Post: The Role of Elevators in Gaming
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04-20-2009, 06:09 AM
#1
Cobra-D
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Originally posted by another user
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Popularized in the 19th century, the elevator is widely regarded as one of human society's better inventions. While convenient, elevators have received their fair share of criticism. Most of them are just plain boring; an annoying experience if crowded; and not one good thing was ever said about "elevator music." And yet videogames have been using them on and off for decades in a variety of ways -- some practical, most tragically realistic. And we'd like to show you what we mean with several case studies of elevators in games.
The Elevator as a Loading Mask
Loading is a necessary evil in many games; that much is true. But do developers really have to cover it up by putting us in the most boring spots? Waiting for the fun is still waiting, no matter how it's dressed.
Mass Effect
The new classic example of elevator pissery -- Mass Effect took things to a new level (har har) with elevators in the Citadel hub area that take forever to get to your desired floor, just so you can speak to some knob who knows little about your investigation-of-the-moment. And you can't even move; you're forced to watch your characters standing, staring blankly at the wall, waiting. How can this make any sense in the far future where space travel is the norm and everything else in society is as fast as it is comfortable? Evidently, even in the year 2183, government buildings are the same soul-sucking wastes of time they are now.
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Mirror's Edge
In Mass Effect's defense, it's not a game with a high level of action. Mirror's Edge, on the other hand, prides itself on thrill-a-minute progression as our hero Faith leaps across rooftops and dashes through buildings to escape her enemies. Every chapter is high-adrenaline, with Eurobeats pumping through the speakers, but then there are those "la-dee-da" moments as you enter an elevator or step onto some other lift and wait for the next section to load. And Faith tends to go through office buildings often, so how come the bad guys just don't learn to visit every floor and hit the call buttons?
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Portal
While not exactly a loading mask (you get an obvious "LOADING" message in the middle), Portal does feature a elevator that you have to enter before reaching the next level/test chamber. Sure, it's not the best way to break up the action, but even in the game world, it's not the most painful thing -- after running and climbing through elaborate right-angled rooms and confusing yourself with Escher-like portal traveling, a brief, relaxing elevator ride is pretty much what any hardworking test subject could want. Valve really did think of everything.
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The Elevator as an Annoying Level
Nothing's worse than an elevator you're stuck in, unless there also hapens to be a constant stream of thugs, ninjas, clowns, or dwarf versions of all three coming in from the sides who want to beat you up.
Final Fight
To be honest, this is less about Final Fight and more about beat-em-up games in general. How many of these damn things have elevator levels, anyway? Streets of Rage: elevator level; Streets of Rage 2: big platform-elevator level; Turtles in Time: an elevator on the last stage, just to make you groan one last time. But Final Fight is indicative of the entire problem: there's really nothing special about its fourth stage, except that you're moving up. You still have to beat up endless waves of flamboyantly-dressed dullards, and at the end face a boss, Rolento, who really wouldn't be so tough if it weren't for his precious grenades, and all he really does is bound around the screen and hang out near the ceiling. You don't need an elevator for that, and it might be safer without.
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Halo 2
Although it's a great game, Halo 2 "needed" an elevator or two as well. Take the Cairo Station level, the last leg of which features a diagonal "cargo elevator" -- the most dreaded elevator type in games, because they never move more than two miles per hour, and that's about how long you have to stay on them before you see real action again. Before you even get on, you have to shoot down a wave of flying Covenant drones, then turn the elevator on, and wait for the platform to come up so that you can shoot more Covenant, who were waiting for you to send the elevator up in the first place. Once the enemies are gone, you have to send the elevator back down, which is another three-minute wait. At least it's not as tortuous as Halo 1's Library.
