Your most favorite game levels

[Yora]

Just having had another discussion about what I consider the shortcommings and great achievements of Mass Effect 3, I realized how much I love certain levels from all kinds of games. There are fun levels and good looking levels everywhere, but sometimes there are also some that just really blow your mind!
Please share the greatest moments of your favorite games, which amaze you every time you play them, over and over again.

Mass Effect:
Ilos Mass Effect is not a terribly sophisticated game and the gameplay is quite mundane and the graphics weren't that stunning even when it was released (which BioWare games never are). But it did have some really damn good passages. By far my favorite would be Ilos, which is the beginning of the Endgame.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 have a unique atmosphere, which on Ilos is as strong as it ever gets. You tracked the villain down to this isolated, ancient, and long forgotten planet, but just as you're about to catch him, he moves into a ruin and seals the door behind him. For the rest of the level, you are wandering through the ruins of this ancient extinct civilization, that at the same time look like overgrown temples deep in the jungle, and like the streets between skyscrapers of a modern metropole. And it is probably actually both. In addition, there are these creepy statues of skeletons slumped in chairs and overgrown by vines, but they may also be petrified corpses. You're really just looking for the switch to the door to get after the villain, but still this level is amazing. And once you get inside, it gets even more weird.

Final Assault: Okay, there's one more level, right after Ilos, that is a very close second as the best level of the game, but for completely different reasons:
You're on a homongous space station shapes like a massive pea pod with a city build on the inside walls. And at the center stants a huge tower which houses the primary control room and the seat of the galactic government. You need get to the top of the tower to stop the villain to getting to the control room, while at the same time a huge alien cyborg-squid wants to land on the towers top. Already some miles up, the elevator stoppes, and you have to put on your helmet and activate the magnetic boots to make the rest of the way on foot. On the outside wall of the tower. Fighting hordes of enemy soldiers, while the giant alien moves his massive arms to get a better hold at the tower right over your heads. Also at that time, you have all the best weapons, special attacks, and psychic powers, so the fighting gets quite insane.
I just love it every time :smallbiggrin:

Mass Effect 2:
The opening sequence: Mostly a cutscene, but the short walk you take yourself actually makes the whole thing a lot more impressive: The Normandy is cruising along when a huge cruiser appears out of nowhere and shots it into a wreck. Fire everywhere, everyone gets to the escape pods, but you need to get to the bridge to rescue the pilot. You run up the stairs to the upper deck, but when the door opens, there is no bridge left. There's just the floor and open space above. Not a problem, because you wear a spacesuit, but it immediately tells you that the ship you've come to love in the first game is beyond saving and the new unknown enemy is way out of your own league.

Omega/Afterlife, Mass Effect 2: One of the "towns" of the game, and in particular the local "tavern". It's by far the best Bad Guy Bar in any game ever. Sorry, Copper Coronet and Hanged Man, you have nothing on the Afterlife. It's the first place you get after the prolog and it really shows that this game is going to be very different than the first one.
I agree with all the people who have said someone needs to open a bar with that type of decoration somewhere! :smallbiggrin:

Derelict Reaper, Mass Effect 2: You discover a corpse/wreck of one of the giant cyborg-aliens that is hundreds of thousands of years old, orbiting a distant star. A science team was there before you, but as you get there, they are all dead and have turned into cyborg-zombies. But that's not the worst part because as an audio-log says "even a dead god can still dream". On the last leg of the level, you travel through a section right next to a giant hole in the thing and you have open space and the brown dwarf star dominating the entire sky while you get totally swamped by enemies. Always my favorite part of the game.

Beckenstein, Mass Effect 2: This one is from a DLC and not important to the story. The later half is okay, but the first half really amazed me. You're sneaking into a rich guys mansion to steal something from him by posing as a guest to the show of all the art he has collected. And I have to say, it's a really nice collection. The mansion is located on a hill and has massive windows looking at the sunset, and there's nice music playing. And I actually found myself putting the task of finding a way to his private rooms on standby to wander the gallery and viewing the pictures that were exhibited. And there were lots of really good ones, even though abstract paintings usually don't do anything to me. Spend about 20 minutes there, and I think the developers should actually exhibit all of them, either the originals that were scanned to make the texture files, or have them recreated as actual paintings, if they exist only as digital files. The rest of the level is okay, but I really liked that art exhibit.

Lair of the Shadowbroker, Mass Effect 2: Yes, the same game again. I really love it imensely! :smallbiggrin:
In my whole life I paid for a DLC only once, and I regret nothing. Completely worth it! ME2 easily makes it into my top 10 games of all times and takes a high spot among them, but the Lair of the Shadowbroker by far exceeds the rest of the game! Actually it's five levels that make up the story of the DLC, but they are all amazing:
1. You get to the expensive apartment of your old friend Liara, who was shot at by a sniper from a distant skyscraper but has disappeared apparently unharmed. Police is on location as you arive, but has no ideas who shot through the window or where Liara is. So you have to look for clues yourself, while a thunderstorm rages outside in the early evening.
2. Having found a clue, you arrive at an office building where you think your friend fled to. As you exit the car, the whole thing just blows up in a massive explosion. You rush inside the burning ruin and fight your way through hordes of death squad troops while stuff is on fire and sprinklers are drenching everything.
3. You find the assassin and it gets to a chanse over rooftops during sunset. An amazing level in itself, but not that outstanding compared to the ones before and after it.
4. You get to the enemy headquarter, which turns out to be a huge spaceship flying inside a permanent storm at the edge between day and night of an inhospitable planet. You get dropped at the wrong end, so you have to make it all the way to the other side. On top of the ships hull, fighting guard troops and security robots. And I use the world sparingly, but the music is just epic!
5. The last part is inside the ship at last, while you make an assault at the main control room and the nervecenter of one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy where you confront a man that nobody in the galaxy has ever seen, but everyone knows of. And he's throwing everything at you that he has, while at the same time that slighly akward nerdy girl you used to know completely massacres and endless hordes of elite soldiers with a submachine gun and also her mind! One of the greatest assault levels I've ever played. And the ending cutscenes and dialogs beyond amazing as well.

