Best Shooter Levels

[Soviet Heavy]

Fortress from Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2. You launch a one man assault on a skyscraper.

Crimson Fastness from Borderlands is pretty fun too.

Visari Palace from Killzone 2. In fact most of the levels in Killzone 2 were a blast.

 

[Kadoodle]

Everybody hated the level design in F.E.A.R.

I loved it. I loved the waterworks level with the ladder sequence, and I loved the one level that took place on the rooftops of Armacham.


As for non FPS, Uncharted 2's Urban Warfare levels and the train levels.

 

[bliebblob]

Going by how many times I replayed them: the antlion standoff in the tunnels and the endfight of half life 2 episode 2. Also the helicopter vs boat part in ye olde half life 2.

Once when I was bored I made a game out of speedrunning that last one. Doing the whole race without getting hit by anything or getting stuck is very satisfying for some reason.

 

[TimeComando]

HALO: CE second level when you step out of your downed escape pod onto Halo . . . wow.

NO game has come along since that had an equivalent feeling of truly being on a alien world as that second level of combat evolved. That was such a massive leap forward in gaming to me, and I don't feel has been bested. That's the reason I play games, to inspire my imagination, and take me some where I can't physically go.

Bungies older FPS Marathon had surprisingly creative and original level design for an FPS in that era. I suggest anyone check it who is interested in Bungies history, or primitive game history.

 

[Not PvP Flagged]

I love Timesplitters

 

[TimeComando]

Halo 2 Multiplayer (Lock Out) this is a simple tight map that stacks the killing like a sandwich. Best weapons Shotgun and green laser carbine. I literally have dreams about this map, Seriously.

And before Bungie dumped the Head to Head game type. I had the most intensely stressful and cerebral gaming experience ever. But half of the players would quit.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

Sniper mission is Call of Duty 4
Fight duel scarabs in Halo 3
Worm mission in Gears 2
Uncharted 2 train mission
Those are the big ones that stand out in my mind.

 

[pspman45]

Crysis 2, the section where you have to defend the Train station for the evacuation
that battle escalated effectively

 

[Tupolev]

Even though it was a cut-and-paste job for much of it, I feel like I'm the only person who actually LIKES the Library level from the first Halo game. I actually found myself really immersed in the game the first time I played that mission, and the Flood were a pretty tough enemy that drew me in as if I was actually there fighting them off. Not many games manage that nowadays.

You're not the only one. Even back when I first played the level I respected its role in the flow of the narrative, though it took me years before I grew to like it in and of itself.

These days I actually consider it a brilliantly executed level. Each floor sets up the one above it, and it's got an incredibly mesmerizing rhythm to it when played straight through. The first floor, for instance, is almost never fun in and of itself, but it prepares the player to drop into the awesome rhythm of floor 2, which prepares the player for floor 3, so on and so forth. You really have to trust the dev going into it, though; if you try to just rush through and not take it in at all, or if you play it in little pieces, it's horrible.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

Notre Dam in Timesplitters 2 on Hard. It's starts with you shooting zombies in a crypt and escalates to a fight with a demon in the cathedral and then scaling the side of Notre Dam in the rain. Awesome.

Or the second level from Future Perfect set in Scotland. Nothing like storming a fortress with the British Navy blowing it up at the same time. Or maybe even the level in the future where you fight the giant Goliath robot. Too many to choose from...

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Left 4 Dead No Mercy: stage 4, I just love that whole level (though No Mercy is an excessively overused campaign).

Med/Sci level in System Shock 2... not that it's the best level in the game, but when I play it I get whacked with nostalgia (and the atmosphere is ace).

The mind bending Pagan mansion in Thief... the level, actually scares me.

2nd level in AvP (original PC title, not the new one) as Marine... its as close as you're going to get to Aliens (movie).

The illumantis hideout in Deus Ex... so many secrets.

Does Morrowind count as a level?