CATACOMBS

Level by rowadie (Robin)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Lara slides down into a water-filled area.  Look down to your left for some flares in an alcove.  As you continue N toward the far wall, a crocodile swims lazily out from an opening to your left.  Swim past it into the W opening, pull out at the face tile and turn around to kill the croc.  You can now approach and push the floor lever to open a door elsewhere.  Look in the NE corner of this room for the SHOTGUN, then jump back into the water, return to the main area and find a rectangular opening in the ceiling.  Pull out W and watch out for the slicer dicer.  Jump up into the SW alcove where you'll be safe, and pull up still higher until you can turn to face a ladder. 

Take a running jump E to grab the ladder, then climb up into a higher alcove.  Pull up and run to your right to the doorway you opened.   Before entering, however, look down E and you can see something lying on the tile.  Walk down E as far as you can, turn around and hop back to slide the rest of the way.  Grab the edge, pull up and back flip to SECRET #1 and a GOLDEN SKULL.  Being always aware of the silent slicer dicer, get to the other side and make your way back up as you did earlier.  This time, enter the doorway you opened with the floor lever.  As you run up the ramp, ready your shotgun so you can blast the awakened skeleton over the edge.  Pick up some extra shotgun ammo in the NE alcove, then stand at the N opening and wait for the slicer dicer to go by before taking a running jump to the next opening.  It's a fairly tricky jump because of the low ceiling, and I had better success aiming for the left corner.

Drop down into another flooded area and pause for the large medipack in the NW corner before swimming through the opening in the W wall.  We'll explore the hole in the E wall later.  You're being pursued by a crocodile, so quickly swim to the other end of the passage and pull out to dispose of the intruder.  In the center of this room is a caged Ornate Handle that's presently inaccessible, so get up onto the short block near the E wall and jump to the opening.  You'll trigger a blade trap, so time a run past it and find a small medipack in the far corner.  Loop around to the left for some shotgun ammo on the short block.  Nothing else to do in here, so get past the blade trap to the room below.

Exit through either of the W openings and in the next room find some uzi ammo in the SW corner behind the phantom coffin.  Note the closed door between the pillar pieces in the N wall.  Go into the next room via the S doorway and move carefully forward to trigger a pair of sliding blocks in the center of the room.  Run past them and push the face tile in the S wall.  Run into the W opening when the sliding block is out, and pick up a spare SHOTGUN at the end of the passage.  Time a jump back out past the sliding block and return to the N room.

The door in the N wall is now open, so hop up into the opening and save your game.  The ramp to your left is guarded by a spike ball, so hop down facing the W ramp, duck down and the spike ball should sail harmlessly over your head.  Pull up and follow the ramp up to an opening overlooking the room far below.  Jump up to grab the ceiling and monkey swing across to the other side.  Drop down onto the ledge, where you're overlooking a bridge spanning the first room.    Safety drop to the bridge and deal quickly with two skeletons.  Push the floor lever to lower the cage below you.  Hop over to the ledge against the S wall and find a GOLDEN SKULL near the SW corner for SECRET #2.  Safety drop to the floor and take the ORNATE HANDLE from the central plinth.

Jump into the SE water hole and swim back into the previous N room.  Continue forward through the higher N opening and pull out at the large ceiling hole.  A skeleton is waiting for you, so blast it into the water.  There are three openings in this room.  Go to the W opening and take standing jumps up the sand hills.  Find some uzi ammo in an upper alcove.  Go back down and through the N opening into another room.  The jug to your immediate right is empty, but you'll find some uzi ammo in the adjacent alcove and a small medipack in the NE alcove.  The jug in the NW corner hides some shotgun ammo.  In the W room is a pool and a pair of Portal Guardian receptacles for later.  If you like, you can go down now for some uzi ammo near the SW wall torch.

