Tomb Raider2 Gold

LEVEL 4: KINGDOM

• Kills: 24*
• Items: 45 plus
• Secrets: 3

The level begins with a view of the cage from outside. Several ape-men are running around outside. (I'm not sure what the designers' intention was here, but I'll refer to them as sasquatches--the Pacific Northwest's version of the Abominable Snowman, also known as "Bigfoot." If you've played TR2, you'll recognize these as redecorated Tibetan Yeti.)

CAGE AND THREE CAVES: Slide the movable box toward the gold square on the floor and get the flares underneath. (Watch out for the lit burner.) Push the box onto the gold square to open the trapdoor. Pull the switch to open the cage door. Get up on the blocks. The 3 sasquatches can climb up to reach you, but this will buy you a little time to shoot them as they enter the cage and come around the trapdoor to climb up near the switch. (NOTE: Grendades work well for the sasquatches, however, I found I got a skewed kills count when I used them--double the actual count.)

Before going into the trapdoor, exit the cage and explore a bit. There are Uzi clips on the ground near the door, plus more flares and a small med-pack on the rocks to the left. As you scout the area, another sasquatch emerges from the cave on the left. When you've killed it, enter the caves. The right cave contains a box of shotgun shells (and a view of the area near the end of the level). The middle cave has more shells and a spike pit, and the left cave, a large med-pack. When you pick it up, you'll need to deal with another sasquatch who comes down from the cage area.

Return to the trapdoor in the cage and climb down the ladder. Drop onto the gold block below the ladder; it's safe.

UNDERGROUND CAVE WITH POOLS OF WATER AND GOLD: Go around to the right and jump into the pool of water. Surface and climb out on the ledge near the gold panel with the face. Climb onto the ledge to the right of the panel. Continue into a short hallway where you'll find Uzi clips, M-16 clips and a small med-pack. Turn around, walk forward and find another ledge on the right. Climb onto it and follow the passage back around to the pools of bubbling gold.

Jump to the square ledge jutting into the pool on the right. From there, take a running jump to the alcove with the shotgun shells. Take another running jump back to the ledge. Look into the next room where there's another pool of molten gold with several angled blocks in it. Take a standing jump onto the right side of the rectangular slope, slide forward and jump to land on the flat spot in the far right corner.

Go up the ramp, climb onto the high ledge on the left. Go around the left side of the orange structure, kill the sasquatch and pick up some shotgun shells. (From the alcove where the sasquatch was hiding you can see the gold coins.) Climb/slide down the rocks on the other side of the orange structure to the opening. Drop down into another cage.

NETWORK OF CAGES WITH SWITCHES: This section is illustrated in the diagram kingdom.gif.
Each switch is numbered (1 through 6); each door is labeled with a letter (A through G). When you begin, all gates are closed, all switches in the up position. Pull switch #1 (in the cage where you start) to open doors A and B. Go through door A, which you just opened, and pull switch #2 in the next cage to open door C (ahead) and close door A. Go through door C into the next cage and pull switch #3 to open doors D and E, and close door B. If the leopard in the cage at the far right (bottom of the diagram) went into the adjacent cage (bottom left of diagram, with pool) when door B was opened, it will now be able to reach you.

Go through door D, pick up the shotgun shells, and pull switch #4 to open the exit door. (If you like, you can wait for the leopard to go through that door and close it again to lock him in while you explore.) Go back through doors D and C, then through door E into the cage with the pool. Pull switch #5, which opens doors A, F and G. Use switch #1 again to open B (it also closes A, but you can exit through G). Go through door B and pull switch #6 to open door H (it also closes F). This lets in the second leopard if he's not locked behind the exit door. Use switch #5 again to reopen door F (and also open A and close G). If you didn't leave the exit door open, use switch #4 to reopen it. Go through doors H and F, grabbing the automatic pistol clips from the pool and the small med-pack on the ground near the exit door.

