Grey Corridors

[Steven]

Does anyone find that (most, not all) linear FPS games have far too many grey corridors or too much of the colour grey in general? It's just depressing; murdering people in a grey corridor. Why can't they be in locations like the ones in Battlefield 1942 and the like? I'm not saying "Linear FPS games where you fight in a location that is mainly grey is terrible." I'm saying that they could be much more enjoyable if they took place somewhere else. It's also unrealistic, I don't think I've ever been in a place filled with grey corridors.

 

[Shakermaker]

Does anyone find that linear FPS games have far too many grey corridors or too much of the colour grey in general? It's just depressing; murdering people in a grey corridor. Why can't they be in locations like the ones in Battlefield 1942 and the like? I'm not saying "Linear FPS games where you fight in a location that is mainly grey is terrible." I'm saying that they could be much more enjoyable if they took place somewhere else. It's also unrealistic, I don't think I've ever been in a place filled with grey corridors.

Have a look in the Armed Assault thread for some lush outdoor environments. Not all FPS's are like Quake ....

 

[clarky003]

Armed assault will own, and operation flashpoint 2 will own my cat!.. that I dont even have!

 

[VictimOfScience]

Try Far Cry--That should add some life to your color palette.

 

[Ren.182]

Armed assault looks awesome. I remember the good old days when i used to play OFP with no textures on the ground because my graphics card sucked
I'll keep an eye on that.

Yeah, Far Cry has some really beautiful levels and some very vibrant colours.

 

[Steven]

Thanks for the reccomendations, that Armed Assult game looks awesome! Apart from the ocean.

 

[Ren.182]

Apart from the ocean.

Lol, I'm sure thats a placeholder until they get round to developing it. I very much doubt they'd leave it like that.

 

[Jintor]

Halo in particular tends to repeat the same architecture over... and over... and over...

 

[Danimal]

... And over... And over.

 

[Pi Mu Rho]

My corridors are green. That should be a pleasant change for you.

 

[Jintor]

Half the Halo levels are other levels, backwards. Or constist of repeating rooms. Or repeating corridors. Or worse, repeating corridor rooms backwards.

Actually, I seem to remember two levels in Halo 1 being each other backwards. Except one had flood and one didn't.

 

[bliink]

I like the grey ones.. a blank canvas, ready for decoration with brilliant crimson red!

(maybe a little too psychotic there..)

 

[Sulkdodds]

Half the Halo levels are other levels, backwards. Or constist of repeating rooms. Or repeating corridors. Or worse, repeating corridor rooms backwards.

The point of Halo is the combat and split-second tactics, not the environment. The focus of your attention is the AI trying to kill you and not the backdrop, which is just that - a backdrop.

 

[<RJMC>]

The point of Halo is the combat and split-second tactics, not the environment. The focus of your attention is the AI trying to kill you and not the backdrop, which is just that - a backdrop.

halofanboy:"NO CUZ HALO RUELZ AND KICK YOUR ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!111 AND XBOX RUELZ AND USA RUELZ!!!!!!1"
*post pic of usa flag*

 

[kupocake]

Does anyone find that (most, not all) linear FPS games have far too many grey corridors or too much of the colour grey in general?

Grey is the new Brown. Unfortuantly, grey has the unlucky destinction of being the natural colour of many common building materials. I'd even argue that back in Half-Life 1's day, Grey was actually some kind of groundbreaking choice because it captured the mundanity of real-life places you could riddle with bullet holes. Now it's a kind of widely used "urban texture goes here" placeholder that people forget to replace with something more interesting. Like texturing's answer to warehouses full of crates.

 

[Asknoone]

The point of Halo is the combat and split-second tactics, not the environment. The focus of your attention is the AI trying to kill you and not the backdrop, which is just that - a backdrop.

I don't quite think that excuses the fact that the enviroments are rubbish.

 

[Sulkdodds]

They're not, though.

Silent cartographer! Silent cartographer!

 

[kupocake]

They're not, though.

Silent cartographer! Silent cartographer!

