Halo (Xbox) | 343 Guilty Spark
It’s hard to believe today, but one of the original Halo’s greatest strengths was its single-player storyline. A brutal, exotic alien army to fight, a supersoldier with a virtual hottie living in his head, an Eden-esque ancient space station that just happens to be a galaxy-killing weapon - it was brilliant.
Then, just when you thought you’d encountered every possible enemy and were prepared for anything, surprise! You hit this level, which introduced not only a new character - the floating, chattering cube-bot known as 343 Guilty Spark - but an entirely new race of enemies. A grotesque blend of elements from the game Half-Life and the movies Aliens and Leviathan, the Flood were savage, mindless, and horrifying, and their constant bum-rushing en masse required totally different strategy to defeat than any of the Covenant forces you’d already fought. It was a great swerve in an already top-notch game.
Killer7 (GameCube, PS2) | Alter Ego
From start to finish, Killer7 does things differently to other games. This makes a lot of gamers say they "don't get" Killer7. Well, watch the movie of the stupidly entertaining Alter Ego level below and tell us what's not to 'get'. There's the brilliant anime-styled intro, the inspired Handsome Men parody of the Power Rangers/Super Sentai shows (Handsome Light Brown FTW!), there's two men in wheelchairs shooting at each other, there's a genius 8-bit credit sequence... The only thing to 'get' is that Killer7 is awesome kinky otaku love on a disc.
Lair (PS3) | Ravine of No Return
Although we mercilessly (and justifiably) shitcanned Lair when it came out last year, part of us really, really wanted to like it - and levels like this were the reason why. Ordinarily, stealth levels in flight-combat games are grueling and horrible, but the Ravine of No Return - which sees its hero sneaking into an enemy camp to knock out their power generators - is still one of the most beautiful things we've seen on the PS3 to date. Artistically, everything came together perfectly - the harsh spotlights, darkened ravine walls, crisscrossing power lines and mournful music combined to make the Ravine a hauntingly memorable place to glide through. For a few crucial minutes, we were in awe.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (PS2, Xbox, GC) | Helm's Deep
The first game adaptation of Peter Jackson's film trilogy is pretty ordinary until the end. Basically, you hack 'n slash until your thumbs bleed. Stab, punch, kick, stab again - it's all the same, regardless of whether you're on the fields of Rohan or in the depths of Fangorn.
Helm's Deep, however, is different. Rain lashes your screen, the thunder of battle rumbles your controller and a seemingly endless, background-blotting swarm of orcs overwhelms your eyes. The urgency and intensity of the legendary movie scene is so well translated, in fact, that you can palpably sense the helpless women and children hiding below.
Suddenly, you're not just mashing buttons... you're defending good and defeating evil. Your sword thrusts have purpose and meaning. You are a hero.
Lost Planet (360, PS3, PC) | Crossing the Plains
Three words: giant tequila worm. What more could you possibly need to know about this level? The setting appears tranquil at first - just a harmless and empty field of snow. A second or two later, though, and you find yourself face to face (or face to gaping thousand-teethed maw) with one of the current console generation's biggest - and greatest - bosses. Whether you kill the earth-shaking behemoth in an hour or a week, you'll feel a towering sense of accomplishment afterwards.
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (PS2, Xbox, PC) | Going for a Tram Ride
Bloc Party's song "Helicopter" can make anything amazing, but it didn't have to work too hard during the tram-ride sequence in Getting Up. Say what you will about the game, but frantically leaping between four aerial cable cars and shimmying around their edges to spray paint a single giant message - all while dodging machinegun fire and tossing riot cops off the tops of the cars - felt overwhelmingly badass the first time we did it. Add a soundtrack that wailed "Are you hoping for a miracle?" over roaring guitars, and the only other stage that was anywhere near as cool involved creeping hand-over-hand around the outside of a blimp in mid-flight.
Mario Kart 64 (N64) | Rainbow Road
In every Mario Kart game since time immemorial, the Rainbow Road track has been the final circuit track. Its vivid colors and grueling pace are enough to make it memorable on any system, but the N64 incarnation – rendered in lurid 3 dimensional graphics and set to the most mesmerizing music ever – goes down in history as THE level of THE game you HAVE to play on N64, if nothing else. Clocking at an average 8 minutes, and fraught with roving Chain Chomps that’ll send you flying into space, this isn’t a level to be taken lightly, but boy is it sure pretty.
Hint: You can shave entire minutes off your time if you execute a jump just before the drop at the starting line – but watch out or you’ll go careening off the track.
