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Playing the Games Vangelis asked, "Need some TR advice… Stat!" in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup: "I just bought Tomb Raider and I can't figure out how to open the box... HELP!! I'm dying to play this game but I'm stuck at the part of the top flap where it looks like it flips up then flips sorta over I think. There's a large tab that seems to go into the box but I can't reach it from where I am. I've tried some walkthroughs but non list this initial brain-bending conundrum. I think I can see the instructions below but I cant get the flap up to get to them. Help!" The above is satire (I hope). The section that follows is a guide to playing the Tomb Raider games. However if you are after specific answers to the various puzzles in the games then you'd be better off searching though one of the many walkthroughs available on the internet or at http://www.3dactionplanet.com/tombraider/ for a solution. 3.1 General game play Hints and Tips Remember that the Tomb Raider games are basically adventure games. They're not just shoot 'em ups like Doom, Quake, or Duke Nukem, they take a little thought, patience, and time before you complete them. Suring all that relaxed contemplation however the game does its best to kill our hero(ine) off... repeatedly... in dozens of memorably horrible ways. The following is a list of ways to help achieve certain longevity for poor Lara.
If you think you're stuck and you don't want to resort to using a walkthrough then...
3.2 How do I complete the [insert level name here] level? No need to despair. Every puzzle within the games are solvable and
don't be worried about asking if you need to. It's more than likely
somebody else has hit the same problem. For instance I spent days wandering around the Lost Library in the Last Revelation trying to
work out how to open those blue doors. When I eventually realised that all you did was walk up to them and press action to push them
open I was very embarrassed at being stomped by such a trivial thing. Others haven't been able to figure out how to pass the chef If you find that you are still stuck then by all means ask someone either through the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup or on one of the forums listed in the appendices. But please provide us with enough information to be able to help you. Say which game you are playing, the name of the level, give a rough and recognizable description of the area you are stuck at and finally the problem you are having. Don't just say, "How do I get to that block?" We don't know which block you mean, as we aren't mind readers. If you provide all the information we require you will find that it goes a long way to ensuring your eventual success. Remember to be polite. The forums and newsgroup have many helpful people posting who seem to spend their time answering questions like these and they'd rather be thanked than abused. And those who have been abused have left leaving a large empty space when answering questions like these so don't do it. (or else...) 3.2.1 I followed the walkthrough instructions to the letter but still can't do... Some walkthroughs tend to miss something because the author wrote them from memory or the instructions provided are too vague or weren't clearly written. The solution to this is simple. Don't give up just yet - keep trying other walkthroughs until you finally find the solution. In the Appendices under the "Tomb Raider Resources on the Internet" section you will find addresses for web sites that offer walkthroughs all of which are very different and worth checking out. 3.3 Could someone please give me a savegame for… We have all the suffered the problem of saving when we should had loaded or vice versa, or had a savegame that simply refused to load correctly. Don't worry about it we've made this mistake at some point or have encountered this problem. Because of this some web sites now offer savegame files for download. You can visit http://www.3dactionplanet.com/tombraider/ for savegames for all of the Tomb Raider games that start at the beginning of every level. Another method would be for you to ask in the newsgroup or a forum for a savegame that starts at a specific point in the level. Also be aware that you can use a savegame editor such as TRsgEditor to set yourself up at the start of the desired level with any amount of gear you desire... 3.3.1 Are there any savegame editors? Yes there are but they are only currently for the PC only. One of the best ones is TRsgEditor by Paul Walton and works with all of the games including the Times Exclusive Level and Chronicles. You can use the savegame editor to "artificially enhance" your ammo count, give yourself all of the weapons, more Medipack's or flares, whatever you want it can just about do it. A really useful feature is that if you save when Lara is on fire you can safely extinguish her and reload as normal. Paul is also the author of another useful editor program that allows you to change the position of Lara within the level. You'll find an address in the appendices for his site. 3.4 Why should I bother collecting the secrets? For the extra ammo, equipment, and other pickups! In the original Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft, and Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation you get a little reward with every secret you find but in Tomb Raider II: Dagger of Xian you have to collect all of the three Dragons in each level before you get rewarded (occasionally you will get a weapon) to help Lara on her travels. In Tomb Raider V: Chronicles you collect golden roses and are rewarded by having special features built into the games title screen enabled. 