Hub Level: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In the beginning, levels were their own separate entities, completely disconnected from one another -- beat one, and you go straight to the next, no intervening events or backtracking. Later, games added the idea of a "[[World Map]]" that connected the areas: you could now travel between worlds at will, perhaps unlocking shortcuts or alternate routes -- but the map was a bland, uninteresting area in and of itself, existing only to carry you from one location to the next.

* An interesting variant in ''[[Halo 3 ODST]]'': You start the game playing as [[The Faceless|The]] [[AFGNCAAP|Rookie]]; during the combat-drop at the start of the game, the Rookie gets separated from the rest of the squad, and the landing knocks him unconscious for six hours. When he wakes up, he wanders the nighttime city streets (the hub) trying to find his squad. When you find a clue as to what happened to them, the game goes into a playable [[Flash Back]] where you control the squad member related to the clue you just found as the Rookie. When the flashback ends, you return to the Rookie, and go looking for another clue.

* Possibly the most surreal example is in ''[[Quake (Video Game)|Quake]]'', where it even functions as a ''menu system'' and can be played as a ''deathmatch map''. This allowed for the hardest difficulty to be hidden ''within'' the hub. (The other three difficulties? They are the hub's ''entrances''.)

* The faction-specific Sanctuary in ''[[Planet Side]]''. The planet doesn't have a name, it's just NC/TR/VS Sanctuary. This is were platoons ready themselves to travel through a warp gate for a vehicle/dropship assault or use the HART Shuttle.

* The first two ''[[Turok (Video Game)|Turok]]'' games had these. The one in the second game was even named ''The Hub''.

* ''Lode Runner 2'' had one, aptly titled ''World Hub''. It was rather nice to look at, partially because one of the coolest of the game's seven tilesets (called ''Jump Station'') was dedicated to it exclusively. You couldn't even use it with the in-game [[Level Editor]] unless you hacked your level files.

* ''[[Braid (Video Game)|Braid]]'' plays this straight with [http://www.davidhellman.net/blog/the-art-of-braid-part-8/ Tim's house], but uses it to shed some insight on the internal nature of his journey.

* [[Jett Rocket]]'s ship is a tiny version, with switches that lead to the level maps.

* ''[[Spelunky]]'' features the hub in which you unlock shortcuts to deeper levels by paying increasingly exorbitant prices which you will have to pay for within ''at least'' three playthroughs.

[[Category:Video Game Settings]]

[[Category:Hub Level]]