RETURN TO VENICE

Level by Matthew Piper (Pwhirl)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Installation Note: Use the original script files that come with the level editor, and rename venice.tr4 as city.tr4 before playing.

Lara begins by dropping backward along a steep brick wall. When she bounces off a sloped block and lands in an alley she's immediately attacked by a dog, so reverse roll and kill it. Run through the alley to a small courtyard and turn left. Hurry through the short alley, as an SAS is shooting at you from a balcony behind you. Draw weapons as you reach the wooden flooring and kill the second SAS in the room to your right. Now kill the first SAS in the balcony, if you like, before proceeding.

Go into the room where the second SAS was, pick up the small medi-pack and vault up onto the block next to it in the corner for some flares. Then use the ladder in the other corner to climb up to the third level (after stopping to get some shotgun ammo from the second level) and back flip to the wooden flooring. Vault up into the west window, note the closed door to your left and step forward into the opening ahead. Jump over to the red awning, and from the other side jump into the west balcony and pick up the LASER SIGHT apparently dropped by the SAS. Return the way you came and walk out to the west edge of the wooden flooring.

Jump into the canal and swim into the east underwater opening. Pull up onto the ledge to your right and activate the jump switch in the SE corner to open the door you saw earlier. Swim back across the canal and pull up onto the west ledge. Return to the room with the ladder and climb up to the third floor. Vault or jump into the window and shoot the released dog before hopping down. Enter the bare room and go out onto the bridge spanning the canal. Throw the floor level to open a door elsewhere, then return to the bare room and make a hairpin turn to the right. Vault up into the open window and take a running jump across the canal and grab the red awning. Pull up, turn to your left and jump the awnings to the north wall where you opened the wall door.

Pull up into the passage and throw the floor lever to open a submerged door in the canal below. Jump into the water and swim north through the open doorway. There's another opening ahead leading downward, but let's not go there quite yet. Pull up onto the ledge above the opening, light a flare and look for two closed crowbar doors in the corners. Now jump back into the water and swim down that opening. Surface and pull up onto a ledge either to your right or left. You find yourself in a dark sewer, so use your flares judiciously. Whether you explore the ledge to your right or your left, you'll spook a number of bats as you make the circuit (they're hard to count in the darkness), so just fire away until they stop chittering.

You'll find four doors in the north wall, all of which you can kick open to access small rooms. Starting with the room on the far left, (1) throw the floor lever, (2) shoot the SAS who materializes as you enter the next room, then throw the floor lever, (3) throw the floor lever, then shoot the SAS who comes to investigate, and (4) (of course) throw the floor lever. Jump into the water, leave the sewers by swimming back up the passage, and return toward the daylight portion of the canal. Just before you reach the opening, look to your left for an opening in the east wall of the canal.

Pull up inside the passage as enigmatic music plays, light a flare, walk forward and you'll see the motorbike behind a fenced opening to your left. There's also a trap door above you at this spot, so put your back against the south wall, jump up and pull down the trap door. Pull up into the crawl space on the east side for some much-needed flares, then lower Lara down the hole on the other side into the enclosure with the motorbike. Pick up the NITROUS OXIDE CANISTER beside the motorbike and the exit door automatically opens. Before taking a ride, go out to the passage, turn left and walk east until you drop down into a little trench. Pick up the small medi-pack, then return to the motorbike and mount it.

Drive straight ahead into the passage, turn left and keep turning left as you enter the area where you picked up the medi-pack. Go down the ramp against the wall to your left into a new room and turn left. Drive north (on the right side of the room) over a ramp that takes you over a deep pit to another cramped area. (To your left is a ladder leading to a closed crowbar door at the bottom of the pit, but that's for later.) When you get across the pit bear to your left and smash through the wall ahead. Drive over the short bridge and dismount on the other side. Jump into the water and pick up a large medi-pack and the CROWBAR. Then pull up on the side where you left the motorbike and look for a crawl space up in the east wall. Crawl up to an opening where you can stand up and drop down to an open passage. To your left is a long ramp leading down to the motorbike, so it appears that the crawl space simply offers an alternative route up here (as you can drive the motorbike up the ramp if you so choose).

At the east end of the passage is a closed crowbar door. Open it for some shotgun ammo. (Unlike the later crowbar doors, opening this one did not register as a secret for me.) Next to the crowbar door in the south wall is a door you can open by activating the adjacent jump switch. Go inside and climb the ladder to an upper room where you'll find a small medi-pack and some shotgun ammo on the raised corner tiles. Shoot the barriers in the other corner, pick up the shotgun ammo and use the ladder there to climb up to a still higher area where you'll find the REVOLVER and some revolver ammo. Look down the east opening and you can see a container of some kind at the other end. You can't reach it physically, but you can shoot it with the combined revolver and laser sight. Do so and then return to the main passage below.

There's a ladder in the north wall. Use it to reach an area lined with barricades. Step forward through a doorway you must have opened earlier, and you'll hear the chimes of SECRET #1. Pick up some grenade gun ammo, a large medi-pack and some crossbow arrows for your trouble, then climb back down to the main passage and use the long ramp to slide back down to the motorbike. Drive it south back across the bridge and use the ramp to your right in the next room to get across the pit. Before continuing, dismount and use the ladder to climb down into the pit. Locate the crowbar door and open it for SECRET #2 and some flares and two stashes of shotgun ammo.

