CPU CRASH
Level by Richard Lawther
Walkthrough by Phil
Lambeth
Lara, dressed in a colorful skimpy outfit, begins within the deep
recesses of a gigantic computer motherboard, standing on some sort of relay
station and poised for action. You're starting in a central hub location to
which you'll apparently be required to return a number of times, and you have
three possible routes to follow as you head down the steps ahead to the east. But
first, look around you and note two empty gem receptacles in the lower north
wall and three more in the other lower walls. There are also scroll pads
attached to the central sloped platforms, some of which are occupied by scrolls
and some of which are not. Your apparent goal is to locate and bring back here
the missing gems and scrolls. Finally, there's an opening in the NW corner of
this room that leads to a sheer drop into the blackness beyond. On the other
end of this higher gray walkway is an artifact within the right alcove that you
can't get to from here because of the glass barrier.
Go back down the east stairs. The walkthrough provided by the author
with the level download begins with the south route, so that's where we'll
start as well.
AREA 1 (SOUTH)
Turn right and climb up into the stairway. Continue up and around to the
right until you reach an apparent dead end. That is, unless you stepped on the
red square to open the blue door ahead. Go on through the opening, and the door
closes behind you. Go up to the black west wall and jump up to grab the edge
that's hard to see from below. Pull up and do the same thing twice more until
you reach a mazelike upper level that allows you to climb up and down several
layers of translucent blocks without seeming to accomplish very much unless you
go in the right direction. It's difficult to see where you're going in this
area, and you can easily fall to your death if you misstep, so it's a good idea
to walk and not run. Your objective is to make your way up and across the room
to access a vertical climbing strip in the middle of the east wall. The way I
found it easiest to get up was by going across to the NW corner by climbing a
series of short blocks, and from there facing south and taking a standing jump
with grab across a gap. At that point you can continue climbing in relative
safety. When you get to the top of this area, look toward the south and you can
barely see an object atop a block. You can reach it with careful steps and a
couple of running jumps. Pull up onto the block and pick up the REVOLVER.
Now you need to get over to the east side of the room. Drop off the
north side of the block and turn to face east. Walk forward and you'll soon
come to a halt. That's okay; just drop down to a slightly lower level and
continue walking east along the path (making a slight dogleg to the left when
you're about halfway there) until you reach the climbing surface marked by the
pattern of square-within-a-square. As you approach it, you can look down
through the translucent surfaces and see a small medi-pack (colored white and
called a cure-half here) to your right and some revolver ammo to your left. Decide
for yourself whether you want to detour for those pickups. (Getting back up
from the ammo is easy, slightly more difficult from the medi-pack).
Climb up the wall and back flip from the next-to-last square onto a
translucent green surface. Turn around and find yourself in an area much like Floating
Islands from TR2. Your task here is also similar. Turn and walk to the north
end of the beam you're on, then turn to the NW (facing in the general direction
of the white coil in the distance) and take a running jump to the ledge. Still
facing NW, take a running jump down to a plank jutting out beneath the coil
platform. Make your way over to the SW corner of this section of connected
blocks, and take a running jump down to the floating plank to the west. Walk
out to the NW corner, facing NW, and take a running jump up to the ledge. Jump
around the corner and climb up onto the higher pillar. Turn around to face east
and take a running jump and grab to the highest pillar. Pull up and claim the
large medi-pack as your reward, then turn around to face west.
Take a standing jump and grab to the giant memory chip that's hanging
down from the ceiling. Pull up until Lara's feet get set, then shimmy to the
left around two corners until you reach the opposite side. Position yourself
over the jump switch and release to activate it. A cut scene shows a door
opening in the wall near the SW corner. Turn around and go over to the NW
corner of the block structure you're on, noting the coil within the alcove
above that you'll be visiting shortly. Turn to face south, and from the lower
ledge take a running jump and grab to the next beam. Pull up and run to the
other end, and take a running jump to the next structure ahead. Make your way
to the far end of this fairly large structure and stand on the east edge of the
long beam. Take a long running jump to the SE ledge, turn to your left and take
a standing jump to the lone floating block, than another running jump to the
slightly higher block ahead to the east.
