Tomb Raider 3: Adventures of Lara Croft

South Pacific

SOUTH PACIFIC PART 4: TEMPLE OF PUNA

• Kills: 9
• Items: 10, plus the ELEMENT 115 artifact (or ORA DAGGER**) and 2 save/power-up crystals
• Secrets: 1*

*The number of kills may vary (see the last area in the level). Be sure to find all the secrets so you can access the bonus level at the end of the game. Note that one of the regular pick-ups here will be the DESERT EAGLE PISTOL if you didn't get it in a previous level.

Objectives: Make your way through the trap-riddled temple to take on the South Pacific boss and claim his artifact.

Walk-through: Kill 2 natives with blowguns on the stairs to the right. Go up the steps past them. You'll meet 2 more guys with blowguns on the way to the top. When you get there, crawl through the small opening.

Pick up the small med-pack in the doorway. The next room has sloped sides, a locked door, 4 buttons (to open that door) and a row of interconnected rolling blades. When the blades roll past toward the right, slide down and sprint forward to the save/power-up crystal. Keep moving, arc around to the left and run up the slope. Position Lara at one of the seams between the square with the button on it and an adjacent square. Duck and you'll be safe there from the blades. (NOTE: You can also find safe spots to stand in the corners of the room, but I found this method easier.)

When the blades roll away, stand up and push the first button. Then sidestep back to the seam and duck again. The next time the blades roll away, run over to one of the seams near the second button. Duck, wait for the blades to roll away again, then push the button. Duck near the seam again if necessary. Then, when the blades roll away, follow them down but wait on the downslope. When they turn and roll down toward you, take a running jump over them. (NOTE: Make sure you run straight forward from the seam area so you jump over the blade at the "axle.") Run up the slope and repeat the duck-run-press maneuver for the remaining two buttons. Then when the blades roll away, sprint down through the open door.

Climb up into the archway. Below is a room with 3 switches. When you slide in, the spiked ceiling begins to descend. Quickly pull out the movable block (the only carved one) from the left wall. That will stop the ceiling. (Pulling all of the switches does the same thing, but the block does it much more easily.) Now pull the 3 switches to open the gate.

Safety drop through the opening. Enter the next area, pick up the small med-pack and go left to the switch. This opens the gate at the other end of the room and arms the boulder trap. Turn around, sprint for the gate and cut to the right onto the perpendicular path. Another boulder rolls in from the left, so keep going until you reach the archway where it's safe. You'll get a save/power-up crystal on the way. Press Look as you go, so you don't get disoriented by Lara's "vision" of the rolling boulder. And watch out for the break-away tiles. There's some kind of freaky yellow lava below.

The next area is actually where you started. There are 3 more locals with blowguns waiting for you--one on the left and two on the right. One of the guys on the left drops a small med-pack when he dies. Take it and go back up the stairs the way you went earlier.

This time the small door above the bend in the stairs is open. To reach it, go all the way to the top of the stairs, take a standing jump to grab the carved wall, traverse to the left and climb into the doorway. This is the level's ONLY SECRET. Inside you'll find 3 sets of Desert Eagle clips, flares and a large med-pack. (NOTE: If you don't already have the DESERT EAGLE PISTOL, you will get it here in place of clips.)

Safety drop out of the opening and go back down the stairs to the bottom. Go forward at the intersection to the gate, which is now open. Slide down the ramp into the throne room.

Pick up the 2 small med-packs at the side spokes before or after the fight. When you go up the steps at the back of the throne, it turns around and the battle with the boss--apparently he's called PUNA, since this is his temple--begins.

It's possible to defeat him with pistols, but it goes very quickly with Uzis or the Desert Eagle. You can devise your own strategy, but here's what worked for me: Walk up the stairs. As soon as Puna's chair begins to turn around, start shooting and backflip and find the center of the platform. (You don't want to fall off the edge or you'll have to start over.) Immediately jump to the left or right, then back to the center, to the other side, then back to the center. Keep repeating the side flips while shooting. He can't hit Lara with those deadly energy bolts as long as she keeps moving.

Depending on which weapon you use, he may have time to put up an energy shield and unleash one or more lizards to help him. At this point, ignore him--he won't attack Lara, and Lara's bullets can't penetrate the shield. Instead, quickly kill the lizards and use a med-pack to antidote their poison if necessary. When the lizards fall, go back to shooting the boss. Pretty soon, his chair will start to vibrate. Then you'll know it's over. At this point, you can stop shooting; soon after, he'll explode.

Retrieve the ELEMENT 115 artifact and head for the cold place! (**NOTE: In some versions of the game, this will be the ORA DAGGER artifact; you'll get Element 115 in the last Nevada level.)