Caves of Manaus

 

Level by raiderromero

 

Walkthrough by dmdibl (David Dibble)

 

A well-designed cave level, although with a number of challenging traps and spike tiles to survive. Three secrets. Start by setting your monitor to 100% brightness.

 

 

Think Fast

 

Lara begins by sliding to her death. Leaping at the end to left or right to find a safe tile is hopeless, and quickly flipping to slide down backwards, grab, and shimmy doesn't work either. Lara has to immediately make a curve jump to the right while sliding, then before falling into flame tiles make a jump and grab. It is hard to see, but there is a shimmy crack in the rocks ahead.

 

Once Lara grabs a watchful bat will attack her. Shimmy all the way to the right, and here let go and fall onto a safe tile. Shoot any bats that are around. Walk up the incline that Lara is on. At the rocks turn left and stand jump up. Look across, one square right, and see a shimmy crack in that far wall. Go to the edge and stand jump/grab that crack, shimmy all the way to the right. Press Down Arrow and Lara will automatically pull up, turn, and leap back across, grabbing a shimmy crack in the opposite wall.

 

This time shimmy all the way left, then press Down Arrow. Lara repeats the maneuver to grab at the original wall. Shimmy all the way right. Lara will be over a hole; way down below see a hint of water. Let go and fall.

 

Tough Soldiers

 

Things get rough, because a heavily armored soldier is waiting above the rim of the pool. Lara can lose a lot of health right at the start, and there are very few medipacks (Lara has a single small medipack at the moment). Lara lands near a rock wall. Immediately swim to the opposite wall (S, by the red compass needle), and pull out of the pool. Roll, draw guns, and start side flipping and firing. If all goes well the soldier won't know what to make of this and will only slowly approach, not yet firing. Keep side flipping to face him. When he falls go get a Small Medipack. It helps if Lara loses no health doing this.

 

The experience bar on the screen appears to be meaningless, but in fact Lara will get a bonus from it at a critical time late in the level, assuming she has played well.

 

Use the wall lever by the door on the S wall to open that door. Turn around, dive into the pool to get Uzi clips in a shallow alcove. Then take a diagonally opposite passage to its end, and use an underwater lever. Hooray, another soldier appears in a repeat of Lara's arrival. Follow the same procedure, swim out of this passage, right to the S wall, quickly pull out and side flip firing at him. Hopefully this once more confuses the soldier and Lara doesn't lose much health.

 

South Door First

 

A door opened in the N wall opposite the open door in the S wall. It is probably best to start with the south door, the one with the wall lever beside it, as Lara eventually picks up helpful weapon and medipacks. Go through a short passage, noticing a closed door. At a deep pit Lara safety drops into shallow water.

 

Go inside the north door, a short ways to a back wall. Turn left. In the middle of this north wall is a high opening. So go to the center of this section of passageway, and pull up to the right. Inside pick up Shotgun Ammo and a chalice for Secret #1. Get down, continue right along the passageway, loop left and pull a wall lever. Hear a door open. Save the game because another soldier appears.

 

Lara Spends The Rest Of Her Life In a Pit?

 

Go back to the shallow pool. I don't know how Lara is supposed to get out of this. Run across to the opposite wall, roll while drawing guns, and start to fire at a soldier up on a high ledge, an advantageous position for him. He fires a grenade and when it explodes Lara dies. This method leaves something to be desired. Lara can run to the south wall, roll, fire, and run forward. Then the soldier won't target her with grenades. Then hop back, fire, and run forward. The soldier may shoot with his rifle, give up, and leave.

 

Lara goes to the NW corner, and jumps up to a shimmy crack (press against the wall, use Ctrl instead of the jump key). Shimmy left, and near the end press Jump to leap up higher to grab the upper crack. Shimmy right. At this point the soldier usually appears and drills helpless Lara with bullets. Game over as medipacks can't be wasted.

 

So somehow Lara has to wait in the water pit after the soldier leaves. Run around, jump up and down firing. If nothing happens try to shimmy out of the pit. Eventually Lara makes it most of the way out before the soldier re-appears. Shimmy right, drop to the upper ledge, roll. If Lara tries to have a gun battle with the soldier she dies. So run to the right around the soldier, run down the short passageway back to the starting area with the deep pool. Run across this room, turn, and start side flipping, firing at the doorway. When the soldier appears, back up to the farthest corner of the pool, keep firing until he drops.

 

Introducing Super Dogs...

 

When the soldier is dead go back into the S doorway a short ways to find a door opened on the right. At the next large room don't drop down. Two dogs with incredibly tough hides are waiting to ambush Lara. So in the high doorway Lara turns to angle left, and leaps to grab a ceiling monkey swing. Go left into the corner and drop. Shoot the dogs from up high. They will run off. Lara can hang from her pillar to draw the dogs back to the room. Pull up onto the pillar again and shoot the dogs until they are dead.