Asari Monstary, Mass Effect 3: The Asari are an ancent race of all female psionic space elves, if you want the short description. The monastary sits high in the mountain of an otherwise uninhabited planet and you arive at night. It's a beautiful place with astonishing architecture, but everyone is gone or dead. Lots of sneaking around in the dark at first, and later on you find cyborg-space-zombies. And this level also introduces the by far scariest enemy in the whole series. So far, there were a few enemies that required a bit more attention and concentration and had lots of health, but these ones have a suite of special abilities that makes them really damn unpleasant to deal with. Quite likely the only enemy in all of the games that makes you run away very fast, very quickly, and very far, just to get enough distance between you to shot them from a very long distance. But they also have the ability to get very close again as well. Amazing level, one of my favorite parts of an otherwise rather disappointing game.

The Boat, Mirror's Edge: Hard to pick a particular levelm as the entire game is amazing. One of the most artistic games I played and probably the nicest looking dystopian future you'll ever see. Sunshine and a bright blue sky never looked so creepy. Yet The Boat does not take place high on the roofs of white high rises at day, but inside a large cargo ship at night. I've heard lots of people really disliking the level, but I think it's quite fun and instead of long leaps from roof to roof, you're crawling around inside the walls and squeezing through access shafts. The best part however is the last section which is a chase scene in which you are the one doing the chasing for a change. It also has to longer melee fights, which are the only real boss fight in the game. The game is not made for combat, but two freerunners having a kickboxing duel on top of a stack of cargo containers is quite fun. But it's really the chase that is the best part, as your target is jumping over rails and jumping up walls at impressive speed with you right behind.
Every first person game needs the climbing and jumping system of Mirror's Edge.

Of their own Accord, Modern Warfare 2: Say about the game what you want, but playing it on hard it was really great fun for me. The entire series puts a huge emphasis on cimematic action, but I think this level is the best. Starting in a bunker with wounded soldiers on the ground and people frantically talking on the radios, while bomb blasts occasionally make the walls shake, after the last thing you've seen of the United States was fighting Russian soldiers in the fancy suburbs of Washington. You get out of the bunker and find yourself in a trench, following the Corporal in front of you, while there are explosions and helicopters overhead and the overcast sky is lit by fire. Then you go over the top and suddenly realize where you are. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFzcQe9l4LY)
The entire level is just as crazy, particularly the ending!

Lake Bresha, Final Fantasy XIII: This is really not a good game, but it does have some breathtaking sceneries. But Lake Bresha takes it all. A huge demigod-like being falls into a massive underground lake and as the water splashes and swoshes around, the entire thing turns into crystal. And you land somewhere in the middle and have to make through these amazing canyons of huge crystalized waves. There are even a couple of crystalized explosions. :smallbiggrin:

[houlio]

Mine is the level in Bastion where you acquire the pike and first fight an anklegator, if only for the line: "You can only beat an anklegator when it's rainin', and it ain't rainin'." Or something to that effect. Anyways, they had a nice touch later at the end said leve, where it inevitably rains. It might not be the best moment of the game, but that little touch was my favorite.

[Trazoi]

Nearly every mission in Thief 2. If I have to pick just one, "Life of the Party", a massive trawl across roof-tops (thieving along the way) to get to a large mansion, your target, and some key movement of the plot.

[Cespenar]

Some examples from the more recent games since the OP reminded me:

Mass Effect 2: "The Suicide Mission". Major characters can actually die before their time, and it's all on your choices?! What is this sorcery?

Dragon Age: Origins: Mostly all Fade levels. Fade is cool.

Dragon Age 2: Varric's own sidequest, with some of his heroics "slightly" exaggerated, since, well, he's the narrator. Also, Aveline's romance (!) arc.

Saint's Row The Third: First mission. You know, the part with the airplane and the parachute.

CoD Modern Warfare 1: Pripyat. Period.

Fallout New Vegas: Vault 11. You might not even have found the place.

Mass Effect 3: The Ending :trollface.jpg:

I'll return later with examples from more... classic titles.

[TheLaughingMan]

The Grand Finale, Okami: (spoilers for Skyward Sword as well)
Holy crap. If I said that wasn't one of the best finales in any game I've seen, I would be one of the filthiest liars I'd ever met. Everything really just came together in such a fantastic way that I'm honestly astounded.

Honestly, the boss was perhaps one of the easiest in the game, but I still love it nonetheless. In a way, I've come to contrast it with Skyward Sword's final boss: Whereas Skyward Sword delivered a tough final boss that, personally, the player had little emotional connection to, Okami's final boss is relatively easy and yet manages to have ten times the emotional weight because of the characters involved. That bit with Issun, simple as it was, made all that sidequesting, all that grinding, all that frustration so worth it. I wanted to defeat the final boss for the characters who hinged their hopes upon me, not just because I needed him out of the way to complete the game like I felt with SS. At the end of the day, the cute little bug handing out little drawings has stuck with me far more than a climactic fight on an alien plane. And that still astounds me to this day. :smallsmile:

[Remmirath]

Mass Effect:
Ilos Mass Effect is not a terribly sophisticated game and the gameplay is quite mundane and the graphics weren't that stunning even when it was released (which BioWare games never are). But it did have some really damn good passages. By far my favorite would be Ilos, which is the beginning of the Endgame.
Mass Effect 1 and 2 have a unique atmosphere, which on Ilos is as strong as it ever gets. You tracked the villain down to this isolated, ancient, and long forgotten planet, but just as you're about to catch him, he moves into a ruin and seals the door behind him. For the rest of the level, you are wandering through the ruins of this ancient extinct civilization, that at the same time look like overgrown temples deep in the jungle, and like the streets between skyscrapers of a modern metropole. And it is probably actually both. In addition, there are these creepy statues of skeletons slumped in chairs and overgrown by vines, but they may also be petrified corpses. You're really just looking for the switch to the door to get after the villain, but still this level is amazing. And once you get inside, it gets even more weird.

