There are video game missions out there that just grab you from start to finish, and then they stay with you.
It’s not necessarily that they’ll shock you or do something totally off the wall, although they might,it’s just that they’re that good.
It’s Falcon,and today on Gameranx,10 of the most legendary video game missions ever.
Starting off at number 10,
it’s “Titanfall 2’s” Effect and Cause.
Now, “Titanfall” is a
relatively new series
for this kind of a list
because it really only has one
real single-player campaign.
And that makes it all the more impressive
that it happens to feature
probably one of the most brilliant
and iconic video game missions ever.
We’re talking about the mission
where you get the device
that lets you freely travel
between the past and present.
You only get it, really, for one mission,
and it’s cool as hell
(guns blasting)
(explosion blasts)
(guns blasting)
(men grunting)
because you do so much
with the limited amount
of time you have it.
You use it to avoid enemies.
You can get the drop on soldiers.
You can get around environmental hazards.
And every single time you
do any of these things,
it’s beyond satisfying.
It’s fun ’cause you can faintly see
the ghosts of soldiers in the past,
which makes it easy to reposition yourself
and get the drop on
them when they show up.
The whole thing is amazingly overpowered.
These guys can barely touch you
with the proper
application of time travel,
and it’s straight-up awesome.
The guys who created
“Titanfall 2,” Respawn,
were made up of former
Infinity Ward people,
which, that company did some of the best
“Call of Duty” campaigns.
They just know how to
do a great FPS campaign,
and Effect and Cause is probably
one of the best of all time.
Honestly, basically, every level
in “Titanfall 2” is really great,
but that gimmick just
makes that level stand out.
At number nine, “Call of
Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s”
Death From Above.
Now, we’ve covered All Ghillied Up
pretty extensively on
this channel already.
We actually did an entire video
about it if you’re curious.
So that’s why we decided to talk about
another truly iconic mission
from “Call of Duty 4.”
This is the one with the AC-130 gunship.
The mission before it, Hunted,
actually sets things into motion,
where the SAS special forces
team led by Captain Price,
is shot down by a Stinger
missile over Russia
and they’re forced to
escape from hostile forces
that are hunting them down.
It takes a while, but once
the gunship gets a position
that’s when the perspective changes
from the guys on the ground
to the Spectre gunship’s TV operator.
You’re even given a bird’s
eye view of the entire area.
And you’ve gotta take out the enemies
and keep Price’s squad safe
until they can be extracted.
(guns blasting)
– Okay. He’s moving again.
– Movin’ in.
– You got him
– Copy. Smoke ’em.
– Yeah. Good kill.
I see lots of little pieces down there.
You gonna get him?
We got a moving vehicle here.
Negative, negative.
Do not engage, I repeat,
do not engage any vehicles
on the main highway.
– It is a tense and
strangely eerie mission,
where you’re destroying faceless
enemies from a TV monitor
while you’re given instructions
in a very professional
and detached way.
It’s a stark contrast to
the chaos on the ground
and calls to mind a lot of real-life
night vision bombing footage.
It also kind of makes a point
about how horrifying war is now.
Anyway, finding enemies,
determining whose friend and whose enemy,
that’s really what makes
the whole mission tense.
It’s just an all-around unique experience
that captures the feeling
of modern warfare,
maybe more than any other
mission in the game.
And number eight is “Grand
Theft Auto V’s” The Big Score.
Now, “GTA V’s” a game
all about pulling heists,
and these missions are, unsurprisingly,
the highlights of that.
They’re all great, from the first one,
which is a basic jewelry
store height, to the last one.
But in our mind,
the last one’s probably the
most memorable, obviously.
You get two options for how
you want it all to play out.
Either you take the subtle approach,
which involves robbing a gold transport,
or the obvious approach,
where you just bust into the vault itself
and take the gold that way.
Both versions of the mission
are totally different.
They’re also both really
fun in their own way.
But I’m gonna focus mainly
on the obvious approach
’cause it’s way more
bombastic than the subtle way.
You pretty much end up doing
a little bit of everything
in this mission.
