7. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots The Final Boss
I could have filled this list with moments from the Metal Gear Solid series. From having to change controller ports in MGS to outwit Psycho Mantis, to having Snake show up randomly on the Shell in MGS2, to the still-unsurpassed ladder climb in MGS3, the series has laid benchmarks wherever it's been, but since there can only be one I must choose the last. Snake's final battle with Liquid on top of Outer Haven is just about as cathartic an experience as there's ever been in any medium of entertainment. Exciting, poignant, unforgiving, and thanks to the through-the-years soundtrack a perfect end to Snake's war.
6. Silent Hill The School
As I mentioned in the intro, few things have scared me like playing Silent Hill in the dark at my friend's house after school. A tour-de-force in terror, Silent Hill didn't just want to horrify you whilst you were playing, it wanted to make your whole life a misery long after the pad had been put down. And it succeeded. I think I slept with the light on until I was fifteen because of this game. No area was more scary than the school, a place we all still attended every day, a place we all knew so well, a place where there was ghostly children floating around the blood-soaked corridors. Why did this make us happy? I'm not sure. Maybe because getting through the place in one piece even though our hearts thudded with every step was a goal on par with getting an A* in our Geography projects. Maybe because it was the first time where we were complicit in the horror, and we knew that it would never be over until we did something about it. Or maybe it's just because kids are stupid, I don't know. What I do know is that when people ask me why I play games, this is one of the first places I go to as an example of what makes them great.