# Design the worst game level ever **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 13, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250 "2011-02-13T22:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/81 "2011-02-18T20:12:26Z")
> [@merrick](#): > > 1. Scattered through the level are vast quantities of useless items, far more than you have inventory slots or time to examine. At the end of the level, if you don’t have one particular random useless item, you lose. (A.K.A. the “No admittance without a tie” rule). The random object will of course be different every time you play the game, with no way of guessing or determining it beforehand. By the time you learn what it is, it will be impossible to go back and get it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/82 "2011-02-19T00:08:06Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > See also: the shooting-down-spaceships bit in Knights of the Old Republic (which also comes immediately after an unskippable cut scene without the opportunity to save). Or the old school scrolling shoot 'em up bits of _Jade Empire_ (which I actually enjoyed, but many people found them jarring and bad) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/83 "2011-02-19T00:14:38Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Now, here is the critical part: DO NOT MENTION THAT THE BARRELS MUST BE KICKED DOWN. The “kicking down barrels” mechanic must not have been used by the player or shown to him previously. In fact, make sure most barrels in that game are inert and can’t be used for anything. Haha, this reminds me of the tunnel levels of Viet Cong. You start out in the tunnel, in absolute darkness, with a chemlight counter at the top of the screen. The glow sticks provide good, if very localized illumination. You have only 10 of those. So you use those to navigate along, right ? WRONG ! What you should have done is used your flashlight, which has never been mentioned or used previously and if I’m not mistaken _cannot be remapped in the options menu._ It just doesn’t appear in the key binds. So if, like me, you jumped right into the game without reading the manual, you don’t even know it’s there for you to use. There were other, more important reasons to hatehatehatehate the tunnel levels, but this one stuck in my craw for a long while. Because I played the level in the dark for a whole fucking afternoon, getting killed and lost over and over again :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/84 "2011-02-19T15:16:57Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > How about making sure there’s a river and, say, a washed out bridge. Your character can backhand a dragon hard enough to knock it out in one hit. Your character can cast spells that can vaporize a city. Your character can fly. Your character can probably even teleport short distances. > …but he can’t swim. Or make a raft. Or fix the bridge. No, he has to find the pink rabbit’s foot for JoJo The Idiot Circus Boy so that JoJo will show you the secret tunnel under the river. > > -Joe Your path should also at times be blocked by a bit of underbrush, a knee-high wall, a wheelbarrow, and a plump lady arguing with her scrawny husband. You are happily committing treason by going up against the evil king and his minions, but you just have to respect these barricades. Here’s another one: When you finally get the magical sword that will save the world, the enemy always pops up and kidnaps the useless fairy girl and the correct choice is to hand over the sword in exchange for the girl, even though this will doom the world and thus the girl too, because well, you will just GET THAT SWORD BACK! Right? Except in this “worst game level ever,” that’s the WRONG choice. But you don’t find out until thirty hours of game play later, that you can not get the sword back. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/85 "2011-02-25T05:20:03Z")
The previous level will have something just BEGGING to be blasted by your SuperMegaGun. In order to beat the boss of the current level, you must acquire all the ammo in the level+1. Yep, that’s right- you have to hoard the ammo the previous level. There were some Resident Evil Games where you were compelled to hoard ammo for a difficult midgame boss fight that would be nigh-impossible if you hadn’t gathered enough. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/86 "2011-02-25T20:42:26Z")
> [@](#): > > There were some Resident Evil Games where you were compelled to hoard ammo for a difficult midgame boss fight that would be nigh-impossible if you hadn’t gathered enough. Episode I of Doom I (the shareware part) was like this, too. In all of the game up to the fight against the two Barons of Hell, there was something like 40 rockets. And the rocket launcher is the only weapon you get that’s worth even bothering to use against Barons of Hell. So you basically can’t use rockets for anything else for the entire first third of the game. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/87 "2011-02-25T22:24:16Z")
**Chronos** , you’re telling me people actually played shareware Doom without cheat codes? ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/88 "2011-02-26T15:04:53Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > **Chronos** , you’re telling me people actually played shareware Doom without cheat codes? I played all 3 of the original episodes on the second hardest difficulty level (i.e. the hardest level where the enemies aren’t respawning every few seconds) without using god mode or full ammo or keys/full ammo or no clipping. Cheat codes are fun when you just want to blast things away, but they remove most of the strategy and puzzle elements. I did, however, use the cheat to show the full map when I new I hadn’t found all the secrets. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/89 "2011-02-26T18:44:03Z")
Three pages and no Water Temple yet? So many saved games, none of them going past the Water Temple. Three water height levels with endless backtracking involving draining or submerging the Temple. Having to weigh yourself down with a pair of boots that make you descend so sloooooooowly. Whirlpools that suck you down and kill you, so you have to go again from the start. The water levels in Zelda are all particularly annoying, but Ocarina’s was the worst. I can’t think of a more annoying level. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/90 "2011-02-26T21:15:25Z")
Speaking of Doom, my worst game level would have hidden doors that can only be found by tapping on the wall where the door is, and there is no way to determine whether a given piece of wall is a likely spot, so you have to tap on every inch of every wall in every room. Everybody enjoys that, right? ---
**Author:** ![xoferew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e9a140/32.png) [@xoferew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xoferew)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/91 "2011-02-26T21:19:52Z")
Yes, changing water levels sucks. Not just for temples; also for use with sewers and reservoirs! When you beat the boss there are a ton of dropped items for you. So many that you can’t carry them all without dumping some of the precious stuff you already have. It’s got to be good, right? It’s from a difficult boss! Except now that stuff is also being dropped by the Cute Bunbuns from the level one Jolly Forest of Peasiness. ---
**Author:** ![Tierce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Tierce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tierce)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/92 "2011-02-26T21:55:27Z")
By the way, the platform section has to have wonky space-moon gravity. And crosswinds. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/93 "2011-02-26T22:56:35Z")
> [@](#): > > By the way, the platform section has to have wonky space-moon gravity. Sure, if by “wonky” you mean that it changes for every platform. In strength and direction. With no indication that it’s going to. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/94 "2011-02-27T03:05:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Sure, if by “wonky” you mean that it changes for every platform. In strength and direction. With no indication that it’s going to. Oh god, I just had Jet Force Gemini flashbacks. ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250/95 "2011-03-09T16:28:38Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > You need to perform some repetitive task perfectly hundreds of times (like, say, dodging lightning bolts), and need to start over from the beginning if you make one mistake. > > And _yes_, I did find the lightning dodging minigame in _Final Fantasy X_ just a _little_ aggravating. Also, Blitz Ball. That’s just the mechanics of the game. This doesn’t include the annoying characters, namely the protagonist, and horrible voice acting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/design-the-worst-game-level-ever/571250.md?page=4)