Summary
There are many commonly-held beliefs in society that video games tend to turn on their heads. When it comes to video games, playerscanjudge a book by its cover, itiswhat’s on the outside that counts, and first impressionsdolast. For many titles, this mantra is often a death sentence.The Outer Worldsholds up remarkably wellas an RPG with smaller budget and scale, but for many people, the somewhat tedious opening section turned them off the game for good.
The reverse is also true, however, and many games have skyrocketed to popularity from launch purely because they did a good job introducing the player into the world, setting the stakes, and establishing the tone. A game can offer a plethora of customization or ahuge open worldto explore, but if it doesn’t nail that introductory level, it will have lost a huge chunk of its players. These games in particular, however,absolutely nailed their first levels, and have given players some of the biggest, most iconic introductions of all time—introductions that still stand today as the best in the industry.
Although it was notthe first game in the series,Batman: Arkham Citystands out to many fans as the best in a legendary collection of games that perfectly embody what it means to be the Caped Crusader, clashing against faithfully realized icons from Batman’s singular and unmatched rogues' gallery.
Besides a little Catwoman teaser if players had the DLC installed, and some light dust-ups as Bruce Wayne, the first proper ‘level’ inArkham Cityis Batman rescuing Catwoman from her trial at the hands of Two-Face, one of the many villains given free rein by Hugo Strange. This is the first section of the game to synthesize the two pillars of gameplay in these titles—stealth and beat-em-up action—and it’s a fantastic, quintessentially ‘Batman’ introduction into this world.
Thereare many candidatesfor the bestResident Evilgame of all time, with the series being nothing short of groundbreaking in terms of its impact on the horror genre, up there withSilent Hillas an exemplary horror game.Resident Evil 4,however, is a strong contender for the top spot. It is a masterclass in how video games can establish tone and atmosphere quickly and powerfully.
The first chapter of this game takes protagonist Leon through a dilapidated and ruined village, and it’s here that the horror of the game showcases itself. Few horror games have managed to instill the same spine-tingling sensation of terror within their first chapter asResident Evil 4manages to achieve.
Medal of Honor: Frontline
You don’t play, you VOLUNTEER.Armed to the Teeth with 18 Authentic WWII Weapons• Outgun Hundreds of Nazi Soldiers• Fight Alongside Battle-Hardened AlliesMaster OSS Training• Penetrate Enemy Strongholds• Outsmart Highly-Trained SS Officers19 Deadly Missions From Overlord to Market-Garden• Storm the Beaches of Normandy• Seize the Nijmegen Bridge• Infiltrate a Secret Weapons Facility• Sabotage German U-Boats• Stow Away on a Spee ding Armored Train• Hijack the Nazi’s Experimental Ho-IX Jet Plane• Defeat the Nazi War Machine
Many FPS games excel atfrantic, chaotic gunplay, butMedal of Honor: Frontlinemanaged to do this in a way that showcases the horrors of war. Even considering this title’s age, very few games have managed to instill the same frenetic anticipation for an upcoming battle the way thatFrontlinemanaged to for one of the most iconic moments in World War 2.
Beginning with the storming of Normandy is already an ambitious move for a game, butMedal of Honor: Frontlinehas an excellent level of gunplay that managed to fully and faithfully realize this horrific, hectic battle in a way that still holds up years after the game’s release.
It’s no exaggeration to say thatMass Effectrevolutionized what AAA RPGs were capable of. BioWare had made plenty of gold-standard games by then, but this grainy space opera holds a special place in many people’s hearts as the beginning of a truly legendary trilogy.
Speaking of beginnings, few RPGs manage to have an opening as iconic as the combat on Eden Prime. It is a microcosm of everything that makesMass Effectso fantastic; it gives Shepherd plenty of opportunities to develop as either a Renegade or Paragon, it introduces and fleshes out some fantastic companions, and it establishes the stakes in an incredible, trilogy-spanning story about the galaxy’s struggle against the Reapers.
In some ways,Skyrim’sintroduction to its game world fell in line with the other games inThe Elder Scrollsseries almost perfectly. Players control a prisoner of indeterminate origin and birth, released in a manner that, in some way, introduces the main quest.Skyrimtook things a step further, however, by also using the introduction to establish a secondary civil war questline.
Helgen has ingrained itselfas one ofSkyrim’smost iconic locations, despite its swift destruction in the story, but this introduction to the homeland of the Nords is itself a truly iconic facet of gaming. Lokir of Rorikstead, the gagged leader of the rebellion, Alduin raining destruction on Helgen moments before the player’s execution, so much happens in this introductory scene. It’s no wonder it’s often remembered as the most explosive initial levels inElder Scrollshistory.
Like other titles on this list,BioShockuses a large dosage of chaos in its introduction to truly set it apart. Struggling for breath amid the wreckage of a crashed airplane truly gives perspective on the vastness of the ocean Rapture inhabits, and the ingenuity it took to essentially ‘tame’ that ocean and create an art-deco objectivist ‘utopia’ for industrialists to live in.
This first level does everything the game needs to in order to let players know: Andrew Ryan’s vision has gone horribly wrong. Everything in this initial level, from Andrew Ryan’s monologue to the ‘No Gods or Kings’ banner and those initial splicer enemies, has cemented this game as a truly legendary title.
WhileSonic the Hedgehoghas had a bit ofa checkered historywhere its games are concerned, there is no denying that Green Hill Zone is a pop culture icon, a representation of everything that Sonic is, and an amazing first level to an exceptional game.
Learning the basics of Sonic’s high-speed maneuvers, as well as how collecting rings and defeating enemies works, is done with grace and polish in this first level. It displays excellent attention to detail, an amazing sense of charm, all matched by an unforgettable soundtrack.
This is going to sound a little bit like hyperbole, butSuper Mario Bros.was truly groundbreaking. It’s become such a facet of pop culture that it tends to blend in as ‘just another video game’ at this point, but it’s no exaggeration to say that, without this game, people would have a very different definition of what video games are today.
Furthermore, without World 1-1, people would have a very different definition of whatSuper Mario Bros.is. This level perfectly establishes everything that players need to know about the game, even if they didn’t read the little lore dossier file that came with the original copy. They’re playing as a mustachioed man. They move to the right. Mystery blocks give cool things. Stomp on goombas. It’s so simple, yet so foundational to everything that came after it. What other first level could introduce the world to not just one game, but to virtually every game that would follow it?