3.4.1 What happens if you complete the games with all the secrets? In Tomb Raider, Dagger of Xian and Last Revelation nothing special happens. No Nude Lara as some have suggested, special easter egg or anything like that; all it means is that you have picked up all the extra pickups such as ammo, Medipacks, and the odd weapon here and there. In Adventures of Lara Croft and the Golden Mask however collecting all the secrets allows you to play the secret level. In TRC you are allowed access to special features. 3.5 I'm having trouble controlling Lara - the game sucks! All of the Tomb Raider games come with some sort of training level that allows you to learn how to perform most of Lara's actions. Use this level to further your understanding of the games basic moves and have some fun exploring Lara's mansion - practice makes perfect... and you'll need to be so by the time you reach the final levels of the games. Also if you are wondering about whether there is a way of making Lara jump higher, run faster etc., please refer to section 3.1 entitled "General game play Hints and Tips". 3.6 Did you know that Lara can do... ...do a handstand? ...a swan dive? ...roll in mid-air? ...do a forward tumble? ...perform a slide stop? ...do a forward roll? Yes we all know of these features so please think before posting a thread claiming that you have discovered something new. All of these extra moves that Lara has have their own use. For instance the handstand allows you climb up onto ledges or blocks covered in spikes or broken glass, rolling in mid-air is a necessary skill required in the Dagger of Xian later levels, the slide stop is a help in the Meteorite Cavern of Adventures of Lara Croft, and the forward tumble is used in Chronicles to quickly exit raised crawl spaces. We also know about all of the bugs in the games including the PlayStation controller appearing on the Floating Islands in Dagger of Xian, and the secret locations hidden around Lara's mansion such as the hidden part of the maze in Dagger of Xian, and the museum in Adventures of Lara Croft. Beyond Lara's normal running, walking, shimmying, and jumping movements, Lara has a number of extra moves that have been added to the games over the years that can be practised on the assault course or in and around Lara's mansion. Some of the extra moves require a combination of key strokes or control pad button presses in order for them function and some will take some practice in order to learn how to use them. Despite their complications its still worth learning these moves. One of the original undocumented extra moves of the original Tomb Raider game, the handstand and the swan dive were described as only cosmetic moves. However it is not as useless as many have suggested. When hanging from a block or ledge press the Action, walk, and forward keys/buttons and Lara will pull herself up to the top with a fancy handstand. It's useful if the top of the block/ledges surface is covered in sharp spikey objects such as glass, because you'll take no damage getting on top this way. When jumping forwards press the walk key/button and Lara will perform a fancy swan dive or a forward roll depending on how far away you are from the floor. The swan dive is a necessary manoeuvre needing in some of the games. For instance you'll need to use in the last level of the original game and the Nevada desert level of the third game. 3.7.3 Roll in mid-air (TR2, TR3, TRLR, & TRC) This little move will allow Lara to reverse the way she is facing while leaping. Press the roll key/button when in flight and Lara will land in the opposite direction from the one she first leapt from. This works with both the forward jump and back flip. Combined with an instant grab it is absolutely necessary for progress in the later levels of Dagger of Xian. 3.7.4 Forward Roll with One-Half Somersault Pressing the roll key after making Lara swan dive off a high ledge will make her perform somersaults while she plunges toward the water (hopefully below). This is the only move for which we have not found a distinct useful purpose. Looks cool though. 3.7.5 The Slide Stop (TR3, TRLR, & TRC) Since the third instalment Lara has been able to sprint for a short distance (too short according to some of us). If you hit the back button while she's sprinting you'll see her come to a sliding stop. You will find this useful during timed puzzles when Lara needs to stop directly above an object in order to make for a quicker pickup such as the collecting the artefacts from the Meteorite Cavern level. 3.7.6 The Forward Tumble (TRC) This is a most welcome feature in Chronicles as it allows Lara to quickly exit raised crawl spaces. When crouching inside a crawl space you can make Lara tumble forward onto the floor below by pressing the jump key whilst at the crawl space exit. Its very useful on the later VCI levels for dodging lasers from raised crawl spaces and for entering the building towards the end of the Old Mill level if you find you cant enter that crawlspace at the end. 3.7.7 Gameboy Color Extra Moves The Handstand: Lara must first be hanging from a ledge. Whilst hanging by holding the B button, press the A button and up on the directional pad to make Lara perform a handstand. The Swan Dive: We believe this is an easter-egg because this move can only be performed in one place in the whole game. At the very beginning of Temple B of the Nightmare Stone just before the pool having walked to the edge of the ledge and the sides of the hole are covered in spikes. Press both the A, B, and Up buttons together to make her perform a Swan Dive. Rolling: You can roll and face in the opposite direction when you are using your weapons in a crawl space. It also proves a useful move when fighting multiple enemies. Just press A and B at the same time. The original Tomb Raider game featured an array of weaponry that helped Lara blast her way through her travels. Everyone who has played the original game should remember the Pistols, Shotgun, Magnums, and Uzi's. These rather simple items have been replaced in subsequent travels with more adventurous weapons, which have had us wondering how she managed to fit them in her pocket such as the Rocket or Grenade Launchers. Below discusses all of the weapons Lara has come across, and how to use them. 3.8.1 The forever self-replenishing Pistols Lara's trusty old self-replenishing Pistols have been with us
