Ahhhhhhh... Von Beck's Revenge. The **** in the frosting of an otherwise perfect cake of a game, if you get the metaphor.
Von Beck's Revenge has got to be the most miserable excuse for a level in the entire game. I must have gotten out at least a hundred times while playing it.
There isn't much I can tell you about how exactly to pass it, but I can give you some survival tips:
1) To keep Indy going straight (also a major problem that I had in the beginning), you must get used to steering him using the keyboard keys. If you try to use W to go forward and the mouse to steer, you will experience one of the more interesting bugs in the game: Indy will veer off course and crash into the nearest statue, followed by a free, complimentary flattening ceremony performed by Von Beck's Infernal Machine (whoops, wrong game).
Instead, you must get used to using W to run and A and D to steer.
2) As the level progresses, you will reach some pits where you have to cut your swing short, since the next pit is so close after the first one that if you follow through your first whip swing, you will swing right into the next pit. Instead, try to get used to letting go of the whip earlier than you normally would, so that Indy will land further back from the next pit.
3) Sometimes, when the sceario desribed in 2) occurs, you can try to give yourself a better chance of survival like this: as Indy is letting go of his whip, begin pressing spacebar as rapidly as you can, as if your life depends on it - because it does. If you do that, than Indy will jump the second he hits the ground; like this, even if you swing a bit too far and Indy lands with his toes over the edge of the next pit, you stand a better chance of making the second jump safely.
4) When you reach the end of the series of whip-swings (if you ever make it), don't stop to celebrate, or Von Beck will be there momentarily to crasht the party. Instead, when you reach the end (you will know when this happens when the camera switches from Von Beck's POV to the usual position right behind Indy), run like hell striaght ahead onto the ramp. As Indy slides toward the bottom of the ramp, there will be one last whip swing to safety. DON'T MSS IT, or you will be compelled (if you posess the normal human emotions called anger and frustration) to hurl your coffee mug into your monitor. After you make the swing you can turn around and cheer as Von Beck, whose digger is obviously not equipped with a whip, plunges to his death into the pit you just swung across. Congratulations!
Now you can party all you like.
5) Be careful as you navigate toward the end of the level - there are no bad guys, but there are a couple of small crevices that you don't want to fall into after finally beating that SOB. Walk carefully, watch your step, and you'll be fine.
Cheers!
Moishe
P.S. The Matrix reference was when Neo (when we first meet him) gives Choi (the redhead whose girlfriend has the "white rabbit" tattoo) an MD in exchange for $2,000 and Choi says to him "Thaks man, you're my savior! My own personal JC!" You said I was your "savior", so I made the reference.
