Favourite Levels/Environments

[Tuffty]

I thought it would be interesting to see what levels or environments stick out in your mind. If you can, post up a Youtube video of the level or environment itself. Also, do try and explain why it's sticking out at you. Maybe it's the actual gameplay content of the level, maybe an important story telling moment happened in it, or it's the design, the music, maybe pure nostalgia? Let's hear it. Also, exercise some caution and throw up some spoiler warnings in there if you think it might ruin the experience for someone who may not have played or seen it yet.

Prosper Bluff - Bastion

*SPOILER*



You reach this level, navigating through it as you have done before in previous levels, until you can hear that song start to play off in the distance. You want to know more and you just charge your way through the enemies, getting closer and closer, the song getting louder until you get to the source. And you just put the controller down and listen to it all clearly, watching the petals drift across in the foreground. Just one of those standout moments.

'All Ghillied Up' - Call of Duty 4



In 5 years and many other 'me too' clones you care to mention, this mission in COD4 is still the best level in anything the series has shown. Set in Pripyat, Chernobyl in the 90's, you are on a stealth mission to find and assassinate a Russian ultranationalist leader. The reason why it's so good is that the level pores out with quality. There's an inherent danger all around you with radiated fields that can kill you if you venture too far off course, so navigating through the fields and past the patrols require's good planning, timing and precision aim. It's also a change of pace from the loud, blazing open battles you've played through already to reach that point. The standout moment for me comes as an armored convoy approaches you. Hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, your only option is to lay low in the grass, in the middle of this field, relying on your ghillie suit as camoflauge. Playing it for the first time you do genuinely feel very tense as footsteps and a tank rolls past you, you're hoping you won't get spotted and you feel like it goes on forever. These kind of levels has been attempted numerous times afterwards, but none have ever really captured the feeling of experiencing it for the first time.

[Asmodai]

I spent far, far too many hours playing the snowboarding mini-game in Final Fantasy VII. I was a poor kid a the time, so it was almost 2 games for the price of one.



I love it when Tifa insists on her turn.

The music is awesome too.

[zoolander]

Fort Frolic from Bioshock! Every inch just feels so lovingly crafted from top to bottom (even moreso than the rest of Bioshock which is really saying something). Sander Cohen and his 'masterpiece' are creepy as heck. Add to that the environment being really beautiful, the game design being engaging and the whole premise being fascinating and you have a real stand out.