THE PLANETS
Level by Robert LaChapelle
Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth, with reference to information contained in
the previously posted walkthrough. There are only limited references here to the
astronomical significance of the symbols you encounter as you play. Only the
actual solution is recorded, which makes for a "level" consisting of
a single puzzle that takes only a few minutes to complete.
Be sure, after you
convert coastal.tom, to rename coastal.tr4 to planets.tr4. Otherwise, you won't
be able to play the level.
Lara begins in a stark white setting, facing a black rectangle oddly
reminiscent of the monolith from 2001. If you run forward toward the
blackness, the camera remains fixed until you emerge in a planetarium with all
planets being depicted on the far wall except Earth. On the floor ahead of you
you'll see a series of circles and dots, representing those eight planets and
the number of known moons each had at the time the level was released. On the
near left corner is the sun, and to round out our solar system the Earth and
its crescent moon are located at the near right corner.
The procedure here is deceptively simple. When you begin, the floor (or
more accurately the game board) is inert except for the sun tile, which would
kill you if you were to step on it now. You need to activate the game board and turn
off the blazing sun in order to start. To do so, go to the right side and walk
over the Earth tile (whereupon you get a fixed camera angle) and the crescent
moon tile (which triggers the game board "on"). Back flip to your
starting point in the black area in front of the game board. Without stepping
on any other tiles, go to the other side and step on the sun tile which is now
safe.
Hop back to the black
area and side step to your right. Step on the first light red circle, which represents
Mercury. Someone speaking in a guttural voice says something that doesn't sound
very polite. Mercury is moonless, so the square ahead is empty. When you step
forward, the camera angle changes, which is your clue not to move forward any
further. That's the pattern you'll encounter as you navigate each of the next
seven rows, working your way to your right one row at a time. When you get a
remote camera shot as you step forward, that means you've reached the tile
representing the number of the corresponding planet's moons (whether they be
major, represented by the dark red circles, or minor, represented by the dotted
tiles). At that point you need to hop straight back or back flip, being careful
not to touch any of the tiles on either side, until you reach the black area in
front of the game board. Then side step to the right and repeat. Each time you
start a new row, you'll get a different sound effect. When you reach the next
to last row, representing Pluto (which has one known moon, Charon), step forward
to the first dark red circle tile, then turn right and walk across the crescent
moon tile to end the level.
That's all there is to
it.