Time for some ghoul hunting!

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Gotta get your hair done before you go out on a big ghoul murdering expedition.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Nobody likes people named Roy.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Shady drug deals in the back room of a water treatment plant? Just another day in the post-apocalypse.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Beat a drug addict to death and steal her money so her dealer will do you a favor? Check.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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You think you can just hang out in this bathroom and not get beat with a baseball bat?

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Welcome to The Wasteland.

Let’s Finish is InsaneBear’s weekly video series in which I slowly whittle away at my backlog of unfinished games. Hijinks generally ensue as I pick up right in the middle of games I haven’t played in years. New Let’s Finish videos can be found here every Friday-Monday around 12:00PM EST.

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Pretty memorable first level, right?

So, as I was researching this list, I was filled with a desperate urge to replay (or play) every one of these games. That’s what a great opening level will do for you. No sitting through boring tutorials, no unnecessary exposition; just cut right to the heart of the game and never look back. Now due to the nature of this list, open-world games are severely lacking here (but not completely absent!). And whether it’s because game design has gotten better over the years or because “you just had to be there” to fully appreciate a game’s innovations, this list is largely populated by modern titles (sorry, Super Mario 64). Now I’ll acknowledge the irony of this mundane intro and let you get to that list!

BioShock – You know, sometimes I get sick of putting BioShock on every “best of” list I do, but it’s just that good. From the second that plane dives toward its fiery demise to the moment you wade out of the sea and into a mysterious lighthouse, that opening captivates me without so much as a “Would you kindly?” And then, to look up and see Andrew Ryan’s bronze hands holding Rapture’s iconic welcome message of “No gods or kings, only man”…Man, the first three minutes of that game create a more intriguing world than most games can manage in eight hours. Follow that up with the breath-taking reveal of the city under the sea, the horrifying first encounter with a splicer, desperately waiting for the door to unlock as Andrew Ryan’s recording condemns CIA and KGB scum such as yourself while a mob of splicers is bashing the windows in…sweet baby Jesus! Every part of that game’s opening level is perfect. The atmosphere of decay and chaos pulls you under as you learn the complicated systems of the world, and with the larger-than-life Mr. Ryan preaching his utopia around every corner, you have no hope of breaking the immersion and surfacing for air until the very end. Can Irrational possibly top their last effort when BioShock Infinite comes out?

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – Back when Treyarch was too amateur for anybody to notice that Call of Duty was an annual franchise, Infinity Ward was in the driver’s seat for a solid but stagnating series. Then they decided to take things to the modern setting. I don’t know if they could have made a better introduction than “Crew Expendable” (we’ll forget about the “F.N.G.” tutorial here), a high-octane SAS raid on the stormy seas that ends with a missing nuke and a sunken ship. What makes this level more memorable than the intense shoot-outs and heart-pounding set-pieces is the way it frames a disturbingly believable story of war in the age of terrorism. After the wetwork of this secret op is done, the game puts you in the shoes of a rather unfortunate Middle Eastern leader who’s executed on national television. These narrative innovations were far more profound than any persistent multiplayer leveling and they’re what Modern Warfare should be remembered for.

Deus Ex – I haven’t played more than 15 minutes of this myself (I know, I’m a terrible person), but in that brief time, I managed to see what everybody else raves about whenever they talk about this game and this level in particular. Setting things at the Statue of Liberty does a pretty good job of conveying the conspiratorial themes that make Deus Ex‘s narrative so memorable, but it’s the revolutionary freedom with which you’re allowed to complete your objective that earns it a spot on this list. Some people say it was extraordinary for the time, but I say that it still allows more freedom of approach than most games today. This game is the granddaddy of Shooter/Stealth/RPG hybrids and every developer could do themselves a service by looking at Deus Ex‘s opening level and striving to match its fundamental emphasis on player choice.

