That One Level/Video Games/First-Person Shooter: Difference between revisions

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Hope you've saved up enough ammunition...you're gonna need them for these [[That One Level|particularly aggravating]] first-person shooter levels.

 

 

== Bungie ==

** Bungie apparently has not learned its lesson after the atrocity known as The Library in ''[[Halo]]'', widely agreed upon as one of the worst FPS levels ever made. Hordes of zombies. Limited ammo. Repetitive level design. Constant death. Annoying ass robot that tells you to "Stop being human".

** The real reason the level is hell: {{spoiler|When you are playing the level, both Cortana and Gravemind like to have moments, where [[Interface Screw|everything slows down as you hear them talk]]. The dialogue just turns the entire level into one giant [[Mind Screw]].}}

*** [[It Got Worse|It Gets Worse.]]{{spoiler|1=On Mythic, the cruiser's health is increased, so now it take '''TWO''' shots from the mass driver to defeat it. [http://halo.bungie.org/gameplay/reach_mythic/poa.html?p=2 The MOST GRIZZLED of veteran Mythic gamers have said this challenge is all luck-based!]}}

** Tip of the Spear, HOLY CHRIST. Especially when you go to destroy that second Anti Air Turret; A pair of Hunters guard the door, and by this time it's INCREDIBLY likely that you're running low on ammo, and the only things the nearby grunts have are Needlers and Plasma Pistols. That's right, you're very likely to have to kill Hunters using small arms weapons. God help you if you wasted the plasma launcher from earlier.

* The ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' trilogy features a few. Most are in the first game, as the level designers gained experience...

** G4 Sunbathing is one of the few vacuum levels in the series, where your oxygen is constantly draining and only two of your guns work. This level was long considered the only "un-viddable" level, i.e., unbeaten when starting with just the pistol.

** By far the most widely loathed level is Colony Ship For Sale, Cheap!, infamous for a "puzzle" in which several platforms must be raised and lowered by switches into an approximately stairway-like configurations. The problem is that each switch is in a different room far away from each other, and the platforms are a ways away from each other, making it difficult to judge whether they're at the correct height. Oh, and ''Marathon'' has no jump key, so you either get the platforms ''exactly right'' or you grenade jump.

*** The fan remake alters the puzzle so the platforms automatically go to the correct position, and {{spoiler|the computer terminal which used to provide hints for the puzzle now nets a [[Easter Egg|message from the developers and a boatload of heavy weaponry.]]}} Unfortunately, the puzzle was restored in the latest Aleph One version in the name of game accuracy and classic authenticity.

** Neither High Nor Low is one of the worst examples in video game history, due to the crippling lack of save points, the complete lack of recharge stations, and the traps from hell. If you start this level with a full shield (preferably a double shield), you ''might'' have a chance.

*** The [[Air Vent Passageway|vent screens]], [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|which you cannot see through but your enemies can]], making it very hard to next to impossible to get through the level with the health that you need to survive the final part of the level mentioned below.

*** There are multiple drone guns (six in all) which you must destroy without being sighted by them, sometimes by firing blindly. If you get hit, [[For Massive Damage|they will do massive damage.]]

*** There's more. Part of the mission involves reprogramming the shuttle. To do this, you must do battle with [[Made of Iron|Jaws]], who totes [[Guns Akimbo|double assault rifles]] (but whom you can kill by getting so close that he can't use them against you). This is while the infinite guards come to kill you (fortunately, the guards are finite until you kill Jaws). You must then retreat to the control room, and then fight your way back to the central room, so that you can launch the shuttle, where the above ladder comes into play.

** Surface 2, considering you can't see a thing, it's not obvious where the mission-failing cameras are pointing or what they can see, the objectives are very far from each other, and it constantly spawns enemies homing in on you. And your primary weapon is the [[Scrappy Weapon|Klobb]].

* While several levels in the original [[Time Splitters]] could be ridiculously hard, special mention goes to 'Mansion'. Two-thirds of the enemies carry shotguns which can kill you from halfway across the house in one shot in Hard Mode, as well as the fact that enemies can literally appear out of thin air, and [[Check Point Starvation|there are no checkpoints]]. Seeing as the timed secret can be unlocked in at least ELEVEN minutes, the people at Free Radical were aware of what they had created.

* Most of ''[[Time Splitters]] 2'' is straightforward arcade-style action, and that's part of the reason why the NeoTokyo level is so universally loathed. The first half of the stage involves following a baddie back to her gang's hideout without her or any of the numerous security cameras noticing you. It doesn't help that she strolls along at a snail's pace, and that getting noticed for even a second means starting the whole damn level over again.

