Controlling Lara

Lara’s paces:

Walking:

Hold walk while using the arrows. Lara will walk and stop if she reaches an edge even if you keep pressing the arrows (as long as you also hold the walk key). This is a very important feature because it protects her from falling off the ledges (often to her death). If you only press walk and left or right Lara will sidestep in the chosen direction.

Actually, there are extra keys designed just for this purpose: the step left and the step right keys. It’s entirely up to you, which keys you choose to use for sidestepping.

If Lara is on land and is near a very low ledge (the height of her knees) she will continue up on or down from it. Normally this is no danger to her – unless there is something nasty you want her to avoid.

A knee-high ledge

Running:

This is her normal pace when you only use the arrows. When you only use either left or right Lara will stay on the spot and just turn in the desired direction. When you use down Lara will hop a short distance (one block) backwards.

Dashing:

Hold the dash key while using the arrows. Lara will speed up to a sprint and a green bar will appear in the right side of the screen. This is her available sprinting energy. When that is depleted she will slow down to her usual run again. If the bar is allowed to replenish somewhat Lara will resume dashing if you still hold the dash key. Sadly it’s difficult to sprint around corners. This pace works better in straight lines.

Lara has a few extra moves while sprinting:

- If you press jump she will perform a low roll – very useful when trying to pass a lowering gate.

- If you let go of the arrows and only hold dash Lara will skid to a halt. A great way of braking. Just like walking it also prevents her from falling off ledges in case you a little late discovered you were running out of ground.

- If you press crawl Lara will perform a low roll and end up crouching. This might be usable when you are in a timed run and have to pass a crawlspace on your way.

Rolling:

Press roll to make Lara roll and face the opposite direction. It is a quicker way of turning her around and she will face the exactly opposite direction of the one she came from – good when precision is needed. If she is standing with her face against a wall she will roll on the spot, but normally it takes her a block/square to roll so don’t do it too close to an edge she might fall off.

She can also roll while jumping and swimming – look up “jumping” and “water”.

Jumping:

Standing jump:

When you only press jump Lara will jump straight into the air. If you press both jump and an arrow she will make a short jump (less than two blocks) in the desired direction. Your have to press the direction arrow first, immediately followed by jump. Otherwise Lara will just jump straight in the air.

Running jump:

If Lara is already running when you press jump she will jump much longer (a little over two blocks). This is useful in many situations – if you are on a timed run or just are impatient, because Lara covers a greater distance this way compared to her normal running.

To perform a running jump while Lara is walking around on a ledge, do the following:

1. Walk up to the edge.
2. Tap down to make Lara hop a block backwards for a run-up.
3. Press and hold up and immediately press and hold the jump key. When Lara reaches the edge she will automatically jump.
4. To protect her from falling of the next ledge let go of both keys while she is in midair.

Jump and grab:

This might be harder to master because you have to switch keys while Lara is in the air. It is used when she is jumping around on ledges, and comes in three variations.

The simpler one is the jump straight in the air to grab a switch, a ledge or some kind of surface Lara can monkey swing at and just requires you to press jump and press and hold action. Look up “climbing” for more on this.

If Lara is standing still when you press jump and up and afterwards action she will jump in the desired direction and will grab a ledge that is two blocks away.

While on a ledge you do it like this:

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Press up and immediately press jump.
3. As soon as Lara is in the air let go of both keys and press action.
4. Keep pressing action (if you let go of this key Lara too will let go) and when she hangs from the edge press up as well. Then she will pull herself up on the ledge.

The running jump and grab allows Lara to jump three blocks. Do the following:

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Tap down to make Lara jump a block backwards for a run-up.
3. Press and hold up and immediately after press and hold the jump key. When Lara reaches the edge she will automatically jump.
4. As soon as Lara is in the air let go of both keys and press action.
5. Keep pressing action (if you let go of this key Lara too will let go) and when she hangs from the edge press up as well. Then she will pull herself up on the ledge.

Sometimes the ledge Lara grabs hold of is very thin or she catches the lowermost rung of a ladder (it looks like she hangs on by her fingernails). Then the momentum from the jump makes her swing forth and back a few moments before she is able to pull up. Just wait until she hangs still and then press up.