Continue east along this structure until you get to the opposite side. From
the SE corner, take a standing jump and grab to the lone block to the south. Pull
up and take a standing jump to the next block to the NE, and a running jump to
the next one. You might be tempted to try grabbing the nearby memory chip like
you did the other one, but don't do it. Instead, walk out to the NW corner of
this beam and take a running jump to the top of the pillar to the NW. Take a
running jump to the next pillar to the west, and a standing jump with grab to
the next. From there, hop over to the adjacent pillar and stand within the
coil. It begins spinning, and at the same time you can see that a stairway has
formed in the long beam below you and to the left, affording access to the open
SW doorway.
If you don't mind losing a little health you can turn left from here and
jump down to the beam, then turn right and run along the beam and up the stairs
into the hall. Make a horseshoe turn to the left, and as you continue east down
the long hallway you'll alert a DEMIGOD and a HARPY. It might be the better
part of valor to retreat around the corner and let them come to you. That way
you can hopefully eliminate the harpy before having to deal with the demigod. When
they're gone, continue east along the hallway and pass two openings on your
right that are currently blocked at the far ends. Continue around the corner
and you'll come to a stairway leading to what appears to be a pitch-black dead
end at the end of a dark hallway. However, if you turn to your left you'll find
that you're at a wall opening overlooking the floating islands room.
Turn left to face SW and take a long running jump down to the pillar
below. Take a running jump to the next pillar west, and a standing jump to the
next nearby pillar which triggers the chimes of SECRET #1. At the same time a
HARPY attacks from the south, so draw weapons and eliminate it before stooping
to pick up the first COMPUTER BUG (cute). Nobody told you that you were
conducting a human Scandisk operation here, did they?
Jump back to the two previous pillars, then turn slightly to the NE and
take a long running jump down to the single floating block. Turn to face west
and take standing jumps to the next two blocks and stand within the second
white coil. It too begins turning, and in the distance to the west you can see
that another set of stairs has materialized. Safety drop from the south side of
the pillar to the plank below, then cross over to the SW end of this structure.
Take a running jump down to the floating plank ahead, then walk to its NW corner
and take a long running jump up to the NW ledge. Turn left and take a running
jump to the stairs to the NW. Turn left and run up the stairs, but be sure to
stop before you reach the end, as there's a gap between the top of the stairs
and the west wall. Take a standing jump and grab to the alcove, pull up and
walk inside to stand within the third white coil. A cut scene shows that one of
the blocked hallways you bypassed earlier is now open.
You're now in the NW corner of the west wall, and you want to get back
to the opening you visited earlier near the SW corner. So hop back down to the
stairs, turn right and take a long running jump back to the long beam to the
south. You've done this once before, so return to the long beam along the south
wall and use the stairs to get back into the SW hall. Make the horseshoe turn
to the left again and take a right into the first side hallway. Go through the
opening into a new area.
Remember those gem receptacles and empty scroll pads in the starting
room? Well, here you'll find two gems and a scroll that need to be collected. The
problem is that they're suspended in mid-air, and you can't pick them up until
you can solidify the ghostlike blocks beneath each artifact. Around the central
structure are four platforms, three of which have a red surface and the fourth
with a brown surface. Don't climb up on the brown one; it's a disguised burner
tile. Stepping onto the red tiles creates a shimmery effect in the opposite
wall. Somehow, hopping from red tile to red tile in apparently random fashion
makes the boxes underneath the artifacts solid so that you can climb up onto
them and claim the SOFTWARE CODE (scroll) and two CPU SILICONS (gems). I did
this one at a time, by trial and error, which didn't take me very long, so I'm
still not sure if there's a reliably methodical way of doing it. Anyway, after
all three artifacts are in your collection, leave this room, take a right in
the main corridor, and turn right at the next intersection. Here too the way
has been opened up for you, so go to the long chute and slide a long way down
to the beginning area.
AREA 2 (NORTH)
Now we're ready to tackle the second major section of this level. Head
back up the stairs and turn to your right to enter the north passage. Climb up
the stairs until you reach an intersection where you can turn either left or
right. It doesn't matter which way you go, because they both lead to the same
large room. You need to cross to the other side, but the tiles are for the most
part disguised burners. The safe tiles are indicated by the darker gray tiles
on the ceiling, so don't rely on the green floor tiles. In fact, you don't use
those tiles at all, even though a couple of them are safe. Start by taking a
running jump (but not from the very edge) on the far right side to the first
safe tile straight ahead. The metallic-looking part of the wall to your right
has a climbable surface, so jump straight up to grab it. Shift all the way to
the left (the equivalent of three blocks) and backflip from there to the next
safe tile. Turn to your left and take a standing jump to the final safe tile,
and then a final standing jump to the far side of the room, where it's safe to
move on.