Climb back up, get on the motorbike, drive it right into the next room, dismount before going up the short ramp and hop up there on foot, turn to your left inside the passage and you find that the door opposite from where the motorbike was originally parked is now open. Shoot the bat in the new room and pick up the flares. Return to the passage and turn left toward the canal. Jump into the water, swim to your right and pull up onto the ledge just above the north opening leading to the sewer. Open the crowbar door on the right side for SECRET #3, two small medi-packs and two stashes of shotgun ammo. Don't open the left door, as a flame-spewing sentry gun lurks just inside.

Now return to the motorbike and drive it up to the room where you shot the bat and picked up the flares. Turn left, smash through the east wall and drive down the wooden ramp. There may be something down here you run over and kill when you get to the bottom (seems to me I saw a splash of red), but it's really too dark to tell for sure. Anyway, dismount when you reach the bottom and throw the floor lever in the corner.

If you explore the water of the sewer you'll find two closed doors but nothing else of interest. Pull up onto one of the ledges and run over to the NW corner. You'll find the SHOTGUN lying in plain sight, but when you pick it up you'll agitate a bat. There's a jump switch in a ceiling alcove in the corner; activating it opens the underwater door near the east end of the sewer. Swim inside and pull up through the hole at the other end. Throw the floor lever in the small room to open another door outside, the one in the middle of the north wall. Go there and throw the floor lever to open the other underwater door back near the entrance. Go there and swim inside, pull up the hole at the other side and throw yet another floor lever. This opens the exit door at the east end of the sewer. Before leaving this area, swim into the south alcove underneath the ledge at the entrance for SECRET #4 and some revolver ammo.

Go to the exit door at the east end, and it appears that you've accessed more of the same. Kill the SAS who comes to attack from the east ledge, then explore as you did in the previous area. If you follow the left (west) ledge you'll eventually come to a ramp with a closed door in the facing wall on the other side, clearly intended for your motorbike at some later time. There's nothing in the water except a sheer drop at the end that takes you to a pool far below. If happen to tumble down as I did, pull up on the right (east) ledge and note the closed crowbar door in the left corner. Open it to reveal a short passage with five closed kick-in doors. Kick in the first one on your right and kill the SAS. Then go directly across the passage, kick in the next door and pick up the small medi-pack in the corner. Note the ceiling hole above you and go back into the passage. Kick in the next door in the south wall and go inside to throw the floor lever. Immediately reverse roll while drawing weapons to kill the SAS behind you.

Go across the hall and kick in the next door in the north wall. Go inside, pick up the uzi ammo and use the ladder to climb up through the phantom ceiling into SECRET #5. Shift to your left, drop down into the upper room and pick up the shotgun ammo, the large medi-pack and some crossbow arrows. Drop down to the room below and kick in the final door at the end of the east passage. Go inside to find two side passages. Take the left (north) one first and swim to the other end. Pull up, step forward and throw the floor lever. A cut scene shows you a black screen which therefore helps you not at all. Swim back and use the south passage. Pull up through the open trap door you've somehow opened, and go up the stairs until you reach an outside area and Lara's theme music starts playing.

Step out onto the ledge and turn left. As you proceed down the ledge an SAS will materialize behind you on the facing ledge. Kill him, then jump into the water and search the alcoves for some grenade gun ammo, some revolver ammo, some crossbow arrows and some shotgun ammo around the corner. Swim back to the south ledge and pull out onto it. Enter the sparsely stocked library and pick up the shotgun ammo in the alcove to your left. Use the other bookshelf to climb up to a second story level with a wider selection of reading materials. Look over at where the steam is seeping out of the walls and use your crowbar to pry loose the VALVE PIPE.

Go out onto the balcony, angle Lara to the left and take a running jump over to a balcony in front of an opening to another room. Go inside and locate the ceiling alcove. Activate the jump switch there for another worthless cut scene giving you a dark screen and the sound of a door opening (probably the exit door in the sewer). Go back out onto the balcony, turn to face west and take a running jump and grab to the next balcony. Pull up, turn to face NE. Take a running jump across the canal to the red awning, slide down and grab the edge. Shimmy all the way to the left, pull up and take a rolling back flip to the facing awning and grab the edge. Shimmy all the way to the right, pull up and repeat the previous drill. Shimmy most of the way to the left of the last awning, pull up and take a rolling back flip to grab the edge of the balcony. Pull up and enter the small room. Pick up the large medi-pack and active the jump switch in the ceiling alcove to open a door elsewhere.

Jump into the canal and swim nearly all the way to the other end. Pull up on the ledge to your right and enter the room at the top of the stairs. Follow the stairs back down to the sewer, jump into the water and swim back to the room at the east end of the passage where you kicked in all those doors. Go through the passage at turn left when you reach the lower sewer area. Use the ladder to climb back up to the higher level, then follow the ledge until you get back to the motorbike. Combine the valve pipe and the nitrous oxide canister to form the NITROUS OXIDE FEEDER and insert it in the motorbike. You now need to ride your motorbike along the left (west) ledge of the sewer until you reach the ramp you noted earlier. (You may need to stop, back up, go forward, etc. to negotiate that left turn when you reach the second sewer area.)

When you're facing north, gun the motorbike forward and use the sprint key to give you some additional boost. Hurl yourself up and over the ramp ahead and through the open door to end the level.