Community Picks: Most Memorable Game Levels

When you think back on playing some of your favorite games, you might think of one specific level. This stage holds notable memories that are etched into your mind, whether it’s because of interesting mechanics, characters, or story moments. Even if you haven’t played it in years, you can still fondly remember your feelings as you went through this special area for the first time. According to you, the Tom’s Hardware community, these are the 15 most memorable levels in all of video games.

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Depending on your definition of “memorable,” "D15-4 Supercomplexity" is either a traumatizing experience or an enjoyable ride. The goal is to reach the door at the top of the screen, but you’ll need to wade through a plethora of moving orbs while you jump on platforms and scale the walls to get to it. Make sure you also dodge the laser shots from the turrets stationed throughout the area.

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What starts off as an exploration of an abandoned facility quickly turns into a time-traveling extravaganza. Throughout this mission, you’ll leap between the past and present as a result of multiple temporal rifts throughout the area. In the later stages of “Effect and Cause,” you’ll have to fight human, animal, and machine foes in both time zones and even use the special ability to traverse a giant gap in the facility.

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The opening to Sega’s 2001 game is a high-speed thrill ride. You’ll have to run “at the speed of sound” down multiple streets, grind rails, and take out enemies as you attempt to evade military forces. To top it all off, the stage’s ending will have you running away from a massive truck that could flatten you if you’re too slow.

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The first Modern Warfare title thrust the series into popularity, but the sequel quickly stole the spotlight with its infamous “No Russian” stage. Rather than play the role of a soldier fighting enemies, you take the role of an undercover agent in a terrorist organization. For most of the level, you have to watch (or even participate) in the slaughter of numerous civilians in an airport. The events in “No Russian” eventually became a controversial topic, and some people were traumatized after playing it. Fortunately, you can skip the event entirely prior to the start of the campaign.

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The landing of Allied forces in Normandy was one of the most notable events in World War II, and the intensity of that day was perfectly captured in the third installation of the Medal of Honor series. From the moment the door drops on the landing craft, Nazi forces begin to barrage you with machine gun fire. You’ll need to hide behind multiple obstacles on the beach if you want to survive. From there, you’ll fight your way into one of the bunkers to take out more enemies and ultimately secure the enemy position to allow more Allied soldiers to get in. It’s an intense experience from start to finish, to be sure.

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The first level in the original game was more than just your run-of-the-mill stage; it was a taste of things to come. This was where you first witness the sheer speed of the famous hedgehog. In addition to collecting rings and taking out enemies, you also have to dodge obstacles so you don’t slow down. (Or, you know, perish.) Today, players attempt to go through the area as fast as possible to post speed-run times.

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Sooner or later, your fighting adventure in Street Fighter II will take you to Spain. Here, you will fight Vega in his caged arena. If you’re not careful, Vega can catch you by surprise by climbing the cage and using it as a launching pad for a powerful attack. The combination of the fast-paced music along with his agile moves makes for an intense battle that fans have remembered since the game made its arcade debut in 1991.

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The third stage in Lara Croft’s original adventure takes you to a land that time forgot. The "Lost Valley" has a few open areas, but it also contains ancient temples, underwater caverns, and hidden chambers. You should be cautious when exploring the area, however, because you’ll encounter a few enemies, such as wolves, raptors, and a giant Tyrannosaurus rex. With two pistols (or the shotgun found in the level), you should make mincemeat of these deadly creatures.

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A vacation to the tropical Rook Islands takes a turn for the worse when Jason Brody and his group of friends encounter Vaas and his pirate gang. The opening sequence of Far Cry 3 puts you in a cell created out of bamboo where you get to see the terrifying demeanor of Vaas at close range. Jason and his older brother Grant manage to escape their makeshift prison, but Vaas eventually finds them and kills Grant. This introduction to Far Cry 3 is an emotional roller coaster. You get to experience fear, tension, sadness, and vengeance in a matter of minutes as Jason runs away from Vaas and seeks revenge against the pirates.

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When you return to Hell’s Kitchen, you find that martial law is in effect and dangerous soldiers patrol the streets. This shouldn’t be a problem for you, however, because you can easily sneak past guards or take them out with a small arsenal of weapons. You can also spend more than a few minutes in this area because of its size. There are sewers to explore, multiple apartments to visit for items, and information to grab from other characters.

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The “Dust” level is one of, if not the, most popular maps in the franchise. The bomb-defusal stage has a mix of large outdoor areas and narrow hallways where you can kill enemies from afar or get close for melee kills. There are many places to hide, but your opponents can easily flank your position if you are unaware. The map was so popular that Valve created a sequel to it in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

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Die-hard Final Fantasy fans will remember this area not for its gameplay, but as the stage for one of the series’ most pivotal moments. Cloud and his comrades are in search of Aerith, who is located underneath the city. As the group makes its way to her, Cloud nearly succumbs to Sephiroth’s control and nearly kills Aerith. Unfortunately, Jenova, in the form of Sephiroth, arrives and kills her, much to the shock of many players. Based on the fact that it’s one of the top five levels on this list, the Forgotten Capital and Aerith’s death is still a vivid memory to many fans.

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There’s a reason why no one visits this ghost town: The Combine’s shells transformed its inhabitants into nasty, nasty zombies. You’ll also encounter poisonous and faster variants of the headcrabs, which makes your journey through the town even more perilous. You’ll also get to meet Ravenholm’s sole survivor, Father Grigori, but you’ll need to disable his many traps first before you meet the man himself. The entire chapter is one of the scariest portions in the game, so it’s best to play the level with the lights off.

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The underwater city of Rapture is home to some of city’s strangest citizens, but none more so than Sander Cohen, who uses this level as his base of operations. In Rapture’s heyday, the area was the center of entertainment. Now it’s home to Cohen’s art “pieces.” As you explore Fort Frolic, you’ll notice multiple plaster figures. On closer inspection, you discover that these are actual human beings trapped within the molding. To pass through the area and onto Andrew Ryan’s office in Hephaestus, you’ll need to help Cohen with his final masterpiece by taking photographs of four corpses throughout Fort Frolic. The level itself isn’t terrifying, but the fact that humans are trapped within molds of plaster makes Fort Frolic looks like a haunted amusement park.

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The cake is a lie, and now you have to confront the evil A.I. that started it all. The massive room that houses GLaDOS includes an incinerator. By creating portals to reach GLaDOS’ multiple cores, you can “kill” it and escape from the halls of Aperture Science. This final level is a race against time, and it’s the ultimate test of your skills. Even with its cores destroyed, GLaDOS manages to survive, and you’ll have to endure another round of tests in Portal 2.

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