Tomb Raider 8: Underworld

LEVEL 1: MEDITERRANEAN SEA - PART 1: THE PATH TO AVALON

Available weapons: Pistols and sticky grenades

Another cinematic follows the introductory credits. It opens with Lara's boat floating on the Mediterranean. The caption reads, "One Week Earlier." Lara hears a beeping climbs down into the boat's cabin to activate her laptop computer and speak with her colleagues, Zip and Alister, over a satellite uplink. She says she hasn't made much progress yet but thinks she's close to finding the entrance to Avalon, which her father believed was nearby. Alister warns her not to lose perspective. After all, the odds of finding her mother still alive after all these years are remote at best. Lara agrees but insists she must still search for the truth.

ON THE SURFACE:

You regain control with Lara standing at the stern of the cabin cruiser. It's possible to explore the boat, but there's nothing important here.

SUBMERGED RUINS:

Jump off the back of the boat and swim downward toward the ruins below. Lara automatically equips her scuba gear. Press Down/Up on the control pad to dive or surface as you direct Lara with the control stick.

The entrance to the ruins is located within the tall stone tower. For players who prefer to cut straight to the chase, I will first describe the way in. Then, if you want to explore further and collect a couple of hidden treasures in this area, those will instructions follow.

You don't actually have to enter the tower first, but doing so will give you an idea of what to do next. So, swim through the rectangular doorway at the base of the tower. Try to avoid the luminescent jellyfish, as their stings are poisonous. Follow either of the curving staircases down to the lower level and then swim through the small, square doorway.

Ahead is an ornate, metal door mechanism consisting of three interlocking circles. One of the circles has a wheel-shaped handle at its center. The other two are missing their handles. You'll need to find them to open the door.

FIRST MISSING DOOR HANDLE:

Swim back outside the tower. Go forward along the ruined road and bear to the left toward the pile of rocks with the rectangular doorway flanked by two glowing jellyfish. Swim through the opening and follow the passageway down to a small room, where you'll find the FIRST MISSING HANDLE. Swim close to it and press Interact to pick it up. Carry it back to the tower and plug it into one of the sockets on the PUZZLE DOOR. (Do that by swimming close to the door and pressing Interact.)

NOTE: According to the equipment list in Lara's PDA, she should have a Utility Light that comes on automatically in low-light situations. (Press the 1 button to access the PDA.) The light doesn't seem to work in the game I have. For dark areas like these underwater rooms, I found it helpful to increase the Brightness and Contrast in the Audio/Visual menu.

SECOND MISSING DOOR HANDLE:

Swim back out of the tower and turn right. Ahead is another mound with a rectangular doorway. This one has only one jellyfish beside it. Swim through and follow the passage down to another small room. Ahead on the wall is a puzzle panel.

Approach the puzzle and press Interact to activate it. Then hold (A) and wave the Wii Remote to clear the debris from the panel. To solve the puzzle, you'll need to spin the three tumblers to form a picture of a kraken. (You'll be seeing more of him later.) First point the Wii Remote at the bottom tumbler. Hold (A) and move the Wii Remote to the left to spin the bottom tumbler once. The top tumbler also moves when you do this. Then point the Remote at the middle tumbler, hold (A) and move it once to the left. Finally, point the Remote at the top tumbler, hold (A) and move the tumbler once to the right. Each time you align one of the tumblers correctly, two gold buttons pop out from the side of the puzzle panel. When all three tumblers are aligned correctly, the SECOND MISSING HANDLE drops out of the slot to the left of the puzzle.

Swim down to it and press Interact to pick it up. Take it back to the PUZZLE DOOR inside the tower and plug it into the remaining socket.

OPENING THE PUZZLE DOOR:

With all three handles in place, you're now ready to open the door. Examine the carvings on the eye-shaped segments that make up each circle. The goal is to rotate the three circles so that all three light-colored segments are part of the top center circle.

If you haven't turned any of the handles yet, this is not difficult. First, swim close to the handle at the center of the top circle and press Interact to turn it once. Then turn the left handle once. Then turn the right handle twice. When you've solved the puzzle, the door opens.

If you are not treasure hunting, you can swim through the door now and continue to the next area. (Skip to the section PASSAGE TO NIFLHEIM, below.) Otherwise, swim back out of the tower to pick up a couple of treasures.

TREASURE HUNTING:

With the entrance to the tower behind Lara, swim to the left and head for the edge of the ruins. Look for a pile of rocks with one tall, vertical stone supporting some other angled rocks. There's a pink lily pad-like thing resting beneath this archway (I'm sure someone who knows about sea life will tell me what this is), and lying on the lily pad is a shiny treasure (1/7). Swim down and press Interact to pick it up.

There is also an opening here leading into a small room beneath the pile of rocks, but as far as I know, there's nothing useful inside.

NOTE: The numbers in parentheses after each treasure indicate how many treasures you should have found so far, followed by the total number available in the level. This information is also available the Inventory sub-section of the PDA menu. (Press 1 to access the PDA.)

After picking up that treasure, swim back toward the tower. Then, keeping the tower and the ruined room where you found the SECOND HANDLE on Lara's right, swim past both of them toward the other side of the ruins. Ahead is another clump of rocks. Swim around behind it to find an opening that leads down to another small, underground room. Here you'll find the second treasure (2/7) in this area. Once you have it, swim back to the tower and go through the PUZZLE DOOR.

PASSAGE TO NIFLHEIM:

Try to avoid the jellyfish as you make your way along the corridor. It twists and turns but does not branch off, so you can't get lost. Just keep going forward until you reach the round hole with the huge tentacle sticking out of it. This appendage may swat at Lara but it won't injure her.

Now any normal person would probably say "no thanks" at this point, but you're Lara Croft, so swim through the hole where the tentacle went and make your way onward and upward to a room where you can surface. Swim to the square block near the middle of the pool and climb out of the water.