Nightmare In Vegas "Expert Challenge"

I received the following from JJRiddlemeister in January 2007:

Normally I don't write to anyone about games, but I felt that I certainly had to make an exception this time. I decided to fire up a game of Tomb Raider 2 Gold (as others know as Golden Mask) and was expecting another humdrum attempt at a game I've played many times before, only to find out that I was in for the surprise of my life. I believe I may just have discovered the most difficult challenge in all of the Tomb Raider Games combined!!! I came across the corner bug of all corner bugs and I feel that if you don't include it on your website, you would be doing your site no justice at all, as I am sure there are others what would wish to try it. I've nicknamed it

ONE GIANT LEAP FROM T. REX!!!

I was on the Nightmare in Vegas level and upon entering the area with the T. rexes I always like the unusual challenge of trying to make it past them to another area where I can shoot them from a place of safety. In doing this technique I tend to jump a lot to try to avoid the jaws of T. rex when they are coming down, when this time I got the surprise of my life!! The T. rex missed me of course, but as I leapt, his head ended up below me, and as it stood back up, I caught a corner of the building, and WOOOW!!!, was I ever catapulted!!! The T. rex lifted me up onto the roof of the building in the far opposite corner from where the C-NET VAN is!! If I didn't see it myself I wouldn't have ever thought that bug was possible. You can even jump to the roof of the building next to it, and man what a view!! You can see the unobstructed view of the Vegas skyline and if you pan around enough you can even see the two balconies way in the distance from where you started the level!!

I challenge anyone to repeat that (okay, it was sheer luck, but I still challenge anyone else to try it)! I know a lot of people will probably think I am making this up, but I assure you IT IS NO LIE!!

Nightmare in Vegas screenshot
(Screenshot taken from the rooftop.)

From the roof, I was unable to target the T. rex. I don't know why this is, but maybe I was too high, or maybe there was nothing in the game's programming for something so unusual. The other obstacle that I faced was finding a safe way down. Yikes, you're up there really, really high. I was able to find a lower ledge on the back of the checker board roofed building that I was able to drop down from (but which was too high to get back up), and from there is it possible to survive a fall to the ground, but it still takes almost nearly a full bar of health to do so, so be prepared to use a med pack if your health is low here. WOW! I bet I'll never even be able to do that again if I tried. The bug involves a precise location, and a jump has to be timed perfectly with an attempt from a T. rex while on that exact spot for him to lift you with his upper jaw.

It's kind of cool to know I'm probably the first one to do this. Perhaps the game designers can come up with something in the future where you have to use a T. rex's snout to get to a high ledge!

—JJRiddlemeister


ADDENDUM BY DIMITRIJ (January 2008): It is not so hard to get to the roof. (It is harder to get there alive.) If you jump near the wall of any of the buildings, the T. rex will eventually catch Lara and crush her with its jaws and throw her inside the building. Then the camera switches to the roof. The only problem is that you are dead. But it is possible to get pushed inside the building by and survive. While Lara is jumping, the T. rex head can push her but not crush her with its jaws. If she is still alive when the head pushes her inside the building, she automatically springs up to the roof. It is not actually a corner bug, it is more an "inside-the-object bug".

NOTE: If you're unable to reproduce this bugs (and the other mentioned on the main Vegas page) but want to check out the rooftop vantage points JJ and Kamila mentioned, you are welcome to download these PC savegame files. Instructions for using them can be found here.

[Nightmare in Vegas Walkthrough]