TAKO COMPANY

Level by Baddy

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth


Lara starts inside a locked cell, in a cell block full of sex-starved (or so it seems by their later behavior) prisoners. She is without any weapons or flares, so it looks as if she'll have to survive with their help or not at all. Walk back a few steps, jump up and grab the ceiling trap door. Turn around, jump up and grab the duct. Pull inside and crawl until you reach an outdoor area where you can lower Lara down into a corridor. Look north and you'll see the posted guard whose attention has not yet been attracted. Push the button across the corridor to open the door to your left, then go inside quietly and follow the passage to a control room. Turn to your left and throw the switch on the darkened east wall to open the door to the cell block.

Enter the cell block and the guard ahead will immediately start firing at you. Run forward and release a couple of prisoners on the upper east wing by pushing the buttons next to their cells. They'll soon make short work of the guard. When they've done their dirty work, they'll start trying to get very chummy with you, bumping into you from the rear as well as from all sides. Lead them back the way you came, to the first guard you saw, and they'll take care of him as well. Return to the cell block and run across the bridge to the upper west wing. Push both buttons on that side to open all four cell doors and release one more prisoner. Go into the cell on the far left, near the SW corner, and vault up into the window sill. Crawl through the space into another outdoor corridor, and the pesky prisoners won't follow.

Run north down the corridor and pull the wall switch to your left at the end to open the door. Go through the passage into another control room occupied by a guard. Run past him into the control room and throw the switch on the south wall before he has a chance to inflict major damage. The door to your left opens and the prisoners rush in to save the day. A door also opens down on the ground floor level of the cell block, allowing you an escape through the north wall, so safety drop for a brief respite from the prisoners. However, you need them for the guard who's awaiting you in ambush just beyond the doorway, so wait for the prisoners to run down the stairs and catch up with you before going inside. When the guard is dead, step forward and pick up the COMPUTER CARD from the floor.

Use the card in the slot in the north wall to open another door to your left. Before going through the new opening, turn around and head east down the corridor. Turn left when you reach an opening and enter a partially enclosed bay of computer equipment. The prisoners won't follow you inside, so this gives you a chance to catch your breath. In the back corner of this area you'll find a small medi-pack on the console. At the end of the east corridor is a closed door, apparently for later, so go back to the door you just opened in the north wall and enter the new area.

Go around to the right or left of the strange central contraption and head down the long west corridor into the ladies' room. The prisoners show you proper respect and decline to follow you inside. Locate the ceiling hole in the back (NW) corner, which you can't access. However, there's a companion hole in the SW corner that you pull up into. Do so, facing the west wall, and crawl under the pipe ahead. Make a horseshoe turn to your left as you crawl, and when you're able to stand up (facing east), step forward under the pipe and throw the wall switch to your left. Crawl back the same way you came, making a horseshoe turn back to the right, and when you return to the SW hole you'll find that the toilets have all overflowed to flood the entire bathroom area.

Jump into the water and swim up into the formerly inaccessible NW hole on the other end of the bathroom. Pull up north, run up some stairs and turn to your right, then to your left, and back to your right. You'll be able to see some daylight in the distance, so head toward it. Step out into another outdoor corridor and follow it around until you reach a hole in the NE corner. Hop around the hole and run to the end of the south corridor. Throw the wall switch there and return to the hole in the NE corner. Safety drop onto a stove, and you'll see ahead of you a snoozing cook.

Quickly hop down to the floor and escape through the west doorway as the cook gives chase. Turn left and run to the end of the south passage and push the button to your left to open the door. Your prisoner buddies are waiting to lend a helping hand, so wait until the cook is dead and then pick up the KEY he was carrying. Go back to the kitchen area where you dropped down onto the stove, and use the key in the lock in the east wall. The door to your right opens, so go into the meat freezer past the hanging slabs of beef and throw the switch on the south wall to open a door elsewhere.

Leave the meat freezer and the kitchen, and turn left into the corridor. The doorway immediately to your right is now open, so go inside and throw the wall switch in the SW corner. A cut scene shows the north door opening just outside, so exit this room and head north up the ramp into a corridor where another guard is waiting. After the prisoners have taken care of him, explore this area a bit to find a closed door requiring a key on the left side, and a closed door on the right side that may or may not be opened later. You can go down either ramp into a darker area below where another guard lurks. After your prisoner friends have dispatched him, locate the wall switch between the two ramps on the dark south wall, and the door behind you and to your right opens.

Go inside the control room (the prisoners won't follow) and through the wall switch on the south face of the column. This opens a door at the west end of the lower corridor, so go there and enter a small room with a large central column. Go around to the NW opening and run down the stairs. Turn right into the passage and allow your prisoner friends to do their thing to the waiting guard. Note the nearby closed door, then return to the passage and follow to the north end. The door to your right opens as you approach it. Follow into a control room and locate the jump switch in the west wall, just to the right of the crate. Activate it and then leave this room via the door that once again opens upon your approach.