Various tricks:

- When Lara is jumping either forwards or backwards you can make her roll in midair and land facing the opposite direction by pressing the opposite key (down while jumping forwards or up while jumping backwards) – if she is jumping forwards you can also use roll for this purpose. This might be handy when she is jumping around in an attempt to avoid enemies and needs to turn around for some reason.

- The rolling jump might also be usable if Lara is sliding down a steep slope and you need her to point in the opposite direction (say, if you want her to grab the edge of the slope before she falls to her death). Do the rolling jump as described above so Lara is sliding down backwards and then press action and hold it. When she reaches the edge of the slope she will grab and hang on to it.

- You can make Lara jump a little longer if you keep pressing up all the way through the jump, but it is at the risk that she runs on (and falls off at the other side) when she lands on the next ledge if you don’t let go of the key as soon as she sets foot on that ledge.

- Pressing action during a jump makes Lara’s arc in the air lower. This is particularly useful if you risk hitting the ceiling or an upper doorframe while in the air. But this also shortens her jump distance.

- Even when Lara is in the air you still have some control of her direction. If you press left or right Lara’s jump will curve in that direction. One of the uses for this is the banana jump (named after the shape of Lara’s jumping curve), which is used to jump around pillars blocking the way. As this one is still much of a trial and error for me I can’t give any instructions except that you have to angle Lara in such a way that she just exactly cleares the pillar when she takes off and then curve her jump around the pillar.

- When Lara jumps sideways she lifts her legs higher than during the forwards and backwards jumps. Because of this she can jump over slightly taller obstacles with a sideways jump.

Sometimes there is not enough room for a proper run-up. There is a trick to solve this, but it may take some time to master:

1. Line Lara up for the jump as best as you can and give her as much running space as possible (she needs to take two steps to perform this kind of jump).
2. Press walk and up for long enough to make her take one step forwards.
3. Let go of walk and immediately press jump. Lara will run another step forwards and make a jump the same length as if she had had a full running start.

Many players have come up with special variations of the jumps for different situations. Jumping has almost turned into a science in tomb raiding. To learn more about the special jumps look at the internet sites listed at the beginning of this tutorial.

Climbing:

Because the Tomb Raider-games and thus TRLE are platform games where the challenge is to get Lara from place to place, which involves a great deal of climbing, Lara masters several ways of climbing.

Vaulting:

If Lara meets a waist-high ledge or higher she isn’t able to simply run up on it, but she can vault up unto it. Position Lara as close to it as possible, press action and up and Lara vaults up on top of it.

A waist-high ledge

Safety drop:

Lara is also able to do a safety drop. In many situations she must jump off a ledge and down to the floor or another ledge fairly far below her. The distance down may be so great that she is hurt, but not killed, when she drops off the ledge. To minimize the amount of damage she is able to hang by her hands before she lets go and this makes the falling distance smaller.

To perform a safety drop you:

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Turn Lara’s back to the edge.
3. Press and hold action.
4. Tap down. Lara hops backwards off the ledge, but because action is pressed she will grab the edge and hang by her hands.
5. Let go of action. Lara drops and hopefully doesn’t get any greater damage when she lands.

The official manual suggests you should tap down before you press and hold action. I prefer the opposite order because that doesn’t take fast reflexes to do. The order of point 3 and 4 is up to you.

The safety drop and a view of a series of ledges below each other where the two tricks mentioned below may be usable

This can also be used to drop from the edge of one ledge or crack to another right below if the falling distance is max. one and a half times Lara’s height.

To do that you:

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Turn Lara’s back to the edge.
3. Press and hold action.
4. Tap down. Lara hops backwards of the ledge, but because action is pressed she will grab the edge and hang by her hands.
5. Let go of action.
6. Immediately press action again. Lara will drop from the edge of the high ledge and grab the edge of the lower ledge if the distance is right.

The above trick is also usable when descending a climbable surface in a hurry. You simply make your way down in several small drops.

There is a special variation of the safety drop. It has nothing to do with minimizing damage, but is used to reach a ledge exactly below the one Lara stands on, but where the distance is too great to do the above.

