THE TOMB OF THE CAT
Level by Raider of
Tombs
Walkthrough by Phil
Lambeth
NOTE: Be sure to use
the revised WADs, as otherwise some of Lara's animations won't work properly
here. Also, there are some confusing aspects to this level that are pointed out
in the walkthrough that follows. Val was instrumental in figuring out a number
of the gameplay issues, but there's apparently an undiscovered secret that
provides the gamer either with the crossbow or the grenade gun. If anyone knows
the location of such a secret, I would be most grateful to have this
information so I can amend the walkthrough.
Lara begins by facing
a dark, spooky cavernous area. There's a crawl space behind you, but resist the
temptation to explore there or you'll get stuck inside with nowhere to go.
Instead, step forward and slide down a short slope. You can hop up to an
opening in the south part of the cavern wall and pick up some shotgun ammo at
the threshold, and some more shotgun ammo inside a small cave where you find
some ancient ruins, but I couldn't find anything else to do in there. Return to
the cavern floor, head to the larger opening in the west wall, and slide down a
fairly long slope toward an octagonal opening below. When you reach the bottom
you'll trigger a flyby through the area ahead that concludes with a shot of a
high-up jump switch on the snout of a giant sphinx. Step forward and pull up
onto a sand-colored ramp (which is actually one of the forepaws of the sphinx)
for a scenic overview of the area you saw in the flyby.
Don't try to jump to
the south ledge to your left. It's too far away, and all you'll do is trigger a
horizontal spike trap--the claws of the sphinx, if you will--below you.
(There's another set of claws in the corresponding spot in the other
sand-colored ramp across the way.) There's a much easier way to reach that
ledge, but that's for later, so just be patient. You'll also see an opening on
the north wall to your right, which you CAN reach, so go over there. Step off
the north end of the sandy-colored ramp, light a flare and continue walking
forward until you reach the tip of what looks like a giant arrowhead. Angle
Lara slightly to the right and you'll see a V-shaped nook in the ledge slightly
above you. Take a running jump from there, aiming at the vertex of the V, and
you should land safely on the ledge without sliding down.
Turn back to the left
and you'll see a jump switch directly below the opening in front of you.
Activate it (you'll probably have to pull into the passage and hop back with a
grab), then pull back into the passage and wind your way through it until you
reach an opening to your right. Make that right turn, and you'll hear the sound
of a door opening just above you. Pull up into the area above and approach the
chain. Pull it once for a cut scene featuring an aroused demigod in another
area, and note the nearby stand for a music scroll before you leave this area.
Walk out through the opening you created earlier, onto the giant head of the
sphinx, and go to the very south end. Making sure you're standing directly at
the center of the sphinx's head, turn around, hop back to slide down the head
and grab the jump switch you saw in the opening flyby.
As you hit the floor,
you'll note that the central flame ahead of you has been extinguished, but
there's nothing you can do in there at this point. So reverse roll and head
south under the arches to the next area, as the demigod's gutteral utterings
start getting louder. Continue until you come to ramps to your right and left,
either of which you can use to reach the ledges of the second level. If you use
the one to your right, you'll get to meet the demigod sooner. The first thing
you'll notice as you start running along the upper ledges is a bunch of closed
doors. Draw your pistols and deal with the demigod roaming about on the west
ledge, as you have a number of columns behind which to take refuge as you
methodically fill him with lead. Unfortunately, he doesn't drop anything for
you to pick up when he finally succumbs.
Go to the NE portion
of the ledge and you'll find a doorway in the east wall that's open. Go inside
and locate the hole in the ceiling. Pull up into a cozy little area and pick up
the MUSIC SCROLL. You already know where that goes, so unless you want to pause
for a breath of fresh air by using the ladder in the south wall to climb
outside, return to the opening in the north wall (to the right of the sphinx
head) in the same manner you did earlier. Place the music scroll in the stand
near the chain you pulled earlier.
