"Nickel Tour" and Walkthrough by Skinny Minnie

Download this 11.8 meg PC demo for Win9x here (it doesn't work with WinXP).

If you have been curious about trying a Tomb Raider game but didn't know where to start, how about downloading this free little dandy and taking the plunge? TR4 is actually one of the more adventure-oriented of Lara's whole series. How are you at deciphering hieroglyphics and putting ancient puzzle pieces together to gain entrance into sealed tombs? Can you play ancient Egyptian board games against invisible, otherworldly opponents with ease? The locales are colorful, spacious, and even gorgeous at times, having beautiful visuals despite the blocky look resultant from being originally ported for PSX. This game was actually my first foray into action/adventures, and it broke me out of the strictly point-and-click, "pure adventure gaming" mold. The virtual 3D world of Tomb Raider gives linearity a cold boot in the arse! Too, it almost completely lacks gore, and many of the enemies are supernatural instead of human in origin, making it a guiltless (and more interesting) gaming experience. From ghostly tin men on horseback, mythical raging bulls, zombies, and mummies, to fire bolt–wielding, armor-clad, giant Egyptian spirits, TR4 has it all. The full game is actually quite gradual in its difficulty curve, beginning with a story-immersive training level depicting Lara as a weaponless, ponytailed teen and presenting some hitherto unknown background on how the young adventuress got her start. I think I was several levels into the game before I actually worked up the nerve to have Lara fire a shot! Prior to that, I just had her flee from every dangerous situation, missing a lot of "goodies" in the process!

Controlling Lara Croft may appear a difficult feat at first, but this demo takes care of her in two ways: First, Lara takes less damage from falls and hits in this demo than in the full-blown TR4 game, and second, the scenes aren't as difficult or involved as is the master work from which they are fashioned. Curiously, this demo is not a direct slice of the TR4 pie, but is rather a separate work created to highlight certain aspects and enemies from the main game, culminating into one compact level. It does, however, fashion itself in part around "The Lost Library" level, one of the latter levels in the game, so if you do play the full TR4 in the future, you will recognize some of these scenes as you play a ways into it.

Controls

Although you may customize the controls to your liking, here are the keyboard defaults:

• Cursor Keys: Move Lara around (down arrow makes her leap back)
• Shift Key: Walk, when combined with forward or backward cursor keys; sidestep left or sidestep right, using left or right cursor (for lining Lara up)
• Ctrl Key: Action (fire weapon, equip different weapon, grab wall to climb, pull lever, etc.)
• Space Bar: Draw currently selected weapon out, or holster current weapon
• Alt Key: Jump (also makes Lara swim when in water, using cursor keys for direction)
• ? Key: Sprint faster when already running forward with cursor arrow
• End Key: Roll
• 0 on Numpad: Look around, when combined with cursor keys for direction
• . Key: Duck/Crouch
• , Key: Use flare
• Esc Key: Pause, and display/manipulate inventory, including switching weapons
• Lara cannot fall off of ledges, etc. when walking, but she can when in her default run, or when using the even-faster sprint.

There are other commands and fancier moves, but those will be enough to get you through this demo.

Health Bars

The red bar in the upper left of the game screen appears automatically when Lara draws a weapon out and depletes with every hit she takes. It will appear whenever she takes a hit, actually, even if her current weapon is holstered. When it fully depletes, Lara dies, but you can prevent this by using MediPaks you will find hidden around or that you get as rewards for extinguishing enemies. Both the demo and the full game do provide one large and three small MediPaks in Lara's beginning inventory. They can be used any time during gameplay via the "esc" key, then by scrolling with the directional arrow keys to a MediPak and pressing "ctrl" to apply it to Lara. Small MediPaks replenish half of Lara's health bar, and large ones will fill it just about full, as long as she still has even a slight bit of health before applying the MediPak.

