Zones we hate

[SkyLlama]

Scrap Brain Zone: Act 3

Sure I hated Labyrinth Zone, but I dealt with it my first time through the game and thought I was done with water. Then what do you know? A huge FU from the game with what could be reasonably called Labyrinth Zone: Act 4.

Wacky Workbench

Are gimmicks good in a level? Sure, you need them, but Wacky Workbench takes it to a whole new level and has so many gimmicky thing it makes me want to quit the game at that point. Seriously, I hate this level.

 

[YeppersPeppers]

Labyrinth
I think it's been listen enough times in this thread. I'll just move on.

 

Wacky Workbench

This level is just...ugh...like...seriously?

"Damn, got shot up to a dead end by the floor again. Let me just make my way back down and...UP WE GO AGAIN! THIS IS ABSOLUTE SHIT!"

 

Sandopolis
It looks nice, and has a couple of neat gimmicks (rope swinging), but in the end, the level drags on too long for my liking.

[Johnny Boy]

Eggmanland. The design of that hell hole let's you know that Eggman really wanted Sonic dead this time.

[MegasonicZX]

Ah where to begin well for starters

 

Sonic 1: none so far but im gonna get to one (I can tell)

 

Sonic 2: oil ocean, that place confused me for a good chunk of my life and it was really the only thing keeping me from beating the game for awhile

 

Sonic 3: Marble garden zone and Launch base zone, its not that I have hard times on these two but I just don't like them

 

Sonic adventure: All is good in this game but only Big's stages makes me literally want to send my controller flying out the window, honestly even if im dying alot nothing in a game has ever made me want to throw my controller ever, except for these.

 

Sonic adventure 2: All of the ghost levels and some of the other levels for knuckles and rouge, these things are the main reason I can't even finish this game without someone watching me and kind of providing some moral support while im doing them.

 

Sonic heroes: none

 

Sonic colors: none

 

Sonic Unleashed Wii: Most of the werehog levels (though they wouldn't be so bad if they didn't have so many).

[-blank-]

I wrote a long-ass rant one time about why Labyrinth Zone in Sonic 1 is one of the worst levels in the entire series. Let me see if I can find it....

 

Ah, here it is;

 

The main issue for Labyrinth Zone I think comes from the fact that it is an underwater level. As everyone knows, Sonic cannot swim and therefore he has to travel through the water-logged parts of the level by walking. Slowly. Also, Sonic feels rather heavy when he jumps because of this. Yeah I know SEGA was trying to replicate water physics and the stage could have turned out alright....if it wasn’t as boring as all get out.

 

I’m serious, this is probably one of the dullest, if not the dullest classic stage out there. There is nothing cool or exciting about this zone at all. All it basically consists of is you walking slowly underwater for most of the time with some platforming and areas where you need to hit a switch to go further for good measure. That’s pretty much it. Heck, you’d think the fact that Sonic can’t swim would lend to a sense of urgency, and it does when you’ve been under water too long and this certain music suddenly starts playing that tells you to get the hell out of the water or grab an air bubble. Otherwise, meh, it’s a boring level.

 

And it can be a bitch to go through at times. First off you have Burrowbots popping out of the ground. And even though you can see their drill noses sticking out, they can still get you if you’re not careful. And you got those Orbinauts that shoot these balls from their bodies. Plus, there are a lot of spikes that jut out of the ground.

 

Though I do like those parts where you get to slide down a waterfall. That was pretty cool and I wish there were more things like that to give the stage at least some element of excitement. Heck, I don’t know about you but I can never remember what the music sounds like in this level, probably because of how dull the stage itself is. And the music is actually pretty good (that’s pretty much the only aspect of it I can remember off the top of my head)! It just doesn’t have that staying power the music of other zones possesses, like Green Hill or Spring Yard, or Starlight Zone.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Special Operative Blaire

[Tani Coyote]

Eggmanland. Dear god. Took me... 70 minutes on the first try? Shall forever haunt my nightmares. Nice music at least.

 

Skyscraper Scamper Night hits me hard because of the cheap Titan on the roof battle; if you're not careful he's going to knock you off the ledge quite a bit.

 

Aquatic Mine. Like the Water Temple but with 10x more frustration.

 

Whatever that pyramid level was in 06; lord knows the vast majority of time is rolling a ball down the hall as Silver more than anything substantial. That was just dumb.

[Semi-colon e]

Jungle Joyride Day is incredibly rough, it starts off fun but then the frame rate issues ruin almost all the aesthetics. Worse still, the controls are so slippery that it's easy to die and the water running sections force you to boost, only they put cheap insta-death shit in your way. The last 2D section is just horrendous if you don't do the QTEs and take the top route because the controls and the gaps between every platform make this not fun and the fact you still slide around after stomping (thank you Generations and Colours for making this not so) is aggravating.

