LEVEL 12: ESCAPE WITH THE IRIS
Kills: 2 * Items: 8 plus a cloth, 4 vials
of chloroform, Restroom Access Card, Teleporter Disk, HK
rifle (left at beginning and picked up again at end of
level) and 3 Golden Rose Secrets.
IMPORTANT:
The VCI Headquarters levels can be difficult, especially the
final level, Red Alert! Unlike in previous levels and
previous Tomb Raider games, you have neither your
unlimited-ammo pistols nor the luxury of accumulating
equipment for a dozen or so levels beforehand. So be sure
to conserve medipaks as much as you can, or you may not
finish. Whenever possible, I have described ways of handling
things that are least damaging to Lara.
STILL ON THE 13th: Follow the hall
around to the left.
Cut scene: You can still
control Lara, but don't run forward until you hear what Zip
has to say over the headset. He advises Lara to place her
weapon in the tray before going through the scanners ahead.
This time take Zip's advice. If Lara goes through the
scanners with her gun (beyond the overhead restroom and
danger signs), alarms will go off and the
gun turrets at each end of the
hall will be activated. So approach the Lucite shelf on the
left and press Action.
Cut scene: Lara places her
gun on the tray.
Now you can continue through the scanner. There are two
suitcases lying on the floor. Don't mess with the first one;
it contains a bomb. The second
case holds a small medipak.
Continue through the small lounge with the water cooler to a
T intersection.
Cut scene: You still have
movement as you listen to Zip's advice. He tells Lara to
avoid the stairs and elevators, and instead head for the
roof.
Pick up the HK clips on the
floor to the right. You can see the ELEVATORS at the end of
the hall, but don't go any farther than this because there
are invisible lasers blocking
the way. (NOTE: Zip will tell
you about this later, but if you equip the headset then
press Action for infrared, you'll be able to see the laser
beams.)
Head in the other direction to the next corner.
(NOTE: If you stop to use the
security monitor, you'll get a view of an armor-clad guy on
an outside staircase. There's no need to worry about him
yet.)
Continue to another T intersection. The RESTROOM on the
right has a locked door with a keypad.
Since you don't have the combination yet, go on. The office
door ahead opens automatically. Go in and search the cabinet
to find a vial of CHLOROFORM. (For
whatever reason, the second bottle you had in the last level
does not carry over.) Continue along the hallway to the
right.
Cut scene: A guard stands
just around the corner.
Go into the next office on the right and look in the
filing cabinet for a CLOTH.
Walk up behind the guard,
combine the CLOTH and CHLOROFORM and use them.
Cut scene: Lara subdues the
guard. Unfortunately his gun fades away along with him.
Before going on, enter the office at the corner (nearest
where the guard was standing) and get a
small medipak from the drawer. Then follow the
windowed hall to the end, stopping in the second and third
offices to get another vial of CHLOROFORM
(what do these VCI executives do on their
breaks?) and a RESTROOM ACCESS CARD.
Return all the way down the hall to the locked
RESTROOM. Now go back into your inventory and take a
closer look at that card. The access code is 8526. Position
Lara at the keypad and press
Action. Now use direction keys to move through the numbers
and Action or Enter to select the ones you want. After
entering the code, press Enter/Action again to select the
star key, which is automatically highlighted.
Go inside and turn left into the ladies' room. You lose
control of the camera, but the only item of interest is in
the middle stall. Kick open the stall door (Action) to find
a large medipak. Exit and go left
to the men's room. Again, the Look button is non-functional.
Kick open the first stall. Then position Lara in the stall
doorway and jump straight up to pull open a trapdoor in the
ceiling. Climb into the duct above.
Crawl through to a vertical shaft. Turn around and drop
backwards, catching the edge. Let go and immediately press
Action again to grab a small niche a little way down the
shaft. Then let go and drop from here. (This prevents Lara
from losing about half her health.) Crawl through the duct
to the ELEVATOR SHAFT.
To avoid a huge fall, crawl
backwards and hang from the opening. Climb down the wall to
an alcove far below. When you can't climb any farther down,
traverse all the way to the right. You should see Lara slip
underneath the overhang a little (you'll see her shadow on
the floor of the alcove). Let go and Lara should land inside
the alcove. On the floor is a golden rose
(secret #1, 31/36).
(NOTE: I had initially
recommended a more complicated method of getting this
secret. A number of helpful raiders sent me this
alternative. It seems to defy the laws of "Tomb Raider
physics" but it works.)
Grab the chain and climb nearly to the top. When you
glimpse a metal ledge behind Lara, press Jump to back flip
onto it. Turn right (so the open shaft is on Lara's left)
and take a running jump to grab the horizontal pole sticking
out of the wall ahead. Release Action to land in the small
alcove on the other side of the shaft.
