BACK TO BASICS 2010 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

 

Level by tombraider1703

WALKTHROUGH WRITTEN BY SELENE



Pickups: Shotgun wideshot ammo, Blue Key, Glock 17 ammo, small medipacks, Uzi ammo, lasersight, Glock 17, crowbar, Yellow Key, flares, normal shotgun ammo, small waterskin, Bag of Sand, Uzis, large medipack, Mask of the Phantom + 2 Secrets (shotgun + Uzi ammo and large medipack)

Enemies: Thugs, Doberman, rats, bats, Phantom


Lara starts her adventure on a dock somewhere in Venice. Turn around and shoot the windows, enter a room filled with crates containing explosives. Grab some shotgun wideshot ammo from the table and a Blue Key from the crate closest to the windows.

We're done here for now, so leave the room and dive into the channel. Swim right and climb the stone stairs on the right-hand side. Shoot the windows and hop up onto the sill, enter the small room. Use the recently found key in the keyhole: you'll hear an explosion and see fires burning as the TNT crates in the previous room blow up.

Go back outside and return to the room with the remains of the destroyed crates. Don't be too concerned about the dramatic music, nothing is going to jump out from the shadows quite yet. Just be careful not to get too close to the fires. Do a running jump across the fires at the back of the room where the TNT crates were before. Pause for a moment and wait for some rubble to drop from the ceiling before going all the way through to the other side.

Vault up into the crawlspace to the left and drop down on the other side. Pick up some Glock 17 ammo from the wooden crate and go to the back of the room where you'll find two wooden slopes. If you jump directly into the water between the two slopes you'll be running into a surprise of the rather unpleasant kind.

Stand with Lara's back to either of the slopes, backflip onto it and immediately leap off while pressing Action to grab an overhead ladder. Climb to the centre of the ladder just above the water hole and go up until you spot a ledge behind Lara. Backflip and turn around. Up in the alcove on top of the ladder to the left you'll see a closed grate. We'll come back here later, but for now do a long running jump to the pillar with the switch across the room.

Pulling the switch you see a camera shot of a fan, this has just been switched off and so the water is perfectly safe now. Drop down into the water and swim E, you'll get a glimpse of the deactivated fan in the distance. Right in front of it you'll find Secret # 1: the shotgun.

Turn around and swim back where you came from. Notice the bluish tile at the bottom right before the ladder on the wall. Swim into the passage opposite of said ladder and pull the lever, causing the bluish tile to rise into a block. Stand on the block facing W, back up as far as you can and do a running jump with a sharp right angle + a grab to reach the ladder on the wall.

Climb up until you see the pillar with the switch behind Lara, backflip and turn right. Do a running jump + grab to the ladder on the wall next to the passage you came from to begin with. Climb right and pull up into the open alcove.

In the next room pick up a small medipack behind the chair to the left and shoot the windows to the right. Walk out onto the red awning, turn right and do a running jump + grab to the white pillar. Pull up and face N/E, do a standing jump to the window sill on the side of the building, shoot the windows and enter the next room.

The E switch opens the trapdoor by the ladder, but it only leads back down to the room where you used the blue key to blow up the explosives before so no need to go back down there right now. Pull the second switch to open the door, cross the bridge with the glass windows and draw guns to take out the thug waiting in the next room.

Pick up the Uzi ammo he drops and shoot the windows in the same room. Climb onto the window sill and do a carefully calculated standing jump past the swinging crate, lightly tapping Action to land Lara on the opposite window sill.

Shoot the windows and go through. There's a switch in the same room, pull it to open a trapdoor above the ladder. Climb up until you see a ledge behind Lara, backflip onto a stone terrace. Turn around and prepare to deal with a Doberman that comes charging at you from the other side of the terrace.

