The Elements
By Martin Homa

Walkthrough by Robin Burgess [rjb]

 

 

Abbreviations: CPS = crawlspace; SG = shotgun; pfm = platform; bec = because; psg = passage;
J&C = ‘jump & cling’ (eg ‘J&C lever’); RJ&C = ‘run, jump & cling’; R&J = ‘run & jump’;
SJ = ‘standing jump’; N & W = ‘normal’ & ‘wideshot’ (as in SG shells); WT = wall-torch; AH = air-hole (when underwater); PP = pressure pad/plate; MS = moveable structure; bflp = backflip; smslt = somersault (so: ‘bflp-smslt’ also); SmJ = smoke jet; :. = therefore.


Note: sometimes when this game is loaded, the white-robed ninja guards (RGs) that you’ll be meeting (!!) have uzis that fire, & zap poor Lara, but which don’t make a sound! (If you don’t have this problem, skip the rest of this para.) To correct this, you can try either: (1) Going to your trle\sound\LevelSFX Creator folder and then double clicking on the SFX_Example, followed by converting the .TOM file again, before re-booting a savegame; or (2) by running the ‘Playable Tutorial Level’ from the LE CD, to ensure the same type of robed ninjas in that game do fire their guns, with appropriate sound, & then re-installing this level.

 

Start: 3 SMPs, 1 LMP, 3 flares to begin, on a snowy plateau within a large enclosed space. Blocks, doors, a statue. A hole far above @ far end. Closed gate @ near RH corner to another large enclosed, walled space - water below? & an openg @ far side? A hole/receptor (NOT beetles!) @ mid rt. High dbl doors further rt. Statue @ left immovable (& also one @ far LH end). (Hear footsteps?) Laser sight & loaded Revolver (6 rnds) on LH ice block. RH ‘slopg to wall’ block ‘bug’ ‘keeps Lara in posn’. Block-steps (to openg?) up @ far centre-rt. Above ‘face’ blocks 2nd closed gate to huge stone-block-lined ‘alcove’. (Seems to be high openg @ LH end.)

 

2 blocks up @ far end & down to alcove-pit with loaded Shotgun (6 [N] shells) & a lever (raises the gate above the ‘face’ blocks). Opng above highest pt of blocks @ rt. (Back of blocks in alcove is a ladder.) At top of blocks, uzi-carrying robed guard (RG) appears (drops nothg) - seems to appear only AS climbg back up from lever-alcove (OR if jump up to ‘scorpion’ ledge; in this latter case, he may shoot from the main plateau area) - can attack from above as HE climbs blocks (nb. SHOWN walkg/patrollg RG AS operate lever in alcove-pit to raise 2nd gate). Ah! A 2nd RG appears behind the 1st, below steps & he drops some rev.rnds - would come across these when returned to opened gates. Can J&C diag.left to opng & E 2 scorpions (don’t appear until climb on to ledge) & 10 poison crossbow bolts on ledge (only appears AFTER have killed BOTH scorpions - a neat touch, the poison crossbow bolt-carryg scorpions!). (nb. This lever & next can be opertd > once.)

 

E a higher opng still, ldg to small, darker room, with a vase (contains [W] shotgun shells), a lever (raises 1st RH gate seen - another neat touch is that if scorpions not killed, then they appear in the foregrnd off scene shown) & a farther opng. Farther opng leads to block-steps down & can see a SMP just below. Orig.sq that hoisted up to now with a fire on it (lights up room :.) - but E other ways to hoist up, so way is not blocked. At bottom of blocks down past SMP is a tall single closed door @ rt, so now to one of 2 opened gates. Seems E 4 RGs altog. 2 are started when go to uppermost area/room, one in ‘lever pit’ & the other as explore - far psg for SMP? 2 new RGs drop a Crossbow (loaded w.10 [N] bolts) and 10 EXPLOSIVE crossbow bolts! CAN deal with all 4 on top of ‘ladder’ block below scorpion ledge w/o ANY energy loss bec.RGs climb separately or in 2s, if use shotgun (2 shots for 1st RG), rev.(4 shots for next 2 RGs), & shotgun (2 shots for last RG).