Turn to your right and use the crawl space to access what seems at first
to be a diabolical maze. As you enter, you'll alert a HARPY, so wait for it to
approach you and then dispose of it. When you stand up and begin to move
forward a door closes behind you. You begin facing east, so dogleg to the right
at the first intersection and continue moving east along the passage from
whence came the harpy. Go all the way to the end and turn left, then continue
north all the way to the end and turn right. When you reach the dead end, which
puts you at the NE corner of the maze room, turn to your left, light a flare
and use the crawl space at floor level to access the second COMPUTER BUG for
SECRET #2.
Exit the crawl space facing south, and make a little detour around to
your right so that you continue heading south. Go as far as you can and take
another little dogleg to your right, and then another (continuing to go south),
and take the next left. Zigzag around to your right and you'll soon arrive at
the extreme SE corner of the maze room. Turn right and make a series of doglegs
as you make your way west along the southern margin of the maze room. You'll
need to make a larger loop around to your right as you near the end, but you
should be able to reach the SW corner with no problem. When you get there,
locate the climbable surface in the alcove to your left and use it to exit the
maze room and reach a new passage. (The author's walkthrough says there's some
explosive crossbow ammo in the maze somewhere, but I never found it.)
Enter the next room, and you'll find a giant central computer chip
surrounded by two tall glass structures. Go to the south and use the marked
climbing surface to reach a higher level. Pull up and note the open area ahead.
There are pickups here that you need to get, but they won’t be accessible until
you complete the tasks to follow. Turn around and jump to the top of the nearer
glass structure. You'll note a block at each corner of the square formed by the
two structures. When you stand on each one, you'll open a timed blue door at
the opposite corner. You need to hop down from each block, run toward the
corresponding opening and jump inside to perform a task before the door closes.
We'll take them in no particular order.
SW trigger platform
Let's start with the closest block, the one in the SW corner. Climb up
onto it and you'll see the left door opening across the room in the east wall. Hop
down, run to the far side of the glass structure, turn left and jump over to
the other side, and turn right and jump into the opening (with grab, to be on
the safe side) before the door closes. Run down the passage and vault up onto a
block overlooking the next room while the blue door closes behind you. Step
down into the room and note five red tiles spaced out on the floor ahead. Walk
on all five of them (you don't have to jump from tile to file, as the rest of
the floor is safe), and when you reach the one in the SE corner the blue door
in the central structure opens. However, if you try to run directly toward it,
it will close before you can get there, sprint key or no sprint key. Instead,
turn and run back along the green path alongside the south wall and stop just
before you reach the first red tile. Turn to your right and run down the second
row of gray tiles to the west until you cross over the green portion and reach
the next gray tile. Turn to your right and run along the dark gray path until
you reach the opening on your left. Go inside, vault up onto the platform with
the spinning coil to de-activate it. Step on the nearby red tile to re-open the
other blue door at the entrance, then return to the room with the four trigger
platforms by taking a running jump to the tall glass structure.
NE trigger platform
The closest unused trigger platform is the one in the NE corner, so
climb up onto it to open the left door in the west wall. Get over there quickly
the same way you did earlier, and run down the passage while the door again
closes behind you. In the next small room you find two green floor tiles and
two closed blue doors. Turn to your right and locate the hole in the ceiling in
the NW corner of the room. You can use the west wall to climb up into the
opening. When your hands reach the gray-green dividing line, back flip into the
passage, reverse roll and run down to step on the green tile (picking up the
crossbow ammo in the process). Go back to the hole and safety drop down to the
room below. Step on the two green tiles down here and the door in the SW corner
opens.
Go inside to the next room. Run forward, dogleg slightly to your right
and turn left into the aisle separating what looks like a couple of devices you
might find in a gymnasium. Pull up onto either side, backflip to the other
side, slide and jump back to the other side, using the appropriate directional
key to bring you gradually up and over to the higher east side of the devices
where you'll finally land on a flat surface in the NE corner. From here, take a
standing jump to the pillar against the north wall, then turn to your right and
jump up to grab the ceiling. Monkey swing over to the pillar in the SE corner
and drop down onto the green tile to open the other blue door in the previous
room.