NOTE: The author
apparently didn't intend for the scroll to be used this early, as the final
room in the level, discussed below, leads to a crawl space where Lara drops
down to the head of the sphinx near the scroll receptacle. Placing the scroll
gives you access to the exit area, which explains a number of comments in the
reviews that the level can be completed by bypassing a number of the areas
discussed in this walkthrough. The author must have forgotten that the gamer
can simply retrace his earlier steps after obtaining the scroll and place it
immediately. So decide for yourself if you want to place it now or later.
Walk out onto the head
of the sphinx and turn to your right. Note the ledge below. If you want to take
a short cut getting there (you could simply drop back down through the hole and
follow the earlier passage to its end), you can turn around and slide down the
sphinx's head toward it. Grab the edge, pull up and take a rolling back flip to
grab the ledge. Upon replaying this level I noticed a rope dangling from the
ceiling near this ledge. However, its function is uncertain, as it takes you
nowhere that can't be accessed by other means. Safety drop to the floor
from here and go over near the NW corner. You'll find an open doorway leading
to SECRET #1.
Light a flare and run
along the walkway inside. You'll find the CROWBAR on the north side of the
ledge, so pick it up and drop down to the room below. If you care to brave a
horde of beetles, you can climb quickly onto the ornate sloped block and pick
up a small medi-pack. Run up the ramp and return to the larger area outside.
Go back to the ramps
where you did battle with the demigod. Go past them to the dark and damp south
wall and turn to your left. You'll see an opening, so go inside and follow the
passage through a room with giant columns and continue until you reach a
repository of coffins. Do what you came here for, raid those tombs, starting
with the nearest ones (hitting action from the far, or south side of each one).
You'll find that they're all empty, so what was the point of that exercise?
Also, there's a sleeping skeleton in the depression against the south wall, and
you'll awaken it when you get closer to that end of the room. If you can find a
weapon with explosive ammo, remember that blowing up this skeleton will reveal
a HORSEMAN'S GEM that it's carrying. For now, run up the ramp in the SW corner
to elude the skeleton, and you'll find yourself at an opening overlooking the
room with all those giant columns. (The skeleton, in the meantime, will likely
get itself stuck in a nearby wall from sheer boredom, where you'll have no
trouble finding it when and if you should obtain the firepower necessary for
blowing it up and claiming the gem.)
Jump to the top of the
nearest column to your right or left, then hop over to the column near the NW
corner of the room. Use the crawl space in the wall to gain access to a small
room with a jump switch on the wall. Activate it, then crawl back outside and
safety drop to the floor. Exit this room and return to the larger area outside
with the two ramps. Go up the west ramp and you'll find that the doorway near
the middle of the west wall is now open. Go inside to the sound of ominous
music. As you progress further inside you'll see that a flame has been ignited
on the nearest tile that's balanced on an obelisk, and a cut scene shows a skeleton
being awakened on the other side of the room.
When you step on the
first tile, the next one ignites, and so on. Take standing jumps to the tiles,
avoiding the flames (which aren't centered on the tiles and won't set you
ablaze anyway, but they do interfere with your ability to maneuver) and being
careful not to slip and fall to the floor (which will cause you to burn to a
crisp). When you get near the end, the skeleton will jump over to join you, and
if you don't hurry it will push you off the tile you're on and you'll die.
When you reach the
south ledge, you'll see the closed face door in the wall. There's a jump switch
to open it on the far side of the square column near the SW corner. But right
behind it is another closed face door; this one is opened by activating another
jump switch on the far side of the square column near the SE corner. Go inside
the new room. Activate it and go back outside. If you're lucky, the skeleton
will have jumped down to the floor (which doesn't bother it, unfortunately), so
you should be able to hop back to the other side at your leisure, using the
flaming tiles.
Exit this room and
return to the ledge. You'll see that the left door across the way on the east
side is now open, so go over there and enter. You get a fixed camera angle in
this next room, so take a running jump toward what looks like a suspended
platform. However, you soon discover that it's farther away than it looks, and
there's a previously undetected bridge that you land on as a brief flyby rolls.