The door near the slain guard is now open, so go down the steps into a lower passage lined with crates, and wait for the prisoners to kill the waiting guard. Pick up the KEY he drops and look for the receptacle to use it near the west end of the passage, on the south side. Use the key to open the door and enter the short passage. There's a hole in the SE corner, but the prisoners can't follow you down there so you're on your own. Follow the passage down into a room where a number of rockets are being housed.

Bug Alert: There have been problems reported with the lasers in this area. To avoid those problems, save your game now and don't save again until you've completed your tasks in this area.

To the east is a laser barrier fronted by an inattentive guard. Avoid attracting his attention and go over to push the button in the west wall. The door to your right opens silently, so enter the control room and take the small medi-pack from the console. Then throw the switch in the west wall to turn off the lasers, reverse roll and run past the startled guard.

You can open the first door on your left by pushing the adjacent button on the wall. A fourth prisoner is released to take care of the guard (maybe, see note below). Be sure to watch carefully, because the guard drops a COMPUTER CARD that you'll need shortly. Continue down the corridor and turn right at the bend. You'll see another bank of lasers as action music plays. Turn around to find that a door has opened across from the cell, releasing another guard. Allow your prisoner friend to dispatch him, then go into that room and climb up onto the crates. Crawl to a dark opening in the SE corner and lower Lara down into it. Turn around, facing the east wall, and activate the jump switch to turn off the second bank of lasers.

NOTE: On one occasion when I played this level, the prisoner and the first guard acted as if the first bank of lasers was still on and refused to cross the phantom barrier and confront each other. If that happens, simply continue with the gameplay as described above, and when the second bank of lasers has been turned off and the second guard has been killed, go back with the prisoner to find the first guard. Pick up the computer card when he's dead and proceed.

Go back into the corridor and turn right to run into a new room with a number of blocks where rockets have been placed on their side. Go to the SE corner and place the computer card in the slot. The rockets are raised into the air, giving you access to the blocks on which they had been placed. Climb onto the middle block and face the south wall. Take a running jump over the protecting slope and grab the ladder in the wall. Climb up, shift to your right and drop down onto the catwalk. Run to the other end of the catwalk and throw the wall switch next to the closed door in the corner. A door opens in the north wall down below, releasing an SAS who starts firing at you.

Drop down and let your prisoner friend kill the SAS (which for some reason may take a distressingly long time), then enter the control room and pick up the KEY in the far left corner. A cut scene reminds you of the door you passed by a long time ago, in the area where the other three prisoners are patiently waiting. Exit the control room and then the rocket room, follow the passage back to the "upright rocket" room, turn left and head up the ramp back to the ladder leading to the upper level. Climb up and greet the overjoyed trio of prisoners (they've probably scattered by this time, but you'll eventually be joined by at least two of them).

End of Bug Alert: It's now okay for you to start saving your game again.

Head east along the passage and turn left to go up the stairs. At the top is another SAS, but your friends will make short work of him. Turn left at the end of the next passage and head up the wide stairs to the south. Run diagonally around the square central structure in the next room and enter the dark passage. Turn right at the opening and run up the ramp. Turn left and pull up to the ledge to get away from the boys for a few seconds, and use your key to open the door. Wait for the boys to catch up before stepping inside, as a guard is waiting in ambush. After he's dead, locate the jump switch on the east wall behind the north console and activate it. A flyby takes you down to the passage below and shows the east door opening.

Go down there and look around a bit. There are laser banks at the bottom of ramps at the NW and NE corners. In between is a receptacle for a key you need to find. At the SE and SW corners are alcoves with closed doors. If you're lucky, the prisoners may be attracted to one of the laser banks and leave you for a while. There's a jumpswitch high on the north wall above the NE and SE laser banks, with no apparent way of getting to either one. Go to the top of either ramp and turn to face the jump switch squarely. Jump up to grab the ceiling, and monkey swing forward until you're directly over the jump switch. Release and then immediately hit the action key again to activate the jump switch. The lasers below are still on, so don't reverse roll when you land. Turn around carefully and run to the other ramp and repeat the procedure. Both laser banks are now off, so run forward down the ramp and turn into the east passage to alert a guard.

When the prisoners have killed the guard, pick up the KEY he drops and go into the south room where all the crates are stacked high. Note for now the closed doors in the south wall and return to the upper room with the key receptacle. Use the key to open both doors behind you in the south wall. Enter the SE doorway, allow the prisoners to kill the guard in the control room ahead, then take the COMPUTER CARD from the console and throw the switch in the west wall. A cut scene shows a door opening to an outside motor pool area. Stay a minute to watch the prisoners clown around by climbing up into the east opening and then magically reappearing beside you, then go back up the passage, turn right and enter the SW doorway. There's also a guard in this control room, so after the prisoners have killed him throw the wall switch for a cut scene of the same outdoor area.

