Best first level of a game

[Refritz]

Dead Space... I got it yesterday and in the first 5 minutes i was chased, attacked and jumped. ...By alien things. Brilliant.

 

[The Giggling Pin]

Medal of Honor: Frontline

it's the best first level of a game, simply because the rest of the game was crap. relative to the rest of the game, the first level is the best first level in gaming history

This is a true statement. I never completed the game as i could never trudge through the crap that they called a game. The first level was full of drama and was paced perfectly, unless of course you stood still for a long time and you realised that it was all just set dressing. If you just ran with it though you would have an experience that is difficult to forget.

 

[Syphonz]

Dead Space... I got it yesterday and in the first 5 minutes i was chased, attacked and jumped. ...By alien things. Brilliant.

Too bad that's the scariest part of the game...

 

[Manyeyes]

Metroid Prime

 

[Fantastico]

The first level of Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow. I honestly never finished the game just because I kept on playing that one level, it was too fun!

 

[irrelevantnugget]

Heh, if Oblivion's first steps made you feel like that, you'd have collapsed on Morrowind. I still remember how I was fearful of the Silt Strider not knowing it was friendly.

Good times.

 

[ShotgunSmoke]

COD 4's boat level followed by the car sequence was pretty good.

Seconded, thirded, fourthed and fifthed. The ship level was breathtaking, the landing, "weapons free", shooting your way through, blindly running through a sinking ship, the jump to the heli, the last look on the ship, which disappears beneath the water, the title appears...
I knew it would be epic, but not THAT epic.
Mass Effect's beginning was awesome too.
I have to mention Max Payne 2 too. The dark atmosphere was perfect.

 

[The Mad Prophet]

I never tire of playing the first part of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night where you 'replay' the battle with Dracula as Richter from Rondo of Blood. As nostalgic as it is, it's the dialogue they added that makes it my favorite.

'Die, Monster! You don't belong in this world!'

 

[Xerosch]

The fact that not a single one of you mentioned Planescape Torment, yet brought up Halo, Devil May Cry, and Bioshock makes my eyes itch.


...Come the fuck on people, you wake up on a mortuary slab to a talking, floating skull.

I hear you, that's why I loved this game so much! The first level made everything sooo right, giving me a strange environment, lore, ghosts and more than one mystery to solve in the first 30 minutes. Definately seconded!

And why hasn't anyone mentioned 'Zork Nemeis' yet? The game is absolutely awesome, the first level alone hasn't lost any fascination for the last 15 years.

 

[S.H.A.R.P.]

I loved the first level of Half Life 2. It instantly becomes clear that something weird is going on. There's this clear vibe of oppression and propaganda going on. I found it to be quite convincing.

I also loved the first level of Bioshock (even though the rest of the game didn't interest me much). It was the first game I played on my new PC, and the reflection of the fires on the water was beautiful.

The first level of Crysis was also quite original. Jumping out of an aeroplane, then becoming aware that your parachute is broken. The rest was nothing special though, but the skydiving was pretty cool.