FIRE AND ICE

Level by Terry Barrett (dhama)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Lara begins by falling down a short shaft into a tunnel. Pick up the flares at your feet, then walk forward and pick up the SHOTGUN. Step out of the tunnel into a large subterranean cavern. Run forward to the north and continue to the other end of the long chamber. As you move forward you can see a bridge spanning the cavern high overhead. To your left, just before you reach the shallow water, is an alcove you can pull up into for some shotgun ammo. Jump into the water and swim forward. To your right is an alcove where you pick up CARTOUCHE PIECE 2.

Pull up out of the water in the NW corner and go down the passage leading to a red-tinged scary face in the wall. As you approach you hear a spike trap being triggered. Enter the enclosed part of the passage, stand near the edge of the spike pit and jump up to grab the monkey bars. Swing over the spike pit, drop down and pick up CARTOUCHE PIECE 1. Swing back across the pit, combine the two pieces to form the BA CARTOUCHE, and use it in the nearby receptacle to open the adjacent door.

Enter the dark passage, turn left at the bend and continue into a more or less open area. Draw your pistols and kill the ninja who awaits you. Then take a hairpin turn to the right, drop down, turn left and go into the short tunnel for SECRET #1 and a large medi-pack. Go back outside and head south in the cavern. Go into the south passage, stop to pick up some flares, and climb up the blocks ahead. Turn left at the bend and continue climbing. Pull up and run to that bridge spanning the cavern that you saw from down below. A ninja drops down onto the bridge in front of you, so pause to deal with him.

You can explore the ledges at either end of the bridge, but unless there was something I missed the only productive route is right (south) from the near (west) end of the bridge.

Run down the ledge, and just past the overhanging rock turn right and pull up into an opening. You're in a little maze of sorts. Just inside the entrance, the passage to your left is a dead end. The west passage ahead bends to the left and leads to a small room. Go around the left side of the central pillar (the right side is a boulder trap) and pick up the flares on the other sides. Reverse roll and leave the same way you came. Back in the main anteroom, the north passage to your left is also a dead end, so hop down back down to the ledge, turn left and go back to the bridge. Run across the bridge to the east side, enter the dark passage and pull up into the opening.

Hop down into a dark room with some crates and a closed door requiring a hand artifact in the SE corner. Kill the ninja who attacks from the dark NW corner to your left. Climb up onto the tallest crate in the NE corner, face south and use the monkey bars to access the opening high up in the wall ahead. Drop down and take a running jump and grab to the ledge across the gap, pull up and safety drop off the other side. Reverse roll and crawl through a series of openings guarded by steam blowers that aren't activated until you pass them. When you reach a place where you can stand up, step forward and look out from the opening down into a large pool of water.

Angle to the left and take a standing jump to the ledge above you. Quickly run to the other side to avoid the ninja you've alerted below, and pick up the large medi-pack. Go back and drop down to the lower ledge, kill the approaching ninja and follow the ramp all the way down to water level. Jump into the water and locate the passage in the south wall near the floor. Swim inside and follow until you reach a metal water tank. Swim up to the hole at the top and pull out for the nearby REVOLVER in one corner and the HAND OF SIRIUS in another. Jump back into the water and return north through the passage to the larger pool.

Pull out at the NE corner, follow the ledge and up the ramp to the opening in the north wall. Pull up into it and crawl quickly past the now-active steam blowers (keeping to the right or left as much as possible) until you pull up into the passage leading to the room with the crates. Take a running jump and grab across the burner pit, then pull up, step forward and use the monkey bars (standing jump and grab) to get across the room with the crates. Drop down onto the high crate in the far corner and hop to the floor. Insert the Hand of Sirius in the receptacle at the SE corner of this room to open the door to your left.

Step forward into the icy segment of this level. A ninja is stalking you from your left, so wait patiently for him to arrive and welcome him with the weapon of your choice. The next thing you need to do, before trying to hop around on top of the ice slabs, is to find an essential artifact near ground level, so go to the end of the ledge and drop off the ice blocks to your left until you reach the ground. Run over to the SE corner and locate the ladder in the east wall. Give yourself enough room to take a standing jump to the triangular ledge, then climb up the ladder a short distance, shift to your right and drop down. Pick up the nearby HAND OF ORION and slide down from there to the ice floor. Go straight across the room to the middle of the west wall and climb back up the blocks to the ledge where you entered.