Final Assault: Okay, there's one more level, right after Ilos, that is a very close second as the best level of the game, but for completely different reasons:
You're on a homongous space station shapes like a massive pea pod with a city build on the inside walls. And at the center stants a huge tower which houses the primary control room and the seat of the galactic government. You need get to the top of the tower to stop the villain to getting to the control room, while at the same time a huge alien cyborg-squid wants to land on the towers top. Already some miles up, the elevator stoppes, and you have to put on your helmet and activate the magnetic boots to make the rest of the way on foot. On the outside wall of the tower. Fighting hordes of enemy soldiers, while the giant alien moves his massive arms to get a better hold at the tower right over your heads. Also at that time, you have all the best weapons, special attacks, and psychic powers, so the fighting gets quite insane.
I just love it every time :smallbiggrin:


Those were pretty much my favourite parts of Mass Effect as well.

Baldur's Gate: Durlag's Tower. I love going through Durlag's Tower every single time I do. The traps and the general atmosphere are just great. Most of the things I love throughout Baldur's Gate are more of moments or just things about the game and less of levels.

Also the endgame, but it's a rare game where I don't like that.

Baldur's Gate II: The end in the pocket plane is generally my favourite. I love that part. I'm also partial to the crypts under Athkatla, Firkraag's area, and I always love the maze and test portion of Spellhold.

In Throne of Bhaal, I'm quite fond of Watcher's Keep. Also Abazigal's lair and the endgame portion.

Icewind Dale: I love Lower Dorn's Deep every time I come there, though I admit some of that may be because of the music. I'm also quite fond of Kresselack's tomb and the Severed Hand.

In Heart of Winter, I like the Gloomfrost and Icasaracht's lair. Trials of the Luremaster I suppose basically is one single area, but I like it.

Planescape: Torment: I'm very fond of basically everything area after you get out of Sigil. I do also like some areas of Sigil, but at that point I'd have to either just say 'the whole game' or single out very tiny areas, so I'll leave that alone.

Knights of the Old Republic: I've always been fond of Korriban, and fairly fond of Tatooine. Also, the Starforge. There are some aspects I like of other areas, but those are the big ones that stand out.

Knights of the Old Republic II: It's been a long time now since I played it, but I recall I like that area... I think it's on Onderon... with the Sith temple and the passages and all.

Dragon Age: Origins: I really like Orzammar, and also the Deep Roads (apparently an opinion not shared by many people :smalltongue:). The end portion of the Deep Roads especially. I have kind of a love-hate relationship with the Fade; on the one hand, I think it's really cool, and on the other hand I always seem to get lost in it.

In Awakening, I like the Blackmarsh.

Dragon Age II: I think the Deep Roads probably ended up being my favourite part again, from the main game; taking into account DLCs, the whole of Legacy was my favourite part (although I still think it would've worked better in Origins).

Varric's over-the-top sidequest was also pretty great.

Morrowind: There are a few places. Kogoruhn, the first time in any given game I go to the Ashlands, the endgame portion (I guess I should say endplot, but whatever), and most of the Dwemer ruins. In a weird sort of way I always enjoy Tel Fyr and the part leading up to it. I'm also generally fond of Ald'ruhn.

In Tribunal, I like the old Dwemer ruins and the end area. In Bloodmoon... I can't actually remember any areas standing out in particular, although I did enjoy it.

Oblivion: Maybe weird of me, but I like the plane of Oblivion. Also, the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary, and one other place associated with the Dark Brotherhood.

Skyrim: I'll just say pretty much everything on High Hrothgar, the larger Dwemer ruins, and the endgame portion.

[Science Officer]

Fallout 2
Vault City. Most would probably pick New Reno, but Vault City is almost as "big" in terms of game content, and where it's situated, I felt it had the biggest effect and was the best designed area in the game.

Bastion
The swamp, where you hallucinate. Very powerful.

Psychonauts
Every. Single. Level. Yes, even the Meat Circus.

[Rake21]

In no particular order

Chrono Trigger: Black Omen
A great dungeon, with fantastic music. All topped off with an awesome boss fight

Mass Effect 3: Tuchanka
It's really hard not to feel awesome during this mission.

Mass Effect 2: Suicide Mission
Besides the epic score and the stakes of trying to save your crew and keeping you team alive, it's one of the few games that gives you a chance to see your entire squad in action.

Uncharted 3: Escaping Iram of the Pillars
It wouldn't be an Uncharted game without Nate accidently destroying an ancient city and then having to flee from a horrible smashing death as it chrashes around his head.

KOTOR: Korrban
Why yes, I would like to infiltrate the Sith Academy.

[arguskos]

Baldur's Gate: Gotta show the Gate some love! The city itself is massive, terribly marked, complex, deep, and an absolute blast to trawl my way through! Additionally, I love the return to Candlekeep. So wonderful to see reactions to your deeds from everyone who you encounter.

Baldur's Gate 2: Oh gods, I couldn't even pick something. If I was forced to, I might go with the final battle in Hell, just because I love the conclusion of Irenicus's story.

Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal: Ok, this one is easy. The Graveyard Lich in Amkethran is definitely my favorite. A surprisingly powerful moment to play through, I'm a big fan.

Assassin's Creed 2: All of Venice, once you have it opened up. Man, I cannot get enough free-running to fit into a single lifetime! :smallbiggrin: If I can't pick all of Venice, then I'll probably go with Carnivale. I do love me some Carnivale.

AC2: Brotherhood: The ending sequence, as you move through the battlefield hunting Cesare, is just wonderful. It's fascinating to see how his hubris has led him to commit atrocities, all in the name of recapturing power that he will never get to wield.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution: Another great game, I'd probably have to give the best moment in this one to the opening mission, actually. It's great to have to push your abilities to the limit when you barely have any! Very fun and quite challenging.

