Nobody likes water levels

[Mr Companion]

Water means your character is going to have to move slowly, through space where he or she will have a limited time to breath. You wont be as effective at combat, the enemies who are in the water are probably more adept at moving through it because it is their natural environment or they have been there a while longer than you. Visibility will probably be reduced and you don't even know where the next pocket of air could be, or whether you might get trapped and drown.

In summary, water is the video game environment that makes you consider a very realistic fatal situation. And you just KNOW all the important stuff in gonna be the most hard to find. The worst water levels I have seen are the ones in Legend of Zelda games.

OH the fish bloody well explodes does it? And I was supposed to figure out that while navigating a submerged maze was I? Balls to that im gonna go play some oblivion where I can walk ON water while shooting frosty flaming arrows at helpless Guards.

 

[Fledge]

No game has realistic water physics/graphics.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Plain and simple... I don't like water levels because I grew up with this:


20 years on, it's still proper nightmare fuel.

EDIT: Fuck it, someone posted the exact same thing with the exact same video like ten minutes ago. I should read properly before posting instead of just skimming.

 

[Ramin 123]

Mario 64 made me dread water levels. I think it's a mix of losing the ability to jump, having limited oxygen, and scary eels...

Yeah but the music was so relaxing though lol

 

[eggy32]

I dislike all water levels. Mostly because they greatly reduce my characters mobility so I can't play like normal. Also any water level with a limited oxygen bar is just annoying.

 

[Tharwen]

For me, it's because there currently isn't a working 3D control system.

Think about it: Every joystick, keyboard and mouse works in only 2 dimensions. When you're in water, you have 3 to worry about. Hence the controls hardly ever work.

 

[Thebiggestpanda]

I liked the water temple in ocarina of time. that is all.

 

[Theron Julius]

I can provide a list of what's wrong with water levels:

1.It's always fucking dark. It's not fun to fight when you can only half see the enemies.
2.There's usually limited air supply. Time limits don't make anything more fun.
3.You can get attacked from any angle.
4.Water enemies are always fast, annoying, and scary.

When you combine all of them it just destroys any potential fun. It panders to too many different fears at once.

 

[Peteron]

Don't get me wrong, I love the ocean, but water levels do piss me off. Mainly slow, time consuming swimming, the fact that you need to time yourself and do things before you run out of air, and how combat is usually very limited in water. Water can just be an irritating addition to a game, however many times it is done quite well.

 

[northeast rower]

I really don't care for water levels, mainly because I love the water and most devs don't execute the physics/look right. I'm looking at you, Modern Warfare 2. Black Ops was a step in the right direction, though- Victor Charlie represented the water in the level very well.

But then there was the final level where Mason and his badass compatriots could glide through the water like stingrays. Remember the bit where they swim to the surface? from the bottom of the sea? in a few seconds?

Alright, that part annoyed me too. Still, at least it didn't have them firing harpoon guns at Russian frogmen, right? Also, you still have to admit that Victor Charlie did it right.

 

[EllEzDee]

Assassin's Creed (The Acre assassination on the paranoid knight)

What was wrong with that? You got to jump across a bunch of water-post-things and boats. Looked really cool to me.

 

[Diligent]

I think most of this water level hate comes from ocarina of time, but I didn't mind the water temple at all.
What I did mind, and what I think brings on the hatred was having to cumbersomely flip into your menu to take those iron boots on and off a zillion fucking times. That constant flip from 3d game world to 2d menu really was jarring, and even more so back in the day when 3d was still pretty new, and we were all trying to get our bearings.

Also, Ecco the Dolphin was cool.

 

[EHKOS]

Bioshock I win.

 

[BabyRaptor]

Irony...I was just thinking about how I was going to skip a certain underwater quest in WoW because I hate it so much. Then I saw this thread.

I don't hate water in general...I LOVE the beach. I'd live there if I could. I just hate this quest.

 

[crudus]

Water levels typically add a dimension to the problem that is disliked. In Zelda it was a literal dimension, in Sonic it was lack of oxygen, and in Mario it was swimming was much harder to maneuver.

 

[teqrevisited]

The water levels that I've played that gave me the most trouble have been in Tomb Raider. The Cistern, Tomb of Tihocan, Wreck of the Maria Doria, 40 Fathoms and Offshore rig. Most have given me some degree of trouble over the years, but I like the atmosphere on them.

On the other hand, Chemical plant, Hydrocity and Aquatic Ruin I can breeze through.

 

[WorldCritic]

I like levels with water in them, I don't like when you have to swim in the water though. It gets annoying, usually controls badly, cameras are usually a ***** to control, plus I don't like swimming in real life so it fits.

 

[Ryujisama]

Water levels always equal time-consuming puzzles, especially in Zelda titles, and if there are time-consuming puzzles in the entire game, the ones in the water levels are more than likely able to piss you off the most.

 

[Saltyk]

Water level starts at 1:30


/shudders

Oh My God. That level was my kryptonite when I was a kid. I hated it. I could beat it with all four turtles alive, but they all had about 1 health left. I didn't last long after that...
Seriously, who designed games back then? That and the hover bikes in Battle Toads were terrible. It was like they wanted you to fail.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

The Exhumed water level was crazy hard. Plus Lara was never a precise swimmer. Those would be my reasons for disliking water levels.