Tomb Raider 3: Adventures of Lara Croft

Nevada

NEVADA PART 3: AREA 51

• Kills: 25
• Items: 29, plus the MP5 and SHOTGUN, 2 Code Disks, 1 Key, 1 Code Card, the ORA DAGGER (or ELEMENT 115**) and 4 save/power-up crystals
• Secrets: 3*

*Number of kills is approximate. The number of soldiers that appear in certain areas depends on your actions. Note that one of the regular pick-ups here will be the GRENADE LAUNCHER if you didn't get it in the previous level. Be sure to find all the secrets so you can access the bonus level at the end of the game. Note that the PSX DEMO is substantially different from the full level in the game. I don't have a PlayStation, but if any of you PSX people out there want to send me detailed notes on this demo, I'll gladly post them.

Objectives: Locate the Ora Dagger artifact somewhere inside this military installation.** To do this, you'll need to find various code disks, keys and passes necessary to open doors and move obstacles in your path. First, get the code disk and hangar access key, which will enable you to get to the train tracks and, from there, to the hangar. There you'll need to locate the switches that open the UFO room, where you'll find the launch code pass. Launch the big missile so you can get into the area above. Here you'll find the code disk that will get you into the flying saucer (and some other nearby rooms). This area is where you'll find the dagger.

Walk-through: Grab the small med-pack behind the crates on the left. Run forward and take out the sentry before he reaches the end of the hall and turns on the lasers. If the coast is clear, go into the room near the red rifle sign and pick up the MP5 ASSAULT RIFLE and 2 sets of clips for it. Otherwise, restart the level and try again or go on without the rifle for now.

Don't pull the switch (it turns on the lasers). Instead, push the button in the hallway to open the crawlspace. Enter, take the large med-pack and crawl into the next opening. Watch out for the rolling laser trap beyond. Crawl under it and to the left, as it goes to the right, to get another large med-pack. Follow the lasers back to the low spot. When the lasers pass overhead going in the other direction, stand, run forward to the ladder and climb up.

Advance halfway into the crawlspace. You can now see the guard in the hallway, but he can't see Lara. When he passes going to the right, crawl out and shoot him before he can reach the far end of the hallway and activate the lasers. If he manages to do this, you can either reload a saved game or crawl under the first laser to reach a second crawlspace just beyond.

Before going through the second crawlspace, use the switch on the wall opposite the first crawlspace (where you just came out) to open the door and free another convict. Again, DON'T KILL HIM. You may want his friend's help later on. Inside his cell, behind the door is a small med-pack.

The ramp at the other end of the hall is protected by green sensors rigged to a gun turret. (As in the last level, don't shoot the turrets unless you want to lose a lot of health unnecessarily.) To avoid this trap, go through the crawlspace before the ramp, picking up some flares on the way. Kill the guard if you didn't do so earlier.

Advance into the glassed-in hallway. Run forward and kill the MP before he can reach the alarm. Then enter the storage room for a rocket, grenades and harpoons. (NOTE: Some people have had difficulty locating this storage room. The door, which will be open if you kill the MP in time, is between the alarm panel and the crate marked "M-12.")

OUTDOOR AREA AND TRAPDOOR INTO NEXT BUILDING: Go to the gate at the other end of the hall. Pull the switch and fall through the trapdoor. Hurry around to the right and kill the guard before he hits the alarm. (NOTE: If he manages to do this, you won't be able to get the first secret. You'll have to reload a saved game and try again if you want it. You'll know he's pressed the button if 2 dogs come out. If there are no dogs, you're in business.)

Crawl into the tunnel to the left of the alarm panel for some grenades. (NOTE: If you don't already have the GRENADE LAUNCHER, you'll get it here.) Get the shotgun shells in the right corner. Then hop down into the pit. Pull the switch to raise a gate below. Walk around the grating to the trapdoor. Fall through, kill another guard and go into the crawlspace with the save/power-up crystal--that's SECRET #1.

Now go through the other crawlspace. Get some Desert Eagle and MP5 clips in the alcoves before falling through the trapdoor. Kill the guard below and take his small med-pack.

Go to the end of the hall away from the glass floor. Open the cell door and let your prisoner friend go out and kill a couple more MPs for you. Crawl into the prisoner's half-dug escape tunnel for a large med-pack. Now go to the other end of the hallway, over the glass floor. The hall ends in a T and there are gun turrets at each end. Avoid this area. Instead, go through the crawlspace on the left. Here you'll find a large med-pack and the SHOTGUN.

Run down the ramp and around the corner. Kill the guard at the end of the hallway. In the middle of the hall are two facing doors. Enter this area and take out the 2 armed soldiers who emerge. One is carrying a small med-pack. Use the switch in the left room to raise the gate in the right one. (If the first guard tripped the alarm, you can turn off the laser trap in the right room using the button at the right end of the hall.) Go through the crawlspace to the next room and walk into the green sensors. Kill the guard who comes down the ramp.

MISSILE SILO AREA: Go up the ramp and to the right to the missile silo. Kill the soldier on the scaffolding. Drop down to the floor and climb up to take his CODE CLEARANCE DISK.

Go back through the door where you entered and go straight down the ramps to a room with missiles and conveyor belts. Drop down, taking care to avoid the laser traps crisscrossing the floor. In the dark area behind the left conveyor belt, you'll find a small med-pack. In the opposite corner is a computer where you can use your code disk to raise the missiles. Climb onto the platform with the swinging hook. Shoot out the purplish vent on the right. Behind it is SECRET #2. (NOTE: It is possible to pass through the vent without breaking it first, but make sure you do this, otherwise you'll get stuck on the other side.) Follow the duct down to a save/power-up crystal. Return the way you came.

