As I said before, Tomb Raider 3 is my favorite game of this series and this time I've made a speedrun worthy of it :) . Thanks to Radix for accepting the run and the Tombraiderchronicles.com walkthroughs for giving me the new tricks I use in the High Security Complex, thanks to the MKM on the Twin Galaxies forums for hinting at the flare cancel and thanks to the person who emailed about getting on the Dingy early in Antarctica, although I didn't use it (I've lost that email now and I don't remember the name of the person).

This run takes just about everything in my previous TR3 run to the next level; more enemies avoided, more shortcuts, better equipment use, less mistakes and new tricks. Compared to my previous run it will appear a massive jump in quality, but it was actually more gradual as this is my third try at improvement. The only new general movement trick I use is the flare cancel, which allows me to avoid stumbling after a fall by throwing a flare before I land. Picking up a pack of (8) flares generally takes a few seconds, and each flare I use saves around a second and a half (although in some cases it is a lot more), therefore, this move quickly makes up for picking up the packs of flares. By changing my keyboard configuration a little I was also able to fix the "can't sprint left" problem.

After complaints of my previous run being too dark (and after looking at the videos again, it is), I've increased the brightness of these videos. In terms of the normal quality version, after hours of experimentation in XviD, I was the able to the compress the videos much smaller (in most cases) without losing any quality over the previous run (in fact, if anything, the quality is improved). However, this time, I've also included H264 high quality versions, which look almost identical to the original source videos, therefore I'd recommend getting those if you have H264. I was also able to record with hardware acceleration turned on, which means the graphics are generally a little better.

In retrospect (since this run has been submitted a month or so after being finished) the only levels I'm not fully happy about are the Nevada Desert and Aldwych, the Aldwych mistakes probably only lose about 10 seconds at most but they look kind of bad. The Nevada Desert mistakes probably lose me about 30 seconds, although the margin I gave myself was probably necessary because of how fiddly the major shortcut is.

Jungle - Segment 1 - 1:10

This level is odd as there is a small geometry change that makes it faster to do it on the playstation version (I can get 1:09), this situation seems unique to the whole game and I wonder if it's something to do with using the Lost Artifact version of the game. For some reason I get a bit of slowdown while going down the ramp, I must have had something running in the background while playing.

Temple Ruins - Segment 2 - 14:17

This is just an optimised version of before, I grab that slope at the start and pull up as otherwise it is EXTREMELY random (the jump fails about 99% of the time if you don't pull up), even so early in the level restarting many times just for 2-3 seconds in such a long level just wasn't worth it. I also skip killing a snake which I think is the biggest optimisation. When heading back from the second key I go left instead of right after the boulder trap as I realised it is slightly faster. Just don't mention that pit with the switch :) . I do a slightly pointless flare cancel in the "scimitar" room (I could have just rolled), which I could have used in Nevada, but it still saves me a little bit of time.

River Ganges - Segment 3 - 2:42

I said there was a much faster path but I had the wrong area, the other path seems slower and is MUCH harder, so I use the same path as before, with the biggest optimsation being to skip a snake, as well as using the waterfall at the end.

Caves of Kaliya - Segment 4 - 1:45

I think my tactic for the boss is pretty cool; I realised that grabbing the grenade launcher mid battle and using that finishes him off a little quicker than just blasting with the pistols. The biggest timesaver is using the flare cancel to pull off an "impossible" move down the snake pit, and start running immediately to evade the boulder.

Nevada Desert - Segment 5 - 7:30

The big trick I found here to get over the fence without the quadbike is one of the main reasons I did a third attempt on improving the run. I get it wrong twice and maybe lose about 30 seconds, however, it is VERY fiddly to do, especially when you are playing in a really low resolution, so I gave myself 3 chances, and it's still about 3 minutes faster than my last "normal" run of the level (and about 5 minutes faster than the TG world record). At the bit where I get poisoned by the snake I got the jump wrong as I was supposed to just jump over the ramp rather than shimmy, but my luck with the vultures had been pretty good so I let it go.

High Security Compound - Segment 6 - 13:12

This level has some of the biggest improvements of all, there is one embarrasingly easy sequence break I missed last time that saves a few minutes, and another more "hidden" one that also saves a minute or two. Usage of the Desert Eagle for the last enemies also saves me several seconds. This run is actually about 10 seconds slower than my last attempt, but my luck with the prisoners was incredible that time, other than that this is all around a much smoother run. My luck with the prisoners in that attempt was so great you could say it was good that I even fell within 10 seconds of before :) .

