DARK SKIES 1: CITY STREETS

Level by Justin Havens

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

The level begins with a view of Lara sliding down a roof to land at the end of a cobblestoned street. It's dark, and a number of timepieces scattered here and there inform us that it's 8:00 p.m. local time. Walk forward a few steps to restore the first-person camera view, and you'll be rewarded by the sight of a rat darting across your path. (Don't bother trying to shoot this and the other rats you'll encounter along the way, because they can't be killed.) Turn to your right and shoot out a barricade blocking an alcove. Step into the alcove and pick up some flares. If you're really trigger-happy, you can practice on the barricades surrounding the manhole cover on three sides. Keep your weapons out and continue walking forward. A German shepherd will attack from an adjoining street to your right, so kill it quickly.

At the major four-way intersection you come to, take a right and shoot out the barricade blocking another small alcove. Pick up a small medi-pack in the alcove and note the multi-colored lock in the wall you'll be coming back to later. Draw weapons and take a hop back. Kill the scorpion that was creeping up on you.

Do a reverse roll and run across the street, past the stretch limo, and open the door at the end of the sidewalk. Run up the stairs to the next room. On the computer desk in the far corner, pick up the SILVER KEY. Turn to your left and shoot out the TV to start a fire and open a grate in the room below. Run back downstairs and crawl through the now-accessible opening. Make a left turn and keep crawling until Lara can stand up. Turn to the left and climb up into a torch-lit tunnel. Push the floor lever at the end, which opens a door a couple of stories above.

Go back upstairs to the next room, kick open the door and walk out onto the balcony. Take a right and climb the scalable wall at the end. Near the top, take a back flip onto the balcony above. Turn around and go through the door you opened earlier. Turn left and kick open the door next to the fridge. Back up quickly, draw weapons and take out the SAS guard who comes charging out at you. Then enter the bathroom and turn left to pick up the SECURITY PASS in the shower stall.

Now exit this area and return to the balcony. Take a standing jump and grab to the wall and climb down to the lower balcony. Turn around and exit this building the same way you came in.

Run forward to your left, toward another stretch limo parked near the end of the adjacent street. Just past the limo is another door for Lara to open. Draw weapons and kill a German shepherd lurking just inside the door. Then shoot out the glass panel to gain access to the library. Keep those weapons out. As soon as you step into the library proper, turn immediately to the right and kill an SAS guard. Then turn back to the left and run forward to vault onto the ledge and collect some uzi ammo. Now drop down and run to where the SAS guard was and pick up the M-16 ammo he dropped. Past the library shelves to the right is nothing except a scorpion to kill. After disposing of it, turn around and go to the other end of the library into a tunnel that bends right to some stairs leading to an upper chamber. You'll be greeted there by another SAS guard. Take him out and relieve him of the uzi ammo he drops.

Vault onto the raised pedestal in the middle of this chamber and pick up the BUILDING KEY, which also opens the door across the chamber from where you entered. Just inside that door, turn left and use the SILVER KEY to open the adjacent door on the other side of the walkway. Go inside and up the landing to draw the attention of an SAS guard to your right. Dispose of him and pick up the Laser Sight he drops.

At the top of the landing you can go either right or left. Take a left and go past the closed door on your right. (You'll return to it later.) Keep bending right, and shoot out the plate glass windows you come to. Pick up the M-16 ammo in the alcove. Proceed in the same direction as before. There's some more glass you can shoot if you like, although there's nothing to be gained by it.

Exit this area, go across the walkway back into the library, down the stairs and outside. Go the intersection and turn left. Just past the area where the street narrows is an alcove to your right. Go into the alcove and use the BUILDING KEY to open the door to your left. Go inside and shoot out the plate glass windows blocking your way. Drop down into the room below and Lara's attention will be drawn to the painting on the wall to her right. That's an invitation for her to shoot the painting, because doing so lifts the grate blocking access to the area below. Now walk over to the hole where Lara sees water flowing down the wall. Drop down into the hole, past the now-open grate, and locate the receptacle for the SECURITY PASS. But be careful, because the door that opens is the one to your right, not your left. So forewarned, draw weapons and turn to the right to take out the SAS guard who comes out to challenge you. Pick up his M-16 ammo, continue into the chamber he emerged from and kill the scorpion and another SAS guard you'll find there.