since the original game and are intended to be used at close quarters against relatively weak targets. However it is possible
to use them to pick off more powerful enemies but it can take some time. Don't let that dissuade you from using them, as they Prima's official strategy guide makes a relatively decent joke about the pistols saying, "how does the gun shop Lara bought them from make a profit?" We'll I thought it was funny! The Shotgun is a very powerful weapon when used at close quarters and one shot at point blank range is enough to take out some of the most powerful enemies in the game. It does however suffer from a slow reload cycle making it a slow but stealthy weapon. As it's a close combat weapon its not recommended to use it at a distance as you'll end up wasting several shots before killing an enemy. Since TRLR the shotgun has had two types of ammo that you can collect and use with it. The first Normal shotgun shells packs a solid punch to a localised area just like the shotgun does in the earlier games. The second type of ammo, the wide shot shells will disperse the blast over a wide area rather than to a localised area. It's recommended that you use the normal ammo against single enemies whilst using the wide shot ammo against multiple enemies. [This section Coming Soon] The Uzi's are one of the most powerful weapons in the games and can take out enemies with little effort. It has an extremely fast and rapid firing rate, and a reload rate to match making it the weapon of choice with really tough baddies. This is one of those weapons that works well both in close combat situations and at a distance targeting. The only drawback is that the Uzi requires a supply of clips that are in short supply during the games. [This section Coming Soon] [This section Coming Soon] 3.8.7 Grenade Launcher (TR2, TR3, & TRLR) [This section Coming Soon] 3.8.8 Harpoon Gun (TR2, & TR3) [This section Coming Soon] [This section Coming Soon] 3.8.10 The MP5/HK Gun (TR3 & TRC) [This section Coming Soon] [This section Coming Soon] 3.8.12 The Revolver (TRLR, & TRC) [This section Coming Soon] [This section Coming Soon] 3.8.14 Grappling Hook Launcher (TRC) [This section Coming Soon] [This section Coming Soon] 3.9 Lara and Vehicles 3.9.1 Speedboats and little yellow Dinghy's (TR3, & TR3) To get Lara into a boat simply walk up to its side from wherever it is docked and climb into it by pressing the action key and forward at the same time (the same as climbing out of water onto dry land). You can also get into boats by jumping over them and pressing action whilst in mid air. Lara will position herself and climb into the boat. To exit the boat in TR2 press jump and a directional left or right key; in TR3 press roll and a directional left or right key. In TR2 you can use the speedboat to travel faster through the Venice level as well as using it to smash through the gondolas/windows that block some paths and waterways. Pressing and holding the action key whilst in the speedboat will make it go faster and allows you to run the boat up ramps and so on.... but remember that Lara takes damage when she hits walls or other objects when travelling fast. The little yellow dinghy Lara uses to roam around TR3's Antarctica level is controlled by using the action and jump buttons to go forwards and backwards respectively. You'll need to be careful when climbing out of the dinghy though. If you stop the dinghy too close to a path Lara will knock her legs on the path and will fall into the freezing water. Its best to exit next to completely flat surfaces as any attempt to make her climb onto a path with a sloped surface will see her get a dunking. You'll come across two different types of snowmobiles on Lara's adventures. The first is the shiny red ones that go faster when you press the action button, and the second is the black Bartoli ones with a built in machine gun that's operated by pressing action. To get onto a snowmobile walk up to one of its sides and press action for Lara to clamber on. To get off a snowmobile press the jump key and a directional left or right key. Pressing the action key whilst riding the red version of the snowmobile will give you a burst of speed, which is useful for jumping big gaps... However if you hit a wall or object Lara will incur damage just as she does when using a boat or dinghy. You've also got to deal with the problem that if the snowmobile falls into water or drops from a certain height it will explode. The black version of the snowmobile will fire twin machine guns, which is useful for taking out goons on other snowmobiles. The black machines are also useful for conserving ammo. They have unlimited ammo, the same as Lara's Pistols. Plus the snowmobiles are big, heavy machines and any goon you come across on foot are considerably rather soft and squishy in comparison. But remember that anything you run over on a snowmobile doesn't get included in the end of level kill stats. You get into the Kayak by pressing the action and forward keys