 

Drop to the ground. Get Revolver ammo from a pedestal in front of the high entrance. Go straight across the room and get a shotgun from a pedestal there. Go right to the corner and pull up into a high NW alcove.

 

...Sharpened Logs...

 

Go forward, pull up to the left. Crawl through until Lara can stand in front of two plinth blades that look like sharpened logs.

 

Use the side opposite the hinge. First Lara presses facing against the right wall, and side flips left. Then press facing against the left wall and side flip right. Side flip at the moment when the log is fully extended, meaning that it is about to retract. Lara gets through without a scratch. Jump out the doorway angling to the right to land on a block.

 

...And Spike Tiles

 

From here look left to spot a wall lever in a far corner. On the opposite side of the room are spikes, so Lara has to reach the wall lever first. Turn left (S), and watch the spikes as they pop up, then retract. At that moment start the running jump for the left bank, curving a bit right for landing so Lara will jump forward off it, then curve left to land on spikes that are just going down. Run across and pull down the wall lever to remove spikes on both sides of the room.

 

To return, repeat the maneuver, a running jump to the left bank, bounce off with a left curve to land on the starting block. Make a running jump N, and this time Lara will have to bounce back and forth on the slopes to reach the safe block.

 

Continue into the next room to find a pushable object. The trigger tile is in front of the spikes, the square that is textured with bricks. Push the object there. When the spikes go down, go forward and find the next trigger tile on the right side. Push the object there. The last trigger tile is at the end of the room in the center, so push the object there. Hear a door open, but mostly do a lot of hopping around shooting two dogs until they drop.

 

Open Central Door

 

Find the opened door on the E side, go inside and use a left wall lever. Get a screenshot of the pedestal where Lara found a shotgun, and beyond it a central passageway where you can just see that a door is opening. Time to return there. In the fire alley outside, bounce back and forth on the slopes to reach the central block. Hop into the doorway and repeat the procedure to get by the plinth blades. It is safe to drop into the big room (no dogs). Take the W passageway by the shotgun pedestal, continue to another overlook.

 

Floating Platform Room

 

Make a running jump/grab to where a flame blower is on the left. Pull up as the flame blower dies down, save the game. There is a little time to get the next jump correct. Make a running jump ahead to the pillar with popping spikes. If Lara dies on them, try again, but for this attempt delay for a second before the running jump. When Lara lands safely, immediately side flip to the right to land on a higher ledge.

 

Jump to a nearby floating platform. Turn S to spot an opening in the wall—it is hard to see, but some light foliage is visible through the opening. Make a running jump there to slide down a slope. To the left pick up Large Medipack and a chalice for Secret # 2. Go around a corner to find a second opening to return. Pull up, slide, jump to land on that floating platform.

 

Before jumping ahead, Lara has to turn around and jump NW to a corner alcove. Go inside, around to use a wall lever for a door to open. Come back out and once again jump to the floating platform. Finally Lara can do a running jump/grab to the spike platform ahead. Use the right edge of the floating platform, or else Lara will hit her head on the ceiling. Aim to grab toward the right of the spike platform. Lara can hang safely as long as she doesn't move left or right when the spikes are out. (In most other levels if Lara tries to hang from a spike platform she is thrown off when the spikes pop up, but that isn't true here.) Place Lara at the right. Pull up when the spikes are out, side flip right to land in an alcove.

 

Tough Blade Trap

 

Continue down the passage to find three plinth blades in a row. I had problems here as the easy method doesn't work because the second and third plinth blades are too close together or something. The first blade is easy to jump over with Lara facing pressed against the right wall. Then, instead of switching to the opposite wall, Lara stays facing pressed against the right wall and does the next two side flips left very quickly. She can get through.

 

Tricky Jumps For Last Secret

 

The next room has a burning floor. Make a running jump to land on a triangular patch right. With Lara standing here, just to the right or south is a secret. First make a diagonal running jump to a block in the middle of the room. For the secret, turn back S and make a short-takeoff jump to a triangular area against the wall. (That is, hold down the Shift Key while Lara starts to take a step forward, then release the Shift Key and press Alt, jump. Lara can easily jump from cramped places.) Along the wall, turn right and again use a short-takeoff jump to reach the alcove with a chalice and Small Medipack for Secret # 3.

 

Make a running jump back to the triangular surface straight ahead, which turns out to be difficult. The jump worked with a special setup: Lara hops back for the jump, turns slightly right, side steps left, then makes the running jump. She will take off with her foot advanced, and reach the triangular area. Turn left and make a short-takeoff jump straight for the central block.

