- 5 minutes ago
Speedrunning isn't just for the experts! Psy White presents 10 video game levels that anyone can get through in SECONDS thanks to a sneaky trick or two.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00The advent of speedrunners has been an incredible thing to behold.
00:03Most hardcore speedruns are a dedication to practice and mastery of a certain game,
00:08but that doesn't mean your average gamer can't have a bit of fun too.
00:11The levels on this list all have simple tricks and exploits that really any gamer can pull off,
00:16because I'm Cy for WhatCulture.com,
00:18and these are 10 video game levels you didn't realise can be beaten in seconds.
00:23Number 10, Courier, The World Is Not Enough.
00:26Courier is the first mission of The World Is Not Enough,
00:28and it's not particularly challenging in the grand scheme of things,
00:31but if you simply can't be bothered with it,
00:33then you can get in and out in no time at all,
00:35specifically on the Nintendo 64 version.
00:38Set in a Swiss bank, the way this mission is supposed to go
00:41is that you collect Bond's equipment from a sneakily delivered safety deposit box,
00:45get past security, and then wind up in a shootout
00:47where you must escape the building without killing civilians.
00:50However, players discovered a neat trick that reduces this mission to a mere 20 seconds.
00:55If Bond activates the security alarm himself,
00:58they'll fire a button on the wall,
00:59the game registers the mission as a failure and the player needs to get out.
01:03However, as long as they grab their equipment and don't kill any civilians on the way,
01:07then the world is not enough, simply doesn't know what's going on.
01:10You technically, upon exiting the level, fulfilled all of your objectives,
01:14since the fail state stopped the game from giving you any more.
01:17Thus, you'll move straight on to the next stage.
01:19Mr Bond has places to be and martinis to drink,
01:22doesn't have time for this needless shootout, thank you.
01:24Number 9, Scrap Brain Zone, Act 3, Sonic the Hedgehog.
01:28It's a pretty universally held opinion that Labyrinth Zone is the worst stage in the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
01:34Not only is it long, winding, and rather slow because of the water,
01:37the level is remembered for the deadly drowning music, which is nightmare fuel in itself.
01:42To make matters worse, almost like a sick joke,
01:45Act 3 of Final Stage, Scrap Brain Zone is a recoloured return to Labyrinth due to time constraints during production.
01:51However, thankfully, there is a trick that makes it much, much easier.
01:55Whilst players might throw their hands into the sky in disbelief at being back in such a dreaded area,
02:00it's important to get moving right away when the level begins.
02:03In front of Sonic is a bridge descending down a slope.
02:06Move too slow and you'll simply skate across it and continue the stage.
02:09However, if you can get in front of it, then you can bypass almost the entire thing.
02:14At the bottom of this slope is basically the last 60 seconds of the level,
02:17a simple run past some enemies and a few obstacles to freedom and the final boss of the game.
02:23It's almost like Sonic Team knew that people didn't want to go through another round of slow motion hedgehog water
02:28torture
02:28and put in the shortcut as an apology.
02:31Hiya, sorry, I'd read first. My bad.
02:32If you're a gamer, you probably know that the digital modern world comes with its fair share of risks.
02:37And that's where Surfshark VPN comes in clutch.
02:40With their reliable service, you can ensure that your online activity remains secure,
02:44protecting you against any potential threats trying to scalp your data,
02:47and also ensuring that your sessions remain private,
02:49with IP privacy and even the ability to remove your data from websites directly storing it.
02:53It also lets you keep enjoying your favourite content no matter where you are in the world.
02:57Meaning you don't have to miss out on the new episode of That Show You Love
03:00when you're on a holiday somewhere that isn't shown it yet.
03:02The UK. I'm talking about the UK.
03:04Everything gets here so late.
03:06Surfshark is currently running an incredible offer on their two-year subscriptions,
03:10where until the 1st of June, you can get an 87% discount on Surfshark's two-year subscriptions,
03:15three months extra for free, and an Amazon gift card worth up to $30.
03:18If you want to grab this for yourself before it expires,
03:20just follow the link in the description or scan the QR code on screen.
03:24I don't know where it is, because I didn't edit this ad read.
03:26I just hosted it.
03:28Number 8. Mission 5. Alien Isolation.
03:31Creative Assembly's Alien Isolation is quite rightfully lauded as a great survival horror game,
03:35and a title that treats the Alien franchise with respect.
03:39Mission 5 sees the player trapped inside a medical bay,
03:41searching for a password so they can move on to the next area.
03:44The crucial moment comes when finding this code and leaving,
03:47which prompts the Xenomorph to slump down in front of them.
03:50It's a memorable moment, and causes a pretty unanimous reaction amongst players
03:54that rhymes with splitting your plants.
03:56At this stage, players know that they must move stealthily and very slowly throughout the war
04:00to get out, as being caught by the alien is insta-death.