AREA ABOVE THE CAGES: Go through the exit door and to the left. Slide down the ramp and jump to grab the ladder. Climb all the way down to the spikes. Let go and walk through the spikes to get the Uzi clips. Climb back up the ladder and to the left, where you can dismount on a spiked ledge. Turn around, walk through the spikes, and take a standing jump over the opening to the ledge beyond. Now you can get the flares and automatic pistol clips you saw through the grates from below (and another glimpse of the gold coins through the bars).

Go up the stairs (in the corner near the two floor grates) and along the hallway to a T intersection. Go left at the T. Don't jump over the ramp ahead or Lara will land on the spiked ledge. Instead take a standing jump up onto the flat spot on the right, where you'll find the automatic pistol clips. Hop back down and follow the hallway down the stairs to SECRET #1-the gold coins.

Taking the coins opens the trapdoor. Now there's a sasquatch running around in the cages below. You may be able to hang from the opening to draw it out and shoot it from above, but this is time consuming. When you're ready, drop down into the cage. Return to the exit door and this time follow the footprints up the long ramp up to the right.

TREES AND WOODEN BRIDGES: Climb the rocks to the orange opening. When you take the large med-pack near the skeleton 2 sasquatch charge up the hill. Take care of them, then jump down to the flat area. Avoid sliding into the pit of molten gold. Take a standing jump up to the flat spot in the center of the clump of trees. Another sasquatch charges in from the left. (For some reason, he's able to withstand the heat of the bubbling pool.) You can easily pick him off as he approaches.

Now walk out onto the wooden bridge. Turn left and do a tricky running jump across the pool to grab the dark green ledge with the automatic pistol clips on it. To line up this jump, position Lara at the back edge of the bridge with her left hand just touching the bridge support. Don't get too close to the support or she'll knock into it when you do the running jump, and she won't make it to the ledge. Pull up, grab the clips, then go to the back of the ledge. Take a running jump to the angled stone ledge against the back wall. Slide back, grab the edge, and traverse as far as you can to the left. Pull up. Go around to the left and take a diagonal standing jump to grab the edge of the next wooden bridge. Pull up and cross the bridge. (NOTE: If this jump is too tricky, position Lara at the right side of the doorway with the bridge on her left. Take a standing jump to the sloped stone wall and hold the Jump key to land on the bridge.)

Take a careful standing jump to the ledge with SECRET #2, the gold bars. (NOTE: Make sure you give Lara enough room to jump; it's easy to overshoot this ledge and land on the ramp behind. Then you'll have to reload or come all the way back around.) After getting the coins, slide down the ramp and take a standing jump to the root with the M-16 clips. Walk up to the peak of the root. Turn to face the orange opening where you started, and take a running jump (don't press Action, or you won't make it) to the green-and-brown ledge.

Jump back up to the ledge between the trees and, this time, go all the way across the wooden bridge. Look to the left across the stream of gold to locate the ledge with the pacing Inuit warrior. Take a running jump to grab the edge of the ledge. Pull up and follow the warrior to a barred window with a small med-pack. Take a running jump back to the path and go to the left to enter the building.

BUILDING WITH GOLD 'X' PATHWAY: Inside is a hallway with barred windows surrounding a large room with an X-shaped golden path. Go down the hall to the right. Near the end you'll find some grenades. Come back to the entrance. On the way, you'll see a switch on the right. Pull it to open a trapdoor in the room with the X path. A mercenary drops down into the room.

Continue past the entrance to a pair of switches. Use the one on the left first. This opens 3 doors in the X-path room, letting in 3 Inuit warriors. After they finish off the mercenary, pull the right switch. This opens the door into the X-path room.

Go in and pick up the large med-pack. Doing this opens the gold door at the end of the hallway outside, releasing a sasquatch. Unfortunately the Inuit aren't much help here, but cross to the far corner of the room from the entrance, you'll have plenty of time to blast the sasquatch before it reaches Lara. (Again, just be careful not to accidentally target the warriors.) Climb back into the doorway to shoot the sniper in the cage above.

Go down the hall to the right (where the sasquatch came from), picking up some automatic pistol clips on the way. Go through the gold door and get the Uzi clips at the back of the room. Slide down the ramp with the greenery. Don't rush forward; it's a long drop.

