FROZEN

Level by Ian Smith (Marksdad)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Frozen, you say? Sure looks to me like a hot desert afternoon as we begin. Anyway, draw your pistols and step forward to shoot the vase at the end of the passage ahead. Pick up the small medi-pack, then reverse roll and run back the way you came. A flyby introduces you to the lovely maze you now need to navigate. You can spend much time wandering around in here, but there are no pickups and you have only one essential task: to get out.

You enter the maze facing east. Take a right at the intersection and turn left at the bend. Head east again and dogleg slightly to the right at the next crossing to keep going in that direction. Take the next left, then a right, then a left. At the next bend you look left and see a brightly lit passage with an ornate tile on the ground at the end. Go there and step on the tile, then reverse roll and draw your pistols. A couple of ninjas come to investigate, so blow them away as quickly as possible.

Turn back to the ornate tile and save your game here, because this may take a few tries. The tile actually opens the exit door when you step on it, but it's timed so you have to hurry. Face the tile and reverse roll onto it so you're facing the right direction and can move immediately. Run forward and turn left and continue north to the end of this passage. Turn right, then left, then make a quick right. Turn left, and then left again at the bend (the vase there is empty, by the way). Run west a pretty fair distance, then make a series of quick doglegs left, right, right, and finally left and dash through the open doorway to your right. (If you use the sprint key during the longer stretches, you should be able to make it through with a second or two to spare.)

We must have warped to a higher altitude, because in this large new area we finally get to some frozen stuff. In the near right corner of the room are some flares. Nearby is a domed structure with a large medi-pack seemingly frozen inside. Go further into the interior, you note a mummy pacing around at the top of a pillar while he retches. That pillar has a climbable surface, but while you're standing there trying to muster up the courage to climb up, a ninja starts shooting at you from the NE corner. After shooting him, go over to the opening from which he came and run up the ramp. Throw the floor lever at the top, whereupon two more ninjas immediately start firing at you from halfway down the ramp. Kill them, then return to the icy area.

Throwing the lever opened a door over near the NW corner, so run up the ramp a short distance to trigger the two spike balls at the top, then reverse roll and sprint easily to safety. Now that the coast is clear, run all the way up the ramp to the opening at the top. Take an angled standing jump to the ledge to your right, then use the ladder to climb up, shift to the left, climb up some more and then shift back to the right, and drop off onto the long ledge against the south wall. Reverse roll and run to the other end to pick up the shotgun from the pedestal. Go back, jump to the ledge wrapped around the east and north walls, and follow it to the end for some crossbow arrows. Immediately draw weapons and shoot the ninja who's firing at you from the ledge just below the spot where you picked up the shotgun.

Directly below you is a ledge with a floor lever. The quickest way to get there is to hop backward off the ledge you're now on and hit the action key as soon as you clear the edge to land safely below. (There are monkey swing bars on the underside of the east ledge, but it's not necessary to use them.) Throw the floor switch to open an underwater door below. If your mind has a dirty bent, you can walk to the other end of this ledge for a perverted crotch shot as the camera angle becomes fixed from below. Assuming you have no time to waste on things like that, jump into the icy water below and fill Lara's lungs with air before entering the NE opening.

You're in somewhat of an underwater maze. Swim straight ahead past the passage to your right and into the sunken room, and pull up through the air hole. Deal with the five scorpions that scuttle up to greet you, then note the closed door that you need to find a way to open. Jump back into the water and head south. Take a left at the intersection you bypassed just now, then the first left, a right and up into an air hole. Go back the other way, turn left, then left again at the crossing, right near the end of the passage, left and go straight (east) to the end of this passage, right at the crossing and pull up at the end. Throw the floor lever, then swim back to the north, take the first left, continue west to the end of the passage, right, left, right and right again to the previous air hole. Then back the other way, left, right at the intersection, left at the intersection (the door in the upper room to the right, where you shot the scorpions, is still closed) and pull up at the side of the large pool. Use the ladder to climb back up to the south ledge, and run back down the ramp to the previous frozen area.

You can climb up onto the pillar and schmooze with the mummy for a second if you want to register a SECRET, but there's no pickup up there (unless the mummy drops something, if you want to wait until you can find a way to kill it, and if you have the desire then to come back here). Anyway, the floor lever you just threw apparently opened a door near the SW corner. Go over there and enter the new area.

The first thing you see inside are the crossbow arrows ahead and to your left. Run over to them quickly to avoid the spike ball that rolls down from your right. Pick up the arrows and vault up onto the nearby platform. Turn around, draw weapons and shoot the two ninjas who materialize near the east wall. Then throw the floor lever and go back across to the NW opening, up the ramp and down into the water and swim to the scorpion room to check on that door. Yes, it's now open, so go inside to get the lay of the land.