The blue bar in the upper right of the game screen only appears when Lara is under water; when full she will have about 60 seconds of breath. Once this blue bar fully depletes, her red bar appears in the upper left, and Lara will drown quite quickly. Try to swim her up to the surface for air before the blue bar empties, so that it can quickly refill to capacity.

The green bar in the upper right of the screen only appears when Lara is sprinting; it depletes quickly, and once it does, she will default back into a standard run until you release the sprint key and let her "catch her breath." You will then notice that the green bar refills to the top, and subsequently disappears until called upon once again.

Options and Intro

While you can save your game wherever you see fit in the full version of the PC game, in this demo there is no save game feature. There is also another quirk: If you pause the game (with the "p" key, which is also where you may quit the game) for very long, or even if you leave Lara standing around scratching her fanny for a few minutes, the demo will default back to the main screen and you will have to start over. Consequently, when writing this walkthrough, and then again when taking screenshots, I had to play through one scene, stop to take notes or a pic, then start from the beginning of the level again and work my way up to the next scene ...

After you download and install this self-extracting demo (it installs to c:\trldemo by default), first click on the Setup icon in the trldemo folder. Like the full game, this Direct X demo requires 16-bit color (TR games have a Glide option too, if you have a Voodoo card), but you can choose your preferred resolution, and do some other video nitpicking, here in setup. The demo will actually then fire right from the setup screen when you click "ok" to bind your settings. In future, as you will of course be drawn back perpetually against your will for a replay, you can double-click the Tomb4.exe file in this same folder to start the demo.

Once in the game's main menu, you may want to scroll down with the cursor arrow to Options in the main screen and adjust and save the volume settings. You can also change the keyboard controls, which move Lara, with the Control Configuration option at the top of the screen.

This game demo, much like the full game, has a "rolling introduction" at the beginning. If you don't begin playing, eventually an "automatic demo" will begin, showing you a few of the scenes from the game demo and actually shedding a little light on one way to play through the beginning scene (although there are usually multiple ways to successfully finish a level in Tomb Raider). To me, poor Lara is shown at the start of this automatic sequence doing more bunny-hopping than a forest sees in springtime, in avoidance of some nasty skeletons. If you're all thumbs, I've got some simpler ways to get through that section listed below (see Choice 1, or Choice 2) ...

Lara is defaulted at a run when you press the forward cursor key. Her default for most weaponry is on "Auto-Lock." This means that when you hit "spacebar" to draw a weapon out, Lara will automatically correctly aim at targets, except when using the few weapons requiring crosshairs, which you will have to aim manually via the 0 on the Numpad. Most of the time, though, all you will have to do is press action ("ctrl") with a weapon drawn to have Lara fire at the baddies. She already has a small variety of weapons in inventory for this demo, unlike in the full game, where she acquires the majority of them from hidden stashes as the story progresses. Lara's trusty default pistols have unlimited ammo. Shotguns and other weapons rely on bullet rounds found stashed about as she moves through the game, and as such are in more limited supply. That said, there's nothing like a good shotgun blast to push back an attacking skeleton ... Ah, but on to the game!

Walkthrough

Once Lara shoots the vase, it vanishes, revealing an angry squatter!
In "Look" mode ("0" on Numpad) you can see right through Lara.

The demo opens in a small room with a dark brass gate directly in front of Lara. In the upper right corner of this room lies a vase, which you can't see unless you have Lara run around a bit. If you like, you can have Lara draw out her pistols (hit "spacebar"), shoot the vase (hit "ctrl"), then shoot the ticked-off scorpion that is now freed from inside it (it will take several rounds with the pistols, and you'll want to have Lara hop backwards using the down arrow as she's firing so she doesn't get stung). Now get her to gather up the subsequent booty of shotgun shells that appear for her efforts by positioning her directly over them; hit "spacebar" to holster her pistols, then hit "ctrl" for ammo pickup. The shotgun is Lara's best buddy both in the full TR4 game and in this demo, so always collect those shells.