Return to the E room, then to the S room with the central pool, and go through the E opening into a vast open area.  Look to your left for some flares, then continue around the periphery in a clockwise direction (noting the two closed gates), pausing for a small medipack near the NE corner.  The E anteroom has a gem receptacle and some bones on the floor that can be shattered with your pistols (stand in front of them and fire continuously while holding down the end key).   There appears to be nothing else to do up here at the moment, so jump down into the water below.  Swim quickly into a dark area E and pull out so you can kill a pair of crocodiles.  While you're here, pick up some shotgun ammo in the dark SE corner.

Locate the N opening and enter an underground area with a lava pit.  Go around the lava pit, jump the gap and pick up the shotgun ammo, and continue around to the N side.  Hop down to a lower block and jump N across the lava.  Pull up in front of a N opening.  Don't be tempted to jump down for that large medipack SW, as there's no way to get back (or if there is, it's too tricky in my opinion to be worth your while).  Be my guest if you wish to give it a shot, but don't say I didn't warn you.  Enter the N opening and you'll be attacked immediately by two tinmen as a stone door closes behind you.  Kill them by shooting their chest ornaments.  Each of them leaves behind a HORSEMAN'S GEM, so pick them up and use one in the nearby receptacle in the S wall.  The exit door opens on the other side of the pillar to your left.  Go back through the lava room the same way you came in and exit via the S opening.

Jump into the water and swim to the NW corner for a small medipack.  Swim into the S room and pull out at the SW corner.  Go up the stairs to the surrounding N ledges and be prepared to do battle with three skeletons.  When they're defeated, shoot the SW jug for some shotgun ammo.  Pull up into the opening in the N wall and run up the ramp.  When you round the corner and start coming down S, a spike ball is released, so sprint ahead of it and veer to your right or left at the opening.   You're back on the upper level, so go to the E anteroom and insert your other Horseman's Gem in the receptacle.  A harpy attacks, so deal with it.

The S gate is now open, so go there, run across the bridge and take the HATHOR EFFIGY from the plinth.  Exit this room and return to the W room with the small central pool.  Enter the N side room and go down the N stairs.  Combine the Ornate Handle and Hathor Effigy to form the PORTAL GUARDIAN.  If you use it in the receptacle on the right, the stone door in the N wall opens and you miss out on a secret.  So insert the Portal Guardian in the receptacle on the left to open the large double gate.  Go inside and pick up the GOLDEN SKULL for SECRET #3.  At the other end of the passage, pick up the uzi ammo and push the floor lever to open that stone door in the N wall.

Go there, hop into the opening in the floor and slide down a long slope.  Find the UZIS and some uzi ammo down at the bottom, then save your game before proceeding through the N opening.  Turn left and sprint down the stairs in front of the cascading spikes.  If you try to do anything else, you'll either burn up or be killed by a boulder (or both).  When you reach the safety of the room below, take the CROWBAR from the plinth to your left.  At the other end of the room is a closed door in the S wall, some shotgun ammo near the SW corner, a vase hiding some uzi ammo at the NE corner and some nearby shatter bones.  There are two star receptacles in the W wall and three ramps leading downward.  The W ramp leads to a closed door.  Drop down N into an area with a central pit and a wall star protected by flames.  If you wish to hop down into the pit for the uzi ammo, be aware that you'll awaken a skeleton in the process, so you'll need to pull out quickly at either of the raised mounds at the SW corner or in the N wall.  If you run over a corner of the flaming tile, the flame will go out so that you can pry the first GOLDEN STAR off the wall.

Use the S pillar to pull out to the upper hallway, then jump over to the S ramp.  Run down to encounter a tinman.  Kill him and pick up the HORSEMAN'S GEM he left behind, then use it in the receptacle beside the S door.  The door lifts open without a sound, so hop down into another room with a central pool.  Locate the shotgun ammo in the SW corner, then go around to the SE corner, climb the pole and back flip near the top.  Head all the way around the ledge, past the closed door, and pry the second GOLDEN STAR from the pillar.  This causes the door in the N wall to open, so go through and return to a familiar area.  Place the two Golden Stars to open the door at the bottom of the W ramp.