1 of 10 ain't bad... oh wait, it is

 

[Sulkdodds]

Alright, and the first level is cool, and the second is really good, and the first half of the third, and the fourth and outdoor bits of fifth (which is most of it), the jungle parts of six are awsome, seven is alright but not brilliant, eight is rather cool even though it's just five backwards but I think it works quite well with the flood and the chaos and the night-time and alternative routes via banshees and all, nine is quite fun and the Maw is super-duper especially the Reactor and the Spine when you're in the warthog. Cartographer was just the best example; it's a brilliant design as can be seen from the fact that MINERVA steals it for Metastasis (steal from the best and all).

 

[Asknoone]

Silent Cartographer was superb. But Bungue simply couldn't hold it.

... you honestly didn't notice that you were playing the same missions backwards? Perhaps you were asleep.

A Repeatative Synopsis of how repeatatively repeatative Halo's Repeatative Level "Design" is Repeatatively Repeatative.

1. The Pillar of Autumn: Fairly interesting and well designed spaceship.

2. Halo: Interesting outdoors level where you get to try out the vehicles.

3. Truth and Reconciliation: dull "attack the enemy starship" mission, marred even more by the fact that every corridor in said ship looks the same: it's the same shape with few distingushing details, and it looks like it belongs in a Matel accessories catalogue.

4. The Silent Cartographer: Interesting beach assault level. Requires you to fight you way out again though, stretching the game out for a little bit longer.

5. Assault on the Control Room. Minus Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V level design, this level is about half as long as you actually play through. Experience the joy of walking into the same segmented, two level, vaguely circular room over and over again.

6. 343 Guilty Spark: Fight into a facilitiy and err... out again. Looks dull and similar to most places you've already been, only, the flood get released and you must fight them. Though they suck 40 times more than the Fruit Pastells you were already fighting. Oh, and you have to fight your way back out again... or do you? it's really hard to tell in a level that looks so samey.

7. The Library: In the immortal words of Dom Jolley: "HELLO? YEAH, I'M THE LIBRARY! NO, IT'S CRAP!". Argueably the single worst level in FPS history since UEDNewbMapper#1270 said "Lo, I shall subtract a cube and fill it with all manner of bounteous things. Like 40 redeemers and a single player start. It's at this point that even if you haven't been getting the feeling that the game should be subtitled: "Halo: Combat Repeated", you really should be. The same two or three rooms, repeated ad Nauseaum with little variation in their spawning patterns. Filth.

8. Two Betrayals: Minus Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V level design, this level is about half as long as you actually play through. Experience the joy of walking into the same segmented, two level, vaguely circular room over and... wait a minute... this is just Mission 4, except we start in the map room and go the opposite way? "Don't follow the arrows kid, they point the way you went last time."

9. Keyes: Eww... it's that shitty shinny starship level all over again with the order of the corridors mixed up a little. You end up in the same place anyway. Ingenious.

10. It's Mission 1 again! To be fair, on the basis that Mission 1 didn't suck in the first place (whereas 3 and 4 were absolute arse chocolate), I'm actually enjoying this level somewhat. That said, it is just Mission 1 backwards, starting from the escape pod hatches, going to the bridge. Major new bit on the end. Shame the game just ends there, because it was in danger of actually getting good.

In summary, Halo 1 is actually only half a game, flipped, rotated, reversed copied and pasted to give you the other half. Shame most of the stuff they copied and pasted was the crap stuff in the first place...


Actually, Pu is working on a game. Anyone in the industry has a right to be annoyed at how much acclaim such a run off the mill game got from the gaming press. And how is it Ironic at all? I guess it just feels nice to use that words once in a while

 

[kupocake]

Tying to find a specific post by me on the subject of Halo is pretty much like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It's the ultimate irony really. I've subconciously been copying and pasting the same anti-Halo sentiment in every single thread that's been remotely related to Halo since I joined a year ago

 

[Sulkdodds]

Yeah, I saw it. Still, I'd say that not only is some of that unnecessarily scathing especially since the environments aren't exactly the focus, but also that the game's extremely fun. You'll notice I use that word a lot below. Because it's true. It's a good story and there are a lot of wonderful set-pieces - and yes, the monotony of some levels does grate at points - particularly The Flood, The Library and Keyes. But this isn't as important when the core and the focus of the game, the combat, is so good. In fact, I felt the grind of it all actually added to the experience because in Library and Keyes you really got the feeling you were struggling through an endless horde and it was such a relief when you got to the end of it. Especially on the harded difficulty modes.

