RETURN TO ALEXANDRIA
Level by Jon Heywood (Inchdix)
Walkthrough written and provided by Bex
You start this level in a dark room containing a pool and a couple of
closed gates. The gate on the North wall will open as you approach it but
ignore the pool and both gates for now. Instead, explore the room you’re in and
pick up a large medipack, some flares and some shotgun shells. As you pick
these items up, a ninja will appear – kill him and then return to the pillar
where you picked up the shotgun shells and spy a ladder on one side of it.
Climb up into a brightly lit room. Collect two sets of shotgun shells
and pull the floor lever nearby. This opens a gate in the pool. Drop down
through the other hole in the floor in this room to land in the pool below and
swim through the now-open gate.
At the junction,
follow the left path and you’ll soon emerge in another room containing another
set of shotgun shells and a floor lever. Pick up the shells and pull the lever
to open a gate elsewhere in the water. Jump back into the water and follow the path
to the left. At the end, pick up some flares and turn right.
When you’re able to,
turn right again (it’s a dead-end straight ahead). At the end, pick up a small
medipack. Next to you is another tunnel on the right – this was previously
blocked by a closed gate, but you just opened that by pulling the floor lever a
minute ago.
Swim through and at
the junction turn right to pick up some Uzi clips, then turn around and follow
the tunnel straight ahead. Just before the end of the tunnel, you can swim
upwards. Climb out into a purplish-room, pick up the Uzi clips that are lurking
in a corner, then pull into the crawlspace on the North wall.
As soon as you’re in
there, whip out your weapons and shoot the scorpion that’s heading your way,
because there’s nothing worse than a scorpion up your butt while you’re trying
to get through a crawlspace (well, except maybe for two scorpions up your butt,
that is). That done, stand up and go to the room ahead.
You can see what needs
to be done here – strategically-placed platforms are all around you and there
are monkey bars high on the ceiling. First though, go for a swim and collect a
few goodies from the pool below, namely two sets of crossbow ammo.
In a dark corner on
the South wall, there’s a well-hidden alcove. Climb out onto a low platform in
that corner and climb the ladder to enter a room containing secret #1 – the
crossbow and crossbow ammo.
With those tucked away
in your backpack, head back the way you came. Take running jumps to the next
two platforms, a running jump with grab to the next platform ahead, then a
running jump to the one after that. You might want to save your game here
because the platform in front of you will burst into flames a couple of seconds
after you land on it. From this platform, use running jumps to reach the
remaining platforms.
Once you’re on the
last platform you can reach in this way, jump to the lower platform in the
nearby corner and pick up your lasersight. Kill the two scorpions that attack,
and then jump back into the water and tackle the pillars again (the fire on the
burning platform will go out for a while to enable you to do this).
Back on the last
platform you can reach, jump up and grab the monkey bars above you. Follow
these to the middle of the room and then head left. At the end, drop off onto
the final platform and three things will happen: Firstly, you get to listen to
a nice short bit of TR4 music. Secondly, you get to pick up half of a
Cartouche. Finally, you’ll notice that the pool in this room has now gone. Use the
monkey bars to get to the entrance (there’s a ladder at the end – use the
drop/grab move to make Lara catch hold of it and do the same again at the end
of the ladder to catch hold of the wall beneath the entrance. Climb up from
there).
Back in the purplish
room, drop back into the water and turn right when you can, then left. Keep
following the underwater tunnels left and eventually you’ll end up in the main
pool. Don’t worry about the closed gate ahead, you’ll open it later. For now,
swim upwards, climb out, and kill the two ninjas who are firing at you.
Approach the gate on
the North wall and it will open. There are two ways of tackling the next bit.
You can either slide down the slope to its end, and hope against hope that you
land in a place that doesn't burst into flames (if you’re unlucky you can use
the water nearby to extinguish yourself), or you can do it the easy way. I'll
detail the easy way.
About halfway down the
slope is a place you can jump to and grab a ladder. Do this and climb up to find
yourself on the higher level of this area. Shoot the two vases. Pick up a small
medipack from one and kill the scorpion that was hiding in the other.
Use the monkey bars
overhead to reach the high pillar in the middle of the room and use a series of
standing jumps to get to the lowest pillar. From here, take a diagonal standing
jump with grab to catch hold of the shimmy crack on the North wall. Shimmy left
as far as you can go and pull up into the alcove. Pull the floor lever to open
a gate at ground level.
