Unreal Tournament 1999

In this game traps are always linked to rewards. The items that give damage amplification, health and armour are always placed in strategic spots.

In DM-Pressure there are items inside a pressure chamber, hence its name. If some player sees another player inside he can lock the other player in and kill them. The game scores a point for the killing player. Not counting a negative score for the player that died inside the chamber.

In DM-Phobos there are items placed at the edge of chasms. The player that goes after them is rendered vulnerable to other players.

Doom 1993

Image credits: decino

In this game a recurrent trap is to hide enemies behind doors or in corners to ambush the player. In SIGIL, in map 7, at the end, there is this pole and a rocket ammo in front of a doorway. Both the pole and the ammo are clues. At each side of the doorway there is an enemy waiting to ambush the player. If the player fires a rocket, the explosion kills both enemies. After that the door to the exit conceals another trap. A wall carefully placed behind the grate conceals enemies that hide behind the door. If the player looks closely through the grate there is a dead marine, a warning sign. A hanging corpse in front of the door is another sign of danger.

In doom there is another common type of trap that relies on the technology of changing the height of sectors in real-time. Often the player picks up a blue armour and this triggers some wall that reveals enemies. The BFG is also used as a bait to trigger traps. In many cases the player runs towards a weapon and the floor lowers, revealing enemies in a room below. Or enemies are teleported from beyond. Another common type of trap is to lower the floor and change its properties to lava or toxic slime as the player walks over it. Over time the player notices a pattern, such as placing the blue armour at the centre of a square or circular room or a valuable item lying at the end of a long corridor.

F.E.A.R.

Image credits: P.B. Horror Gaming

In this part of the game the player reaches a large and well lighted room with tables and chairs. As the player walks in the enemies turn off the lights, leaving the player disoriented for a brief moment. It's scary moment and an ambush. It's part of the game's supernatural horror theme. All rooms and corridors that the player has been exploring till now were dark and closed spaces. This particular room breaks the pattern by having too much space and too much light. It feels suspicious.

Max Payne

Image credits: SourceSpy91

In Punchinello's Hotel, Max Payne finds the room 313, where Rico Muerte, a villain in the game, is. When the player opens the door a bobby trap fires: a shotgun intended to kill whoever opens the door. Due to the delay between opening the door and  the gun firing the player can easily avoid the damage. The trap blends in the environment and is part of the story. The game deals with drug dealers, mafia and power struggle. Rico Muert placed that trap to defend himself.

When Max is escaping the secret laboratory where the Valkyr drug is being produced there is trap in the last elevator. If the player stands still on the grate during the final sequence, they fall to their death. The trap is intuitive as the building is blowing up and when the elevator is going up, the fire of the explosions underneath shows to the player that standing on the grate is dangerous.

Duke Nukem 3D Atomic edition

Image credits: BigMacDavis

In the first level of the Duke 3D's expansion there is a reference to the movie "Mission Impossible". The player goes through a ventilation shaft and reaches the top of a highly secured room, like in the movie. Before going through though there are laser trip mines blocking the way. Laser is one of the most classic examples. Every kind of movie or game uses it. Laser is always used in traps or security systems.

Dark Forces

Nar Shaddaa mission. This isn't exactly a trap, but it's almost one. When the player opens the door there is a gap and it's virtually impossible to reach the other side. The only way to do it is to use some weapon to explode yourself to jump high enough to reach the other side. It's a secret area with a low reward compared to the damage that you must take to reach it. If you fall down the area below is seemingly a dead end. It's not. There is a secret door on one of the walls to get out of this area.

This is one common source of bugs in games. Sometimes activating or deactivating something can unwillingly trap the player with no way out.

Landmines are one of the most common traps in games. In later Dark Forces levels they are placed around corners, behind doors or hidden in the middle of pick ups. It's a great way to add depth to a game.

Imperial City mission. Searchlights are one of the most common elements. Present in TV Shows, movies and many games. In here the player should have a clear understanding that going out there is dangerous. The area is wide open with no place to hide and the lights moving on the floor don't feel safe. Whoever thought about this trap did a very good job in regards to the limitations of the time. The idea of moving bright squares on the ground convey the idea of searchlights without requiring advanced tech or hardware. If the player goes straight to the key on the other side and touches one of the squares they are ambushed by enemies from all sides.

Arc Hammer mission. This secret area holds a secret life. To get to the secret life the player has to get through this crushing ceiling (right image). The problem is that the crusher is really fast, making this a hard challenge. There is a problem though. Regarding cohesion, the crushing ceiling does fit the overall theme of the level. However, it's an obstacle that doesn't blend in the warship where this level takes place. To get to this secret area the player has to traverse some quickly moving platforms that go up and down. In Jedi Knight 2 the developers did a better job at making the challenges blend in the environment, such as making the platforms elevators with shafts so deep that the player should jump with care to not fall to their death.

Bioshock

In Bioshock a pattern was adopted throught the whole game. Turrets that guard safes that guard items and cash inside. The player often finds turrets or security cameras that guard some rooms and if that's the case, there is probably something valuable there. The level design not only made this association, but there is often a secondary and hidden path that makes it possible to sneak past the defensive mechanisms and hack the security system placed there. If there isn't a secondary path, there are pillars, panels, cover, to allow the player to protect themselves.

To given an example I'm mentioning the beginning of the Medical Pavillon. Right at the beginning the player can go to the right or to the left. In both sides there are advertises on the walls with bullet holes, which does coincide with the danger ahead: automatic turrets. Going to the right the player encounters two turrets. It's possible to crounch behind the table and cash registers to avoid taking damage from the turret on the front. But there is also another turret to the right, firing from behind a wall's hole. If the player goes to the the left it's easier to avoid the damage. Also notice that the turret that is behind the wall's hole was placed in a position where it can only see the player if they go to the right. If they go to the left only the turret on the front can see him or her. Another detail to mention is that both turrets and security cameras pan slowly and this gives time for the player to get near to hack them.

A sidenote: When the player opens the door to the Medical Pavillon, Atlas says that to find Dr. J.S. Steinman, the level's boss, the player has to follow the blood. Incidentally, if the player follows the corpse and blood to the right they are ambushed by two turrets. Later in the game the player finds that Atlas was manipulating him or her and is the real enemy, the game's last boss. Whether this is a coincidence or a very subtle clue left by the designers I don't know, really.

The ability to hack security cameras and turrets plays another role in the game. Since the enemies respawn from time to time, the player can take advantage of hacked turrets and cameras to kills enemies for free, without having to spend ammo. For as long as they last before being destroyed by enemies the player can loot items, money and ammo for free.

Another type of trap are the electrified wires. Sometimes they are triggered after the player enters a room. The player also has access to a weapon capable of planting the same electrictified wired trap, which gives the player another tool to aid their experience.

This game is an example of design which empowers the player. He or she has more than one tool at their disposal to tackle challenges. The player decides how to solve it. Games that allow players to interact with traps and the environment such as Bioshock have a lot more depth.