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What is the single, best designed level in any game?
- Thread starter nkarafo
- Start date
The_Mike
I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
I think we can blame the bad mappers.
Either that or boring & barren open worlds.
Give me some interesting level design like in Thief 1/2, Deus Ex, Chaos Strikes Back, Doom 1/2, Blood, Duke 3D..
Games tend to still get complicated maps throughout the earlies 00's but they began to fill clustered and weird. I love the Turok series, but they havent aged well. The map layout is very complex and confusing, and you often run back to the start instead of the end.
I know many of us love Turok, but try spin it up again. By these standards we have today the maps are too complex for its own good.
Because mappers werent capable of making good maps anymore, it was easier to make corridor maps, or three lane maps in multiplayer games.
Plies
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief and Nosiest Dildo Archeologist
wtf is this, GTA V?
Technically it's one level
Ballthyrm
Member
It's the island from The Witness
Tschumi
Member
I'm so glad someone somewhere mentioned deadly shadows for something. It's absolutely in my top 10 stealth games, and it was technologically important in many ways.. i think i got to this level, but the most memorable one takes place in a swamp, or abandoned district or something, which is taken over by a cult.. dripping with atmosphere
Banjo64
cumsessed
GoldenEye had a fair few as posted above.
Clue's in the name but I love all the maps in the original Banjo-Kazooie, with maybe Freezeezy Peak, Gobi's Valley or Click Clock Wood being the pick. Click Clock probably takes it due to the seasonal variations. Really well thought out.
I absolutely love the Spirit Temple from Ocarina. The imposing monolithic exterior. The symbolism inside. Finding the mirror shield, and the fact that it's all guarded by the Iron Knuckles, the best mini bosses in the game. Twinrova the best dungeon boss in the game as well. Nintendo smashed it out of the park with the Spirit Temple.
Clue's in the name but I love all the maps in the original Banjo-Kazooie, with maybe Freezeezy Peak, Gobi's Valley or Click Clock Wood being the pick. Click Clock probably takes it due to the seasonal variations. Really well thought out.
I absolutely love the Spirit Temple from Ocarina. The imposing monolithic exterior. The symbolism inside. Finding the mirror shield, and the fact that it's all guarded by the Iron Knuckles, the best mini bosses in the game. Twinrova the best dungeon boss in the game as well. Nintendo smashed it out of the park with the Spirit Temple.
Soodanim
Member
I've never played any of those games but I recognise them, says something
I should really pull my finger out and play this series. I was under the impression that 2 was the best but 3 wasn't quite there, but it must have some worth.
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Dr.Morris79
Gold Member
Funny you should say that, I was playing Turok 2 via the Xbox one a couple of weeks ago. I had actually completed it on the N64 way back when, it was hard and I remembered pulling my hair out back then..
Now? I'm totally lost in one of the maps, I honestly cant find my way out! I keep coming back to it but I'll be damned if I can get out..
Maybe I just need to start again. Or maybe i'm just old and senile now, what I do know though is that I've missed such intricate maps.
sunnysideup
Banned
Goldeneye, doom, halo ce, mario 64 had maps wich you could almost treat like a little playground. I used to play them in different ways. Doom(shareware version) and goldeneye i used to treat it like a rally game, racing around the level.
I dont think modern maps allow that sort of gameplay.
I dont think modern maps allow that sort of gameplay.
Con_Z_ǝdʇ
Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
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AV
We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
The great plateau in BOTW. Tells you almost everything you'll need to know about the games and gives you the necessary tools.
It's not THE best. THE best is probably from a Soulsborne game, or Mario 1-1.
It's not THE best. THE best is probably from a Soulsborne game, or Mario 1-1.
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Tschumi
Member
I learned to mp fps there :')Came to post Deck 16.
So many memories. Good selection!
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The Cockatrice
I'm retarded?
Elektro Demon
Banned
Banjo64
cumsessed
It's flavour of the month due to the amazing remake, but Demon's Souls; all 5 worlds.
I've only played the PS3 version, but it's my favourite of all of From's games (a stupidly high bar). The Nexus acting like an N64 platformer hub-world, and the fact that you can tackle the worlds in any order. This game is a pure masterclass in design.
MasterDerico
Member
Green hill act 1, Sonic 1.
BigDeadFreak
Member
I wasn't that keen on the last level but the snake boss was brilliant. The music fitted with it perfectly. However, the whole game was amazing.
The level I've probably spent the most time replaying was the prison escape level from Golden Eye. It took me ages to beat it on the highest difficulty setting and even when I did I kept going back to it as it was so well designed.
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Bernkastel
Ask me about my fanboy energy!
DogofWar
Member
The hours I spent on this level... Man the nostalgia!
Mistershine.
Banned
It's a great level, but after the first time you just go through the roof in the first room and skip the entire thing.
M-M-M-Monster Kill. After climbing the tower and spawn killing with the sniper rifle.
Con_Z_ǝdʇ
Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
Shooting the redeemer and flying around, looking for some victims.
NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Banjo-Kazooie, Clanker's Cavern.
It packs so much in such an apparently little space. Banjo Games were famous for their sprawling levels, but Clanker's Cavern is amazingly compact with so many secrets. Truly memorable.