Now, tally ho and on through the gate! As Lara approaches it, the gate opens automatically; send her through it and up the steps, but stop her just after the landing. I'd recommend a switch of weapons to the aforementioned shotgun at this point if you're the confrontational type (see Choice 2 for this scene, listed below), because two spooky, sword-swinging skeletons materialize at the other end of the room. Yes, the Bony Cronies will jump the gaps between those ledges and come directly for Lara. You actually have multiple choices for saving Lara's hide here, though.

Choice 1: This is by far the simplest way out. Take the "Coward's Kamikaze Cliff" exit. That's right, just send Lara running straight off of the ledge, and she'll fall to the floor below, losing a little health, yes, but avoiding those Boneheads too. They won't come down after her, either, although you'll see them leaping from ledge to ledge above and hear their clanging swords. I must point out, though, that in the full version of TR4, you won't be able to have Lara plummet down a whole floor in such a manner without her taking some serious damage from it, especially as the game progresses ...

Choice 2: Just in case you don't feel like chicken tonight, how about trying the house special?

Shoot each skeleton in mid-jump over the gap so he falls through.

Lara will get both shotgun smoke and flying shells for her efforts.

This second possible method is an excerpt from that nefarious work entitled "Skinny's School of Skeleton Shotgunning," and it involves the following: Have Lara run a little ways forward, hit "esc" to bring up inventory, use the arrows to scroll to the shotgun, then equip it with "ctrl." Lara automatically draws her shotgun and locks on to the target. Wait until the first skeleton comes closer and is in midjump, right over the closest gap to Lara, then press "ctrl" to fire! If he plummets down through the gap to the floor below, he won't come back (skeletons in this game are never climbers), nor will he be in the room below when Lara gets there, either. Lather, rinse, and repeat for the second skeleton, who comes right behind the first. Whew! That was exciting! Just where do they disappear to down there, anyway? Perhaps they have "day jobs" being put on display at doctors' offices; who knows? By the way, if the buggers don't fall down through those gaps when shot and they land on other ledges instead, Lara is going to have to knock them off again. Keep trying until they fall down through the gaps, because, on that upper floor, their middle names are both Lazarus. They can't be killed up there, at least not with the weapons available in this demo.

Once those Shield Wielders have been eliminated, you can calmly get Lara down to the bottom floor, health intact. Walk her straight out to the edge of the ledge she's standing on ("shift" key plus forward arrow). Now turn her around 180 degrees with a side arrow, lining the back of her feet up squarely with the back edge of the ledge so she's not angled. You may at this point attempt to have her do a quick drop and hang off of the ledge by simultaneously pressing the backward arrow and action ("ctrl"). Then you can let go of those and she will drop down below. If this sounds too risky, you can have her crouch first with the . key as shown below.

Once you are holding Lara in a crouch as shown in the picture,
add action ("ctrl" key) to the mix, and then add the down arrow.
Lara will creep backwards and then drop over the ledge and hang there.

Now let go of the "ctrl" key (and the other keys too, if you haven't already), and Lara will gracefully drop to the floor with no negative hit to her health. You could actually try either of these exits for Lara even with a skeleton or two panting wistfully in her direction, but it might get pretty hectic ...

Alternatively, you can get fancier and go ahead with Choice 3 to exit Lara from this scene, but this exit too will be a great deal easier with those skeletal lunatics out of the way first.

Choice 3: Do what it shows you in the "demo mode" if you open the game and just let it run by itself for a while ... Have Lara run forward by pressing the forward arrow, and send her into a running jump to the next ledge by adding the jump command as her feet approach the edge of the first ledge. If you don't think you will get the timing for her jump and landing right (a common issue for new Raiders), alternatively you can slow her to a walk right up to the edge of that first ledge, by adding the "shift" key. Now have her perform a "standing jump with grab" to the ledge ahead. It really helps for this to have your right hand work the arrow keys and your left hand do the "alt" and "ctrl" keys. Tap jump ("alt") once, then right away press and hold the forward arrow, and as Lara is leaping forward in midair, quickly add the action ("ctrl") command and keep holding it so she will grab the next ledge (you don't have to keep holding "alt" because Lara has already jumped and it's no longer needed). Once Lara is hanging from that next ledge, just keep holding the forward arrow and "ctrl" and Lara will pull herself up.