 

If go to openg above ‘face’ blocks, hang & cling down - cannot return up - V.high roofed psg. 1st RG around RH corner drops (N) shotgun shells & 2nd, rnd next RH corner, drops Hand of Sirius. Can wait just before each corner & use (4) [W] shtgn shells (2 each as close to them). After 1st wall, sides of psg are walls with tops just out of Lara’s reach. Round 2nd RH corner is ladder up. Can see E next wall has slope down away from 1st. Below this, in psg, E 3 flames. Also see SMP in middle of ‘stove flames’ (SF) - decoy? - on present wall top. (Nb. When come back for this later, find that SF have gone out & CAN pick it up. In fact, able to pick it up on 1st run - phps needed to shoot vase - or if save & reload just before SF ‘blanked out’. Hmm. Seems OK to pick up @ any time - phaps a double bluff with smoulderg smoke!?) Need to jump over wall & slide down fwds, then jump across flames below (need to be in middle of slope) or slide down bckwds & cling to lower edge, then hoist & bkflp. 1st E a vase @ end of dark psg with Cartouche Piece 2 within.

 

When bkflp over middle flame (nb. E places betw.flames where CAN stand) land, just, on safe platfm (pfm) in front of 2 more flames. E crevice @ extreme left to hoist up to & shimmy rt past 2 new flames. (In fact, can RJ&C @ one side safely past 2 flames to reach further pfm.) Ladder down beyond & another RG below. In ‘cave’ beyond E flares (dropped by RG?), 2 more flames, closed single door @ far RH end & receptor for Hand of Sirius @ left. H of S opens door & see ladder beyond. Upper psg @ rt has huge sarcoph.& E RG beyond (drops more flares), by low crawlspace (CSP), where can see ice beynd. E also psg to rt - contin past sarcoph. 2 scorps in dark psg beyond - see opng @ far end. As go along psg E 2 more scorps & RG in LH alcove (drops [N] shotgun shells). Vase in RH alcove, when broken, reveals 2nd receptor for (eg) Hand of Sirius ‘star’. 3rd alcove @ left empty, but E closed tall single door @ RH side @ end off psg - that may be one seen from high dark room below steps, past 1st scorps - E invis. block in front of door.

 

Back, thro’ CSP, ice-walled room dark & E 2 more scorps coming from left. At rt, on top of long, low ledge, in centre, is Hand of Orion (for receptor seen?) - another ‘catch’ bug @ RH end of ledge - exactly as before, Lara ‘catches’ in posn & need to reload. E a vase in dark on ledge @ far end - contains nothing - but conceals alcove beyond, with (W) shotgn shells & SMP. Return thro’ CSP, go left along to alcove with receptor. (In fact, E 3 vases, one in each alcove, none containg anything - thought th 2nd conceals the receptor.) Hand of Orion DOES open door. Another RG from behind comes to ‘receptor alcove’ as go towards door (drops [W] shotgn shells). Door IS @ bottom of high ‘steps’ seen from ice-lever room & E another scorpn on top step - though it doesn’t go into main room. Can go down to orig. room where began w/o any further RG ambush.

Going towards 1st gate, now see E a pool within large room beyond door. (Nb. E dbl doors and ‘receptor’ hole to rt of doors still to deal with here - so have to return @ some point. Guess that will find 2nd cartouche piece this way, to combine with 1st found other way, to fit in ‘receptor’ hole, to open doors.) Hoist up exit is @ far diag.corner - when enter room with opengs etc. Oppos.this openg is a slide down from higher up into the water, & can see also E an opng off to the rt just above the bottom of the slide - an alternatv, or aim to reach this when coming down slide?

 

In room seem to be 3 higher ledges & water surrounds brick pillar in centre. From the water channel, entrance to tunnel @ one side that looks like could be start of a maze - low CSP-size opngs lead off central ‘room’ where E just an air space - to return to every now & again, phaps. The 3 channels all have difft floor coverings. From the ‘entrance’ dirn, LH side floor is darker pink/grey, fwd is lighter pink, RH side has a line down centre of dark grey floor. (E a v.tall ladder on one side of brick pillar, from which cld presum.bflp to each of the 3 levels, if careful.)

