So it all comes down to this; The Dragon’s Lair. The final stage in Lara’s pursuit of the Dagger of Xian, a quest that has led her to China, Venice, Tibet and even the darkest corners of the ocean floor.
And now she just has to murder a dragon and wrench the dagger out of its still-beating heart. Should be simple enough.
The finale itself is pretty short. It’s basically a chain of three rooms, in varying sizes, each containing a different type of enemy to ward off. There’s not much room for the fancy acrobatics Lara’s relied on in recent levels, but there’s plenty of opportunity to get ammo’d up and kill some bad guys.
The start of the level and it’s a relief to see that, unlike last time, we’re not immediately thrust into battle with the big bad boss.
I have nothing to say about this image other than I thought it was pretty awesome.
After battling her way through the first room (spearmen), Lara finds herself in a dimly-lit area, facing the possibility of a painful death via…uh…being frowned at? Seriously, that is the stance of a man that has pretty much given up with trying to stop her.
The first thing I thought when I saw this pick-up was that one of the cultists had laid an egg. I need to stop playing Minecraft.
I wouldn’t get too complacent, the dragon behind this door certainly ain’t as friendly as the one on it.
Lara finds Marco Bartoli lying on a slab and celebrates with a head spin.
Angered by being shown up on the dance floor (and because he’s got a enchanted blade rammed into the ol’ ticker), Marco turns into a dragon and starts trying to cook and/or eat Lara.
It took a few thousands rounds from the Uzis before I finally gave up and used the easy-sneaky method from Stella’s walkthrough. Hey, it isn’t cheating if Lara didn’t have to draw a flare and do a little dance for it.
At last! The Dagger of the Xian of ours. And hey, look, there’s a spare one still stuck in him in case we lose this one.
Plucking the dagger from out of the dragon’s underbelly causes the whole thing to melt, leaving a skeleton that is no doubt going to bamboozle some palaeontologists at a later stage.
The dagger successfully recovered, Lara makes a break for freedom.
The Dagger of Xian stowed safely away in her backpack, Lara makes a hasty exit from the temple, which is starting to fall down around her.
You really wouldn’t want to look down an alleyway and see this coming towards you.
Lara reaches the surface just as a massive explosion rocks the temple and throws her hurtling into the air.
Wheeeeeeeeee! This is even better than spring-boards.
Lara falls to the ground and passes out, while the continuing explosion devastates the surrounding area.
After an involuntary nap, Lara wakes up and finds that she’s inadvertently blown up part of the Great Wall of China. Hey-ho, there’s tons of it left.
Her work done, Lara heads for home.
Aaaand that’s the end of Tomb Raider II. Nearly.
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