Semjaza Azazel
Member
I always enjoyed the design of the areas in System Shock 2 and Half-Life. Metroid Prime gets a mention... so should Super Metroid, really.
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What game has the 'Best. Level design. Evar!!' ?
- Thread starter Vieo
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junkwaffle
In Front and Drawing Away
SantaCruZer said:
bob_arctor
Tough_Smooth
I dunno, RC Pro Am had some awesome levels IIRC.
MrPing1000
Member
lemmings
SpoonyBard
Banned
ok, I'm going to pick some older games too:
Boulder Dash 1: The rest of the series also had some good levels, but the levels in the first one were excellent.
Dungeon Master: Really well done levels, puts Eye of The Beholder series to shame.
Chrono Trigger.
Lemmings.
Sonic 1.
The Great Giana Sisters
Boulder Dash 1: The rest of the series also had some good levels, but the levels in the first one were excellent.
Dungeon Master: Really well done levels, puts Eye of The Beholder series to shame.
Chrono Trigger.
Lemmings.
Sonic 1.
The Great Giana Sisters
Mr_Furious
Member
Not sure if it's the best level ever but it sure was great and memorable.
BTW, I must also give a nod to ICO. That whole game is one huge wonderfully conceived level that flows beautifully from beginning to end.
boutrosinit
Street Fighter IV World Champion
Littleberu said:
Ab-so-fuckin-lutely.
No contest.
Then Zelda: Master Quest and some of the main dungeons from Zelda Wind Waker. And SMB3 just because you could play it soft or hardcore.
Kumiko Nikaido
Vindication...sweet.
Mega Man II
Case closed.
Case closed.
Mike Works
Member
Pacman
element said:
Agreed, as a whole, that game had some excellent level design.
With other games, their just levels I like more than others.
My all-time favorite level is probably the Jedi Tomb level from Jedi Academy, that level was just beautiful. Even though the online version of the map isn't as fun.
Prince of Space
Banned
Wow, no one's mentioned Metroid Prime yet?
metroid prime has awful level design. desist in mentioning it. the awful, numbing treks across boring stretches of old map just to open up one poxy room containing another worthless super bomb upgrade are themselves enough to disqualify it. there's more to level design than "atmosphere." not that prime is particularly strong in that regard either.
Drinky Crow
Banned
Metroid Prime has pretty nonsensical level designs, definitely. And they didn't have the sort of competent design that might minimize backtracking, like OoT's dungeons. They were just arbitrary and ambling, with no real sense of architecture or construction, like they were "designed" just to look pointlessly over-articulated: kinda like the gameplay itself.
For FPS, I'll vote for NOLF 1 and 2. Mmmmm, NOLF.
For FPS, I'll vote for NOLF 1 and 2. Mmmmm, NOLF.
drohne said:
Drinky Crow said:
THANK YOU OH SENSIBLE ONES. MP is so goddamn fucking overrated in more ways than I can count. The level design is so cliched, unoriginal and requires so much goddamn back-tracking and allows for zero true exploration. I guess, for its purposes, it's very "tight" design, and it sure is pretty. That's all I can say about it though.
Again, no exaggeration, the game is so overrated it's disgusting. Ugh. But of course, the Nintendrones (including most "professional gaming critics") who fall to their knees and bow before anything with the word "Nintendo" slapped on the cover (even if it's not designed by Nintendo (new dev team recently acquired by Nintendo doesn't count)) will swarm anyone who doens't fall into Nintendrone line opinion regarding MP like killer bees.
I could think of others, but I'll mention it because I don't think I've seen anyone else mention it: Mario Sunshine. That game got dogged on a lot for a lot of reasons, but I always really appreciated the game's level design. Yeah, it was inconsistent throughout the game, and I admit I missed the exploration aspect from Mario64, but SMS in its better levels is the epitome of tight 3d platformer level design. The levels were pretty damn small but there was always so much to do; each level was like a virtual playground for platforming gameplay. I think, because of the level design, SMS was the best 3D adaptation of platforming principles ever. Too bad it was the most unpolished EAD game ever.
The level design in Metroid Prime is brilliant. And I'm not even talking about the variety of environments, how every single room is unique and organically grown. I'm talking about how everything fits together seamlessly: item locations, morph ball puzzles, save stations, boss fights, shortcuts, and the like. Tremendous talent and time went into the construction of this world. I never got lost, never felt like I was backtracking. But then, I was actively searching for secrets all the time.
I suppose if lacked patience and perception, I might too reduce the game to a series of atmospheric set-pieces void of substance...
I suppose if lacked patience and perception, I might too reduce the game to a series of atmospheric set-pieces void of substance...
Drinky Crow
Banned
"organically grown"? I'll agree that the level design was the game design equivalent of soy curd, sure. Definitely a bland approximation of edibility and substance.
Mr_Furious said:had a great level where a large ship was falling down a large chasm and you had to get to your ship and fly out before it reached the bottom.
Not sure if it's the best level ever but it sure was great and memorable.
BTW, I must also give a nod to ICO. That whole game is one huge wonderfully conceived level that flows beautifully from beginning to end.
Finally someone mentions Jedi Knight. That game had freaking amazing levels, just astoundingly cool.
i have to say, stage 3 in R-Type Delta... woooo boy, i can look at all the little details going on in that snowy background all day long.
and also:
de_dust.
----
http://chespace.1up.com
and also:
de_dust.
----
http://chespace.1up.com
Goreomedy said:
no you aren't. metroid prime is stitched together from a bunch of discrete, disjointed rooms. that's how the engine works. what do you call a visible joint between separate pieces? you call it a "seam." metroid prime is full of seams. it's positively seamy.
Drinky Crow
Banned
Stage 5 in R-Type Delta is teh sex-ay. 3's pretty intense, though; from the plodding initial pace dodging eight-way shots do tucking between the walker's legs like some sort of little space penis to MOAB OVERKILL to the boss confrontation, it's just a frickin' rollercoaster.
Drinky Crow
Banned
Before or after the Omega Pirate? Because that was when I quit.
Stuggernaut
Grandma's Chippy
I always liked the level design in Super Mario Brothers games.
SMB3 being my fav
SMB3 being my fav
drohne said:
First off, I do regret the passive "simpleton" swipe. For that, I'm sorry. And that goes to anyone who sincerely felt Metroid Prime was at all confusing in design or needlessly taxing when it came to backtracking.
I try to respect a differing play experinece, when the person sharing it offers something in an example and doesn't have a track record of fanboy incitement. With that said, I'll add...
Why I thought it was relevant: The only backtracking I did in the game was to hunt for the final artifact. I honestly can't remember a single moment of backtracking beyond that. At what specific point did Metroid fail you here?
As for the doors, they didn't disrupt what I felt was a seamless alien world. The doors are a franchise staple that almost always opened without hesitation. They were no more obtrusive than, say, any door in a Zelda game.
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