Carefully run past the hook and pick up the shotgun shells. Take a running jump from the conveyor belt to grab the ladder above the cement footing Climb up. Kill the armed soldier hiding in the corner and take his HANGAR ACCESS KEY. Drop down to the platform, climb out of this room and return to the missile silo the way you came.

ELECTRIC TRAIN TRACK: Drop down and go past the missile through the doorway at ground level. Avoid the hole in the next room and continue to a lock where you can use your new key. Enter and kill a guard. Hop down to the area below the track. Don't step on the electrified track! Go to the left end, climb the ladder and push the button to summon the train. Go back down the tunnel, crawl under the track and pull up into an alcove. Pick up the shotgun shells. (NOTE: If you don't already have the SHOTGUN, you'll get it here instead of the shells.) Then take a running jump to the top of the train car.

Climb into the passage above. Walk over the first set of grates, but use the ceiling grates to traverse over the second; otherwise you'll fall onto the track. To keep Lara from getting fried by the laser trap, monkey-swing as close to it as you can. Wait until it moves away and follow it until you can drop onto solid ground. Continue forward.

Drop down near the ladder, take a running jump across the track and, if you can, kill the guard before he takes off up the ramp. If he gets away, you'll need to kill him plus another guard at the top. At some point, pick up the shotgun shells below the track.

SAUCER ROOM: At the top of the long hallway is a locked room housing a UFO. Gun turrets are mounted in two corners, with three sensors along the first corridor. Jump the first two and crawl under the third. Climb over the crates in the back. Kill the guard in the next room before he goes down the hall to the right and trips the alarm. (This activates the gun turret in here and calls another soldier.)

Press each of the 2 buttons on the catwalks in turn to call in a pair of guards. Now get ready for a timed-door run. The right button (when facing them) opens the inner doors and raises the trapdoor in between the two sets of doors. The left button opens the outer doors. Press the right button first, press Look to get Lara's perspective back, backflip off of the catwalk, roll and take a running jump to land on the bank of computers in the middle of the room. Run across it, jumping at the end to grab the other catwalk. Pull up, run to the button. Press it, Look, backflip off the catwalk, roll and run through the open doors.

Once in the next room, kill the soldier lurking behind the bank of five switches. Pull the second from left and the two rightmost switches to open the room with the flying saucer. (NOTE: These are the ones that give you "visions" of the saucer room door. If you do this quickly, you can run out before the soldier emerges from behind the switches. Thanks to Jeff Reid for this tip.)

Go back to the saucer room via the small door on the left. Push the button near the ladder to open the trapdoor above. Climb up and back flip onto the ledge. Pick up the shotgun shells. Take a running jump to the catwalk above the saucer, drop down and take the LAUNCH CODE PASS. Slide down to the floor.

BACK TO MISSILE SILO: Go back to the missile silo area the way you came. This time, drop through the opening in the floor (in the room just past the lock where you used the hangar access key). Use the switch to open the door. Use the card to uncover the launch button. Press the button and immediately roll, side flip and sprint down the hall to avoid being toasted as the missile is launched. (You've gotta wonder what Lara just blew up.)

Climb back up to the silo and scale the scaffolding to the top, picking up a large med-pack on one of the platforms on the way. You may be able to kill the guard at the top from there. If not, take care of him when you get up there. Use the switch to open the gate. To get past this next laser trap, crawl after it as it moves away, stand, jump over it, run forward and crawl out. Get the grenades on the other side. Follow the passageway and climb up and out.

OUTDOOR AREA WITH SNIPER TOWER: Shoot the sniper and the MP with the club. Go down the ramp to the right, take out another soldier and relieve him of his CODE CLEARANCE DISK. Pull the switch to open the trapdoor outside. Go back up the ramp, climb the sniper's tower and take his MP5 clips. Now go down through the trapdoor and follow the passageway. Run down the ramp after the laser trap and duck to avoid it. Continue, climbing down the grating, to emerge in the hallway near the UFO room.

BACK AT THE SAUCER ROOM: Go up the ramp to the saucer room, pass those sensors again, and dash into the saucer room to avoid the second gun turret, which is now activated.

Go around the saucer and down the ramp. Use the disk in the computer to open several nearby doors. Enter the alien observation room behind you to get a small med-pack and a save/power-up crystal. Now cross the hall to another room with an orca tank, plus flares and pistol clips in the corner.

ORCA TANK: Return to the saucer room and once again climb the ladder and back flip onto the walkway. Turn around, walk out onto the sloping support on the left and face the opposite side of the room (the UFO is below and to the right, the ladder behind on the left). Take a running jump to grab the support ahead--not the closest one on the left, which is too steeply sloped, but the one straight ahead that slopes down toward you. Pull up, turn left and you'll see a doorway below. Take a running jump, pressing Action, to land inside. This is SECRET #3.

There are two stacked laser traps in the hallway beyond. When the upper one moves away, take a running jump from the ledge to sail over the lower one, which will be heading toward you. Run forward to the doorway. Drop into the orca tank to claim another save/power-up crystal. Climb back out. To come back through the laser trap, follow the lower one as it moves away from you. Duck just before you reach the ledge. As the armature with the lasers turns over, it will miss Lara. Pull up and continue. Safety drop from the doorway to the floor. (Use a med-pack if you need to beforehand, as you'll lose some health.)

Enter the saucer through the hatch underneath. Climb through the various openings to the top level, killing 3 guards in all--one on the middle level and two more at the top. Don't get too close to the one light panel that blinks yellow, or Lara will take damage. Take the ORA DAGGER from the platform in the center to end the level.

(**NOTE: In some versions of the game, this will be the ELEMENT 115 artifact; you'll get the Ora Dagger in the last South Pacific level.)