at the same time (same as with the boats described earlier). To exit you press the jump key and either of the directional left
or right keys. The main difference between the Kayak and the boat and dinghy described above is that you can't climb out onto
land directly. You need to first drop into the water and then Controlling the Kayak is more difficult because you will
normally have a current from the water fighting against you. There are however two kinds of turns you can make with the
paddle. The first is the standard paddle to one side of the kayak (pressing the directional left or right key) - which I should also point out that Lara could paddle her way upstream against a current if its not too strong. Getting onto the quad bike is the same as the snowmobile. Walk up to one of its sides and press the action button and forward at the same time. To get off press roll and a directional left or right key. When you are riding the quad bike pressing the action key will make it accelerate and go faster. The jump key will allow the quad bike to go backwards and the sprint key is used as a handbrake although it takes time to slow down. From a standing start you can rev the quad bike up to top speed instantly by first pressing and holding the handbrake key (which is the sprint key) whilst pressing action. The quad bike should hold in place while the wheels spin furiously underneath. When you take you finger off the handbrake the quad bike can be used to leap gaps. As with the snowmobile be aware that running squishy goons over with the quad bike will not have an effect on the end of level kill stats. Plus landing in water or falling from too high a ledge will make the quad bike explode. 3.9.5 The Underwater Propulsion Unit (TR3) Available during the Lud's Gate level in TR3, the underwater propulsion unit ("UPU") is handy for getting around quickly in the sewers. Remember you don't need it in order to complete the level though. Being an underwater device the controls are a bit different as to land vehicles. To grab a hold of the UPU drop into the water with it and swim up towards it and press action. To let go of it simply press the roll key. To have the machine go forward press and hold the jump key. Remember there's no reverse so you will need to fully turn around when needed. Despite the fact of the no reverse the machine has an in built harpoon gun. Please note that the harpoon gun doesn't use Lara's auto aim leaving you only able to hit whatever is directly in front of it. Also note that you do not have unlimited ammo. That depends on how many harpoons you picked up during the earlier levels. The benefit of the harpoon gun is that it doesn't suffer from the slow reload time like the hand held harpoon so you can fire away to your hearts content. 3.9.6 RX Tech Mine Carts (TR3) The mine carts in TR3's RX Tech Mines are different to all of the other vehicles Lara has access to. The biggest difference is that they only go in one predefined path and are plain scary when they reach their top speeds when going down hill. They are extremely dangerous in that one false move can have Lara hurtling off the tracks and into a wall. Because of the risk they have a really simple control system... a brake lever. To enter a mine cart walk up to one of the carts sides and press action and forward together (same as most of the other vehicles). To exit the cart, which you can only do when it has come to a complete stop, press roll and a directional left or right key. After climbing in, the mine cart will automatically kick into action and will start moving up the track. The cart will pick up speed when it goes down hill so be sure to use the brake lever by pressing the action key. But beware at the bottom of some hills you will be required to scale a gap and therefore the speed is necessary. However at the bottom of others are corners and the speed is too much to turn properly. You do have some other limited options other than the brake lever. Pressing the duck/crawl key will allow Lara to duck under girders and other dangerous objects that litter the tracks. You also have access to a wrench, which can be used to change tracks when she bangs it on a junction lever. Timing the wrench blows is essential for Lara's continued survival as some tracks lead to instant, and irreversible, death. This is the first of Lara's vehicles to be given a realistic control system with the addition of a gear stick key(s). To use the vehicle you first need to obtain the keys. You have your normal left and right with action being the accelerator. To reverse you need to use the gear stick. Pressing the sprint key when the vehicle has stopped will put it into reverse mode. Pressing the walk key will return it to the normal forward motion. Using the jump key performs braking. Exiting is the same as most others by pressing the jump key and a directional left or right key. 3.9.8 Jean Ive's Motorcycle & Sidecar (TRLR) Not as easy to control as some of her other vehicles as Lara isn't given a reverse and is forced to exert herself inching it backward very slowly, which can become a bit repetitive and plain annoying. Anyway you clamber onto it the same as most of the others. You first walk up to its right side and press the action and forward keys. Pressing action acts as the accelerator and jump provides the brakes. To dismount it you can only press jump and the right directional key when it's on flat ground only. In order to use the motorcycles boost feature you are first required to obtain two pieces of equipment, which you then put together to form the nitro boost and attach it to the motorcycle. Once you have it you can use the sprint key to go faster. Remember hitting walls or other objects will cause Lara to lose some energy. 