Take a standing jump to the next ice pillar east, then turn right and step forward. Take another standing jump to the next pillar, then turn right and take another standing jump to the pillar against the west wall. Turn left and jump over the gap to the ledge in the SW corner, and follow the ledge around until you reach an obstruction. Hop back, grab the ledge and shimmy left past the obstruction, then pull up, turn left and hop over the next gap. When you run out of ledge, take a standing jump to an ice bridge near the center of the room. Walk forward to the end, turn right and take a standing jump to the top of a flat ice pillar near the metal obstruction hanging from the ceiling. Face its south face and take a standing jump and grab to its climbable surface. Shift to your right and around two corners, passing a steam blower on the way, and drop down onto the flat ice pillar on the north side of the obstruction. Turn to your right, hop over the gap to the next ice bridge, and follow around the room in a clockwise direction, in the same manner you did on the other side. You'll meet another ninja as you near the NE corner, so after killing him continue until you reach a closed door in the east wall. Use the Hand of Orion in the nearby receptacle to open the door.

Follow the passage until you reach a long room filled with sloped ice pillars. It looks formidable, but it's surprisingly easy. Take a standing jump to the flat pillar ahead, then jump to the first sloped pillar to your left. Jump off each slope, making any necessary adjustments along the way by sliding a short distance before jumping, until you reach a flat ledge. The door ahead opens automatically, so pick up the flares at your feet and proceed. In the next small area there's an alcove to your left with a checkerboard adorning the wall, and a portrait of Josef Stalin on the alcove wall to your right. (The checkerboard is actually your solution to the puzzle in the next room. The green squares are the safe tiles described in the next paragraph.) The grated door ahead opens as you approach, so go on through for your next challenge.

You now need to negotiate your way across a burner puzzle with eight staggered vertical rows of four tiles each. Of the 32 tiles, only six are safe. Also, if you miss and fall to the floor below, you die. Begin by walking across the dark bridge (second row from right) and vault up onto the connected tile, which is safe. Do battle with two ninjas, one to your left and the other straight ahead. Then turn halfway left to face SE and take a standing jump to the safe tile in the fourth row. Turn to face east and take a running jump and grab to the tile in the eighth row. Don't pull up, however, as this is a burner tile. Shimmy to the right and around the corner, and pull up onto the safe tile in the seventh row. Step forward, angle Lara to the left (SE) and simply walk to the adjacent safe tile in the eighth row. Turn to face SW and take a standing jump to the next safe tile in the sixth row. From the center of this tile, face south and take a standing jump to the ice ledge, then another standing jump toward the door in the south wall. (Or, you could angle to the right and take a running jump to the sixth and final safe tile at the end of the third row, and step down onto the ice ledge.)

The door ahead will probably open when you land, but before going inside explore the crates in the SE corner for a large medi-pack and the ice mound in the SW corner for some revolver ammo. Then go through the south doorway into a short but very dark passage. Step out onto a ledge overlooking an extremely deep room. Curiously enough, you want to go up and not down. Turn to your right and step forward to start sliding down the slope. Jump off to the next slope, slide down a bit and jump off with a midair curve to the left to land on the adjacent slope. Slide down, grab the edge, pull up and back flip to the next slope. You'll slide a short distance and come to rest in a flat area. Turn left and slide down to the next flat area. Turn right and line Lara up with the rope ahead. Slide down the final slope, jump off to grab the rope, and swing forward. Jump off the rope onto the steps ahead and draw your revolver to eliminate the waiting ninja. Follow the steps up and around until, near the end, you find a need to deal with another ninja. You'll then come to a block that you have to climb up onto to access a ladder in the west wall.

Climb up the ladder and pull up into a passage. Continue into a dark room where you'll hear a short burst of alert music. Kill the ninja up and to your left, and go on across the room to draw another ninja's fire from up and directly ahead. Continue toward the door in the west wall, which opens as you draw near. In the hall to your left is a closed door protecting some revolver ammo. Go the other way along the hall to your right and emerge in a large room with many stacked crates and a sunken pool at one end.