Portal 2: This is easy: the first room where you have white gel to play around with. I love the white gel.

Starcraft 2: Actually, I liked a great deal of these missions. I think my favorite though has to be Outbreak, the zombie mission where you have to hold out for huge amounts of time against the ever-encroaching hordes. Very fun on the highest difficulty.

Mass Effect 1: Virmire. I liked Kirrahe, I liked the tension with Wrex ("Shepard"), and loved the forced decision at the end. Very fun and a great way to make me hate Saren.

Mass Effect 2: Electric Boogaloo: Thane's recruitment mission stands out. I really like Thane as a character, and found that his recruitment mission truly helped me come to know and understand his character... all before even SEEING him.

Mass Effect 3: With a Vengeance: The main plot mission on Tuchanka was probably my favorite. I greatly enjoyed seeing the history of the krogan. The final fight with like 6 Brutes was a nightmare, very challenging (I ran away a lot and fired LOTS of abilities at them). And of course, the ending cinematic of the mission was both hilarious ("Reaper not want eaten by maw!") and tear-jerking ("...a scientist salarian. Rest well, old friend.").

[Emmerask]

Baldurs Gate: first carrion Crawler encounter, I was scared ****less ^^
Same with the first vampire encounter in Baldurs Gate.

Left 4 dead 2: The bridge coop in hardmode... you really have to be on top of your game its awesome.

[Cespenar]

Baldur's Gate 2: Though they aren't levels per se, I must say the dream sequences. Any guesses as to why?

David Warner.

Planescape: Hmph. Hard to pick one location. But the Sensate Emporium, maybe?

KOTOR: Sith Academy. Where you get to backstab the people who study backstabbing as their main course.

Fallout: The Los Angeles Vault, was that its name? The place where the Master resides? Damn that last level was creepy.

Fallout 2: New Reno, obviously. There are so many puns, references and quotable stuff in that place that it's overbearing. In a good way.

Starcraft: Most levels that don't have bases in it. Like the one in which you hunt down Duran, or the one where you take out an impossibly large base with a finite number of battleships, wraiths and ghosts.

For stuff like Bastion, Psychonauts, The Longest Journey, or Dreamfall, I can't really pick out a favorite level. The awesome is just too uniformly distributed.

[Croakamancer]

Well, it's been a long time since I played it, but for me...

Neverwinter Nights; The Prison/Intellect Devourer's Lair. It was the first major level, in my first RPG, and it creped me out like hell. The basics of its layout stick with me, many, many years later. And pretty much all because of music and descriptive text. You do not need gore for horror

Ocarina of Time; All the Temples stand out, but I kinda have to call either Fire or Shadow. Fire because of the exoticism of a new area you'd never known about before drawing the Master Sword. Shadow because... damn, that gods forsaken place

In more modern times

Mass Effect 2; As many others have said, The Suicide Mission. I think we can call it a legit Watershed moment in modern gaming, at least if someone else even attempts something like it. :smallfrown: The mission, the risk, the buildup... it's the crowning jewel in an awesome game

Dragon Age; Ostagar. Because it's awesome. :smallsmile: A massive battle scene, setting the mood for the game, establishing Loghain, your motivation for fighting against him, the threat of the Darkspawn. One level that does everything right.What the Earth mission in ME3 should have been.

Paper Mario; Thousand Year Door; The Moon Base. *sniff* :smallfrown: I...

I...

I'll miss you, TEC

If you'll excuse me, I... need some time alone

[Geno9999]

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past: Hyrule Castle.
ALTTP was the first ever Zelda game I have played. My most favorite dungeon was the first and the last dungeon of the light world: Hyrule Castle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWTRK1mOhPI&feature=relmfu). A haunting yet regal theme that makes you think that all is not well in the royal house of hyrule...

Fire Emblem: Chapters 29 and 30 Eliwood (31 and 32 for Hector.)
First, the Third to last mission. This one shows the extent of what Nergal (the Big Bad of the game) can do: He created an entire army of artificial humans, and had them teleport in to Ostia's Captial, creating confusion and chaos for the Ostian army posted there. Luckily, you and your merry bad of badasses are there to turn this siege around.
The Second to last mission, you take the fight to Nergal. An epic charge toward the ancient ruins while Nergal sends some of his best minions against you.

[Om]

Doom, E1M1. I don't think this needs much explanation. I can still remember every inch of that map well over a decade later. Iconic

[The Glyphstone]

Red Alert 2: Soviet Campaign, Mission 5 (City of Lights). Old game, dated graphics, still incredibly funny...and you get to turn the Eiffel Tower into a gigantic Tesla coil and start leveling Paris. :smallbiggrin:

[SlyGuyMcFly]

The Gerudo Fortress in Legend of Zelda: OoT. Not the mini-dungeon, the area. Sneaking around, dueling the prison guards, always enjoyed that section tremendously.

[Knight13]

The Shalebridge Cradle, Thief: Deadly Shadows: Hands down one of the scariest levels ever to exist in a game. Forget Dead Space and FEAR, this is where it's at (Silent Hill 2 may be competition). The Cradle was an orphanage, then an insane asylum, then both at the same time, then had a fire that killed everyone inside. The mission starts with Master Thief Garrett's usual voiced introduction to the level. However, not only is Garrett not his usual confident, snarky self, he actually sounds nervous. When the game sets you down outside the Cradle, the camera starts angled up a bit, looking up at the Cradle as it looms over you. You get in through the basement and, even though there's nothing to hurt you in the first area, the atmosphere is just so goddamn unnerving that, at least once every couple minutes, you WILL whip the camera around in panic, certain that something horrible is about to charge out of the shadows and eat your face. Then you notice that the few lights actually pulse slowly, as if the entire building is breathing. Then you get to the second area and the real fear starts. For maximum terror, play it in first person mode.

