Why does everyone hate the Sewer Levels?

[brenflood]

Pretty much every comedic reviewer I watch seems to have a passionate hatred for sewer levels in games.
Yahtzee says to designers of Silent Hill 5 in his recent review, "Thought you could slip a quick sewer level past us and no one would notice, did ya lads?"
Armake21 often mentions how certain levels looks very much like a sewer level.
SpoonyOne in his review for sewer shark says something about how the game's title is a bad sign because the worst level in every game is the sewer level.
I'm pretty sure the AVGN has mentioned something about sewer levels too at one point or another.

Where are these awful sewer levels? Was there some game that would have been perfect were it not for some god awful sewer level?
I'm sure I've played games with sewer levels, but none of them stood out to me as particularly bad. If the game was bad, it was bad. If the game was good, it was good.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Half life ant lion caves sucked the fun out off the middle part of episode 2.
There was one in xmen legends that just dragged on and on.
Library in halo 1 (repeat hallways) though the combat was fun
Chronicles of Riddick Pitch freaking black
Basicly people hate them because they are usually dark, boring(very linear/repetative) developers just use them to prolong a game its usually repeat textures/set pieces etc.
And for some reason they are usually filled with annoying enemies (hordes of them)

 

[crimson5pheonix]

They're also in games where they thematically shouldn't be, like Lost Kingdoms. It was an action RPG card game set in a pre-medival fantasy world... with a sewer level.

 

[maxusy3k]

My first sewer level was in Jurassic Park on the Amiga.

THREE DAYS to clear that *****.

Seriously though I think the problem is that a sewer level is a big sign of phoning it in on level design. I mean, it is a sewer, you don't / can't really spend much time on interesting decor or whatever because it is just walls and a tunnel. You could have maybe water here and there but that is about as interesting as it would get. Doing a level in, say, an office building means desks, chairs, windows, carpet all kinds of stuff to add to the authenticity.

A sewer is just a tunnel and most of the time it is there just as filler. Need to get a character / story from A to B but not sure how, or can't think of an interesting environment to go through on the way? Into the sewer, boyos.

 

[milomalo]

for me at least in silent hill 5 they are justified and the knowledge that something its gonna eat my face if i low my guard made the level scarier not scarier than the "hell" level but scarier than the street where i can "run" away from the monsters

 

[Demir23]

Like everyone else has said, it's not that there's necessarily wrong with a sewer level, it's just been over done. We would just like to see some originality in our games is all.

 

[mooncalf]

Deus Ex, Hitman, Grim Fandango, Land Of The Dead, Half Life, VtM:Bloodlines, Morrowind & Oblivion, Call of Cthulhu, Beneath A Steel Sky, Enter The Matrix, S.T.A.L.K.E.R...

Interesting Sewer = Not A Sewer, Authentic Sewer = Not Interesting.

They're an idea which has again and again made people go "meh", but because nobody really HATES them, game designers keep putting them in for an A-To-B.

 

[Amnestic]

Sewers are easy to design, same-y looking the whole way through and generally aren't stimulating to be around. They're not meant to be, they're sewers. Equally however they're boring to play through generally. I played through the Oblivion sewer once, realised I'd have to do that every time I wanted a new character and thought "fuck that" and went off in search of a New Starting Area mod.

its usually repeat textures/set pieces

^ That's why I dislike sewer levels ^

 

[Vaynes]

I played through the Oblivion sewer once, realised I'd have to do that every time I wanted a new character and thought "fuck that" and went off in search of a New Starting Area mod.

Or you could have just saved your game at the doorway out of the sewer, you know the bit, where you can change all of your stats, class, appearance etc.

 

[Amnestic]

I played through the Oblivion sewer once, realised I'd have to do that every time I wanted a new character and thought "fuck that" and went off in search of a New Starting Area mod.

Or you could have just saved your game at the doorway out of the sewer, you know the bit, where you can change all of your stats, class, appearance etc.

Well...

Yeah. I could have done. But then I wouldn't get a nice new mod where I start on a boat would I? It gave you the option to start off with different equipment and more/less gold too via a selection of choices, which was pretty sweet.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I hate sewer levels for the same reason I hate train stations: It's just a way for developers to use low-poly textures, repeat them over and over, and get away with calling it a "level." A while ago I was playing through the obscure title Project Snowblind (a cyberpunk FPS) and discovered a high-poly sewer-looking area. I was all set to urinate on the disk when, lo and behold, the sewer section ended after about 200 feet. THIS, and I'll say it again, THIS is how you do sewer levels. If you're going to stick one in, give the sewer some decent lighting effects and texture work, then have it END VERY SOON.

Unfortunately for my Project Snowblind disc, there was a proper sewer level later on... It still had good lighting and texture work, though, so it wasn't too much of a pain. And the main character had a "cyberpunk vision" thingy that made enemies light up in pitch darkness, which in turn made me feel like a Predator stalking hapless security guards...

In short, Snowblind at least knows how to do a sewer level.

 

[insectoid]

Sewer levels are boring because they offer little variation for the environment, and are often used by the developers as obscenely long game-extenders as well as usually being incredibly repetitive. I'm sure there are games where it has been done right, but generally it just doesn't work.

 

[MurderousToaster]

It just gets repetitive. It seems to be where the level designers can't be bothered any more. And when it happens on Half-Life 2, I get really annoyed. A skilled Hammer-user can create a decent level in less than an hour, but instead, they go for Ye Olde Sewere Levele, the fly in your ointment, the shit on your otherwise perfect kneecap!

 

[SunoffaBeach]

Diablo II
has an excellent sewer level.

 

[mark_n_b]

The over done sentiment has been stated.

Another reason folks are down on sewer levels is because good game design and the sewer level do not usually go hand in hand. Straight hallways connecting rooms, this is uncreative level design but it is also hard to create a believable sewer that is anything but.

Add to that the difficulty with creating interesting environments in the sewer setting (another thing that's been mentioned) and you have something for folks to complain about.

Yes there are exceptions to this rule, but you'll have an easier time making a case for other settings.

I also would have liked to seen this posted on some other day than the one in which it appeared in ZP, it is hard to buy the "everyone is down on" argument when it is something that was discussed on one of the escapist's more popular video features mere hours ago. I personally haven't noticed any excess in the hate towards sewer levels in my perusal of these forums or the internet in general.

 

[huntedannoyed]

Sewer levels are way too linear with an emphasis on maze solving. If you never take your right hand off of the wall, you will solve the maze every single time.

But for gamers, the cheese isn't at the end of the maze, it is in the corner that is five minutes out of your way. Which makes me feel like they give the sewer levels to the new designer so that he could not screw it up to badly.