Worst maps in a video game?

So I recently got around to picking up Fable 3. I heard Brad complaints on the bombcast about how the game handles menus and the map and I have to say this game has one of the worst maps I have ever been unfortunate enough to rely on. It makes no sense why Lionhead did this and it is frustrating as hell. So I ask you giantbomb people, what are some of the worst maps you have seen in a game?

I thought you meant "maps" as in "multiplayer maps." As for your actual question, nothing really springs to mind. Thief: Deadly Shadows, maybe?

It's not bad, but it took me a long time to understand the Fallout 3/Skyrim style of horizontal map at the top of the screen...

I played The Witcher 2 some months ago and I thought its map was garbage.

Fable 3's map was ass.

I loathe the shitty maps in Battlefield 3. The map itself is fine, but they throw a shitty layer of future-y looking shit on top that makes it 100% worse.

Dungeon Lords. Back when I played it shortly after release it DIDN'T HAVE ONE. Imagine Skyrim without a map and gras about as tall and trees everywhere, enjoy.

@wjb said:

I played The Witcher 2 some months ago and I thought its map was garbage.

I agree with this, I tended to get lost more often trying to follow the map than by just winging it. By the end of the game I'd stopped using it entirely.

Blistering Sands

@Fallen189 said:

Blistering Sands

Check the OP again, this isnt about multiplayer levels but about the actual navigation maps :)

Yeah I could see how there is confusion here. If only we could edit thread titles.

I'm just going to pretend you meant multiplayer maps and say Wasteland in Modern Warfare 2

Deadly Premonition had a pretty bad world map. Actually, it was pretty decent, it just did not let you zoom out nearly enough.

The Legend of Zelda.

It's just a gray block with a green dot on it.

I thought The Old Republic's was pretty terrible, because it was nearly impossible to navigate layers coherently.

@BBAlpert said:

Deadly Premonition had a pretty bad world map. Actually, it was pretty decent, it just did not let you zoom out nearly enough.

It also rotated so it was impossible to know where you were relative to direction.

Morrowinds world was amazing but the map was pretty useless.

@Nottle said:

@BBAlpert said:

Deadly Premonition had a pretty bad world map. Actually, it was pretty decent, it just did not let you zoom out nearly enough.

It also rotated so it was impossible to know where you were relative to direction.

Yup, this is what I came in here to say as well. There was a lot I could forgive about Deadly Premonition because of its wonderfully bizarre story and cast of characters, but that map was such a bloody nuisance to navigate with. Would love if the improved PS3 version will have a better optimised map, if it'll ever come about that is. Kinda worried about the continued silence surrounding the port =X

Worst? I dont know but darkest of days had the best map.

Any map where there's a slow moving cursor, and if you want to move the camera you need to move the slow moving cursor to the very edge of the screen.

While not the worst thing ever, the 3D map in Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight was kinda lame. Thankfully had a decent 2D overlay.

@Guided_By_Tigers said:

I'm just going to pretend you meant multiplayer maps and say Wasteland in Modern Warfare 2

I came in to say exactly the same thing. My lord, that was a terrible map.

My lordy lord, I just realised how much MW2 I played, ugh.

@Yummylee said:

@Nottle said:

@BBAlpert said:

Deadly Premonition had a pretty bad world map. Actually, it was pretty decent, it just did not let you zoom out nearly enough.

It also rotated so it was impossible to know where you were relative to direction.

Yup, this is what I came in here to say as well. There was a lot I could forgive about Deadly Premonition because of its wonderfully bizarre story and cast of characters, but that map was such a bloody nuisance to navigate with. Would love if the improved PS3 version will have a better optimised map, if it'll ever come about that is. Kinda worried about the continued silence surrounding the port =X

Ugh, that map was the worst! When I was in the last few chapters of the game I got the hang of it. On my second play through I already had memorized the roads!

I didn't really like Deus Ex:HR's map system.

Borderlands

I fucking hated how it looked like you could get to the same place going multiple ways, but nope, either there was an invisible wall or a chest high piece of corrugated metal you can't jump over.

I hated the pathologic map, was annoying.

I mean it eventually became a plot point so whatever, but it was still annoying :(

Any relatively modern Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. There's two things that both those series have in common. 1. Crappy melee combat and 2. Horrible way points on either the compass or regular map.

I concur with Fable 3, as well as Deadly Premonition(though that's only from seeing it in the ER). Those both were just shameful.

I always got confused using the maps in the Metroid Prime games

The mini and large map in Fable 1 are horrendous.

I really had trouble with Marathon Durandal, but I'm not sure if it was the map or the overly complicated level design.

I had no problem with Fallout 3 but I think the New Vegas map was complete shit when it first came out. I just remember it being a big pain in the ass to get anywhere on the PS3 version because the waypoint was useless. Fallout 3 waypoint was fine in my experience.

Also Fable 2 was horrendous. I could never figure out the world and never knew where I was. Someone said Fable 1 but I thought it was pretty straight foreword, but it's been....5 years since I've played that one.

@wjb said:

I played The Witcher 2 some months ago and I thought its map was garbage.

Why? You don't really need it, and it sure looks pretty.

I'd say the Oblivion interior maps. They were dreadfully confusing whenever there was more than one layer.

@CLinendoll said:

It's not bad, but it took me a long time to understand the Fallout 3/Skyrim style of horizontal map at the top of the screen...

I also had some troubles with the Skyrim map. Every time I used the right stick to turn it I became completely disoriented.

While far from the worst, the amount of cloud cover on the Skyrim map made navigation pretty annoying at times.

I hated the old Grand Theft Auto 3 series maps. Thank god it came with a physical map. That made life easier.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is probably worth mentioning (even though it was still easy to get into). Probably why so many of the open world games are so single-level centric. I can imagine a 3D angled type over-lay working out better.

Star Wars: The Old Republic seemed like the worst by a fair margin though. It implied a lot more freedom in moving around the world than it actually had (i.e. your not getting between areas without being on the main road because of the magic cliffs). And accentuated how over sized and empty the world is.

Skyrim's was fucking annoying, I just want to see the roads so I don't have to run up against mountains all the time.

Dead Space's was pretty much useless to me. It was a mishmash of transparent cubes overlayed on top of each other, which made it impossible to read.

everyone has his toughts so i say HL1

I always hated the compass in Bethesda's Fallout games. There's no layering, so you can be on top of the marker and see nothing, because what you're looking for is one level up or down.

Also, any open-world game that doesn't let you put marks in your (so, basically, most of them). I'm playing Darksiders II at the moment and I would love to be able to mark things for future reference.

@tags23 said:

everyone has his toughts so i say HL1

There was no map or mini-map in HL1, as far as I remember.