Up until yesterday, the worst level of any game I’ve played was “Who Turned Out The Light?” in Earthworm Jim. The title gives a hint as to what it’s about. Imagine a 2D scroller. Now imagine a 2D scroller set in pitch darkness. It was every bit as bad as you would imagine it would be.
As of yesterday, I now have a new standard for Worst Game Level Ever: the fourth level of the fifth chapter of Painkiller.
It’s better known as Hell.
It’s been deemed memorable by others and I will concede it is indeed that. It’s memorable in a “just-ripped-out-your-toenails” or “accidentally-formatted-your-HDD” way.
“Not pleasant” is the message I’m trying to convey.
I’ll not give away nitty-gritty details of what it’s all about but if you’re really curious, there’s a Youtube video showing someone completing it in less than 4 minutes. I, on the other hand, took four sessions to beat the Ultimate Bad Guy and complete the level. At the end, I felt no delight or even satisfaction. Just relief that it was finally over.
My mood did not improve when I later checked a FAQ and discovered I had actually killed the final boss … accidentally.
I can appreciate why the designer(s) would want to put the player off-balance by changing the rules a little. After all, FPS are simple games and after 23 levels, a player would be sufficiently adept at running and gunning that designers are left with only two choices when it comes to providing a stiff challenge: ramp up the hitpoints and offensive power of foes or unsettling the player by tweaking the environ or the rules.
The Hell level should be made the textbook definition of “unsettling the player.” I was left floundering around with little idea of what I had to do to beat the UBG; this wasn’t challenging, just annoying.
What a poor way to end what was otherwise an entertaining shooter.
(More screenshots after the break.)