It is sometimes overrated but I think PC Gamer got it spot on (90%).

2. Halo: Interesting/really fun outdoors level where you get to try out the vehicles and also rescue people = squad-based fun. Also incorporates defence section and a little freedom in where to go when.

3. Truth and Reconciliation: fun "attack the enemy in canyons" mission the segues into a dull "attack the enemy starship" mission - but dull is a relative term really, what with all the lasers and shit flying around.

4. The Silent Cartographer: Incredibly good beach landing level with opening set-piece. Varied gameplay from corridor strafing to warthog assault

5. Assault on the Control Room. Minus Ctrl+C + Ctrl+V level design, this level is about half as long as you actually play through. Experience the joy of walking into the same segmented, two level, vaguely circular room over and over again. Then experience joy as you drive a tank through snowy canyons, assault a pyramid, etc.

6. 343 Guilty Spark: Fight into a facilitiy and err... out again. Looks dull and similar to most places you've already been, until you flee through the swamp with flood all around. Which is fun.

7. The Library: Hell with it, it's quite fun. And the architecture is impressive in its scale at points, even if you do end up getting mighty bored of it.

8. Two Betrayals: This is 5 repeated but rather different - at night, in total chaos as the Covenant clash with the flood, flying a banshee around and ROBOTS. Wait, honestly, why is this a bad thing?

10. It's super awesome. Rather eerie and atmospheric at the beginning then as you go back through areas you've already seen but completely wrecked/full of enemies. You also visit areas you didn't in the first level, and then there's an amazingly cool reactor sequence where the sound is dulled somewhat with a very melancholy tune over it (games need more of this using slow, cool music over certain types of action). Also warthogs. And explosions.

 

[kupocake]

Yeah, I saw it. Still, I'd say that not only is some of that unnecessarily scathing especially since the environments aren't exactly the focus, but also that the game's extremely fun.

The trouble is, that everything else about it struck me as deeply mediocre as well

Edit:

In fact, I felt the grind of it all actually added to the experience because in Library and Keyes you really got the feeling you were struggling through an endless horde and it was such a relief when you got to the end of it. Especially on the harded difficulty modes.

Sounds almost like the classic Penny-Arcade excuse to me, which I'll inevitably plug right about.... ... .. ... .. here

 

[Sulkdodds]

I guess it's one of those 'agree to disagree' situations. I liked the gameplay, with the shield-recharge-retreat dynamic and grenade system, the meaty weapons and the lovely vehicles, the AI support and the intense battles that often gave me the feeling I was just hanging on by the edge, just managing to avoid getting blown up, improvising on a moment-to-moment basis (I got a similiar feeling at points during HL and HL2 - that split-second flight-and-fight panic where you're spraying bullets and sprinting/ducking for cover in equal measure. And I didn't find that repetitive-ness detracted from the experience, and I found both the Flood and the Covenant fun to fight - the Covenant because they were an enjoyable mix of clever (oh shit flanked lol) and stupid (rargh! I am angry! I shall now run at you) and the Flood because there were just so damn many of them, all trying to squish me up against a wall. Certainly the game would have been a lot better if it had been made darker, more interesting, less 'diluted' in terms of design (if you see what I mean) - but I found the Flood nasty enough to make my attempts not to get flood-ed a good experience.

Also Keyes was disturbing.

 

[kupocake]

Bungie just needed more time. All this talk of Repetition is more of an attack at the unexplainably good reviews of the time than Bungie, who were just plain pushed into a corner and told "you have a few months. Make a good game. We'll get the handjob department to give you the reviews you need to sell the game". I get worked up not because I hate Halo, but because it had massive potential and it frustrates me to only glimpse it under the rushed crap that we clearly got. Frankly, I need a new hobby

Edit: whether my "hobby" is simply Halo bashing or whether it is "taking the slightest opportunity to halo bash in any mildly related thread" is open for debate. Everyone should get back to discussing connecting hallways of the dull and grey kind.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Well there's always Far Cry. If that's not an antidote to grey corridor syndrome I don't know what is. Although admittedly another 'marmite' game (ie, you either love it or you hate it).

 

[kupocake]

Well there's always Far Cry. If that's not an antidote to grey corridor syndrome I don't know what is. Although admittedly another 'marmite' game (ie, you either love it or you hate it).