 

RH channel leads to small area where E a closed gate @ left, thro’ which can see lever in room & opng to ice @ rt, & high dble width ladder up ahead - can hear footsteps (patrolling RG @ top?). Can see opng above ladder & more ice? At top E large ice cavern with pillars etc. Ground some way below - can see some uzi clips - prob.@ level of bottom of ladder. RG patrols by nearest high ice pillar. Centre tunnel becomes slightly higher, then E air hole round RH corner. Tunnel contins rnd LH corner next, then come to what v.def.looks like maze, with stone-brick walls to tunnel. Rnd LH corner, can see 3 opngs immed.: one left, one rt & one ahead & to the rt - quick investig.shows further turns/opngs from some of these 1st opngs. Save till later! LH tunnel also becomes higher & is entirely straight. Air hole @ end & can see room with many grey pillars @ RH side. As enter, RG (drops uzi clips) appears ahead some way. If go to far end of room , see 2nd room off to left, with grey & dark pink checked floor, & can see that E a further openg @ far end, also @ left.

 

As enter room, find that nearest pink/grey sq.is ‘hot’/flame trap! So are many others, grey & pink. Both corner sqs are OK, as is 2nd RH-most sq. Using both of these do long R&J, to land on 5th sq @ RH-most side of room (pink). Next pink sq (sq 7) is OK @ rt too. Note that LH route is only one long so far as can see briefly - destination is LH corner, so we’re going @ RT of room! Sq 7 2 rows across to left is OK (sideflp or simple jump). Next, need to reach pink sq 6 of LH-most row. Can go to back of present sq & jump AS reach front of sq (‘front’ as considered when going to left). This shows that certain sqs can tread on v.edge, so that flame starts, but Lara is far enough away not to catch alight herself. Discover here that grey sq 4 of 2nd left row is safe. From LH corner sq need to jump diag.rt w/o settg off flames - run along diag of sq 1 in LH-most corner; WHEN safely there can do another ‘knight’ move (simple jump) to pink sq 6 of LH-most row, as discov.from RH (easier) route. Last 2 moves are difft again. Go fwd to near front edge BETW sqs 6 on left & 2nd left rows, make a simple jump fwd to sqs 8 (several flames wil be set off but Lara should be safe if keep strictly to ‘line’ betw sqs). Repeat the simple jump, but go to pink sq 10 on LH-most row.

Can see wide, shallow steps up thro’ exit, with 3 vases & lever @ top. As start up steps E RG hidden behind 2nd (LH) vase. Looks like RG drops (W) shotgun shells (no, they are there anyway) & E some rev.rnds @ top just beyond lever. (RG only appears when reach 2nd step.) Nothing in any of vases. (Discover later that it is poss.to jump along the whole flmes route by going ‘along the cracks’ with judicious jumps, tryg to reach corners betw sqs etc. Starts a lot of flames that way!) Lever operates/raises a gate - in a water channel? - not clear. Pink ground in tunnel/psg, dark grey roof, ‘yellow’ stone walls - so this is NOT the same as the underwater maze tunnels. This kind of lever (like the others used so far) would need to operated ‘in the dry’, also.

 

Can hoist up beyond lever @ left & go along psg (dark @ 1st) to reach top of slide down to large pool passed earlier - where saw the slide. If careful, can jump to left as go down slide to land on blue pfm that saw also from below. This leads to long str.psg w.many unlit wall-torches, & dark in one part, with empty vase midway, & a lever in a room @ far end, with the Uzi Gun(s) (loaded w. 30 rnds) and a sq of water @ the rt that joins up with the water-tunnel maze. E an RG back in psg who approa.when reach room, before operate lever (drops uzi clips - if shoot this RG such that he drops into the water as he ‘perishes’, then his uzi clips are also to be found in the water) & if go back to far end of str.psg then E another @ end (drops nothing). (Both activ.when 1st reach room @ end.) Lever seems to raise gate in a difft type of psg - tho’ same size as prev.psg: grey/pink floor, w.pale cream? slightly damaged walls, and the ‘yellow’ stone ‘brick-work’ is part of the roof & end wall. Can see another lever and poss.uzi clips in front of it. (Call this stonework ‘Inca walls’.)

