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[Lionel Richie]

Came here to post either this or Bob-Omb Battlefield. Fallout 3 gets memed to death, but the moment you step outside of the vault is unironically masterful.

 

[SegaSnatcher]

God of War 3 without question. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing running in real time and that game still impressed.

 

[Belmonte]

There are many: FFVII, Uncharted 2, God of War 1-2-3...but the first time a game broke my expectations in the first level was Contra Hard Corps.

They start the level with the players in a van running over a giant mecha-spider along other lesser enemies. The van crash and the player(s) fly from the window shooting everything in sight! Lots of explosions, the floor and buildings breaking, two mid bosses, including a giant robot which is burning the entire city, dozens of cars destroyed and a final boss which cuts buildings in half.

The end boss escapes, your HQ is attacked by the enemy army, which forces you to choose to pursue the boss or going to the rescue of the research center. This decision will not only affect the level you will go (both outstanding btw), but the ending of the game.

Awesome art, music and SFX!

 

[SEGA_2012]

Shenmue 1

"Friends...Keep friends... those you love... close to you"

 

[dEvAnGeL]

God of War 3 had an incredibly impressive opening back in the day.

Still to this day.

No chronological order.

God of War 3
Mass Effect 2
Uncharted 2

Current gen has been meh.

 

[Tschumi]

I played that right after watching The Road and, it was a crazy synthesis

 

[Silentium]

 

[alabtrosMyster]

Here's another oldie but also iconic:

This is Shadow of the Beast for the Amiga. Now, the game isn't very good. In fact i would say it's pretty bad even for the time. But that first level made everyone lose their minds with the graphics in 1989. It's pretty detailed and has a crazy parallax scrolling effect, coupled with a fine music piece. It was like a demonstration of what the Amiga could do. Heck, the rest of the game doesn't look nearly as good (although, the good looking scene is shown more times later on).

This one is the face of disappointment, not achievement.... But it is burned in my memory as a lesson.

 

[Perrott]

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

The best, most intense and breathtaking first hour of gameplay in any game ever.

 

[hangdang69]

The GOTG thread reminded me - the first level of Metal Gear Solid V, in the hospital, is one of the most batshit insane and incredible things I've ever played.

I was so excited for the rest of the game to be like that. Instead, I got one of my biggest ever disappointments

 

[Keihart]

Bayonetta 2

The prologue of Bayo 2 it's a beautiful example of everything wrong with that game, what a fucking train-wreck. Can you please fucking let me play instead of shoving boring set piece after boring setpiece in which i don't even get to use the core mechanics of the game?
I love Bayonetta, but at the same time i hate the sequel with a passion, bought it on WiiU and on Swicht and still can't drag myself to finish it, while i have beaten multiple times the first one on PC and PS3.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

That moment in Mario Galaxy when you start running.

 

[93xfan]

MGS2 and even MGS1 come to mind

 

[Beer Baelly]

GoW3 hands down

 

[Hosam6xavi]

bombing mission of FFVII remake it was literally like playing a cgi movie

 

[GiJoint]

For racing games you gotta hand it to the Forza Horizon series, they hit the ground running, music blasting, and you just feel pumped.

 

[rofif]

Came here to post either this or Bob-Omb Battlefield. Fallout 3 gets memed to death, but the moment you step outside of the vault is unironically masterful.

it's still my fav fallout. For sure better than 4 but I also like oblivion more than Skyrim

 

[Hudo]

I feel like Super Mario 3D World is a prime example of good gameplay introduction with its "Kishotenketsu"-style of level-design. All those schools for game-design, LARPing as colleges or universities, hopefully include that game in their curriculum.

 

[mcz117chief]

E1M1

It clearly shows that this map was made last. Perfect map design. Verticality, environmental hazards, 3 types of enemies, 2 weapons, secrets, clear path forward, light and dark areas, it is just perfect.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Darksiders 2.
Epic music, leading up to the duel of Death vs War.

 

[RoadHazard]

That game is so fucking brown. Incredibly ugly, I hate looking at it.

 

[Sybrix]

 

[sephiroth7x]

Most of the ones I thought of have been mentioned already.

FFVII - Fantastic music coupled with an action packed intro and explosion to boot.
MGS2 - Tanker is possibly the best bit of the whole game.
GOW3 - That fight with Poseidon is unreal.

Nod to Bioshock - the 'would you kindly on the present on the plane', the crash itself, the swim through the wreck and then into the pod down into Rapture. All of that was incredible.

 

[Yoboman]

Half Life 2

It was just soaked with atmosphere

 

[Hazzard4life]

Soul Calibre Dreamcast intro.....