It starts with using a giant drill
to bore into the gold vault.
Then you get into a massive
shootout at the dig site
while Trevor escapes with
a huge pallet of gold
hanging from his helicopter.
Then, then, then the real
meat of the mission starts.
– It was a whole lot less
successful than your lick,
but we needed to divide attention.
– Whoo, got it!
Hey, come on!
(dramatic music)
Gotta get across the bridge!
Move? I can’t move!
– Beam up to the mothership!
– There’s a massive shootout
where you run through
the financial district
of Downtown Los Angeles, blowing
anyone, anything, whatever.
If it stands in your way, you blow it up.
It’s like “Heat” times 100,
and it’s totally
ridiculous in the best way.
Once Michael manages to evade the cops,
you switch back to Trevor,
where you have to maneuver
close to the enemy helicopter
so Lester can hit them
with a rocket launcher.
At the end, you dump the
gold onto a moving train
and bug out.
It’s over the top. It’s fun as hell.
It’s just great.
And number seven is
“Red Dead Redemption’s”
And The Truth Will Set You Free.
Another Rockstar game
with some of the all-time
best-in-class missions is the
first “Red Dead Redemption.”
Now, there’s lots of options,
but when I think legendary
my mind just goes to this mission.
The one where you finally
hunt down Dutch van der Lind,
the leader of the old gang
and your final target.
Everything in this game
leads up to this very moment.
It’s pretty much the
climax of the whole story.
And where traditionally,
a lot of games would end,
everything about it really
feels like a final mission.
Like you, your agent
handlers, all mount up
and ride up to the mountains
of Dutch’s stronghold,
all while the game’s
epic theme song plays.
What follows is one of the
biggest shootouts in the game,
as you work your way up
before confronting Dutch.
– Hello, again, John.
– Hello, Dutch.
– We gotta stop meeting like this.
– Sure.
– I got a plan, John.
– You always got a plan, Dutch.
– This is a good one.
– I don’t doubt it.
– He’s not so much your enemy,
though, as a broken old man,
and instead of facing you,
he just kills himself.
Even though he is barely in the game,
he’s a character that
leaves a huge impression
on anyone who played “RDR,”
so it’s no surprise
that his character plays
such a huge role in “Red Dead 2.”
Some people might think that
the actual final mission
is a little more legendary than this one,
but the shootout combined
with the amazing soundtrack
is really what makes this
one stand out, in my opinion.
And number six is “Dynasty Warriors 2,”
the Battle of Hu Lao Gate.
Now, if you were a PlayStation 2 kid,
you probably at least
rented “Dynasty Warriors 2.”
If people remember
anything from this game,
it’s the objective that simply
says, “Do not pursue Lu Bu.”
And when they say “Do
not pursue,” they mean it
because this guy will mess you up.
The line itself is legendary,
but the mission itself
deserves a lot of recognition as well.
It’s a lot more basic
than a lot of the entries on this list,
but it still deserves mention,
simply for being one of
the most iconic missions
in any game of its era.
It’s always the battle at Hu Lao Gate,
and it occurs not just
in “Dynasty Warriors 2,”
but in a lot of future “Dynasty
Warriors” games as well.
And the general events of the mission
are basically the same.
There’s a gate and you gotta battle at it.
(explosion blasting)
(men grunting)
(blows thudding)
(men grunting)
At a certain point,
a badass warrior named Lu Bu will appear,
and you have no chance
of beating this person,
so you have to avoid him.
The mission, for whatever reason,
just keeps showing up again and again.
And if you’ve played just
the second game though,
you remember it.
Now, if you’ve played the whole series
it’s permanently embedded in your brain
and you cannot escape.
When it first came out,
“Dynasty Warriors 2”
is a truly unique game.
Getting to play as this unstoppable badass
who can plow through hundreds of soldiers
felt completely awesome.
But this mission, you
suddenly find this enemy
who’s not just a total chump.
And compared to you, who are
just able to destroy so many,
it actually has some weight, you know?
It’s a badass mission for
different reasons than the others,
but still badass nonetheless.
At number five is “Half-Life
2,” We Don’t Go To Revenholm.