 

Find this 2nd gate is on ‘1st floor’ in chamber w.brick-pillar ladder & surroundg pool - backflp off directly to short psg with this v.gate, & the lever etc beyond. To RH side of orig.entrance to this room E wide gate with shotgun shells beyond, then another gate - suggests E more than one gate to raise here, phaps with other levers. Could be 3 gates, & phaps some crossbow bolts to pick up beyond. Other 1st floor ledges contain nothing. Seems as tho’ gate that 1st lever raised is to be found in psg - a bit more convoluted - on 2nd floor. E some (N) shotgun shells in a vase @ the rt, where psg becomes dark, & LH psg leads to (prob.what is) ‘1st lever’ gate. In front of both gates is one of those invisible blocks, sugg.initially that would open gate from other side - now know not necy so. Again, nothing on other 3 ledges around central pillar.

 

At top of ladder = top of pillar, see E another wide closed gate to left - as viewed from ladder. This time E a lever within, & a vase to its rt (so that we can rcognise it when the gate is opened some- where, hopefully) on a checked floor, with plain ‘cream’? Walls & the curious ‘Atlantis’ type ceiling pattern seen elsewhere. Cannot shoot vase thro’ gate, & again, nothing else on any of the ledges. Dropping from top of pillar to water - so E 3 gates to open here & have found 2 of levers - one via LH water tunnel (& ‘flame sqs’), one notionally via water maze, tho’ can reach it from ‘flame’ sqs’ route - E MANY items to pick up in the water maze - & phaps one in ice-pillar chamber.

 

Going along to latter, find that when R&J to 1st ice pillar, E @ least 3 other RGs, 2 fwd left, one diag rt, that are activated, & start shooting, & gradually approach by jumpg from one lower pillar to another. Judging by locatn, looks as tho’ 1st RG drops some (W) shotgn shells, & saw that one of others dropped some (N) shotgn shells. Seems as tho’ RG @ rt dropped some (P) crossbow bolts. Many pillars, incl. 1st, higher from ground than seem. At least 3 deep crevasse-type holes @ RH side to avoid. One of RGs drops more (W) shotgn shells. E one furthr RG when low down.
When go to room that saw thro’ gate @ bottom of ladder, find that lever opens this, & 2 more RGs appear from main chamber, thro’ opng. (One drops (P) crossbow bolts & the other drops some uzi clips.) As go fwd @ left of cavern, 2 more RGs appear - one drops rev.rnds - or might be 1 of 1st gp (1st guess corr). One of pits @ left, here, is shallow, with a LMP within (no, dropped by an RG). Saw @ one point E a spiked ball ready to roll down a RH slope. Just as writing ‘need to use flares to avoid crevasses’, so fall down one! All in all, this sms to be the mst diffclt (w.respect to advrsries) of 3 routes, so leave this till last. Maze is long, but seems to be just a case of ‘mappg’ it.

 

(Note to PDL: I‘m not convinced the following is the best way to help someone else go through a maze!) Maze: From ‘Junction’: Fwd, rt corner, air-hole (AH), fwd, left corner, L-turn a or R-turn b slightly further, or fwd RL chicane. R-T & fwd RL chic.join up. Going to rt 1st, rt again c leads to LMP in cul-de-sac (CDS). (Going to leave all items in place @ 1st, to identify locatns.) Left @ next turn, AH, then fwd to rev.rnds, then 2 L-Ts brings to extension of RL chicane seen. E a long psg off this (to rt from this dirn, left d from orig.dirn) & an AH part way along. Going back to orig. L-T a, this is also a LONG str. psg, parallel to psg just seen.

 

Going along orig.L-T: LONG psg fwd, to empty LH alcove, so effectively LR chicane e to immed. T-junctn f, where (N) shotgn shells in LH alcove & rt to another, more complex junctn g. Left is AH where E opng to rt h & fwd is 3 L-Ts to (W) shotgn shells + SMP. Going next back to OTHER long psg d, one with AH (left) off ‘RL chic.fwd’, just past AH is opng to rt i, where see E a pink sq on the LH wall. Just before the pink sq, E another opng @ rt j & fwd come to some uzi clips. Past AH AND RH opening i, go fwd to T-jnctn k. At T-junctn k, if go rt, go fwd & left corner to CDS.