Atlas Station, Mass Effect 2: The final sequence of Project Overlord. Unlike other areas, there's relatively little combat. Instead, you move through the facility while the Overlord screws with you. Messing with the elevators, making the holographic door buttons do strange things and screaming at you. Then Shepard's cybernetics actually get hacked, throwing you into a rather impressive virtual reality sequence, in which the VR is an overlay on reality. Finally, it culminates with the horror of finding out what the Overlord actually is and what Dr. Archer actually did to his brother. The Paragon interrupt is oh so satisfying.

Lungfishopolis, Psychonauts: As others have said, every level in Psychonauts is excellent, but I would have to say that my favorite is Lungfishopolis. Stomping around a city populated by talking, mutated lungfish as a Kaiju-sized version of Raz, smashing buildings, climbing skyscrapers, stomping screaming lungfish and throwing tanks around like toys? Yes, please.

I may add more as I think of them.

[polity4life]

Deux Ex: Human Revolution and the entire Detroit arc made for my favorite stage/stages. The levels were fun, accommodated the various builds well, and had so many references to the southeast Michigan region. And yes, I could see the building I work in from Sarif's office.

[James the Dark]

I have to go slightly against the grain with regards to ME3. I did enjoy Tuchanka, I found it quite cathartic, but the thing was, I was somewhat plot-spoiled that you were siccing Kalros on a Reaper by the previews. Enjoyable, definitely, and since I went through as my Paragon first and thus had Wrex at my side, very pleasant.

But the best? Rannoch. The whole experience of Rannoch was outstanding, from entering into the Consensus, to understand the other side of a history never told, to showcasing how the most hateful Quarian you've met thus-far is actually just a flawed, not-quite-effective-enough ParaShep to his people. And then, the last mission. God damn, but didn't I feel like a bronzed god when that music kicked in, and I was fighting a Reaper, alone, on foot.

[Cespenar]

Lungfishopolis, Psychonauts: As others have said, every level in Psychonauts is excellent, but I would have to say that my favorite is Lungfishopolis. Stomping around a city populated by talking, mutated lungfish as a Kaiju-sized version of Raz, smashing buildings, climbing skyscrapers, stomping screaming lungfish and throwing tanks around like toys? Yes, please.

Seems my memory had betrayed me back there. Can't second Lungfishopolis enough. It also had the best boss fight of all times.

"HARD TO AVOIIIID... AREA ATTACK!"

[thegurullamen]

Mass Effect The moon. Not even the shooting portion--just driving around the moon on the Mako. I spent a solid half hour doing it, staring up at the pale blue dot above and laughing like an idiot the whole time.

Mass Effect 2 Geth base. Hearing Legion's very different take on morality, the basis of culture and the geth's stake in the coming war was great. Bonus pints for amazing moral choice.

Mass Effect 3 Flawed or not, I'm going to be that guy and just say the first 99% of the game. I'm just the sort of person who loves the big finales in general. Hell, I even liked RotJ more than ESB up until just a few years ago.

Grand Theft Auto Vice City Vigilante in the Hunter, the assassination mission where you track down the six guys in disguise, anything involving the PCJ600, the Colonel's escape, Robbing the Courier, assassinating the people on the roof of the ice cream factory.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas The hydra mission (almost anything with a plane really, minus the one where you skydive from one plane to another), NOE and End of the Line (finale with the firetruck chase).

Mirror's Edge Finale. Elevator shafts, a server room shootout and that powerful but low key ending are all very memorable, especially when you're doing it on a pacifist run.

Saints Row 2 Oh jeez, where to start with this one. First off, anything where Johnny Gat has more than one line. The graveyard fight. Fireworks theft. Hijacking Maero's girlfriend and escalating that war. Drugged up voodoo driving/fighting. The final Ronin mission. The attack on the Brotherhood hideout. Killing Mr. Sunshine. Torching the crops from a helicopter. Septic Avenger. Stealing hos in a Bear. Barnstorming a barn. Sieging Ultor. Salting the Earth. Stealing a Brotherhood weapons cache. Ultor's initial attack.

Perfect Dark Area 51: Extraction. Infiltration's done with--just grab the alien, get him out of there and gun down anyone and everyone in the way with the SuperDragon, the greatest gun ever made.

Just Cause 2 Shoot the Moon, Stranded, the ninja fortress in the mountains, the tri-towered hotel fight and every army base where half the goal is "Blow stuff up"

Everything or Nothing The dam, the driving level after the dam, everything in New Orleans, driving on the rooftops in Peru, infiltrating the Kremlin, destroying the missiles and most of all, The Pontchartrain Bridge. Amazing.

Fallout 2 The Enclave Rig. One of the best final levels ever, if only because the gateway (activating the long-dormant oil rig by sneaking into an Enclave-controlled army base) is awesome as hell.

[Maxios]

Grabbed by the Ghoulies: The final level, when you fight the Baron.

Halo Reach: Nightfall, I believe the name of the level is. It's fun, sneaking around and sneak attacking Grunts and Elites.

Banjo & Kazooie Nuts and Bolts: The first world, can't remember it's name right now.

Spy vs Spy: The oil rig level.

[Talesin]

Not levels per se but

Any F1 game: The montreal circut. Dunno why i've always found it so much fun but its my favourite track.

Mario Kart 64: Moo Moo Farm. Just so easy to race round on but still provides loads of fun and usually get a close finish for any number of the places when playing 4 player with my friends.

Metal Gear Solid: Have no idea what the part is called but its when you're inside the lab area and you have to sneak around using the vents. Sticks out in my mind

Metal Gear Solid Special Missions: The identifying murders was always pretty fun.

Shining Force: The Kraken battle has to be my favourite there. I swear I only ever won it by just zerging the head down as I got killed so so so many times.

[The Glyphstone]

Grabbed by the Ghoulies: The final level, when you fight the Baron.


There's another person on Earth who owned that game? Amazing!:smallbiggrin::smallsmile:

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Shining Force: The Kraken battle has to be my favourite there. I swear I only ever won it by just zerging the head down as I got killed so so so many times.