 

From the central block there is an easy diagonal jump. Lara doesn't have to reach a high block in the NE corner, but only needs to reach a low platform to the right of it. Get up left on the corner block. Turn around, pull up facing S, then turn right to pull up, and again turn right to pull up. Climb a ladder.

 

A Defense Against Dogs

 

There are two dogs waiting up here, so the small medipack that Lara just got doesn't last very long. Something more is needed than just hopping around shooting at them. It may not be sporting, but Lara can side flip right at the top of the ladder. She can hop back and right into the SE corner. There is a pedestal here with shotgun ammo on it. If Lara is in the corner behind this pedestal the dogs have trouble reaching her. Lara can shoot them with pistols, and if lucky not take any damage. (As an alternate, if this isn't working, Lara probably has enough ammo that she can shoot them with the shotgun.) After the dogs drop remember to get Shotgun Ammo.

 

Obscure Trigger Tile

 

Nearby is a pushable object on a small ledge. Around the corner is a door. Go toward the door, look in the area to the right of it to find an odd looking floor tile in the corner. This is a trigger tile. Go back to the pushable object, get behind it with Lara's back to the wall, and push it down the length of the ledge and off the edge to fall onto the floor. Push it toward the door, then right over the plants, into the corner onto that odd looking tile. The door opens.

 

Don't Miss The Wall Lever

 

Go into the next room. As a check, at this point Lara is carrying both small and large medipacks. In the room, go right and get another Small Medipack from a corner pedestal. Use an adjacent wall lever to see a door open. This is the point of everything that Lara has done up till now. Hang at the hole in the floor—if you haven't forgotten this repeats the drop into the hole which Lara did at the start of this level. Fall down through the same hole, and drop into a pool. Pull out. there is a soldier waiting for Lara, quickly shoot him twice with the shotgun to drop him.

 

North Door Route

 

Now to tackle the N doorway.

 

Wait for the fire emitter to die down, and for spikes to pop up. Run forward once the spikes drop, for the square beyond is safe. Turn right. Wait for the corner fire emitter to die down, time the spikes, then angling left run against the E wall, side flip left into the corner. Lara is safe from the fire emitter. Roll to face the next passageway. Time the spikes to jump over them. Save the game at the doorway.

 

First Slope Trap

 

Watch the spikes below, let them pop up, then retract. Immediately start to slide down the slope, and jump to land on the spike tile (the spikes should vanish as Lara is landing), run across it and jump to a safe tile at the end. Go forward and turn the corner.

 

At this spike block Lara has to jump up on the left side, then flip right. But then she will be sliding down a ramp, and she needs to be sliding forward. It's better to turn sideways, side flip left so Lara ends up with her back near the wall, then leap forward. Lara slides down a ramp.

 

Multiple Slope Traps

 

I'm not sure what to say here. The following jumps were very difficult the first time I played this, taking a long time. Lara has to leap at the bottom of the ramp, bounce on the slope to the left, bounce back, then make a sharply curved jump right to land in a doorway. This means Lara should be hitting the last slope near its edge, to make the jump into the doorway easier. This means jumping fairly early, near the top for the slope that is next to last. This means when Lara slides down the first ramp in this room she should jump late, trying to make distance.

 

But forget all that. When I replayed for this walkthrough, Lara went down the slope, bounced, bounced, got turned around backwards, totally unplanned, hit the last slope and curved into the doorway on the first try. Maybe too much planning is bad.

 

More Fun With Spike Tiles

 

Take the passageway, side flip over the end of a plinth blade in the corner. Lara presses facing against the right wall and side flips left over the next two plinth blades, taking no damage. Go to the end of the passage to overlook the room where Lara just did the slope jumps. When Lara is standing looking out, there is an alcove to her left, hidden in the same wall where she is standing.

 

Lara positions herself with her shoulder against the right corner opening of this alcove. She rotates left about forty-five degrees. She sidesteps left, away from the corner, a little more than the width of her body. She makes a standing jump forward to land on the near left corner of the spike tile as the spikes are retracting, then immediately side flips left into that hidden alcove. Again, this was much easier on replay than what I was expecting.

 

Start Using the Shotgun

 

Climb up and get ready to slide into the next colorful room. Lara is trapped with rambunctious dogs, so this may be the place to finally use the shotgun. One shot each is all it takes to subdue the dogs. Get the Shotgun Ammo from a pedestal at the end of the room. Standing at the pedestal look up left, into the NE corner, to spot a wall lever above.