Dragon Age: Origins – Rather than dilly-dallying around with some amnesia non-sense like so many other RPGs, BioWare’s fantasy epic begins by giving you a very firm sense of your place in the world. You’re a noble dwarf in the subterranean city of Orzammar and you’re in line for the throne whenever your ailing father passes into the stone. Your two younger brothers are eager for power and frame you for a heinous crime that sees you sentenced to an inevitable death in the darkspawn-ridden Deep Roads. Seeing your only opportunity for escape, you join up with the fabled Grey Wardens and leave your home, your family, your reputation, and everything that you’ve ever known to save the world from some hardcore dragons. Oh, and this is just one of six unique “Origin Stories” in the game. No game feature has ever had some an impact on personal characterization for me. If people actually scratched their heads when they didn’t understand something, then BioWare’s decision to drop Origin Stories in Dragon Age II would probably have triggered an epidemic of deep head wounds and consequently, brain infections. That sounds like a sure-fire way to start up some sort of apocalypse, BioWare. What the hell were you thinking?

Fallout 3 – How is it that one of the most memorable parts of a game with one of the greatest open-worlds of all time is the beginning, where you’re confined to a cold and steely vault occupied by regular people with regular needs? Could it be that literally playing through your birth, toying around with lettered blocks as a toddler, and attending pathetic birthday parties as a young boy all contribute to forging an emotional attachment to your little vault? Could it be that the real sense of community makes leaving the scary and humbling experience it should be? Or maybe killing wasteland bandits just makes you yearn for the innocent days of beating a tunnel snake’s head in ’til the blood dries up. Either way, that first blurry glimpse of the world above wouldn’t be nearly as powerful if Fallout 3‘s opening vault weren’t such a well-developed community unto itself.

God of War III – The God of War series isn’t for everyone, but you just can’t argue with the epicness of its opening levels. The first game had the classic hydra battle. The second had the Colossus of Rhodes. And the third, well, that made a titan’s back into a level. Let me repeat: as the titan Gaia scales Mount Olypmus, you run around on her very earthly body slaying all sorts of baddies. Never before or since have I seen such an impressive use of scale in videogames.

The German dubbing makes it even more epic.

GoldenEye 007 – Is there anybody who owned this N64 classic that didn’t replay “The Dam” 50 times? I haven’t touched the campaign in over ten years and I could probably still give a respectable speed run. I still remember being in awe of enemies’ body animations when I shot individual limbs with that sniper rifle stowed away up in the watch tower. And when we consider that GoldenEye is generally considered to be the first console FPS worthy of the genre’s rich legacy, it makes that first experience all the more meaningful. And then there’s that whole part at the end of the level where you jump off a dam! What a way to end an all-time classic level.

Half-Life 2 – Maybe if I’d played the original Half-Life that intro would be taking this spot on the list, but I guess I just have a more personal attachment to Gordon’s G-Man infused train ride into City 17. As the player, you don’t do much more than walk through security checkpoints until you meet up with your rebellious group of pals and head to their secret hideout, but the faceless, baton-wielding soldiers of the Combine and their cackling radio chatter do wonders to characterize City 17′s oppressive atmosphere. Barney does a mighty fine impression of the oppressors to boot. All of these foreboding vibes make the eventual escape from City 17 all the more intense.

Mass Effect 2 – The first Mass Effect certainly deserves an honorable mention for Eden Prime, an action-packed level that manages to show you the ropes of gameplay while skillfully introducing the game’s primary villain and Shepard’s motivations all while maintaining a healthy degree of mystery. But Mass Effect 2 has got to go down as one of the very best openings ever. Feeling full of confidence after saving the galaxy in the first game, Shepard and his companions are attacked out of the black by an unidentified vessel that cuts through the Normandy like a knife through warm butter. The ship that you called your home in the first game is a flaming wreck as you race to the bridge to save your trusty pilot. Your utter helplessness really sets in as you cross a section where the ceiling has been ripped away, leaving only the unforgiving embrace of outer-space. When you finally do manage to save Joker, rather than making the narrow escape typical of this kind of scene, you’re blasted into space with the rest of the Normandy’s floating shards. The galaxy’s only hope is dead, and we don’t even know who killed him. Too bad Harbinger didn’t account for Cerberus’ zombification program.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Regardless of what you think of MGS2, it’s hard to argue with its opening being the best in the series. Stunning graphics (for the time) set against Harry Gregson-Williams’ masterful score mix with a dramatically rainy night on the George Washington Bridge to blow you away before you’ve even taken control. Once the obligatory Kojima cut-scenes end and you’re on the USS Discovery (as Snake!), you’re treated to some of the finest tactical espionage action to ever grace a video game. Then you get to fight Ocelot, whose right arm has been replaced with that of your twin brother Liquid Snake, resulting in Liquid’s personality dominating Ocelot and using his body as a host. Before you can even stop to ask what the hell is going on, the tanker sinks, you fake your death, and Snake Plissken is born. Metal Gear Solid doesn’t get much better than this tanker level.