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Turn Lara’s back to the edge.
3. Press and hold action.
4. Tap down. Lara hops backwards off the ledge.
5. Immediately let go of action. Because Lara was preparing to grab the edge she will be falling in a sloped way and hopefully land on the ledge below.

Shimmying:

As mentioned above Lara is able to hang by her hands. In this fashion she is also able to shimmy sideways and even work her way around corners.

To reach a crack or an opening in the wall:

1. Place Lara as close to the wall as possible, facing into it.
2. Press action and up.

  - If the ledge is within Lara’s reach she will jump up and grab it.

  - If nothing happens the ledge is too high for her to reach.

To reach a protruding ledge or a ledge in the ceiling:

1. Place Lara below the ledge, but in front of it. Keep an eye on the lines between the blocks in the floor and see if you can get Lara’s toes as close to it as possible.
2. Press jump. Lara will jump straight into the air.
3. Press action and hold it.

  - If Lara’s position is right, she will grab the ledge.

  - If she isn’t close enough you just jump and press action again because when Lara is jumping straight in the air she’s also moving a tad forwards with each jump and eventually gets into the right position.

  - If Lara starts knocking her head against the ledge (funny, short jumps) she is below the ledge and you’ll have to make her take a step or two backwards and try all over again.

Once Lara is hanging by her hands you just use left and right to move her in one or the other direction. Keep action pressed: when you let go Lara lets go.

And of course she’s also able to pull up on the ledge if there is room. Press up to do so. If there is only room for her to crawl you press both up and duck for her to pull up and crouch. Look up “crawling”.

Special variation - ledges too sloped for Lara to stand on them:

They are used a lot in levels. The surface is very sloped towards the edge. In this case you’ll have to use the second method described above to reach it, as Lara doesn’t recognize it as a ledge she should be able to reach. Fortunately she has no problems shimmying along it as long as the edge itself isn’t too sloped for her.

If she pulls up on such a ledge she’ll immediately slide down again. But if you are quick you can jump from the slope:

1. Pull up on the ledge (press up and keep holding action).
2. While Lara is getting to her feet let go of both keys and press and hold jump. As soon as she stands she will jump backwards.
  a) If you want her to roll in mid-air you press and hold both jump and roll while she is getting to her feet.
  b) And if you want her to grab another ledge or climbable wall during the jump you let go of all keys when she is in the air and press and hold action.

Additional tricks:

- If possible you can shimmy your way past blocks that activate traps if stepped on. You may also shimmy past already activated traps and dangers such as fire outbursts.

- Collapsible tiles don’t collapse as long as Lara just hangs from them. You can use this to shimmy into the right position before pulling up on the tile.

Ladders and climbable surfaces:

Lara is also able to climb certain uneven surfaces. Normally you can clearly see the handholds for it. Just as when she is shimmying she is able to move around corners.

Reaching a climbable surface from below:

1. Place Lara as close to the wall as possible, facing into it.
2. Press action and up. Lara will jump up and grab hold. After a moment she will gain a footing too.
3. Keep holding action. Remember, if you let go Lara too lets go. Use the arrows to move around. Lara is able to climb in all four directions at the surface.

To reach a climbable surface from above you:

1. Walk to the edge.
2. Turn Lara’s back to the edge.
3. Press and hold action.
4. Tap down. Lara hops backwards off the ledge, but because action is pressed she will grab the edge and hang. After a moment she will gain a footing too.

If Lara stands near the side of the climbable surface when she enters it she won’t get any footholds, but keeps hanging by her hands. Shimmying a notch or two towards the centre of the surface where she will be able to rest her feet on the wall easily solves this. She is able to climb up and down hanging only by her hands, but it takes quite some time.

A climbable surface

- At the top of the climbable surface Lara pulls herself up (presuming you still hold action and up).
- At the bottom of the climbable surface just let go of action to make Lara land on the floor.

But what about the situation below?

In this case the climbable surface doesn’t cover the part of the wall above the ledge, where you want to get off. For some reason it’s impossible to change between climbing a surface and shimmying along a ledge even if you have made the quick let-go-and-grab-again-trick (look up “crawling”) to make Lara hang only by her hands.

