What game had the best opening level? IYO?

In your big opinion what level had the best and/or most memorable opening level?

I play Tomb Raider II today, and it level design far better than Ocarina Of Time, with with large, but ultimately directed levels with a sense of scale very impressive from the Playstation 1 era. doing a very good job is hiding it's draw distance. I think it's safe to say, this sense of scale, multitude of secrets, including a super secret T-Rex or two, make it's opening Great Of Wall one of the most memorable opening levels of a game, as well as probably one of the best demo levels - that saved us all.

Megaman X

Your on this road its falling apart androids attacking from everywhere. Therese a giant bee android that comes out, then a this guy in a giant mech suit that looks like boba fett hops out of an airship.

He's unkillable an defeats you, you think your dead and all hope is lost the game looks likes it over than zero comes in an one shots his suit saves x and vile flees.

You can't write a better script, great music, great everything would play again.

Go Straight. 'nuff said.

I do like this one

Deus Ex comes to mind. From the very first moment they show you that this game has massive environments, a lot of secrets and room for emergent gameplay. For scripted sequences, Mass Effect 2 comes to mind.

That intro is the reason why I ended up finishing the game over 20 times. Half Life 2's intro is also fantastic. The way you walk around in City 17 and look at current state of humanity and then slowly start meeting important characters is just masterful imo.

I agree. Deus Ex 1 definietely has great opening moments.

beside older tomb raider games also suck if not worse than new reboots.

Bioshock

Bioshock
Goldeneye (N64)
Half-Life 1/2
The Last of Us
Medal of Honor: Frontline

Half Life for its time had an excellent intro. It was unashamedly attempting to be cinematic, guiding the player on rails around the opening environment, one of the early attempts at that kind of introduction so we can all blame PC for what you all scorn as 'movie games' today on console :) I suppose it was all the more impressive because of what they achieved compared to what was around at the time, true of the rest of the game as well.

At the risk of playing Captain Obvious here Uncharted 2's intro was amazing. It was just so slick, tense and atmospheric and set the tone for what turned out to be a truly outstanding game right till the end.

Witcher 2 had a really good intro, full of drama and scene-setting leading the player to believe they were in for something really special but unlike the other two I mentioned the rest of the game turned out to be an absolute snoozefest.

The Last of Us. Not going to give spoilers away, but those who have played it will know

Super Metroid, ALttP, TLoU, RE4. Ori and the Blind Forest was tough.

Mega Man X - The intro stage is pretty fucking rad.

Deus Ex - As cloud said, there is something incredibly genius about it. Most people on their first try will think Liberty Island is kind of meh as a level, until they get to the end of the level and realize "oh shit, I could have done all these other things" it puts a spot light on the virtues of Deus Ex's level design versus those of other games. Something that Human Revolution's intro level doesn't come close to capturing.

Doom 1 and 2 - Short, sweet, simple, right into the game. The way it should be.

Super Mario Bros. - Really any mario bros game would do, but that music has more or less become iconic for a reason, and I can play that level any day of the week and still find it fun.

Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 3 - That's how you start an action video game.

Resident Evil 4 - If the opening is from that initial dude to the first big throw down in the village before Leon says bingo, it's tightly paced, it teaches you all the principles of the overall gameplay experience, it's satysfing as **** to play, and one might actually argue that throw down in that village, where a few decisions in the level design can change the entire fight is the best combat sequence in the game, in a game that has a lot of excellent ones, yeah it's pretty fucking impressive.

This.

I liked the intro to halo:CE

Yeah, that opening section is amazing. Can't wait to play it again this week.

Bioshock immediately comes to mind.

Medal Of Honour: Frontline - The first level is freaking D Day, a brutal assault. I got slaughtered on that beach randomly so many times and loved every second.

Link To The Past - Brief cutscene intro to Hyrule, then it's pounding rain and dark storms as you break into the castle, save the Princess and flee the evil guards. An easy tutorial that's also an epic break out, just awesome.

Resident Evil 4

That "previously on Resident Evil" thing is dumb and unneeded. Besides that, it is easily one of the most tense and exciting opening sequences to a video game. Even when I replay it, the opening still manages to pull me in every single time.

I replayed that opening mission more then the actual game afterward. The rest of the campaign is pretty dull in comparison.

I actually dislike that level. One of the worst in the game imo. Compared to Severnaya, Frigate, Train, Jungle, etc.

I always enjoyed the intro mission on Mass Effect,