No matter how Lara has arrived across to this second ledge, she must now continue by walking to the edge of this new ledge, and doing a "standing jump with grab" to the pole in front of her (see pics for instructions).

Center Lara in front of the pole, using "shift" plus the arrow keys.

Tap "alt," then hold the forward arrow and "ctrl," letting go of "alt."

Lara will jump forward and grab the pole. Whatever you do, let go of jump ("alt") before Lara grabs the pole or she will do a back flip right off of the pole again! Now let go of the forward arrow, and keep holding the "ctrl" key down so Lara will hang on to the pole. If you let go of "ctrl," Lara will fall off of the pole. With Lara hanging onto the pole ("ctrl" still pressed) you can add the down arrow, and Lara will shimmy down the pole to safety. You can let go of all keys once she is close to the floor and she will drop safely down.

Whew! Don't you wish you just took the "Coward's Kamikaze Cliff" exit instead?!

Now you can look around and get your bearings. This room is quite dark, that is until your Egyptian "Guide" from the earliest levels of TR4 makes a cameo appearance here in the demo, lighting the sconces on the walls. You may also have Lara light a flare from her inventory by pressing the , key, and then she can better explore the room. There's nothing too exciting here except a barred exit, and a curious spinning wheel-like contraption on the floor ... In the full game, this wheel appears not in the Lost Library area but in a different level, and it sets off one of the most difficult runs of the entire game (and if you try to save your game in the middle of said run, the trap door you are trying to get through at the end is automatically closed when you return to the game). Fear not though, newbie Raiders, because this is not only a very simplified and streamlined version of that run, but both the demo and Yours Truly are here to help.

Line up Lara directly behind the spinning wheel, so that you can see ahead the tall, narrow brass gate, across from her on the far wall. Have Lara crank the spinning wheel five times by pressing action ("ctrl") five times in a row, as this opens the gate up fully.

A woman's work is never done ... Crank that wheel five times.

I agree with the rolling demo intro here, as it will be quickest to immediately thereafter send Lara into a side flip to the right by pressing jump ("alt") and the right arrow key, to clear her from banging into the wheel, then it's "Run, Lara baby, run, straight through that gate like the wind!"

Do a side flip, and then head for the light at the end of the tunnel!

Press the forward arrow and send her running toward the gate as it's closing. You can make it simpler by boosting her speed into a sprint by adding the ? key, and she will barrel right out of the gate, or you can just keep her running like the demo does and add a roll (hit the "end" key) as she comes upon the gate, and she will dive under it, then stand up on the other side. One thing about Lara's rolls is that she will end any roll facing the opposite direction, which may appear confusing at first. It is also a bit more difficult to time this roll just right so that she makes it under the door in time than it is just sprinting Lara straight through the door.

Blasted roll! Why didn't you just add the bloody sprint key, mate?

At any rate, Lara now enters a small alcove with a ladder on the far wall. Send Lara up to ladder, press the forward arrow and action, and she will grab on to it. Keep pressing both keys and she will ascend it. Optionally you could, as Lara ascends and approaches two pedestals on either side of her, switch direction arrows and press the left arrow instead, making Lara climb left. When she's directly over the left pedestal, release action and she'll drop. Turn her around and notice a blue vase on the opposite wall. (A former florist must have helped design this demo!) Equip Lara's pistols as they have unlimited ammo, and feel free to blast away. Hark—is it a magic potion that appears, or maybe an ancient scroll replete with hieroglyphs, expounding the true meaning of life? Nah, there's nothing here at all. Oh, pooh! Fear not, though, friend, because further along in this demo you will find not only a couple of vases with more of those much-coveted shotgun shells hidden inside of them, but also other vases that contain scorpions! (Perhaps that former florist was born in November, eh?)

