LEVEL 24: MAXIMUM CONTAINMENT AREA |
Updated: 2/12/07(†) |
Items: 3 health items, 2 Security Passes
Weapons & Ammo: 4 ammo items
Enemies: clawed mutants, the Proto-Nephilim
Upgrades: none
IMPORTANT: You may need quite a lot of ammunition for the boss battle at the end of the next level. I recommend making sure to get every pickup and conserve ammo. (This may not be a factor in the PlayStation game. I've heard Kurtis starts with a lot more ammo.) Also, some of the mutants can be avoided. These are noted in the walkthrough below.
Cut scene: A quick flyby of the area.
Click for a printable map if you need one. (Thanks to John B.)
Follow the hall to a barred door, open it and go through. You'll need a code to use the computer in the glassed-in office on the left. Since you don't have that code yet, you'll need to explore further.
Head down the hall to the right. Avoid the pool. Apparently Kurtis can't swim or even navigate across by holding onto the edge. If he falls into the water, he dies instantly. To get across, face the right wall, sidestep as far to the left (toward the water) as you can. Then jump up to grab the wires on the wall. Traverse across and drop on the other side. (This sequence is illustrated in a series of screenshots.) Pick up a Boran clip and return across the pool.
Return to the glassed-in office and turn right. Follow the hall through two doors, one barred, one solid. Beyond the second door is another ward with closed and open cells. Go to the right and then approach the second door on the left side of the hall.
Cut scene: When you approach the second door on the left side of the hall, Kurtis uses his farsee ability to scope out the next bit of code, printed on a mutant's back: 17068.
NOTE: If instead you go straight ahead from the entrance to the ward and then around the corner to the right, you'll come to a big metal door that can only be unlocked with a key card. Entering the open cell on the left triggers the appearance of 2 clawed mutants. I recommend avoiding them to save health and ammo.
Return to the glassed-in office, go inside and enter the code on the keypad. This opens the doors where you saw the code before. Return to that door and go in. Stay alert, though. A clawed mutant comes in from the hall to tussle with Kurtis. When it's dead, pick up the Sanitarium Low Access Pass and Boran clip from the dead guard and the chocolate bar on the desk.
The clawed mutants are quite a bit tougher than their straight-jacketed cousins in the previous level. Sam D. suggested shooting them from behind, since their back is their weak spot. I had better luck moving in close then backing away while shooting.
Exit the room and go to the left. Swipe the pass card in the card reader to raise the metal door. Go through. (If you explore the open cell to the left, you'll encounter the 2 clawed mutants from before if you didn't already kill them. Again, I suggest avoiding them to conserve ammo.) Just beyond the big metal door on the right is a room with a bag sitting on a cot. Take the ammo from the bag. Then exit that room and follow the hall to the left, down the ramp and through the doors to a new area.
NOTE: I encountered a bug here where Kurtis wouldn't stop jumping up and down. Restarting the game fixed it.
SQUARE HALLWAY WITH LABORATORY & SIDE PASSAGES: This hallway contains several enemies: 2 clawed mutants that may approach from either side and a soldier in the duct at the end of the hall to the left. Don't approach the soldier yet, or you'll waste valuable health and ammo trying to kill him. For now, go around the corner to the right. Deal with the mutants as you meet them. If you advance slowly, you may be able to take them out one at a time. Open the lab door.
Cut scene: The Proto-Nephilim runs out past Kurtis and deals with the armed soldier in the duct.
Do not enter the lab. If you do, another clawed mutant appears behind you. (Also, if you happen to enter the lab before killing the first pair of mutants, all three will come after you there.)
There are a few closed doors and side passages leading off this square hallway. One door, near the opposite corner of the hall from where you first came in, has a card reader, which you'll use later to get to the final room in the level.
NOTE: I encountered what might be a useful bug here. I was able open the door at the end of the hall with the low-security card, bypassing the rest of this area and going directly to the boss fight. This may or may not be a good thing, since you'll miss a health item.
If you can't or don't want to skip right to the final area, head for the duct where the Proto killed the soldier. Crouch and go through. At the end of the duct is a staircase leading down. Go to the bottom and follow the hallway to a barred metal door. Open it and go through to the Proto containment area, which you saw in an earlier cut scene.
PROTO-NEPHILIM CONTAINMENT AREA: Follow the walkway around to the ladder. Climb up and go along the upper walkway to the containment chamber at the center of the room. Climb on the roof of the chamber and then jump to the broken walkway on the right. Follow the walkway, jump the gap and climb into the duct above. Follow this to a vertical shaft and climb the ladder there. You emerge in a room with 2 dead guards. Pick up a chocolate bar and the Sanitarium Medium Access Pass. Press the button on the wall to open the door and go through to the SQUARE HALLWAY where you were before.
