What are your most favorite/best video game levels?

[FH 721]

The Cyrus Pinkney museum from Arkham City (not really a "level" but more of a particular area).

Medical Pavilion from BioShock (What can I do with this one Aphrodite? SHE WON'T STAY STILL!!!).

The Clockwork Mansion from Dishonored 2.

The Covenant from Halo 3 (fuck Bungie really knew how to make a fun FPS back then didn't they?).

The Church of Unitology in Dead Space 2.

 

[CancerGoat]

Level 5 in that coolmath game, "Run".

 

[Chichan]

1. The forest temple in ocarina of time the music is eery and keeps me in a alert state the whole time especially those fucking hands that come from the ceiling grrr.
2. Saints Row the third when you are drugged up and are sent to the bdsm mansion owned by the morning star. You are completely naked stumbling around and you have to free hoes its just funny to me and also the elaborate sex rooms . I especially liked beating the shit out of the gimps good times.
3. Sly cooper 3 I liked going to the outback there was a mission where you had to get into a lemonade drinking contest and the guards have these bogan ass australian accents and of course there is a bar fight. This big motherfucker comes in and is possessed by this evil mask and he gets even bigger so regular attacks don't so you have to stun him with surrounding objects like barrels, fire and other shit and then you could hit him. The music along with the fuckin size of this jabroni fucking raised my anxiety so much one wrong misstep and you get pummeled by a dingo... Then when I found Mr.Metokur he had read aloud a vore fanfic about it and now I can't look at it the same without thinking of shitty vore and furries.

 

[Red Hood]

Tomb Raider- The Lost Valley and St Francis Folly. the first because of dinosaurs, the second because of the vertical level design

Tomb Raider 2- All three Venice levels.

Dark Forces- Jabba's Ship. Starting off with you punching giant lizards to death and not having too many confusing key hunts.

Shinobi III- The surfing level, and the one where everything is on fire.

Medal of Honor Allied Assault- Arnhem Knights for the sad feels.

Medal of Honor Airborne- The tutorial was fantastic in part due to the editing. It's one of the few times a game has felt "cinematic" in a way not to its detriment, and it's a decent tutorial to boot.

 

[WEEDle]

A lot of this has to do with the amazing music and the nostalgia of playing this when I was about 5 or 6 years old. I like blue a lot also and the level has loads of that.

There's a lot more but this is one of the first to come to mind. I'll probably post more later.

 

[Edgeworth]

• City in the Sky - Twilight Princess - good music, good mechanics, fun boss fight, visually interesting
• While I also love 'At Sea' and 'Join me in Paradise', I'm putting 'The Twelve Towers' from Uncharted 4 - it's the first BIG open area in the game and it still takes my breath away with how beautiful it is. Also the banter with Nathan, Sam and Sully is the best.
• This is unpopular opinion but I really liked Manaan in Knights of the Old Republic. Diplomacy!
• That part in Far Cry 3 where you get a flamethrower and you have to burn down all the weed fields to dubstep. That was my jam.
  
  I'll add more as I think of them
  
  

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

I like the barrel blast levels of the SNES Donkey Kong Country series.
It was all about timing.

Also the bramble levels where you had to fly around with Squaks.

 

[Wasted Potential]

Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2 was always a favorite. The music and the slot machine feature were some of the best parts.

 

[WEEDle]

Casino Zone is definitely one that hits me in that nostalgic spot. Same with Sonic 1's weird bonus zones. They could be a bit frustrating to play at times but the music and backgrounds were so relaxing to me as a young child I didn't really mind.

 

[VIVIIXI]

Not so much a level as a boss, but off the top of my head Vicar Amelia from Blood Borne. Can't explain it, but I just like the ambience and general theme/feel. Love the music as well.

 

[Monsieur Guillotine]

I wasn't as big a fan of the cart levels in the first Donkey Kong Country game, but the ones in DKC2 were fantastic. The mechanics were fun, and the art and music really made them pop:

The quiz minigame was also fun:

 

[JM 590]

The entire first six hours of Final Fantasy VII takes place in Midgar, and that was by far the best part of the game.

I love me some FF7, but only for Midgar. Then I shelf the game for a few years, pick it back up, play through Midgar again, and put it right back up.

 

[Smug Chuckler]

The last world in SMB3 gave you horrifying nightmares when you were a child. Just imagine Satan's hand coming out of under your bed and grabbing you.

 

[Pargon]

Brinstar, from Super Metroid. The game gives you a great intro area with Crateria to ease you in and then draws you into what the meat of the game is going to be. Can't fault the music, either.

 

[WEEDle]

The entirety of Final Fantasy VII probably counts for me. Another one of those games I played early enough to leave a lasting nostalgic impact.

I used to have that scene on the TV and fall asleep to the music.

Final Fantasy VII had a lot of locations I'd like to live in, like Dollet (especially when you come back later in the game after the initial raid section just to do some sidequests).

Balamb Town (the music is so good and there's lots of BLUE)



Fisherman's Horizon has amazing music and atmosphere as well.

Final Fantasy IX as well. Dali has some of the most soothing music and atmosphere to boot.

I'm not sure if I played these games for the first time today if they'd have had as much of an impact on me as they did in my younger years. One of the crappy things about getting older (for me anyway) is I seem to care and react less to things.

 

[Absolute Brainlet]

hooray time for game sperging

Doom II - I unironically prefer The Living End over The Spirit World. The level just looks awesome and is a great way of recapping every challenge the game throws at you right before the final boss.
Doom I - E2M8, Tower of Babel. It looks pretty neat, I guess, and i like how it establishes that Barons aren't the biggest fishes in the pond at all, with four of them hanging on the walls in the start area. Music's also pretty nice, probably my favorite Doom I track.
Half-Life 2 - Ravenholm. Atmospheric, challenging, at times even horrifying... I don't need to explain this one, do I?

 

[Raging Capybara]

Half-Life 2, Route Kanal

Believe it or not, HL2 was the very first FPS I've ever played. Usually, consoles peasants when trying this genre for the first time feel disoriented and confused, because the controls are all new and different from what you would expect. But the level design from this game is so well made that I played it like a veteran. I always knew where to go and how to solve the puzzles, it was such an intuitive and pleasing experience.

I had some difficulties in this game later on, but the first level is a masterpiece. And it sets the mood perfectly too, it's haunting and eerie. Just perfect.

 

[JM 590]

I'm not sure if I played these games for the first time today if they'd have had as much of an impact on me as they did in my younger years. One of the crappy things about getting older (for me anyway) is I seem to care and react less to things.

You wouldn't. I'm in the same boat.

I would have loved Octopath Traveler if I had played it when I was 10. Just couldn't do it today, though.

 

[Lifeguard Hermit]

The mobius strip in the first half life/black mesa in "we got hostiles", before "blast pit". Though you see this all of the time, and has even been adopted as an fps trope, it was kinda neat.

For the time this was pretty innovative as minus marathon, no shooters had incorporated that particular aventure aspect into an fps. You can even see this with quake and quake 2 being a world apart in general level design, such recursive routes, and more secret areas in general.

Anartica on the old PSX game Twisted Metal 2 was also amazing, due to chunks of the iceberg you are fighting on cracking off to fall into the abyss.

For more modern games, tbh nothing has really impressed me too much other than uncharted 2, but thats more because the levels accentuate the feel that you are playing an action movie.

 

[Recoil]

The first 2 levels of any game are the best, much of the time.
The Desert in "Mad Max" & Central Yharnam are my current top examples of beautiful design in games.