Water Way to Go

The twelfth campaign mission in Call of Duty: Ghosts takes us to a weapons factory in the Atlantic Ocean. In order to gain access to the factory, you’ll first have to eliminate a heavily-fortified combat ship. It’s too dangerous to attack head-on, but a thermal exhaust port renders it vulnerable from 60 feet below the surface. Assuming the role of Sgt. Walker, players will strap on their scuba gear and descend into the deep. As you approach your target, you’ll swim through coral reefs and wrecked ships. The ocean floor is lined with damaged military equipment, and you’re looking to add one more ship to the graveyard. You’ll have to contend with enemy divers and avoid salvaging vessels during the mission, and you’ll also need to be weary of hungry sharks that can kill you with a single bite. After finally destroying your target with a man-operated torpedo, you’ll have to swim like a fish to avoid the falling debris. The mission itself is fairly straightforward, but the underwater view is a sight to behold.

One of the most distinctive areas in Dino Crisis 2 was a sunken energy facility. Everything looked and sounded different when you were under the water. The entire screen moved in a wavy pattern, the colors were subdued, and everything had an unsettling echo effect. Even the save music sounds different. You had to don a metal diving suit before you could explore the area, and the way you moved around under water was completely different than it was on the surface. (Your walking speed was reduced, but your jumping height was increased significantly thanks to the wonders of jet propulsion.) Of course, the best part about the facility was the presence of underwater dinosaurs. Monsasauruses could be taken out with a single aquagrenade, but they could appear from anywhere and would attack from all angles. Before leaving the facility, you had to escape from a massive plesiosaurus! The area isn’t very large and I would have liked to see more dinosaurs, but the underwater facility was completely unique.

Shadow of the Colossus is comprised almost entirely of boss fights. The battles are levels onto themselves, and figuring out how to defeat each colossus is like solving a puzzle. The seventh colossus you encounter (sometimes known as Hydrus), is the only one that resides under water. From the moment you see it, it’s apparent that it’s absolutely massive – even by colossus standards. The murky waters mask its true scale, however, and you don’t realize just how large it truly is until you jump into the lake alongside it. The monstrous creature looks like the bastard son of an electric eel and a catfish, but it’s the size of a whale and it sounds like one too. It protects itself with electrified spikes and repeatedly dives under water to defend itself from potential attacks. The only refuge you’ll find is on a patch of fur near its tail, and you’ll have to hold on for dear life whenever it dives beneath the surface. Hydrus is all-but-invincible when submerged, so you’ll need to act quickly whenever you’re given an opportunity to strike. You’ll be dragged around the lake during the battle and you’ll run the risk of being electrocuted in the process. To make matters worse, your horse provides absolutely no assistance!

Nathan Drake travels all around the world, and his adventures are not nearly as dry as his wit. The 15th chapter of Uncharted 3 takes place aboard a luxury cruise liner that’s caught in the middle of a storm. After pirates lure Nathan Drake into the cargo bay, he causes an explosion that blows a hole in the side of the ship! While Nate contends with the armed guards, water pours in from the sea as the ship begins to capsize. Everything that isn’t nailed down goes flying, and the walls become makeshift floors and ceilings. Nathan has to stay ahead of the rushing water as he makes his escape, and he’ll struggle to keep his head above water as he swims through dimly-lit rooms. The whole chapter is intentionally disorienting, and the sense of urgency never goes away. It’s hard to regain your bearings when you’re not sure which way is up. The whole point of the level is to avoid water, so it’s ironic for it to be included on this list. A lot of gamers would prefer to avoid water levels altogether, so it’s easy for us to relate to Nathan Drake’s struggle.

Super Metroid took place on the same planet as the first Metroid adventure, and it featured many of the same locations that the first game did. Maridia was one of the new areas introduced in the SNES sequel, and it presented an ocean of problems for Samus Aran. The watery confines were awash with killer crustaceans and fierce fish, and the aquatic landscape was riddled with punishing obstacles and devious traps. Samus was unable to swim through the area, but she could freely move around the hostile environment after she found the appropriate suit upgrade. Her swimming abilities (or lack thereof) are a moot point by the time she leaves the area, since she gains the ability to endlessly jump through the air. I was immediately drawn in by Maridia’s dark atmosphere, and the ominous background music accentuated the sense of isolation. It was clear from the very beginning that the area was different. (You reach most of the areas in the game via elevator, but you need to blast your way through an innocuous glass tunnel to explore Maridia.) The boss battle is creative too, and it proves once and for all that water and electricity don’t mix.

