10 Worst Opening Levels That Almost Ruined Great Video Games

2. Tutorial - Driver

GT Interactive
GT Interactive

You'd have thought that one of the very first things that's established when a development team sits around the brainstorming table is that a tutorial should ease people into the game - not be so damn hard that around 50% of people can't even complete it.

Meet the notorious Driver tutorial mission (which also earned a place in the list of gaming moments that made us all rage-quit). In contrast to the pretty open world and sun-kissed streets that make up the majority of the game, the tutorial confines you to a grim underground car park, which you're stuck in until you complete a checklist of not-so-easy car manoeuvres that should really be taught to you gradually throughout the game, not bombarded at your right at the start.

Also, isn't the idea of a tutorial that it teaches you things? In this forsaken car park, you're not given any pointers, and are simply told to do things like slalom between the car park pillars and pull off reverse 180-degree turns or else you can't play the main game. No wonder the rest of the game - until the final mission - feels so easy when you're forced to become an expert of every slick trick from the get-go.

Contributor
Contributor

Gamer, Researcher of strange things. I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.