On Gameranx, the 10 Worst Levels in the Best Video Games

[Falcon] A lot of the time,the reason why we call games the best games is that they’ve just got
incredible level design.

But even the best video games have some clunkers.

On Gameranx,the 10 Worst Levels in the Best Video Games.

Kicking it off at number 10,
it’s Cortana from “Halo Three”.

I wanna say this is probably
one of the more obvious ones,

so let’s definitely get
this one out of the way.

The ninth campaign mission of “Halo Three”

is about as far from a standard
Halo mission as you can get.

Instead of the usual wide open spaces

and variety of weapons and vehicles

that a normal Halo level
would indulge you with,

this time, Master Chief is trapped

in a cramped and confusing place,

taking on a seemingly endless onslaught

of incredibly annoying enemies.

Another level that gets mentioned a lot

when you’re talking
about the worst levels,

it’s the library from “Halo One”.

And yeah, that level’s pretty repetitive,

but it’s got a lot of wide
hallways and open areas

that make fighting the
Flood at least tolerable.

Cortana, not so much.

(weapon firing)

(monster roaring)

This level has almost none of that.

It seems like there’s stuff
trying to kill you anywhere

and you can’t take two steps

without getting pelted with needles

from those annoying turrets
that are everywhere.

And there’s flood just
popping outta these pods

that are all over the place.

It’s really endless.

To top it off, everything
just looks exactly the same.

The enemies blend into the environment

so they’re hard to see.

Whole place is a slog.

It’s bad enough on normal,

but put it on heroic or
legendary and it’s just torture.

And number nine is
Ascension from “Crisis”.

Ask anybody who you know likes “Crisis”,

where it starts to go downhill.

9 times outta 10, they’re gonna
say when the aliens show up.

The first real encounter with aliens

occurs at the mission core,

where you’re floating
around inside the mountain.

Some people hate that mission

because it’s such a departure
from the rest of the game,

but I know a lot of
people who like it too.

It’s different but in an interesting way.

At least that’s what I think.

Still, that’s the turning point.

I don’t think you can deny that.

The game gets worse.

The remaining levels are just not as good

as the first half of the game.

You can’t really make
an argument otherwise.

Easily, however, the worst and most boring

and forgettable mission is Ascension.

It’s the one where you piled
the VTOL and it’s pretty bad.

The VTOL controls are real sluggish.

Your objectives, really basic.

Trying to fight the aliens in this thing

is mostly just annoying
’cause they’re tiny targets.

And the whole thing’s
over in literally minutes.

(weapons firing)

(alien growling)

(player grunting)

(weapons firing)

Yeah, it’s cool that they
snuck another vehicle in

for you to control.

But I’m gonna say this.

The thing that a VTOL is known for

is vertical takeoff and landing.

V-T-O-L.

It’s not known for combat.

It’s known for the fact that
it doesn’t need a runway.

Both in the game and
in real life, mind you.

It’s kind of just a short,
dull and annoying mission

where the execution leaves
a lot to be desired.

And number eight is the Fade
from “Dragon Age Origins”.

Up until the “Mass Effect” series,

BioWare kind of seemed
contractually obligated

to insert at least one
really annoying level

or sequence into their games.

“Irenicus’s Dungeon”
and “Balder’s Gate Two”.

Manaan in “KOTOR”.

And the Fade in “Dragon Age Origins”.

Depending on who you ask,

it’s not necessarily the
worst level they’ve made,

but it’s up there.

This one goes down during
the Circle of Magi quest

and at a certain point,

this sloth demon traps you in the Fade.

This weird metaphysical realm

where the demons and
the spirits come from,

according to Dragon Age lore.

Sounds cool, right?

Sounds pretty interesting, but oof.

It is not.

You lose all your party
members at the start.

You travel around to different
areas to get different forms

that allow you to overcome
certain obstacles.

Again, sounds interesting, right?

(intense orchestral music)

(monster grunting)

(lightning crackling)

(player grunting)
(monster grunting)

– The environment is very bad.

It’s so boring. It’s so tedious.

And the bulk of your time
is spent backtracking.

It just goes on so long too.

By the end, you’re just
begging for it to be over.

There’s mods that are dedicated

to skipping this entire section.

That’s how annoying it is.

Especially on repeat playthroughs.

“Dragon Age Origins” is a fantastic game,

like a perfect example of
what we’re talking about

with this list because
the Fade just sucks.

And number seven is the
Hedron Chamber from “Control”,

one of the all time great
levels in a Remedy game.

The Ashtray Maze is followed by

one of them all time most frustrating.