Fortunately the climbable zone expands a bit outside the actual climbable part of the wall. It’s just wide enough to make Lara climb sideways above the ledge. When she can’t climb any further sideways you let go of action. She will land exactly on the edge.

Because Lara rests her feet at the climbable wall she’s also able to jump backwards off the wall while she’s climbing. Just press jump to make her leap in the air.

This can be expanded to a jump with a twist and grab:

a) If you want Lara to roll in mid-air you press and hold both jump and roll while she hangs on the wall.
b) And if you want her to grab another climbable wall or ledge during the jump you let go of all keys when she is in the air and press and hold action.

Monkey swinging:

The climbable surface may be placed in the ceiling. In that case Lara is able to monkey swing.

To reach it do the following:

1. Place Lara underneath the climbable surface.
2. Press jump. Lara will jump straight into the air.
3. Press and hold action as soon as she’s in the air.
4. Once Lara hangs by her hands you use the arrows to move her around (and of course keep holding action). She can’t monkey swing backwards, so if you need to go in the opposite direction of the one she faces, you must turn her around first.

Be aware, that if Lara moves outside the climbable zone she will lose her grip and fall without any warning.

If you hold walk and either left or right Lara is able to shimmy sideways as if she was hanging from a ledge.

Sometimes the ceiling is so steep that Lara is unable to monkey swing forwards at it (this may be the case both for ascending and descending). In this case she must zigzag her way along, which is where the above trick comes in handy.

Lara is able to let go of the monkey bars and grab a ledge, crack or climbable wall that is located max. one and a half time her height lower than the monkey bars.

To do this you:

1. Monkey swing to wall where the ledge or the crack is located, so Lara is facing into it.
2. Let go of action.
3. Immediately press action again. Lara will drop from the ceiling and grab the ledge, crack or climbable wall.

In some very rare cases you may come across a rope hanging down from the climbable surface in the ceiling. Just like the case with the ledges or cracks below each other she’s able to let go of the monkey bars and grab the rope. But it takes a great deal of precision.

To do this you:

1. Monkey swing to the center of the block where the rope is attached.
2. Adjust Lara’s position, so she seems to occupy the same space as the rope.
3. Let go of action.
4. Immediately press action again. Lara will drop from the climbable surface and grab the rope.

Look up “ropes” for how to use the rope.

Monkey swinging

Poles:

There are also poles Lara can climb. They enable her to climb between two levels of floors or ledges. Since the poles go through holes in the floor as shown in the picture below and Lara can’t run up to them some caution is advised.

Getting on to a pole:

- From its bottom (presuming its bottom end is attached to the ground) place Lara as close to it as possible and facing it. Now either press:

  a) Action alone and Lara grabs the pole and climbs unto it.
  b) Jump and action – Lara jumps in the air, grabs the pole in a higher place and climbs unto it. What key combination you choose depends on your patience.

- To get on to a pole up higher where there is a risk that Lara may miss it and fall down you must line her up correctly. For this you must be aware that Lara’s head is a bit “pointed”. Look at the picture below. The red arrow indicates the “tip” of Lara’s head.

1. Walk to the edge in front of the pole.
2. Adjust Lara in such a way that when you press look and nothing else this tip is lined up with the pole.
3. Assuming the pole goes through a hole in the floor directly in front of Lara you can choose to either:
  a) Press and hold action and then run off the ledge. Lara will grab the pole just as she is about to fall.
  b) Tap down once to get a proper distance for a jump. Then press up immediately followed by jump to make a standing jump forwards and when Lara is in the air let go of these keys and press action to grab the pole.

As always remember that if you let go of action while Lara hangs on to the pole she will also let go.

The arrows control Lara’s position at the pole:

- Up and down makes Lara climb up the pole or slide down along it.
- Left and right make her rotate around the pole in small turns. Her direction can be adjusted very precisely.

Getting off a pole:

- At the bottom end (assuming the bottom end is attached to the floor) all you have to do is to let go of action and Lara will land on the floor.
- Higher up the pole you’ll have to jump off. Just press jump to make Lara jump backwards off the pole. If the ceiling is low the safest height to do this in is when Lara’s top half is above the ledge floor.

