. Look to your right and see a
switch in the east wall. Take a running
jump and grab to the ledge below the switch.
Pull up, step forward and pull down the switch to lift a trap door
behind you (which isn't timed). Turn
around, side step to the right (to give yourself running room) and take an
angled running jump back to the south ledge.
Face the trap door and take a running jump and grab to it. Pull up, face north and take a running jump
to a flat portion of the large duct.
Crawl east and face north when you can stand up. Take a running jump slightly NW down to the
stable block beneath the closed door.
Turn left, and when the flames subside take a running jump west to the
next stable block.
There's
an opening down below in the west wall.
Standing with your back against the wall at the NE corner, take a
running jump toward the opening, veering to the right and hitting the action
key at the last instant to land inside the passage. Run to the other end and pull down the wall switch. The deadly liquid outside is drained away,
allowing you to jump to the slope, slide down and grab the edge, and shimmy
over to the east opening. Pull up into
the crawl space and enter a small room.
Search the cabinet for a BLUE FUSE,
then crawl under the pipe and head south up the ramp. An MP runs toward you, so
deal with him. Continue until you reach
a familiar area. Turn left and return
to the east room on the other side of the outdoor area. Insert the Blue Fuse in the receptacle to
open the door to its left.
Go
inside, and the door closes behind you.
Note the three raised tiles in the room ahead, and remember their
locations. Continue through the east
doorway and follow the passage past a grilled alcove containing a wall
switch. Pull down the wall switch at
the end of the passage to raise that grill.
Go back and pull down the wall switch in the alcove to open a door in
the NW corner of the previous room.
Return to the raised threshold to find that the other raised tiles have
vanished. But you remember where they
were, right? Take a standing jump
slightly NW to the first safe tile (if you miss, the door will slam shut). From the spot where you land, you should be
able to side flip left to the second safe tile. The next part is tricky. You need to face NW, with Lara's feet as
close as possible to the edges of the safe tile. Take a running jump to the ledge in front of the open door
without triggering the door release mechanism.
This may take several tries, so be patient and remember to save as soon
as you succeed.
You can
climb the glass wall north (be as quiet as possible so you don't wake up the
sleeping dog outside) and back flip to a passage. Turn around and follow the passage past a timed flame blower. Go around the corner and drop down into a dark
kitchen next to the room where you used the Blue Fuse. Kill the MP
and exit through the SW opening. Use
your crowbar to open the door ahead and jump into the underground pool. Swim through the opening in the east wall
(avoid the NE opening lest you be sucked into a powerful fan) and find a small
triangular opening to your right. Swim
inside for some desert eagle ammo. You may find it difficult and time-consuming
to swim back out, so just return to the previous area for some air if you need
it. Continue swimming SE and locate
another small triangular opening. Swim
inside and pull the underwater lever to open a door you may have seen in the
underground pool area. Use the nearby
air hole and then swim back the way you came.
Pull up onto the south ledge and pull down the wall switch inside the
alcove. It doesn't open the grate
leading to the outside, so it must do something else.
Yep, it
closes an underwater door in front of that pesky fan, so jump back into the
water and swim into that NE opening you avoided earlier. Turn right into the east passage and swim up
until your feet find the ramp. Run up
the rest of the way and follow the passage until you reach an opening looking
out over the underground pool. Activate
the jump switch there to lower a rope ahead.
The camera angle changes, so hit the look key to restore control. Side step to the left and take a running
jump and grab to the rope. You can try
to reach the rope from here if you wish, although I'm not sure it can be
done. It's much easier to jump into the
water, pull up onto the south ledge and reach it from there. Turn as necessary to face the opening in the
west wall, then swing forward and jump off to grab the edge of the opening. The trick is to bring Lara all the way to
the bottom of the rope, but release on the first swing.
Pull down
the wall switch to open a door open you.
Pull up into the opening. You'll
immediately start sliding, and if you drop to the room below before noticing
the rope dangling ahead of you, not to worry.
Simply turn around, pull up onto the slope and take a rolling back flip
to grab the rope. All of the corners
except the NW corner are occupied by spinning radar stations, so turn Lara to
face the NW corner, swing in that direction and jump off to land on the flat
surface. Pick up the small medi-pack and jump up to shoot the grate in
the west wall. Pull up into the crawl
space and keep to your right. You'll go
over a steaming tile and eventually arrive at an alcove where you can stand up
and pull down a wall switch. You can
hear the sound of a trap door opening, just beyond the grate to your left
(which remains closed, unfortunately), so crawl back in the other direction and
this time keep to your left. Locate the
opening and lower Lara down it. Release
and grab again immediately. Pull up
into a lower crawl space area and locate the nearby opening. Lower Lara down and shimmy to the right and
around one corner. Pull up west, and
while still in a crouched position draw your pistols and shoot out the grate
ahead. Crawl forward and emerge in the
men's bathroom. Push the nearby button
to open the exit door NE and go there.
You'll
come out onto a ledge overlooking the area you explored earlier. Look to your left and you'll see an open
doorway in the north wall. Don't go
there now, or you'll be ambushed by an active sentry gun that's already pointed
in your direction. Look to your right
and you'll see a closed metal door with a card slot to its left. Look up at the block above the closed metal
door and note for later the fuse box jutting out of it. Head past the closed metal door along the
ledge and jump north to the long white building. Go to the east end and jump to the next long white building. Finally, jump to the shorter white building
in the NE corner and vault up to pull down the wall switch. The door opens in the north wall, so hop
into the opening and run down the corridor to the other end. You come to a room filled with deadly liquid
and guarded by two roving laser banks.
