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• The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History, Part 3

  The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker — Dragon Roost Cavern Generally speaking, I have as much disdain for the 3D Zelda games as I have love for their 2D predecessors. With some exceptions, they're tedious slogs of fetch questing, hand holding, and unskippable, unbearably patronizing prattle. ("You got a key! You can use it to open a door!") This subject tends to be a bone of contention between me and my esteemed colleague here at 61FPS, but one thing I have to concede to him is that the dungeon design in these games is usually pretty swell. For all of Wind Waker's faults, it has the virtue of being visually gorgeous, which is why its fire dungeon, Dragon Roost Cavern, beats out the dreary Fire Temple from Ocarina of Time. (Don't even get me started on Twilight Princess.) The dungeon's architecture and mood are admirably cohesive, too — you can almost feel the breezy air outside the volcano give way to a brutal dry heat within. And the boss is — no argument here — spectacular. You win this round, 3D Zelda. . . grumble, grumble. . . — PS Read More... Posted May 29 2008, 06:32 PM by Peter Smith with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, final fantasy, top ten, silent hill, list, zelda, final fantasy vi, axelay, ocarina of time, thunderforce iii, gradius ii, wind waker, twilight princess, the ten greatest fire levels in gaming history

• The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History, Part 2

  Resident Evil 2 — Raccoon City Streets Hideki Kamiya followed the logical zombie progression after Shinji Mikami's original Resident Evil, going from the '50s schlock of a haunted mansion/mad-scientist's lab combo and straight onto the '60s of Romero-urban-zombie-apocalypse. Kamiya's sequel also had a novel twist on the dual protagonists of the first by making two slightly different quests for the heroes Claire and Leon. You know how zombie apocalypses work, right? When survivors need to stick together to survive, you separate them immediately. Resident Evil 2 opens with a tanker truck of gasoline exploding in downtown Raccoon City, with Claire and Leon stuck on either side of the ensuing blaze. When you finally start guiding your poorly equipped, clean-cut cop or street-smart biker chick through the undead, you do it in flames. And, yes. The zombies are totally on fire too. — JC Read More... Posted May 29 2008, 06:31 PM by Peter Smith with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, metroid, super metroid, mega man 2, top ten, list, resident evil 2, the ten greatest fire levels in gaming history

• The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History, Part 1

  Videogame designers have found a great deal of inspiration in elemental dichotomies. Wood versus stone, wind versus lightning, ice versus fire — these natural conflicts are excellent bases for compelling environments and rich atmospheres. What better than tangible extremes like hot and cold to convey a sense of place to a player? To celebrate the imminent arrival of summer, 61 Frames Per Second is going hot with our first top-ten list, looking at the greatest fire levels in gaming history. If you're sweating, don't worry — we'll get to ice soon enough. — John Constantine Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts — Crucible of Flame Nobody would subject themselves to the brutally difficult Ghosts 'n Goblins series if the games didn't feature Capcom's usual immaculate production values. Dying a hundred times in Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts' third stage, the Crucible of Flame (and you will) is made marginally more bearable by the brooding music (forever seared in my brain after a misspent youth) and the characteristically idiosyncratic twist on the usual "fire level" theme: instead of a generic inferno, the Crucible of Flame finds you in some kind of metallurgical hell. The stage has a lot of character; as fire levels go, it's more of an oozing, molten nightmare than a pyrotechnic fun fair. (In fact, some would say there's nothing fun about it.) A word of warning: it only gets worse from here. — Peter Smith Read More... Posted May 29 2008, 06:30 PM by Peter Smith with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, top ten, list, f-zero, ghosts 'n goblins, the ten greatest fire levels in gaming history, castlevania 3, rondo of blood, castlevania 2, dracula x, castlevania 1, super ghouls 'n ghosts