10 Essential Third-Person Gaming Shooter Levels You Must Play

Eyebrows will be raised, yes – Mass Effect 2 is technically an RPG. But, it is also one the finest third-person cover shooters ever made, and when you combine that with 25+ hours of superlative sci-fi drama, the result is pure magic.

And its finale, Suicide Mission, is the linchpin that binds the experience together. All the myriad plot threads, building up your team, upgrading your ship, your constant battle against a foe that maddeningly always seemed one step ahead of you, all of it comes this one final effort. Bioware had to nail it, and boy, did they.

Opening with a chaotic chase through a debris field worthy of the Empire Strikes Back, to the weight of command as you hand pick you squad for the assault on the Collector Base, to the fraught, tough-as-nails battle itself, it is a level that propels players through the full gamut of emotions, from apprehension, to horror, to stone-cold determination. The immersion is total: you are Commander Shephard, you are the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, and you’re battering it down shot by shot.

Suicide Mission is one of those rare moments where the many pieces games are built from – music, story, gameplay, visuals – gelled together into one sublime tour de force of level design that will rarely be equalled, and never bettered.