TREETOPS: The grunting sounds should alert you to the presence of a couple of sasquatches in the treetops above. There are a few different ways you can explore this area. I'll suggest one possible sequence. Jump to the green ledge ahead, then take a running jump to the next ledge to get the flares. Jump back (over the wooden bridge) to the previous ledge. Walk to the right end and take a standing jump to grab the shorter wooden bridge. Pull up and walk to the higher end. If you turn around here and look up, you may be able to shoot the sasquatches with the M-16 from below. They run around quite a bit and don't come near the opening often, but even if you only get in a few shots, they'll be easier to kill when you reach the top.

Jump to grab the ladder on the tree. First climb down. Near the bottom, backflip off the ladder to land on the ledge behind. Take a standing jump from the BACK of the ledge to the molten gold square with 2 pairs of grenades. This square is safe; the rest of the pool is burning hot. Jump back to the ledge, then jump to grab the ladder.

Climb all the way to the top. Kill the sasquatches and pick up small med-pack. Jump over to the skeleton. There are automatic pistol clips among the bones of the second skeleton and M-16 clips nearby. Mind the gaps; it's a long way down. Climb down the ladder near the second skeleton to get another small med-pack. (NOTE: Instead of climbing the first ladder, you could climb this second ladder from the lower rope bridge to get to the sasquatches. However, when I tried this, they almost always reached Lara and knocked her off the ledge before she could kill them.)

Stand at the right side of the ledge where you got the med-pack facing the ladder. Light a flare and side flip onto the gold ramp. When Lara lands on the dark slope, slide and jump the gap to land on another gold slope (perpendicular to the dark one). Slide to the bottom and pick up the shotgun shells.

(NOTE: If you begin from the treetops, stand where you got the M-16 clips. Then jump onto the gold ramp at the top, near the panel with the gold face, facing uphill. As Lara slides through the turns, she'll end up facing downhill. If you miss the jump to the second golden slope, you'll slide down to the right. Either reload a saved game or keep sliding, jump and veer to the left at the very end to avoid landing in the molten gold. You'll end up at the bottom of the forest near where you got the grenades. Climb back up the ladder to the top.)

GOLD WALKWAY WITH TRAPDOORS: Stand Lara on the golden panel with the face, with her back to the slope. Turn a little to the right and take a diagonal standing jump to the gold ledge. Follow the walkway with the opening and closing trapdoors. As you round the bend after the first trapdoor, 2 sasquatches emerge from the dark hole ahead. Back up while shooting, taking care not to step off into the molten gold. Go into the opening the sasquatches came from. When you approach the small med-pack, a third sasquatch attacks. You'll find some shotgun shells and Uzi clips in the dark areas off to the sides, but watch out for the spike pits.

Return to the first trapdoor. If it's not open, hop over to the ledge near the entrance to open it. Then take a running jump into the open trapdoor. The gold floor here is safe. Follow the passage to a ladder. Climb to the level of the orange ledge, back flip onto the ledge behind, then climb onto the orange ledge.

ROOM WITH GOLDEN SLOPES AND FOUR GOLD 'WATERFALLS': In this room, you need to work your way around the golden slopes counter-clockwise from the entrance to the gold panel on the opposite side. (NOTE: You're aiming for the plain, square gold panel between the slopes, not the ornate gold door in the corner.)

Slide down the ramp to the right to land on a flat spot. Take a running jump across the flowing stream of gold to the next flat square. Position Lara at the MIDDLE of the square and turn about 45 to the left. Take a standing jump to a more or less flat spot below (at the lower middle of the golden slope). Turn so the pool of molten gold is ahead and to Lara's left. Take a standing jump from the BACK of the flat square to another flattish spot two squares ahead (at the bottom corner of the slope). Take a running jump across the gold stream to the flat block one square higher and to the right.

Turn right to face uphill. Take a standing jump from the top edge of the flat square to ledge at the base of the ramp. (The gold stream will be on the right.) Turn left (the ledge with the gold door will be ahead and above) and take a standing jump to the flattish spot above and to the left on the hillside. Walk to the top of the flat spot and from there, jump up to the long slope and slide down to the flat spot near the molten gold stream with the flat, gold panel above it. Take a diagonal standing jump onto the ledge in front of the gold panel, and the panel will shatter.