* Time Splitters: Future Perfect has the "The Hooded Man" level. In the last part, you must protect {{spoiler|your past/future/whatever self}} from 'Splitters till he gets inside a base. This is during the middle of a firefight. You have the high ground to rain death on them. Sound easy? They cloak on and off predator-style and zig zag. When they get close to {{spoiler|'you'}}, they do high damage jumping slashes. You'll notice one coming and mow him down, only to then see 2 tearing {{spoiler|'you'}} a new asshole. On hard difficulty, this part is infuriating.

** Not to mention that as well as the enemies being cloaked for a lot of the time, they're a similar colour to the environment anyway, and on the last part of the level they're very far away even with the sniper scope zoomed in.

* The Passing finale in Left 4 Dead 2 is also a total bitch to tackle. The Left 4 Dead 1 survivors cover you in the main intersection but once you start heading to the back street and back alleys, they won't be able to see you so they can't help and that's where all the trouble starts. The gas cans are spread so far apart from each other that every trip is a big risk for being pounced and just like in Swamp Fever's finale, there will also be two Tanks to fight after the first Tank.

* The Sacrifice finale in Left 4 Dead 1 is a total pain, mainly in the actual sacrificing part. As 3 Tanks rush in to kill everyone, someone has to jump off the bridge and restart the generator. 9 times out of 10, a Smoker will yank the would be hero and is usually in a place where bots can't see the Smoker, leaving the player to die. Oh and did I forget to say that not only bots will never sacrifice themselves, but if three survivors are killed (or all incapacitated on the bridge), it counts as a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] for the last survivor alive? The same finale in Left 4 Dead 2 is significantly easier due to the addition of melee weapons, bile bombs, and more special infected types, meaning Smokers won't always be there to stop you.

 

 

* The first ''Star Wars: Battlefront'' is just chock full of fun multiplayer levels plagued with horrible AI.

** Bespin. The tunnel is where your lovely AI teammates go to get slaughtered. Not only is the enemy AI accurate to a range of 10 football fields with shotguns (instant DEATH), they spam grenades into the tunnel that your teammates are loafing around in to reduce your spawn counter. The problem with this is that you share deaths with your teammates and despite you going 14-0, you can still lose due to all of your teammates going 0-14.

* ''[[Shadows of the Empire]]'' has Ord Mantell. First off, you have to jump from train to train; if you miss a train, you lose a life. If you fall off, you lose a life. This is made worse by two facts: First, you've only played one first-person shooter level to this point, and secondly, it wasn't the last one.

** And then next is Gall Spaceport. Once again, there are ''way'' too many chances to fall to your death just because there's [[No OSHA Compliance]] at any of the numerous Imperial installations. Of course, similar to ''Jedi Outcast'', it and the rest of the game generally experience a jump in quality (and fun) once you find the jetpack.

** For that matter, the last part of "Holding The Line", the second British mission. Once again, rather than just finding Panzerschrecks or something and destroying the tanks normally, you have to call in artillery fire on them from a roof. This is where the problems start. Your compass just points you towards what building you need to direct the artillery from - your only indication of where the tanks are is vague directions from Price and MacGregor. Again, they can run away between you calling in the strike and the shells hitting. And, there's still the [[Zerg Rush|constant stream of German soldiers pouring into the town]], meaning you also have to watch the ladder to the roof, because if any enemies make it up there they will kill you [[Artificial Stupidity|and God knows Price and MacGregor won't actually put any effort into saving you]].

* "Mile High Club," [[The Stinger]] level in ''[[Call of Duty]] 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'', is a [[Timed Mission]] set on an airliner. There is not enough room to move, the [[Mook|Mooks]] outnumber you, the rest of your team [[All Up to You|won't move up until you clear the area]], and if you're going for the [[Bragging Rights Reward|"Mile High Club" achievement]], you die in four hits and only have one minute to reach the hostage, who you ''must'' rescue with a headshot; if you go for a kneecap, the level ends with the message [[Nonstandard Game Over|"Veterans only get headshots."]] If you make one false move, you'll either die or fail anyway because you wasted time. It's the kind of level where you don't need a walkthrough so much as choreography.

** While not exactly that one level for the most part the level Hunted in ''Modern Warfare'' makes up for the rest of the level in one 'short' part involving a helicopter. During this one part you have to take out a bunch of people and then get into a barn to be able to advance, now overall this really isn't all that hard, even on veteran. But what makes it hard is they give the helicopter a gun. To put it lightly the helicopter is a [[Game Breaker|bitch]]. On veteran it will kill you in about a second if you are not constantly in cover. Now if this still sounds easy, [[It Got Worse|think again]], the helicopter will move to make sure that you never have very good cover. And then there is the part where you have to leave cover to get to the barn, which you can't just charge into otherwise you will die. So you have to patiently sit outside the barn while the helicopter kills you and you do the whole thing all over again. [[Luck-Based Mission|Really it comes down to whether the helicopter decides to be stupid and move behind the barn]].

