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, (Z) is Forward, (C) is Reverse, (B) is to fire the gun mounted on the front of the bike, (+) is brake, and (-) is mount/dismount. Additional details are provided in the manual and on my Underworld Controls page.

ROAD TO THE FIRST MAYAN CALENDAR:

Get on the motorbike and drive forward along the dirt track. When you come to the first fork in the road, take the path to the right.

NOTE: Whichever path you take here, you risk triggering one of the two possible bugs in this area. Because more players have reported the problem with the left path, I recommend going to the right. If you haven't done so already, be sure to save the game in a new slot. Then if you do encounter the less frequent bug, you can reload and start over. Additional details follow below.

After bearing right at the first fork, continue up the steep hill, past the large, white boulder embedded in the middle of the road and on to a dead end. At the dead end, turn left and use the fallen wall as a ramp to jump the bike into the tunnel above. Here it may help to use the quick start maneuver: Position the bike facing the ramp and hold the brake (+). Rev the engine (Z) and then release the brake to zoom up the ramp into the tunnel.

Follow the track through several twists and turns and beneath several natural stone arches to another fork in the road. Again, take the path to the right.

NOTE: It's also possible to go to the left at the fork, but to avoid the more common of the two bugs that can occur later in the level, you should go to the right now.

Continue along the road to the MAYAN BALL COURT, a wide, open area with stone blocks set into the ground. Turn right, follow the wall straight 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. There's a small bridge made of wooden logs so you can get across. Beyond the pit, you'll pass through an area where the walls are very high and close together. A little farther on, the path widens then comes to an end near some ruins.

FIRST MAYAN CALENDAR PUZZLE:

Here you must get off the bike and vault over the low wall to examine the wheel-shaped stone 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."

Because you are missing the artifacts you need to activate the calendar, there's nothing more you can do here right now. But, by examining this calendar first, you start the next chapter, XIBALBA, and hopefully avoid the bug that can occur at the second calendar.