The City of Wonders

Walkthrough included in the level download.

OVERVIEW:
- Lara needs to get the artefact that opens the way into the city of wonders from the thieves.
- When she uses the artefact, the doors fail to open. Instead, the floor of one of the buildings collapses, revealing a large chasm that drops down into a crypt.
- Once down, she sets out to recover the Scepter of Wonders.
- To get hold of this, she needs to get the Portal Gem.
- To get hold of this, she needs three golden stars (which can be collected in any order).
- However, to get these, she first needs a crowbar.

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS:
Lara is hiding in a building when the thieves arrives. Exit the building, turning to the right. You'll see the vehicle the thieves just drove up in. Go round the corner to the right, and you'll see two thieves and their pet dog running away from you. You can either attack straight away, or follow them to see where they are heading. There is also a couple of pick-ups hidden behind the vehicle.

The men and the dog run past a decorative pillar, then down some steps into a large room. When you catch up with them, shoot them all, and retrieve an uzi and the artefact.

When you use the artefact, the doors fail to open - what can you expect from machinery over two thousand years old? - but there is an earthquake, which dislodges two scorpions. Shoot them, then exit the building. Head past the decorative pillar, to what looks to be an ampitheatre of some kind. However, the floor of this has collapsed, and a rather nasty wraith has been released.

Slide down into the chasm, then drop to the platform on the right. Take a running jump across to the pillar in the middle of the chasm. It sounds as though the theives' back-up has arrived. Immediately draw your uzis, turn around, and shoot a friend of the thieves. Then slide down the slope, and drop to the platform on the left.

Another thief has arrived, but he may be high enough to ignore (although if you leave him, he may beat you to the bottom of the chasm). Do a standing jump to another platform, then slide down the next slope backwards, and grab the edge. Drop to the crack, and follow it around to the left.

Once you are hanging over another ledge, drop down. Two options here: either drop backwards off the ledge, grabbing the edge, then drop to the floor of the crypt (and lose a little health), or do a running jump to another platform, then slide down the slopes on the right.

At the bottom of the slopes, you will find a crucifix which will take care of the pesky wraith. There is also a health-pack hidden in one of the sarcophagi.

[SECRET ONE: Behind one of the skeletons is a fake wall. Look for the red glow, then go through the holographic projection. Climb up the blocks, and emerge halfway up the chasm. You'll find a health-pack, some flares, and some uzi-ammo which appears to have fallen down into the chasm during the earthquake. Exit by the same way you came in (watch out for the spikes).]

There's only one way out of the crypt. Exit, and then start running, for another wraith has appeared, although this one requires water to be vanquished. At the T-intersection, turn left, then follow the passage down and around until you drop into some water. This will deal with the fire wraith, but you'll have to avoid a crocodile while waiting.

Once the wraith is gone, get out of the water, draw your guns, and deal with one of the thieves who has followed you down the chasm. Then go up the stairs until you reach a large room with two blocks in it. There is a switch on a wall. Press it, then turn to find that the blocks have become a double ladder of platforms. Climbing these, and performing running jumps between the two ladders, you will be able to reach an exit high on the far wall.

Drop into the water passage you find here, then swim along a passage (which somehow takes you through the large room you were just in - something funny is happening here to the space-time continuum). Half way along, there is another earthquake. (You'll find out soon enough what caused it.) CLimb out at the other end, then follow the stairs around, take the first right, and seek out a thief guarding a particular passage. Shoot him, pick up the small medipack, then continue up the passage he was guarding.

You will emerge in a room with a weird sort of sculpture on the floor, and three thieves will quickly seek you out. Take them out, because one of them is carrying a crowbar which you will soon need. A little exploring at this point will reveal that the theives have blasted their way into the City of Wonders through the doors that failed to open when you used the artefact - hence the recent earthquake. However, the way out has been blocked.

Go back to where you shot the thief in the Escher-like stairs, and take the path to the left. There will be a short climb to a large room with a darkened floor. Walk out to the block that sticks out into the room, but don't drop to the floor of the room. (Instant burning death awaits). There are nearly invisible platforms to find. One way to check where the platforms are is to throw flares. Look for when the flares appear to bounce in mid-air, then do a standing jump in that direction. Eventually, you should make your way across to the other side, where you can use the crowbar to get a hold of the first golden star.

When you turn around to go back the way you came, you will see a thief doing his best to get to you, jumping from platform to platform. Take him out when he comes in range, then exit this area.

There are still two stars to find. When you climb down the climbing wall, turn around, then head straight. The path will turn a few times, but don't take any of the choices left, right or up. Eventually, you will come to some water. Jump in, and swim down. You will soon come to another star, but this time underwater. Climb out on the left, go into the alcove and press the switch. Turn around to discover that the water has been pushed back by some unknown force, and the star is now accessible to your crowbar. Then, if you aren't worried about secrets, you can merely turn around, and jump straight into the water.

[SECRET TWO: Go into the passage way at the end of the area where the water once was, and step on the picture tile to open the door. Then, go back to the block and climb up, jump up to the left, and press the switch in the alcove which will turn the unknown force off and allow the water back. Now you can swim into the passage way, and get out in a room with a long-dead adventurer and some of his stuff: a shotgun, ammo, a small medpack, and some more flares. Return to the area where you got the star.]

Swim back up, and climb out of the water. Then go back around to where there is a climbing wall on the left. Climb up, go straight ahead, then drop down into the hole. Take the first path to the right. This will eventually bring you into the holographic projection maze in which some of the walls are not real.

You need to find and press two switches, in order for the gateway to open to allow you access to the third star. There are two thieves in here as well.

[SECRET THREE: There is also a large medipack hidden somewhere in the maze.]

Once you have the third star, exit the way you came in. When you come to the T-intersection, turn to the right, and keep going until you can't go straight ahead any more. If you look to the right, you will see a pillar glowing redly in the distance. You will return, but take the left choice. This will take you to a corridor lined with tiles, and some water. Jump in, and swim down. When you enter the large room, you will notice a number of possible exits. You need to keep trying passages until you emerge in another corridor lined with tiles, which will take you into a replica of the other passages. You will know it is a replica because the equivalent pillar is not glowing redly.

Once you make it into the replica passages, find the only other way out, which is a climb into a room with the receptacles to place the three golden stars in your possession, and a bluish gem, which is the portal gem. However, you will notice that the room has a redish glow, and that there are apparently invisible walls preventing you from getting to the portal gem. Place the stars, then climb up to the gem. Grab the gem, then immediately climb down, and get away before the invisible walls lock you in forever.

With the portal gem, return to the pillar which is glowing redly. (Yes, this means you will have to get wet again...) Two options here: you can drop through the pillar (it is another holographic projection), and walk to the edge of a fiendish octagonal array of spikes, then climb back out, or you can go around the pillar straight away, and place the portal gem in the hole provided. Drop down through the holographic pillar, into water, then swim through a narrow corridor of water, with the spikes getting alarmingly close on all sides. Climb out at the other end into a room with the Scepter of Wonders on a pedastal.

Grab the Scepter, then exit back through the spike pit water-corridor. Head back towards the corridor lined with tiles, but this time take the first left, then left again. This will bring you into a room with a structure remarkably similar to the one in the building at the start. Step into the middle of the structure, and you will find yourself teleported back to the beginning of the level. When you exit the building, you will see a number of vehicles, being guarded by another thief. Finish him off, then run around as if to get into the nearest car, and the level will end.