Oh man, that fight was murderous.

[DiscipleofBob]

Brutal Legend, Where you have to escape from the collapsing arena while invincible abominations rain all around you in your tricked-out rig all to the stylings of Dragonforce.

All the bonus dungeons in the Final Fantasy 1 remake and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years deserve special attention. Now those are what bonus dungeons should be.

I found most of Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel to be a bore except for the beach levels which you could actually explore and weren't linear levels.

The Desert Temple in Twilight Princess. That top-item might have had limited uses, but man was it fun. Speaking of Twilight Princess, anything involving the abandoned village filled with moblins where the game suddenly turns into an old western.

Lungfishopolis was cool, but my personal favorite level in that game was The Milkman Conspiracy. The Meat Circus deserves mention, but probably for far different reasons than "fun."

There are a lot of good levels in Kingdom Hearts, but I think my personal favorite is Hollow Bastion...Specifically, when you lose your keyblade and allies and get Beast instead, and he more than makes up for the three of you.

[Talesin]

Oh man, that fight was murderous.

Everytime I tried it I went in with the mindset of "I'll fight off most of the tentacles then go for the head".

It would always turn out as "Quick Luke draw the head in close so we can zerg it down or we're gonna lose!"

[ShinyRocks]

Oh man, that fight was murderous.

*tiny voice* Shining Force 2.

But yes, the Kraken battle is absurdly hard. And awesome. As is the chessboard battle.

In Shining Force, the circus (that amazing music).

Sonic The Hedgehog - Labyrinth Zone. The 'about to drown' music is terrifying, and the satisfaction from the little 'pkwa!' when you get a bubble. It's just brilliant game design.

Skies Of Arcadia - The names escape me, but the Aztec-looking area and the Japanese-looking area are both gorgeous.

Dragon Age: Origins - The Deep Roads, for the sheer horror of it.

I seem to be focusing on aesthetics rather than gameplay, but I guess that's what makes levels stick out for me.

[Grinner]

I've recently learned of the Minus World in Super Mario. I'd like to find it sometime. :smalleek:

Other than that? There was this one area in Elder Scrolls IV, a castle. I think you were supposed to go there on a quest to find some Akaviri artifact. Anyway, the place was absolutely crawling with skeletons, all of whom were resistant to my sword (I later learned of the value of the mace). I don't think I had been scared like that in a long time.

There was also this level in Half-Life where you had to navigate this maze of tracks while on a tram. I found that particular level's design rather inspiring.

[Cespenar]

There was also this level in Half-Life where you had to navigate this maze of tracks while on a tram. I found that particular level's design rather inspiring.

Heh. And some words.

[Grif]

Doom, E1M1. I don't think this needs much explanation. I can still remember every inch of that map well over a decade later. Iconic

No love for Map01? :smalltongue:

[Spacewolf]

Mass Effect 3: With a Vengeance: The main plot mission on Tuchanka was probably my favorite. I greatly enjoyed seeing the history of the krogan. The final fight with like 6 Brutes was a nightmare, very challenging (I ran away a lot and fired LOTS of abilities at them). And of course, the ending cinematic of the mission was both hilarious ("Reaper not want eaten by maw!") and tear-jerking ("...a scientist salarian. Rest well, old friend.").

I dont think you are supposed to fight the brutes at that point to be honest for me i would say whatever the geths planet is called the ending of that mission was one of the most involving moments in the game since i hadnt saved Tali in the last game so compromise was impossible

[Emmerask]

There was also this level in Half-Life where you had to navigate this maze of tracks while on a tram. I found that particular level's design rather inspiring.

Half life 1 in general had very good level design (up until the xeno worlds).
The riddles where mostly logical, you knew what had to be done the only question was how etc (I hate games where you don´t know what to do next^^).

[Drascin]

Perfect Dark Area 51: Extraction. Infiltration's done with--just grab the alien, get him out of there and gun down anyone and everyone in the way with the SuperDragon, the greatest gun ever made.


Incorrect. The Callisto NTG is the greatest gun ever made, not the SuperDragon. Don't worry, understandable mistake :smalltongue:

[Grinner]

Half life 1 in general had very good level design (up until the xeno worlds).

I'm probably going to be strung up for this, but here goes:

I actually liked Xen. Except for Gonarch. That was kind of creepy.

[RagingKrikkit]

Modern Warfare 2: Cliffhanger has just so many wonderful little bits in it, from the ice climbing at the start to the friggin snowmobile chase at the end. Also worthy of mention is the opening scene of Of Their Own Accord, and that moment that any player with a soul spends gazing in horror around the wreckage of Washington.

Metal Gear Solid Series: Ocelot fights, enough said. Also the interactive comic book-style cutscenes in Peace Walker.

Goldeneye 007: Frigate. There is nothing like the feeling of charging through small metal corridors where the enemy has no chance of evading the onslaught of bullets that rain from your akimbo extended magazine submachine guns.

Pokemon Platinum: This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1TNUPLXLqA).

[RagingKrikkit]

Incorrect. The Callisto NTG is the greatest gun ever made, not the SuperDragon. Don't worry, understandable mistake :smalltongue:

RCP-120, and don't forget the laptop gun!

[Knight13]

I actually liked Xen. Except for Gonarch. That was kind of creepy.
Apparently Valve came up with the Gonarch during a late night development session. One of the developers just suddenly went "Hey, let's put a giant testicle on a twenty foot tall armored spider".

[Volthawk]

I'm probably going to be strung up for this, but here goes:

I actually liked Xen. Except for Gonarch. That was kind of creepy.

The main reason I didn't like Xen was the fact that I could never really manage to pull off the long jump module reliably. Using tha thing was a real pain in the arse.

[Ianuagonde]

Baldur's Gate: Durlag's Tower. It's massive, it's creepy and very hard.

Baldur's Gate 2: Spellhold. There is a in-game reason why this dungeon has puzzles and riddles.

