The Times Exclusive

The Times Exclusive
The Last Revelation
Secrets		2
Special		Stand-alone level for the PC
Location		Egypt

The Times Exclusive is a stand-alone level released only for PC in December, 1999, after the release of The Last Revelation. It was created in in conjunction with The Times newspaper, to celebrate the finding of the tomb of Tutankhamun.

Story

"The tomb of the king contract given to The Times"

Sir Peter Stothard, who was The Times editor-in-chief at that time, tells Lara that another, previously hidden tomb has been found near the one of Tutankhamun. Before Lara travels to Egypt she does some research in archives of the The Times.

Lara and Sir Peter Stothard

Lara and Sir Peter Stothard have the following discussion at Stothard's office:

Lara: The initial discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb... And?
Stothard: This is Howard Carter's original exclusive. Yesterday morning, from our Egyptian correspondant, we received this.
Lara: Tutankhamun's tomb... New tunnels... I see. I've stayed in bed for less.
Stothard: Our man stumbled across this new digsite. After we received the information, news reached us that he had been found fever ridden, hiding nearby - ranting, about the new tomb.
Lara: Now you're getting interesting. Whose tomb?
Stothard: Well, this is why we called you.
Lara: I'll see you around.
Stothard: Wait! You'll get nowhere without Carter's original information. He was the first to discover Tutankhamun's tomb and reported exclusively to us. His original chamber layouts and notes lay in the relevant issues in our archive room - valuable to the tomb raider.
Lara: Quite. And where are these... archives?

In-game dialogue in the opening cutscene

Lara then walks along a photo-decorated hallway, towards the room marked as "Archives".

"Time to finish what Carter started"

"Time to finish what Carter started," Lara comments as she sets out to the tomb of Tutankhamun and Akhenaten, referring to of course Howard Carter, the man who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun in the 1920's.

At the beginning of the tombs Lara will awake the spirits of Anubis and the Pharaoh in the tombs. Temple Dogs will come alive and attack her.

Objective

• Proceed through the various chambers, shooting Lion's Heads and solving small puzzles until you reach the treasure chamber with The Gold Mask.

Finds

Secrets

In this level you can find 2 secrets.

• First Secret

Right at the beginning of the level, turn right and head to a dark passage. Climb up to a ledge, continuing upwards until you come across a ramp with a damaged landing. From there you can continue to a passage to the right where you find Shotgun Wideshot Ammo and the Shotgun.

• Second Secret

From the second shootable Lion's Head, go to the large golden statue. As you've shot at the second Lion's Head, a trapdoor left of the statue has opened. Drop down to passage below, and go along it until you can climb up onto a block at the end. Then climb up the ladder on the right, and go via a passage to a chamber where you can find the Crossbow and some Crossbow Ammunition.

Artefacts & Keys

• The Gold Mask

Supplies

Weapons

• Shotgun
• Crossbow
• Revolver

Goodies

First Aid

• Small Medipack (x3)
• Large Medipack

Ammo

• Uzi Ammo
• Shotgun Wideshot Ammo
• Crossbow Normal Ammo
• Revolver Ammo

More Gear

• Lasersight
• Flares

Enemies

• Temple Dogs
• Red Scorpions
• Crocodiles
• Swarm of Scarabs
• Mummies

Traps & Obstacles

Traps

• Spike Ball

Obstacles, Triggers & Puzzles

• Lion's Heads

Shootable Lion's Heads that when broken trigger something, e.g. open a door

• Underwater Lever
• Vases

Typical Scenery of the Level

• 

  The first room

• 

  Room with ornamented Jackal sttaues

• 

  The room, which is also seen in the starting menu of The Last Revelation

Links

• Wikipedia article on The Times Exclusive Level
• Download The Times bonus level from Stella's Tomb Raider pages