Tomb Raider 8: Underworld

LEVEL 4: SOUTHERN MEXICO – PART 1: THE UNNAMED DAYS

Available weapons: Pistols, assault rifle and sticky grenades

A cut scene shows Lara driving her motorcycle along a muddy track in the Central American rain forest. She arrives at the entrance to the nearby ruins and stops to have a look around.

NOTE: The basic motorcycle controls are described in the on-screen training text (if enabled in the Game Options menu). Basically, (L1) is Forward, (L2) is Reverse, (R1) is to fire the gun mounted on the front of the bike, (R2) is brake, and (Triangle) is mount/dismount. Additional details are provided in the game manual and on my Underworld Controls page.

ROAD TO THE JAGUAR TEMPLE:

Get on the motorbike and drive forward along the dirt track. Pass through the doorway in the manmade stone wall and continue along the road. When you come to the first fork in the road, go to the left. (You'll return later to explore in the other direction, but you need to get an important item first.)

After this, the road meanders a bit but it doesn't fork or branch at all. So just keep going. You'll pass a bowl-like depression on the right side of the road. A little farther along, it's possible to drive along the stone ledge above on the right or the dirt track below on the left. It doesn't matter which way you go, since both paths converge a little farther on. Keep going forward, down a short wooden ramp and through a shallow puddle. Beyond the puddle a heap of fallen rocks blocks the road. You'll have to stop here, get off the bike and continue on foot.

ENTERING THE RUINS:

Climb over the rocks. Grab the right side of the horizontal log holding the door shut and slide it to the right. The door then falls forward out of its frame. Continue through the next doorway, which is wide open. Pull the switch on the left to close the door you just came through and open the one ahead. Continue forward to the larger wooden doors ahead. Press Interact to push them open.

Use the turnstile lever on the rounded platform to close the big, wooden doors where you came in and also open a stone door ahead on the left. Hop down off the platform and go up the stairs and into the alcove on the left, which you just opened. Use the switch to open the main doors to the ruins, just outside this alcove on the left.

Before going deeper into the ruins, head straight across the stairs to the ledge on the opposite side, where you'll find the first treasure (1/6) sitting in plain sight. Once you have it, go through the door you just opened.

Stand on the pressure pad to open the next door and close the one through which you just came. (Guess these Mayans took their security pretty seriously.) Go through.

When you enter the inner courtyard, a black panther charges toward you. If you get a lock on it quickly and back up shooting, you shouldn't have any trouble killing it with pistols before it reaches Lara. Or, you can run and jump past it into the area ahead so it doesn't corner Lara near the doorway.

CLIMBING INTO THE JAGUAR TEMPLE:

There are lots of tasty niches here but unfortunately nothing to find. Go up the low steps onto the terrace with the square columns. Stand between the first two columns on the left, one of which is shorter than the other. The taller one has a horizontal crevice running around it at about the level of the top of the shorter column. Chimney jump between these two columns to reach the handhold on the taller one.

(Alternately, grab onto the wooden pole protruding from the front of the first column on the left, jump up to perch on top of the pole. Jump forward to grab the nearest handhold on the column. Then climb around to the left and proceed as written below.)

Jump up to grab the next handhold above. Climb to the left and then jump to the left to grab onto the next square column. Climb to the left side of the column and then jump to the left again to grab one of the small, protruding handholds on the wall of the building.

Climb along the wall to the right. Continue climbing and jumping from handhold to handhold until there are no more nubby stone handholds to grab onto. At this point, you'll see a horizontal beam behind Lara. Jump back to land on it. Walk along the beam to the right.

As you go, move the camera behind Lara in order to maneuver better. At the end of the beam, turn right and jump to grab a handhold on the next square column. Climb around the corner to the left and pull up onto the short beam jutting out from the column. Step to the end of it and jump to the short beam ahead on the left.

Jump from here to the top of the square column ahead (i.e., the one with the longer beam connecting it and the wall of the building). Walk along the beam toward the wall and jump up to grab the horizontal strip of light-colored stone above. Climb to the right and then jump up to grab the handhold above. Climb to the right and jump to grab the horizontal pole. Climb hand over hand along the pole. Then turn to face the wide ledge paved with white stones. Swing around the pole and jump over to this ledge. Go through the doorway on the left.

INSIDE THE RUINS:

Follow the dirt-floored tunnel. Slide down the slope into the shallow excavation pit. Go to the right and climb up into the low opening and go forward into a room with several broken square columns and a hole in the ceiling.

Climb onto the square block in the middle. Jump to grab the crevice between the stacked blocks on the left. Climb around the corner to the left and jump up to grab the next higher crevice. Jump back to grab the ledge behind. Pull up, turn left and climb the handholds on the wall ahead.

When you reach the highest handhold, climb along it to the left. Jump past the hole in the wall and continue to the left. When your reach the corner, drop down onto the ledge below. Turn around and vault up onto the ledge ahead. Turn left and step out onto the lichen-covered block overlooking the center of the room. Jump onto the narrow beam and cross over to the ledge on the opposite side of the room. Go through the opening on the right.

Go through to a small room with a square hole in the floor. Drop down into the room below. Hurray! The flashlight finally works! Drop down off the ledge and head for the doorway, where you can see light coming in from the next room.

OPENING THE WAY TO THE LOWER LEVEL:

As you enter the next room, the camera shifts to show a large, square panel on the floor, a tall stack of square blocks, and a golden ring mounted on the wall above. When you regain control of Lara, go through this room to the alcove in the far left corner (i.e., to the left of the carved stone doors). Grab the handhold on the right side of the alcove and climb to the ledge above the doors. Cross this ledge and jump to grab the slightly higher ledge ahead. Pull up, move to the other end of the ledge and turn to face out over the room.