Return to the outer room with the glass floor and run down the ramp to the lower level. Make a horseshoe turn into the south passage and continue into the crate room and through the open south doorway into the motor pool area. Turn left and you can see an open doorway in the east wall. Go there and wind your way down the long ramp until you reach a room guarded by an SAS. After your friends have eliminated him, use the computer card in the slot in the east wall. The door to your right opens, so go inside and follow the short passage to a door that opens upon your approach. Step out onto a ledge, and let the prisoners go around you to flush out and kill two SAS who are waiting down below.

Locate the switch in the west wall and throw it. A door is opened above, allowing a guard to come out and open fire on you. Lure him down so that the prisoners can kill him, then run up the stairs with the prisoners in hot pursuit. Continue along the ledge that runs against the west wall and take a blind running jump across the gap. Grab the edge of the facing ledge and pull up. You've finally obtained some respite from the helpful but annoying prisoners, so continue along this second ledge until you reach the doorway you opened with the wall switch. Enter the control room and throw the wall switch in the NW corner.

There appear to be no goodies to pick up here, so return to the ledge. You'll find that a door has opened across the way in the north wall. A normal running jump and grab doesn't seem to do the trick, so here's the correct technique (courtesy of Dutchy): Turn around and hop back to grab the edge of the ledge, then pull up and reverse roll. Take your running jump from this position, and this time you'll be able to make the grab. (For some reason, this procedure gives you a little extra running room.) Pull up, step forward and throw the wall switch to open the door below. Safety drop to the ground floor and run forward into the north doorway while the elated prisoners join you.

In the next area, if you take the east corridor you'll get a fixed camera angle that prevents you from seeing what's beyond the fence to your right. Go back and head down the south corridor, take the first left and allow your prisoner friends to dispatch the SAS. Note the laser bank to your right and go back the other way. Locate the moveable crate in the north wall of the corridor in which you lost camera control. Pull it out once and push it to the side. Enter the revealed passage and follow to a control room where an SAS lies in wait. After he's been killed, pick up the small medi-pack he drops. Throw the wall switch in the SW corner to open the door at the other (east) end of this corridor. Go there, enter the control room and throw the wall switch in the NW corner to open a door next to the still-activated laser bank.

Go there and enter an enclosed outdoor area. Run across to the middle part of the far wall, where you'll find a climbable surface. Climb up and over and jump down to the ground outside. (Don't try jumping to the sloped surfaces on either side at the top, or you'll be fried.) It appears at first that you've engineered a successful jail break, but no such luck. Run across the hill-enclosed yard diagonally to the left, to the NE corner, so you won't alert the guard posted near the SE corner. Step up to the foundation of the building and pull up into it (using just the control and up arrow keys). Throw the wall switch you'll find inside, and a cut scene will show a closed door somewhere down below.

Exit the building and drop down to the ground. Run south under the arch toward the guard, locate the similar building near the SE corner and quickly pull up into it the same way you did earlier before the guard has a chance to draw a bead on you. A cut scene shows the roof of either this building or the previous one, with a computer card in one corner that you need to get to somehow. Enter the building and throw the wall switch inside, and a cut scene shows the door below opening. Jump down to the ground and run west past a truck while the guard chases you. Locate the open doorway to your left and run inside to throw the wall switch. The lasers in the previous area have been deactivated, so reverse roll and run outside and back under the arch. Return to the wall where you dropped down into this area and climb back up.

When you reach the top, turn around and look to your left at the NE building. No computer card on the roof, so your goal must be the other building. (You can use the edges of the "hot" tiles to shimmy over to the bridge, then shimmy further along the other side until you reach a depression where you can climb up. You would think this activity would lead to a hard-earned secret, but I couldn't find anything more to do once I got there.) Climb back down and head over to the east hill barrier to the left of the SE building, with the truck between you and the building. Hop up to the level parts (the guard won't follow) and make your way south with a couple of standing jumps. When you're as close to the roof as you can get, make a running jump over the outcropping of rock and grab the edge of the roof. Pull up, run forward to the left corner and pick up the COMPUTER CARD.

Drop down to the ground and run back to the climbable wall. Go up and climb down the other side into the walled enclosure where your prisoner friends are delighted to see you again. Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Push your way past them into the west doorway and turn left. Go to the end of the south corridor and insert the computer card into the slot next to the door. There are more active lasers in the room ahead, but not to worry. Climb up onto the far crate nearer the west wall, stand on the back edge facing east, and jump up to pull down the trap door. Turn right and jump up to pull up into the crawl space. Crawl forward until you reach the lasers on your right. Stand up, turn around and use the ladder in the north face of the shaft to climb up. When you near the top, shift to the left and drop down into a passage. (If you like, you can shout a goodbye down the shaft to your prisoner friends, as you won't be seeing them anymore.)

