CREATE A CLASSIC: 20 YEARS OF TR - CAVES

Level by GeekOfComedy

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Begin by sliding down into a courtyard in a TR1 setting. Go through the arched doorway ahead and find a pushglobe. Move it onto the logical tile in the SE corner to open the doors.  Go in and slide/jump over the spike pit.  Grab the far edge and pull up.  Get through the gap in the stone wall and shoot two bats. Note the closed door in the N wall and exit SE.  Shoot three wolves in the next door and take a look around. There's a closed door E that requires a key and another closed door S.  Another wolf waits in the W anteroom. Push the SW floor lever there, get the shotgun ammo NW, and climb up onto the ledge over the stalls if you wish to shoot the empty pots.

Return to the previous room and find that a door has opened near the NW corner.  Pull up and follow the passage to some water.  Swim to the other end and pull out. Follow to a breaktile. Roll over it so you won't fall down after it, then safety drop through the hole.  You'll land on a pushblock, so move it onto the tile in the NW corner to raise another block elsewhere. Go up the E stairs and pull down the wall switch to open the door. Go up more stairs to another wall switch that opens another door.  You find yourself in an earlier room, where there's nothing more to do at the moment, so return to the pushblock room.

Crawl up the W ramp on either the right or left side to avoid the darts and the triggered boulder, and shoot a wolf in the next room. Pull down the wall switch in the SW alcove. Go up the NE rocks and pull up onto the E ledge. Go across the bridge and jump up to grab the monkey bars near the S wall.  Monkey swing W and drop down onto the next bridge. Go across N (don't runjump or you may fall through) and find the raised block. Get on it and monkey swing back S and drop down onto an upper ledge.  Go to the E end and pull down the wall switch to open a door beneath you.  Go back nearly to the W wall and safety drop onto the bridge. The S door is open, so enter for SECRET #1 and the SHOTGUN.

Cross the bridge to the N end and go through the opened door.  The corner pots are empty, but you'll find the RUSTED KEY on a plinth. Get down to the floor and exit this room. Jump over or crawl underneath the darts and move the pushblock underneath the receptacle in the SW corner. Your Rusted Key doesn't fit it, but at least you'll be ready when the time comes.  Use the short cut E to get back to the room with the large fire pit.  Go up the E steps and use the Rusted Key to open the door.  Shoot a bat in the next room and pick up the INCAN STATUE in the corner. Return to the pushblock room and insert the Incan Statute in the SW receptacle. The double doors open, so step into an outdoor courtyard where you see more closed double doors ahead.

Swim into the water hole and swim to an underwater temple entrance.  Pick up the PRAYER WHEEL near the empty plinth and locate the underwater lever near the floor on the N face of the NE column. Pull it to open the outdoor double doors. Return there and enter a TR2 setting.

Negotiate your way past the darts, shoot two masked baddies and find the pillar with receptacles for four Prayer Wheels.  There's an open door and a closed door in the W wall, a closed door in the E wall and an opening in the S wall.  Pull into the S opening and follow to a door that opens upon your approach. In the lava room, hop across the gap onto the ledge with the swinging spike barrels. An easy and perhaps unintended way to get past the next trap is to shimmy past the spike barrels, pull up and immediately drop back to hang while the boulder rumbles harmlessly by. Pull up and take a running jump S to grab the next ledge. Pull up, run forward and pull up to a higher passage.  Look out for the breaktiles ahead.  Stand right and take a running jump as the parallel blades are coming toward you.  You should get past them with little or no damage.

In the next room take the second PRAYER WHEEL from the plinth as debris falls harmlessly behind you. The door in the S wall opens, so hop up, climb the ladder and drop off left. Go downstairs past the row of statues to trigger a pair of swinging blades. Time your way past them and enter a room with a wall switch. Pulling it down opens a trap door and alerts two masked baddies.  It also raises a block in a previous room, so return S past the swinging blades to find the raised block in front of the statues. Get up on it and pull down the ceiling trap door. Pull up into the upper room for SECRET #2 and take the UZIS from the plinth.

Return to the room with the wall switch and go down the NW stairs to the dark room below. Enter the N room and find the trap door you lowered. Before doing anything else, locate the nearby pushblock in the E wall, pull it out and push it through the trap door opening down to the room below. Safety drop on top of it and find yourself back in the room with the Prayer Wheel receptacles.

Use the ladder in the W wall to reach the open door there. As you pull up, the door closes behind you.  Walk to a slope and slide down backwards. When you reach the bottom, step forward so that the boulder bounces over your head. Turn around and take a running jump (no grab) across the lava to land on a block. Take a running jump W to grab the ledge and pull up.  Pull up higher and take the third PRAYER WHEEL from the plinth. On the lower ledge, in the SW corner, is a small medipack.  To get back, jump onto the NE column and monkey swing E to drop down onto the next column.