Get Lara back on the ladder, if you took the vase detour, by facing her toward the ladder wall and pressing the forward arrow and "ctrl" to get her to climb on to that short length of ladder. Now change arrows to the right arrow key, until Lara climbs right and is centered on the longer length of ladder again. Keep pressing "ctrl," too, unless you enjoy seeing Lara plummet down off of the ladder to a possible untimely demise ... Add the forward arrow until Lara pulls herself up to the landing at ladder's end. She made it! Be sure to rearm her with those pistols as she enters the main hall of the Lost Library, because two hungry scorpions will come zipping toward Lara for a snack.

Sting the stingers, and exit through the furthest doors on the left.

In the full game, all of these sets of doors of the Lost Library hold various experiences of intrigue. In this demo, however, there's only one set on this floor that opens to a new scene, and it's the furthest of the three sets of blue doors on the left hand side as Lara first enters the room. If you are feeling adventurous, you can send Lara on a short exploration before exiting, though. The vases here are bulletproof, but boy, wouldn't it be nice if you could find out what is behind those huge doors at the top of the stairs? You can see daylight coming through the crack where the doors meet, if you get Lara up the stairs and have her stand right up in front of them. Press action to have her attempt to open them ... Nothing happens! What's the skinny, Minnie? There is actually a certain "hotspot" on the floor along the left wall, where, if you position Lara correctly, you can have her do a jump with grab to the second floor balcony ledge and pull up right over the balcony. If you get the positioning just right, you will instantly be treated to a short, panning cut scene complete with creaky door sounds, of those large doors opening down below ... Have shotgun, will travel—woo hoo! Tough luck if you take a health hit Lara honey, you're going barreling back off of that balcony, and I mean now! Fling yourself back down there this instant!

I wagered a MediPak on this? Next time, risk your own health bar!

Ahem! I'm back now! After that nice road to nowhere, it's time to have Lara open that furthest set of doors on the left; stand her in front of them and press "ctrl." Have her follow the hallway around to the right, leap down at the end into the next area, then stop before entering that new room. Now she will need to whip out that trusty shotgun, unless you feel like experimenting with some of the other guns from inventory. Do something, though, because good looks alone aren't going to cut it for the next batch of friendly neighborhood skeletons who will spontaneously arise out of the floor in the room Lara's about to enter. Before she enters the doorway to this room, take a peek inside, and notice a short pedestal on the far wall, in between two lions' heads water fountains. Notice also the pit in the center of this room. There are huge, upwardly mobile knives that shoot up and kill Lara if she falls into this pit, and I speak from experience here, so you can like me, just don't be like me ...

You can call me Lara, or you can call me Ms. Croft; just don't call
me Spike! Note the short pedestal between the columns in back.

As soon as Lara enters the room, the new Bones Brothers will appear (or maybe the previous two just got laid off by those MDs ...). Have Lara blow them one by one into the pit, even if she must jump across it or run around it, luring each of them to follow her into the correct positioning ... Otherwise, they will become quite a persistent health risk. Be aware that these skeletons have shields that they can raise, deflecting Lara's bullets. If they do this, have Lara back away and holster her weapon ("spacebar"). They'll put their shields down and come at her, swords waving. Draw that weapon and fire before they can raise their shields once again. If Lara takes much damage, give her a MediPak; remember, without saved games to fall back on, if Lara dies, you start the level over! Once you have taken care of the skeletons, approach that pedestal against the far wall you saw earlier. Look directly to the right of it, where you'll see a brass lever up high on the side wall. Line up Lara directly in front of the pedestal. Press action and forward and Lara will vault on to it with a "Hup!" Turn Lara so that she's facing that switch on the wall. Walk her to the very edge of the pedestal, facing toward the switch. Prepare for another "standing jump with grab."

