Tomb of Qualopec

Tomb of Qualopec is probably my favourite out of all the Peruvian levels. For one thing, it’s short (I get bored easily), and there’s not a lot of things to jump out on you.

Doesn’t this look familiar? The Peruvians liked their corridors.

Finally, a bit of colour! As the name suggests, Lara has finally uncovered the tomb of Qualopec where (according to Natla), the Scion is.

Like all tombs, Qualopec’s is crammed with tricks and traps designed to destroy anyone that dares trespass. This boulder run teaches every budding Tomb Raider to be wary of long, downwards-sloping corridors.

And there’s the Scion, typically behind a locked door. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

I am proud to say that it took me upwards of two minutes to find this lever switch. Which means I’m starting to forget what to do in this game! It is becoming a challenge once again!

Naturally, Qualopec stuffed a whole lot of angry velociraptors into his tomb before he died. And once again, I must marvel at the beautiful symmetry of these creatures’ deaths.

These are the three rooms the velociraptors were guarding. As far as I’m aware, each symbol correlates to a Atlantean ruler (did I mention you shouldn’t read this blog if you don’t want to have the story of Tomb Raider 1 spoiled for you? You also shouldn’t play Tomb Raider Anniversary). The left one is Tihocan (with his foofy head wear), the right one is Qualopec (with his helmet and voice box) and the middle one is Natla (with her…uh…hair).

The first glimpse of a beloved Tomb Raider institution; the spike pit. Rows of jagged pointed poles covered with the dried blood of victims past. Lara can walk through them with no ill effect, but jumping on to them is another matter.

The golden mummy is back! And this time he’s in more suitable surroundings.

Qualopec was also big on collapsible floors that drop you into mortal danger.

After finding switches in all three rooms, you manage to open an alternate route to the Scion.

And here’s Qualopec, who apparently didn’t want to let a little thing like death stop him from guarding his prized possession. Notice the two mummified attendants…the one under Tihocan’s symbol seems fairly docile, but the one under Natla’s symbol…

…that one’ll lunge at you if you get too close. Foreshadowing, perhaps?

Thankfully, the mummy is too old and dead to actually hurt you, and you can pick up the Scion without hassle.

That is, until the ceiling comes falling down on you. Time for a quick escape.

The way you came in has now opened up and you go rushing back to the pool from the previous level.

Look who it is! Larson has shown up, with some kind of pimped up water pistol. I used to be so in love with Larson when I was 13. In fact, I can still see what all the fuss was about…

After a lot of shooting, Larson will fall down and cue a cutscene. Despite it being fourteen years since this game was released, the PC version’s cutscenes STILL HAVE NO SOUND.

Finish! Goodbye Peru (for now)! See you in TR7!