Make your way around the left portion of the chamber until you come to a room with a wall switch. Throw the switch, which opens the garage door to the Porsche (and also opens the manhole cover in the street near where you arrived, allowing access to a secret).

Turn around to the console near the entrance to this room, and pick up the Desert Eagle. Combine the Desert Eagle with the Laser Sight. Save your game at this point. Then turn to your right and note the swinging ball in the upper alcove. Blow it up, allowing access to another secret. (If you have trouble getting the swinging ball to blow up, and if you really want to get all the secrets, and if you aren't philosophically averse to cheating, you might want to go dig up some explosive ammo somewhere. Otherwise, forget SECRET #3, described later in this walkthrough, and don't use up all your Desert Eagle ammo, because you'll really need at least one round shortly.)

Exit this area and use the scalable east wall to climb out of the hole. Go up to the top stair, turn around and back up against the brick wall, and take a standing jump NE to the landing. As you exit to the street, note that shiny new red Porsche glimmering in the now-open garage to your right. Too bad you don't have the keys for it yet.

Go back to the major intersection and take a right. Go past the stretch limo back into the library, over the crosswalk and up the stairs to the left. Open the door you passed by earlier and enter the room. Go out onto the balcony, and you'll see a blue bell swinging in the distance. If you want to get closer, you can take a running jump and grab to the suspended platform. Use the combined Desert Eagle/Laser Sight and shoot the swinging ball to douse the fire in the fireplace below. Exit the balcony, open the interior west door and shoot out the barricade next to the fridge. Lift up the grate and climb down into the hole. At the bottom, shoot the barricade and in the room below, grab the Porsche keys from the computer table in the corner (which also opens the way to a secret back in the room where you opened the garage door).

Shoot out the barricades and drop down into the shallow hole to pick up the MP-5. Back up quickly, draw weapons and shoot the scorpion. Then climb back out of the hole. There's a door to a bathroom here, which you can open if you're the type who likes to kill dogs. You won't find anything else of note inside.

Walk into the south shaft and turn around. Jump straight up and grab the scalable interior. (You have to be positioned just right in order to make the grab, so it may take a few tries.) Climb up and exit this room and the building.

As you leave the library and see the stretch limo parked outside, you're reminded of those Porsche keys you're now carrying. But let's be patient and get a couple of secrets before we get behind the wheel.

Run back to the major intersection and turn left. Try not to look at the Porsche as you turn right into the doorway you opened earlier. Return to the chamber where you found the wall switch to the garage door. Around the first bend you'll see an open hole that was formerly blocked by a grate. Drop down inside for SECRET #1 and pick up some M-16 ammo and a large medi-pack.

Pull out of the hole and exit this area. Back in the street, turn left and run back to the major intersection. Turn left again and go to manhole cover that was surrounded on three sides by barricades when you arrived. You'll find that the cover is now gone as well, so drop down inside for SECRET #2. Jump over to the other ledge across the water and pick up some MP-5 ammo. Then dive in and pick up some more MP-5 ammo and the MP-5 itself. Pull out, shoot the barricade if you're feeling vandalistic, and jump and grab to make your way back to the street.

Now it's time for a test drive in that Porsche. Run back to the major intersection and turn right to get to the garage. Use the keys and start rolling. Drive stright ahead, through the intersction and even the billboard if you like. (Few things seem to get in the way of this Porsche.) Keep going right up the ramp and into the loft beyond. Get out of the car and shoot out a few barricades to give you a little more maneuvering room.

