LEVEL 2: WILLARD'S LAIR - ALTERNATE PATH FOR MIDDLE AREAS (TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS TO LIBRARY ENTRANCE)

TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS: Slide down the ramp into the room below. The spiked wall at the other end begins to move toward you. Immediately climb up to the room above on the left. The spiked wall at the far end of this room also begins moving toward you. If you have time, pick up the MP5 clips. Then climb up to the third tier, which also has an encroaching spiked wall.

Quickly run forward to the switch on the right side of the gate. Pull the switch, which opens a different gate at the right end of this room. Run through it quickly before the spikes arrive. (You will be able to get secret #1 later if you choose.) Turn right and go to the end of the hall, drop into the pit and get the large medipak. Climb back out and go to the top of the hallway. You'll pass two ramps on the left. Slide down the third ramp to land on a wooden walkway.

VERY TALL ROOM WITH LEDGES AND FALLING RUBBLE: Dramatic music is your cue to stand still. Take care of the 4 birds that fly in from above. (You may only be able to get two of them right away. You'll hear the others crowing until you meet them up above.) Don't jump around the ledge. It's a long way down to the toxic waste pool below, and the middle sections are booby trapped with falling rubble from above. I found it easiest to avoid the falling debris by jumping to the white corner ledge: Take a standing jump from the wooden walkway to grab the white ledge and pull up. Then pick up the flares in the corner. Walk to the corner of the white ledge that faces the barred doorway and hop down here. Then run into the doorway to get the small medipak.

(NOTE: This gate leads to the uppermost of the TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS and is opened from the other side. You'll do this a bit later on.)

Turn around and walk straight out of the barred doorway. Then take a diagonal standing jump to the clear part of the wooden walkway ahead and to the right.

**(Or, if you enter this area through the gate at the top of the TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS, pick up the small medipak in the doorway and advance cautiously along the left side of the wooden walkway to trigger the falling rubble. Then take a diagonal standing jump to the clear part of the wooden walkway ahead and to the right. You'll need to kill 4 crows and pick up the flares on the white corner ledge as you climb to the top of this room, but otherwise continue with this walkthrough.)

Jump to grab the white corner ledge. Pull up and from there, climb up to the green ledge above. Follow this ledge around to the right. When you climb over the block, you see a wide-angle view of this area, including the spiked room beyond the bars and a switch at the top of the steps above.

Draw a weapon or two (the shotgun works nicely) then take a running jump to the right side of the green opening leading into a room with grates on the floor. Make sure to aim for the right side or Lara will bump her head and fall all the way down to the bottom of the room. (You can also take a standing jump to the left side of the opening and press Action to lower Lara's arc. Then draw guns after you land.) Shoot the red-eyed dog, making sure you don't go further into the room with the grate on the floor. It's also trapped with deadly falling rubble. Walk around the left corner of the room, close to the wall. Climb the vine-covered wall to the ledge above on the left.

Now choose whether or not you want to get secret #1. This involves a long and dangerous bit of backtracking. If not, climb up into the doorway and continue with the main walkthrough at the section ASCENDING TO THE LIBRARY (***). Otherwise, continue with this walkthrough.

Walk across the moss-covered floor toward the dog statue, minding the gaps in the floor and avoiding any remaining rubble. Walk (or jump) behind the dog statue to the left side of the opening. You're now overlooking the room with the wooden walkway. Take a standing jump to the block steps on the left, climb to the top and throw the switch.

Cut scene: A spiked wall descends elsewhere.

(NOTE: You must use this switch to move these spikes in order to get the secret.)

Return down the steps, jump to the ledge near the dog statue and return to the doorway in the top of the vine-covered wall.

TALL HALLWAY WITH LEDGES AND SPIKES: Climb into this doorway. Turn left. Take a running jump to the next ledge. (Be careful; it's a long way down and there are spikes below.) Climb onto the block ahead. Position Lara with her back against the left wall, angled a bit to face the right wall covered with vines. Take a standing jump to grab the vines and climb down nearly to the bottom. Just above the spikes, climb as far as you can to either side and let go to drop just outside the spikes.

