DARK SKIES 0: TUTORIAL CITY

Level by Justin Havens

Walkthrough by Phil Lambeth

Begin in a dimly lit room with a fire flickering to Lara's right in a huge fireplace. Turn around to your left and draw weapons to shoot a box in a corner of the room. Pick up some M-16 ammo. Open the door across the way and turn right into the hallway. Take the first left into the alcove and open the door to the library. Walk in a few steps to attract the attention of an SAS. Then back up, draw weapons, and kill the guard when he appears from the right. Go in and retrieve his Desert Eagle.

Go around the library shelves to the left and see a book that's jutting out. It's actually disguising a switch, so pull it down to douse the flames in the den fireplace.

Exit the library and dogleg left into an alcove across the hall. Open the door to the den and draw weapons. Another SAS will come out to greet you, ahead and to the left. Dispose of him and collect the Laser Sight he drops. Now shoot out the windows and go out onto the balcony and shoot a box to collect some MP-5 ammo.

Go back into the den, walk into the fireplace and turn to your left. Climb up the scalable wall into the room above. Draw weapons quickly and kill a ravenous raptor who's been eagerly awaiting your arrival. The shootable box in front of the entrance yields nothing, but the box in the opposite, dimly-lit corner explodes to reveal a Secret Card for SECRET #1. Now, if you want to take the fast way down, you can simply jump into the hole against the wall where the inside plumbing seems to be badly in need of repair. A fall-away floor tile will soon crumble and drop you into the room below. Shoot out the barricade to exit, if you haven't already.

This next little maneuver will either turn your hair gray or make you tear your hair out, depending on your proclivities. Go over to the right of the fireplace and note the switch on the wall. What follows is a fairly tight timed sequence, so save your game here. After throwing the switch, hit the look button to regain camera control, then turn slightly to your left and sprint out of the den, into the corridior and back into the library. Inside the library, make a hairpin turn to the right around the bookshelf, then back to your left and into the open doorway in the eight or nine seconds you have after throwing the switch before the door closes. Many of you will probably hear the sound of the closing door about the time you're in the hairpin turn; if you're really lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the door as it shuts in your face. When I first played this level as a neophyte raider I concluded that the run was impossible given the time allowed. However, when I replayed the level years later I conquered the timed run on the third attempt. Go figure.

After getting past the timed doorway, don't go down the stairs yet but exit the library (the door remains open once you get inside) and turn left. At the end of the hall is a locked door. Shoot out the lock (using your pistols to save ammo), which opens the door automatically, and wait for the arrival of an SAS. Shoot him dead, then run down the ramp to your right, past the closed door, and shoot out the barricade across the way. Throw the switch in the dark alcove to open the gate at the end of the stairs leading down from the library. Return to the library and the still-open timed door, and go down the stairs.

Enter the high-tech room at the bottom of the stairs and take the Security Card from the computer desk to the left. Behind you is an apparently friendly mercenary who takes no notice of your presence. Shoot him anyway if you like, even though he has no goodies to leave behind.

Exit this area and go back outside via the ramp past the south doorway. Use the Security Card to gain access to the area you passed by before. Climb up and head down the stairs. Turn right at the first alcove and open the door to the bathroom. Shoot out the barricade to your right and walk over to the commodes (avoiding the open flame) to pick up some Desert Eagle ammo.

Exit the bathroom and shoot out the barricade and the lock on the door across the hall. There are three shootable boxes inside. The one on the floor yields the Uzis, and the two on the conveyor belt contain some Uzi ammo.

Exit this room and turn left to head up the stairs. A raptor will come out to greet you, so dispose of it quickly. Shoot out the plate glass windows in the area at the top of the stairs. Walk forward and an SAS will step out from behind an outbuilding in front of you. Kill him, then go behind that building and throw the floor level which opens a hole in the street.

Go out and drop into the hole, but resist the temptation to take a refreshing dip, or Lara will be swept into an area filled with deadly liquid. Instead, run across the fall-away tile into the adjacent tunnel, and stop as soon as you get inside. (Don't simply jump over the tile, because you need to step on it to trigger a needed platform inside.)

You're now on a catwalk in a larger room. If you venture too far along the catwalk you'll trigger some nasty blades that'll spring up to slice Lara into little bloody pieces. Turn to the right and note a scalable wall. Take an angled running jump NW, grab the wall and climb down to the platform. Reverse roll and jump over to the facing platform. Throw the floor lever to open a door above, then hop back immediately to avoid an additional set of blades. Then jump back to the other platform and climb back up the wall on the far right side. Near the top, do a back flip back to the catwalk and immediately side flip to the right to avoid the blades. Then turn back to the left and sprint across the catwalk into the open door. (The blades won't be immediately triggered if you hurry.)

In the next area there's an open door to the shooting gallery on your right, which will close as soon as you enter the room. Once inside, combine the Desert Eagle with the Laser Sight (there's an extra one lying on the floor in case you missed the first one). You'll see a number of targets in front of you. Shoot out the three targets to your left that are more brightly lit than the others. (If you shoot any targets other than these three, the floor flames will ignite and fry you.) The third hit will cause the door behind you to re-open. Pause long enough to pick up all the goodies on the floor (the MP-5 and lots of ammo), then exit this room and open the south door across the hall.

Just inside this next room are the M-16 and loads of ammo for it. Retrieve it all, but be mindful of the electrified fence. Then go down either ramp and shoot the raptor running around down below, as well as the SAS on the far side of the room. Then use your combined Desert Eagle and Laser Sight to shoot the swinging blue ball. This raises the gate to an alcove containing a flame blower, but it seems to serve no useful purpose. Take the large medi-pack from the adjacent alcove that was already open, then exit this room.

Take a left as you exit the previous room, and open the west door at the end of the tunnel. Head up the stairs, but be careful of the two flame blowers to your right. At the top of the stairs you'll see a machine gun that seems to want to open fire but is restrained for some reason. There are two doors beyond it, either of which Lara can open to reach an exit area. But there's a better and more fun way to complete the level. Go to the right, shoot out the barricades and insert the Secret Card in the slot in the alcove for SECRET #2. This raises the missle, allowing you to shoot out the plate glass windows. Then, get up on the platform against the left portion of the ramp, and take a standing jump into the upper area. (Before you leave this area, however, you might turn around, look up and see a T-Rex walking around the upper levels of the adjacent building. He's the one causing all that vibrating you were experiencing after you came up the stairs. Don't even ask how he got up there or what he's doing.)

Ahead of you are four collapsing tiles and two alcoves to the right containing active machine guns. Take a running jump to the first tile and continue with running jumps from tile to tile, adjusting your direction as necessary until you reach the far ledge without being skewered with machine gun bullets or barbed wire. Then, slide down the ramp to exit this level with all your goodies intact and begin the first "real" level in the series, City Streets.