Overworlds

So let's talk a little bit about overworlds.

What are overworlds??

Overworlds (in the gaming sense) are basically a hub area where you travel from level to level and in some/most cases discover secrets and other hidden shit.

Why would this be important??

Well... to be completely honest they really aren't all that important when all is said and done, but I would argue that they serve as a way for both developers and players to access levels in a structured manner. Not only can you as a player get a fairly decent grip on where levels are located, but it also gives you a sort of little relaxation moment between levels.

Does every game have overworlds??

Not by any means. If you're talking about platform games then, yes and no... most of them usually have some sort of overworld (especially the older titles) but some of them skip them all together. If we're talking about shooters then... no... I've yet to see a shooter game with a true overworld (this goes without saying... but keep in mind that I've not played EVERY single game out there).

Alright, alright, enough with all the nitty gritty definition crap! How about some examples??

You're right, I suppose the easiest way to try and explain what I'm talking about is to give you some examples.

Super Mario 64

Princess Peach's Castle

Psychonauts

Psychic Summer Camp

Banjo-Kazooie

Gruntilda's Lair & Spiral Mountain

(Keep in mind that Gruntilda's Lair is indeed fuckin' HUGE which means that it's hard to show it all in terms of pictures without smacking in 50 - 100 pictures, so I'd recommend you play it for yourself in order to get a sense of how huge it is)

Now, these are only three overworlds and there are tons I left out, because this is not "That time when a Blogger smacked his post full of pictures worth an entire novel" post and most of you are probably gonna blame me for being unoriginal and naming and posting the same goddamn overworlds others already have posted... yup... but these hold a very personal place in my biased-nostalgic heart.

Why are you bringing this up??

Well... it's because games nowadays seems to either be completely linear or it's all about huge open world games. Some might argue that games with open worlds which have mission icons that you travel to in order to start the mission, a'la Far Cry 3 or Assassin's Creed 2 and forward, serve as an overworld and to be honest, I see what these people mean and I understand where they're coming from, but it's not a true overworld. Yes, the same basic ideas are there, you run around, do (/shot) shit, find other shit, grab some collectibles, get to the mission marker and go on the mission... with that structure, I'd call that a "modern-spiritual-successor overworld" since you go to the briefing and then do the mission on the same map as the "overworld"... you know??

The overworld structure I'm talking about is that of the ones mentioned above, the fact that yes, you find shit, do shit, collect shit, but the major difference being that you travel to a level from the overworld that has it's own separate world with it's own separate vibe, music, theme and so on. I mean, if you've played anyone of the ones above, say Super Mario 64, remember the first time you walked into the castle, how the soothing music kicked in? You probably walked and looked around, tried alot of doors which told you to GTFO because you didn't have enough stars. Then you find the one door that doesn't require any stars and as such, you enter the door. You are then greeted with a painting of some Bob-Ombs, so you look at it thinking for yourself "What the fuck!? Where's the fucking level!?" and then walk up to it and touch it, because there really isn't any other option than that, to which you see some ripples forming on the painting. So the natural response is to try and jump towards it and lo and behold, you go through it and are greeted with the first level (which mind you is a battlefield)... WHEN THE LAST TIME YOU SAW SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN NEWER TITLES!!!???

So... that's it... I just wanted to get that off my chest... -.-"

Before I end this post I would just like to put a little "disclaimer" here: I do NOT think that because of reasons above that any and all newer titles are shit, I do NOT insinuate that only older games are worth playing solely because of the reasons above, I'm NOT going to argue your own opinion on this matter and trying to convince you that what I've said above are the complete absolute truth.

Feel free to comment and discuss about what your favourite overworlds were and how wrong, biased and nostalgia-blind I am for what I've written above :)

Remember to stay awesome, TAG signing out!