Turn left, then left again to reach the door with the card reader. The Medium Access Pass lets you enter here.
Cut scene: The Proto-Nephilim has had its fill of soldiers and has now developed a taste for Kurtis. Not wanting to be dessert, Kurt uses his telekinetic power to bring down a heavy metal door, trapping the Proto on the other side. But the mutant won't give up so easily. It finds a way in through the ducts.
KILLING THE PROTO-NEPHILIM: You'll need to bring down the Proto-Nephilim four times before you can actually kill it. To do this, blast away at the Proto until it is stunned and lies down. After a moment, it will stand up again and run up the wall to collect itself. During the lulls, when it's not moving and when it climbs up to the ceiling, you can pick up the large health pack in one corner of the room and unlimited Boran ammo in another (see below). Then, when the Proto attacks again, repeat the process.
It sounds simple enough but, thanks to the atrocious controls, actually doing it is a bit harder. It helps to start with enough ammo to bring the Proto down at least once before you run out. It's almost impossible to pick up the Boran clip while the Proto is attacking. If you have your gun drawn, Kurtis is practically unsteerable because he's constantly targeting the Proto, and when you holster the gun, pressing Action makes him punch and kick the Proto instead of picking up the clip. If you run out of ammo while the Proto is down, it's easy enough to run to the clip and pick it up. But after the first time you take it, it only reappears when your gun is empty.
Here's the technique that worked best for me. It is based in part on several suggestions sent in by other players (credited below).
NOTE: If you just can't manage this fight, you're welcome download a savegame file for Windows or Macintosh. Files can be found here. Instructions for using them are here. (Special thanks to Ingrid for the Mac save!)
Cut scene: Kurtis pulls out his Periapt Shard and uses it to stab the beast, putting it out of its misery.
IMPORTANT: Do not save the game between knocking down the Proto for the fourth time and the cut scene where Kurtis uses his shard. If you save and reload, the Proto will be gone, but since Kurtis didn't actually kill it, the lever on the machine will not work, and you will not be able to finish the level.
Approach the machine with all the hoses and dials and pull the lever.
Cut scene: Kurtis returns to the airlock where Lara is trapped. She ambushes him and, while holding him at gunpoint, fends off another sanitarium mutant. Then Lara searches Kurt and disarms him.
Once they've established some mutual trust, they discuss what to do next. Kurtis reiterates Eckhardt's plan to revive the Nephilim and fills in a few gaps in Lara's knowledge. We learn that Eckhardt, the "original Black Alchemist", plans to use chemically transmuted elements from his victims' bodies to help achieve his goal but that he also needs the final Obscura Painting. Kurt explains that Eckhardt can be killed using all three Periapt Shards. Kurt and Lara have two, but the third is still in Eckhard's possession. Since the way to the painting, through the Vault of Trophies, lies underwater, and Kurtis can't swim, they agree that Kurt will go after Eckhardt's shard and Lara will find the last painting and destroy it.
Second cut scene: Eckhardt and Karel are discussing the progress of the evil plan. Like all good villains, Eckhardt has decided to let the good guys do his dirty work. He'll allow Lara to find the last painting for him and then his preparations will be complete.
†UPDATE HISTORY: 1/16/07 - Added level map, thanks to John B. Included alternate strategies for fighting the Proto, thanks to tips from Chris, John, Johnny, Tomas, Peyton, Robert and Ted, and info on the disappearing Proto bug, thanks to Ingrid. Also added savegame files for the patched PC game (v52).
2/12/07 - Added screenshots for crossing pool at start.
WAS THIS WALKTHROUGH HELPFUL? If not, I apologize and invite you to contact me with any questions. If you need help right away, I recommend the r/TombRaider subreddit. Other fan-run forums are listed at tombraiders.net/stella/community.html. If this site was useful, please consider supporting it financially or in other ways. For details, visit tombraiders.net/stella/support.html. As always, I welcome your corrections/suggestions. Thank you!
Copyright © 2003- - Stellalune (). I am eternally grateful to the members of the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, whose contributions to this walkthrough are numerous. Thanks also to the developers of Fraps, the program used for all AOD screenshots. Special thanks to John B. for the map, and to Chris, Ingrid, Jemma, John, Johnny, Tomas, Peyton, Robert and Ted for other help with this level. Feel free to copy or print this walkthrough for personal use. By all means, share it with friends, but please include this credit line so people can send me their feedback. No part of this walkthrough may be reproduced on another site without permission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Follow this link for details about this site's advertising and privacy policy.
Stella's Tomb Raider Site: tombraiders.net.