 

I also don't like Metal Harbour. I fucking hate the rocket section because of the tendency to crash into the small pipes going up which brings you to a dead stop, and the only way to A rank it is to get up to the very top with the bad controls and camera. Additionally, the rest of the level is just so average and there's no level gimmicks until the rocket.

Edited March 19, 2013 by Semi-colon e

[canderson]

Of the 2D games, I'd probably go with Labyrinth Zone from the first game, mainly because it's mostly underwater, which leads to a slower paced level overall. I also found the level design pretty bland and is the least memorable compared to the other 5 stages. The zone itself, I never really struggled with, just plain boring. Oh and avoid playing the GBA version(Sonic Genesis) of this stage. The whole stage lags and it'll take you twice as long to complete Labyrinth Zone, even though that's more of the game's fault.

 

Of the 3D games, I have to go with Final Chase from Sonic Adventure 2, which is the winner for worst level design in the entire game. The gravity gimmicks were more of a nuisance and very uncooperative. Combine that with horrible enemy placements, it just leads to many cheap deaths. Give me an all grinding level like Final Rush over this trash.

 

I'd probably would include Eggmanland, due to only it's length, but I don't really have any issues otherwise.

Edited March 19, 2013 by canderson

[Dizcrybe]

Sandopolis Zone. It's the sole reason I haven't gotten around to beating S3&K yet.

[Shiro]

Let me put it this way. Spring stages in Sonic Colours.

This.

 

Sonic The Hedgehog - Spring Yard Zone

This zone is probably the most boring zone in the game. It just doesn't appeal to me at all.

Sonic 2 The Hedgehog - Wing Fortress Zone

This zone was difficult and tedious to play through. I really hated the platforms on side of the plane that opened and closed. Too many bottomless pits.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Sandopolis Zone

This zone overstays its welcome. If it wasn't so long, I wouldn't mind it. The boss on act 1 is horrible; you just let it commit suicide. The boss on act 2 is pretty neat, Eggman hiding inside the statue thing. The ghosts are annoying.

Sonic Heros - BINGO Highway Boss (Robot Carnival)

This was an extremely boring boss fight. All you did was attack badniks over and over.

Sonic Adventure - Big's Stages

Fishing? Really? It was boring and made no sense. This is the most boring gameplay ever.

Sonic Adventure 2 - Knuckles & Rogue's Stages

I didn't mind them as much in Sonic Adventure (mainly because all three of the radars worked at once) but they're extremely boring and tedious in SA2.

 

Sonic Rush - All

This was a game I just couldn't really get into. I think the fact it was a DS game didn't help it much. I didn't like the split screen effects AT ALL. It also seemed to attempt to combine elements in both the 2D and 3D Sonic Games, and this really didn't work for me.

 

Sonic The Hedgehog 2006 - Crisis City

I just don't like it. I don't like its return in Generations either.

 

Sonic Generations - Cris City & BOSS Time Eater

I've always hated crisis city. - All the characters talking to sonic during the Time Eater Boss Stage really annoyed me.

[Pylorian]

Labyrinth zone is the worst for me.

[Dizcrybe]

Gene Gadget in 3D Blast. Granted, the whole game was pretty crap, but Gene Gadget... just- who thought that was a good idea? Who looked at this level design, who play-tested the level and said, "Yep, this is what we wanna sell to our customers."? I remember there being this big slope, and if you didn't platform your way across perfectly, you'd fall down to a slide below and have to go all the way back. It. Is. Terrible.

[MamboCat]

Labyrinth Zone and therefore Scrap Brain Zone Act III is probably at the top of my 2D Zone hate list. They're just so slow and boring. Ugh.

 

I don't think I hate any of the levels in Sonic 2, S3&K or Sonic CD (I suck at the Special Stage of CD but I still like it)... in fact Sandopolis Zone is one of my favourite levels; sandworms (nice Dune references?!), abseiling, a pyramid rising out of the ground, stone and metal golems, evil ghosts... I love it! If you have to push me I'd say Knuckles' version of Hidden Palace is completely pointless and looks like something was cut out of it. :/

 

I don't like the Special Zone in the MD version of Sonic 3D Blast/Flickies' Island as I think compared to the rest of the game it looks cheap and nasty. :/

 

The entirety of Sonic 4 is an inferior homage to the game's predecessors so not much love there.

 

As for the 3D games, well I don't think I've played each of them enough to make a good assessment. My gut feelings are I don't like the casino level of SA much in terms of gameplay but I love all the little references in it. Likewise wandering around the jungle hub world can get a bit tedious. In SA2 I don't like any of the treasure hunting levels much compared to the rest. Sonic Heroes I feel is not as bad as some of the things I have heard about it might suggest... but the Chaotix levels are tedious! in Unleashed I dislike all the Night levels so far but I can grin and bear it. Generations so far is awesome but at least in the PC version I don't feel like I have full control of either Sonic. :/

[Tani Coyote]

Likewise wandering around the jungle hub world can get a bit tedious.