Take a running jump E to land inside an opening. Pull up three times and find yourself in a small room with a wall switch.  Pull it down to open the door leading back to the Prayer Wheel receptacle room.  Move the pushblock against the S wall underneath a high opening in the N wall.  Use the pushblock to access the N passage and slide down the slope into a water hole. Swim past the parallel blades into a small room and continue forward to an underwater temple room where you'll find the fourth PRAYER WHEEL. Pull the NW underwater lever and swim up for air.  Notice the bouncing effect when you try to surface.

Swim W down the stairs and continue through the tunnel until you emerge in the outdoor area. Pull out, enter the temple and place the four Prayer Wheels. The E door opens, so enter and take THE SERAPH from the plinth. The exit trap door opens, so climb the E ladder and pull up into an outdoor area.  Shoot the two masked baddies ahead and pick up the uzi ammo dropped by one of them.  Continue to the E wall and look left. Uh, not a good idea to try and go that way. Go the other way and come to an open area where you'll encounter a masked baddy.  Save your game in front of the S wall switch, which stops the blades and turns off the flaming pots for a short while.  However, you want the blades to stop in an open position, and this is largely a matter of luck.  When you get past the trap gauntlet safely, save your game again and continue along the passage until you reach another open area. Shoot the masked baddy and pick up the small medipack he drops.

Light a flare, enter the dark E room and use the ladder in the W face of the floor opening to climb down the shaft to the bottom.  Shoot the zombie bum in the room below and note the closed door requiring a key in the N wall.  Note also that you've now entered a TR3 area. Save your game before going through the S passage into the next room. As you enter, the gate slams shut behind you and spike walls begin rapidly converging from either side. Sprint forward into the next room and go up the steps into a dark cave.

Go through S over a tile for a rising block, and shoot the zombie bum who attacks. Go SW and jump up into the opening in the W wall to trigger a swinging blade and a parallel blade trap.  Stand right and time a jump past the traps, undoubtedly sustaining some unavoidable health loss in the process.  Push the floor lever to stop the blades (again, you want the horizontal blades to be in an open position) and return to the cave to find the raised block. Get onto it and jump E onto the rock formation.  From there jump S to the next rock formation for a large medipack.  You can't jump back, so slide to the ground and get up on the raised block and E rock formation once more. Jump slightly NW to grab the edge of the higher platform and pull up. Use the zip line to get to the high S opening.

Hop down the blocks and shoot the zombie bum in the outdoor area.  The plinth is empty, but the bum dropped a hard-to-see CAVERN KEY. Go back the way you came, through the cave and the spike wall room, and use the Cavern Key to open the N door. Enter the next room and take the ORA DAGGER from the plinth.  The door to your right opens, so enter an outdoor jungle area and note the closed door requiring a key to your left. Note the crawl space up in the E wall and get up onto the nearby green-tinted block.  Take a curved running jump NE to grab the crawl space and pull up inside. Crawl around to the other end and drop down into an eerie subterranean area. Hop up into the W passage and jump into the water hole.

Swim into a pool where a shiva is stomping about in the room above.  You don't want to be distracted by the shiva, so pull out and kill it (unless it has saved you the trouble by getting itself stuck in a wall).  The E gate is closed, so go W and save your game before entering the passage. If you want the final secret in this level you'll need to pay close attention to the following information. When you step into the passage, the door closes behind you, you see a closed gate to your left and a cut scene shows a spike wall making its way slowly toward you from your right. Run in that direction (N) and pull down the wall switch to your left. Run back (don't sprint) S through the opened gate to the switch in the far wall (jumping over dart traps along the way). Pull down the switch to open the first gate, reverse roll and run back toward the spike wall. Turn right into the previous room, reverse roll and wait for the spike wall to pass by. Then quickly get back into the passage before the gate slams shut again. (If you get there too early, the gate shuts before the spike wall has gone by, which is why I advised you not to sprint.)

Go to the N end of the passage, enter the crawl space for SECRET #3 and pick up the shotgun ammo, the uzi ammo and the GRENADE GUN. Climb the ladder ahead, back flip into a small upper room and pull the pushblock two times from the E wall. Climb or hop over it, go through the revealed passage and continue E to find a closed trap door.  Go back and take the S branch. Time your way past a swinging blade and drop down the floor hole into a familiar pool. Pull out and exit E. The gate slams shut behind you.  Pick up the large medipack in the alcove and save your game before entering the N passage.  You can't dilly dally, because the moment you enter spike walls converge in front of the blade traps.  Do your best to jump the blades without suffering too much damage.  In the next room, take the STORAGE KEY from the plinth and you'll hear the sound of a trap door opening (the one you noted earlier).