In this large room you see some staggered pillars over to the east, leading to a sequence of three ropes that bring you over to another pillar against the west wall. There's a closed door near the SW corner and an opening across the way near the NW corner. Go there first, and you'll probably experience a fixed camera angle along the way when you run underneath one of the ropes. As you enter the NW openings, draw a weapon and shoot the scorpion. Glory be, that scorpion managed to hide a crossbow somewhere on its tiny body, so pick it up and continue to the end of this dark passage for a large medi-pack.

Since this walkthrough was written, the author has confirmed that blowing up the mummy indeed provides another pickup. So now that you have the crossbow, you may want to go back at this point and learn the nature of your reward.

Go back outside and climb up onto the shortest pillar. Take a running jump and grab over to the next taller pillar, pull up, turn left and take a standing jump with grab to the next pillar, and a simple standing jump to the last one. When you reach that last one, three ninjas materialize below and you lose camera control. You need to deal with the ninjas before trying to negotiate the rope swings, so safety drop to the floor and kill them all. Then make your way back to the tallest pillar against the east wall as before. You'll need to make a blind leap to the first rope, so have Lara facing north and sidestep to the SW corner of the pillar. Take two steps forward and turn to the left. Make sure Lara is facing squarely west, then take a running jump off the pillar and pray that you're aligned properly with the first rope. If you are, then you'll grab it successfully; if you're not, you'll survive the drop to the floor, but you'll have to climb back up and try again.

Once you grab the first rope, slide down to the bottom, swing forward and jump off to the next one, then do the same thing to reach the third rope. So far, so good. However, the jump from the third rope to the pillar is the most difficult by far, so make sure you have a good head of steam before making that final jump. When you get there, run forward toward the floor lever and draw weapons to shoot the ninja down below and to your right. Then throw the lever to open the door down below and to your left, then safety drop to the floor.

Two more ninjas were hiding next to the pillar, so eliminate them before going through the SW doorway. When you step up to the ledge inside, a spike trap below triggers on either side of a small medi-pack. If you need it badly enough, jump straight up from the edge of the ledge and grab the monkey bars. Swing across, counting to ten, and drop at that point and pick up the medi-pack. However, I don't think you can jump over the spikes ahead and grab the facing ledge without dying, and it will cost you more health than the medi-pack is worth to walk through the spikes and pull up, so decide what's best for you.

As you continue along the icy pathway, you'll soon come to a gap that's awfully difficult to see. It's too wide to jump across, but step forward and allow Lara to slide down the slope. Don't jump, don't grab, don't do nothin', and Lara will land safely at the base of a huge diving board overlooking a deep icy cavern. You get a remote camera angle, so step forward to the very edge and take a running jump and grab ahead to the suspended central platform. Take an angled running jump to the left, to the next platform, and a brief flyby reveals the floor switch across the ledge down below. It's a simple jump to get there, but beware: the ledge is protected by spike balls on either end. So when you land, hop back immediately and grab the edge of the ledge while the spike balls roll by. Be sure to wait until they completely stop rolling before you pull up, as any contact with a moving spike ball means certain death.

Shimmy to the right as necessary to get beyond both spike balls, then pull up and jump to the left alcove to throw the floor lever. Then jump over to the opposite alcove to pick up the Hand of Orion, which causes the deep pit to fill with ice water. I didn't know this until I read the reviews, but if you pick up the hand first, you can't then throw the floor lever. Therefore, it's necessary to do these two things in the prescribed order. Jump into the water and swim all the way to the bottom for the large medi-pack, then swim through the open doorway in the west wall.

Pull up at the other end of the passage, and you appear for a moment to be back in the desert. Run into the open area and prepare to deal with five ninjas and two scorpions while the fixed camera angle makes things even more difficult than they otherwise would be. Then run over to the NW corner and climb up onto three successive blocks. When you reach the top of the third one, run forward until you're back in view of the camera, then turn right and place the star in its receptacle. The door to your right opens, so go inside and climb up the ladder to another strange room.

The undulating water ahead appears to be bubbling, which gives it an aura of danger. But it's only knee deep, and it's harmless. Splash across to the central platform, and listen to a door opening somewhere as you stoop down to pick up the Ba Cartouche.

It's not clear what the Ba Cartouche is for, but here's what's happening with the doors high up on the walls of this room: Think of the central structure as a platform where they award the Olympic medals. The lower west platform opens the higher door to the north for a short period of time. The lower east platform, also timed, opens the higher door to the east. The central platform, where the cartouche lay, opens the higher south door. The north door leads to a deadly pit; the south door leads to a spike ball trap. What's worse, if you go inside either door and start snooping around inside, the door will slam shut and trap you inside, forcing you to reload. So the only productive way to go is east, but getting there in time won't be easy.

Facing west, jump onto the east platform and sprint forward to the west wall. Turn to the right and climb up onto the block, then turn around and jump up to grab the ledge above. Pull up, turn around and take a running jump to the north ledge. Sprint across it and jump over to the east ledge and sprint into the open doorway there before the door slams shut in your face. Kill the waiting ninja and run forward to end the level.