Majora's Mask, Stone Tower Temple. Everything from the climb up to it, to the music and atmosphere, to the incredible puzzles and bosses, is amazing.
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Every Flamingo
Member
Came to post this. Dishonored 2's level design is fantastic. This is the best of an awesome bunch.
LazyParrot
Member
Cyberpunkd
Banned
That is correct, Thief 2 is overall the best game in the series, however on a per-level importance and legacy the Cradle is probably on top - it really is one of the most scary, and masterfully designed levels in the history of videogames. One of those things that stay with you for years. As to the Deadly Shadows it was badly received at the beginning due to the fact some adjustments have to be made since it was also an Xbox game - systems were simplified a bit and the game made an attempt at an semi-open world, whereas Thief 1 & 2 was just a series of interconnected missions that followed shared narrative.
Thief actually started my love for stealth games which continues to this day. Hell, you can say Thief 1 was actually the game that started the stealth cRPG genre (I just checked when Tenchu came out - approx. 10 months before, but it was in TPP). Even the first game has incredibly well designed cutscenes and is dripping with atmosphere - give it a spin.
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SkylineRKR
Member
Clockwork mansion from Dishonored 2 but its being posted
Cyberpunkd
Banned
It is a very good game that got a lot of flack for being ported to Xbox and thus some things had to be changed to accomodate that. I think it was also the beginning of IPs that existed only on PC being ported to consoles and obviously Microsoft's Xbox was the first place to do it - PC gamers didn't take it lightly.
ScarletSpider
Banned
Soodanim
Member
I did install 1 (I own them all) but I only did one mission before I forgot about it. I probably uninstalled, which was a super great idea that I won't regret at all when I want to play it again and have to patch and set it up a second time.
World 1-1
en.wikipedia.org
World 1-1 - Wikipedia
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TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
I really liked the level design in Amid Evil. The first mission alone was enough to convince me it was going to be a great game.
Mistershine.
Banned
After finding somewhere to hide so you don't get gibbed while stationary.
Tschumi
Member
Yeah, small levels to cope with xbox were such easy pickings for critics.. Deus ex invisible war, which i loved, had similar problems...It is a very good game that got a lot of flack for being ported to Xbox and thus some things had to be changed to accomodate that. I think it was also the beginning of IPs that existed only on PC being ported to consoles and obviously Microsoft's Xbox was the first place to do it - PC gamers didn't take it lightly.
I've owned Dishonored 2 on 2 consoles now and i still cbf working my way into the first city after the tutorial in his hometown.. i don't know why, i was alll about Dishonored 1
TheInfamousKira
Reseterror Resettler
Nowhere, Silent Hill. A game that has taught you to check your map every fifteen seconds from the start of the game makes the challenge of the final level come from having to memorize how the areas in a Lovecraftian maze are linked together. It further layers the challenge by making the final area composed of hallways or rooms you've been to before in the game, but rearranged into nonsensical routes, making the recollection of these past places you've built up over the entire game actually work against you. Pretty cool, bizarre puzzles, too. It's the perfect encapsulation of what Silent Hill is all about, in one area/dungeon/level.
Also, I'm sure I'm going to get some eye rolls here, but literally any of the tombs in the entire Ezio trilogy of Assassin's Creed. Open world is cool or whatever, but having tightly crafted old school levels of basically parkour gauntlets that encourage speed running was so cool, and so completely different and refreshing from the gameplay loop in the rest of the game.
Also, I'm sure I'm going to get some eye rolls here, but literally any of the tombs in the entire Ezio trilogy of Assassin's Creed. Open world is cool or whatever, but having tightly crafted old school levels of basically parkour gauntlets that encourage speed running was so cool, and so completely different and refreshing from the gameplay loop in the rest of the game.
PleaseDontBanMe
Banned
Tetris
namekuseijin
Banned
it's called Super Metroid, the whole single connected map of it. It's really genius stuff, you rarely need to backtrack because once you get a powerup at the end of some path, that path has already led you close to some place where that powerup would be useful to unlock further areas. It's the real creator of the Metroidvania genre, after Castlevania: SotN employed its gargantuan level design approach.
Doom maps were also top stuff, as were Mario games and others. Game designers really put a lot of thought back then about the fun of exploration, of traversing levels, of teasing players about how to go from A to B in twisting paths full of secret entrances and hidden shortcuts.
there's none of that in games today. Level design is a lost art. It's all either linear A-B walking sim paths, small arenas for players to kill each other all day long or huge idiotic and pointless sandboxes where you can go anywhere at any time, there's no challenge to traverse all of it, no joy in exploring and you can basically just build a tunnel in the ground to reach B or Z or whatever. it's pisspoor lack of design that kids and kid indies revel at.
Doom maps were also top stuff, as were Mario games and others. Game designers really put a lot of thought back then about the fun of exploration, of traversing levels, of teasing players about how to go from A to B in twisting paths full of secret entrances and hidden shortcuts.
there's none of that in games today. Level design is a lost art. It's all either linear A-B walking sim paths, small arenas for players to kill each other all day long or huge idiotic and pointless sandboxes where you can go anywhere at any time, there's no challenge to traverse all of it, no joy in exploring and you can basically just build a tunnel in the ground to reach B or Z or whatever. it's pisspoor lack of design that kids and kid indies revel at.