A jump off a pole can be expanded to a jump with a twist and grab:

a) If you want Lara to roll in mid-air you press and hold both jump and roll while she still holds on to the pole.
b) And if you want her to grab a ledge during the jump you let go of all keys when she is in the air and press and hold action.

Ropes:

Yet another thing Lara is capable of is swinging in ropes. Ropes enable her to cross gaps too wide for jumping or reach ledges or switches to high for the usual jumps. First she jumps to the rope and after swinging in it she jumps from it to the other side of the gap or to the high ledge or switch.

Ropes often hang in areas with no floors so accessing them really demands caution.

Lara hanging still from a rope

If you are fortunate the rope hangs low above a floored area. In this case all you have to do is to place Lara directly beneath the rope and press jump and action to jump straight in the air to grab hold of it. It may take some tries.

But normally you must jump into empty space to reach a rope. So you better line Lara correctly up for the jump:

1. Walk to the edge of the ledge.
2. Adjust Lara in such a way that when you press look and nothing else this tip of her head (as explained for poles) is lined up with the rope.
3. Now assess the distance to the rope. You may be able to reach it with a standing jump with a grab or you may need to do a running jump with a grab.
  a) For a standing jump you press up immediately followed by jump and when Lara is in the air you let go of both keys and press action.
  b) To do a running jump you first tap down to make Lara jump a block backwards. Then you press up and immediatly after jump. Lara runs to the edge and leaps. When she’s in midair you press action to grab the rope.

As always remember that if you let go of action while Lara hangs on to the rope she too will let go.

The arrows control Lara’s position at the rope, but you are only able to use them when Lara hangs fairly still and has her legs wrapped around the rope. When she’s swinging in the rope she moves her legs like in a swing.

- Up and down will make her climb upwards or slide downwards along the rope. She can’t slide off the rope. When she reaches the bottom end of it she simply stops, so don’t worry.
- Left and right will make her rotate around the rope in small turns. Her position can be adjusted very precisely. But annoyingly the directions are inversed, so pressing left will make Lara turn to the right and opposite.
- Dash makes her swing in the rope. Lara must hang at the end of the rope to make the proper swings that will get her anywhere. It takes several swings to work up enough momentum for a long or high jump.

If you are lucky the swings bring Lara above the ledge where you want her to get off. If so lucky you just let go of action when she is above that ledge. Lara will let go and drop to the ledge floor.

But you are rarely that lucky. Normally you’ll have to jump off the rope. Working with ropes takes a great deal of timing because the distance Lara is able to leap when jumping off a rope depends on how far she has swung and her momentum at that time.

To jump off a rope:

1. Swing until Lara is at the fore end of her swing.
2. Then quickly press jump.

  - Pressed at the right time Lara will jump forwards.

  - If she had reached the fore end of the swing and is about to swing backwards again the jump is going to be very small and remind more of a fall with a curve. That’s why timing is important.

  - If you pressed jump too early Lara will probably not make it to the desired ledge. It can be sheer hell to get both the right direction and the right timing so if you have only little experience I strongly advice you to save before you begin to cross a gap via a rope.

  - If you let go of action before Lara is in the air she’ll simply fall no matter if you had jump pressed or not.

3. If you keep holding action Lara is able to grab the ledge or object she is aiming for. But holding action through all of the jump also limits the leap distance as mentioned under “jumping”.

The alternative is to let go of action when Lara has left the rope and press it again when she’s nearer to the ledge. But with all the keys to press during a rope swing and the demanded timing this may proove very difficult.

Lara is only able to jump a great distance if she hangs from the bottom end of the rope. If she hangs higher on the rope her swings are small and her “jumps” remind more of falls with a curve.

The distance Lara must cross or the height she must reach when jumping from a rope varies a lot. I normally define jumping distance from a rope and the required technique into four categories:

Simple jump: the distance and height is fairly small and only demands little swinging and a loose estimation of jump timing. I will not explain any more about this.

Orinary jump: the distance or height is great and timing is required.