Planescape: The Clerk's Ward. So many interesting NPCs in the Sensorium, and the museum was a nice touch as well.

MegaMan 2: Metal Man. Moving floors adds a lot of challenge.

MegaMan 3: Gemini Man. You can stand on the bubbles, but sometimes you have to blast through them to get to a ladder. And then you find out that some type of tadpole lives inside, and immediately attacks when its bubble bursts.

MegaMan 4: Ring Man. That level was very spacey, and very hard. Disappearing floors, rocket-launcing hippo robots on regenerating elevating platforms (and you can't reach the hippo without first blasting the support column), it had everything.

Super Mario 1: Level 2-2, if I recall correctly. You're underwater, and everything you know about moving no longer applies. That was a rush.

Super Mario 3: World 7. You have all the required theme worlds like desert and water, and when you least expect it, you get something original. Plants, plants and more plants.

The legend of Zelda: dungeon 9. Its massive, and has multiple sets of stairs when every dungeon so far had only one set. I got lost more times than I can count.

LoZ: a Link to the Past: the Ice Dungeon, number 6 I believe. Falling through a hole is suddenly required instead of fatal. It took me a while before I figured that out. And then you have to travel back up so you can fall through a different hole...

Diablo 2: the Arcane Sanctum. After all that sand and tombs you enter some spacey Escher-esque labyrinth. Honorable mention to the cathedral in act 1, for the lovely murals.

Warcraft 3: March of the Ancients. Move your entire base from site to site. From the expansion: the storming of Magtheradons Citadel (the last mission for the blood elves. It really looks like another world, compared to the rest of the game. Weird relics and war machines, demonic opponents, naval forces in the sewer system...

I'll stop now, and reminisce about how old I am and how good/bad it was back then. In my day, if you were stuck in a game, there was no internet to tell you what to do, no sir...

[Emmerask]

I'll stop now, and reminisce about how old I am and how good/bad it was back then. In my day, if you were stuck in a game, there was no internet to tell you what to do, no sir...

Well there where tips/tricks/walkthroughs in gaming magazines and of course hotlines you could call for help ^^

I remember calling one time when I was pretty young(the only time ever) for Mystic Quest for the Game Boy, the riddle in the desert where you have to walk around 2 palms in a figure 8 to make the entrance visible :smallbiggrin:

[Alge'n]

Psychonauts I'm tempted to say "all of them" too, but if I had to make a choice I'd say The Milkman Conspiracy...or the Lungfish level... Or Black Velvetopia...DAMN that game is good.

VVVVVV Doing things the hard way. Nail-bitingly hard, but oh sooooo satisfying when you finally succeed

Fallout 2 : New Reno, probably.

Vampire Bloodlines This one is obvious, the haunted manor of course.

[Alge'n]

Psychonauts I'm tempted to say "all of them" too, but if I had to make a choice I'd say The Milkman Conspiracy...or the Lungfish level... Or Black Velvetopia...DAMN that game is good.

VVVVVV Doing things the hard way. Nail-bitingly hard, but oh sooooo satisfying when you finally succeed

Fallout 2 : New Reno, probably.

Vampire Bloodlines This one is obvious, the haunted manor of course.

There are also a lot of games where I really like the overall design or a group of level (for example Athkatla in BG2) but rarely just one level in particular.

[danzibr]

Ahh reading this thread brought back some memories...

I'm going to work just off of memory, so if anything's wrong, please correct me.

Final Fantasy: Mirage Tower and the Sky Fortress or whatever it's called. At this point you have your class change and are ready to whup some ass. I think the idea is neat, taking a tall tower then teleporting up even higher.

Final Fantasy VII: Definitely not Corel, brgh. In all seriousness, probably... the northern crater (the second time). There's just so much diversity.

Final Fantasy VIII: Going through Balamb to make it fly. I LOVE the music here. Maybe my favorite in any game. I also love Eyes on Me from this game.

River City Ransom: The high school. River City High or whatever. At this point you're super buff, probably with Grand Slam, go own some dudes with a trash can.

Baldur's Gate: The mine. As much as I love Kobolds, there's also something special about owning them.

Baldur's Gate II: D'Arnise Keep, with the nine hells a close second. The keep is actually even cooler with a mod, though I forget the mod name.

Condemned: Criminal Origins: The last place, the farmhouse or whatever. So many guns there, and the boss fight is epic.

Planescape: Torment: Fortress of Regrets. The idea that a place in your mind is made out of your regrets... very cool. Also I like Curst.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Shadow Moses. In particular, PILOTING REX!!! Coolest part in any game ever (not really, but I did like it).

Phantasy Star IV: Pretty much all of Palma. Dezolis and Rikros were boring though.

Xenogears: Many levels. Probably... anything but the final dungeon and the sewers.

Like many others, the list could go on for pages and pages.

EDIT: There were several games I thought of and couldn't come up with any really memorable levels, despite that I loved them. Oh, I just remembered one.

Breath of Fire III: Caer Xhan and the tournament are both totally awesome.

Also, it'd be interesting to have a least favorite game levels thread (unless there already is one).

[Wardog]

I'm going to get really retro and propose:

Miragia, from Commander Keen 4. Just because it was so unusual, and had an eeiry beauty to it. (Well, it does in my memory anyway. I looked it up on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTmFDyUITM)yesterday, and it doesn't quite live up to my nostalgia).

Assorted other favourite levels (also quite old):

Deus Ex - I'm torn between the escape from Magestic 12 headquarters, Vandenburg Airfield, and Area 51. All three struck me as very good, dramatic, "alright, it's payback time!" type levels.

Unreal Tournament 2003: the level with the three floating asteroids with pyramids built on them, and the level with the big glowy forest. Both utterly beautiful in their own way (and far too good to be wasted on a mere FPS deathmatch map).

Halo: Combat Evolved - the beach assault level. 100%, unadalterated badass.