The kind of, sort of, final
battle of the game, I guess,

happens in the Hedron Chamber,

deep within dimensional research.

The entire level is just
a series of brutal arenas

with highly damaging
enemies, very little cover,

and worst of all, no checkpoints.

At least at launch.

I don’t know if it’s still
as bad as it was back then,

but back in 2019, this
was a slog of a level.

There’s nothing worse than
carefully and painstakingly

making it to the final arena
only to get one shotted

in the back by an enemy
that’s spawned outta nowhere.

Now you gotta restart the beginning.

Do it all over again.

And (sighs) if there was just
one checkpoint in the middle,

the whole thing would be
so much more tolerable,

but there’s none.

It’s just pure pain.

(first thumping)
(monster grunting)

(fist thumping)

(weapon firing)

(fist thumping)

(weapons firing)

(fist thumping)

The funny thing is that’s
really all it is too.

It’s just a series of arenas

and if you don’t have the right skills,

then the whole thing’s nearly impossible.

I didn’t have the right
skills, so I was screwed.

And just to add insult to injury,

when you do finally
manage to beat everything

and get to your goal,

you find out that you already lost,

so the whole rush to
get up to the head drum

was pointless anyway.

And number six

is “Gears of War Three”
Chapter Six Watery Grave.

“Gears Three”, hugely fun game.

But there’s one element that hurt it

in the transition from two
player to four player co-op.

It is the vehicle sections.

Instead of having something cool

where one player pilots a vehicle,

the other controls a turret,

we get, uh, this. (groans)

Basically, just a boring

four player underwater turret section

that’s as pointless as it sounds.

Seriously, this whole section
could have easily been covered

in like a five second cut scene.

But instead we get this 15
minute long turret sequence

where nothing interesting happens.

They try to spice things up a little bit

with some scripted events,

but you’re locked into a
turret the entire time,

so you really got nothing to
do other than shoot enemies.

And you might go, oh,
it’s a shooting game.

That’s the point.

Gears kind of pioneered
the cover shooter genre

and it just be plopped into a turret

that removes most of the
mechanics of the game.

This part seems like an attempt

to add variety into the game,

but it actually kinda limits the game.

– [Player Character] There’s
the turret. Take it out.

(weapons firing)

– [Player Character]
Got it. How many more?

(weapons firing)

– [Falcon] Again, the amount of things

you can do in this part are so few.

It’s dull. It’s pointless.

It really could have easily been cut

and I don’t think anyone would notice.

It’s not particularly painful
to get through or anything,

but it’s the part I dread when
I’m playing this game Co-op.

These games are normally
a nonstop joy ride

but this level is like sitting in traffic.

People hate turret sections

that are a minute or two minutes long,

and this is like 10 times that.

Plus it’s underwater, so it
feels slower than it already is.

And number five is
“Wolfenstein The New Colossus”.

The Courthouse.

This is supposed to be
a big cathartic moment

when BJ finally escapes
from the Nazi clutches

and goes on a rampage against his captors.

But instead of being the power fantasy

the game desperately wanted to be here,

this level is instead
a brutal meat grinder

that’ll just chew you up and spit you out.

Always starts the same.

BJ breaks free during his trial.

Blows away everything that moves.

Cool, right?

The thing is, you start
out with very little

and you are immediately swarmed

by multiple tough enemies
from every section.

Staying in the galleries is
pretty much death sentence.

And the outside hallways
are not a lot better.

There’s almost no cover.

Ammo is pretty sparse and
health pecks are even rarer.

All that, and the enemies
really just do not stop coming.

There’s some turrets at
the front of the courthouse

and they seem like they’d be useful,

but they’re just a trap.

Trying to use one of ’em
leaves you pretty exposed

and you just die in seconds.

(weapon firing)

To really rub it in
and make you miserable,

the whole thing ends up being
a dream sequence anyways,

which is very annoying.

BJ doesn’t actually escape,

so all those deaths were
in his imagination too.

It’s hard as hell.

And while the idea’s fine,

they could have just made it
so when you die in the dream,

BJ just wakes up and the game continues.

I guess maybe that would’ve been too easy,

but wow, would that have just been better.

And number four is “Diablo 2” Act Three.

“Diablo 2” is a bonafide
classic, but come on.

Is anyone out there among those
who actually like Act Three?

Act one is iconic

and some parts of act
two can drag a little,

but there’s just nothing in it

as tedious and miserable as Act Three.

You’re set in a confusing
jungle environment

with these long winding paths

that mostly lead to dead ends

and tons of tiny annoying enemies.