As you enter, two ninjas slide down the ropes hanging over the pool to your left. After you kill them, three more will eventually show up as you explore this room, together with a couple of scorpions. When the coast is clear, pull up onto the tall crate nearest the entrance for some revolver ammo, find the large medi-pack on a crate near the NW corner, then go to the crates on the other side of the pool. (There's an invisible barrier blocking your way to the revolver ammo in the alcove from the other side.) From the highest crate turn to face north and locate the first rope dangling over the water. Take a running jump and grab to it, climb to the top to make Lara stop swinging, and turn around to the left to face due west. Slide down to the bottom of the rope, swing forward and jump off to grab the second rope. Repeat this procedure to get to the third rope, and from there turn left to face south (the ledge in the west wall leads to a dead end) and jump off to a ledge in that wall. (If you happen to miss and fall in the water, pick up a small medi-pack near the south wall and pull up onto the nearby east ledge to try again.)

Light a flare and follow the very dark tunnel until you reach an opening. Step forward, but before continuing down the ramp note the boulder trap directly above you. Save your game and turn around to face south. The way I eluded the boulder was to hop back a couple of times, and when the boulder started rolling toward me I waited until the last instant and took a side flip to the slope and jumped back over the boulder. Once it's safely by you, turn back to the north and descend the ramp. Use the rope to swing to the higher alcove ahead (stand under the rope and jump straight up to grab it). Pull up and follow the passage to another tunnel with a slope on either side as action music is triggered. The path is level, however, so you don't have to fear another boulder, just another ninja who drops down to challenge you. Kill him, then three more who drop down as you progress through the short tunnel. Light a flare and take standing jumps over the two fire pits on the way.

You come to a larger room with a ramp winding around to a small pool of water below. Drop off into the alcove to your left for some shotgun ammo, but be aware that as you do so you'll alert another ninja. Continue down the ramp and locate the floor lever next to the water hole. Push it to open a nearby door in the west wall. Jump up onto the block below the opening and pull up into the passage to find another floor lever inside. Throw it, then reverse roll and jump down into the water and locate the small opening in the north wall. Swim inside and follow the passage for some revolver ammo at the end. Go back out and surface for some air, then dive down again and find the large hole in the floor at the SW corner. There's an opened door at the NE corner, so swim inside.

Make your way very carefully across this cramped room to the passage in the east wall at the NE corner. I say very carefully, because this area is dotted with spike balls suspended in ceiling holes scattered about at random. Don't swim under one of them, and you should be all right. Swim up near the end of the passage for some air, then pull up into the next room and arm yourself to take care of a ninja on the other side of a flaming tile. Step over to the NW corner for some flares, then climb up the ladder in the north wall, shift to your left and drop down into a dark passage. Turn to your left, light a flare and proceed along the passage. Go down some steps and do your best to avoid the steam bath.

About the time you see the flares you'll hear the retching sounds of an approaching mummy, so quickly pick up the flares and hop back up the stairs to entice the mummy to come up after you and into the passage. Then run past it down the steps to give yourself a little more time to do what you have to do down there.

Light a flare, step up to the edge of the ledge overlooking a deep chasm, facing north and standing just to the left of the flaming block. Take a standing jump forward, and you'll land on an invisible block suspended in midair. Take another standing jump forward and grab the ledge on the other side. Pull up and hop down into the trench on the other side. Many thanks to Gerty for this valuable piece of information, which ended my long and futile efforts to jump across the chasm. If you wish to detour for a large medi-pack, turn to your right and pull up over the obstruction. However, avoid the nearby scary-face tile, as it's a disguised spike trap.

Return to the previous trench and turn right for some flares in the north passage. Go on through and enter a crypt guarded by another mummy. Run past it and pull up on the other side of the coffin either on your left or right for some grenade gun ammo, then go across the aisle for more grenade gun ammo.

Hop back into the aisle and continue down. You'll soon be joined by two more mummies, so escape them by looking for a crawl space in the alcove to your left. Drop down on the other side, reverse roll and push the floor lever. You now have to brave those mummies, so use the crawl space to get back over, continue down the steps and all of a sudden you're beset by a half dozen mummies. But look! Beyond the coffin to your left, isn't that a....yes! A GRENADE GUN. Go over there, pick it up, and blast those mummies into oblivion. Then vault up on the other side of the aisle and pick up more ammo for your grenade gun.

Now use the north crawl space at the bottom of the steps. Follow the passage as it bends to the right. When you reach an opening where you can stand up, light a flare and you'll find yourself underneath a steam blower with a wall ladder to your right. Climb up the ladder, and when you reach the third steam blower to your left, back flip into the alcove and pick up the large medi-pack. Take a standing jump forward and grab the ladder. Continue up a short distance further and pull up into an outdoor area to the accompaniment of Lara's theme music. Hop down toward the snowy ground to end the level.