The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels
From water levels, to ice levels, to "moving" levels, to escort missions, many games have fallen into designing levels/missions for us with the same kind of challenges and mechanics. From our 8-bit days, all the way to the most modern of games, we've retained a lot of level types and a lot of these types have retained what makes them so annoying. Here are the most annoying types of video game levels.
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Modified: 2010-08-20 11:21:28.0
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1Water LevelsYep, they're the worst. And I don't just mean those levels where you're immersed exclusively in water. I mean levels where you're constantly in danger of falling into water, too. Those are the worst levels of Mario and have always, conceptually killed me. Why?
BECAUSE YOU CAN SWIM IN SOME LEVELS IN MARIO
So why does water kill us sometimes? Does that 15 foot drop really kill you on impact? Even after making close to 100 foot jumps all the time, and even striving for them?
For some reason, for the longest time, water was the absolute DEVIL. These heroes who braved endless valleys and hoards, upon hoards, of unrelenting villains would completely bite the dust once they even TOUCHED water. Just like cats, only more annoying somehow.
And when you actually got to a LEVEL THAT WAS ALL WATER, people saw it fit to make it so that your character was always made of cement. Basically, you sink if you don't swim. With the amount of body fat Mario has, I call bullshit on that.
Water levels don't only bring the game we were once playing to a complete standstill momentum-wise, but they annoy the hell out of us. Why?
Every creature in just about EVERY water level is more well-suited for the water than we are.
So why has this become such a long-standing game-level paradigm? Is it just easy to do? Are designers really just that uninventive with their environments? Either way, here are some examples as to why water levels are the worst:
1. Ocarina of Time - Water Temple Level
Sure, we could've included video of the Water Temple level , but then everyone would have to get new monitors this weekend. Also, BOOTS, really? Is Link really THAT skinny? Learn to swim.
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (See Embedded Video)
This is easily one of the worst water levels of all time because not only is navigating absolutely horrible, but (like I said above) your character keeps sinking if you don't swim. Why does this matter? Because you're going to lose health each time you try to relax. And the fact that this is a TIMED level just adds insult to injury.
This level in this game taught me what rage was as a child, and I didn't appreciate it.
3. Star Fox 64
Remember the lamest level in the entire game? Yeah, that was the water level. Why? Because, for some reason, even though you're jumping higher than you've ever jumped and eating things off the floor in games all the time, they think that adding weight and slowness to water will make it more "real". WTF, Star Fox, really.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
2Sight-Obscuring LevelsBy "Limited Vision Levels", we mean the kind of levels where for some reason or another, your vision is impaired in some way, shape or form.
For example, in Arkham Asylum, you have a BEAUTIFUL game, absolutely brilliant... where you have to use a separate kind of vision to be able to see well.
Halo ODST, you're doing most of your looking around town with your visor and a piss-yellow outline... why?
What about impairing our vision is actually adding to the experience in most of these games?
Okay, we get it, they're adding difficulty and therefore challenge to the game, but why do it in a way that is SO annoying? We'd rather deal with STRATEGIC difficulty, where my calculations as to how to beat the level have to be more sophisticated, than deal with the game just giving me a cheap handicap.
Sure, some games have done this well (Hard Rain), but most games that do this, just make it harder on you. The greatest and most annoying example?
PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES
Plants vs. Zombies is actually a better iPhone app than it is a console or PC game (tried them all), but what's the one negative about the whole experience?
FUCKING LEVEL 5. Level 5 consists of round after annoying round of a fog coming over your field of vision that's basically the equivalent of an asshole friend of yours coming along and slapping their hand over half of our screen.
This isn't added fun or experience. It's just a cheap handicap that doesn't challenge anything except our patience.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
3Irrelevant Puzzle LevelsFrom fantastic games like Resident Evil to games that we really shouldn't have played (and are complete guilty pleasures) like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (PS2), another one of the most annoying cliches found in a lot of video games are COMPLETELY irrelevant puzzle levels.
Resident Evil 2, for example, has you finding stones for certain statues so that doors can open. Why? IT'S A ZOMBIE FREAKING APOCALYPSE. KICK. THE. DOOR. DOWN. You don't need to walk around, figuring puzzles out when you should be bashing in heads and getting the HELL out of there. It's like going to war, then ducking down in a corpse-filled trench for a few minutes to finish a sudoku you found on the floor.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be a fun TV-to-Game adaptation (despite its MANY shortcomings), if it weren't for all the useless, "filler" puzzles.
When a puzzle pertains to the story and matches the most fun part of the gameplay that the game has to offer, then the puzzle makes sense. When it is a puzzle that NOBODY would sit down and solve in the middle of any situation and that brings the game's momentum to a complete standstill? Then, you've ventured into an irrelevant puzzle level.
We're all for challenges, but not for "filler" puzzles that do nothing but add (not-fun) time to your total game time.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
4Protection, or "Escort" Levels (or "Missions)Remember having to go home after a long day of school, then knowing your friends were going to be playing nearby, or going to the mall, or going out to the movies, and your parents said you could do all that... as long as you brought your little brother (or sister)?
That's what Protection Levels are like.
Remember that game you were having so much fun playing? Yeah, well now you have a little sidekick next to you, slowing you down, getting hurt (and often that causes you to have to replay the level more often than you would otherwise).