Drop down to the floor
(taking care to avoid the flames that have just appeared beneath you) and kill
the ninja inside the now-open gate. That done, go in and pull the floor lever
to open a gate high above you. Before heading up there though, head to the pool
in the corner on the East wall (avoiding the areas on the floor which look as
though spikes might pop out of them, because the vast majority of these will
burst into flames the minute you step on them). Jump into the pool to collect
some goodies.
One thing you should
know about Jon by now is that he is, by his own admission, a complete and utter
bastard. Another thing you’ll know if you’re familiar enough with his work is
that the colour red in his levels very rarely signifies anything good. Tempted
by that large medipack in the underwater tunnel with the red lighting? Don’t
be. If you try and pick it up, a gate will close behind you and you’ll be
condemned to a watery grave. Lovely! Instead, explore the other tunnels and
collect shotgun shells, a small medipack and some crossbow ammo.
Climb out of the pool
and head for the lowest pillar, again avoiding the “spike” tiles on the floor.
(A couple of these are safe and don’t burst into flames, but why take chances!)
From the lowest pillar, make your way up to the highest one and from there take
a running jump with grab to the South wall where you shot the two vases. Shimmy
all the way to the right and hoist yourself up into the alcove to pull the
floor lever that you’ll find there. This opens one of the two gates on the West
wall.
Shimmy back the way
you came and, using the monkey bars once more, make your way to the highest
pillar. From there, use the other pillars to get back to ground level again.
Use the ladder on the West wall to reach the area behind the now-open gate.
Once again, three
things will happen: Firstly, you get to listen to another nice short bit of TR4
music. Secondly, you get to pick up another half of a Cartouche. Finally,
you’ll notice that the room with the pillars in it has now been filled with
green water. Jump in and notice that the second gate, slightly lower down on
the West wall, is now also open. Swim though it and follow the tunnel left as
far as you can. You’ll end up in an underwater room with pillars. Pick up the
shotgun shells lying in the alcove in the far corner of the West wall. Swim
around the edge of the room and climb out in the alcove on the East wall.
Run up to the top of
the first ramp (don’t worry, this isn’t boulder-territory) then WALK up the
second ramp. About halfway up is a pit which will drop you into deadly water.
Jump over the pit and then hop back and hang off the edge. Woohoo! The wall is
climbable! Climb down, and when you can climb no further drop and immediately
grab to catch hold of the wall just above the deadly water. Climb into the
alcove in the wall and proceed into the next room to pick up secret #2 – the
Shotgun and some shotgun shells. (The “spiked” looking areas on the floor are
safe).
Jump into the water.
The gate ahead of you will open as you approach. Swim straight ahead and pick
up some Uzi clips and then roll and swim upwards to end up in the main pool –
you’ll notice that you’ve managed to get here via the gate that was previously
closed.
Climb out and notice
that the gates on the East wall are now also open. Proceed down the small ramp
and use the crossbow with explosive ammo to obliterate the mummies in the next
room, then take a look around. Fire everywhere and the gate ahead is closed.
What to do? Well… hidden on a dark part of the North wall is an alcove. The
fact that the flare bug kicks in somewhere around this point doesn’t help you
to spot it, but it’s there if you look hard enough. Take a running jump over
the fiery trench to land in this alcove and pull the floor lever to open the
gate nearby. Jump back into the room with the now-open gate and proceed.
Before shooting at
anything in this room (especially that vase), look closely at the North wall
for a low crawlspace. Crawl inside and climb the ladder at the end. Near the
top, do a backflip with twist to grab hold of the ladder behind you. Climb up
and pull up into the room above.
Shoot the two vases
and you’ll reveal a couple of scorpions. Pump them full of lead along with the
ninja who just appeared. Pick up the crossbow ammo from the corner and then
make your way to the top of the sandy block structure in the middle of the room
to pull the floor lever there. This opens both gates in this room. First of
all, you want to head to the highest one (it’s on the North wall. The other
one, at ground level on the West wall, is the exit from this area).
The next bit is a
complete pig, especially if, like me, you hate mazes. I’m terrible at
describing mazes so I’m simply going to summarise and let you tear your own
hair out as I did. Basically, the objective here is to push a load of floor
levers to light torches and open various gates which lead to other floor levers
and/or sundry pickups such as a couple of medipacks, shotgun ammo and crossbow
ammo. Eventually you’ll open the gate to secret #3 – the Uzis.