 

Go back to the bottom of the slide. Near here, position Lara to make a standing jump up to the corner of the first block near the bottom of the slide, run diagonally across the block, and jump up to the center pillar with a big red plant. Now time a running jump over to spikes, to get over them and reach a wall lever. Lara will hit her head on the ceiling, but will make the jump. Throw the wall lever and the door opens.

 

The Key

 

Climb up into the next room. The floor is on fire, so jump to the right, and climb a block. Jump straight up to grab a monkey swing, go forward, turn left at the corner, continue, turning into the doorway, drop. Go forward into the far corner to pick up the Cave Key from a pedestal. There is a wall lever on the N wall; get ready for action—Lara already has shotgun selected. Use the wall lever.

 

Pool Room Double Doors

 

You may notice that the door opens on the starting area with the deep pool, but don't go rushing out. It takes two shots from the shotgun for each of the two guards. One of them drops a Small Medipack,  pick it up. Lara already found Uzi clips and Revolver ammo, so you may wonder about those other weapons, but this level apparently contains only a shotgun.

 

In the pool room, go to double doors on the W wall, to their right is a keyhole for the Cave Key. Once the doors open there is a second set of doors. A door here opened when Lara completed the first half of this set, when she was up above and threw a wall lever, then dropped into a hole to make a long fall into the deep pool. You may remember the wall lever gave a camera shot of a door opening, although the camera shot was from the other side, towards the pool room.

 

Mysterious Lizard

 

Take this part slow. Pause before the doors and look through into the room beyond. See a glowing yellow artifact on a pedestal. Walk slowly toward it. There is a screenshot of that artifact. Then Lara is in a corridor with a closed door behind her. We don't see her approach or take the artifact, but Lara says, “Maybe I'll need it,” and a Sacred Lizard is now in Lara's inventory.

 

Poisonous Cavern

 

Climb up until you look down and see steaming ground, spikes popping, and a skeleton. This is the poisonous cave, so it is effectively a timed run. Save in different slots. You may want to do this to learn the route, then return to a save game at this point in order to take everything as quickly as possible.

 

Slide down and leap to the right to avoid spikes. Turn right (N), run up low hill and left over a spike tile. Loop around to the left, avoiding another spike tile with a skeleton just beyond it, run to the end of this brief passageway. A soldier begins firing at Lara. Make a U-turn right up the hill into a corner, turn left and dash straight up the hill. At the wall stop, save the game if all has gone well.

 

Make three side flips left to get over three plinth blades. Lara can only trust her luck here as there is no time, so she will lose health. Run straight down a short passage—there is a spike tile at the end. Run left at the spike tile, and quickly left again, run to the end to throw a wall lever. Feed Lara a small medipack while using the wall lever. Roll, run back and right, sprint on the straightaway over the spike tile (of course when the spikes are down). Make a left where the door opened, take a medipack if needed, leap for the safety of fresh air ahead....

 

Now you may understand why every medipack was precious and conserved throughout the game. At the end of the poisonous cave Lara has no medipacks and her health is marginal.

 

Last Enemies

 

Get out the shotgun, there are dogs ahead. Slide down a steep slope into the next room. Go forward cautiously. Two dogs dash into the room. Shoot them quickly with the shotgun. A voice says, “You have gained in experience and skill,” and Lara is rewarded with Uzi clips, Wideshot Shotgun Ammo, and a Large Medipack. The Uzi clips aren't much help, but the rest is certainly useful.

 

Go to where the dogs came from, jump over a slanted rock into a small room. Find an exit to the right, into a tall room where Lara says, “There must be a way up to the higher areas.”

 

Climbing With Spikes

 

Go to the spike block in the SW corner. The adjacent pillar is high, so Lara will have to side flip to the spike tile, then quickly stand jump forward to grab the edge of the high pillar, and pull up. Turn around to see a spike block in the corner, directly above the one that Lara just used. Lara needs to stand with her right shoulder against the wall. Stand jump up to the higher spike block, do a curved run around to the left, and jump across to spike tiles against the East wall. This is fairly easy as Lara can grab the far spike tile. Shimmy left when the spikes are down, then pull up to safety.

 

Make a running jump N to a slope left of a spike tile. Turn left, make a running jump/grab to the NW pillar. Turn left, do a standing jump to grab a crack, shimmy left around the corner, and go on, stopping before the popping spikes. Pull up. Turn around and do a running jump/grab across to the east. This is fine as long as Lara avoids the corner tiles on both sides.

 

Turn left and review the situation in the N. Lara needs to make a running jump across, then run diagonally left and leap up into a high center alcove in the N wall. (A standing jump won't work, Lara can't grab this last spike tile.) A few practice tries for the running jump, and Lara leaps up into the N alcove. See a wall ladder ahead, and light from the surface coming down. Advance towards the ladder and the level ends.

 

 

2 March 2012