Level 19
Meteorite Cavern
Lara runs into the meteorite cavern just in time for a mini earthquake to knock her off her feet. She manages to stop herself falling into a pool of very hot looking lava and gets to her feet in time to see Willard keel into the central pool beneath the vast, rotating meteorite. Barely has she got over the shock of seeing her employer fall to his doom than he is climbing back out of the pool, somewhat changed...
The big boss is one mean, king freak.
The area you have to fight in isn't very hospitable either. Willard has a seriously powerful bolt of energy that will kill Lara if it hits her... and he never misses! Luckily, if you stay inside the central circle, Willard spends all his time chasing you and doesn't try to shoot you.
He generally moves around the central circle anti clockwise - you should do the same, taking care not to go over the white lines at the start of each spoke as you run around.
Unfortunately, running isn't enough. If you want to beat Willard you're going to have to stop running and shoot him. Twelve shots from the Desert Eagle is enough to stun him for a few seconds. During those precious few seconds you need to sprint down one of the spokes of the arena, pick up an artefact and make it back into the centre before Willard charges up his firing energy. It's tight.
Here's the way's I did it:
From the end of the animated sequence, run into the centre circle and keep running while you rummage through your knapsack to pull out the Desert Eagle. Now start sprinting between spokes.
Don't sprint around the corners as it's far too easy to fall over the edge. You're not trying to catch up with Willard, just put some space between you and him.
Stop running at the end of a spoke. Turn and let off 12 shots at Willard. Don't wait for him to collapse, just turn, and pocket the gun and sprint towards the artefact. Slow down as you approach it and aim to stop bang on top of it. If you overshoot you'll likely not have time to make it back to the safety of the circle...
Grab the artefact, roll and sprint back to the circle, heading right when you get onto it. Now pull out that gun and repeat the manoeuvre until all four artefacts are in your knapsack.
When the last of the four relics is in Lara's possession, the meteor sinks from the ceiling to the central pool. The boss is now vulnerable. Bring that bad boy down with the rocket launcher (you won't have many Desert Eagle rounds left - save 'em!).
If you don't have at least 48 Desert Eagle rounds left at the beginning of this level, you'll have to do the best you can with the alternative weapons - but be prepared to have to take several runs before Willard gets stunned enough for you to head down a spoke.
OR
You can use your Uzi's but you must make sure you have well over a 1000 rounds of ammo before you start the chase, then just do as before.
OR
You can use the Rocket Launcher, while on the run every so often make Lara tumble, let off one rocket then quickly tumble and run again. It takes four rockets to make Willard drop the first time and then sometimes three and sometimes four rockets after that.
MAKE sure that you are at the end of a spoke when you tumble and fire so that if Willard drops you can run and get the artefact.
I enjoyed using the Rocket Launcher the most!!
Locate the spoke with the ladders on either side.
Take
a running jump to either ladder from the wide end of the spoke and climb the
ladder until Lara's hands are level with the ledge. You'll now be able to
shimmy a little and pull up onto the ledge (even though it doesn't look possible).
Follow the tunnel and head off to the left at the bottom of the slope. After
a bit of a crawl, you emerge high above the cavern.
Jump
to grab the ice bars in the roof and monkey-swing to a central large ledge.
Walk to the end of the ledge and take a running jump and grab to make it to the rocky platform on the right. Climb up the rocks and take a running jump to the flat ledge in the direction of the red light. Run past the light to find an ice tunnel and take a long slide down the slope into a field camp.
Dispose of any lingering rabble. Two will jump you almost straight away and will drop a large medikit and Desert Eagle ammo. The next bad guy you meet is likely to have a twitchy trigger finger and a flame thrower, so take great care with him.
The final two guards are over by the dark area of the camp. Explore a bit, but there's nothing much to do, so take a hike down the alley between the two large huts.
As you take a right turn in the alley, a helicopter will spin overhead. Keep going to the helipad fence and wait for the gate to open. After that, just sit back and let Lara sort herself out.
Congratulations! You've made it to the end of Tomb Raider 3! If you've picked up all the secrets (and if you've been following this walk-through you certainly should have...) you've now got the keys to extra bonus level.
And it's a return trip to