SE trigger platform
Safety drop to the floor, go back to find the new opening and climb the
blocks inside until you reach the second spinning coil. Step into it to de-activate
it and take a standing jump down to the SW platform in the trigger platform
room (which you've already used). Run down to the SE platform and climb up onto
it to open the right door in the west wall. Get over there and run up the
steps, including a green tile that causes a door to open in the next room
above. When you round the corner and see the three blue doors in the east wall
(the middle one being open), you're not surprised when the middle door closes
before you can reach it.
There's another
readily visible green tile in this room, and stepping on it opens the blue door
on the right. However, it too closes before you can get to it. So you won't
tear out your hair in frustration, I'll tell you up front that the two doors
opened by the light green tiles are of no use to you. What's important is
getting the left blue door open. There's a short pillar near the SW corner of
the room. Climb up onto it and you'll step on a darker green surface. Get back
to the floor and go over to the blue doors. There's a tile of the same darker
shade of green in front of each one. Step on all of them and the left blue door
will open. Go inside and to your right to find the third spinning coil to
de-activate. Step on the green tile in the nearby corner to open the exit door.
Jump back to the glass structure in the trigger platform room.
NW trigger platform
Go over to the NW
corner and climb up onto the final unused platform to open the right door in
the east wall. Get into the opening and proceed down the passage until you
reach a room with several large gray structures and the spinning coil presently
beyond reach up against the east wall. The procedure here is deceptively simple
(so simple, in fact, that I wonder if I bypassed what was intended to be the
"proper" way). Go over to the SE corner, use the climbable surface
there (marked by the vertical green strip) and back flip to the gray pillar
behind you. Turn around and step into the spinning coil to de-activate it, then
step on the nearby green tile to open the exit door. Go back to the trigger
platform room and jump over into the area to the south that looks somewhat like
the inside of a warehouse. You can now climb up onto the four corner pillars
(the room’s configuration is different from when you first arrived, thanks to
your completion of the foregoing tasks) and pick up two CPU SILICONS, a
SOFTWARE CODE and the CROSSBOW.
AREA 3 (EAST)
Now it's time to
negotiate the final major area of this level. Jump back to the glass structure
in the trigger platform room and continue across to the large black opening in
the north wall. Slide down a series of slopes and return to the main hub area
where you started. Hop down to the floor and go through the east opening at the
bottom of the stairs. Make a horseshoe turn to your left, and as you run down
the long hallway toward a closed blue door you'll pass an alcove to your right
with another closed blue door. Step on the red tile to open the blue door at
the end of the hallway, then draw a powerful weapon and return to the main hub
area to deal with the DEMIGOD who has been awakened. As soon as he succumbs,
his nearby buddy comes out of hibernation, so eliminate him as well. Then
resume your mission through the east opening.
Go through the open
doorway, and the blue door slams shut behind you. Drop down into the large and
very tall room ahead, and note the hallway going off to your right. Go straight
ahead, climb up onto the level with all the boxes, and head behind the group to
your right. Climb up onto the lone box and use it to get to the top of this
stack. Turn to face west and take a running jump to the next stack, and another
running jump to the stack against the west wall. Turn to your left and take a
running jump with grab to the next stack. Pull up and take a standing jump to
the next stack, then walk over to your left and take a standing jump around the
corner to the next box. Jump up to grab the monkey bars, and monkey swing over
to the east side until you can go no further. Drop and immediately grab the
crack below, then repeat. Shimmy to your left around two corners and drop down
to the ledge. Use the brown surface on the wall to your right to climb up as
far as you can go, then shift to your right and drop down onto a box.
Turn to your right and
take a running jump and grab to the next box jutting out of the south wall,
then use the overhead monkey bars to monkey swing in a horseshoe turn to your
right. Drop when you reach the end and grab the edge of the box. Pull up onto
the box, turn to your right and jump up to the second story of this huge room
(for some reason you can't simply vault up onto the lower ledge). To the NW is
a small structure with two red sloping panels facing you. If you go over there
and jump onto the panels, you'll see that they open the two blue doors across
the room to the east, but only for a few seconds. Line up Lara so that a
standing jump will cause her to land on the bottom portion of the left red
panel (so she'll only slide down a short distance), then turn to the right and
jump to the right panel, and sprint down the ledge to your right. Turn to your
right and jump past the first blue door before it shuts, then continue jumping
forward past the second blue door.