04:04You can't necessarily skip the whole mission,
04:05but large parts of it can be made a lot quicker if you know what you're doing.
04:09Instead of staring in fear, simply race to the locked door whilst the scripted alien entrance
04:13is playing out, and you won't have to worry about trying to avoid it in this area.
04:18An added bonus, tossing a flare at the floor where the alien will come out of the vent,
04:22grants you another 30 seconds of time to sprint like your life depends on it,
04:25because it does, to get you even closer to the end of the mission unharmed.
04:30Number 7, Test Chamber 14, Portal.
04:33Portal is a game that, after blowing first-time players' minds with its physics-based brilliance,
04:37keeps people coming back for more to play with its toybox of ideas.
04:41After all, the game does have a series of challenges that ask players to beat certain chambers
04:45with the least number of portals, least steps, and as quick as possible,
04:49and some fans figured out some pretty nifty ways to blitz through a lot of them.
04:53Test Chamber 14, which would usually take at least several minutes,
04:56can be beaten in a dozen seconds.
04:59The stage starts with the exit in sight.
05:01The most simple strategy involves shooting a portal directly under the exit and in front of you.
05:05Jumping between the two, you simply need to shoot a portal on a nearby wall or the ceiling
05:10and use momentum to guide you.
05:12This is a trick the game teaches you itself,
05:13but you can use it here to essentially skip this entire test chamber
05:17and avoid using the stage's gimmicks and hearing GLaDOS's sass.
05:21Naturally, a dozen seconds is too much for the most hardcore of speedrunners
05:24and the current world record for the chamber sits at a head-spinning two seconds.
05:28That's not thinking with portals, that's making portals your bitch.
05:32Number 6, Kang and Kodo strike back.
05:34The Simpsons Hit and Run.
05:36Hit and Run is a beloved title that sees the cast of The Simpsons
05:39trying their own take on the GTA-style open city,
05:42What fans didn't completely adore, however,
05:44was the final race of Mission 6, Kang and Kodo strike back.
05:48Here, you must beat the one-eyed aliens to the Duff Brewery,
05:51which is particularly hard since they crammed themselves into a chase sedan,
05:54one of the best vehicles in the game.
05:56However, you can avoid the challenge to this,
05:58as well as finish the race in about a minute,
06:00when you realise that there is a second, quicker route to the brewery
06:03that Kang and Kodo aren't aware of.
06:05Instead of following your opponents, who start in front of you,
06:08hang a left immediately,
06:09and you can jump the broken bridge and follow the highway.
06:12Even if you aren't looking to beat the competition as fast as possible,
06:15and simply want to clear this hard mission,
06:16then this is certainly the way.
06:18Furthermore, due to hardware limitations,
06:20the game will only load chunks of the map at a time,
06:23meaning when you get far enough away from Kang and Kodo,
06:25they'll fall into the void as parts of Springfield despawn.
06:29Eat my dust and my shorts.
06:31Number 5, A Long Day in Dunwall.
06:33Dishonored 2.
06:34This 2016 sequel takes the player choice of the first Dishonored
06:37and amps it up,
06:38allowing gamers to traverse its locations
06:40and fulfil its missions in a myriad of ways.
06:43Expert players can get through some stages in just a few minutes as is,
06:47but this neat little trick will drastically reduce the time it takes
06:50to beat Dishonored 2's A Long Day in Dunwall,
06:52as well as its complexity.
06:54This first stage of the game kicks off in Dunwall Tower,
06:57but the real challenge comes as the player makes their escape.
06:59There is a series of streets between them and their goal,
07:02littered with guards.
07:03If you're playing sneakily,
07:04getting past them is your first real test of patience.
07:07If you're being more aggressive,
07:08then it's a matter of eliminating them all before they can get you.
07:11As you leave the tower,
07:12you're invited to find your own way to the docks,
07:15with most players heading through some buildings through the ground below.
07:17However, there is an overhead rail line that runs across the area.
07:21It's really not that hard to climb on top of a moving carriage
07:23and ride it out to the end of the line,
07:25next to your destination,
07:27skipping the entire section.
07:29It's quite literally the fast train to victory.
07:314. We've Got Hostiles, Half-Life
07:34The Half-Life level We've Got Hostiles is a major difficulty jump in the game,
07:38and it's possible that players may want to give the whole level a miss,
07:41which they can absolutely do.
07:43The stage starts with a particularly panicked scientist
07:45who pleads with a soldier behind a security door
07:48to open the locked silo shutters.
07:50When the marine is murdered in front of him,
07:52he freaks out and runs down the corridor and is caught in an explosion.
07:55It might seem quaint now,
07:57but this was in-engine storytelling at its best at the time.
