The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels Video Games

The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels

Ariel Kana Ariel Kana Power
Ranker
99,790 views 8 items 12 voters
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.
< >
Show:   5   25 View:
More Options
  1. 1
    Up 5
    Down 2

    Water Levels

    Yep, 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 bulls**t 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.
    BUY @ amazon
  2. 2
    Up 4
    Down 2

    Sight-Obscuring Levels

    By "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?

    F**KING 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 a*****e 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.
    BUY @ amazon
  3. 3
    Up 2
    Down 0

    Protection, 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.
    BUY @ amazon
  4. 4
    Up 3
    Down 2

    Irrelevant Puzzle Levels

    From 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.
    BUY @ amazon
  5. 5
    Up 2
    Down 1

    Ice/Snow Levels

    While 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.
    BUY @ amazon

items 1 - 5 of 8

leave a comment

comments powered by Disqus
  1. Toe
    Irrelevant Puzzle Levels at 1/16/2011 4:37 PM
    You need intelligence to enjoy puzzles...
  2. Mada
    Water Levels at 11/01/2010 10:55 PM
    That TMNT level taught me rage too.
  3. Poolman
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 7/08/2010 10:58 PM
    Probably some of the worst memories I have as a child are the older Mario levels where you are running on the bridge through the incessant barrage of flying fish attacks from below...it might just be the bodies natural adrenaline response to a stressful situation, but correct me if I'm wrong...was the music faster on those levels?
  4. willgame4food
    Protection, or "Escort" Levels (or "Missions) at 7/01/2010 11:39 PM
    the only example of this kind of level i can think of that was good and lead to bonding was the companion cube level of portal.
  5. T from comment above
    Sight-Obscuring Levels at 6/28/2010 5:54 PM
    "F**KING 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 a*****e friend of yours coming along and slapping their hand over half of our screen."

    Wow you have a way with words. That made me laugh.
  6. Tyson McCann (Villain games)
    Water Levels at 6/28/2010 5:48 PM
    "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 bulls**t on that."

    You are hilarious.
  7. Animal Mother
    Moving Levels at 6/28/2010 3:28 PM
    Uncharted 2 did it great IMO.
  8. Seen Too Much
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/28/2010 12:55 PM
    Nothing is worse than escort & protect missions,... well, maybe except for instant fail stealth. Honourable mentions goes out to tacked on time limits and backtracking.
  9. rocka
    Water Levels at 6/28/2010 11:11 AM
    F*ture reference, start your 'Tops' from the last to the first, you know... suspense?! It pretty much ruins all the 'top' thing cause if you already know the first, the others doesn't really matter...just sayin...
  10. Mark Vaughan
    Water Levels at 6/28/2010 11:10 AM
    I think Cosmic Avenger may have had the first water level... that was an awesome level. Sure it was just the space level with a blue background instead of black, but it was awesome.
    Super Mario's water levels do just suck. I hate the fact that the more recent ones are like a maze, and you never know that if you go down through that gap if it is death or the direction you need to go...
  11. forceabuser
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/28/2010 5:25 AM
    wow i missed number 4 look at that
  12. forceabuser
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/28/2010 5:24 AM
    stealth and must keep this person alive but s/he walks like a 'tard levels
  13. forceabuser
    Lava/Volcano Levels at 6/28/2010 5:21 AM
    it glitched because its on the PS3....bring on the hate
  14. forceabuser
    Irrelevant Puzzle Levels at 6/28/2010 5:19 AM
    going a round about way to get a stupid key for a wooden door when you have a rocket launcher...man these games suck
  15. forceabuser
    Sight-Obscuring Levels at 6/28/2010 5:17 AM
    Splinter cell conviction makes me forget that there is a beautiful game by making everything black and white
  16. Gabe
    Lava/Volcano Levels at 6/28/2010 2:29 AM
    Starfox 64 should and may be noted.
  17. john
    Irrelevant Puzzle Levels at 6/28/2010 2:16 AM
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an Xbox exclusive. It never released on the PS2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds was multi-platform.
  18. Ovy
    Protection, or "Escort" Levels (or "Missions) at 6/27/2010 8:33 PM
    GOLDENEYE!. Protecting Natalya in the second to last level was the first time I ever experienced an 'escort' level. It was the most difficult task (espeically on 007 difficulty) in any shooter at the time.
  19. Priest
    Lava/Volcano Levels at 6/27/2010 6:09 PM
    Bayonetta suffered from that too, rendering the lava scenes to be horribly unfair
  20. ssss
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/27/2010 4:52 PM
    Mandatory and unwarranted stealth sections are a clear omission.
  21. Monty
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/27/2010 3:42 PM
    I personally hate SEWER levels. I've been in so many sewers in video games, from Final Fantasy to Darksiders, and I hate them all.
  22. diversity
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/27/2010 3:24 PM
    So, basically, you only enjoy levels that lack any kind of environmental diversity? Maybe someone should make a game that takes place in a dingy, gray, square-shaped room. Would that please you?
  23. kabayongtao
    Water Levels at 6/27/2010 3:22 PM
    How about Castlevania SOTN?
  24. Finger
    Irrelevant Puzzle Levels at 6/27/2010 3:02 PM
    Seems your idea of game design is slightly off.
  25. Adam
    Sight-Obscuring Levels at 6/27/2010 2:50 PM
    A while ago I played Plants vs. Zombies on my iTouch, and when the fog came it annoyed the h**l out of me.

    It ruined the whole game, but then I got an idea.



    I actually fixed that fog in Plants vs. Zombies by making the .PNG-texture that was the fog transparent to like 80%

    so I could still see the fog, but just barely, and I could see through the darn thing.



  26. Anon
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/27/2010 12:27 PM
    I read this as "Waah, I can't beat any level that isn't straightforward with tiny jumps, if any jumps at all."
  27. AI
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/26/2010 9:24 PM
    what are you a gamer or a baby?
  28. zxcvb
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/26/2010 8:00 PM
    "2. Make you into Tom Cruise from Risky Business with every move you make"



    That made me lol 4 realz. The Ninja Gaiden 2 snow/ice levels were a classic example of this.
  29. pwscott
    Protection, or "Escort" Levels (or "Missions) at 6/26/2010 1:55 PM
    Don't forget "Shadows of Rome" in this area. The game is freaking awesome sneaking and gladiator throwdown until you have to rescue three chicks out of the arena. Besides spending all the time of beatdown on pcp muscleheads, once you release the girl she has to stay a certain distance from you or she stops and panics and runs around until an enemy kills her. Then you have to start over. I was dancing around the house when I completed that mission.
  30. Clark Benson
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/26/2010 12:41 PM
    waaaaah! I can't handle the water, mommy!!!
  31. Anwer
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/26/2010 12:32 PM
    STOP playing games if you cant handle such levels.
    amateur!
  32. Dr. Bedlam
    The 8 Most Annoying Types of Video Game Levels at 6/26/2010 9:11 AM
    I am surprised there is no complaint for "jumping levels" or "jumping puzzles." I'd rather deal with a dozen lava levels than ONE of those &%$#@ puzzles where you have to stand in JUST THE RIGHT PLACE and JUMP to JUST THE RIGHT PLACE or you die. And start over. All the worse for when the object you have to jump ONTO is MOVING.
  33. Tim
    Moving Levels at 6/26/2010 7:56 AM
    In those turtles levels there was essentially no difference between that and a non moving level, besides what was going on behind the character and enemy sprites.

today on Ranker