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The Ten Greatest Fire Levels in Gaming History, Part 2

Posted by Peter Smith

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

Metroid Series — Norfair

As far as distinctive game worlds go, Metroid's is hard to beat. Brinstar, Norfair and Tourian are unforgettably tangible, subterranean realms as hostile as they are sprawling. Amazing how much atmosphere the designers squeezed into eight bits, aided by Hip Tanaka's hypnotic soundtrack and the almost fluorescent black of the NES palette. As the game's resident heat zone, Norfair is an odd one — a disorienting, uneasy melange of lava, rock, metal and a weird bubbly substance that continues to freak me out. In its Super Metroid incarnation, Norfair is more cohesive and arguably more of a true "fire level," but for my money, it loses some of the truly alien quality of its NES counterpart. — PS

Mega Man 2 — Heat Man

The early Mega Man titles' greatest strength was not their lightning-fast take on Mario-style platforming or the novelty of acquiring physical abilities from antagonists. It was their ability to create spaces that were at once fantastical as well as functional. These arenas weren't built to superficially house a challenge; they were made to do things in the world of 200X. Even more so than Mega Man's Fire Man stage, Heat Man's stage is a furnace, a kiln of umber brick and steel silver floors that conveys a literal sense of oppressive heat. Even the stage's disappearing platforms of orange brick glow and look hot to touch. The music and challenge of playing the actual stage only emphasize its physicality. — JC

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 3.

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Posted May 29 2008, 06:31 PM

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

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