Against the far wall at the end you'll see that the grill has been raised on the left side, affording access to SECRET #3 (assuming you were able to blow up the swinging ball in the room where you got the Desert Eagle). Crawl inside and turn to the right to pick up some Grenade Gun ammo. Lower yourself back out and turn around. Just beyond the lampstand to your right, you'll see a receptacle against the wall. Use the BUILDING KEY to open the door to its right.

Enter with weapons drawn. Walk around one of the central columns to draw the attention of an SAS guard. Kill him and pick up the small medi-pack he drops. Now you can look around at leisure. You'll find four closed doors, two on each side. You can open all but the one on the far left. Your only reward upon opening the one on your near left is the joy of killing a scorpion. The one on your far right gets you nothing at all except the view of a skittering rat. Open the last one, the one on your near right, endure the rat that slithers out between your legs, and turn around at the end of the threshold. Jump up and grab, and crawl into the space above. Wind your way to the right, then to the left, then back to the right, and lower yourself into the room you couldn't get into from below. Turn around and pick up the YELLOW KEY from the computer desk, which also opens to door into this room.

Go outside and exit this area. Get back into the Porsche and drive it back up and over the ramp and out into the intersection. Stop the car and get out. Run straight ahead and turn left into the alcove with the colorful lock you noticed earlier. Use the YELLOW KEY to open a door at the top of another ramp across the way.

Do a reverse roll and run out of the alcove, taking a hairpin turn to the right. Just past the hot dog stand is the newly-opened ramp. You can either drive up or perform this next phase of the mission on foot. (If you're driving, be mighty careful, for just beyond the barricades you come to is a deep pit.) After taking care of the barricades, proceed on foot. Make your way clockwise around the pit. You'll come to a door on your left that you can't open. Keep going around the pit to the other side and walk onto the platform that's enclosed on three sides. There's a suspended blue ball swinging back and forth above you. Shoot it in the same manner you shot the one earlier. As it explodes you'll hear the door opening ahead of you to the right. Head back to the now-open door, noting the closed garage door in the area to your right as you exit the platform.

Enter the room and shoot the TV in the far corner to open the garage door outside. Then turn into the alcove on your right and open the door. Immediately draw weapons to take out an SAS guard lurking just inside. Pick up the SILVER KEY on one computer desk, and some uzi ammo on the other.

Before leaving this area, walk outside to the newly-opened area formerly blocked by the garage door. Draw weapons and kill an SAS guard stationed in the dark area up and to the left in the distance. Then walk out to the right edge of the walkway and make a standing jump and grab to the overhead trapeze bars. Monkey swing your way over to the other side and release into the alcove. Use the SILVER KEY to open the gate to the exit area. Turn back to your left, jump up and grab, and monkey swing back across. Don't release until you get to the very end; it's a long way down. To your right you'll see the ramp leading to the exit area, which you can't access on foot.

Go back to where you left the Porsche, and get inside. (If Lara needs the exercise, there's a scalable wall she can use to get down into the pit and back up again. However, there's absolutely nothing to do or get down there.) Follow the same route Lara traversed on foot, driving clockwise around the pit. Continue straight ahead toward the open garage door and make a hard left onto the exit ramp. Hug the left wall, because it'll get pitch-dark very quickly. But don't stop, or you'll get stuck. As soon as you hit the wall ahead, swing quickly to the right and continue your loop around to the exit.

You'll start hearing gunfire at this point, directed at you, so step on it. Before long you'll drive back into the light, so continue to hug the left wall and derive the pleasure of running into and killing that annoying SAS guard perched on the platform at the end.

Now put the Porsche into reverse and back up into the tunnel leading to the exit, running down another SAS guard in the process. There's no need to stop here; keep going through the flashing red bars (which won't hurt you) into the alleyway below. At this point you can choose to: (1) proceed down the alley in reverse, (2) turn the Porsche around and gun it down the alley, or (3) get out and sprint your way to glory. (Don't select this third option if you want to play the next level in the series, because you'll need the Porsche to make your way through the next level.) Whatever you choose, the level will end as you make your way into the darkness.