Tomb Raider 2 Level 8: Wreck of the Maria Doria
Kills: 32+ Items: 29 (31 plus grenade launcher)* plus 3 keys, 3 circuit breakers and 3 secrets
(*Under found items, the number in parentheses shows total including extra items granted for finding all three secrets. Note: The "kills" total is only an estimate, since there are several places with multiple barracudas, eels, etc., where you don't need to kill any of them to get through. I've noted these in the text. Note that the regular pick-ups here will include the harpoon gun, automatic pistols, Uzis, shotgun and M-16 if you didn't get them earlier.)
Jump into the water, kill the scuba diver who emerges from the underwater doorway—either use your harpoon gun or climb back into the doorway and shoot him from above. Dive down to grab 2 bunches of harpoons from the bottom. (NOTE: If for some reason you don't already have the HARPOON GUN, you'll get it here instead of one of the bunches of harpoons.) Get air and follow the passage where the diver came from until you can climb out of the water.
Take the large medipak and use it if necessary to get Lara's health up to 100%. Slide backwards down the slope and grab the edge. Then drop through the breakaway tiles to the floor below.
SWIMMING POOL: You're now in what was the ship's swimming pool, only it's upside down. Two thugs, with wrench and gun, are your welcoming committee. When you've killed them, take 2 small medipaks and some automatic pistol clips. (NOTE: If you don't have the AUTOMATIC PISTOLS, you'll receive them here instead of clips.)
Notice the Silver Dragon underneath one of the changing room doors. Too bad you're too stiff from your fall to crawl under and take it. ;-) You'll have to take the long way: Go through the doorway opposite into a tiled room with columns and a bunch of overturned furniture. In one corner, behind a couple of chairs is an opening in the ceiling. Climb up into the dark passageway above and take out the bad guy with the shotgun. Continue until you can drop down and pick up the Silver Dragon—SECRET #1. Immediately look up into the opening because another thug is lurking up there waiting to shoot you. You can kill him from here, jumping straight up and down to get a better shot if necessary. Go back to the tiled room the way you came.
In the left corner are several movable blocks. Pull out the first block on the right once, go around to the opposite side and push it once, then move to the side and push it twice into the alcove. Go back to the corner and pull out the left block. Pull it to the side, then push it into the alcove against the first block. Moving the second block reveal an opening behind. This leads into the RESTROOM area. Pull the third block out twice to access another passage—this one to the BALLROOM.
BALLROOM: Head for the ballroom first. Kill the 3 thugs on the ground, taking care not to run over the broken glass. Then take out their buddy on the balcony. The ones below have flares and a large medipak. Before going up to the balcony, go behind the wall to the left (when you're facing the door where you came in). Walk carefully over the glass shards to an opening in the floor. Turn around to face the way you came, drop and hang, then release the Action key and press it again to grab the ledge below. Pull up into a short passageway to get the REST ROOM KEY. Do a standing jump from the passageway to grab the opposite edge of the opening and pull up.
RESTROOM: Return past the movable blocks to the RESTROOM and use the key in the lock in the far right corner. Enter the door on the left that you just unlocked and push the button, which opens the GLASS DOUBLE DOORS on the other side of the room. A thug with a wrench rushes out. Once he's down, go through the doors he came out and press the button there to open the small, high door in the ballroom. Use the restroom button again to close the glass doors.
(NOTE: It's very important that you take the time to do this. Notice the other circuit breaker behind the left window. Closing the glass doors allows you to reach it from behind later.)
Return to the ballroom and go to a low ramp on the right at the far end. (There are two angled bits of floor here; you want the second one.) Walk to the highest point then jump up and grab the balcony. Go to the right near the wall, drop and hang from the edge then traverse left. Pull up and take the auto pistol clips from the sniper you killed earlier. Continue to the far end near the glass on the floor. Run, jump and grab the edge of the balcony opposite. Pull up and take the first CIRCUIT BREAKER of three.