A lot of times, these levels are completely fun when done correctly. They add to the feel of the game and help you create an emotional bond with the character you're protecting, so they you actually care about the fact that they live. It puts you "in" the game.
But when done incorrectly (most of the time), these characters just act like a long tail that if hit, will kill you IMMEDIATELY.
Some examples are Resident Evil 4 (and 2) and most notably Dead Rising. Dead Rising doesn't just give you one person to protect. It gives you DOZENS. Sometimes you have a small crowd behind you that you have to keep safe, and apparently they're all paralyzed in every limb except their legs, their reflexes about 2 seconds behind yours.
And who can forget the final levels of ODST, as you have to protect a type of creature you've been blowing up the whole game. Oops.
It's awesome when two characters bond, but when you have to carry around dead weight, it becomes absolutely obnoxious.
Another example of this is the ENTIRE GAME of Left4Dead. It's an absolutely amazing game, but one of the most challenging parts of it is how you NEED your teammates, but if you play socially online, you're most likely playing with people worse than you. This turns Left4Dead into a protection level.
Here's a video of how to be a complete jerk during that game.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
5Ice/Snow LevelsWhile ice is technically H2O as a solid, Ice Levels DO NOT count as water levels, although they're annoying for a lot of the same reasons.
Ice and snow levels will do one of two things to you:
1. Slow you down and cause you to walk like you would in a sand level in a crappy game (not that annoying, actually, as you can usually jump to go faster) or
2. Make you into Tom Cruise from Risky Business with every move you make (no, not banging hot older women, but slipping and sliding everywhere).
The inhibited mobility creates a new challenge, but also creates a fear that we all learned falling off of the high rise grass-patches and to our long, bottomless demise in Mario games.
Sometimes we can use the Ice or Snow to our advantage, but for the most part, video games have decided that when in ice, a video game character NEVER has the right shoes.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
6Moving LevelsCastle Crashers, Turtles in Time, Battletoads, ANY LEVEL WITH A TRAIN... Few things are worse (well, apparently, 5 things are worse) than a moving level. What exactly do we mean by moving level?
Well, check this video out. Any level (usually in a beat-em-up or a side scroller) where you have to board some kind of vehicle and the level keeps you moving, rendering your power to move useless.
You must ALWAYS go forward. Even if there are walls, you must ALWAYS move forward.
Are ALL video game characters always in THAT much of a hurry that they'll sacrifice their lives by constantly running into walls?
Also, the depth perception on these levels is usually impossible unless you're some kind of freak.
Here's a great example of a moving level that sucks purely because of the kind of level it is.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
7Lava/Volcano LevelsLava levels are often the last levels or the most intense levels in the game. For example, the last part of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is has a lava background. Dante's Inferno, and Apocalypse starring Bruce Willis (just checking to see if you're still paying attention) also has one.
Lava in video games basically means that whatever world you're inhabiting has gone to shit. Complete and utter shit. The walls are coming down around you and everything is all melty.
Either that or you're in a castle that was somehow constructed on a BASE of lava and any missing parts of the floor lead to your sudden, inevitable death.
Lava levels are probably the least annoying out of all of these, but they belong on this list because pretty much any level designed so that the WALLS can cause you to lose health is intrinsically obnoxious.
The Resident Evil 5 final boss (Spoiler Alert!) is annoying because you can't just square off against Wesker, a guy you've been going back and forth with the whole game, no, you have to face monster Whesker and LAVA.
Also, if you see the video to the left, these levels involve so many moving parts, they can have glitches that can ruin all your hard work.
Lava only ever makes things harder, but it often does make things cooler and more intense.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel -
8Car Chase Levels04:00 into this clip.
Car chase levels, be they finding someone with a way point on top of them or going a million miles an hour evading someone else are always obnoxious if you don't know where the people chasing you are.
For example, when you're running from the cops in any GTA game, you're often driving to the safest, most closed-up and far away spot you can find. It's a GREAT hide-and-seek style function that makes you feel a sense of danger and wonderment when you actually get away.
But realistically helicopters would be able to find you. There's no "range", they wouldn't just "stop". Also, most chases happen in 3rd person games where what you have in the foreground isn't what's important, but who you are.
You can't see who's chasing you without switching and toggling between multiple views, which just adds an unneeded difficulty to the game, when it should just be fun and a ride.
Also, a lot of these levels are in games that aren't BUILT for driving specifically, so the driving controls are always a little like the first time you ever tried to drive in a GTA game (remember that frustrating, frustrating experience?).
True Crime Streets of LA is an absolutely amazing game, but also has the most difficult and frustrating chase missions.
Any 007 Game will put you through a chase experience, but often in underequipped vehicles that are going more for realism than they are for fun.
Car chase levels are great. Even just "chase" levels.
The last level of Star Fox 64 is still one of the most engaging and intense moments in my gaming career, but since it's not often done THAT well and in that context (but more so in the context of a useless mission, or a tacked on "get here following these arrows before this cut scene" sense), it is one of the most annoying video game level cliches around.
Still, though, that Starfox level was perfect.publisher cvg_genre release_date developer designers game_series prequel sequel
;)
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