LEVEL 16: ANTARCTICA
Kills: 30 Items: 28, plus a CROWBAR and 2 keys Save/power-up crystals: 4 Secrets: 3
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 UZIS if you didn't get them in a previous level.
Objectives: First, get onto the ship to lower the inflatable boat. Use this to get to the compound. Turn on the generator and get the gate control key. Use it to open a gate that will enable you to reach Dr. Willard's office.
An FMV sequence precedes this level: Lara is the sole passenger on a helicopter flying to the RX Technologies base in Antarctica. A storm blows up, and the pilot loses radio contact with the base and is forced to land. In a moment, the ice beneath the copter begins to give way. Lara scrambles for the exit and jumps free just in time. The pilot isn't as fortunate.
Lara has made it to the ship, the RX Explorer, anchored near the base camp. There are Desert Eagle clips in the water to the right. Jump in to retrieve them and climb out of the water onto the small ice island as quickly as possible. Alternately, you can pick up these clips after you have the inflatable boat.
(NOTE: The light blue exposure meter on your screen plummets rapidly in the freezing water. Once it's depleted, Lara will quickly die if she stays in the water. You may be able to get around this in tough spots by saving your game underwater and reloading. This resets the exposure meter. Just be sure you don't accidentally save as Lara is about to drown!)
If you aren't already on the small ice island near the start, jump onto it now. Once there, turn to face the HUT. Just across the water, you'll see an ice ledge that's flat on the left side and slopes up on the right. Take a running jump to grab the ice ledge just to the left of the point where it bends. If you grab too far to the right, Lara won't be able to hold on.
Go past the hut. (NOTE: it contains SECRET #3, but you'll need to find a key to unlock it. You'll get the items behind the ice window from behind in a moment.) Take a running jump across the channel. Climb up onto the snow ledge just to the right. Walk up the ledge until you get to the steep ramp. Turn around and jump up to the ledge on the right. From there you can take a running jump to the flat spot at the top of the ramp. Jump to the top of the ice arch. (NOTE: You can see a medipak behind the sheet of ice farther down the channel. You'll get this a bit later.) Cross over the arch and jump into the cave on the right. Now pick up the things you saw earlier—a large medipak, flares, a rocket and a save/power-up crystal.
Go back across the ice arch and down to the left. Continue along the shore parallel to the ship. When you reach the water, swim for the square ledge ahead and climb out quickly. Give Lara a moment to warm up, then swim to the far ledge near the wall. Climb up the snow at the corner and jump up to grab the handholds on the ceiling. Traverse nearly to the end and drop to the block below. Jump over to the deck of ship.
ON THE SHIP: Drop down into the hold. Go down the ramp into the engine room. Kill 2 red-jacketed crewmen. Climb up behind the engine and pull the switch to open a trapdoor behind you. Drop down and kill another crewman in the hall. Go up the ramp, where you'll meet another RX Techie. Press the button to open the door opposite. Go in. (NOTE: The doors with buttons here and below near the engine room lead to a connecting hallway. You don't need to open them.)
Go down the ramp to the right toward the yellow pipe. Another guy in a red jacket tries to mess with you. Take him out, grab his Desert Eagle clips then drop down through the opening in the floor. As you go up the passage below another guy sneaks up behind you. When you kill him, he drops some Uzi clips. Climb up the ladder and press the button near the porthole to drop the yellow boat into the water.
Climb back up to the room with the horizontal yellow pipe and go back into the next room. Climb up through the opening in the ceiling and follow the hallway to the upper deck. Go around to the right toward the stern. When you come to a break in the outside rail, take a standing jump-grab into the opening in the ice wall. Drop down to find SECRET #1—MP5 clips and a save/power-up crystal. (NOTE: If you don't already have the MP5 SUBMACHINE GUN, you'll get it here instead of clips.) Climb out and jump back to the ship.
ICE WALL AT THE BOW OF THE SHIP: Go to the front of the boat to the angled, off-white metal thingey that was holding up the boat. (OK, so I'm not very nautical.) Stand at the base of it and jump over the peak. Hold Jump so that instead of sliding down the other side, Lara hops off and lands on the snowy ledge across the water. Walk to the left end and jump up to the triangular flat spot. Then take another standing jump around the corner to the next flat spot on the left. Climb into the small, rectangular opening to find a rocket. Climb/slide down to the rectangular snow ledge at water level, and take a standing jump with Action to land in the boat without getting Lara's feet wet.
(NOTE: If you didn't get the Desert Eagle clips on the bottom of the pool at the beginning of the level, you may be able to get them more easily now by parking the boat nearby, jumping in for the clips, then climbing back into the boat.)
WATERWAY LEADING PAST THE HUT: Drive around behind the ship and circle back to the canal near the hut. There's a doorway about halfway down the canal on the left. Park the boat close to the opening and jump out (Roll + Left). Climb the ice ladder, slide down the ramp and jump to grab the ledge above the small pool. Pull up and crawl in to the right. This is SECRET #2—the large medipak you saw behind the ice window, along with a small medipak and some grenades. Crawl back out, past the opening where you came in, and on to another opening. Drop down into the water and hightail it for the boat. Warm up a bit and drive closer to those flares on the bottom of the channel. Then you can get them without freezing to death.
GATEHOUSE: Continue down the channel and around the corner to a small building with an RX Tech sign on it, black metal bars above and a metal gate off to the left. Park the boat near the landing, jump out and kill the cranky armed man. Note the padlock on the GATEHOUSE door. You'll be back later with something to open it.
Go around the back of the building. In the water below the ice ledge on the right is a rocket. Get it quickly. Now climb on the box and jump up to grab the metal structure. Traverse across to the other side. When you reach the end, hook to the right and drop down onto the snow.