 

I started feeling a little pulse in my head as soon as I read this. I think the sheer force of the memory gave me a headache... because dear lord, that was horrible. Suddenly it's all flooding back to me, trying to find which way went where... Adventure fields are cool and all Sega but for the love of Enerjak remember to use a map!

[MamboCat]

I think the DX version has a map... but you have to pause the game to see it, it's not just there on the screen a la GTA or *gulp* Sonic 06. Also there's not many distinguishing features to tell where you are.

[Tani Coyote]

That reminds me. Soleanna as a whole was crap. The field was pretty darn big, and yet you couldn't see a larger version of the map. I spent countless amounts of time running around the place trying to find out where to go.

 

Then again with those obscene load times I presume they guessed you'd be able to memorise the larger map they show you during the loading sequence.

[-blank-]

How could I forget this?

Gamma's Final Egg in Sonic Adventure is the single most boring stage in the whole series. All you do is hold forward through a long corridor and mash the A button to shoot at badly manufactured plushies. That's it. There's no jumping. There's no bottomless pits or spikes. There's no wacky contraptions of Eggman's to offer the slightest bit of challenge, nothing.

Oh wait! There are a couple of robots... that you will probably shoot down before they even notice you. =|

[TunDiam!]

Sonic CD metal Sonic boss - StarDust speed way

Sonic Adventure - Twinkle Park

Sonic Unleashed - Shamar Night

 

Uhhh, I'm sure theres more but I'm too tired 

[MamboCat]

That reminds me. Soleanna as a whole was crap. The field was pretty darn big, and yet you couldn't see a larger version of the map. I spent countless amounts of time running around the place trying to find out where to go.

 

Then again with those obscene load times I presume they guessed you'd be able to memorise the larger map they show you during the loading sequence.

 

See I felt it was better to not even mention '06 as I felt it was a bit unfair to pick a level out of the mess! :/  Also I never finished the game as it wasn't my copy I played. I just know how terrible it is from other sources.

Edited March 20, 2013 by MamboCat

[Tani Coyote]

How could I forget this?

Gamma's Final Egg in Sonic Adventure is the single most boring stage in the whole series. All you do is hold forward through a long corridor and mash the A button to shoot at badly manufactured plushies. That's it. There's no jumping. There's no bottomless pits or spikes. There's no wacky contraptions of Eggman's to offer the slightest bit of challenge, nothing.

Oh wait! There are a couple of robots... that you will probably shoot down before they even notice you. =|

 

To be fair it is a tutorial stage, so they didn't want to throw too much at you... but yes, overall, it is fairly bland. I think that since the shooting mechanic was so new they just wanted to be sure players understood before they threw you into the hornet's nest.

 

...shame they never taught you Gamma will mass murder Chao if he tries to pet them, though.

 

See I felt it was better to not even mention '06 as I felt it was a bit unfair to pick a level out of the mess! :/  Also I never finished the game as it wasn't my copy I played. I just know how terrible it is from other sources.

 

You are truly blessed. XD

[ElectricAngel]

Sandopolis. Without a doubt, one of the longest levels in the classic Genesis titles. I cannot count how many times I got a time over when I first played Sonic 3 & Knuckles. 

[Dizcrybe]

Not sure if I said this already, but Lost Colony in Sonic Adventure 2 is an atrocious stage. First of all, it's a dark level, and the only way to light up the stage is to shoot enemies. After that, you're given a limited amount of time to get to the next room before it goes out again. After that, good luck trying to see where you're going. It's such a pain to make your way through this level in the dark, and... ugh. I just hate it.

[Frank Sinatra]

Almost every single Knuckles and Rouge treasure hunting stage in SA2.  

[LATER BUDDY]

I can't stand knuckles stages in SA2, ^^". Like all of them take me forever to beat when I wish I could just be running around with Sonic or Shadow, XD. I don't even mind playing as Tails or Eggman since the combos are fun, but the stages as Knuckles or Rogue are just boring, X3. Exspecially Meteor Herd and the other space one for Rogue D=.

 

For the older games I don't like Spring Yard Zone because it feels weird to me XP. The music and the way it looks with all the bumpers and stuff just doesn't feel right and should be more like Casino Night I think from Sonic 2. That's just me though ^_^"

 

-Blur

[Tani Coyote]

Not sure if I said this already, but Lost Colony in Sonic Adventure 2 is an atrocious stage. First of all, it's a dark level, and the only way to light up the stage is to shoot enemies. After that, you're given a limited amount of time to get to the next room before it goes out again. After that, good luck trying to see where you're going. It's such a pain to make your way through this level in the dark, and... ugh. I just hate it.

 

Even as a fan of SA2, I must say amen to this. They could have at least added a bit more contrast to the stage... instead of requiring you to adjust your TV to do that.

 

I know they wanted to go with the dark and spooky feel (I approve), but they could have still made it easier to see where you're going. Or meshed more brightly-lit areas in with the dark ones.

 

Seriously Shadow, was it so hard to turn on the lights?