Medal of Honor: Frontline – With the decline the franchise has seen this generation, it’s hard to believe that Medal of Honor once led the pack when it came to Military Shooters. But if you’ve ever started up Frontline and found yourself trapped in what may as well have been a floating meat locker on its way to the beaches of Normandy, then you’ll remember the bar this series set. Surrounded by gray skies, vomiting soldiers, and whizzing MG42 rounds, Frontline‘s opening level manages to evoke a fraction of the futility soldiers must have felt that fateful day. As soon as the gate crashes open you stumble past walking corpses and fall into the cold sea, bullets piercing the surface with no remorse. As you claw your way from tank-stopper to tank-stopper and watch medics gunned down in the line of duty, air planes screaming over dual lines of erupting sand, and brave men running directly into it all, you get a sense of just how terrifying battle is. What Saving Private Ryan was for war films is what Frontline was for war video games.

Resident Evil 4 – While Gears of War has set the standard for Third-Person Shooters today, we mustn’t forget that Epic’s ultra-violent Shooter wouldn’t be what it is without borrowing from RE4‘s revolutionary over-the-shoulder shooting mechanics. Booting up Capcom’s gorgeous Survival-Horror masterpiece for the first time, you could pop zombies’ heads off with precision never before seen. But this game’s zombies aren’t really zombies; infected by the uroboros virus, RE4‘s enemies are regular villagers tending to their labors when you arrive at their humble Eastern European village. However, they quickly turn less than friendly and give you an opportunity to shoot weapons out of their hands or serve up a fist full of dynamite from the local church tower. But you won’t feel quite so tough the first time you hear a chainsaw revving and realize that, “Holy crap, that dude is going to cut my friggin’ head off with a chainsaw if I don’t dive out of this window and kick some zombies’ heads off!”

Shadow of the Colossus – In a game where every fight is a boss fight, the first one better make an impression. Luckily, the first colossus of Team Ico’s masterpiece lives up to the title’s billing by being just about the largest thing gamers had ever fought up to that point. Seeing it lumbering about in the distance never fails to evoke a majestic admiration for the creature you’re about to kill. And what a kill it is! Scaling a colossus for the first time and delivering that fatal blow was unlike anything gamers had ever done up to that point. Likewise for the superb animations of Wander and his loyal steed. The best part is that all of this superlative gameplay is supplemented by a minimalist story that gives you just enough motivation to keep going forward without fully understanding the consequences of your actions. The first colossus of Shadow of the Colossus stuns and awes from a gameplay perspective, a narrative perspective, and a visual perspective. It is the introduction to one of gaming’s few artistic gems.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – By my own admission, The Force Unleashed is not a very good game. But it does have a few shining moments, and one of those is the opening level, which puts you in the space-boots of none other than Darth Vader. What better way to give you a taste of the power to come than by letting you play as one of the most feared force-wielders of all time? Never has Kashyykk seen such wanton destruction.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – The introduction to Drake’s second adventure is probably the best example of a video game capturing the feel of a good Adventure film’s best butterfly-inducing set-pieces. A battered and bloody Drake climbs a train that’s teetering off the edge of a snowy cliff before flashing back to the start of the wild adventure that got him there. Seriously, just go play it!

And that’s my 15 greatest opening levels of all time. If I had to pick favorites they’d probably be MGS2, Resident Evil 4, GoldenEye, and BioShock in no particular order. I’d love to hear everybody else’s favorites, but I think I’m going to go throw myself into some of these games for the next week. You should too.

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If they ever make a Fallout movie, I think we’ve found our poster. Oh, and in the event that funding can’t be secured for such a project, we could just settle for machinima.

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