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These are in the order they come in the games, not in order of love,
because I can't rank them and I've tried. For each one there's a line about
why I love it and one piece of advice for the jump that gave me the most
trouble. No big story spoilers, but if you want to find everything yourself,
stop reading here.
First, my rules for every jump
1. Save first. If you wouldn't do the jump in real life, save before you try it in the game.
2. Walk to the edge. Hold down the walk button and Lara stops at the edge instead of strolling off it.
3. Hop back once before a running jump. Then she has room to get up to speed and takes off from the very edge.
4. Hold Action. If there's anything to grab on the far side, hold the Action button through the whole jump so she catches it.
5. Look before you leap. Use the look button to see where you're going. It sounds obvious. It took me most of the first game to learn.
6. Go to bed. If you've missed a jump fifteen times, it's past midnight and you have a meeting at nine. It will still be there tomorrow, and you'll make it on the first try. This happens every single time.
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| 1. Lost Valley (Tomb Raider, Peru) |
Why I love it: A hidden valley with waterfalls and jungle, three gears to find for an old machine, and then the ground starts shaking. I screamed out loud the first time the T. rex showed up, and Leon came downstairs in his robe.
The jump: At the broken wooden bridge, take a running jump and hold Action the whole way so she catches the far side and pulls herself up. And when the dinosaur comes, don't hide in the first little nook you see; it can reach you there.
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| 2. St. Francis' Folly (Tomb Raider, Greece) |
Why I love it: An enormous shaft going down and down, with ledges all the way around and four doors named for Neptune, Atlas, Thor and Damocles, each with its own trap and its own key. Swords falling from the ceiling, lightning, a giant hammer. It's the level I describe to people who don't understand why I play.
The jump: In the Atlas room, when the boulder starts rolling down at you, don't turn around and run. Backflip, three times, and you'll land safe in the little pit at the end of the hall.
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| 3. Palace Midas (Tomb Raider, Greece) |
Why I love it: You collect three bars of lead and turn them into gold with the hand of King Midas. As an accountant I found this deeply satisfying.
The jump: The pillars over the fire. Don't stop between them. Keep holding Forward and Jump and let her go pillar to pillar in one smooth run, and on the very last one press Action in the air so she grabs the edge.
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| 4. Venice (Tomb Raider II) |
Why I love it: Canals, bridges, a speedboat, and a mad dash at the end before the clock tower strikes. I have never been to Venice. Now I feel as though I have, mostly at forty miles an hour.
The jump: The jump across the canal to the red awning. Start from the window of the room with the checkerboard floor and set up your running jump carefully. From anywhere lower down it's simply too far, and I proved that about twenty times.
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| 5. Wreck of the Maria Doria (Tomb Raider II) |
Why I love it: A grand ocean liner lying upside down on the sea floor. You walk on the ceilings of its staterooms and ballroom, everything turned on its head. Eerie and sad and beautiful. My single favorite place in all three games.
The jump: Over the floor that breaks away, don't go forward. Step to the edge, turn around, and slide down backwards, so that when the trapdoor drops you can grab the edge instead of falling onto the glass below.
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| 6. Tibetan Foothills (Tomb Raider II) |
Why I love it: Snow, mountains, avalanches, and a snowmobile. Timothy, who is 6, sat with me for this one on a Saturday and yelled "GO GO GO" at every ramp, and I let him.
The jump: The big gap over the canyon. Line the snowmobile up perfectly straight with the ramp from a good way back and hit it as fast as it will go. If you're the least bit crooked, you won't make it.
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| 7. Barkhang Monastery (Tomb Raider II) |
Why I love it: A monastery in the mountains with prayer wheels to find, and monks who will fight the bad guys alongside you as long as you leave them alone. My advice before anything else: do not shoot the monks. Not even by accident. They don't forgive.
The jump: Climbing the giant statue by its hands up to its head, put your flare away first. Lara won't grab properly while she's holding one, and I fell off that statue more times than I will admit before I figured that out.
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| 8. River Ganges (Tomb Raider III, India) |
Why I love it: A quad bike, a jungle river, monkeys, and vultures. Loud and silly and fun after the creepy temples before it.
The jump: The wide gap between the two ramps in the tunnel. At normal speed the quad bike won't clear it. You need the turbo boost, so line the bike up at the bottom of the ramp first and then give it everything.
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| 9. Crash Site (Tomb Raider III, South Pacific) |
Why I love it: A crashed plane in the jungle, soldiers, raptors, and the T. rex all over again. I didn't scream this time. I said something I wouldn't say in front of the children.
The jump: The swamp. Most of it is quicksand. The safe squares are the ones with green plants growing on them, so jump only from plant to plant, and save on solid ground before you start.
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| 10. Aldwych (Tomb Raider III, London) |
Why I love it: An abandoned subway station under London, with old platforms and a train and a secret Masonic temple hidden down below. The best puzzles in the third game.
The jump: The shaft with the drill coming down on top of you. Save first, honestly. Slide down the slope backwards, grab the end, and keep moving the whole way down, ledge to ledge. Don't stop to think. The drill won't wait for you to think.
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Honorable mentions, because ten was too few: the Colosseum, Natla's Mines,
the Opera House in Venice, the Temple of Xian, and Lara's own house, where
you can lock her butler in the walk-in freezer. (I didn't. I would never.
Once.)
back to Lara After Bedtime |
tell me your favorite level
Last updated September 23, 1999
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