The seventh stage of Tomb Raider II begins with our favorite archaeologist hitching a ride on the exterior of a personal-sized submarine. After the dipshit driver notices he has a tag-along, he becomes distracted and crashes the sub! This leaves Lara stranded on the bottom of the ocean with no scuba gear. Hoping to find some air, she follows a trail of junk on the sea floor toward a sunken ship. She’s pursued by great white sharks along the way, so it’s fortunate that she has a harpoon gun at the ready. When she finally enters the wrecked ship, she has to swim through many corridors and interconnecting passageways. Each room has its own challenges, and she needs perfect timing to past a series of switches, doors, and burners. If nothing else, the underwater action was a nice change from the running and jumping mechanics that define the adventure. I was also rather fond of Lara’s wetsuit, and I’ll never get tired of her swimming animations. That girl’s legs were even more impressive than her lung capacity.

Jolly Roger’s Lagoon is a tourist resort that serves as the fourth world in Banjo-Tooie. When you first enter the level, you find an idyllic town located on a quiet lagoon. The water looks unassuming at first, but beneath the surface you’ll find a vast network of caves and an underwater city filled with ancient ruins. The sea bottom is populated by anemones, porcupine fish, giant octopodes, and electric eels. You’ll also venture into Davy Jones’ Locker to battle a self-important angler fish who has claimed the dark cavern for himself. Whether you’re reactivating a crashed UFO or swimming into the belly of a giant fish, there’s never a dull moment when you’re at the bottom of the sea. Not everyone is fond of Jolly Roger’s Lagoon, though. Some have suggested that the level is almost too big, and it can admittedly take a while to swim from place to place. There are ways to increase your swimming speed, however, and you also save time by using Kazooie like a remote-controlled torpedo! And did I mention you can transform into a submarine? Because you totally can!

Bubble Man’s stage was the first of many water-based levels in the Mega Man franchise, and it set the bar for subsequent games in the series. My biggest pet peeve about water levels is how they restrict your movement and slow you down. In Mega Man 2, however, your mobility actually increased when you were underwater. As a robot, Mega Man obviously doesn’t need to worry about breathing, so he can stay submerged for as long as he wants. He doesn’t need to swim either, since his buoyancy allows him to jump higher in the water than he can on land. The underwater jumping mechanics feel more natural than in most games. At the same time, the exaggerated physics makes the stage feel special. The increased jumping height came with a whole new set of challenges, of course, and Mega Man now had to be mindful of deadly spikes that lined the ceilings. I appreciated the creative play mechanics in Bubble Man’s stage, and I also loved all the robotic creatures you’d come across. From tiny shrimp to giant angler fish, the aquatic wildlife made the ocean feel alive. Robot Masters like Launch Octopus and Splash Woman owe a lot to Bubble Man.

“Coral Capers” is the fourth stage in Donkey Kong Country and the first to take place under water. It’s one of the shortest levels in the game and it doesn’t feature any hidden bonus areas, but it left an indelible impression despite its brevity. The coral reefs were picturesque and the wildlife was animated beautifully. The swimming controls were remarkably fluid as well, and the Kongs were surprisingly maneuverable. The level was packed with interesting aquatic enemies – ranging from giant clams to killer sharks – and the Kongs were also given an opportunity to make a new friend. It’s not everyday you see a gorilla riding on the back of a swordfish! You can’t talk about “Coral Capers” without mentioning the background music. After all, “Aquatic Ambiance” is one of the most iconic tracks in gaming history. Water levels have a tendency to be stressful and frustrating, but “Coral Capers” feels like a relaxing experience thanks to David Wise’s incredible musical score. There are water levels in the Donkey Kong Country series that are more complex and creative, but I’ll never forget how it felt swimming through “Coral Capers” for the first time.

Mario’s first foray into 3D came with one of the best-designed water levels in history. Jolly Roger Bay features sunken treasure chests, a submerged pirate ship, and a giant eel that can be lured out of his cave. Air bubbles will keep you breathing as you dive to the ocean floor, and you can find a hidden cavern by swimming through underwater tunnel near the bottom of the bay. Mario’s swimming speed is significantly slower than his running speed, but Jolly Roger Bay does several things to address this. You can increase your swimming speed by grabbing a koopa shell, Mario will sink faster after transforming into Metal Mario, and you can fly over half of the stage by firing yourself out of a cannon. The level was also filled with environmental details that made the bay feel alive, and schools of fish would actually disperse when Mario got to close. (Activision boasted about their advanced “fish AI” when Call of Duty: Ghosts was unveiled in 2013, but Nintendo had them beat by 17 years!) No discussion of Jolly Roger Bay would be complete without mentioning its dynamic background music. The volume would change when you went under water, and I loved the echo effects when you entered the cave. There are many enjoyable water levels in the Mario series, but none have topped the sense of wonder I had while swimming through Jolly Roger Bay.