HOUSE PARTY

Level By Tomas Zuk (TiZook)

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Bug alert #1: For some reason I can't reload from a previous savegame while actually in the game. Trying to do so causes me to crash to the desktop. The same thing happens if I die. Annoying to say the least. However, once I execute the game again I can start from any desired savegame.

After a brief opening flyby through an outer courtyard, begin by running forward and kicking open the door to your left. (You can turn around and explore the pool area, but all you'll find at this point are a closed trap door in the floor and what appears to be a sealed crawl space in the south wall. These are apparently for later.) Run up the stairs. When you reach the open window, look to your right for two stashes of shotgun ammo and the SHOTGUN itself. Then stand at the window opening and jump up to grab the bridge. Monkey swing across the alley and drop down into the room on the other side. Kick open the door on your right and shoot the wooden barrier at the other end of the short passage. Step out to the opening and look out over the pool you saw earlier. No sense in jumping down there, as you already know there's nothing to find.

Instead, angle Lara to the left and take a standing jump and grab to the north edge of the roof. Shimmy to the right and around two corners. Although you're locked into a fixed camera angle, you can see the crawl space in the south wall as you approach it. When you come to a point directly over the crawl space, release and hit the action key immediately to grab the edge of the crawl space. (I know you'll be tempted to continue shimmying to your right in an effort to reach those balconies, but you can't do it. They're just dummies anyway.) Pull up inside and get the shotgun ammo to your left. Follow the passage around to the right and pick up the shotgun ammo just beyond the steam pipe. Locate the nearby hole, lower Lara down and release to drop into some water. Wade up to the west landing and kick in the door ahead.

Run up a couple of flights of stairs and kill a couple of bats when you reach an upper room. Pull down the trap door in the SW corner and pull up into the crawl space to your right. Follow the long passage and you'll hear the sound of a trap door dropping as you approach the other end. Lower Lara down the hole and release to drop into a small room. Pick up the flares and pull up into the SW alcove for a small medi-pack. Kick open the door and go outside to the tune of some circus music. Shoot the nearby barrier and throw the floor lever. Go around the crates to your left and shoot the SAS on the other side of the hedge. Note what appears to be a closed trap door in the ground between the hedge and the crates.

Climb up onto the crates and jump from the tallest one to the treetop. Walk along the lower outer edge (because of the invisible low ceiling) and jump over to the top of the hedge for the revolver ammo. Picking it up awakens two more SAS down on the ground to your right, so kill them quickly. You can jump over to the next treetop to the north, but there seems to be nothing productive to do or find over there. Drop to the ground and shoot the barrier near the NE corner to release a bat. Shoot the next barrier that blocks access to the nearby building and shoot three more bats flying around inside. Locate the hole in the roof at the SW corner and climb the ladder in the east face. When you reach the top, release and then immediately hit the action key simultaneously with the crouch key and the up arrow, and pull up into the crawl space. Crawl forward and pick up the CROWBAR at the end of the short passage. Back up and drop back down to the floor.

Exit this building and go over to the adjacent building to the west. Shoot the barrier in the north wall and go inside to find the MOTOR BIKE. Use your crowbar to open the adjacent door and go past the motor bike into the next room. Note the closed door in the floor as well as the wall you can drive through. Locate the ladder between the two rooms, climb up, shift to the left and drop down into the upper room. Throw the floor lever you'll find there, then return to the motor bike in the room down below.

Before embarking on the motor bike, however, it's necessary to do something else first. Go back to the large open gates at the east end of this open area and note the small trenches on either side. Hop down into either one and follow the passage until you reach a couple of closed crowbar doors. Open them, even though there's nothing else you can do here now.

Return to the motor bike, get on it and drive through the open crowbar door. Make an immediate U-turn to the right and crash through the breakable wall. Drive over that closed door in the floor and you'll drop down into a narrow passage.

Follow the passage until you reach a ramp, and you'll magically drive right through a closed grate into a new outdoor area. If you kept driving straight forward you could use the next ramp to cross the water, turn slightly to the left and jump the hedge to break through another wall. Then use another ramp to cross the water and ram a final breakable wall, and the level comes to a premature end. Since the builder surely didn't intend this result, stop and get off the motor bike once you enter the new outdoor area.

