The security system in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is strange. At least I think it's the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They don't actually call it that in Alone in the Dark. You can thank the museum's lawyers for keeping its good name from being associated with horror videogames. But based on my knowledge of New York landscapes and geography (gleaned entirely from playing The Incredible Hulk and Grand Theft Auto IV), I know this is supposed to be the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In here is a system of laser trip wires that close security gates when someone is standing in the way of the beams. The only way to open the gate is to step out of the beam. Therefore, a lone burglar creeping through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, trying to steal a Van Gogh or something, would step into a beam, at which point the gate would close and he would be unable to escape. Until he stepped out of the beam, that is. In which case, he'd be free to go.

Now this might seem like an ineffective security system for foiling lone burglars. But consider that it would work very well against teams of burglars in which one of them is utterly immobile and standing in the way of the beam. The security gate would be closed and his companions would be unable to escape. Brilliant.

Since you're Alone in the Dark (heh), these beams won't stop you. What will stop you are occasional obstacles to the beams, causing security gates to remain closed. In one instance, you have to move a dead body. Icky, but simple.

But one of Alone in the Dark's most fiendish puzzles involves the cocoon of a spider/crab conveniently planted in the path of a beam on the other side of a closed security gate. You can't get to it. Every so often, a spider/crab emerges and walks through a small duct to drink from a puddle of blood on your side of the gate.

What to do! Read the solution after the jump to get an idea of what you're in for if you end up accidentally paying $60 and playing…Alone in the Dark.

Okay, MacGyver, ready? There's probably a way to do with with cat fur and maple syrup, but here's what I did: Take a plastic bottle filled will gasoline. Not a glass bottle, but a plastic bottle. Wrap double-sided tape around it. Puncture it with a knife. Stick it onto the back of the spider/crab when it comes out to drink the blood. Then, when it goes back to the cocoon, it will dribble a trail of gasoline. Light it with your lighter. The cocoon will burn, thus clearing the path of the laser tripwire and opening the security gate. See how easy that was? Want more?

Me either.