Maximum jump: the distance or height is very demanding – and obstacles like the ceiling prevents one from using the extra boost jump. This demands the most of the player and may take many attempts – even from experienced players. Fortunately such jumps are rare.

Extra boost jump: the distance or height to the ledge is impossible to jump with an ordinary rope jump (as an example when the point Lara must reach is placed higher than the attachment point of the rope) and demands the use of a rope bug in the game engine, but is fairly easy to carry out.

To keep an eye on how far Lara must swing before jumping find out what tile on walls or ceiling Lara’s feet are pointing towards at the fore end of the swing. At the picture below the wall tiles have been clearly defined to clarify this matter.

A colourful wall

After three full swings (a full swing is a swing from one outer position to the other and back again – i.e. from A to B and back to A) Lara has gained the maximum height and span from her swings. Then take a look at what tile her feet are pointing at:

Lara’s feet are pointing at the bright green tile at the fore end of her swing

And now to the jumping techniques.

Ordinary jump

1. Make at least three full swings as described above and take a look at what tile Lara’s feet are pointing at when she’s at the fore end of her swing and notice the tile exactly below (the red tile in the above picture).

2. The jump must be timed so Lara’s feet are pointing at the lower tile (the red one) the next time she swings forwards. Jump when they do.

The momentum should be sufficient to get Lara across most gaps.

Maximum jump

This is simply the extreme version of the ordinary jump.

1. Make at least three full swings as described above and take a look at what tile Lara’s feet are pointing at when she’s at the fore end of her swing (in the above picture the bright green tile).

2. Jump when Lara is almost at that point. After just a moment Lara will loose all momentum and initiate her backward swing.

To carry this jump out you have to jump at the very fore end of Lara’s swing. At the above picture that is when her feet are pointing at the bright wall.

Extra boost jump

1. Just press dash long enough for Lara to begin swinging and then let go of that key.

2. Wait until she wraps her legs around the rope again (what others may call “put her feet up on the rope”) like in the picture where she hangs still from the rope. Don’t worry about the loss of momentum – this trick uses a bug and has nothing to do with the physics in Lara’s world.

3. When Lara (running on the remains of momentum) swings forwards again press dash and hold it. Lara will make an extreme swing forwards.

4. Use your gutfeeling to determine when to jump. The power in the swing only lasts for this single swing – then Lara will swing with her usual momentum. But if you stay on the rope you can carry this trick out several times in a row and get a better feeling of when will be the right time to jump.

Additional tricks:

When Lara has jumped to grab a rope she usually has so much momentum she’ll keep swinging in it for a while. That is very impractical if you must turn her at the rope to aim at her next target, but this trick saves some time. First you must wait until Lara wraps her legs around the rope. And to stop the swings press up till Lara has climbed up to the attachment point (the top end) of the rope then let her slide all the way down to the bottom again. Now the rope hangs still and you can begin to turn her.

Opposite the pole Lara jumps forwards off the rope. That makes it easier to turn her in the desired direction because you can see in that direction. And you don’t have to make her twist in the middle of the jump to make her turn right for a grab. But as explained above ropes have their own set of challenges.

Water:

Lara is able to swim both underwater and on the water surface. When you make her run or jump into water that is deep enough for swimming she’ll automatically assume a swimming position. When she is back in shallow water she will automatically regain her footing.

When Lara is waist-deep in water she will wade and make a much slower progress than on dry land or in knee-deep water. Also she is only able to jump straight in the air – not it any other direction.

Sometimes when the water depth varies the game engine gets confused and decides that Lara is waist-deep in water with the above limitations even though she’s only in to her knees. Just jump straight into the air. When Lara lands the confusion is over and she can again run and jump as usual.

Water also extinguishes fire. If Lara is on fire, jump into the water. If you are quick she may survive. If it’s only knee-deep you have to roll in it to put out the fire.

Some of the flying wraiths you encounter also die on contact with water. If you have a red fire wraith or a blue ice wraith on your tail, try diving into some water and wait till the wraith has followed you and has extinguished itself. It often works.

Swimming:

On the surface you just use the arrows to move her around. Up and down will make her paddle slowly forwards or backwards while left and right will make her turn. But she is also able to swim sideways. To do that you just hold walk and either left or right.