Inside is a small room with some items lying on the floor. Be careful only to walk on the squares below the shiny gold ceiling squares. All the other squares are burning hot. Walk forward, take the flares, and kill the leopard that charges in from the next room. Get the small med-pack, then return to the square where you got the flares. Turn so the opening where the break-away panel was is now on Lara's left. Take a running jump to the safe square near the wall ahead. Turn left and take another running jump to SECRET #3, the gold skull. Jump back from one safe square to another and enter the orange room with the stairs.

Go up the stairs to emerge through the gold door above the gold-hill room. Slide down the ramp ahead (not the one on the right) to land on the flat spot below. Take a running jump across the gold stream. Climb up to the ledge on the left with several small, square alcoves. In the corner you'll find the exit ramp. Slide down and you'll land on the gold square with the face at the bottom of the TREETOPS area. (NOTE: If you slide facing uphill and grab at the end of the first slope, you'll avoid a 50% health loss when Lara drops to the gold slope.)

Again, take a standing jump into the alcove on the right. Follow the gold walkway with the trapdoors all the way to the end this time. Climb up the golden blocks then the ladder.

SLOPE LEADING DOWN TO FINAL AREA: At the top of the ladder, follow the path around to an open area with a rocky slope. Two leopards charge in. Deal with them, then pick up the items inside the building: M-16 clips and a large med-pack. Taking the med-pack opens a gate outside above a ladder. (You can see this area through the window.) This gate leads back to the cage and three caves at the beginning of the level.

(NOTE: Unless you went straight down the ladder in the cage at the beginning of the level, without exploring the three caves, you won't need to go back there now. If you did that and want all the kills and pick-ups, go to the ledge facing the gate you just opened. Take a running jump to grab the ladder, climb up, then go through the gate. You can refer to the section of the walk-through labeled 'CAGE AND THREE CAVES,' above for more info. When you're done exploring, return to the gate inside the rightmost cave. Turn around and drop back to grab the ladder, but don't climb down. Instead, backflip from the top of the ladder to land on the ledge on the other side of the molten gold stream.)

Instead, head down the slope. Kill another leopard on the way and continue down to a wall of ladders. Climb up. At the top is a receptacle for the MASK OF TORNARSUK. If you want all the pick-ups wait to place the mask. First approach the double doors on the right. They open and you can enter the room beyond. Climb down the ladder into the pit, walk through the spikes and take the large med-pack in the alcove on the right, then climb back out.

Now set the mask in place. When you do, the gold structure behind transforms into a ramp with a room at the top, and the GUARDIAN emerges. (NOTE: If you've played TR2, you'll recognize him as a gilded version of the Guardian of the Talion.) Stand at the base of the slope, a little to the side, and as the guardian comes stomping down, get ready to run. When he reaches the bottom, run up the ramp into the building (running jumps may be a little faster).

Inside the room, you'll find a large med-pack, grenades and a switch. If you want the pick-ups, you'll probably need to run into the room, grab one item, and run out the other side and back down the hill. Let the guardian chase Lara down, then run back up for the next item. Take a third pass to flip the switch. This re-opens the double doors down below on the right and extends a bridge over the pit. Run down and across the bridge with the guardian close on Lara's heels. Pull the switch on the other side to retract the bridge. The guardian will either be trapped on the other side of the gap, or he'll fall into the pit. When you kill the guardian, the level ends.

(NOTE: You can lure the guardian across the gold bridge, then pull the switch to retract the bridge, trapping him on the switch side. You can then either climb onto the block to kill him, or safety-drop into the pit and climb out the other side. However, once you pull the bridge lever, the guardian's building and the ramp leading up to it disappear. So you won't be able to get the med-pack and grenades unless you do it first.)

When the game ends, wait through the credits and the final stats screen. When the passport comes up, turn the page and, if you've found all the secrets in the four Golden Mask levels, you'll be able to choose the bonus level, Nightmare in Vegas.