Tap jump, add the forward arrow, and then add action. Lara will jump across and hang on to the lever. Keep pressing action and slowly Lara will come down, pulling the lever down with her. You'll notice that the lever has triggered a spot in the floor behind Lara to rise up and become an L-shaped, larger pedestal. For now, just make a mental note of where this new pedestal is. Lara will be climbing it in a hurry with a salivating Skull Scout at her heels all soon enough ...

First things first, though. Carefully have Lara make her way around the edge of the pit toward the entryway not of where she came in, but of the one that's off to the side (it's to the right if Lara is standing where she first entered the room). This entryway leads somewhere that Lara hasn't been to yet. Send her through this entryway and around to the right. You'll see a closed gate and a dark brass metal ball hanging from a chain doohickey. Hit the "esc" key to get into inventory. You can try equipping the pistols for this trick: Your goal is to shoot that metal ball. Get Lara in close to the ball and have her jump straight up and down, rapid-firing at the ball in midair. It does work for me this way, and it doesn't waste other precious ammo. However, alternatively, you may scroll over to the revolver using the cursor keys and use the down arrow key to highlight the word "combine" instead of "equip." Then below "combine," scroll through until you see the laser sight. Press action ("ctrl") to combine the laser sight with the revolver. Now you can "equip" Lara with the revolver. You'll be looking through those pain-in-the-tushy crosshairs once you press and hold the 0 on the Numpad to enter targeting mode. Use the cursor keys to aim your crosshairs, and if you need them, use the duck (.) and sprint (?) keys to zoom in and out, until you're centered on that dark brown ball hanging there. Shoot the ball. The chains will do their dance and the gate will open, allowing Lara through.

Repeat after me: "Target practice is always a ball with Lara Croft!"

Once she is through the gate, switch weapons to the shotgun so it's ready just in case, and then holster it for now. You may be guessing that another Numbskull is on the horizon and you are right, but this time unfortunately there aren't any pits to knock him into.

So what's a high-society English adventuress to do? Just try and avoid him and look for a newly rising pedestal, off to the right on the far wall of this new area, to jump onto ... The pedestal doesn't actually begin its ascent until the skeleton rises up out of the floor, so you may not see it for a few seconds after Lara enters this new room.

If Lara must slow the skeleton down on her way, she can whip out the shotgun to knock him for a loop, and then continue on to the pedestal. Remember: Skeletons aren't climbers. He'll pace around at ground level below her. You will have to holster Lara's weapon, then press both the forward arrow and "ctrl" to get Lara to vault onto the higher blocks. Carefully peer around upwards once Lara is safely up high on the pedestal, by using the look key, which is 0 on the Numpad, combined with the arrow keys. You're searching for a ledge to do the dreaded "standing jump with grab" up to. Your ultimate goal is a purple gemstone, stuck on the wall up there.

Bone Buddy is across at the entrance; the ledge and gem are above.

Once Lara pulls up to the ledge above her, position her directly in front of the purple gemstone and have her pluck it right off with that hitherto ignored crowbar in her inventory. This little dandy comes in quite handy multiple times in the full game. Hit "esc" for inventory, scroll through it to the crowbar, press action, and Lara will automatically pry the gem out with it. Now it's party time! Head back down either with careful jumps or by having Lara walk to the edge of the top ledge, turn around 180 degrees, crouch down (use the duck command), add pressing action and also the backward arrow, and Lara will drop down over the ledge and hang there. Let her drop gently by letting go of action.