Go up the stairs E and grab the lasersight lying on the ground to the right of the closed door. Head over to the N side of the terrace and use the zip line. Make sure you do drop off before reaching the wooden boards on the other side. This is a trapdoor and if Lara touches it she will be sent straight down onto some rotten floorboards. These crumble into pieces pretty quickly and underneath them there's a pool with spike trap and rotating fans.

To take advantage of this situation make sure you position Lara correctly. Stick to the right part of the trapdoor, facing the back of the terrace. Do a standing jump forwards, drop down onto the crumbling floorboards and run straight ahead into the safe passage.

When approaching the end of the passage take care not to get hit by the rubble that falls from the ceiling. Stay clear of the water and standjump to grab the edge of the slope ahead. Shimmy left to the ladder, climb up to the top and pull up onto the slope. Backflip to the slope behind and immediately jump forwards while pressing Action to grab a ladder ahead. Climb right until you reach the final ladder, go almost all the way to the bottom and backflip onto a safe block.

Climb up on the block to the left and carefully jump across to the next ledge. Climb the ladder around to the left, careful not to get too close to the burners, and dismount in the wall alcove. The switch raises a trapdoor down by the pool. Do a standing jump from the edge back down to the ledge before the ladder. Standjump from the edge to the corner block and drop down onto the safe platform above the pool.

Go back through the passage to the trapped pool and you'll find an opening near the S/W corner. If there's still a section of rotten floorboard to your right you can use this to run across to the next passage. Otherwise a simple running jump with a brief tap on the Action key will work wonders.

Save your game before the next part, it can be a bit tricky to get it right and might require a few attempts. Below you there's a slope, at the bottom a rotating fan. On the right-hand side there's a narrow passage, you need to reach this before Lara slides to her death at the bottom of the slope.

A method that helped me was to stand with Lara facing the ladder on the wall and hop backwards to grab the edge. At the moment of dropping down, tap the left arrow key slightly to get her to land on the slope facing forwards. Jump with a sharp right angle into the passage.

At this point you're attacked by a pack of rats. There's no way to kill these so you'll have to outrun them. Just around the corner there's a depression in the floor and it's trapped by a slashing blade. Swiftly jump over it, run to the end and leap onto the slope underneath the ladder. Immediately backflip to a second slope, jump forwards and press Action to make Lara grab hold of the ladder.

Go nearly all the way to the top, backflip with a mid-air roll and press Action to grab the edge of the slope opposite of the ladder. Shimmy around to the right and pull up into the crawlspace where you can save the game at last. Phew!

Keep climbing up the steps, turning the valve wheel on your way to disable the spike trap and stop the rotating fans in the pool outside. The grate on top opens so slide down the slopes into the water. Swim into the previously trapped room, towards the fans and turn right just before to find an alcove containing the Glock 17.

A blue block rises underneath the ladder nearby, pull up onto it and climb back up to the top. At his point you'll have to make your way back down. To do so without losing health position Lara in the left corner and do a long running jump across the railing, aiming for the gondolas down in the channel.

Climb out of the water N and combine the Glock 17 with the lasersight. Use it to shoot the bell above the door, granting you access to the Opera House. Be sure to pick up the Glock 17 ammo just outside the door before entering.

The door closes behind you, so no going back at this point. Do not dash ahead though, otherwise you'll be killed by the falling rubble. Just walk carefully ahead and when you start hearing a sound of warning immediately backflip to safety. That done you're free to make your way through to the entry hall.

There are two doors in the room: one on the ground floor and one up on top of the stairs. Both of them are closed so we'll have to look for some way of opening them. Stand on top of the first flight of stairs and pull up onto the chandelier. Above the entrance there's a crevice running along the wall, runjump with a grab to reach it and shimmy right until Lara can pull up.

Using the monkeyswing overhead, shimmy straight and into the left alcove at the end. Pushing the button here you'll hear a brief explosion and upon returning to the edge you'll find that the TNT crates below have blown up, leaving a gaping hole in the floor below.