Go to the hedge in front of the breakable wall and pull up onto the tree top. There are four crawl spaces you can enter, but the only one that allows actual access into the building is the one farthest away from you near the SW corner. Use it to enter the building and throw the floor lever you'll find inside. A cut scene shows a trap door opening elsewhere. Note the nearby floor door, similar to the one you drove the motor bike over earlier. Exit this building (you can use the crawl space you entered by or the one on the other end of the building). There's an apparent crowbar door in the building to the north, but it's blocked on all sides by some sort of invisible barrier. There's a place to the right of this door where you can climb up to the roof of this building and get to the adjacent tree top, but there's nothing to find either on the tree branches or on the roof.

Return to the ramp where you entered this area via the motor bike, and note that the grate has now been placed to one side. Slide down the ramp and follow the passage back on foot until you reach a ladder. Climb up through the trap door you opened earlier and exit the motor bike building. Make your way to the east side of this outdoor area and go through the large open gates. The door to your left is now open, so enter to find a fixed camera angle. There's a door to your immediate left, so kick it open and go inside. Make a hairpin turn to the right and run up the ramp. Kick the door open and enter a small room. Throw the floor lever to your left and go back down the ramp. Make another hairpin turn to the right at the bottom and continue through the door you just opened into another small room. Throw the floor level for a cut scene showing some water, and exit this building.

Turn left and jump into the water. The grate at the bottom has been shoved aside, so swim through the hole for SECRET #1 and pick up the flares, the shotgun shells and the large medi-pack. Swim back through the hole and exit the pool. Run back through the large open gates and note that the small trenches on either side are now filled with water. Jump into either one and swim to those crowbar doors you opened earlier. Swim into the crawl space under the house and keep to the left walls. You'll shortly come to an opening, so follow the passage to an air hole. Pull out into a small dark room and shoot the bat. Then throw the floor lever and locate the nearby ceiling trap door. Pull it down (facing the south wall) and climb out into a familiar outdoor area.

Some changes have taken place, however. Note the flame burning near the SW corner. Go over there, and you'll find a new opening in the wall. Go down the stairs (you have to duck to get past the opening) and shoot the SAS who runs up to greet you. In the area ahead is a covered moat and a closed door in the west side of the central structure. Locate the ladder on the pillar near the SW corner and climb up to the roof of the structure. There's an SAS up there who's oblivious to you until you start opening fire, by which time it's too late for him. Go down the ramp through the hole in the roof (noting a closed floor door) and throw the floor lever. Run off the top of the ramp and jump into the nearby section of moat that's now open.

Swim into the underground room and locate the opening in the north wall. Swim inside a maze-like area and work your way in a northerly direction until you eventually emerge in a pool. Wade forward and locate the hole in the ceiling. Jump up and grab the rope, and climb up into an upper room. Bug alert #2: Maybe this should be considered a design error rather than a bug. Instead of using a pole, the builder chose to place a rope here. As Lara will refuse to back flip from a rope, as opposed to a pole, I was obliged to use the flycheat to get to the upper room. Regardless of how you feel about cheating, you need to do so here or you won't be able to progress--unless, that is, you're able to swing through the walls of the shaft (an improper use for a rope) and jump off the rope to land on the attic floor above. I tried that a couple of times but got stuck in the floorboards and had to reload. Shoot a couple of bats, then locate the nearby alcove formed by the gray blocks and pick up the REVOLVER.

Go the south wall and kick the door open. Go out to a well-lit indoor area. Make a hairpin turn either to your right or left and go up the stairs into a glass-enclosed room. Go to the bookcase at the south end and look to your left for the LASER SIGHT. Go back down and continue south past the little courtyard. (Look to your left through the east opening and you can see the outdoor area you've already visited. The west opening looks out into an area you haven't yet seen.)

Turn right into a new room and you'll hear more circus music. Look to your right for a jump switch and activate it. A brief flyby pans the area you just now walked past. There's an open area to the left of the large oven, so climb up onto the counter top and jump through the opening. In the next anteroom there's a balcony you can access, but the doors up there are closed, so proceed west down into the next room.

Go to the stacked crates on your left. You'll find a jump switch on the south side next to the chain link fence. Activate it for a cut scene showing a block lowering to expose a floor lever, in a building back at the area where you found the motor bike. If you continue west into the next well-lit room, you'll come to two closed doors which, if open, would lead you straight to where you want to go. Continue around into the hallway to the left (noting the closed doors in the south wall) and go up the stairs to your right, look out the north window, and you'll be looking right at your next destination. If you look closely enough, you can see a shootable object in the roof area of the target building. The trick is how to get there.

