best tutorial-ish levels ever?

[irrelevantnugget]

Gears of War

A room full of different size blocks to practice cover techniques on and you can skip it if you want to.

²

Also, Guild Wars. The Prophecies tutorial, aka Pre-Searing. Many people still have a character there that they'll never bring to the next area (you can't go back once you've left).

 

[The Franco]

I loved World of Warcraft's tutorial. Seeing as how many players have referred to levels 1-59(69) as a tutorial, it was the most enjoyment I had in that game.

But sarcasm aside, Sasha's shooting gallery in Psychonauts was my favorite, as well as one of my favorite cutscenes in any video game.

Another victory in the name of good taste.

 

[Sasha Janre]

I liked that .. learner's hall or whatever in FF7, that was pretty hilarious. Cloud's tutorials were probably the funniest ones I've gone through.
-Hmm .. probably KH2, since Roxas' story was pretty much the tutorial for the beginning of the game.
-Dirge of Cerberus had a pretty nifty one as it was a Turks Training Facility simulation.

Please tell me you are joking. A game that has a tutorial/introduction (or whatever you kids are calling the beginning of RPGs nowadays) that lasts for well over an hour is not in good form to me. I found myself yelling at my TV screen "Can we please just start the game already?" When we were finally shown Sora and the title of the game pops up, I found myself cynically replying "No freaking shit, I've been playing this for nearly 2 hours now but thank you very much for informing me of what game I am playing, for a second there, I thought I was playing God of War".

I do however agree with the tutorial room in FF7, that was well done.

T_T Aw, but I honestly did like it. Okay it was long, but it was an introduction to Roxas and the whole story of the game. XD; but hey, to each their own.

 

[sammyfreak]

World of Warcraft

No competition.

All the 6 starting zones (2 more in the expansion) are beautifuly designed areas that perfectly integrate you into the game teaching you everything you need to know for the first 20 levels of the game. They are so incredibly well polished and streamlines that no other MMO can even hope to compete against them.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I like games that come so naturally, they don't have tutorials.

 

[Singing Gremlin]

Second Evil Genius. It is a tutorial, but if you don't want it you can move through at a speed that it doesn't feel like it.

 

[Grampy_bone]

I liked Thief and System Shock 2's tutorial levels.

Thief's made sense because it was Garret's Keeper training. System Shock 2 was the army recruiting programs!

Deus Ex had a good tutorial with a bit of character interaction and such.

I hate RTS tutorials where they're like "Please view video 1 of 53" with unskipable messages and slow as dirt progression. Seriously, just because I haven't played your game before doesn't mean I'm a moron.

 

[VRaptorX]

Metal Gear Solid. It was going through controls as the oppening credits came and while stealthing around already. very unique.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Half Life Opposing Force.

It gets it purely on the line "You may have not noticed, but you are still alive,"

 

[Shatners Bassoon]

Wow sucks ya fuckin World of Warcraft fanboy!!! City of Heroes kicks its ass up and down fucker!!!

Charming gentleman. Lets edit this.

WoW in my eyes is not as good as people such as yourself claim it to be. But I applaud your right to cherish and love this game as you see fit! City of Heroes however I believe is better in certain respects, mainly pertaining to that of the tutorial and does kick its lower half you man who beds females!

That's better, but I leave his ass kicking to you Charlie lover. Also only whack jobs use more than one exclamation mark, if Pratchett says so its gospel.

 

[sammyfreak]

World of Warcraft

No competition.

All the 6 starting zones (2 more in the expansion) are beautifuly designed areas that perfectly integrate you into the game teaching you everything you need to know for the first 20 levels of the game. They are so incredibly well polished and streamlines that no other MMO can even hope to compete against them.

Wow sucks ya fuckin World of Warcraft fanboy!!! City of Heroes kicks its ass up and down fucker!!!

I believe this is what Yahtzee spoke of when he talked about a small doubt hanging around in the back of your skull that you aren't having as much fun as you try to convice yourself that you are.

But this is about the tutorial of the game and unfortunately I cannot judge City of Heroe's. Still I cannot imagine it having the precise mathematical detail lovingly crafted by Blizzard.

 

[Easykill]

Morrowind. Yes, Morrowind. I'm not kidding.

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[x434343]

I liked Call of Duty 1's. It was basically how I had seen it in my mind for a war game.

Of course, Crysis has a fun first level.

Hmm, and uhh, Half-Life 2. It builds its tutorials inside the game.

 

[Eyclonus]

Morrowwind was good, brief, to the point and straight into the game, I just wish that some of the more complicated mechanics were explained, like enchantments.

My favourite is probably Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher's Bay, First your told how to look around and the move keys, then straight after that window fades: "Approach Johns from behind, Right Click to kill Johns. Avoid auto turrents."

Other than that probably Destroy All Humans...

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

I can always appreciate when games fit bit-by-bit tutorials into their opening story levels without dumbing it down too much, creating a level solely for a tutorial, or blocking the use of basic moves until it tells you how to use them. This is what happens in:

-God of War
-Metroid Prime (1-3)
-Turok: Dinosaur Hunter

Also of honorable mention is Star Fox 64's tutorial- it used an intro level unrelated to the story to introduce Missile Locks, Loops, Half Loops and other fancy things, but it had it's own little secret; if you killed 100 enemies a Star Wolf craft would show up.

 

[Man_In_Gauze]

I liked Thief and System Shock 2's tutorial levels.
System Shock 2 was the army recruiting programs!

I agree with both Half-Life's and CoD. System Shock 2 had a great tutorial, but the little in-game blurbs that you had to read were really annoying, because you could easily miss one and not know what to do, and stopping to read them killed the immersion of the early levels.

The LotR movie games had excellent tutorials; when I play RotK with friends, I let them go through the tutorial and they usually are competent enough to play through the rest of the game with me in co-op and generally know what they're doing.

 

[Namewithheld]

Jack, from Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. He was the greatest tutorial ever. Cool and kickass, and didn't give a crap about anybody, but willing to spend just enough time to stop you from swallowing your own fists.

"We're living in the age of the internet and cellphone cameras. F@#! ups ain't tolerated."

Jack is the win. Epic, pure win.

Another good tutorial would be the tutorial from Myth II. <throws explosive, blows a dummy to pieces> KABOOM! He's not getting up again.

 

[TheSteeleStrap]

The tutorials in Psychoauts are fun, and they better be since they go on for so damn long.

 

[stompy]

I didn't mind the tutorial from KH1/2. That, and COD4's.