08:00The thing is, though, the scientist shouldn't have panicked at all,
08:02as players will find out if they can stop him from his pre-planned fate.
08:06By either mashing the interact button,
08:08or even shooting him just once,
08:09you can stop him in his tracks.
08:11Leading him to the security door,
08:12it'll turn out he has clearance for it.
08:14Inside is the button for the silo shutter,
08:17saving you from doing a whole loop of the facility
08:19and letting you move right along.
08:21Panicking in the face of mortal danger
08:22will make a person do some crazy things,
08:24but you have to wonder how this scientist got his doctorate
08:27if he forgot he could open a simple door by himself.
08:30Number 3, Case 5-2, The Getaway, Dead Rising 2.
08:33The first two Dead Rising games are set to a strict time limit
08:36and it's up to players to do as much as they can
08:38before it ticks away completely.
08:40As such, knowing a few tricks is always a good idea.
08:43Case 5-2 of Dead Rising 2 takes place about two-thirds of the way into the game
08:47and is essentially just a kind of boss fight.
08:50The gimmick here is that protagonist Chuck
08:51has struck antagonist TK's helicopter with a crane
08:54and the player must carefully wince it in
08:56so that it's in range
08:57and then pelt it with whatever objects are lying around.
08:59Any thrown item will do
09:01as the general idea is to break the rotor blades.
09:04Herein lies the oversight.
09:06The toy spitball gun is one of many joke weapons in the series
09:09designed to entertain rather than actually deal out damage.
09:12This brightly coloured plastic rifle
09:14is wholly ineffectual throughout the entire game
09:16except this one moment
09:18as its soft and useless bullets
09:20aren't coded as projectiles
09:21but as thrown items.
09:23As such, with the range of the weapon
09:25Chuck can stand back
09:26and just fire this toy gun at the helicopter
09:28to take it down in much shorter order.
09:30Not only does this make speeding through the game easier
09:33it's also hilarious to embarrass TK in such a way.
09:362. Security Hall
09:38Sonic Adventure 2
09:39It's not just 2D Sonic games
09:41where you've gotta go fast.
09:42Sonic Adventure 2 has a variety of playstyles
09:44but the need for speed is unshakable for Sonic fans
09:47whether they admit it or not.
09:49As such, this entry concerns a level
09:51not for the traditionally superfast Sonic and Shadow
09:53but instead the treasure hunter Rouge the Bat.
09:56This debuting villain like Sonic's pal Knuckles
09:58uses a hot and cold mechanic
10:00to search small sandbox levels
10:02for randomly placed MacGuffins
10:03grabbing three to complete each mission.
10:06However, they each have an ability
10:07that makes things easier.
10:09Spiral Upper and Screwkick
10:10are offensive skills
10:11that also draw in items that are close by
10:13which can be used to great effect in Security Hall.
10:17Here the three Chaos Emeralds you need
10:19can be in numerous locations
10:21including in large safes.
10:23Locating the right safe
10:24flying to the switches to open it
10:25and then flying back is arduous
10:27especially if you have to do this more than once.
10:29Simply using a screw kick next to the door
10:32will draw your objective out towards you
10:34out through the safe.
10:35Some security.
10:36This was patched for the GameCube release onwards
10:39which sucks because Security Hall
10:40is one of the more needlessly long-winded stages otherwise.
10:44At number one,
10:45Thames Wharf,
10:46Tomb Raider 3.
10:47Even the most casual players
10:48of Lara Croft's original PlayStation adventures
10:50should remember exploring her home Croft Manor.
10:53However, instead of cruelly locking
10:55Winston the Butler in the freezer
10:56you probably should have paid more attention
10:58to the jumping tutorials
10:59as they really come into play
11:01if you want to get great at the games
11:02and maybe even abuse them a little.
11:04The fourth stage of Tomb Raider 3
11:06takes Lara to London
11:07and starts with Thames Wharf
11:09which is well known among fans for its glitches.
11:11Lara begins on a rooftop
11:13and if played properly
11:14this 30 plus minute level
11:16sees our heroine clamber down
11:17and across buildings
11:18and eventually into some tricky underground passages
11:21with challenging platforming puzzles.
11:23However,
11:23if you know how to utilise Lara's acrobatics
11:26you can skip the entire shebang
11:27with speedrunners bringing the record for this level
11:30down to a mind-boggling 20 seconds.
11:32Simply ignore the intended direction,
11:34vault Lara from the rooftop
11:36onto a neighbouring crane
11:37over to another roof
11:38and through a building's awnings
11:39and hey presto.
11:40The guard who waits for you by the checkpoint
11:42definitely didn't see this coming
11:43his shift only just started.
11:45One has to wager
11:46that the employee at Core Design
11:47who was responsible
11:48for putting boundaries
11:49and invisible walls in
11:50got a real chewing out after this.
Comments