Back To School Special – 5 School
Levels in Video Games
Oh, it’s that time again! No
longer can you get up at the crack of noon
with nothing on your mind but what game you’ll play first. It’s time for that
all-important formal education interruption to begin again.
To
help make school seem more fun, let’s look at school levels from video games. I
noticed that among the school levels in games, quite a few are meant to be terrifying.
Are the developers trying to play off of our school-related fears or was it
just a cool setting? Either way, the result is usually entertaining. Sound the
bell, school’s in sucka!
“Library” from Rainbow
Six: Vegas – Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Terrorists must really like
to read, because the Rainbow Six team gets called in to clear the baddies out
of a Las VegasUniversity library. While this may sound
dull, it’s actually one of the finest Rainbow
Six maps ever created. You have to remember that libraries are a lot more
exciting when rappelling and terrorist hunting are involved.
You’ll start outside the library on the street with
complete tactical freedom as to how you want to enter the building. You could
go right in the front door or maybe climb up the back of the building and crash
through the windows on the top floor. You might not be surprised to find that
once you get inside, the terrorists aren’t reading books at all; they’re trying
to kill you! Don’t forget to check the bathroom once you get inside. But
please, BE QUIET! It is a library, ya
know!
“Wade Elementary” from F.E.A.R. 2 – Xbox 360, PS3, PC
I recently fought through
this incredible level. Another game by the same developers, Condemned: Criminal Origins, had a
pretty good school level, but it doesn’t match the intensity of F.E.A.R. 2’s.
Even the first room of this school is chilling. Rather
than just being an abandoned building, you can see this was recently occupied
and some very bad stuff went on. Tables and little blue chairs are flipped over
around the room and there’s a bookshelf blocking the door. As you continue your
search, strange things start to happen. Furniture will slide down the hall as
your flashlight flickers and locker doors flap open and closed. To top it all
off, you’ll randomly see the image of a now-dead little girl during some of
these moments. It’s really quite an unforgettable experience…especially when
you’re playing in the dark…at 2 a.m…alone!
“School II” from Tony
Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – DC, PS1, PC, N64
Back when Tony Hawk games
were just about (duh) skating, it was rebellious enough just to be skating in a
spot you knew you shouldn’t be. The “School” level from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was so popular, a revised “School II”
appeared in the sequel.
You can ride around doing tricks and increasing your
score, but the more goal-oriented can look for hidden items. You could collect
all of the hall passes or smash the school bells while watching out for the
golf cart security guard. To make up for the fact that you’re not in class, you
can even spell out the word “SKATE” one letter at a time. Learning is fun!
“Midwich Elementary” from Silent Hill – PS1
Another creepy school level
from a while back, Silent Hill puts
you on the search for your lost daughter. You wind up at a very disturbing
school along the way. You’ll run around looking for items and solving puzzles,
but it’s the creatures you’re faced with along the way that makes this school a
not-so-safe place to be.
There are toddler-sized translucent figures that hang
around shadowy parts of the school. They won’t harm you, but they’ll definitely
make you feel uneasy. The real nuisances in this school are the giggling knife
children (yikes!). These child-sized figures slink around the hallways and
bathrooms until they spot you. Then they’ll come after you at a haunting pace.
You’ll hear their psychotic laugh if one manages to get close enough to strike.
Once the enemy is down, don’t forget to perform the trademark Silent Hill final stomp just to make
sure they won’t get back up!
“Santa Destroy High School “ from No More Heroes – Wii
Not every Wii game has the
word “Party” in the title or ends with a “z.” Heck, some of them even have
blood! If you own a Wii and think it’s all ponies and mini-game collections,
think again. No More Heroes is an
awesomely weird game with lots of blood and even some dismemberment. You play
as Travis Touchdown on a quest to eliminate the top 10 assassins as ranked by
the UAA (or United Assassins Association, of course).
Eventually,
you find yourself fighting through a school to get to the next assassin on your
list. After slicing through non-descript thugs with your beam katana, one of
them gets the wise idea to trigger the sprinkler system. This water combined
with your beam katana make for a shocking (ha!) combination. Your only choice
is to run through the halls as fast as you can while continuously getting
electrocuted until you can turn the sprinklers off. That’s just the tip of the
weird iceberg with this game!
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