 

Left @ T-junctn come to another L-T l immed. (if go along this, E an empty RH alcove part way along, then immed.round rt corner to uzi clips in alcove) & rt corner just past it. Beynd rt cornr, come to another T-junctn m, where left leads to ‘complex junctn’ g mentioned as coming from 1st LONG psg.

Going to RH opng h, come to almost immed.RL chicane with SMP IN chicane. Fwd a short dist.to another T-junctn n, where left leads immed.to another T-junctn o. Rt @ T-junctn o leads to a further T-junctn p, where left is an alcove with a LMP AND an AH. Left @ T-junctn o leads to a short RL chicane-psg that becomes a CDS. Rt @ T-junctn n leads to rt corner & psg fwd, round back to junction m, close to ‘complex junctn’ g. Returning to pink sq on wall, opng @ rt j goes fwd to junctn q, where ahead is small empty alcove & left, go past empty ‘dbl size’ alcove @ left, then fwd to T-junctn r. Left @ junctn r leads to left corner & immed.alcove with uzi clips.

 

Rt @ junctn r leads to 2 RH opngs s and t that join up round v.small ‘block’, where far left opng @ other side of ‘block’ has rev.rnds AND AH. Fwd from junctn r, past opngs s and t, leads to 2 left corners & AH in LH alcove just past 2nd L-corner. Past LH AH alcove, LR chicane leads to another LONG psg, with empty alcove on immed.rt, SMP in 2nd RH alcove, & junctn u @ left, a little bit past this. Thro’ junctn u, E an immed. T-junctn z AND an AH. Going past junctn u, to end of psg, rt corner to reach AH that is room with lever that found by jumping left off slide from ‘flames’ rm.

 

‘Tidying up’, p & z still to investigate. Rt @ junctn p leads to opng @ left y. Fwd from y leads to left corner & rev.rnds in alcove. Left @ y leads to almost immed. ‘crossroads’ x, where rt is empty alcove & left joins up with left arm of T-junctn w just ahead of ‘crossrds’, going round another small ‘block’. Rt @ junctn w leads to psg with AH & opng immed.to left. This is same AH as found when was en route to ‘lever room’, so this AH is the one @ junctn z, and only remaining psg to check now is the one that leads past the AH on the route we’re currently taking, or left @ junctn z, if we’ve just come from the junctn u, in the ‘en route to the lever room’ psg. And this final psg goes to a rt-corner, then immed.to some uzi clips in an alcove.

 

So if we pick up all items to be found in the underwater maze (5 paras!), we should collect: 2 LMPs, 3 SMPs, 4 sets of uzi clips, 3 boxes of rev.rnds, one (N) & one (W) box shotgun shells. Theoret.a good route would be to go to the ‘flames’ room 1st, then use the slide space to reach the 2nd lever room, then navigate the watery maze to pick up everything, then go to the ice pillars cavern, after we have all this extra ammo. So a route from the ‘2nd lever’ room to the main ‘water-junctn exit’, where J = junctn, A = Air-hole, U = uzi clips, S = SMP, R = rev.rnds, L= LMP, W = (W) shotgn shells & N = (N) shotgn shells, could follow the path (next page - might be map available!):
Js u, A, z to U, back thro Js z, A, u to S, along past A, to J t to R (with A), past Js s, r to U, past Js r, q, j (pink sq) to U, past Js j, I (by A), k, l to (final) U. Then past Js l, m, n, o, p, y to R, thn back across Js y, p to L (with A), then past Js p, o, n to S, then on past J h (with A) to W + S. Bk to J h (with A), pst Js g, f to N, then past Js f, e, a, b, c to R, then back past J c to last pickup L, before going past Js c, b, a to A and further to ‘junction-exit’. (So don’t need to pass Js d, w or x.)