Freelancer: the "Escape from New YorkPlanet Manhatten" mission. When the plot really kicks off, everything seems to be going to hell, and then the cavalry arrives.


Also: Eversion, World 7. Because its a lot easier that the previous ones, as long as you aren't too woried about gettign all the gems. And once you've got through it, you get to rescue the princess! (Oh, wait... what... Oh. Oh no. Oh God, NO!)

[JustSomeGuy]

Probotector (NES): The snow level was pretty cool (ha), but the last 'mechanical' level before it went all alieny was amazing (as the graphics and my imagination could create).

Earthworm Jim (SNES): the Mars level with the evil cat guy; the look, the music, the boss; all fitted perfectly.

Streetfighter II (SNES): Sagat; Balrog was a bit 'showy', but when you got to Sagat you knew you were close to winning (also he looked utterly badass).

Jagged Alliance 2 (PC): Tixa prison, Alma compound - you never knew what was around the next corner/door, but you knew they were serious business. Also, the character creation questionnaire, awesome - totally set the tone for how you'd play.

Mariocart (SNES): Rainbow road!

San Andreas (xbox): THat music guy's mansion (the stealth mission) and the container ship.

Sonic (master system): Labyrinth - underwater, quick find the air bubbles!

[Maxios]

Team Fortress 2: 2Fort (Technically, it's not a level though)

[Avilan the Grey]

Mass Effect: The Feros Missions

Mass Effect 2: Tali's recruit mission. Jack's loyalty mission. Miranda's loyalty mission.

Diablo 1: Tristram (love the music)

Diablo 2: Second half of Act I (monestary)

Diablo 3: Middle third of Act I

[Pronounceable]

Why Life of the Party hasn't been mentioned on every second post? I am disappoint. Life of the Party is the best level ever made.

[LeoMidori]

Super Mario 3: World 4 The Giant Island. All of it! :D

[arguskos]

I dont think you are supposed to fight the brutes at that point to be honest for me i would say whatever the geths planet is called the ending of that mission was one of the most involving moments in the game since i hadnt saved Tali in the last game so compromise was impossible
What's the fun of NOT fighting the brutes, though? Gotta kill 'em all! :smallbiggrin:

Also, yeah, the ending of the Rannoch mission was pretty excellent as well. Honestly, just all of ME3 (until the last five minutes) was a great game. Well executed, well realized, just superbly done.

[WoodStock_PV]

Age of Wonders 1: The hall of heroes. So much exploration, so many dark elves, a HUGE map, I've beated it countless times and never managed to find the titular city and all it's sweet heroes.

[Ricky S]

Dawn of war: The third mission in the campaign where you get to rescue civilians and get to control guardsmen as well. It is also the first time you get to use a dreadnought.

Oblivion:All of the thieves guild misssions

Call of Duty... something: The one where you get to kill all of those civilians in the airport. Finally a game where you can unload on the general populace and not have a game over.

Halo The 2nd mission where you get the sniper rifle and have to rescue the marines. Sniping is just way too fun!

[mangosta71]

So many, I'm sure I'll miss some.

Baldur's Gate 2: Any time Irenicus is onscreen. Magnificent villain. As for actual levels, the Underdark.

Mass Effect: Virmire

Mass Effect 2: Mordin's loyalty mission.

World of Warcraft: Black Temple

Alpha Protocol: so many. The second step of the "weapons training exercise" at the beginning, meeting Stephen Heck, the running gunfight through the park, the train station in Moscow, Brayko's mansion, Marburg's villa, the forced choice in the museum, the final mission... Really the whole game is a blast if you play as a stealth-based character, because you feel like the villain in a slasher flick.

Ocarina of Time: sneaking through the Gerudo Fortress

I'm sure I'll add to this list some day when I actually have time to think about it. If I remember the thread.

[nhbdy]

Dark Souls Sen's Fortress: it's a castle built to house deathtraps... filled with manserpents and headless demons... topped by an iron golem that is by my estimation over 20ft tall... what's not to love? (pvp there is just plain devilish)

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time The Shadow Temple: I'm a sucker for illusions and invisible stuff, the fact that this temple made me ration my magic to get through it successfully really added urgency to the downright creepy ambiance

Oblivion The dark brotherhood mission where you can kill the man by dropping his trophy head on him... little details like making the killing look accidental really flesh out missions to me

Portal 2 Underneath Aperture: The run down bowls of a long forgotten part of the monolithic Aperture Science laboratories, it features some of the best dialogue in the game as well as requiring some very creative use of your portals to successfully navigate (and find a few easter eggs)

Mass Effect 2 Going with the obvious choice here, the suicide mission, it was just so fantastically done I can't not choose it

Mass Effect 3 Rannoch: The simple reason here being that it forced me to choose between legion and tali the first time (as I had rushed in my excitement for ME3 and had not done legion's loyalty mission in that playthrough) I felt so bad after my choice and it really sunk in the fact that war means death and sacrifices must be made... I honestly think the game could have featured more hard choices like that one, but I cannot complain much at all, the game is fantastic

KOTOR The Star Forge: it was a tough call between this and the sith academy, but I went with this because it is impossible to not feel like and unstoppable force of vengeance (or light, or whatever) when you are simply mowing through Malak's forces by the score as he desperately throws more and more men at you in attempt to stall you long enough to get his plan in place

Final Fantasy Tactics Another tough game to pick a favorite level on, but I'd have to say it ultimately comes to the first lucavi fight for the simple fact that it is your first fight with an atemporal demon who is corrupting the church and was summoned by the artifacts that were supposedly used to defeat them... yeah it looks bad... it gets even worse when you check the health and see HP: ???

The Witcher 2 The Kayran: The buildup is the best part of this fight, you spend sever quests just investigating and preparing for this fight, you make an antidote for the venom, you find out it's origins, why it's here, where it was before and so on... and the you go to kill it having no idea what it looks like, and when it comes out of the water for the first time, the first thought I had was I'M GOING TO NEED A BIGGER SWORD!