ESCAPE FROM THE TOWER

Level by Alphonse

Walkthough by Phil Lambeth

Begin at the end of a short passage near the top of the eponymous tower. Step forward and drop down onto the first of five long connected slopes. Allow Lara to slide down each one until she lands on a bottom floor near a wall receptacle. Go through the NE passage to a hub room with several closed doors. Continue around into the N passage as the S door slams shut behind you. Pull up onto the ledge in the next room, jump  over the water onto the next ledge for flares and take a running jump to grab the block ahead. Pull up for a large medipack and run to the end of the passage.

Mount the pole and climb up until the camera view changes. Swivel around, back flip into the upper passage and turn around to face a closed door. Pull up right into a dark crawl space and drop down the other side into a lower passage with a floor lever that opens the door you saw. Return to it and use the ladders to get W to the other side of the trench. Slide down (there's no trap here) and pull up for more flares. Hop up S, pick up the small medipack and crawl E to another pole. Climb down, take a few steps up the W ramp, stand with your back against the N wall and look up to see a small triangular crawl space.

Side flip right over the slope, face slightly left and stand jump to grab the opening. Pull inside and crawl to a floor hole, drop down and pick up the revolver ammo for SECRET #1. Return to the passage and make your way up the ramp. Pull up higher, jump up to grab the ceiling and monkey swing around the corner as the camera view changes. Drop down at the end and hop down near a pond. Use the rope to get across and enter the SE passage for shotgun ammo. Jump into the water hole and swim to a shaft leading upward. Surface, pull out into a room with columns and go through the E passage and up the steps to a small medipack.

Push the floor lever to open double doors in the hub room beyond the closed grate and continue along the passage to a lower crawl space. Follow around the corner to another floor lever that opens the nearby door and return to the hub room. Go past the opened E doors and crawl up the ramp past the dart traps. At the top, note the obvious boulder repository to your right and go carefully up the left side of the ramp to trigger two spikeballs up ahead. Reverse roll and dash to your right around the corner as the spikeballs roll by. Continue N up the ramp and come to a room with a central pool and a burning floor.

Get on the N raised slab and take a running jump to grab the W column. Pull up, jump the column tops in a counterclockwise direction and stand jump to grab the E slope. Pull up, slide down the other side and jump to grab the jutting ledge. Pull up and monkey swing over to the NE ledge to find a floor lever that opens the W double doors. Jump down into the pool, swim across and pull out near the W doorway and go down the ramp, jumping over two spike pits. At the bottom, pull up into the easily-missed crawl space at the SE corner and drop down the other side for the REVOLVER and SECRET #2.

Return to the passage, follow around the corner to shotgun ammo and another crawl space that brings you to a ledge overlooking a room with flame-protected columns. Note that the nearest column is safe. When you jump to it the flame on the next column goes on. There appears to be no timer involved, so take your time jumping the column tops and take a final running jump to grab the E ladder. Climb up and enter the S crawl space. Crawl around to a small room with a central plinth bearing THE HAND OF ORION. When you pick it up the E door opens, so go on through and follow to a slope.

Slide down, go up the ramp around the corner and continue to find your way blocked by a pushpiece. Push it two times, enter the revealed passage to your right and shoot the alcove vases in the next room for 2 x shotgun ammo and a large medipack, keeping your pistols drawn to deal with four scorpions that attack in pairs. There's a ceiling hole in the middle of the room, but you can't access it from down here, so go to the pushpiece and pull it two times S onto the marked tile to open the SE door behind you. Go up the steps, engage a ninja and come to a dead end. Find the pushpiece and push it two times into a room that appears identical to the previous one.

Go around shooting alcove vases to collect uzi ammo and awaken two scorpions. Note the central floor hole, go to the pushpiece and pull it two times N onto the marked tile to open the NE door behind you. Go up the steps, engage another ninja, continue to yet another pushpiece and push it two times into the next room. There are no alcove vases to shoot here, so move the pushpiece two more times S to open the SE door. Go up the steps to meet the inevitable ninja and continue forward for the dropped shotgun ammo. The next step will trigger spikes just ahead, so run past them and place The Hand of Orion to open the adjacent door.

Pull up into a larger room with many vases lined up against the walls. They're all empty, except that one hides a scorpion. Two mummies also roam the room, and as you're shooting the vases a half dozen additional scorpions will materialize at various times. When you're done, two ropes will appear, so use the S steps to run and jump to grab the first one. Swing and jump to grab the second rope, swing and jump to the N ledge and back into the crawl space. Safety drop near a dark passage, light a flare and crawl around to a small room. Take the CARTOUCHE PIECE 1 from the plinth and the E door to your right will open.