You may want to save your game before
attempting to jump from the alcove to grab the top of the
elevator car. The camera is in front of Lara when she's
standing in the alcove, so be sure to use the Look button.
Position her at the left side of the opening (left when
facing out) close to the edge. Pivot her nearly 90 degrees
to the right, so she faces the spot where the ledge meets
the wall. Take a standing jump to grab the edge and pull up.
Walk across the tops of the elevators to the far left to
get some HK ammo. Then stand Lara
on the VCI box between the two elevators facing the first
elevator. Press Action to open a well-camouflaged trapdoor.
Drop into the elevator car. Press the
button, approach the doors and wait for them to open.
There's a guard in the hall
outside. Chloroform doesn't seem to work on him, and you
can't run past him because the
invisible lasers are still armed. So walk
out of the elevator and to the left. Press the
button between the two
elevators to call the second one. Enter and press the
buttons inside to ride up to
another floor.
UPPER FLOOR: The reception here is quite hostile.
There are 2 large medipaks down at
the end of the hall beyond the 2 guards
and the armored guy, but you'll
probably use up at least that much health trying to get
them. I found it easier not to exit the car at all and
instead to immediately turn left, run forward and press the
elevator buttons again.
A BUMPY RIDE: After pressing the button, the
elevator cable snaps and the car plummets to the ground
floor. If you don't press the buttons
again to activate the emergency brake, Lara is
killed in the fall. If you do
use the brake, Lara survives.
Cut scene: You can still
control Lara as she consults with Zip. He tells her she's on
the ground floor and needs to work her way upward again.
BOTTOM OF SHAFT AND NEARBY DUCTS: Climb through
the hole in the ceiling onto the top of the elevator. Walk
to the edge facing the cables for the second elevator. Note
the ledge beyond. Take a standing jump to grab the
horizontal pole. Let go then press Action again to grab the
ledge. Pull up. Climb the textured wall on the right to the
second horizontal silver pipe. (You'll also see a red
flashing light mounted on the wall just to the right.) Press
Jump to back flip onto the ledge behind.
Take a running jump from the right side of the ledge
(where there are no cables in the way) to grab the
horizontal pole. Let go to land on the opposite ledge.
(You'll get the chloroform in the alcove above the pole
shortly.) Climb into the crawlspace above and a little to
the left of where you landed. Follow the duct to a steep
chute.
This next bit is quite difficult; so save your game
before attempting it. First pivot so Lara is facing downhill
before stepping off. Slide down the first slope and onto a
second, perpendicular slope. When Lara reaches the middle of
the grate on the second slope, jump and grab the horizontal
pole above. The pole is difficult to see until Lara is
actually hanging from it. If you miss, Lara will slide into
some kind of fire pit at the
bottom of the chute. After grabbing the first pole, release
then press Action again to grab a second pole. Wait for the
flame on the ledge ahead to go
out before letting go and landing on that ledge. Then
quickly step back so Lara doesn't catch fire when the flame
comes back on.
Walk to the outside corner of the ledge and take a
standing jump to grab the edge of the opening with the
multicolored wires. Pull up. Now tightrope walk across the
pole to the other side. Pick up the vial of
CHLOROFORM. Slide down the chute
to a small dark room with a crawlspace leading out.
GROUND FLOOR - HALLWAY WITH AQUARIUM: There's a
guard patrolling the hallway.
Wait for him to pass to the left before crawling out. Run
down the hall to the right, toward an aquarium and Fizwiz
machine. Draw the guard's fire so he shatters the aquarium.
The shallow depression at the back of the tank contains a
golden rose (secret
#2, 32/36). Grab it and run around the corner
away from the guard. Fortunately he loses interest as soon
as Lara is out of sight.
(BUG NOTE:
I'm not sure what caused it, but the last time I played this
level, the guard near the aquarium started his rounds then
got stuck walking in place in the glass wall of the fish
tank. In order to go on, I had to make Lara crawl out, run
toward him, then pass him and draw his fire toward the
aquarium. This resulted in greater health loss, but at least
it didn't stop the game.)
THREE-TIERED ATRIUM WITH SHALLOW POOL: Follow the
ramp to the middle level of the atrium. When you do, the
view shifts to show Lara is being targeted by a
sniper. Avoid the
laser-trapped door and run
around the perimeter to the door on the opposite side. Climb
the bars to the left of the door and dismount on the ledge
above.
Run around to the other side of the upper ledge and press
the button to deactivate the
lasers and open the door below. But before dropping down,
have the sniper help you get the third secret. Position Lara
in front of the fire extinguisher and jump from side to side
to minimize the health loss. The sniper will shoot the fire
extinguisher, blowing away a section of wall.