Go there, go into the passage as far as you can and pull up left into a new room.  Go left and locate a ladder at the SE corner.  Jump up to grab it, climb to the top and pull up into an alcove.  Turn around and take a running jump N across the room to grab the edge of a sloped pillar.  Pull up (you can stand on it), turn and take a running jump SW to the central bridge.  Push the floor lever to raise a platform in the next room, then take a running jump to the SW ledge and safety drop to the floor.  Step forward to trigger a long flyby through a large, partially flooded room.  The platform you just raised is straight ahead, high up in the S wall.

There's nothing of interest in the water or on the central island, so climb the nearby ladder in the E wall and shift left to drop down onto a ledge.  If you like, you can follow the ledge W and jump over a gap for some uzi ammo.  Enter the opening in the E wall and follow the passage to alert a tinman.  He's carrying nothing, however, so after killing him continue along the passage until you emerge on a different part of the ledge.  Go to the S end, turn right and take a running jump to grab the next section of the ledge.  Pull up and run forward to the bridge.  Just beyond that mound in front of you is a disguised spike trap, so when you pass the bridge, hop back to grab the ledge and shimmy right past the danger area.  Pull up and face W.  Take a running jump to the first flaming pillar when the flames will be down upon your arrival.  Veer left while running along the adjacent ledge and jump to the second pillar.  Quickly take a standing jump to the third pillar and an immediate running jump to the ledge in the SE corner while turning left so you can jump over the deep trench and land in the E room.

Two skeletons are awakened, so get behind them and blast them into the trench.  Use the dirt mound to climb up onto the SE pillar.  Jump W to the next pillar, face N, hop back and grab the edge, and shimmy left to pull up in front of a GOLDEN SKULL for SECRET #4.  Take a running jump N and grab the next pillar, pull up and take a running jump NE onto a higher ledge.  Enter through the N doorway and deal with two harpies.  You find yourself on an upper ledge in the water room.  Go W up the ramp, turn and hop back to grab the edge, and shimmy right until you can drop down safely.  Deal with the skeleton, then run across the bridge to the W ledge.  Turn right and locate the shotgun ammo, then go the other way and find a floor lever that disables a spike trap on the central island. 

Jump back to the W ledge, cross the bridge and use the wall crack to shimmy back to the area where you entered.  Continue E past the doorway and follow the ledge to the N end.  Turn left and take a running jump to grab the ledge that was protected until just now by spikes.  Pull up and run across the bridge to a ledge along the W wall.  Turn right and follow the ledge past a closed door to a section of climbing wall.  Climb up and shift right to drop down onto an upper ledge.  Follow a bridge to a face tile.  When you push it, the room where you found the third secret is flooded, so jump back to the wall, climb down and enter the N doorway. 

Jump into the water, pull out onto a ledge jutting out from the NW pillar and pick up a large medipack.  Get back to the patio in front of the doorway and face E in front of the short sloped pillar.  Pull up, back flip to the higher pillar behind you, slide and jump, repeat and jump to grab the edge of the highest pillar.  Pull up, vault up to your right and face the jump switch in the E wall.  Save your game here, as you're about to embark on a diabolical timed run.  Take a running jump over the bird statue and activate the jump switch.  You'll almost certainly be set ablaze in the process, but you'll land in the water in a second or two.  Immediately upon landing in the water, flip turn, swim forward and pull up onto the ledge to your left.  Pull up onto the sloped pillar to your left, but this time jump off the succeeding pillars without sliding (you don't have time).  Take a midair flip off the last slope so you land on the tall pillar facing forward.  Without stopping, veer to your left and jump to the timed opening.  Pull up and run through before the door closes.

In the next room, run over the merest tip of the corner of the tile in front of the E opening to spring a trap door.  If you happen to fall into the hole, you'll simply end the level early.  Take a running jump E into the next room, turn to your left and take the GOLDEN SKULL from the plinth for SECRET #5.  Now you can jump back, slide down the slope and end the level.