However, there's no such bridge linking the next platform, so jump over to it
and activate the jump switch to your left. Don't gamble by dropping from the
ledge in an effort to explore the dark area beneath the platforms, or you'll
burn and die.
Go back outside to the
east ledge, turn left and take a running jump over the gap. Turn left into the
open doorway and follow the passage until it becomes obvious you're in a maze.
What's more, there's a skeleton patrolling the area that has the dismaying
ability to act as a burner tile and kill you with its mere touch. (At least,
that happened to me on one occasion, but not on others.) You need to find your
way by trial and error to the extreme SE corner of the maze room. There you'll
find a hole in the ceiling mesh, where you can pull up into a large area with
interspersed ledges (corresponding to the maze below) where two more skeletons
await. Hop all the way over to the opposite NW corner of this area and locate
the SHOTGUN. Arm yourself with it, wait for the skeletons to approach and blast
them into the trench when they leap across the gap toward you. Although it's
only a short drop, they simply vanish when you do that.
With the skeletons out
of your hair, hop your way over to the NW corner and locate the jump switch in
the west wall. Activate it and return to the hole in the mesh in the SE corner.
Drop down and try to elude the skeleton and two of its buddies (or are they the
same ones you drove away earlier?) as you make your way to the west wall of the
maze room and the exit door. When you get outside onto the ledge, jump over the
gap, draw your shotgun and blast the skeletons over the edge when they attempt
to follow.
The door on the right
in the west wall is now open, so go over there and enter. Climb up the blocks
to your left and enter a new room with many red floor tiles. As you might
imagine, a number of these are deadly burner tiles which you need to avoid as
you make your way to the other side. Since there appear to be no clues
indicating which are the safe and which are the deadly tiles, and since you
probably don't have the time or inclination to map out the route by trial and
error, here's the safe path for you to take:
The first tile ahead
is safe, so step off the ramp onto it. Turn right and walk on the next two
tiles; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile; turn right (N) and walk on the
next two tiles until you reach the north wall; turn left (W) and walk on the
next two tiles; turn left (S) and walk (or run, if you wish) all the way over
to the south wall; turn right (W) and walk on the next two tiles; turn right
(N) and walk on the next tile; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile; turn
right (N) and walk on the next tile; turn left (W) and walk on the next tile;
turn right (N) and walk on the next three tiles; turn right (E) and walk on the
next tile; turn left (N) and walk on the next two tiles until you reach the
north wall; turn left (W) and walk to the next tile near the base of the slope.
Now turn to face the north wall, jump up and grab the climbable surface. Climb
up the short distance to the gap, but don't pull up. Release momentarily so
Lara is dangling, and before she can get her feet set again, hit the action key
and the crouch key and the up arrow all at the same time so she'll pull into the
crawl space. Turn left and crawl all the way to the other end, then lower Lara
down and release onto a safe ledge. Locate the jump switch in the west wall and
activate it.
Turn to your left, go
up the ramp and follow the ledge all the way back to the beginning point so you
won't have to navigate the burner tile maze again. Return to the west ledge
outside and turn right. Go all the way to the south wall, where the door there
is now open. As you go through the doorway a multitude of spikes are triggered in
the room below. There are three chains on the near ledge inside. When you pull
them you get a fixed camera angle from across the room as certain blocks rise
from the floor while others drop. What you need to do is pull the two end
chains once each, while leaving the middle chain alone. This leaves four blocks
raised in a zig zag path to the other side. Although the tips of the spikes
protrude through the blocks, they won't hurt you. Start by taking a running
(not a standing) jump to the first block. Continue by taking running jumps to
the next three blocks in succession, then to the far ledge, starting your jumps
from the back corner or edge of the block you're on. Pick up the small
medi-pack, then turn around and activate the jump switch above you. Return to
the other side the same way you came, and exit this room.
