10 Intense Video Game Levels NO ONE Beat First Time
4. Three Leaf Clover - Grand Theft Auto IV
Though there have certainly been tougher and more infuriating levels throughout the Grand Theft Auto franchise, GTA IV's "Three Leaf Clover" is unique in how brilliantly it captures the pulsing intensity of its obvious cinematic inspiration, Michael Mann's 1995 crime thriller masterpiece Heat.
The 20-minute heist mission tasks players with pulling off a daring bank robbery and then escaping from the cops in one piece.
It is a marvel of anxious energy, and though many understandably complain about the game's lack of mid-mission checkpoints, it did nevertheless help replicate the stress of pulling off an actual bank heist.
Fighting your way through hordes of LCPD cops and fleeing the scene is no easy feat, not to mention shaking your wanted level once you're on the move.
Though the near-universal acclaim for the mission led to Rockstar including a number of similarly-styled heists in GTA V, not one of them got close to Three Leaf Clover's surging, adrenaline-pumping excellence.