Area 51 - Segment 7 - 14:10

The "51" apparently refers to the amount of flare cancels I seem to do, and there are still a few I didn't do, but I probably wouldn't have had enough for Thames Wharf and the start of Aldwych if I did that.

Thames Wharf - Segment 8 - 25 seconds

I initially couldn't get to 25 whatever I did with the saving, but with some "exploitation" of the PC only features (medikit hotkeys to heal after a flare cancel). I was able to get the 25, the ending was a little slower than normal (I shouldn't have had to jump), but I probably only just scraped the 25 as it is. Without the saving a 23 second run is possible, and with the flare cancel on PC a 22 may also be possible.

Aldwych - Segment 9 - 14:31

Other than a few slight route changes this is similar to before, only with all the stuff where I nearly go the wrong way removed. I got one jump wrong and straightafter took a little to get on a collapsing tile, and jumped to a monkey swing rather than run jumped, but the rest is alright. My main improvement is probably the "impossible" move the flare cancel allows me to do at the mining machine thing.

Lud's Gate - Segment 10 - 12:08

This one really annoyed me; there is one HUGE sequence break at the start where you can get over some barbwire and skip all the start areas, but the guard with the boiler room key does not spawn if you do this and therefore you get stuck. I'm really hoping someone will come across a (non glitched) way to get the guard to spawn (I posted the trick on a TR forum), as that would save about 5 minutes. I could have just ran through the crushers as you seem to survive them ok, but I decided to be safe and dodge them.

City - Segment 11 - 1:31

This level is very quick so I tried to make it as optimised as possible, and I mostly succeeded, other than some small mistakes at the end.

Coastal Village - Segment 12 - 5:35

Another optimised one, there is a way that I think allows you to skip both paths through the level, but my jumps always fell JUST short, so I'm not sure if it's possible. There's not much else to say about this one.

Crash Site - Segment 13 - 6:38

Note the sound when I jump in the quicksand at the start :) . The flares I picked up in the T-rex lair were done on the spur of the moment, but it was a good thing I got them as I would have probably run out otherwise. The flare in the Raptor temple is pretty much an exact emulation of how I first discovered the flare cancel. I get the climb onto the plane a bit wrong, and miss a flare cancel, but it's smooth other than that.

Madubu Gorge - Segment 14 - 9:48

my main optimisation is shimmying across the ladders as much as I could. The boulders are fun :) . This would be near perfect if it weren't for the damn crocodile at the end.

Temple of Puna - Segment 15 - 3:13

Puna gets pwned :) . I use a double shot tactic that is extremely easy to replicate (the only marginally hard part is timing the last two shots). I was VERY lucky not to have to cure the poison. Note the weirdness when I get close to Puna at the end, it looks painful :) . The FMV I skip after Puna has a very loud sound, so make sure your volume isn't too high after the fight.

Antarctica - Segment 16 - 8:33

Another one that is just optimised, someone emailed me saying that they could recall getting on the dingy without releasing it first, but I found the method to be pretty glitchy (as you enter it through a solid slope). My priority was to "assassinate" the dogs as they seemed to be the main threat.

RX-Tech Mines - Segment 17 - 13.45

I do some screwing around with the look button on the mine cart; it's not recommended for those with weak stomachs :) . I said the speed of the first mutant fight was pretty luck based last time, that isn't much of a trouble when you just avoid it altogether :) . I did later discover a faster way to do a few sections (around the crowbar area), but it would only have saved about 5 seconds so it wasn't worth redoing it, I also hit a wrong switch on a track and lose a few seconds as I take a slower route.

Lost City of Tinnos - Segment 18 - 13:28

Although far shorter now Tinnos is also a LOT tougher, requiring one really long jump, and three hard curve jumps. It's now probably the toughest level to do, but at least the jumps are all mercifully in the first 5 minutes or so of the level. The only big mistake was getting the curve jump near the start a bit wrong, but I was getting sick of the level by then.

Meteorite Cavern - Segment 19 - (time not given)

At the last moment I discovered that escaping without killing Willard is not possible (as a gate is locked), so I had to kill him with what I had, luckily I had EXACTLY the correct amount of ammo to kill him without using the pistols, I screw around and shoot a bit with the pistols at the end, which is kind of a shame as I could have checked how close to perfect my accuracy was.

Final Stats:

Time taken: 2:28:20
Secrets found: 3 out of 59
Kills: 54
Ammo used: 853
Hits: 789