Go outside and exit
via the west ramp. When you reach floor level, light a flare and continue
running along the west wall. Turn left into the open doorway and you'll see a
giant cage surrounding a lava pool, with two skeletons walking around inside.
There are ramps to your right and left, leading to ledges that encircle the
room. There's a chain on each of the two ledges, and pulling them causes a bomb
to be deposited on each end of the lava pool. When one of the skeletons happens
to walk on one of the bombs, both skeletons are blown away. There's a ladder in
the middle of the west wall. If you climb up to the top and pull up, turn
around and jump to the block on the upper ledge, you'll find a gem receptacle
on the other side of the block. If you wish to use a savegame editor at this
point to give yourself a weapon with explosive ammo (since to this point there
hasn't been one made available to you), you can do so and go hunt down that
skeleton that's carrying the gem you need.
If that's what you
decide to do, placing the gem will open the final closed door up in the NW
corner of the second level above you. Go there, but before leaving this room
(and one can't help but have the feeling that there's more to do in here),
cross over and pick up the revolver ammo on the east end of the upper ledge.
Exit this disappointingly unproductive room and go up one of the ramps
to the upper ledges to the open doorway in the NW corner. Enter and walk to the
end of the central pathway. When you reach the trigger block, the topography of
the room changes to block your escape. Turn around and hop over to the gray
rocks in the SE corner. Step to the highest portion and turn to face N. Light a
flare and jump up to grab the climbable surface overhead. Climb up and pull
into the crawl space. When Lara can stand, follow the long passage along its
many twists and turns until you reach an opening that you use to drop down onto
the head of the sphinx. Place the music scroll in the nearby receptacle if you
didn't do so earlier, then drop down to the floor and run up the red-tiled path
and ramp into the mouth of the sphinx. When you slide down into the next room,
you'll trigger some action music and the gutteral sounds of an aroused demigod
as you get a fixed camera angle. There's some nearby shotgun ammo to your right
and left behind the pillars, which you'll need, so pick it up before doing
battle with the demigod. The second he falls his buddy is revived to take his
place, so deal with him as well, then pick up the rest of the shotgun ammo as
well as the HORSEMAN'S GEM and the PHAROS KNOT dropped by the demigods. There
are receptacles in the north wall for these artifacts, but don't place them
just yet.
First, go back to the
entrance and stand in front of the west face of the SW pillar. Jump up to grab
its climbable surface, climb up two more rungs and back flip into the opening
high up in the west wall. Turn around and use the crawl space for a large
medi-pack, then crawl back out and safety drop to the floor. Now go to the
north wall and place your artifacts, whereupon the doors to your right will
open at the same time a quartet of skeletons is summoned. Turn right and run
into the passage as the skeletons give chase. In the next room slide down the
slope and jump off to grab the ledge ahead. Pull up and activate the jump
switch, then hang around awhile and look bored until the skeletons finally give
up and retreat into the passage.
If you look to your
left you'll see another jump switch on the west wall, but it's located in an
awkward spot over the slope. Once the coast is clear, jump back across the gap,
quickly (because a couple of the skeletons are lurking just around the corner)
line Lara up with the jump switch at a slight angle, and jump to it to activate
it. When Lara drops to the slope and starts sliding, jump off to land safely on
the south ledge (but use the action key, just in case you fall short and have
to grab the edge). Take another jump across the gap and run past the startled
skeletons into the previous room and left through the mouth of the sphinx. For
some reason the skeletons won't follow you down the ramp outside, so catch your
breath for a few seconds until they start getting confused and wander off
again.
When you're ready to
make another run for it, dash back through the mouth of the sphinx and go all
the way to the north wall. Turn left and go into the open NW doorway and follow
the passage. When you reach the bottom of a slight incline a cut scene will
take over and you'll find yourself transported into a surrealistic black room
with green grids. Run forward and around the false wall and enter a library
through the north opening as Lara's theme music plays. Turn right into a
checker-tiled walkway to end the level.