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Half-Life
On the second half of the first level of the original Half-Life, things take a turn for the predictable. Oh look, a cargo elevator to ride. And, oh dear, the smallest, most annoying enemies in the game start flying in from above once you get on. I never saw this coming. At least in Halo 2, it's not so easy to die, but here, you can risk focusing your attention on the headcrabs so much that you may well just slip off the edge and take a nice, long tumble down to the bottom of the shaft. And it's always going to be a long tumble, because the platform moves so slowly. You could just find a way to exploit the environment and safely slide down by hugging the wall, but then you'd have to jump out of the sludge below. Either way, it's less than enjoyable.
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The Elevator as Nothing Special
As we've seen, some elevators are needless, some are fraught with danger, but others are just... elevators.
Metal Gear Solid
Whether it's at Shadow Moses, Big Shell, Groznyj Grad, or Shadow Moses again, elevators in the Metal Gear Solid series are fitting, functional, and practically devoid of fun. Yeah, there's a cargo elevator sequence in the first MGS, and Snake is ambushed inside one, but they were both easy, if not uneventful little sections. How very odd that the elevator is the most normal piece of technology in a series that features huge walking robots, optical camoflauge, and sentient supercomputers that run the global economy... for starters.
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Metroid
Like Mass Effect, the transport tubes on Metroid's planet Zebes are a little too long for their own good. Plus, Metroid is an old cartridge game, so nothing needs to be pre-loaded. Still, the lifts aren't really offensive -- they're just sort of there, and serve their purpose. And to be honest, they can be a little bit exciting when you're going to a new area. We sure could have used one in the escape after destroying Mother Brain, though.
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Elevator Action
Yes, "Elevator" is in the title, and the use of them is an intrinsic element of the game, but it's not specifically good or bad. All the violence usually happens outside the elevators, when you're shooting bad guys, or engulfing them in flames if you're playing Elevator Action Returns. Sure, you can get crushed by one, and that sucks, but they're just doing their jobs -- the elevators don't start sparking and turn into fireballs, killing anyone that gets within an inch of their path of death. Though, man, that would be so much cooler.
You must login or register to view this content.
Popularized in the 19th century, the elevator is widely regarded as one of human society's better inventions. While convenient, elevators have received their fair share of criticism. Most of them are just plain boring; an annoying experience if crowded; and not one good thing was ever said about "elevator music." And yet videogames have been using them on and off for decades in a variety of ways -- some practical, most tragically realistic. And we'd like to show you what we mean with several case studies of elevators in games.
The Elevator as a Loading Mask
Loading is a necessary evil in many games; that much is true. But do developers really have to cover it up by putting us in the most boring spots? Waiting for the fun is still waiting, no matter how it's dressed.
Mass Effect
The new classic example of elevator pissery -- Mass Effect took things to a new level (har har) with elevators in the Citadel hub area that take forever to get to your desired floor, just so you can speak to some knob who knows little about your investigation-of-the-moment. And you can't even move; you're forced to watch your characters standing, staring blankly at the wall, waiting. How can this make any sense in the far future where space travel is the norm and everything else in society is as fast as it is comfortable? Evidently, even in the year 2183, government buildings are the same soul-sucking wastes of time they are now.
You must login or register to view this content.
Mirror's Edge
In Mass Effect's defense, it's not a game with a high level of action. Mirror's Edge, on the other hand, prides itself on thrill-a-minute progression as our hero Faith leaps across rooftops and dashes through buildings to escape her enemies. Every chapter is high-adrenaline, with Eurobeats pumping through the speakers, but then there are those "la-dee-da" moments as you enter an elevator or step onto some other lift and wait for the next section to load. And Faith tends to go through office buildings often, so how come the bad guys just don't learn to visit every floor and hit the call buttons?
You must login or register to view this content.
Portal
While not exactly a loading mask (you get an obvious "LOADING" message in the middle), Portal does feature a elevator that you have to enter before reaching the next level/test chamber. Sure, it's not the best way to break up the action, but even in the game world, it's not the most painful thing -- after running and climbing through elaborate right-angled rooms and confusing yourself with Escher-like portal traveling, a brief, relaxing elevator ride is pretty much what any hardworking test subject could want. Valve really did think of everything.