When you're safely
past both timed barriers, save your game (so you won't have to do it again),
angle Lara to the left and jump over to the far ledge. Use the nearby brown
wall surface to climb up to the next level. Head over to the ledge with the red
tile at the end and stand facing the east wall with your left foot at the edge
of the red tile. Run across the corner of the red tile to open the timed blue
door ahead, jump to the boxes and take a running jump across to the gray ledge.
Turn to your left and jump through the opening before the blue door closes. You
should be able to do this without using the sprint key, and once you're safely
across the door stays open.
Run forward along the
gray ledge and use the brown climbing surface to your right to access the next
higher level in this room. Turn to your right, vault up onto the gray block and
note the closed blue door ahead. Before proceeding, however, turn around and
take a standing jump with grab to the higher north ledge. Pull up, turn to your
right, jump up to grab the wall, and climb up a short distance to a crawl
space. Use it to access the third and final COMPUTER BUG for SECRET #3.
Congratulations, your CPU is now virus free, at least for the moment.
Lower Lara out of the
crawl space and return to the gray block facing the closed blue door. Turn to
face west and note the large climbing surface to your left and the small
climbing area ahead to your right. Take an angled standing jump and grab the
surface to your left, shift all the way to the right (climb down a rung or two
to be on the safe side) and take a rolling back flip to grab the surface behind
you. Pull up onto the red tile to open the blue door across the room in the
west wall. Drop or climb down the other side of the tile to the small ledge
below. Hop down to the ledge running along the north wall and run along it to
the west wall. Climb up onto the box and use the overhead monkey bars to swing
over to the red tile near the SW corner. Drop down onto it to open a higher
blue door against the east wall.
When you leave this
red tile you activate a 32-second timer, so take a running jump (without grab)
to the east ledge and repeat the steps you took earlier to reach the gray block
facing the timed blue door (including the maddeningly slow climb up the brown
wall strip, which is unavoidable). Take a running jump down to the ledge in
front of the blue door and run through the opening before the door slams shut.
Save your game here so you won't have to repeat this ordeal.
Use the brown climbing
surface to reach the highest level in this room. Shift to your right and drop
down onto the green-patterned ledge. Turn to your right and jump over to the
matching ledge, and from there jump down to the gray ledge against the west
wall near the open blue doorway. You'll be tempted to detour for the large
medi-pack on the other end of the ledge, but don't run across the brown tiles
or you'll be fried. Instead, shimmy past the deadly tiles and pull up to claim
your prize. Return in the same manner and go through the open doorway and up
the stairs into a new area.
Turn to your right and find more steps lined with green rectangles. Follow
until you reach an opening to your right leading to a long chute. Save your
game here and make sure Lara slides down the middle part of the chute (so she
won't overshoot the fourth green tile below). Slide down and wait patiently until
Lara comes to rest atop a fifth green tile in the floor below, and a door opens
silently in the west wall ahead. Go on through and enter a room where you'll
find a CPU SILICON and a SOFTWARE CODE in the alcoves in front of you. They're
both behind an invisible force field, so turn around, enter the passages at the
SE and NE corners and activate the white coil you'll find behind each one. This
removes the force field so you can vault up into the alcoves for the last remaining
artifacts you require. (You should now have in your inventory five CPU silicons
and three computer codes.)
Return to the previous
room and exit through the east corridor. Vault up into the opening to your
right, go through the open blue doorway and turn left into a familiar
passageway. Follow until you return to the main hub area, and go up the stairs
to your starting point. First, place the software codes on the three empty
scroll pads. This opens the blue door up on the gray ledge in the NE corner of this
room, so go there and enter for that CPU/GAME INTERFACE you saw earlier behind
the glass barrier. Now you need to raise some blocks so you can place the five
CPU silicons, so turn around and walk over to the adjacent platform. Pull the
chain once and you'll see a cutscene showing a rising block in front of a gem
receptacle (the one on the left in the south wall). Go over there and place one
of your CPU silicons, which causes another block to rise in the north wall.
Place the second CPU silicon and repeat until all five have been placed.
When the fifth CPU
silicon is snugly in place, a brief flyby shows you that purple translucent
blocks have appeared in the inky blackness beyond the NW opening, so go there
and jump the blocks until you reach the last one. Jump up, grab the climbing
surface, and climb up a long distance until you reach the top. Shift to your
right and around the corner, and pull up into a small upper room. Place the
CPU/Game Interface in the nearby receptacle to open the door to your left. Go
outside into a more traditional (TR-wise, that is) Egyptian environment. Run
forward into the exit trigger to end the level.