It's not officially called Canyon of Death, but in my opinion, it should be. This is a fairly straightforward area, so this will be short but sweet.
First off, make your way down to where you see the lady on the bridge (you will have to dispatch some enemies along the way). I wouldn't suggest trying to cross the bridge, though. Once you see the nifty cutscene, hug the wall and sidestep across the tiny ledge (put away your weapons and press your back against the wall).
Now that you're across, you can sling the piece of wood hanging above the plant to kill it, but I really enjoy using that fire sword. After that, climb the wall, take out some flies, then drop down to where the two birds are. I tried all my weapons against these guys, but the sword combo still seems to work the best. What you have to do is watch the sky, and when they dive-bomb you, move out of the way. Then slash them when they're stuck in the ground. Not too difficult, but it gets a little tough to keep track of a bunch of them at once. Make sure to kill all of them before climbing the opposite wall.
At the top, watch out for another plant that spits acid. Jump across and climb up the vines, then kill some more of the swoop birds. Use the ledge to pull yourself across, dispatch a plant, drop down and then take out another plant and an evil gopher pet thing. Now you can backtrack along the ledge and pick up the water powerups. Now you are forced to cross a gap - notice the wind and blowing leaves? Just jump!
The image below shows some vines you should jump to. At the top you will get some ammo for the rocket launcher you are about to pick up.
Once you have the ammo, drop down and pick up this crazy-awesome rocket launcher.
Might fine caves, I might add. Once you have the rocket launcher, make your way into the cave, kill some more of those anoying flies, and then gasp in horror as the cave collapses behind you. Now you get to fight a whole bunch of Grawlix (it's in the manual!). These are the big pig looking guys, remember? Anyway, since there are so many, and since you just got a new weapon, why not use it? Or you could use the conventional sword combo...
After you kill them, make sure to stay out of the neatly carved path in the floor. See, that's where a boulder acts as your friend and clears the way forward.
Go through the opening and dispatch another Grawlix and some more flies. Head towards your left and jump across to the ledge. From here you can either continue up and left, or jump across to the suspended platform. You want to go to the suspended platform if you don't have any health potion in your [6] bin. It's a little tough to make the jumps, so be careful.
If you jump to the platform, stand on the opposite side from the ledge you want to jump for, and wait for it to swing up (don't wait too long). Once you can reach it, run across and jump. Take out some bad guys, then jump across to the next ledge, head down a bit, pick up the potion, and then back up. You will have to make an even farther "platform jump" to make it back.
If you choose not to, just follow the path up, take out some bad guys, and rest easy. From here, make your way forward until you see a rope, then climb up it. Go outside, jump across the pit (wind again - maybe JeffK! would like this better than the real Windy Dale?), go around the ledge, and you're into the next area.
The next area if freaky, here's a preview of what's coming next time.
Next: Don't know what they are, but they sure are scary.
All content © Copyright 2000 The Massassi Temple.