Far Cry pretty much does away with Corridors all together. It's no coincidence that bits where there are corridors (especially grey ones ), tend to be the least interesting IMO. The best bits in Far Cry are outdoor locations. Well, except the volcanic crater. I've never found a section so difficult that i've had to prop open a door with a chair so that I can get back to the armory...

 

[Sulkdodds]

What I <3 about that game is how...well, if someone says 'Jungle Island!' to you, you think beach, thick forest, rocks, blue sea - you think of the first, the third and the fourth levels. But once that's exhausted it does a whole load of interesting stuff with the 'jungle' setting. I was about to write a short list of amazing levels in Far Cry within this post, but I soon hit a snag - I realised that short of a few indoor levels there were none that I didn't think were utterly amazing. But the Mutant Jurassic Park and the chaos/Lighthouse level have to be highlights. HOLY TEMPLE/RIVERBOAT/VOLCANO/JUNGLE SURVIVAL WITH AN M4 WITH ONLY TEN BULLETS/NIGHT-TIME SNEAKING/HUGE EXPANSIVE ARCHIPELIGO BATMAN! HOLY FREEDOM/CHAOS/ESCAPING FROM CRAZY SITUATIONS BY THE SKIN OF YOUR TEETH/DRIVING JEEPS THROUGH FIVE HUNDRED ENEMIES/IMPROVISATION ON THE SPOT DIVE OFF A CLIFF/OH SHIT HELICOPTER/PARAGLIDER/TRUCK/ZODIAC/ACTUAL AWESOME JUNGLE-BASED FPS STEALTH THAT ACTUALLY WORKS BATMAN!

EDIT:See, words (or at least lower-case letters) can't express just how much I love Far Cry.

 

[JNightshade]

Finally, someone else willing to fellate Crytek collectively with me. For that game... it rocks my world.

 

[Asknoone]

Far Cry was great. Bit too long though, and horrifyingly bad in the story sector.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't quite think that excuses the fact that the enviroments are rubbish.

I loved Assault the Control room. But Halo 2 does have crap level design for the most part.

 

[Apocalypse89]

The giant Halo ring rivals HL2's Citadel for the "coolest skybox object ever in an FPS" award.

 

[JNightshade]

I don't know how they compare, but they are both very cool indeed... although that ring was just a texture, not an actual model. Still I liked Halo a good deal.

Halo = good
Far Cry = the shit
HL2 = OMGR0X

 

[Jintor]

The point of Halo is the combat and split-second tactics, not the environment. The focus of your attention is the AI trying to kill you and not the backdrop, which is just that - a backdrop.

True, but I do think the environment is important when the only way to tell where you are is the trail of bodies. Rather like breadcrumbs.

/EDIT would you mind horribly if I started a new thread to argue about Halo on? It's a topic I actually know something about.

 

[Steven]

I did play Halo's one and two I did, I hated it, it was so un manly most of the guns have this laser sound that doesn’t give you that "I'M GANNA PWN YOU ALL!" feeling and what I was fighting was a bunch of little midgets that would run away with there tails between there legs if I shot my phaser. The physics also sucked if someone died they'd always die in the same exact way, there's no rag doll physics like in Half-Life 2.

I have no idea how Halo is better then Half-Life in some peoples minds, ****ing incredible.

"OMG WHAT ABOUT THE AK4756EBBQ AKA N00BINATOR, THAT GUN PWND!" I probably got sick of the game before I got that gun.

Does Battlefield 2 have good landscapes? I really want to get this game when I have my ADSL connection.

I do realise I am pointing out the worst things about Halo and not the whole game.

 

[ríomhaire]

Halo is very different to HL2 in that on the hardest difficulty(which I always take as the true difficulty of the game) you are about as strong as your enemies(the elites) and weaker in some cases. In HL2 Gordon can pwn loads of cops with brawn alone. I realy liked the weapons system, 2 guns only, bullets not great on shields, plasma not great on skin. If you knew what you were doing you can completly own the enemy and you get satisfaction from it but if you try to assault rifle an elite from long range you're screwed. There was one thing I hated in Halo though, you could flip a tank with your bare hands but iy took 2 smacks over the head with a rocket launcher to kill a grunt.

 

[Jintor]

Yeah, the difficulty levels in Halo - they got that right.