*** One last factor that deserves a mention here is the hilarity of finally making it safely into the barn just to get plugged in the face by the three shotgun-wielding enemies inside who up until now had been hiding out of sight. Enjoy starting over. Again.

** To clarify this further: The helicopter may look in another direction, but the instant it has line of sight on you, it will flick it's gun around INSTANTANEOUSLY and begin shooting you. It shoots no one else. Not to forget the Heat mission, going down the hill. The second runthrough on veteran makes everything else seem like a walk in the park. Although hunted is easy if you sit near the dodge-em cars as the enemies only come in a narrow corridor and you can just spam fire to get kills. And you get a pack of dogs to help you too if you're not a cruel bastard.

** The beginning of "Shock and Awe" had you manning the helicopter's mounted Mark 19 grenade launcher while you approach the city. A minute into the mission you come to the bridge with enemy infantry and anti-aircraft gun nests a little farther on. Having a very limited angle at which you can turn the weapon as well as the necessity of watching an overheat meter while shooting in rapid succession, you will realize you die repeatedly exactly at the same moment simply because you can not aim at the hostiles who are just a hair outside the gun's operating area even if you try (and try you will). While during other strenuous missions you are able to switch tactics, in this assignment you are either bound to succeed or taking a cold shower. On [[Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels|Veteran]] this quickly comes down to being infuriated at seeing the same scripted stretch of desert as you approach the same spot again. And again. And again. The hint? {{spoiler|[[Luck-Based Mission|Pray for enemies to miss the helicopter right away ]] and try to shoot the nearby vehicles in hopes of catching the infantry within the blast radius or at least giving you time to get within the cannon's range.}}

** "No Fighting in the War Room" on Veteran. Namely the part where you have to go through a silo on either the left or right side; as you walk past you near-instantly get shot-up from both sides, the worse part is how blatantly the AI in the side areas is boosted; you can kill everything down the middle without too much trouble at all with a little care, yet the enemies in the side areas instantly mow you down with about 90% accuracy at any range. Pretty much the only half-way reliable way to survive is spamming assault rifle grenades down the corridors; hope you didn't waste too many earlier!

* In the followup game, ''Call of Duty: World at War'', the level "Heart of the Reich" is now infamous among players on Veteran mode for it's insanely overdone difficulty, unfair gameplay and sheer luck required to complete it. Grenade spamming, endlessly respawning enemies, enemies that can shoot you through large amounts of rubble, all you need for your controller breaking rage.

** The Gulag. Good luck getting bullets from the front (mercenaries), from the sides (the same mercenaries), from above (damn mercenaries shooting you from the upper passages) and from the ground (Last Stand enemies). And that's before you find the [[Goddamned Bats|riot shield soldiers]] in the middle. Add to that the flying grenades from both sides, the fact that riot shield users get to shoot through the shield (which you CANNOT do), M1014s for close-quarters combat, their ungodly aim and the friendly fire @ 100% (meaning you can easily kill your teammates) and you have a level that'll make you pull your hair even on Recruit.

** And if you think "Loose Ends" is bad, ''immediately after'' you get "The Enemy of My Enemy." Recap: Soap {{spoiler|and Price}} are sent to Afghanistan to look for Makarov. Shadow Company attacks. You're told to let Makarov's men and Shadow Company fight it out as much as possible, but they're all ''way'' too eager to drop the ongoing battle with the guys sent to kill them and start shooting at the unaffiliated Brit in the ghillie suit (read: you).

** Another pain-in-the-ass spec-ops level is "Homeland Security." Beating it is quite an accomplishment even on Recruit, basically you have to defend a small town from FIVE waves of enemies. It's not so bad at first as you have plenty of claymores and auto-firing turrets to help you out, but those will get used up pretty quickly on every wave after the first, you have to deal with a MOTHERFUCKING PREDATOR DRONE that will constantly be bombing the crap out of you every single time you set foot outside a building, and if that wasn't bad enough, later waves also have BTRs and helicopters you have to deal with. You can't just camp out at one location as you'll have to get more RPGs from other buildings to take out the choppers and BTRs, it becomes REAL easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies and the drone since it's random which building the enemies will spawn from, which makes it nigh impossible to consistently defend one location. So you'll more then end up running between buildings while dodging gunfire from enemy soldiers, choppers, BTR's and those damn Predator missiles. It's a LONG exercise in pain and frustration, especially if you run out of RPGs on on the last wave and have NO way to take down that last helicopter or BTR. Don't even THINK about trying to beat it on Veteran unless you're a real masochist.

** "Time Trial". Literally the only thing that can make you fail is running out of time, which you can get more of by passing in between flags. ''Your snowmobile will not allow you to pass in between flags'' - you literally have to slow nearly to a stop just to get it to turn in the direction you want without crashing into something and turning the other way or just plain missing your target.