3.9.9 The Extreme Depth Suit (TRC) Where conventional divers cannot go the Extreme Depth Suit can. Used to explore the seabed this suit unlike the UPU isn't fitted with any harpoons. Instead you're given decoys, which are deployed using the action key. The decoy should then attract fire of enemies. The suit is fitted with its own two propulsion units that are controlled by pressing jump allowing you to travel at almost twice the speed of the UPU in TR3. Movement is the same as swimming so controlling it isn't too much of a problem. The suit has a limitation in that it has only a limited oxygen supply. Colliding into rock faces and other objects will make Lara breath heavier, which in turns means she uses her oxygen quicker. Unlike the other vehicles Lara cannot exit and hop back into the suit when she feels like it. 3.9.10 The Mini Submarine (GBC) You'll probably be wondering as to why I've decided to give this one a mention. Well, it's a vehicle and Lara does use it on her GB adventures doesn't she? The Mini Submarine can be compared to the Extreme Depth Suit (TRC) as it can go where no conventional divers can. But that is where the similarities end. It has no protection features what so ever giving it an immediate disadvantage in that Lara can't protect herself so don't expect to use any harpoons or decoys with this one. Also you'll find that the sub isn't very partial to the electric charges from the eels that populate the deep waters. Its only main benefit is that it is very easy to manoeuvre, once you get the thing to work only after collecting a number of charged batteries. The up, down, left and right buttons on the GB does as what you expect allowing you to avoid the obstacles you come across relatively quickly. 3.10 How do I get into the basement, outside the front gate, into Lara's trophy room and... There are several things that have been discovered about some of the Tomb Raider games that were undocumented in the literature. Chief amongst these was the existence of a hidden basement in the TR2 training level. It is reached by flipping a switch in the secretive part of the garden maze and then running back to the house before the secret door under the stairs closes. The hidden part of the maze is reached by a tunnel whose opening is near the wall farthest from the maze entrance. There is very little margin for error when trying to reach the basement before the door closes - you might be able to get away with bumping the walls once or twice but no more. What is actually in the TR2 basement I'll leave for you to discover. In TR2 to get outside the house grounds you need to know about the corner (or buggsie as it more commonly called). To get outside the front gate use the corner bug from the tower on the assault course where you get on the pulley - after using the bug you should find yourself on top of the tower and able to leap onto the wall surrounding Lara's House and grounds. From there simply walk around the top of the wall sightseeing until you reach the front part and then safety drop down outside the front gate. In TR3 there are more things to do in and around Lara's newly redeveloped mansion. To get inside Lara's new trophy room you must first press the button switch behind the diving board in the pool. This opens a secret room in the main entrance hall. In this room is a timed switch. Press it and the wall opposite opens up to reveal Lara's new trophy room. Immediately after flicking the switch press roll and run towards the open door. Just before you go past the main door press sprint (if you sprint sooner than this you'll run out of steam and wont make it.) and when getting close dive (usual jump button) through the rapidly closing door to enter her own treasure chamber. Also in TR3 Lara's garden maze has gone! So what's there now? Barring your path to where the garden maze was is a locked gate; the key to which is liquidly located in Lara's old treasure chamber under the stairs. I'm not going to give the game away here - reaching the key provides some useful basic TR exercises. Though I will suggest that doing some searching in her upstairs library might yield a clue or two. 3.10.1 An ASCII map of Lara's garden maze (TR2) The following is a simple ASCII diagram of the hedge maze to aid
you in your attempt to reach the basement in TR2. The entrances to the underground are connected by an 'L' shaped tunnel.
3.11 Where's the key for the door next to Lara's bed in TR2? If you're in the training level it doesn't exist yet. That door can only be opened with a key that already on Lara's person when the final level in TR2 begins. Inside the cupboard you'll find some survival gear she needs to complete the game. 3.12 Could someone please tell me how the game ends? No. Find out for yourself. Oh, ok then... the ending for all the games is the same. First the screen goes blank and then... the credits appear. I hope this hasn't spoilt it for you. 3.13 What is it that person X says in cutscene Y? Can someone please explain the plot to me? Some of the dialogue in the cutscenes and FMV's can be very hard to follow, due to either obscure plot point points or bad accents - or sometimes a combination of both. Full transcripts for all the dialogues in the games have been placed on the web at the Tomb Raider Travellers Guide. Select the guide for the game and click on the "backplot" link. Ivans Chou and his helpful sidekick "Igor", Brian have also written large gaps in background stories - these additional sections being clearly marked. It should be noted that Ivans and Brian had the help of the Tomb Raider scriptwriter (Vicky Arnold - she sent them the original scripts for the game) in this task. [End blatant website plug here]
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