AREA BEHIND THE BALLROOM: Head back across the balcony level to the door you opened a few minutes ago. In this passageway are 5 doors: a locked door on the right, opposite a door with a wheel on the left, and beyond these another door with a wheel on the right opposite a sealed door on the left. At the far end of the corridor is another sealed door. The first door with the wheel mechanism is empty. Use the wheel to open the second door on the right. Inside is a small room with 2 movable boxes, a switch and a high door. Move the lower block under the switch and pull the switch to open the door above. Pull the second box along the ledge until it's under the door and use it to climb out. Follow this passage as far as you can, shooting the guy with the wrench who tries to stop you. In the room at the end, slide the movable box under the switch, and use it to open the door. Pick up the RUSTY KEY from the floor.
Go through the door you just opened to emerge back at the end of the hallway with the five doors. Use the key to open the locked door (now second on the left). Drop into the room. Pull the movable block in the corner next to the metal step. Pull the other block out from the wall, and drag it along the ledge so you can get behind it. Push the block you find there twice to open up a passageway. Proceed to a room with broken tiles on the floor. There are lit burners below and rolling barrels in the area beyond. Step onto the tiles at the left side then hop back. This triggers the barrels, so you can then run over the tiles on the right to get across safely.
At the top of the slope where the barrels came from is an opening. More barrels will roll down when you enter, so back flip then either side flip out of their way or move forward to the wall so they roll overhead. At the end of this passage is SECRET #2, the Jade Dragon.
FLOODED ROOM WITH FLOATING PLATFORM: Go to the doorway to the right of where the barrels landed. You may be able to kill the gunman inside before climbing in. Once inside, drop down to the floating platform below. Find the underwater lever and pull it to open the side door above. This is on a timer, so climb up quickly. The door closes behind you, but the switch inside opens it again. The other door opens automatically when you approach but closes behind you after you pass. Beyond is an angled floor with a trapdoor. Slide down backwards and grab the edge. Pull up and the trapdoor closes and locks behind you. Now you can stand on it and pull up into the opening. Pull the switch here to open a blue panel nearby.
GLASS-FLOOR ROOM WITH POOL: Return to the room with the floating platform. Go through the other doorway to the blue panel you just opened. Three thugs with guns await in the next room. One is just inside the doorway. The other two are on the level below. Below, what was once a domed glass ceiling is now an opening to the shark-infested waters. Kill all 3 gunmen from the upper level. Press the button to open the timed trapdoor to the right. You can run all the way around the perimeter then do a running jump through the opening. But first try this: Stand at the edge of the walkway facing the button, and attempt to drop back and grab the ledge. Instead of grabbing, Lara may land on the floor below. (Perhaps this is a glitch in the game, but it worked for me several times and saved a lot of running.)
Collect the second CIRCUIT BREAKER, plus a small medipak from one of the bodies, and press the button on the wall to drain the water from the ROOM WITH THE FLOATING PLATFORM above. When you step on the corner floor tile near where you picked up the circuit breaker, another timed trapdoor opens on the far side of the room. Run to it and pull up.
BACK AT THE RESTROOM: Return to the now drained room and drop down. Open the door with the wheel, head up the ramp and pull up into a passageway. Go straight, then drop down into the glassed-in passageway in the RESTROOM, where you were earlier. Take the third CIRCUIT BREAKER.
(NOTE: If you have reached this point and the circuit breaker is inaccessible because the glass doors are still open, you'll have to go back to the RESTROOM and press the button in the alcove near the keyhole again to close them. Follow the directions in the next paragraph to get back there.)
Once you have the third circuit breaker, walk back along the hallway to the button and press it to open a trapdoor in the passageway above. Go back up into the passageway, and enter the RESTROOM through this trapdoor. Take care of the 2 thugs, grab their Uzi clips and 2 bundles of harpoons. (NOTE: If you didn't get the UZIS earlier, you'll get them now instead of clips.)
THREE CIRCUITS AND BURNERS: Return to the SWIMMING POOL area where you entered the level. Go into the water-filled passage in the corner. Grab the small medipak in the water and follow the passage to a lever. Pull it to open the trap door above, and surface under fire. When you've dispatched all 3 thugs, take their large medipak, 2 boxes of shotgun shells and some Uzi clips. (NOTE: If you don't already have the SHOTGUN, you'll receive it here with one box of shells.) Replace the 3 missing circuit breakers to turn off the burners. Now you can pull the movable block under the opening and climb up.