Turn left, step forward and jump over the gap to grab another ladder. Climb down to the bottom, turn left and use the crawl space to access an opening overlooking a storage area. Turn around, lower Lara over the edge and drop to the floor. A guard awaits, so run around him and quickly climb up onto the crates in the SE corner. Enter the control room and run across to throw the switch in the south wall. Pick up the large medi-pack on the console in the SW corner, then exit this room and hop back down to the floor. Go through the new opening in the south wall and turn right when you reach a bunch of stacked crates. Go down the stairs south and disregard for now the dark opening to your left. To your right is a laser-protected opening, and if you're lucky a friendly commando will come forth to eliminate the guard and the SAS soon to follow. Otherwise, your work for the remainder of the level will be severely hampered.

In the room below are three closed doors. Throw the switch on the east wall to open the two on either side of you. An SAS comes out to join forces with the guard, so dash down the opening to your right and throw the wall switch in the NE corner to open a door in that dark alley you passed by earlier. Exit this room, jump up to the stairs and turn right into the alley. Feel your way along until you reach an opening to your right, and enter the control room. Throw the wall switch in the SE corner and reverse roll to see another wall switch and a receptacle for a computer card. However, they're for later, so run back down the dark alley, turn left and enter the SE doorway down below into the room you just left. Turn right and enter another room. Go around the central wire mesh contraption and go through the open south doorway. Throw the wall switch to your right to open the central south door. Go inside the next room where yet another SAS awaits. Quickly pick up the COMPUTER CARD from the conference table and run back north the way you came. Continue until you reach the far room with the stairs, hop up and turn right to go down the dark alley and grope your way back to the control room.

Use the computer card in the slot in the NE corner to open the door to your right. Go down the stairs and at the bottom, use the crawl space to your right to access a small connecting room with a crate in one corner. Go through the SW opening into a room with a glass wall to the south. Through the glass wall you can watch an automated machine do some assembly line work with some product that looks like it has a bear head. After spending a few minutes trying to figure it all out, turn and throw the wall switch in the south face of the central block. A flyby takes you to the final room of your adventure, where an important door opens.

Go back to the connecting room, pull up into the crawl space and crawl forward to the base of the stairs. Run up the stairs to the control room with two wall switches. Exit through the north doorway and turn left to go down the dark alley. Turn left and hop down into the lower room. Go through the left opening in the east wall and pull out (two times) the moveable block in the far left corner. Then reverse roll and dash back up the stairs and through the dark alley into the room with two switches. Stand facing the north doorway and jump up to grab and pull down the trap door in the ceiling.

Now it's time to throw that switch in the north wall. It opens the door at the foot of the stairs, but it also activates lasers in the north doorway that seem to prevent you from getting there. Well, just stand under the trap door, facing east, and jump up to grab the edge. Pull up into the duct and crawl forward until you can stand up. Facing the shaft, take a standing jump and grab the ladder, then climb down to the passage below. Reverse roll and run past the SAS and the guard (assuming your friendly commando didn't show up to take care of them earlier) out of the room with the moveable block and straight across and through the now-open west doorway. Take an immediate left and run toward the south passage where you opened the door in the previous flyby. Turn left into an extremely dark alley to alert a couple of friendly commandos who finally come to your rescue by killing the guard and the two SAS who have been dogging you for what seems like forever.

You're almost done here. When you go back and look around, you find yourself in some sort of laboratory where the only light is provided by a couple of corpses displayed in companion glass cubes. There are a couple of concrete blocks to the right of the passage where you released the commandos. If you climb up on them, step forward and look over the edge when you reach the SW corner, you'll see a tank filled with deadly green goo, and a much-needed computer card at the bottom.

Go back down the dark passage where you released the two commandos. You won't be able to see a thing, but at the end of the passage make a hairpin turn to the right (so you're facing back up the passage, only it's to your right and you can't see anything). Step forward and fumble around until you see animation associated with Lara throwing a wall switch, which is what she will have done. (Thanks to Val for providing the location of this switch.) Sidestep to the right until you can see the faint light in the passage, then return to the laboratory and climb up on those concrete blocks. The tank with the toxic goo is now empty, so jump down and pick up the COMPUTER CARD.

Turn to your right and climb up out of the tank. Step forward and drop to the floor. Turn around and insert the computer card in the slot directly in front of you. The door to your right opens. Follow the passage around to the right, and you finally step out into some much-needed sunlight. Run forward toward the truck with the flat tires, and the level ends.