There’s so little to like about Act Three.

Basically, every enemy
manages to be very annoying.

The tree dudes, the giant
mosquitoes, it’s all terrible,

but by far the worst is the pygmies,

who are these fast distance enemies.

They attack you with blowguns.

They’re constantly moving
and they’re very small,

so they’re frustrating the target.

And there’s a shaman that
can bring them back to life.

They’re every annoying
thing that an enemy can be

in an action RPG, all rolled into one.

And there’s a whole bunch of them.

The worst part is that
there’s only so much

you can even skip.

The entire act, basically,
one long fetch quest,

so you have to scour the environment

pretty thoroughly to find everything.

Even when you just want to
beeline toward the exit.

(monsters grunting)

(coins rattling)

(monsters grunting)

(coins rattling)

And number three is the Sewers

from “Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines”.

A lot of things that
make this game special.

The world building, the
characters, the story.

The Sewers don’t have any of that though.

Instead they’re this overly
long, dull, frustrating mission

that can catch new players off guard

and just make ’em miserable.

Most missions and
bloodlines are pretty short,

but for some reason,

the developers made this
one just keep going.

I don’t know what is going on here.

It just goes and goes.

There’s no story, no characters,
just corridors, sewers,

which by the way, no matter
what, a sewer is repetitive.

It’s by nature, hallways.

And it’s filled with all
these annoying enemies.

And to make matters worse,
it’s a vampire game,

so you gotta suck blood
in order to survive.

And there’s hardly anything
down here to eat except rats.

And at least one clan can’t
use rats for blood at all,

so they’re screwed.

“Vampire The Masquerade
Bloodlines” starts to feel

a bit rushed and incomplete
in the second half.

And to make up for that,

the developers just patted
out certain combat areas

to go on way longer.

These sections do not play
to the game’s strengths,

not even a little bit.

And the sewer section is
the worst of them by far.

(monster grunting)

(hammer thumping)

(monster grunting)

(hammer thumping)

And number two is Hot Coco
or really any jet ski level

from the “Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy”.

This stands out to me
’cause when I first played

the “N Sane Trilogy”, I was just baffled.

It’s a mission where you
control Coco on a jet ski,

but calling what you’re doing
here control is generous.

Turning is sluggish, unresponsive.

The physics seem messed up and heavy.

The controls just flat out suck.

It felt wrong because I didn’t
remember the original game

controlling like this in this section.

And it’s because it didn’t.

For whatever reason,

the developers of the “N Sane Trilogy”

decided to make the jet ski
controls “more realistic”

in the most miserable way
they could come up with.

I know a lot of people complain
about the bridge stages

and the altered movement and
physics of the regular games.

And mostly, I don’t really
think it’s that big of an issue

or even an issue.

Here, however, wow.

Whatever they did to the jet ski controls

made ’em way worse.

Any of the jet ski levels
would count for this list,

but the worst is Hot Coco

because all the nitro crates
just feel impossible to avoid,

especially if you’re
going for 100% completion.

The N Sane Trilogy, fantastic
remake of some classic games,

but these levels could go away

or they could make some attempt

at making them like the originals.

(fruit whooshing)

(water splashing)

(crate exploding)

And finally, number one,
Lost Izalith in “Dark Souls”.

This is one of those levels
that should have been epic.

You’re deep in the underworld

and you can literally walk on lava.

You have that ability in this level.

And you can see the place long
before you actually get here.

Probably one of the most intriguing teases

of the entire game.

This giant dome in the
middle of a lava lake.

What horrors could possibly wait inside?

A bunch of dragon asses, it turns out.

Yes, you heard that right.

You enter the area, turn the corner,

and see for the first time

an endless sea of zombie dragon buttocks,

just standing around.

Why are they here?

What is this supposed to be?

I don’t know.

Out of all the locations hit

by “Dark Souls” rushed development,

Lost Izalith got it the worst.

There’s some different stuff to see

when you actually get out
of the Dragon Butt Lake,

but it’s short, cramped,

and not all that visually interesting.

To cap it off is one of the worst bosses

in the entire Soul
series, the Bed of Chaos,

which is less of a boss

and more of a random number generator.

Sometimes you just die.

Real exciting and dynamic gameplay there.

Lost Izalith is also a place
that should be so much cooler

than it actually is.

It’s so short and incomplete
that it feels like cut content

that they just left in
the game by mistake.

The original “Dark Souls”
is a masterpiece of a game,

but this level is not.

And that’s all for today.

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I’m Falcon.

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