You must login or register to view this content.
The Elevator as an Annoying Level
Nothing's worse than an elevator you're stuck in, unless there also hapens to be a constant stream of thugs, ninjas, clowns, or dwarf versions of all three coming in from the sides who want to beat you up.
Final Fight
To be honest, this is less about Final Fight and more about beat-em-up games in general. How many of these damn things have elevator levels, anyway? Streets of Rage: elevator level; Streets of Rage 2: big platform-elevator level; Turtles in Time: an elevator on the last stage, just to make you groan one last time. But Final Fight is indicative of the entire problem: there's really nothing special about its fourth stage, except that you're moving up. You still have to beat up endless waves of flamboyantly-dressed dullards, and at the end face a boss, Rolento, who really wouldn't be so tough if it weren't for his precious grenades, and all he really does is bound around the screen and hang out near the ceiling. You don't need an elevator for that, and it might be safer without.
You must login or register to view this content.
Halo 2
Although it's a great game, Halo 2 "needed" an elevator or two as well. Take the Cairo Station level, the last leg of which features a diagonal "cargo elevator" -- the most dreaded elevator type in games, because they never move more than two miles per hour, and that's about how long you have to stay on them before you see real action again. Before you even get on, you have to shoot down a wave of flying Covenant drones, then turn the elevator on, and wait for the platform to come up so that you can shoot more Covenant, who were waiting for you to send the elevator up in the first place. Once the enemies are gone, you have to send the elevator back down, which is another three-minute wait. At least it's not as tortuous as Halo 1's Library.
You must login or register to view this content.
Half-Life
On the second half of the first level of the original Half-Life, things take a turn for the predictable. Oh look, a cargo elevator to ride. And, oh dear, the smallest, most annoying enemies in the game start flying in from above once you get on. I never saw this coming. At least in Halo 2, it's not so easy to die, but here, you can risk focusing your attention on the headcrabs so much that you may well just slip off the edge and take a nice, long tumble down to the bottom of the shaft. And it's always going to be a long tumble, because the platform moves so slowly. You could just find a way to exploit the environment and safely slide down by hugging the wall, but then you'd have to jump out of the sludge below. Either way, it's less than enjoyable.
You must login or register to view this content.
The Elevator as Nothing Special
As we've seen, some elevators are needless, some are fraught with danger, but others are just... elevators.
Metal Gear Solid
Whether it's at Shadow Moses, Big Shell, Groznyj Grad, or Shadow Moses again, elevators in the Metal Gear Solid series are fitting, functional, and practically devoid of fun. Yeah, there's a cargo elevator sequence in the first MGS, and Snake is ambushed inside one, but they were both easy, if not uneventful little sections. How very odd that the elevator is the most normal piece of technology in a series that features huge walking robots, optical camoflauge, and sentient supercomputers that run the global economy... for starters.
You must login or register to view this content.
Metroid
Like Mass Effect, the transport tubes on Metroid's planet Zebes are a little too long for their own good. Plus, Metroid is an old cartridge game, so nothing needs to be pre-loaded. Still, the lifts aren't really offensive -- they're just sort of there, and serve their purpose. And to be honest, they can be a little bit exciting when you're going to a new area. We sure could have used one in the escape after destroying Mother Brain, though.
You must login or register to view this content.
Elevator Action
Yes, "Elevator" is in the title, and the use of them is an intrinsic element of the game, but it's not specifically good or bad. All the violence usually happens outside the elevators, when you're shooting bad guys, or engulfing them in flames if you're playing Elevator Action Returns. Sure, you can get crushed by one, and that sucks, but they're just doing their jobs -- the elevators don't start sparking and turn into fireballs, killing anyone that gets within an inch of their path of death. Though, man, that would be so much cooler.
You must login or register to view this content.
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