Climb the ladder past the opened trap door and backtrack all the way to that outdoor jungle area mentioned a few paragraphs back.  Insert the Storage Key in the NW keyhole to open the door. Get inside and shoot a zombie bum. Enter the N opening to find the quad bike. Save your game before mounting it, and if possible don't save again until you've finished with it, as it has been reported that saving in between can result in unfortunate consequences. (However, I saved along the way as I played, and everything worked just fine for me.)

Ride the quad bike outdoors and gun it over the central slope, veering to the left in midair, to clear the water below. Refrain from saving when you land on the other side. Go up the SE slope at a high rate of speed to clear the next gap. Continue to another high slope. As you go partway up a cut scene warns you of another gap to clear, so back up and give yourself as much momentum as possible.  When you land on the other side, steer quickly to your right to avoid driving off the cliff into the water. I wish I could tell you that it's safe for you to dismount now, save your game and continue on foot, and you can (continue on foot, that is) for quite a while until you reach another impassable ramp. Therefore, continue on the quad bike over the narrow path until you reach that ramp (but beware of small gaps along the way you'll have to jump over), then gun it over and continue while jumping more gaps until you finally see an opening in the distance.

Dismount here, go to the NE end of the path and jump to the N block. Pull up, jump to the W block and hop across to the opening you saw from afar. Enter a dark cave and shoot a zombie bum. Go up W and find yourself at the entrance to a building. The gates are closed, so locate the ladder on the E side of the building and climb up to the roof.  There are two receptacles there, so insert The Seraph and the Ora Dagger to open the gates below.  Safety drop and enter. Slide down to trigger a flyby through a distinctively TR4 area.

I assume you're intended to get down by jumping to grab the crack in the W wall, then shimmy right past the spikes and drop down, but I just jumped into the shallow pool and picked up the CROWBAR at my feet. The NW jug hides a small medipack. As you approach the E room two ninjas start opening fire. There are four pushglobes in this room, 12 floor face tiles and a diagram on the S wall with 12 square pegs that imparts little useful information. There's also a closed iris door in the N wall and a pole near the E wall. Jump to grab the pole, slide halfway down, back flip into the first room and shoot the jug for a large medipack. Slide or drop to the bottom and side flip past the giant cigar cutters until you reach the plinth with the first EYE PIECE.

Get back up to the pushglobe room and go through the N passage to a lava room.  Shoot a ninja and jump N to grab the crack in the structure ahead.  Shimmy left around the corner and pull up at the next corner. Jump to the opening in the N wall and crawl under the bladeball that drops from the ceiling. Follow the passage and climb blocks until you reach an opening that overlooks the previous room. Jump to the roof with the rotating blades, pause for the shotgun ammo if you dare and jump into the S opening. Crawl under the bladeball trap and take the second EYE PIECE from the plinth. Crawl back, hang from the edge and shimmy right until you can pull up into an opening.

Turn around and jump down to the ledge, then jump down S with the action key depressed to glide into the opening. Return to the pushglobe room, combine the two eye pieces to form the EYE OF HORUS and open the iris door.  Inside you find a real clue to the pushglobe puzzle.  The clue on the wall corresponds with the floor tile orientation as you face E, so move two pushglobes onto the tiles nearest the flaming pots that flank the pole.  Move the other two pushglobes to their corresponding tiles (middle row S wall, back row NW corner in front of the pharaoh statue. Return W to find that a block has been raised SE. Climb it and jump W to grab the entrance ledge.  Pull up, face N and jump to grab the rope. Swing and jump off to land in the upper N passage.

Run forward and up the stairs right to trigger a phalanx of squishy blocks.  Time your way past them and use the crowbar to open the face door. Enter the next room to a fixed camera. Take the IRIS ARTIFACT from the plinth to cause an earthquake with debris falling all around you. A few beetles also emerge to nibble at your toes. The S gate is open, so enter while dodging more falling debris. In the next room activate the E and W jumpswitchs while evading two advancing mummies. Go back N to the previous room and find that the N door is now open.  Go down and stop in front of the obvious spike trap. 

Actually, it's a delayed spike trip.  When you step on it squishy blocks ahead are activated, and you have just enough time to runjump past them before the spikes are activated.  You're not out of danger, however. When you clear the squishy blocks a boulder is released, so run forward onto the bridge and turn right or left to hop back and grab the edge while the boulder rumbles by. Get back onto the bridge and runjump across the gap to grab the bridge on the other side.  Pull up and quickly run forward as more debris falls down. Climb the ladder and pull up in front of a breaktile-blade trap. Runjump over the traps and continue into the passage as a boulder rolls down the near side. Go up that side (left) as two more boulders come crashing down.

Pull up to the higher ramp and run forward into the dark W opening. Follow the passage until you see blessed daylight at the end. More debris falls behind you as you stand at the edge. Slide down toward the awaiting Jeep to end the level.