Looks like we'll have to take the long way around. Retrace your steps back through the dark room with the crates, through the opening next to the large oven, down the north hallway and into the open kickdoor. Grab the rope and slide down, then jump into the water and swim south until you reach the open moat where you can climb out into a room you've already explored. Run up the stairs to the north to return to the outside area near where you began this level. Turn left and run north along the sidewalk to the opening where you dropped the motor bike through the floor door. Use the ladder in the east face to climb down this same hole, then reverse roll at the bottom and follow the passage back to the second major outdoor area. Take a standing jump to clear the final slope, then climb up onto the nearby flowered block and face north.

Combine the revolver and laser sight, and shoot the dangling blue ball. The door ahead opens, so hop down and enter the building. To your left is the exposed floor lever, so throw it to drain the nearby pool. Safety drop into the pool and climb out by using the ladder at the other end. There's another ladder ahead and to your right, so use it to access an upper room where you'll find another floor lever. Throw it for a cut scene showing an underwater door opening in the nearby outdoor area. Climb back down the ladders, exit the dry pool, return to the open air and jump into the green water. Swim around to the north and locate the door you just opened. Continue through the opening and emerge in an underground cavern. Swim to the other side, wade out onto dry land and look around. There are no apparent pick-ups in the area and no apparent way out other than via the crawl space in the wall near the NW corner that appears inaccessible. Go to the mound of dirt near the NE corner, jump up to grab the ceiling, and monkey swing west (doglegging to your left around the stalactite ahead), following the gray track along the ceiling, until you reach the wall, then turn right and continue until you reach the north wall. Release and immediately grab again, then climb down the climbable wall until Lara's feet are dangling. Release and grab again, then quickly pull into the crawl space. (If Lara refuses to move, release and grab again immediately while pushing the up arrow key.) As you've already discovered if you launched ahead before reading this far, you can't be carrying a flare with you, as Lara won't grab the wall unless both her hands are free.

Crawl forward up the slight incline, and a flyby will introduce you to the delightful lava room ahead. You have to make a complete clockwise circuit of this room, with no opportunity to stop and catch your breath along the way, so it might be a good idea for you to read this entire paragraph before getting started. Crawl to the left side of the opening, turn around and lower Lara down the other side. Release onto a slope and keep the jump key depressed. Lara will jump off and grab the edge of a facing slope. Pull up, slide forward and jump off to another slope in the corner. Jump off this slope and grab the ladder. Climb up or down a short distance as necessary until Lara's hands are on the horizontal crack. If Lara's feet get "set" in preparation for further climbing, release and hit the action key again immediately and shimmy to the right while Lara's feet are still dangling. Shimmy around the corner and follow the crack around another corner to the right. Release and drop onto another slope, jump off east to the long sloped slab. Grab the edge as you slide down, and shimmy to the left almost (but not quite) to the end of the long slab. Pull up and back flip to the next slope, jump off and grab the ladder in the NW corner. Shift to the right around three corners, and with Lara's hands on the horizontal crack, climb up one rung and back flip to the next slope. You'll slide down this one backwards, so grab the edge, pull up and take a rolling back flip to the slope in the NE corner. Grab the edge and shimmy to the right, using the crack in the connecting pillar to reach the opposite slope around the corner. Pull up and take a rolling back flip to the ladder. Grab it and shift to the right around three corners. Back flip to the slope in the SE corner, slide a bit and jump off to grab the next ladder. Climb up until Lara's hands are on the horizontal crack, then use the procedure described earlier to shimmy to the right and follow the crack in the pillar around two corners. Release and drop onto the slope near the crawl space where you entered this room, and jump off to the slope in the central structure. Jump off to the facing slope and continue jumping back and forth, using the left or right arrow key to bring you over to level flooring.

Pause to wipe your brow, then step over to pick up the LEFT GAUNTLET and the RIGHT GAUNTLET. A block will rise to allow access to a jump switch. Climb up onto the block and activate the jump switch. Hop back down and safety drop between the two slopes into what appears to be deadly lava. However, you'll fall into a safe zone, and the water underneath the lava is perfectly safe throughout. Locate the opening in the south wall and swim through it. Follow the long passage until you can swim up and emerge in a small room. Open the nearby crowbar door (the one that's blocked by the invisible barrier on the other side, remember?) and go outside. Retrieve the motor bike and drive it through the breakable west wall if you've not already done so. Drive it forward over the wooden ramp, and you'll crash into another breakable wall across the water and hit the exit trigger.