Drop down in the corner to land on a triangular ledge. Turn around and look down for a safe block underneath the remains of the staircase, hop down there. Turn again and climb the ladder down to a slope, slide the rest of the way down to the basement.

There's a slashing blade right before the nearby doorway, best to be careful down here. Face the blade and line Lara up with the edge of the slope. By doing a standing jump with a last-minute grab at the right moment it should be possible for her to get past the blade without losing health.

Crawl forwards into a room with poisonous darts shooting out of the walls. The wooden floorboards are safe spots where Lara can stand up if necessary, otherwise stay down on all fours. Crawl directly left from the doorway into a corner alcove with a jump switch. A block rises nearby. Crawl back out onto the wooden floorboards, stand up and vault onto the block.

Climb up to the ledge above, turn and jump across the two wooden rafters. On the right side of the last one you'll find a crowbar. Bring it with you and return to the raised block. Drop down onto the wooden part of the floor and turn to face the E wall. Use the crowbar on the wooden panel and it gives way.

Enter the passage and draw guns to kill a rat coming from the room ahead. You'll come to some backstage room filled with bookshelves. Pull the lever to open a door back out in the basement. Before leaving go around to the left and climb a shelf to find a small medipack.

Return to the room with the darts and crawl to the far left side. Dive into the pool and pick up the Yellow Key from the bottom. You'll get a quick glimpse of the Phantom gliding across the pool, but thankfully it'll be gone by the time you surface.

Crawl back past the darts and prepare to dodge the slashing blade. I found that by standing with Lara's back to the left wall (left when facing the blade) she can do an angled running jump and just make it across without getting hit. This is a bit tricky, but fully possible. You can also do a standing jump past the blade, costing Lara just a small bit of health.

Stand in front of the wall with Lara's back to the slope. Backflip onto the slope, jump forwards and grab the ladder. There's a fire on the tile right above Lara, so shimmy right around the corner and climb up onto the safe block. Standing in the top right corner turn to face the right wall and backflip up to the triangular ledge from before. Finally a standing jump and grab will bring Lara over to the staircase in the entry hall.

Head down the stairs and use the key here to open the double doors. Look up to spot some rubble attached to the ceiling, this will drop when you approach it so be careful. Ahead of you is the Theatre, save the game before entering.

As you enter two fire wraiths emerge from the flames of the candles up on the stage. Better find a pool quickly. Dash straight across the room and down the stairs to the lower floor. Veer right and run down the stairs at the right side of the stage, the wraiths still hot on your heels. At the bottom of the stairs there's a room with a pool straight ahead, a perfect place to put out those nasty stalkers.

We have some business to attend to in this room later on, but now that we have some more time on our hands return upstairs to the stage area. Head up the stairs to where you entered and look in the S/W corner for some Uzi ammo. There's also shotgun wideshot ammo to be found on one of the crates N. Go back down the stairs to the stage and look around for Glock 17 ammo, flares and normal shotgun ammo.

Take a mental note of the two scales before the stage, these are for later. This time around go down the stairs on the left side of the stage. You'll come to a mirror room and this place will most likely mean a lot of saving and reloading.

To begin with it's pretty difficult to get oriented because at first Lara seems obsessed with looking at something in the mirror. However, the mirror is also very useful as it helps you to see which tiles are safe and which are not. The checkered tiles are safe, the red ones with green spots on them are spike-trapped.

The tile in front of the entrance is safe. Walk to the right edge of it and jump onto the corner tile N/E. Here you'll also find Secret # 2: two sets of Uzi ammo and a large medipack. Next do a running jump along the wall to the safe tile underneath the wall torch. Do a last running jump straight ahead, turn left to face the mirror and go forwards to the end. Standjump over to the S/W corner by the mirror and pick up the small waterskin as indicated.

Turn to face the entrance, then do a running jump along the mirror to the next tile and a standing jump to the next one again. From here you should be able to jump back to the tile in front of the entrance and you're free to leave.