Walk through the spikes to the left end of the hallway. (If she walks, Lara will take no damage.) Pick up the flares and return to the opposite end of the hallway. Climb onto the low wall with the carving, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here."

GAUNTLET OF SPIKES: Stand at the right side of the ledge and run off the edge. As soon as you do, the spiked ceiling begins to descend. Quickly pick up the small medipak, run to the left wall and climb out. Be sure to move a few steps away from the edge after climbing out, since the spikes can still cause damage if Lara is too close.

The next pit has spikes on the ledges lining both sides. (You may notice the room where you were earlier on the other side of the barred window.) If you pulled the switch in the room above, the spikes in this area will have descended low enough so you can take a running jump across the middle of the room, where the archways are higher, to the opposite ledge. (If you jump to the side, Lara will bang her head and fall into the spikes.)

(NOTE: If you didn't use that switch, you'll need to go back and do that now. Return over the corner spike pit to the TALL HALLWAY WITH LEDGES AND SPIKES. Walk into the first set of spikes, stand close to the vine-covered wall and jump to grab them. Climb up to the ledge above and jump across the ledges back to the VERY TALL ROOM WITH LEDGES AND FALLING RUBBLE to use the switch. Then return here.)

The next pit contains shotgun shells. The drill is the same: Run off the right side of the ledge, grab the shells and quickly run to the left ledge, climb out of the pit and step forward before the spiked ceiling descends. The last pit has a barred ledge with 2 boxes of shotgun shells on the left side. You'll need an extra medipak or two in order to get the shells. Take a standing jump pressing Action to land on the ledge with the shells. The spiked ceiling will descend as you pick up the shells. Safety-drop from the ledge through the spikes, using a medipak if necessary, and immediately crouch to prevent Lara from taking further damage. Crawl out to the TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS. Or, if you don't have enough health to survive a drop through the spikes, skip the shotgun shells and instead jump into the pit and crawl through before the spiked ceiling descends.

TIERED ROOMS WITH SPIKED WALLS (again): Crawl backwards down to the second tier. (Position Lara with her back to the edge and hold the Crouch + Down + Action keys.) Pick up the 2 bunches of harpoons at the far end of the room. Pull the switch near the harpoons to open a gate up on the top tier. (If you missed the MP5 clips first time through, you can't get them now since they're too close to the spiked wall.) Crawl backwards down to the lowest tier. Pick up secret #1, MP5 clips and a large medipak. Climb back up to the top tier and go through the gate you just opened with the switch. Pick up the small medipak in the doorway if you didn't get it earlier.

VERY TALL ROOM WITH LEDGES AND FALLING RUBBLE (again): Repeat the climb up through this room to the to the door at the top of the vine-covered wall. Climb into the doorway. (Watch out for falling rubble if you didn't trigger it earlier.)

TALL HALLWAY WITH LEDGES AND SPIKES (again): Turn left and take a running jump the next ledge. Climb onto the block ahead. This is where you were earlier when you grabbed the vines and climbed down.

Continue with the main walkthrough at the section ASCENDING TO THE LIBRARY (***).

WAS THIS WALKTHROUGH HELPFUL? If not, I apologize and invite you to contact me with any questions. If you need help right away, I recommend the Eidos Tomb Raider Forums (http://forums.eidosgames.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6) or any of the other message boards listed at http://tombraiders.net/stella/community.html. If this site was useful, please consider supporting it financially or in other ways. For details, visit http://tombraiders.net/stella/support/support.html. I also welcome any and all suggestions to improve things. Thank you!

copyright © 2000-2009 Stellalune (email stella@laracroftonline.com). Special thanks are given to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, without whom some parts of this walkthrough couldn't have been written. Feel free to copy, distribute and quote this walkthrough, but please include this credit line so people can send me their corrections, comments and suggestions. Also, if you'd like to offer this on your own web site, kindly ask permission first.

Stella's Tomb Raider Site: http://tombraiders.net.