Take a running jump NE to the raised tile, being careful to avoid the
nearby flame, and wait for the laser bank to go away before jumping over to the
raised tile in the SE corner (you'll be safe in the extreme corner). When the laser bank goes away again, take a
running jump east toward it and quickly scoot to your right into the open
doorway before the laser bank begins its return trip.
Don't go
into the next room yet, as you have one more task to perform first. Now you have two laser banks to contend
with. Stand in the threshold of the
doorway, about one step back from the darker tile, wait for both laser banks to
clear the area, then take a running jump to the right side of the next raised
tile west. Without stopping to assess
the situation, continue with a running jump west so that you pass over the
returning laser bank and land on the raised NW tile. Press your nose against the west wall, and you'll be safe from
the laser. When it retreats, step back
and pick up the ID CARD, then quickly
step forward again. You can turn around
and go back the same way you came, but it's much easier simply to turn to your
left, jump up and grab the ceiling, and monkey swing back over to the SW
corner. Release to drop down onto the
raised tile, and repeat your jumps until you get back inside the east doorway.
Enter the
room with grated flooring and pick up the flares. Then push the button in the east wall to
open the trap door in the middle of the floor.
Go over to the south wall, facing north, wait for the vertical flame blower
to subside (the horizontal ones never do) and simply run forward to land on the
north block, and run forward quickly to avoid the returning flames. Hop down to your right and pull up into the
crawl space in the east wall. You'll
alert an MP in the next room, but there's
nothing you can do until you crawl to the opening and lower Lara down the other
side. Kill the MP and pick up the DESERT EAGLE he drops. Then get some desert eagle ammo
from the computer station against the south wall before exiting via the SE
corridor. Go up the slight ramp and
ready a weapon to kill the dog that
attacks when you enter a filthy kitchen.
Remember that sleeping dog you tried to avoid awakening earlier? Well, you've just invaded its lair. There are four more dogs in this area, you've interrupted their
siesta, and they're very grumpy. Kill
them all and proceed through the west opening.
Go up the stairs and push the button to open the exit door.
Reverse
roll, step out onto the ledge and return to the west side of the compound by
jumping from white building to white building.
Jump back to the ledge near the closed metal door (you still can't open
it) and go around the ledge to the opening in the north wall. The sentry gun I mentioned earlier has been
deactivated, so go inside and shoot the MP
on the far ledge. You can see the laser
sight on a ledge to your right, but you can't reach it from here. Turn around and approach the SE alcove (the
one on your left). When you do so, a
flame blower inside the alcove is activated.
Take two steps back from the alcove, wait until the flames subside, then
take a standing jump over the flame hole to the wall switch. You'll be safe here. Pull down the switch to remove a cover that
protects the companion switch in the SW alcove, then side step to the corner
and back flip to safety when the flames subside again. Repeat this procedure in the SW alcove, and
when you pull down the second wall switch the flames guarding a ledge in the
west wall are extinguished.
Take a
standing jump to the nearer triangular ledge, turn your nose to the wall and
take a side flip right to reach the second one. Save your game here, as you now need to make a difficult jump to
the north ledge. Here's how I did
it. Back up as far as possible, face NE
and take a running jump, curving to the left before you leap, so that you
barely clear the column ahead. When you
get past the column, veer to your left in midair and grab the ledge where it's
indented. Don't pull up here, however,
or you'll trigger and be crushed by the barrel poised up to your right. Shimmy to your right (not your left) past
the indentation and pull up. Turn to
your right and run along the ledge past the point where it starts turning
upward. Turn to your right and position
Lara so that you can barely see the corner of the ledge on which the laser
sight rests. Turn around, hang drop
from the ledge, pull up and reverse roll.
This technique gives you a little more jumping distance than would
otherwise be available. Save your game
and take a running jump. When you clear
the column just ahead, veer to your left and then immediately straighten
yourself out to grab the ledge. Pull up
and claim the LASER SIGHT. Take a running jump south (no grab
necessary) back to the ledge with the burner alcoves, and exit this area.
Go around
to the closed metal door. Although you
now have the ID Card, the door still won't open. Step back, combine the desert eagle and the laser sight, and
shoot that fuse box I mentioned earlier.
A brief flyby shows the card receptacle erupting in flames as the door
opens. Go inside and run up the ramp as
the door closes behind you. As you
approach the next area, a flyby gives you a close-up of a Stealth jet and a
waiting helicopter. As you continue
down the west hallway, a cut scene shows a host of MPs and a dog being released
to greet you. The dog reaches you first, so kill it before tending
to the quartet of MPs. The lone barrel is empty, so continue to the
south end of the hallway and press the button to open a door opposite the
aircraft.
Go inside
and get on the motorbike from its right side.
Drive down the north ramp and continue, running over an MP as you
descend, until a gate opens upon your approach and you enter a familiar room. Turn to your right, stop in the center of
the room, facing the east doorway, and get off the motorbike. Pull down the timed switch in the south
wall, then immediately reverse roll, dash to the motorbike and mount it, and
keep the action key depressed as the motorbike heads outside into the walled
compound. Turn to your right when you
get to the other side and continue through the opening toward the open exit
gates. When you pass through them to
the wide reaches outside, the level comes to an end.