I'm fucking bored and all my shit is packed so I can't play a damn thing. But that wont stop me from talking about games. So after thinking about it for a while, I came up with some of my favorite introductory levels in video game history and why I think they are stunning. This list is mine, you can agree or not, post up your own list and why you think it's so great and let's see what types of levels really hit with people.
The following are what I think are some of the best first level's in video games in no particular order except number 1.
1. Final Fantasy 7 Bombing Mako Reactor 1: This first level puills out all the stops when it comes to JRPG intros. Never before and never since have I played a JRPG opening that hit the ground running. You have to break into this secure installation and plant a bomb. You are a mercenary who's name you don't know and the battle screen only described him as Ex-Solder. The dialog is rushed as the characters are frantic to get this done and get out without being caught. As a result the player is given this drive to rush, not to ask questions like "who are we?" "Why are we doing this?" all we know is this reactor is bad and we gotta blow it to hell. Topped off with a decent intro boss fight and a great soundtrack, FF7 starts the player in the action rather than building to it slowly the way most other JRPG's do. This mission sets up the rest of the game exceptionally well and gives the player a great sense of what's to come only to have the true story of the game hit the player later and subvert expectations.
Top this off with the Remake that totally modernizes the level while keeping the entire feel and rush of the original game. And the boss fight is much much much better. FF7 has the best first level in any game I've ever played.
2. Super Mario Bros 1-1: Hard to top a classic. The original Mario Bros level 1-1 is a straightforward yet perfectly brillant example of a great side-scrolling platformer. The enemies are beautiful placed, the gaps are intimidating but not overly challenging, and all the mechanics of what the rest of the game will have to offer are on display. Power ups, secrets, the whole lot. Level 1-1 is perfect in its simplicity that not many games can touch even today.
3. Skyrim - Oh you're finally awake, let me tell you about a great intro to one of the most annoyingly re-released games ever made. The Elder Scrolls games love starting the player off in prison, or otherwise captured in some way and Skyrim is no different. You wake in a carage being lead through a town for your execution. It's never said what you did, if anything at all, but you are together with another pretty major character in the game's world both bound for the same fate. Of course this being the beginning of the game, this isn't going to go to plan. After making your character, you watch someone get executed, then it's your turn. However a big fucking dragon interupts the event and everyone scatters in a panic. Here you are given a choice to go with the guards or the stormcloaks, giving you choices and building the foundations of the reputation your character can build form the very first moments of gameplay. You rush through the town, avoiding the dragon, eventually making your way through a cave that spills you into an open-world with some of the best freedom to explore that any open-world game has ever provided. For all the memes that it generated, the intro to Skyrim is actually pretty damn great.
4. Metal Gear Solid 2 - This is probably the biggest WTF in gaming history. Coming off the incredible Metal Gear Solid on Playstation 1, Kojima comes back and brings you another epic mission with Snake. Terrorist have taken a cargo ship that is holding a secret weapon, a brand new Metal Gear Prototype. It's up to Snake to infiltrate the ship, and find out who's behind the terrorist group and stop them from taking the Metal Gear warmachine. Except it turns out that you can do this all in about an hour, less if you skip dialog. What the fuck man, short game. Wait? Who the fuck is the blonde pussy Raiden? What's going on? Metal Gear Solid 2's intro is a great experience, it teaches the player everything they need to play the rest of the game, it showcases the new power of the PS2 and the new details capable in a game like this. And it builds off the back of Metal Gear Solid only to sweep that out from under you and give you a brand new character to play the rest of the game as. Upsetting as it might be, it worked and it's great.
5. God of War - God of War doesn't give the player a moment to breathe. You're Kratos, you're on a fucking boat, there are monsters, rip them apart. Dumping the player into the brutal combat of God of War right off the gate and throwing them against a giant sea monster right off the bat was a brillant move. Kratos starts with a huge array of combos and combat capability that only gets bigger throughout the game. This was one of the first games I ever got from Gamefly and ten minutes into the game I went online and bought it off them because i was hooked immediately. God of War never once disappointed me throughout it's entire run time. Never has a game made you feel like a badass so quickly and clearly as God of War.