Send her running by her waiting admirer and back out through the gate. The skeleton is a quite fast runner, so you might want to add the sprint command so Lara runs faster. The green bar will come up on the top right of your screen, showing you how long she can sustain this time-limited dash. Don't bother pressing the sprint command without Lara already being in a run first, though, as she won't move at all until the forward arrow is pressed first; then you can add the sprint command. Speed demons beware: Lara is harder to control with the sprint going. As soon as you get through the gate, head left. If Lara is sprinting, you may want to let go of that command and just keep the forward arrow pressed so she slows to a run to make the bend without hitting the wall. At any rate, send her left around that corner and have her continue running to the right side of the spike pit. Now have Lara vault (with the forward arrow and "ctrl") to the top of the large, L-shaped pedestal on the back wall that was originally triggered with that lever. Have Lara face the opposite wall from that lever, and jump/grab/pull up, leaving the Crony Bony in hot pursuit below her as she climbs up into the ceiling.

Those skeletons just adore Lara; they really put her on a pedestal!

Up here there is good news and bad news. The good news is that there is only one skeleton, and he's locked behind a gate in a little hallway. Lara must use the purple gemstone, which fits into a socket right next to the gate, to open it and enter. Brittle Boy doesn't even materialize until Lara picks up part of a copper coin piece on the floor of that little hallway, so he won't just come leaping at her from anywhere at any given moment. Of course, Skinny shall give you the skinny on that one as it is about to happen ... Now for the bad news: The other enemies populating the further area are fire demons called "flame spells," who cannot be damaged, deterred, or killed by any sort of weaponry Lara has in inventory. You'll see fiery lines erupting from over a doorway and swirling very quickly in the air; those are the devils. They fly fast as blazes, and they can and will follow Lara wherever she goes, draining the very life right out of her with a hoary hissing sound. So full of sunshine, aren't I?

When Lara gets to the landing after her climb from the L-shaped pedestal, have her traverse the hallway. You will then see a cubbyhole/entryway covered with boards. Equip the pistols, and direct Lara to shoot the boards and pick up the small MediPak on the floor inside. Moving on, she will enter a room with scrolls lying about. Get her to pull those pistols back out and shoot any scorpions first, then have a look around. In the full game, some of these scrolls can be picked up to aid you in your quests, but in the demo they're just dusty, dilapidated eye candy. Don't worry about the fire demons yet; they aren't in this scene.

As Lara moves through the scroll room, it bends around the corner to the left. Look for a dark brass gate a ways down along the left wall around that corner. There is also a wide doorway harboring a set of stairs sitting to the right of the brass gate. This gate has a dark, empty, socketed circle to the left of it (you can't see the circle in the screenshot). That's where Lara's famed purple gemstone goes, which of course opens the gate.

Scroll room far left, gate with gem socket right, stairway far right ...

Peer behind the gate first, and notice half of a copper coin piece sitting on the floor there, so you know what you're after ahead of time. Open inventory, scroll to the gemstone, press action, and Lara will insert it into the round hole. Open Sesame! Quickly line up Lara over the copper coin piece and press action. Lara is somewhat picky about being centered over goodies for pickup; if she's behind it, in front of it, or off to the side of it, forget it! Lara's final Bonebrain is triggered to materialize upon this pickup. No pits are available, so just have her avoid him and run back out of that now-open gate, banging a left out of that gate and down those stairs (don't head her directionally right, back toward the scroll room). Lara will wend her way around a hallway with a blue set of doors at the end; press action upon her arrival there and she'll open them. Direct her to take a right on to this balcony, and follow it around toward the left. The skeleton will stay behind. This is the infamous balcony that the downstairs "hotspot jump" brought you to, if you found it, which triggered those genuine, simulated, large doors of adventure to open earlier ... There is only one set of doors up here at the other end of this balcony that will open; they're the last set. Quiet on the set, and, action!

Send Lara through the gate, which closes behind her. To the right, you'll see a boarded-up little cubbyhole in an alleyway. Have Lara fire on the boards, breaking them into bits. Oddly enough, you will discover crossbow ammo, which Lara ultimately has no use for as there is no crossbow in this demo; I'll be darned if I've ever been able to find one, anyway! Make sure Lara walks carefully and slowly back out of this cubbyhole. As she is facing the cubbyhole, turn her left but don't let her walk to the end of the alleyway yet! Fire demon alert: Consider yourself warned!

