Whatever happened to secret levels?

[Mackinator]

The Internet.

Why make one when someone will just post in the "cheats" section of a certain game site and just cause more bother to the lazy person than required?

 

[Kajt]

Games cost more and more to produce so the developers can't afford it?

Nah.

I do miss secret levels though.

 

[CudaSpawn]

Hmmm... wonder if Diablo 3 will have it's own Cow Level?

knowing Blizzard it will all of there games have Easter eggs in them i doubt that Diablo 3 will change that trend

 

[GeoPB]

Tbh, most secret levels were ever that great when you reached them, so they have probably just been phased out. I think that developers have replaced them with more easter eggs and stuff like that.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Secret levels? Levels became extremely taxing to create. Many games are still full of secrets though, Halo 3 for example.

 

[bjj hero]

There are no longer any secrets thanks to Gamefaqs and youtube. So why bother?

People seem to hunt glitches now instead.

 

[Nomad]

Not really, I just found an assault rifle in L4D in the toilets.

In a quite a few games actually things seem to be hidden in toilets.

I hope that games have swapped secret areas for toilets.

Want to see me type toilets again?

Toilets.

... I was actually craving one last "toilet" when I read your post, and was delighted to see you wrote it at the bottom.

 

[Psypherus]

Hmmm... wonder if Diablo 3 will have it's own Cow Level?

It better have a cow level

 

[Banter]

Instead of adding secret levels to the game at the start they now make you pay for them as DLC.


I miss secret areas because they make you feel special when you find them.

I also miss cheat codes like Goldeneye on the N64 that basically let you dick around to the extreme.


I guess they're just not the 'in' trend among game developers, who much rather make sloppy generic completely linear campaigns and a multiplayer to excuse the single player's short length, or they like to brag about how the game engine makes leaves fall from trees at an accurate rate.

 

[Ridonculous_Ninja]

Hmmm... wonder if Diablo 3 will have it's own Cow Level?

Of course it does, and I will find it.

It needs to be rabid Mongooses this time.

Or an equally silly/awesome animal.

 

[NotAPie]

I miss easter eggs and secrets...
*Screams at sky* WHHHHHHHHHHHY!!!???

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Personally I think people think they aren't worth the effort anymore and are more bothered with achievements/trophies now as they are kinda the new in thing instead of getting 103% for that secret level in Crash Bandicoot.

 

[Vriggchan]

video games have become mainstream. Back when secret levels were the big huge things, the companies were marketing their games to only gamers. Gamers love challenges, we love to think and find interesting things, hence secret levels and random other things in games, like some dudes name written on the ceiling of a certain room etc.

Now that video games have gone mainstream, they are marketing their games to the masses. since the masses are stupid and do not really care about the extra content there is no reason for the companies to create extra tid bits that make us all giggle with ubber amounts of joy like little school girls off to see the backstreet boys.

 

[LOOY]

I'm playing an FPS, why would I want to go looking for secrets?

 

[dl_wraith]

I can't believe some of the opinions expressed here. Reread your own posts and see if you sound like a rambling conspiracy nut or a flabberghasted teenybopper.

I will say that some comments are very plausible (example: Why put effort into a level that few will see) but I think in the majority of cases there is a very simple answer. This is simply time. Deadlines for games are so tight that devs can rarely put in everything they want, let alone sticking in extra stuff for us diligent gamers to try and find. This is why you see nice touches and little distractions around games rather than full-blown levels.

The last 'secret' levels I played were on Irem's fantastic R-Type Final. Fallout 3 does indeed have a lot of neat site quests and 'hidden' areas to find but I wouldn't call them secret.

For those of you thinking that DLC killed the secret level (payable levels replacing freebies? Perish the thought). I don't want to believe you and if I stick pins in my eyes this opinion won't be true

 

[ajb924]

My opinion? It's been dumbed down for players.

That's it. Everything has, everything in games has been dumbed down, this was just another victim

 

[Warrior Irme]

Hmmm... wonder if Diablo 3 will have it's own Cow Level?

knowing Blizzard it will all of there games have Easter eggs in them i doubt that Diablo 3 will change that trend

I loved the singing sheep from Warcraft 3. Blizzard has a bunch of silly things in all of their games.

 

[shwnbob]

Secret levels are a thing of the past easter eggs in games are new though.