Nobody likes water levels

[oldMcDouche]

i think its because usually youre more vulnurable than during the rest of the game. you speed of movement is slower, you often cant use weapons and very often the controls are horrible because, why put much effort in controls for a small part of a game?

 

[Dexiro]

Water levels suck because developers always do them wrong. It's imprinted in our minds that water is there in games to make your life more difficult.

You have to deal with all of these things:
- Sudden change of controls.
- Awkward, slow and often clunky movement.
- Having to move in all directions.
- Enemies coming at you from all directions.
- Are also harder to aim at.
- And you have a reduced set of abilities.
- And slow movement again for emphasis, so you can't run away from enemies either!
- Sometimes reduced visibility.
- Air meter, reducing the amount of time you can stay underwater and making you panicky as hell when you're running low.
- The theme. Water levels are often cold, blue, uninviting and sometimes downright depressing.

 

[vivalahelvig]

I hate water levels in half-life 1...for one...single...reason....ICTHYSAURS!!!! It doesnt even matter if there isnt those things in there, they have just traumatized me for HL1. And every other game with water.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Because if isnt fun. Like God of War, Devil May cry, and man many other levels in water

 

[CarpathianMuffin]

In games where you can't swim, it's annoying. This is why I absolutely loathed the boating missions in GTA Vice City.
Though aside from that, they aren't all that offensive. The only problems that I see with them are they seem to be very bland most of the time.

 

[Phoenix09215]

Well when someone says water levels I immediatly think of the Water Temple in Zelda OOT and Clankers Cavern and Rusty Buckt Bay in Banjo Kazooie... all three of those levels are very difficult in some way or the other. However, for me its not because they're difficult which makes me dislike them, its the fact that they either envolve dodgy controls when swimming underwater or slowly making your way through a room wearing a pair of iron boots -_-

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Cause most gamers grew up in a generation where water meant bad because your character must of had polio in their legs or something that was only activated by the presence of water.

At least, thats' how it is for me. Any time i see water in a level, i feel a shudder but also feel the need to walk up to it and see if i can swim or not.

this

also because of these games

Zelda
mario 64
KH2
assassins creed (fucking assassinations involving going across water.fucking.christ.)
and any game involving going in sewers with little space and being timed. fuck. that.
also, knights of the old republic on the manaan level.

FUCKING SHARKS.FUCK THEM. i have yet to get hit by one but motherfuckers, i fucking hate them, you move so god damn slow when your in the water!

 

[zfactor]

water levels are OK, the Lakebed Temple in Twilight Princess was a good level

Did you ever play the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time? It rapes you up the ass if you don't know how to do it...

 

[neoontime]

Well its sorta harder to fight and evil starfish are always killing you.

 

[Yarpie]

Actually I have found one water level I adore: Vashj'ir in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. Technically not a level in the traditional sense, but still.

In general though I think it usually comes down to a poor implementation of mechanics. The game simply isn't as fun when you have to swim as opposed to walk. Add to that the fact that developers seem to save their most annoying puzzle until these levels, and you have a recipe for boredom and frustration.

 

[SalamanderJoe]

Donkey Kong Country and Rayman 2's underwater levels are pure class.

 

[LazyAza]

Its not just the precence of water its that no developer anywhere ever has figured out how to make water sections of games actually fun. This is because by the nature of the substance your speed is painfully slower (unless its a jet-boat game I guess lol) and the types of gameplay you can do is quite limited.

Theirs also the fact water technically speaking has always been one of the hardest things to simulate in 3d next to sand and hair and game development is all about budget and polish, making a game with good water gameplay would hinder the rest of the experience. Hydrophobia attempted to be all about water gameplay and it was terrible in almost every department outside of its crazy water tech sections.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Because they have a tendency of being extremely bad. A good example being the entire Hydrophobia game - quite recent.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

Super Mario Bros 3 had awesome water levels!
Ocarina of Time had a HORRIBLE Water Temple and the Inside Jabu Jabu part...

hmm... I'd say I'm about neutral/leaning on the "don't like water levels" side. It really depends on the game and if it's implemented well I guess.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I'm with you on this one, Labyrinth Zone is a pain in the ass...and so are basically all the other examples of water levels I can think of.

 

[(name here)]

Water levels tend to involve really terrible 3d movement controls. The ones with actually good 3d movement tend to be okay to good.

 

[Lord Kloo]

I used to dislike water in strategy games, but that's changed.

My man, you have not come across the awesomeness of supreme commander, water is a god send as it means they cannot rush you (unless they are those sneaky aeon bastards..)

OT: to be honest i never liked water levels, the one in croc was just boring, the ones in tomb raider were scary because I hate crocodiles and the underwater levels in Bioshock were.. oh wait thats the whole game.. ah well I still dislike swimming when you can't attack in water it makes me feel vulnerable..

 

[nuba km]

probably has to do with the crap controls that come with it but SotC had a good water boss

 

[rezaDN1992]

I think the problem is that your characters is a human in most games and humans are made to walk. It would also suck if you had to play as a dolphin in the desert.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Water allows for a bunch of irritating mechanics that people hate:

- Raising and lowering water levels, which often takes lots of long schlepping around routes you've seen before.
- If it's a game where you die if you land in water, it'll be a high-death, hard-to-platform area.
- If you have an "air meter," you'll probably drown a lot because the area includes at least one "barely make it" tunnel that most people won't make.
- As in real life, moving in water is clumsy and slow, and you'll blunder into enemies a lot, or down the wrong path, and swimming controls have never been particularly amazing.
- You usually can't fight well underwater, meaning you're at the mercy of said enemies.
- My personal pet peeve about water is that most of the time, characters can't leave the water unless there's a platform at water level to climb on. Why the hell can't you go underwater, kick really hard, and "jump" out of the water, then grab a ledge by your hands, hang, and pull yourself up? It's like the chest high walls in Metal Gear that Snake couldn't pull up onto. Why the hell can't a super-soldier get out of the water so long as he can manage to reach an edge with his fingers? This problem leads to a lot of slow, clumsy meandering through water until you find the two feet of space where you can actually get onto land, then try your puzzle again.



Also, people hate water because of the Water Temple. That's probably half the reason.