History Main / BenevolentArchitecture

[[caption-width-right:350:Man is only separated from heaven by that which he will not ramp.]]

* Many stages in the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' series. Most obvious are loop-de-loops as natural formations or as urban structures that no one but Sonic can reasonably take.
** Speed Highway in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and Radical Highway in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2''.

** One particularly glaring example occurs in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', during an early Werehog stage. The Werehog can hang from ledges and edge along them. There's a ledge that's blocked by a wooden balcony, so the player has to drop down so he can hand-over-hand. On the other side is a ledge with a staircase going up to a locked door. Below is a hundred-foot doubtlessly fatal drop to the sea. The balcony mentioned earlier is coming out of ''the side of the staircase'', which is a ''blank wall''. Earlier in that stage is a ledge the Werehog can grab onto in the form of a rooftop. When he climbs onto the rooftop, the gradually turns into a small local park with no change in elevation.

** No matter where Sonic goes, from high-facilities, to ancient, long-abandoned ruins, there's never a shortage of conspicuous red springs, launchers, anti-gravity rails, etc.

* Many stages in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series. Most obvious are loop-de-loops as natural formations or as urban structures that no one but Sonic can reasonably take.

* It's amazing how convenient the architecture can be for Franchise/SlyCooper and his various abilities. Apparently criminals are fond of putting hooks randomly around to swing from, or peaks to land on. The only time hooks, peaks, and so on became dangerous was ... [[VideoGame/Sly3HonorAmongThieves the Cooper vault]] itself, built by the guys who actually use the manoeuvres.

* {{Lampshaded}} big time in the first ''ComicBook/SecretWars'' when ''SpiderMan'' spends a couple of panels wondering if all the Mysterious Alien Architecture he is swinging from was placed on War World strictly for his benefit.

** Aboard the Collector Ship in ''2'', you walk through a series of corridors where there's waist high architecture, which is basically screaming that they'll be needed on the way ''back''.

* In the ''Franchise/JakAndDaxter'' games, there always seems to be a source of eco ''just'' when Jak really needs it.

* In ''[[VideoGame/ChibiRobo Chibi-Robo!]]'', there was always some way for Chibi to get to seemingly out of the way areas, be it by cord, house plant, books, etc.

** [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 The Sprawl]] is similarly designed.

* Somehow everything in the ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' series that causes damage to a building will turn the MalevolentArchitecture that would be impossible to traverse into Benevolent. Ages of disuse have created the perfect path for the Prince to climb and jump across.

* Lampshaded in [[http://www.virtualshackles.com/137 this]] Webcomic/VirtualShackles strip, which explains the strange interior designs in the ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'' series.

* Buildings in ''[[NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' can accommodate an unlimited number of characters and their summoned minions, whether the building is a huge stadium or a tiny, cramped hut. This is justified by just how inconvenient it would be for players if space considerations were more realistic, but does lead to some pretty comical situations whenever an event leads to (for instance) hundreds of characters and summons holed up in a single bar.

-->-- ''Webcomic/AwkwardZombie'', regarding ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''

* Almost any video game vehicle sequence that isn't actually set on a track has these, but the example that springs to mind are the ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' vehicles. Oh Grandma, what conveniently angled logs you have!

*** The games (at least the ''Prime'' series, typically via scans) usually try to provide explanations for why certain obstacles are present (some are natural, serve certain functions, and some are a result of environmental or structural damage). Samus can just be seen as improvising. It's strange, though, that many of the tunnels she goes through seem just big enough to fit through with the Morph Ball and why there are a bunch of places that require a spherical object that just so happens to be the same size as the Morph Ball to receive kinetic energy or fire said object.

*** Somewhat believably {{hand wave}}d for the most part by explaining that much of the games' environments were either directly built by the Chozo or, as was the case with ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime 2: Echoes'', built by people with whom the Chozo shared their technology; so it is reasonable to believe that Samus and her Chozo-created suit can navigate them. As for why the Space Pirates and other places do this...
*** ''Prime 3'' kind of does this offscreen, as the Space Pirates seems to use them to transport Crawltanks, and most civilizations have either insects that burrow or maintenance drones.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d brilliantly in ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' (as seen in the page image) [[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=23&issue=15 here,]] where a foreman yells about people leaving rampable wooden pallets around.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d brilliantly in ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' (as seen in the page image)[[http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=23&issue=15 here]], where a foreman yells about people leaving rampable wooden pallets around.

* In the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'', Batman and his villains live a Gotham City where essentially every building is either an ArtDeco skyscraper or a Gothic cathedral. As such, there are simply a ton of conveniently located gargoyles, sculptures, ledges, terraces and other architectural features for Batman to grapple onto in the middle of a firefight for an easy escape. The first game in the series, VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum, takes place in the titular [[BedlamHouse loony bin]], and there are gargoyles liberally spread throughout the complex.

* In the second game of VideoGame/{{Portal}}, there are ruins that are conveniently just ruined enough to give you a path out. Granted, [[GuideDangIt you have to really search for some]], but they're still there. And one has to wonder about the convenient placement of the paints.

* WiiWare game ''VideoGame/{{LIT}}'', ostensibly set in a darkened school, has windows that once shattered spill outside light into the room, providing a path to safely walk to the exit (or next light source). These windows are on almost every wall of each room, even the ones facing [[{{Bizarrchitecture}} further into the school]], where there should be no light from outside.

* Many stages in the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series.

** One particularly glaring example occurs in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'', during an early Werehog stage. The Werehog can hang from ledges and edge along them. There's a ledge that's blocked by a wooden balcony, so the player has to drop down so he can hand-over-hand. On the other side is a ledge with a staircase going up to a locked door. Below is a hundred-foot doubtlessly fatal drop to the sea. The balcony mentioned earlier is coming out of ''the side of the staircase'', which is a ''blank wall''.
*** The highways in Skyscraper Scamper stage can be this.

->''"The two opposing armies have both realized that chest-high walls are the key to victory: every single battleground is littered with chest-high walls, everyone's bombs seem specifically designed to reduce buildings to chest-high walls, the Locust have developed technology to make chest-high walls rise out of the ground, and if all else fails, Mother Nature herself will step in and make rocks fall from the ceiling, forming chest-high walls!"''
-->-- '''Ben ''[[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation "Yahtzee"]]'' Croshaw''', on ''[[GearsOfWar Gears of War 2]]''

* {{Lampshade}}d and discussed in ''Lord Of The Isles'' by Creator/DavidDrake. It's BenevolentArchitecture that a building crumbled in such a way that one character can easily climb the rubble from higher levels to reach a second-story window--but it's MalevolentArchitecture that said rubble blocked the front door.