The following are what I think are some of the best first level's in video games in no particular order except number 1.
1. Final Fantasy 7 Bombing Mako Reactor 1: This first level puills out all the stops when it comes to JRPG intros. Never before and never since have I played a JRPG opening that hit the ground running. You have to break into this secure installation and plant a bomb. You are a mercenary who's name you don't know and the battle screen only described him as Ex-Solder. The dialog is rushed as the characters are frantic to get this done and get out without being caught. As a result the player is given this drive to rush, not to ask questions like "who are we?" "Why are we doing this?" all we know is this reactor is bad and we gotta blow it to hell. Topped off with a decent intro boss fight and a great soundtrack, FF7 starts the player in the action rather than building to it slowly the way most other JRPG's do. This mission sets up the rest of the game exceptionally well and gives the player a great sense of what's to come only to have the true story of the game hit the player later and subvert expectations.
Top this off with the Remake that totally modernizes the level while keeping the entire feel and rush of the original game. And the boss fight is much much much better. FF7 has the best first level in any game I've ever played.
2. Super Mario Bros 1-1: Hard to top a classic. The original Mario Bros level 1-1 is a straightforward yet perfectly brillant example of a great side-scrolling platformer. The enemies are beautiful placed, the gaps are intimidating but not overly challenging, and all the mechanics of what the rest of the game will have to offer are on display. Power ups, secrets, the whole lot. Level 1-1 is perfect in its simplicity that not many games can touch even today.
3. Skyrim - Oh you're finally awake, let me tell you about a great intro to one of the most annoyingly re-released games ever made. The Elder Scrolls games love starting the player off in prison, or otherwise captured in some way and Skyrim is no different. You wake in a carage being lead through a town for your execution. It's never said what you did, if anything at all, but you are together with another pretty major character in the game's world both bound for the same fate. Of course this being the beginning of the game, this isn't going to go to plan. After making your character, you watch someone get executed, then it's your turn. However a big fucking dragon interupts the event and everyone scatters in a panic. Here you are given a choice to go with the guards or the stormcloaks, giving you choices and building the foundations of the reputation your character can build form the very first moments of gameplay. You rush through the town, avoiding the dragon, eventually making your way through a cave that spills you into an open-world with some of the best freedom to explore that any open-world game has ever provided. For all the memes that it generated, the intro to Skyrim is actually pretty damn great.
4. Metal Gear Solid 2 - This is probably the biggest WTF in gaming history. Coming off the incredible Metal Gear Solid on Playstation 1, Kojima comes back and brings you another epic mission with Snake. Terrorist have taken a cargo ship that is holding a secret weapon, a brand new Metal Gear Prototype. It's up to Snake to infiltrate the ship, and find out who's behind the terrorist group and stop them from taking the Metal Gear warmachine. Except it turns out that you can do this all in about an hour, less if you skip dialog. What the fuck man, short game. Wait? Who the fuck is the blonde pussy Raiden? What's going on? Metal Gear Solid 2's intro is a great experience, it teaches the player everything they need to play the rest of the game, it showcases the new power of the PS2 and the new details capable in a game like this. And it builds off the back of Metal Gear Solid only to sweep that out from under you and give you a brand new character to play the rest of the game as. Upsetting as it might be, it worked and it's great.
5. God of War - God of War doesn't give the player a moment to breathe. You're Kratos, you're on a fucking boat, there are monsters, rip them apart. Dumping the player into the brutal combat of God of War right off the gate and throwing them against a giant sea monster right off the bat was a brillant move. Kratos starts with a huge array of combos and combat capability that only gets bigger throughout the game. This was one of the first games I ever got from Gamefly and ten minutes into the game I went online and bought it off them because i was hooked immediately. God of War never once disappointed me throughout it's entire run time. Never has a game made you feel like a badass so quickly and clearly as God of War.