Underwater a blue bar will appear in the right side of the screen. That is the amount of air Lara has left. When she gets her head above water again you can hear her gasp for air and see the blue bar slowly be replenished.

If it is depleted, the red health bar will appear in the left side of the screen and will quickly be reduced. If it too depletes, Lara drowns.

To move her around underwater you press the jump key. Lara will then swim forwards. To make her change direction press the arrows for the desired direction. Unfortunately the TRLE has a strange setting for up and down: underwater up is downwards and down is upwards – so you better practice the swimming part a bit to get the hang of it. If you let go of the jump key and only use the arrows it is easier to adjust her direction precisely.

Lara easily gets stuck in uneven surfaces underwater and it is safer to stay calm and move a little slower by only using the arrows when you try to get her free. Panic often means death both in Tomb Raider and in real life.

However, Lara is able to swim through gaps smaller than the crawlspaces she meets on dry land. The difficulty depends of the size and shape of the gap.

Underwater Lara is also able to roll to reverse her direction and she does it almost on the spot when swimming. You can achieve the same result by using the arrows to turn her around, but just as on land rolling is a faster way of reversing. The roll key is sometimes the last resort if Lara is truly stuck underwater.

To get Lara out of the water when she is swimming on the water surface you make her swim (with the arrows) towards a low ledge (a knee-high ledge or a ledge that is knee-high at the one side and waist-high at the other) until she cannot get any closer to it. Then press action and she will hoist herself up.

The same works if Lara encounters an underwater ledge right below the water surface.

This ledge is low enough for Lara to climb out of the water

Lara is also able to interact with objects underwater – look up “interaction with objects”.

She can’t shoot while swimming. Look up “weapons” to learn how to deal with enemies in water.

Crawling:

To make Lara pass low gaps (crawlspaces) you must first press duck. Then she will crouch. While holding duck use the arrows to make Lara crawl in a desired direction. Once she is inside a crawlspace you no longer need to hold the duck key, as the program will understand that Lara is unable to stand upright. This is the most common use of the duck key, but it is also usable when Lara is under heavy fire and ducks behind a shielding object or when she must pass safely under poisoned darts and such things.

Sometimes the crawlspace is high on a wall. To reach and get into it you first jump up there and grab hold of the edge (press and hold action and up – look up “climbing”). When Lara is hanging from the crawlspace you pull up by pressing duck. She will pull up and crouch in the crawlspace.

For some irritating reason this rarely works if the wall right below the crawlspace is climbable. To enter the crawlspace when Lara rests both hands and feet at the wall you must force her to hang only by her hands. Let go of action and immediately press it again. If you’ve been fast enough Lara will hang from the edge of the crawlspace. Quickly press duck and up before she regains her footing.

To make her drop down from a highly placed crawlspace you must turn Lara’s back (or more correctly her feet) towards the exit. Then press action to make her lower herself down from the crawlspace.

It is possible to make Lara draw her guns (only her pistols, uzi's or revolver), light a flare or use the binoculars while crouching.

Using the binoculars can be a great help if Lara is stuck in an uneven crawlspace and you can’t get her free. For some reason using the binoculars helps getting her unstuck.

- To make Lara draw her guns you just press draw weapon (or select either the pistols, the uzi’s or the revolver in the inventory). Lara will then return to a crouch, draw her weapon(s) and be prepared to shoot. She holsters her weapon(s) when you press draw weapon a second time.

- If you want to light a flare you must first tap draw weapon to make Lara return to a crouch. Then press use flare (or select the flares in the inventory) to make her light a flare. Lara is able to crawl with the flare in her hand, so once it is lit you just use the arrows to make her crawl on. If you by accident make her draw her guns in the attempt to make her crouch (by pressing draw weapon just a little too long) no harm is done. Just press the draw weapon key again and Lara will put her pistols away but stay in the crouching position – ready to light a flare.

- If you want to use the binoculars, you make Lara crouch as described above. Then you enter the inventory and choose the binoculars. You can’t move around while using them. If you did this to come unstuck, just abandon the binocular mode and try if you can move now. For more on how to use the binoculars look up “binoculars”.

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