You’ll also find a
fair few scorpions along the way, so keep a weapon handy. I’ll also give you
another hint which will save you some time: Two of these levers are not at
ground level, they’re above your head in easy-to miss alcoves. Grrr. (This took
me ages to figure out and had me calling Jon some of the most unrepeatable
names under the sun, and if he’s reading this walkthrough I can just imagine
him laughing his ass off. Evil, he is. Evil I tell you).
Anyway, with the Uzis
collected, leave the maze (hurrah!) and return to the room with the sandy block
structure in the middle of it. Go through the open gate on the West wall and
slide down the slope to land in the room where you shot the mummies earlier.
Kill the ninja that starts firing at you. Head through the open gate on the
East wall and you can now shoot the mummies there. You can also now shoot the
vase. The reason I warned you against shooting this before will now become
apparent – shooting the vase triggers a load of spikes around the edge of this
room. With those spikes in the way, the crawlspace for secret #3 would not have
been accessible to you. Devious, huh?
The big grey doors
ahead will open as you approach. In front of you is a large room with a
multi-tiered structure in the middle of it. At ground level are receptacles for
two Hands. The “spiked” looking areas on the floor are once again safe.
Around the corner from
the left-hand receptacle is a ladder. Climb up and use the nearby platform to
reach the Cartouche receptacle on the central structure. Combine your Cartouche
pieces and place the Cartouche to open the gate at ground level in the
right-hand corner of the South wall. Proceed through this gate and climb the
ladder. Push the floor lever close by to flood the previous room, then continue
and climb the next ladder and enter the next room.
Head partway up the
left-hand ramp in this room to trigger a spiked boulder, ensuring that you
quickly jump off again before Lara gets flattened. When the coast is clear, use
the same ramp to reach the pillar in front of you (the right-hand ramp has not
one but two spiked boulders waiting to land on Lara’s unsuspecting head. The
second one scared the crap out of me, lol).
Once you land on the
pillar, don’t hang around as it bursts into flames within a couple of seconds.
Quickly take a running jump with grab to the next pillar and pick up the Hand
of Orion from the pedestal.
Leave this area and
return the way you came, heading back down the ladder and past the floor lever
you pushed earlier. Swim into the room that’s now flooded and make your way to
the gate on the North wall which is now open.
You’ll find yourself
in a room with a large pool and a couple of scorpions. Kill the scorpions and
jump into the pool to pick up some flares. You can see a couple of vases to
shoot and an open doorway on the other side of the pool but a quick swim over
there will show you that the edge of the pool on this side is too high for Lara
to climb out. Gasp!
Swim back to the other
side of the pool and climb out, then light a flare. See anything helpful? Aha!
Transparent platforms! Traverse the platforms to get to the other side of the
pool. Shoot the vases (there’s nothing in them, mind you) and then proceed
though the open doorway. Follow the small passageway to find yourself in a room
with four pillars of differing heights. Make your way to the highest pillar and
pick up the Hand of Sirius from the pedestal.
As you do this, the
pillars beneath you will burst into flames. Oh great, now what! Well, take a
leap of faith to the pillar just beneath you and the flames will go out. Do the
same to the next lowest pillar, and from there do a safety-drop to the floor,
because the lowest pillar will remain on fire. Return to the pool via the small
passageway and jump in. Climb out on the other side.
Don’t leave this area just yet though, because there’s another important
pickup to be had which only becomes accessible once you have picked up the Hand
of Sirius. Jump to the first transparent platform and turn to face the North
wall. Light a flare and you’ll see an alcove there in the darkness that wasn’t
there previously. Take a running jump to this alcove and follow the passageway.
Pick up a second Hand of Sirius from the pedestal at the end.
Head back to the pool and then leave this area, returning once more to
the main room with the multi-tiered structure in it. Time to place a couple of
these Hands… except of course that the receptacles for them are currently
underwater.
Swim back through the open gate on the South wall and push the floor
lever there once more to drain the previous room. Make your way back up to the
central structure where you placed the Cartouche. Just around the corner is a
place where you can put your Hand of Orion. With that done, drop down to ground
level and place the two Hands of Sirius in the receptacles either side of the
large grey doors.
What happens? Absolutely nothing! The doors are still closed. Argh…
This had me scratching my head for a while. What you need to do is flood
the area again, so back you go to push that floor lever once more. When you’ve
done that, swim back into the main room and you’ll see that the large grey
doors are now open.
Swim through the doors and climb out into the sunlight to end this fun
and, in parts, devious little level.