The end of this alleyway she is in leads to a bigger room, with torn bronze curtains and ropes hanging from the ceiling. Take a careful peek there now. Below the curtains on the right wall is another gate concealing a pole, and this gate has yet another empty socket next to it. There are two vases in this room as well. As Lara reaches the entry to this room, it triggers two of my least-favorite enemies in all of the TR4 game: Those darned flying frenzied "flame spells!" How does the Minnie deal with this major situation? Toward the right on the far wall, you'll see Lara's savior—an open doorway.

There goes the neighborhood: Fire Demon, 1 o'clock! Bolt for the
doorway ahead. Nice day for a swim! Worry about the gate later.

Start Lara into a run, then add the sprint command so she'll run for her life straight through this doorway. Let off the sprint key but keep that forward arrow pressed to take that left corner ... Now you'll see a pool of water in the middle of another big room; send Lara diving right into it!

You'll never see their freakin' ugly faces, except frozen in this
screenshot! Yes, Lara is under the water—see the blue life bar?

Leave her underwater, and you'll see two red splashes as the two fire demons follow her into the water and disintegrate. One time Lara hit the pool in record time, and the fire demons never hit the water! I just left Lara under water until she was almost out of air, then I swam her up to the top ("alt" key plus arrows) and let her poke her head out for a breather. The demons never came back. Maybe they got aquaphobia. Anyhow, she is safe once they're gone; swim up to the edge of the pool, press action, and Lara will pull herself up and out. Notice how she'll be dripping wet for a while? It's a nice visual touch. Notice how you're feeling the vertigo? It's a nice visual touch.
If you are inclined toward a shooting spree, you can seek out another boarded-up cubby beyond the pool room and get some shotgun shells for your efforts. Are you feeling lucky? A couple of vases up here also have shells in them (pssst, they're the ones in the bronze curtained room). Beware of other vases containing scorpions! As Lara meanders lazily back into the pool room (mentally stable and untouchable in her "happy place"), your eyes may be drawn to that unique black and orange vase ... You can actually see it up against the back wall in the pool room in the screenshot above. Isn't that enough for you? You big meanie! Okay, okay, I'm going back up there, just give me a minute for a breather here... Unlike you, I have to play this crazy thing again from the start to have more fancy screenshots to gander at ...

She's past the fire demons without a "scratch," at least not on Lara!
Have her line up behind the vase and push it around that corner.

Personally, I kept having Lara try to shoot that funky vase, to no avail. Then I noticed it had a really wide mouth, so I kept peering inside for a "goodie." (Sometimes it's hard to believe I'm actually an adventure gamer, isn't it?) Eventually I noticed that the vase was just around the corner from a gate with the second half of that coin piece behind it ... Do you see those scratch marks on the floor? Have you noticed that they lead around the corner to a square patch on the floor similarly decorated to that black-and-orange vase?

Line up our dear heroine behind the black-and-orange vase, and press action and the forward arrow. Lara will push the vase; direct her with the arrow keys to follow the scratch marks on the floor, right around the corner, and keep pushing until the vase is over the square on the floor. Alas, the brass gate will open! She can pick up the second coin piece. No enemies show up. There is no earthquake.

Now go back to the room with the bronze curtains in it. Be on the lookout for the closed gate with a dark, round, empty circle next to it. You can see a platform and another fun pole through this gate. Go into inventory, scroll to one of the coin pieces, and press action on "combine." Then scroll through the lower list to find the second coin piece, and press action again to combine the pieces. Now Lara can line up in front of that empty circle and put the full coin into it by your pressing action. The gate opens, you heave a sigh of relief, and the final pitter-patter of Lara's tiny feet can be heard as you send her through the gate, and this TR4 demo ends ...