Kill the guy with the wrench. Pull the switch to flood a room on the other side of the one below and flip over the ducts in the large room so you can climb across them. (NOTE: If you forget to pull the switch or pull it twice by mistake, you'll slide off the first duct when you jump to it. Pull the switch again so the rust-colored side is up.) Take a running jump from the opening to the duct opposite, then two run-jump-grab combos across the next two ducts and a standing jump to the opening. Swim down and forward, and surface in a room with flickering lights. Wade into the water ahead to draw out a barracuda, which you can then kill with pistols. Wade back into the water and go to the right to find an alcove with 2 bundles of harpoons.
SHIP'S BRIDGE/CABIN: Swim to either of the two openings on the left, climb out, kill the goon with the wrench and take his small medipak. You're now on the BRIDGE. If you look carefully out the windows, you'll notice a key on the sea bottom. In the passageway behind the CABIN (the room with 4 rectangular windows near the rectangular pit in the floor) are 2 sets of automatic pistol clips.
Go through the door that opens with a wheel (straight ahead when standing with the windows to the sea on Lara's right). Use the switch to open another door at the opposite end of the bridge. (The door is timed, but it's not particularly fast.) In this room are some flares and a movable block. Push the block to access another switch. This opens a trapdoor in the area to the left of the room with the wheel door. Go there now (by exiting this room, then following the windows on the right to the end, then turning left and continuing toward the corner).
Now you can jump in the water and swim out to retrieve the CABIN KEY. To find it, follow the rock wall away from the trap door, turn right through a stone opening, then right again around the hull. You can try and kill the 2 sharks and 3 barracudas that get in your way, or just out-swim them. The key is on the bottom near some small plants. If necessary, return to the trapdoor to get air.
(NOTE: An alternative method for this area is to wait to open the trapdoor. While it's still closed stand above it and use the pistols to shoot the sharks and barracudas through the closed door. It takes a little time but makes for a much more relaxed swim. Just be sure not to stand on the trapdoor when sharks are directly underneath. They can bite Lara through the door!)
In addition to the key, you can find SECRET #3, the Gold Dragon nearby. There is a cave opposite the trapdoor opening. To get to it, swim across and up. Inside you'll find the statue (plus 2 pairs of grenades and the GRENADE LAUNCHER if you've found all the secrets).
(A WORD OF CAUTION: I HIGHLY recommend saving all or most of your grenades for the last two levels of the game. There are a few enemies there who are quite easily dispatched using grenades and very hard to kill otherwise. Now, don't say I didn't warn you.)
Return to the BRIDGE and use the key to open the CABIN door. (Again, the CABIN is the room with glass windows near the rectangular pit in the floor. The door and lock are in the hallway on the left side.) Pull the switch inside the CABIN to open a trapdoor in the floor outside. Now you can drop into the pit and push the movable block under the switch. Climb up and use the switch to open the trapdoor back in the CABIN ceiling.
GLASS CEILING THAT'S NOW A POOL: Go through that trapdoor and follow the passageway above to a large room. There are 2 bad guys with guns on the level below and 2 scuba divers in the water below. You should be able to shoot the guys with guns from above. When they're dead, drop down through the open floor to the flat ledge at the corner of the opening to the water. Take the M-16 clips and small medipak from the goons, and retrieve 3 sets of M-16 clips from the dark alcove. (NOTE: If you didn't pick up the M-16 ASSAULT RIFLE earlier, you'll get it now instead of one set of clips.)
You can kill the divers from above if you like, though you may have to jump into the water and climb out to draw them out. (NOTE: Make sure you WALK over the glass shards.) When the water is safe, dive in and go through a passage hidden behind the barrels on the sea floor. Kill the barracudas if you like, or just avoid them along with the eels in the passageway. Follow the cavern to a metal opening. This is the end of the level.
Copyright © 1998-2004 - Stellalune (e-mail stella@tombraiders.net). Special thanks are given to the participants in the alt.games.tombraider newsgroup, without whom some parts of this walkthrough couldn't have been written. Thanks also to Jeff Reid, Damien Connellan and Mr. Cairo for their help on this level. Feel free to copy, distribute and quote this walkthrough, but please include this credit line so people can send me their corrections, comments and suggestions. Also, if you'd like to offer this on your own web site, please read and follow the instructions here.
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