Every video game has its own unique storyline and within that storyline there are mind-blowing missions that keep us in our seats. Choosing the best missions or levels in video games is a tough challenge because you have more missions than video games itself and there are a lot of levels that are remembered and left an everlasting impression on gamers because how immersive, shocking, or innovative they were.
Few game developers went an extra mile to give us a great experience in some missions and today we are going to talk about those missions or levels. These are the 10 best missions/levels in video games.
10. Airship Fortress – Super Mario Bros 3
It was between the “Level 1-1” from Super Mario Bros and this one, but I had to pick this one because it was more entertaining. One of the most iconic levels in gaming history and a synonymous with Mario, the “Airship Fortress” is literally, the most famous mission in the game.
Here you have cannons trying to blow you to pieces, enemies who will attack you the moment they see you and one of the best backgrounds in the series. The details in this level are impressing even today, imagine how amazing was playing this level for the first time back in the day.
9. Green Hill Zone – Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most beloved video game franchises ever and the first Sonic game is for the OG’s. The level named Green Hill Zone is probably the most remembered mission in Sonic games along with the San Francisco level called “City Escape”. “Green Hill Zone” is the perfect combination of details, colors, and supersonic speed.
While the Sonic’s gameplay is about going at full speed throughout the levels, this level right here is one of those you play more slowly because you want to see the amazing background and details in it. Without a doubt, the best Sonic’s level ever made.
8. Sapienza – Hitman
Hitman is one of my personal favorite franchise of videogames and a Hitman’s reboot was something that we didn’t know we needed, and this game brought us one of the most beautifully designed levels ever created; “Sapienza”.
Considered already the most iconic level in the series and the one of the best video game levels of the 2010s, “Sapienza” is one of those levels that no matter how many times you played it, you never get bored. It gives you more freedom than any other level in the game and the more you play it, the more things you discover.
7. Reckoning – Crysis
Crysis was the gamers’ final boss back in 2007 because how hard it was to run it in a fairly normal gaming pc, and it is still hard to run the game in very high settings. The game was fun, entertaining and challenging, but none of the missions were as good as Reckoning.
The map was designed in a way to allow you to go “Rambo mode” and kill everybody, or play with a more stealth approach and launch a surprise attack. It is the mission that we remember the most and no other mission in the series was like this one.
6. Zebes – Super Metroid
Ok, this one is a little bit different because “Zebes” is not exactly a mission or a level in the game, it is the basis of the whole game but they structured Super Metroid in a way that “Zebes” felt like one big and long mission, so I am sure that this one deserves a spot on this list, many of you would disagree with this pick and it is acceptable, but after playing this amazing game, you will think different about this level.
Super Metroid is one of the best video games ever made and “Zebes” is clearly one of the best settings.
5. Through Time and Space – The Witcher 3
The Witcher 3 is one of the most immersive and best video games ever made mainly because everything about the game is memorable. But this mission is by far the most remembered because it makes you feel like you are the biggest fish in the small pond instead of a badass and overpowered protagonist.
Here in this mission, Avallac’h takes you through a wormhole and makes you travel throughout 4 different locations. These 4 locations have their own pace and their own essence, so practically you are playing 4 missions in one and this, my friends, is a win/win situation.
4. Three Leaf Clover – Grand Theft Auto IV
GTA IV’s campaign is considered by many the best in the series because it balances perfectly the narrative, the execution and the characters; it does feel like everything is a movie. There are many missions in this video game that are incredible, but “Three Leaf Clover” is just something else.
This Packie’s mission is a love letter to the bank heists we saw in movies like “The Dark Knight”, “Point “Blank”, and “Heat”, is a mission that you want to repeat over and over again because it’s pure adrenaline from the beginning to the end. No doubt this mission inspired the Payday series.
3. Lone Wolf – Halo: Reach
Halo: Reach was a surprise for everyone because nobody expected to be that good. This prequel exceeded in everything: gameplay, graphics, soundtrack, story, and of course, the final mission. “Lone Wolf” is the final mission of Halo: Reach, and it is a thrilling and unique experience because it makes you feel powerless, and despite you know there is no hope, you still fight.
When the game gives you the only objective of this mission: “Survive”, you know that there is no escape, but you know you must continue. This is the only moment where the men are allowed to cry.
2. Dark Energy – Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 is one of those few video games that if you consider it the best video game ever made, nobody will call you crazy or would criticize your opinion because it is a masterpiece. The best video game that never had a sequel has many memorable levels, but perhaps the best is not “Ravenholm”, but “Dark Energy”. “Dark Energy” is one of the best missions ever made belonging to the FPS genre because the level design is way too good and you cannot get tired of playing this one.
Everybody has their expectations on the Half-Life 2’s final mission, but we never expected that “Dark Energy” exceeded all expectations.
1. All Ghillied Up – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
“All Ghillied Up” is a big reason why Call of Duty 4 received widespread critical acclaim and is, by far, the most memorable mission from the entire franchise. The mission takes you back to 1996, where you control a young John Price and, with Captain MacMillan, you are tasked with assassinating Imran Zakhaev on Pripyat.
The mission was acclaimed because of its stealthy approach, freedom of choice, tense atmosphere, and importance to the plot, and its widely considered the greatest level in an FPS video game and also the greatest video game flashback of all time.
Do you want to know something amazing? Mohammad Alavi, COD 4’s level designer, spent three months working on the first minute of gameplay of this level, that is hard work.