** In ''Allied Assault'', Sniper's Last Stand, aka Snipertown. A town full of extremely well-hidden [[Hit Scan|insta-hit]] snipers that take off massive amounts of health per hit. If you thought that was bad, [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]] in the second part, where [[Escort Mission|you have to escort]] [[Artificial Stupidity|a squad of suicidal chipmunks]] through the whole mess.

** The Command Post has [[Clairvoyant Security Force|unavoidable alarms]] that continually [[Teleporting Keycard Squad|"teleport in" enemies behind you]], and [[Respawning Enemies|respawning]] [[Demonic Spiders|guard dogs]] during your escape. This is where the game hits a brick wall on hard difficulty.

** An [[Escort Mission]] that was unique in the depth of guilt trip it laid on the player. You could fail this repeatedly without gameplay consequence, but watching a little girl die while a mournful motherly voice underscored the tragedy of it seemed far worse than restarting it from the beginning.

** Everything post-Central Command could really count. The slums and the Little Sister facility are both compelling and scary, but the big emotional climax of the game is gone, and the levels just drag on and on...

** One of the levels where you are in the streets is pretty damn tough. You have to kill multiple walkers, vans full of enemies, and some extremely mind-fuckey Alma hallucination sequences that are dark so that you can't see much while you have to kill swarms of enemies.

** ''Project Origin'' has its own fair share. As a rule, anything on Hard once you get to Wade Elementary School. However, certain levels stand out on their own regardless.

*** The subway+/sewer levels definitely hard. They feature rather frequent appearances by mooks with heavy weapons and upgraded durability. Your best saving grace is that ammo for the semiautomatic shotgun is common here.

*** The train level is seriously a major bitch too. It starts off with you being on a train and having to deal with repeated attacks by the best damn [[Elite Mooks]] in the game. They're intelligent, skilled, and work in squads. There isn't much cover available, nor are there many helpful items like armor or medkits. Oh yeah, and while this is going on, you occasionally have to run around the train and stop it from derailing. Then after that comes a nice segment where all you have to worry about are ninjas who actually are in a dark, confined environment this time. So after you've cleared through them, you get not one, but two fights with snipers! You have to kill a small group of snipers in order to access a switch, and then you have to kill a much bigger group of snipers in order to get onto the second tram. There are at least 20 snipers in all and they're pretty good at their jobs. Now that this nightmare is over, take a breather, listen to some exposition, and face sexual assault from Alma, who decides to jumble up the map, making you have to work a maze.

** From the ''Eternal Damnation'' mod, the museum level. Two very large rooms packed to the gills with all the zombie types up to that point with very little health or ammo stashes. Unless you've saved up a considerable amount of ammo at this point or gotten yourself a good melee weapon like the axe, you're going to have a [[Nintendo Hard|very tough]] time beating this level; especially against those tall zombies who absorb bullets like nothing else in the game.

* ''[[Rainbow Six]]'': In the ''Eagle Watch'' mission pack, there's Lion's Den. Involves rescuing hostages from a clock tower full of snipers that can shoot at you from ridiculous angles where they are nearly impossible to hit, ie [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|they can aim straight up and down, while you can't]]. And if a certain one notices you, he'll trigger a bomb.

** From ''Vegas 2'', the Nevada Desert level. Even with your teammates being [[Artificial Stupidity|incredibly retarded]], at least they were good at attracting bullets otherwise meant for you. Here, you have none of that - your only support is an NSA agent who isn't even physically with you and is [[Stop Helping Me!|entirely useless]]. Your ability to call in thermal scans to see where enemies are is gone. You cannot stealthily pick them off - kill one and everybody's instantly alert to your presence.

* ''[[Descent]]'''s 6th, 11th, and 19th levels, especially on Insane difficulty. All are composed mainly of tight corridors infested with deadly [[Demonic Spiders]] such as Homing Missile Hulks, Vulcan Drillers, Plasma Drillers, and Missile Platforms. Level 19 in particular is considered to be the hardest in the game, with its circular passageways allowing roaming enemies to flank you from any direction. And [[Drought Level of Doom|you don't get to recharge your energy for a long time]]. It doesn't get any easier at the reactor room, where there's a half-dozen Red Hulks and Heavy Drillers with nowhere to hide (although there's a hard-to-reach [[Invisibility Cloak]]).

* [[Tron 2.0]]: The tank gauntlet on the Antiquated Server. Jet must run through a gauntlet of tanks that are read-only (you can't shut them down) and indestructable (you can't destroy them). So, not only are you having to run and jump through a glitching obstacle course with tanks shooting at you, the tanks will occasionally and randomly ''shoot out the very ground you stand on.''