First impressions are incredibly important for video games. Gamers have to know right away if it will be worth investing their time into a particular title and the longer they get into the game before it clicks the more time they feel they are wasting. This is what the first-person shooters below do so well.
Through various methods, they all impress right off the bat. Sometimes it is with a simple level that throws players right into the action. Other times, it is with something more nuanced and intriguing. These levels are so good, that many might go through it multiple times even when they are already in the middle of a campaign.
Just about every moment of this seminal first-person shooter is iconic. The way the developers take a minute-long sequence of the source material and expand it into a whole level shows the ingenuity in their adaptation of the classic film.
The Dam, like many other levels in the game, feels like a real place. Rooms exist to contribute to a sense of immersion and not only as a place for players to go and complete an objective. Though it is a big level with various rooms to explore, the design does a good way of organically leading the player towards the objective without waypoints and objective markers.
Half-Lifechangedthe way stories were told in first-person shooters. No longer was the story just an empty reason for players to be shooting up bad guys. WithHalf-Life, it was made an inseparable part of the gameplay experience.
Nothing shows this more clearly than the introductory segment, Black Mesa Inbound. All players do is control where Gordon Freeman looks as he rides the monorail through the Black Mesa facility. It shows players various parts of the facility during everyday activities before it all goes haywire.
BJ Blazkowicz is weakened and unable to walk after almost dying at the end of the first game. He is rescued by his comrades and put into a wheelchair to the U-boat where he is held prisoner. This is where players take control of the protagonist as they roll their way through the facility, gunning down Nazis
There is an intensely cathartic political statement in a man currently in a wheelchair and of Jewish origins - two elements that would have marked him immediately for death in the fascist regime - righteously taking down his captors. It, along with the opening flashback cinematic about BJ’s childhood, sets the tone for the rest of the game’s narrative direction.
5Medal Of Honor: Frontline
D-Day
The first twoMedal of Honorgames featured small, intimate combat encounters.Allied Assaultand its console counterpart,Frontline,both feature a massive battle storming Omaha Beach. Despite the technical limitations of the time, the level manages to feel hectic, dangerous, and big. The battle is revisited inAllied Assaultas the third mission of the storyline.
There was obvious inspiration fromSaving PrivateRyanand the level manages to make players feel like they are fighting against all odds. The enemy has the height advantage, the beach is heavily mined, and the player is vulnerable on the open beach with barely any cover.
In a game as complex asDeus Ex, a first level really needs to ease players into the possibilities available to themin this immersive sim.The Liberty Island level does this great as JC Denton is tasked with thwarting a terrorist takeover of the Statue of Liberty.
It’s open like the rest of the game’s levels, but not too open where players will get lost and the objective is clear to understand. When few games likeDeus Exexisted before it, such a level was vital to keeping players' attention and interest.
Sometimes a level is not so much great on its own as it is an iconic piece of gaming history. While not the first FPS game in existence, and not even the first by id Software,Doomwas many gamers' introduction to the genre.
Their first taste was dropping into level 1-1 and finding some armor before destroying some demons with their pistol.Doomstarts off simple before the combat and puzzles progressively become harder. 1-1, however, is just relaxing to trounce through every once in a while.
Duke Nukem’sattitudemight not have aged well past the 1990s, butDuke Nukem 3Dremains a great FPS game that straddles the line between classic level design and the more modern age of FPS games heralded byGoldenEyeandHalf-Life.
The opening level is a small neighborhood with a movie theater in the middle. It retains the open labyrinths of classic 90s FPS games but adds a level of interactivity and a layer of realism by taking place in an urban setting.
TimeSplitters 2developer Free Radical was formed by many people who worked onGoldenEye 007, so it feels appropriate that this game also starts with a dam level. This game’s version is even bigger and features stealth, action,and even zombies.
It is an especially bold statement considering the originalTimeSplittershad short, empty levels with simple objectives. The dam features interactivity and changes gears dramatically at the end when the undead show up, showcasing the game’s unpredictability.