RX-TECH COMPOUND: Slide down near the corner. Take out the enemy in the passage and continue to some buildings, including a TOWER WITH THE RX-TECH LOGO ON THE SIDE. Kill the guard dog. Pick up the shotgun shells in the corner behind the green building with the three barrels at the side. (NOTE: You'll encounter several buttons that don't work yet, but they will once you turn on the generator.)
Go into the dark passage opposite where you entered. Kill another guy and his dog/ on the way, and pick up some Desert Eagle clips. Continue to an open area. There are more shells underneath the ELEVATED FUEL TANK.
Enter the snowy cave opening just beyond the bend in the pipe leading out of the fuel tank (not the hole where the pipe goes, nor the cave beyond the hole). This passageway leads to a building guarded by 2 huskies. The electric doors are going haywire. Treat these like blade traps and run through quickly as they start to open. Go up the stairs to the office, where you'll meet 2 men with guns. One drops a small medipak when you kill him. Use the button near the desks to open the closet nearby. Inside is another small medipak. In the metal room beyond the office, you'll find the CROWBAR. Another RX thug comes in behind you. Kill him and take his shotgun shells. (NOTE: If by some cursed twist of fate you don't yet have the SHOTGUN, you'll get it here instead of the shells.) Return down the stairs, past the clamping doors, and take out another red-jacketed guy outside.
Go back to the area with the elevated tank. Then follow the dark passageway back to the area with the tower. One of the supporting legs is climbable. Go up it into the tower room. Pull the switch to open a trapdoor on the roof of the adjacent building. Use the crowbar to pry open the padlocked door and exit. (NOTE: Don't forget to take the crowbar with you; you'll need it again.)
Use the monkey bars to traverse across to the next roof. Follow the walkways around to the far right. At the end you'll find a small medipak. Return to the roof with the trapdoor and drop down. The sign on the wall that says "FUEL SUPPLY" shows the proper valve sequence to activate the generator—green, red, green, red, reading from top (generator) to bottom (fuel tank). Pull the switch to open the exit. There's a guy waiting for you outside near the fuel tank. He's carrying a small medipak.
Follow the pipe from the FUEL TANK down into the opening. Go through the room at the bottom and climb the ladder on the other side. Arrange the FUEL VALVES to match the diagram: The first gauge is already red, so leave it alone. For the second valve, turn the wheel so the gauge reads green. Leave the third valve alone (gauge is already red), but turn the fourth so the gauge reads green.
Grab the save/power-up crystal near the rightmost valve, go through the water and climb the ladder. You'll come out in the GENERATOR SHED. Go through the door to the generator. (NOTE: If you explored here earlier, this door would have been closed.) Pick up the large medipak in the corner behind the generator, then use the switch to turn on the power.
Outside there's also another building which is partially demolished. Explore inside cautiously. In the lounge in the back you'll meet a mutant who'll spew poisonous green gas before dying.
Leave this area through the ice tunnel on the left. This leads to the KENNEL. Press the button on the fence to open the left cage. Kill the dog. Then press the second button on the fence between the two cages to open the door there. Two more dogs will need your attention before you press the third button to open the door into the building. One more dog waits inside the office. You can also find some Uzi clips in an alcove and the GATE CONTROL KEY on a low platform. (NOTE: If you don't have the UZIS already, you'll get them here instead of clips.) Another armed techie will come in to investigate when you take the key.
When the coast is clear, head to the left through another ice tunnel. Kill the man lurking in the passage and approach the wooden bridge. The husky down below is guarding some grenades. You can shoot it from above then climb down for the goodies. Climb out and cross the bridge. At the next area, go left at the building (where you saw the fuel supply sign) and through the dark hallway to get back to the first part of the compound. Go through the next tunnel ahead on the left, which will lead you back to the monkey-bar area. Traverse back to the GATEHOUSE where you left your boat.
BACK AT THE GATEHOUSE: Go around front and use your crowbar to pry open the door. A red-jacketed guard will arrive when you go inside, so stay sharp. Use the key to activate the gate mechanism. Then press the button to raise the gate.
Get into the boat and drive through the gate into the channel beyond. Disembark at the ledge with the flag and the gunman on it. Kill him and take his Uzi clips. Park the boat next to the ledge at the corner opposite the ledge with the flag. Jump into the water, grab the HUT KEY from the alcove and quickly climb back into the boat. Drive back down the channel toward the GATEHOUSE. Turn right there and follow the channel back to the hut at the beginning of the level.
BACK AT THE HUT: Use the hut key to unlock the door. Kill the dog that rushes out. Then go in to get SECRET #3—a save/power-up crystal, Uzi clips and flares. Get back in the boat and return to the area where you got the hut key. Continue down the channel, past the gatehouse, gate and ledge with flag. A bit further on, stop to retrieve some shotgun shells from a ledge on the left.
When you come to a dead end, get out of the boat into the doorway. Climb up the snow to a shack. Kill one red jacket at the entrance. Then go up the hill and around (watch out for the open elevator shaft) to approach the building, where you'll have to kill another guy. Go around the back of the building to end the level.
A cut scene ensues: Lara enters the shack and discovers Dr. Willard chowing down on some tomato soup. (At least we hope that's what it is.) He seems glad to see her, but she immediately confronts him about the mutant she met in the cantina. He dismisses her concerns, obviously delirious at his experiments' potential. Willard talks of accelerating evolution and says that the real power is in the meteorite's core, which he can access now that he has the four artifacts. Lara, who has had more than enough of busting her butt for employers that turn into power-mad mutants, tells him his idea of good timing is, well, BAD. Willard snags the artifacts and flees down into the mines. Naturally our heroine gives chase.
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