Go back up to the stage and return downstairs to the pool. Swim across to the other side and climb the left part of the ledge to find some flares. Swim back to the entrance and pull the switch on the right-hand side of the pool to open the underwater door W. Dive in and go through the open door, swim past the inactive blades and pull the lever at the end.

This activates the blades and also opens a grate to Lara's left. Swim through it and down into a shaft with another lever. Pulling it causes a trapdoor to drop between the two blades. When going back it doesn't frankly matter whether you go through the open trapdoor or the door where you came in: they both lead back out to the pool where you can surface. Climb out of the water and pull the left-hand switch to open the underwater door S.

Take a deep breath, swim down there and the moment you go through the door that closes as you pass it. Go straight and the wooden door opens as you approach. Turn left immediately and pull the underwater lever on the wall. Keep going straight and past another wooden door. Pick up the Glock 17 ammo at the end, go through the next door on the left as it opens and the next one after that.

This time turn right and then right again when you see the closed door ahead. Keep following the passage until you can surface in the pool. You'll now find that the block in the middle of the pool has raised. Climb onto it, fill the waterskin and you're ready to return to the stage.

Save the game, stand in front of the left scale and select the waterskin from the menu to pour the water onto the scale. The double doors on top of the stairs open and two thugs come rushing down towards the stage. When the fly-by ends draw guns, roll and run back upstairs to deal with the unwanted company. Pick up the Uzi ammo and small medipack left behind, then retrace your steps back to the entry hall.

Go up the stairs to the top and you'll come out on the floor above the Main Theatre. Be careful though: there's a huge hole in the floor up there. You can either do a running jump straight over to the safe floor on the left-hand side or run down onto the crumbling floor tiles and from there jump up to safety.

Climb the crate and do a running jump to grab the closest rope. Align Lara with the second rope, start swinging and leap off when Lara reaches the highest point. Press Action again to grab the second rope, swing and jump off to land on the stage, losing a bit of health in the process.

Turn left and kill a rat that comes running across the stage. Go over to the side where it came from and pick up some normal shotgun ammo from the corner before climbing the single crate. Jump over to the stack of crates and position Lara on the lower crate facing the stage. Do a long running jump to grab the rope ahead,

Turn Lara to face the balcony with the blue railing up to the left. Swing and jump off the rope to land on the balcony. There's a fixed camera angle here so it's a bit hard to see, but go to the far end and pick up Uzi ammo before climbing the ladder. When you cross the rafter with the rope you're attacked by a swarm of bats. Crouch by the wall and wait for them to fly off.

Locate the monkeyswing near the W wall and use it to shimmy across to the other side. Drop down on a wooden ledge and go to the left end to find a Bag of Sand. Look down to spot a ladder, climb it to the bottom and drop down onto the stage. Go to the edge of the stage and drop down, make your way over to the scales and pour the sand onto the right scale.

A fly-by shows a trapdoor up on the stage open. In addition a white block rises next to the stage, so you won't have to go all the way back up to the ropes. Climb down through the open trapdoor, drop down to the floor and dispose of a rat. On two of the crates you'll find Uzi ammo and the Uzis and down on the floor you can pick up a large and a small medipack.

Climb onto the platform where you dropped down and push the harp onto the tile underneath the open trapdoor. Go back down to the floor and push the button underneath the harp. A block rises, transporting the harp up to the stage. Pull up onto the platform and climb back up to the harp. Push the harp onto the white tile at the centre of the stage and turn to face the entrance of the room. Get ready for a final showdown as the Phantom comes floating into the room.

Run off the stage, draw guns and fire off, doing your best to dodge the blasts. If you can manage to get close enough to the Phantom you can try to duck and fire. This way the blasts might go off over Lara's head and she can keep firing without getting hit herself. Pick up the Mask of the Phantom and return to the stage. Place the mask on the pedestal and enjoy the fly-by that marks the end of this beautiful level.