10 Best Opening Levels In Video Game History
1. The Last Of Us
Naughty Dog’s follow-up to the excellent Uncharted trilogy on PlayStation 3 gets top spot on this list for one reason: it is the only entry on the list that is known to make grown men cry.
Charting the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse that forms the basis of the story for TLOU, the player controls eventual protagonist Joel’s daughter Sarah, showing the fear and confusion that grips the world following the mysterious infection. Military checkpoints are quickly established in an attempt to contain those afflicted, with tragic consequences for Joel. As they encounter a soldier after managing to escape the city, the soldier follows his orders and attempts to shoot Joel, despite his protestations that they are not affected by the outbreak.
There is a hope spot when, after Joel and Sarah are lying on the ground after the initial gunfire, Joel’s brother Tommy arrives on the scene and shoots the soldier dead. But then, Joel discovers that Sarah took a fatal bullet from the initial shots, and cradles her, heartbroken, as she dies in his arms.
The scene is heart-wrenching for several reasons, although one is major: It didn’t need to happen. As Joel said, he and Sarah were free of infection, and if the soldier hadn’t been acting under orders no doubt issued rashly as a result of the panic, Sarah wouldn’t have died.
No other game packs such an emotional punch in the first fifteen minutes, so that is why we have no hesitation in naming The Last of Us as having the best opening in video game history.
--
Which video game has the best opening level of all time? Let us know in the comments!