 

Can theoret.do swim with 3 or 4 ‘AH stops’ altogether (nb. Only discov. SMP with [W] shotgun shells when did swim itself, bec.didn’t pick items up when ‘mapping’ maze - cldn’t find any other egs of 2 items on one spot - nb.2: only 1st LMP[s] picked up.) From exit can then swim left towards ice cavern, to reach bottom of ladder. At the top, if quick, can despatch 1st patrolling RG with 2 [N] ([W] doesn’t work @ a distance) shotgun shells. Can then R&J to tall pillar, when 4/5 RGs activated. If immed.crouch in centre of top, then seems none of RGs can shoot. Can then try to R&J back to opng above ladder (lower, & need to ‘cling’ as land), & even then roll, which will take Lara down, out of sight onto the ladder itself (if clinging!). Then can hoist back up & go to one side, so as to plan strategy, now RGs roaming below. (Laser-sighted crossbow/revolver?)

Prob.need revolver for most of the RGs, at least to start, bec. E so many - espec. one to rt of entrance, & one who tends to patrol below centre. If then R&J back to tall ice pillar, can see one @ far left - will shoot if give him time - & one directly below where v.1st one patrolled. E sev.ways off high pillar - slide @ left or run to steep slope @ diag.rt eg. In pillars/slopes of ice E a number of ‘faces’ of the ice missing when looked @, at certain angles (missed by author presum).

 

Then E 2 more RGs when go towards RH side of cavern by wide crevasse beneath large overhang - & they jump across the crevasse - which Lara cannot. Can see with binocs that one of these drops rev.rnds & the other (W) shotgn shells. Fort. These new RGs approa. from the side, so take time to turn around and shoot with their uzis - can shoot all prev. 4 with shotgun if careful.

 

At LH side of cavern, @ back now, E another RG as reach block - he climbs over block, so can ‘zap’ him then (drops [P] crossbow bolts). From top of block can jump rt to higher block for SMP. It is poss.to jump diag. left over high, steep slopg edge to dark area @ very back of cave, when can access what 2 RGs across crevasse dropped. E a lever here in a shallow pit. Can mky-swg back to earlier part of cavern across crevasse - half of overhang is mky-swg. Lever does raise gate on the top floor in the central tower & pool area - recognise vase & new lever. See that mky-swg is, in fact, in RL chicane shape. Looks as tho’ E no way back to high 1st pillar, so have to go to lever rm below @ rt (from this dirn) where can anticipate the 2 final RGs (drpg [P] crossbow bolts & uzi clips as noted above, v.top p.4) - can use (W) shotgun shells here bec.they come rt up to Lara as they rush into lever cave. Note that invis.block is still @ LH side of gate until lever raises it.

 

When return to ‘tower’ room & bkflp off ladder to 1st floor, find that E 2 sets of uzi clips in front of lever. Lever opens 1st of 3 wide gates @ floor/pool level, & can see (W) shotgun shells @ rt. 2nd floor lever, along long, turng psg, opens 2nd gate (remembrg [N] shotgn shells in vase @ rt - noted @ para.4 of p.3), & 3rd floor lever opens 3rd gate, revealing a room with MANY lots of ammo to pick up, it seems, beyond. And the vase @ the side of the 3rd floor lever contains further rev. Rnds. E 2 scorps as enter room below (via pool), and (W) shotgun shells -noted already - & a SMP, that were betw. gates 1 & 2 (missed the latter), 10 more (P) crossbow bolts, betw gates 2 & 3, & beyond gate 3: SMP & LMP together, 2 boxes of rev.rnds, 10 EXPLOSIVE crossbow bolts & (N) shotgun shells together (have to crawl to retrieve) and finally, @ rt, Cartouche piece 1. Combine the 2 cartouche pieces to make the ‘Ba cartouche’. Where might that go?!

 

When leave ‘tower’ room with all ‘goodies’ and return via shallow pool to 1st plateau ice room, discover no less than 5 RGS waiting there - 3 with backs turned initially - then see E 2 others, one @ extreme left & one further away. Clearly no choice but to use revolver or explosive crossbow bolts, & take some ‘damage’ - 2 rev.rnds for each RG or 4 explosive crossbow bolts should do it. When open the double doors by placing the Ba cartouche into the receptor, then shown a large desert area, with a jeep, that might be final stage of game. Yes. As soon as step through doorway, onto 2nd section of rock/sand, game goes to loading screen.