(NOTE: If Lara is very low on
health, she may catch fire when
the extinguisher explodes.)
Enter and pick up the golden rose
(secret #3, 33/36). Safety
drop from the ledge and go through the door you just opened.
Another guard emerges from the
door on the left after Lara passes. There's another aquarium
at the end of the hall. Run toward it, jumping over the
lower area of floor, which is
electrified. Draw the guard's fire to break the
aquarium. The flood shorts out the floor so you can run to
the door on the right and press the
button to open it. Go through and it closes behind.
Cut scene: Lara tells Zip
that the VCI people are cutting through the door with
welding equipment. He informs her that the room she's in is
rigged with motion sensors and advises her to move slowly so
she doesn't activate the gun turrets.
Walk forward and press
each of the 2 buttons flanking
the exit. Walk through the
door that opens. Then start running. At the end of the hall
turn right into the TELEPORT ROOM. The
armored guy will not follow Lara
this far.
Go through the TELEPORT ROOM to the left and into a
small, well-lit ROOM WITH SEVEN SUITCASES. Six of
these contain bombs. I can tell
you which one is safe (it's the middle one of the three
farthest from the entrance), but you'll miss a cool bit of
business. Look for a cracked tile on the ceiling just inside
the doorway. Stand Lara under it, facing the entrance and
jump up to grab a concealed trapdoor. Climb into the
crawlspace above and crawl through to a small, dark room.
Press the button to activate
the X-ray machine. Now you can see which cases contain bombs
and which contains the TELEPORTER DISK.
Crawl back out, open the correct case and take the disk.
Return to the TELEPORT ROOM. To the left of the door
leading out to the hall is a computer console. Use the
TELEPORTER DISK here to activate the device. Place the IRIS
ARTIFACT in the metal armature near the center of the
teleporter. This activates the device and Lara is teleported
to another room. Here there's a hole in the floor behind
Lara. Drop in and follow the red-lit passage to a vent
overlooking another hallway.
Cut scene: Zip tells Lara to
watch the guard to learn the keypad combination.
HALLWAY WITH KEYPAD: Equip the headset and zoom in
on the keypad. Soon the guard
will come by and enter the combination: 1672. When you've
got the code, continue to a crawlspace. Wait for the guard
to come by again. When he goes through the locked door,
crawl out, run toward the door and pick up the vial of
CHLOROFORM on the floor opposite
the door. Run back to the crawlspace and hide until the
guard comes around again. Wait for the guard to come around
again and when he goes through the door, crawl out, run to
the keypad and enter the
combination. Walk up the ramp, combine the
CLOTH and CHLOROFORM and use it to subdue the guard.
NOTES: (1) If you have
leftover chloroform from before, you can skip the first
excursion into the hall to get the bottle. (2) You can run
about a third of the way up the ramp to save some time, but
then you need to walk to avoid attracting the guard's
attention. (3) Pressing Action while standing behind the
guard won't make Lara do the deed. You have to press Escape
to go to inventory, combine the cloth and chloroform, then
select "Use". (4) If you tried the technique above and it
still didn't work, instead try this: Open the door with the
keypad as described above. Then run about a third of the way
up the ramp. Slow to a walk and continue to the crate with
the white circles at the top of the ramp on the right. Climb
over this crate and hide behind it until the guard leaves
again. Then continue with the walkthrough.)
Get the large medipak behind
the crate with the white circles at the top of the ramp.
Then press the button just
inside the room. (It's on the left pillar if you're facing
down the ramp.) This deactivates the X-ray machine and opens
the door barring the way to the next area.
BACK TO THE BEGINNING: Crawl through the small,
red-lit opening on the right side of the room (when facing
the ramp). Climb onto the ledge. A trapdoor opens and you
can jump down into the hall where you started the level.
Take your HK RIFLE from the shelf
and continue through the now-deactivated scanner.
(BUG NOTE:
If you're using the PlayStation version, DO NOT SAVE YOUR
GAME immediately after retrieving the gun. This can cause
the game to freeze requiring you to restart. Instead, take
the gun, continue along the hall and then save.)
At the T intersection beyond the small lounge with the
water cooler, go to the left. (The
invisible lasers on the right are still armed.)
Continue to the corner. Use the HK's sniper mode to shoot
the fire extinguisher in the doorway, blowing open the
nearby door. (NOTE: Be sure not
to stand too close or Lara may catch
fire when the extinguisher explodes.) Exit
to the fire escape to end the level.
*Note on Kills: The total number of enemies is
8, but Lara only kills 2 of them—the guards she subdues with
chloroform.
Walkthrough text, maps, diagrams, and all
other original images copyright © 1997-2008 Stellalune.
All
rights reserved.
Tomb Raider
Chronicles
Red Alert
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