Grapple the golden ring on the opposite wall. Then walk to the right, so the cable snags on the carved stone block perched on top of the stack of blocks between Lara and the ring. Press Interact to yank on the cable, nudging the square block off the stack so it crashes through the floor, opening a gaping hole into the room below.

CLIMBING DOWN TO GET THE JAGUAR HEAD:

Jump back down onto the ledge above the door and drop from there to the floor. Then approach the hole in the floor. Position Lara at one of the straight edges on either side of the stack of square blocks and step off to grab the edge. Traverse inward toward the stacked blocks so Lara is hanging above the narrow, gray ledge below. Drop to grab it. Then traverse toward the alcove on either side. When Lara reaches the end of the angled part of the handhold, drop down to the handhold below. Then traverse a little farther so she's hanging above the floor of the alcove. Drop down.

Hang from the edge of the alcove. Drop to grab the handhold below. Climb around the corner into the center alcove with the lit torches. Drop down and take the JAGUAR HEAD artifact.

LEAVING THE TEMPLE:

The carved stone door on the other side of the room starts to open, but the bars in the opening below prevent it from dropping all the way. Press (L1) to target the bars and then shoot (R1) to break them, enabling the door above to open fully. Jump from this ledge to the square block in the middle of the room. Then jump from there to grab the edge of the stairs. Pull up and go through the door you just opened.

Follow the hallway to a room with a turnstile lever. Grab either handle and walk around in a circle to crank open the doors ahead. You only need to raise them far enough to roll through so you can proceed to the next room.

Here you'll find a lever in a horizontal track on the wall beside the exit. Approach the lever and press Interact to grab it. Then slide the lever to the left to open the door. Go through to emerge in the area in front of the temple where you fought the panther earlier.

Retrace your steps up the stairs where you came in. Go through the doorway and use the same switch you used earlier to re-open the exit and close the door leading back to the temple. Continue out of the ruins. Climb over the rock pile and get back on the motorbike.

THE ROAD TO THE MAYAN BALL COURT:

Drive back along the dirt road toward the start of the level. When you come to the fork in the road, head to the left. (The road to the right leads back to the beginning of the level.)

The left path leads up a steep hill, past a large, white boulder embedded in the middle of the road and on to a dead end. Use the fallen wall as a ramp to jump the bike into the tunnel above on the left. Here it may help to use the quick start maneuver: Position the bike facing the ramp and hold the brake (R2). Rev the engine (L1) and then release the brake to zoom up the ramp into the tunnel.

Follow the track through several twists and turns to another fork in the road. Here you should take the path to the right. (The road to the left is a dead end.)

Continue to the MAYAN BALL COURT, a wide, open area with stone blocks set into the ground. Here 2 poachers try to interfere with Lara. If you like, you can run them over with the bike, either straight on or using the quick start or donut maneuvers, described on the Underworld Controls page. Or, shoot them using the gun mounted on the motorcycle (R1). Or, if you prefer, dismount and fight them like a real woman. ;)

Once you've dealt with these enemies, continue across the ball court and out the other side. Here you drive up a short flight of steps and under a manmade archway before continuing along the narrow track.

Not too far ahead the path leads through a small, square doorway into a closed room with no ceiling. Drive over the pressure pad to trigger the mechanism that closes the door behind you and opens the door ahead. This takes a few moments, but you'll see the two wooden circles on the walls next to the door begin to turn as it starts to crank open. When it does, drive through.

Watch out for the pit spanning the road ahead. Use the wooden ramp to jump the bike across. Then continue along the road to another room with a pressure pad door mechanism. Drive over the pad to close the door you just came through and open the one ahead.

A little farther on, the path widens then comes to an end near some ruins. Approach cautiously since there's a panther on the prowl here. Again, run it over or shoot it, as you prefer.

MAYAN CALENDAR:

Just ahead the road comes to a dead end. You'll need to leave the bike behind for now.

To reach the calendar, you must climb to the high ledge on the right. There are two ways to do this. The quickest is via the square column at the corner where the right wall meets the wall ahead. Here you'll find a short ramp. Position Lara with her back to the corner column and jump onto the ramp. Before she can slide too far, jump forward to grab the lowest handhold on the column. (Or, if this is problematic, climb up onto the flat ledge at the top of the ramp, slide and jump to grab the square column.)

Then climb around to the left side of the square column and jump up to grab the top edge. Pull up and turn right. Then jump over to the small ledge jutting out from the wall ahead. From there, jump forward to the next ledge. Turn left and step forward into the flat, open area near the calendar.

Alternately, you can climb up from the ground using the climbable wall made of many small, square blocks. There's a low, rectangular ledge on the left side of this wall. Vault up onto it and grab onto one of the protruding stone handholds. The broken wall on the left prevents you from climbing directly to the left, which is where you're ultimately headed. So climb upward as far as you can. Then climb to the left along the handhold above the broken wall. Drop down twice and then climb to the left, then diagonally upward and to the left, beneath the next broken section wall. Continue to the top, where you can then step forward into the flat, open area near the calendar.

When Lara approaches the stone circle, a cinematic sequence begins. "The Mayan calendar had only 360 days," Lara explains as she videotapes the elaborate mechanism. "The remaining five were the 'Unnamed Days'. The Maya believed that each year when the Unnamed Days arrived, the gates to the underworld would open."