Follow the passage to a ledge guarded by a mummy. Lure him back to the previous room or simply turn right and run past him along the ledge into the next room. Jump E up the slope and jump to grab the rope, noting the floor hole below and the closed door ahead. Turn around in place, swing forward and jump off W to land on a small ledge in front of a floor lever that opens the E door. Safety drop to the ground, jump up the slope, jump to grab the rope once again and this time jump off E to land near the opened door. Go on through and find yourself in an outdoor area.

There are three openings in the S wall to your right. Avoid the two outer openings, as they will trigger spikeballs that drop onto you from above. Go through the middle one to trigger a spikeball higher up the slope that you can easily avoid. If you wish, you can then sprint down past the other two openings at an angle to safely trigger the remaining spikeballs. Search the blocks in this area for a small medipack and the UZIS. Return S to the previous area, climb the SW block for uzi ammo and jump the other blocks in a counterclockwise direction until you reach the one at the NW corner. Jump to grab the crack in the W wall and shimmy right past a fixed camera to an apparent crawl space for further activity. Don't pull up here, as it's a spike trap. Continue through another fixed camera to the corner.

There are two slopes here. Shimmy around the corner past the first slope (if you pull up here you'll get stuck inside and will have to reload) and pull up to slide down the N slope. Pull up higher and look between the ramps for a small medipack. Go up the W ramp and stand jump to grab the ceiling. Monkey swing around right to the N wall, drop and jump over toward the NW corner. Save your game, jump up to grab the monkey bars and follow the ceiling bars to a pole near a closed door. Release to grab (hopefully) the pole but don't slide down too far because of the spikes. Turn so that your back is to the alcove, back flip into the alcove and pull up N to find a floor lever that opens the nearby door.

Get down, hop into the W opening and pull up in front of a pit. Note the spikeball ahead, slide down into a floor hole to trigger the spikeball and pick up the UZIS. Pull up W, slide down the other side and jump over the spikeball. Turn to hop into the S opening and climb the E ladder so you can back flip onto a ledge for a large medipack and trigger some spikes. Face W, slide down the slope and jump over the spikes at the last instant to grab the ladder. Climb up to a ledge, hop down and proceed to a room with THE HAND OF SIRIUS on the central plinth. The E door opens when you pick it up, so proceed along a winding passage fraught with dead ends but no traps until you reach the SHOTGUN near a wall ladder.

Make sure you're at the center of the ladder and climb about halfway up until you can see a ledge behind you. Oops, there are spikes there as well, so climb to near the top and take a rolling back flip to grab a pole. Swivel around so you can back flip to a safe surface and watch the ensuing flyby. From wherever you landed, jump over to the W ledge where you can see a mummy beyond a closed door, hang from the edge and shimmy left as far as you can. Drop to grab the wall crack, shimmy right and pull into the crawl space. Drop down the other side and find the LASER SIGHT for SECRET #3.

Get back out, safety drop to the ground, reverse roll and go E to the ladder you just climbed. Do so again, back flip with a roll to grab the pole, back flip onto a safe tile and make your way across the room with jumps as appropriate to the N wall. Place The Hand of Sirius to open the double doors and enter the next room. Get up to the top of the central structure and shoot four vases to open a door below. Get down to the ground and push the floor lever in the S opening (cut scene of a closed door). Exit this room and make your way toward the NW corner of the previous room. Stand jump to grab the crawl space in the W wall, pull inside and drop down the other side.

Follow the passage, shoot a ninja and crawl past a crate to a place where you can stand up. Push the floor lever to your right to open the door near the mummy, reverse roll and climb the steps to an opening that overlooks the previous room. Safety drop to the ledge below, wait for the mummy to approach, run past him and the opened W doorway to find another floor lever that opens a door somewhere. Exit to the ledge, make your way with jumps to the SE corner where the spikes are, hang from the edge next to the E wall and drop to grab the crack. Shimmy left around the corner and pull into the crawl space.

Drop down the other side, reverse roll and push the floor lever to open the door you saw in the previous cut scene. Exit up the S ramp, shoot another ninja around the corner and continue up some steps to another opening that overlooks the previous room. Safety drop to the ledge, make your way with jumps toward the N double doors, but loop around right past the closed door and pull up S into the opening you saw in the cut scenes. Take CARTOUCHE PIECE 2 from the plinth and the E door opens. Pull into the opening where you started this level and slide down the five connected slopes once again. Combine the pieces and place the BA CARTOUCHE in the receptacle to open the E double doors. Exit to the bright outdoors and make your escape.