(tense music)
“Half-Life 2” isn’t a game
with traditional missions, exactly,
but each part of the
game is distinct enough
that it feels all right
separating them out.
It’s another game with a
lot of standout moments,
and a great game as a whole,
but Revenholm just really
sticks in people’s memories.
First, it’s the first place you go
after getting the Gravity Gun,
and they also really
just cut you loose here.
It starts off as kind
of a horror experience,
as you’re learning how to fight enemies
without just shooting them.
Ammo’s really scarce in
this section of the game,
so the best way to kill them
is to make makeshift projectiles
and launch them at them,
which definitely takes
some getting used to.
But once you do, it’s beyond awesome.
There’s explosives
and saw blades littered
all over the place.
You can use them to slice and
blow up swarms of enemies.
And strategically placed
traps can be incredibly fun.
What starts off as a “Resident
Evil”-style horror experience
turns into kind of a
sandbox of destruction,
as you find new and interesting
ways to kill your enemies.
I think it’s even that
transformation that makes it so wild.
But what further makes this
place stand out is the Grigori,
the only guy still alive in this place.
His boisterous attitude
and his mad ramblings
pull you through the level
just to see what he’ll do
or say next.
He’s a great character
that you only spend a little time with.
This guy’s so beloved,
that they were actually going to make
an entire expansion pack with him.
It got canceled,
as did a lot of “Half-Life” related things
through the years, but
it still goes to show you
how much people liked this dude.
– Ah! Who is this?
Another life to save?
I’ll keep my eye on you.
More than that I cannot promise.
– At number four is
“Uncharted 2’s” Locomotion.
That’s the train level
if you’re not familiar with the naming.
The “Uncharted” series, arguably
peaked with this mission.
There’s tons of amazing
set pieces in this series
after this mission,
but if we’re talking legendary missions
this is really the only possible answer.
It stands out so hard
from all of the games.
It’s amazing.
As usual with these games,
Drake’s in a race with the bad guy
to get to some ancient city,
and in this one, it’s the
law city of Shambhala,
hidden somewhere in
the mountains of Nepal.
In an attempt to catch
up with the bad guys
and rescue Chloe, Drake
jumps onto the train.
And from there, simple goal, right?
Make your way to the front of
the train and rescue Chloe.
(dramatic music)
Of course, this is “Uncharted”
we’re talking about,
so things spiral way out of control fast.
The whole mission is a massive set piece,
where you’re fighting
soldiers and helicopters.
You’re hanging off the side
of a constantly moving train.
And on top of it just being
high octane and enjoyable,
it’s also visually an amazing achievement.
You can pretty much see the
entire train at any given time.
And the way everything
transitions seamlessly
from a dense jungle to this open lake
to a snowy mountaintop,
it’s still impressive.
Even now the escalation of the action
is just about as expertly paced
as I’ve ever seen in a game.
(explosions blasting)
(tense music)
(train crashing)
– Ah!
(train crashing)
Ah! Ah, ah.
– At number three is “Mass
Effect 2,” the Suicide Mission.
In terms of literal missions,
the climax to mass “Mass Effect 2”
might be the best one of them all.
Literally, the entire game
is about preparing for this mission.
You need to get the right people,
get the proper upgrades for your ship,
and learn everything you can to get ready.
In all seriousness,
the suicide part, also,
it’s not there to sound scary.
Depending on your choices,
characters can and will die,
and they don’t come
back in “Mass Effect 3.”
It’s not 100% clear every time
why or how some of this happens,
but for the most part,
it really is your fault
if you make the wrong call
and some character does have to die
because you could have gotten
somebody better at some skill
or you failed to properly
upgrade the ship, whatever.
There’s a lot to take into account,
but what really makes this mission great
is just how thrilling it actually is.
The presentation is fantastic
and every part of it really
gives you the feeling
that what you’re doing is life or death.
The chances that you actually
die is pretty much impossible
if you actively try to do the mission.
But there’s such a great
job done building tension,
it feels like failure’s
possible at any moment.
It’s an amazing climax
to what’s often considered
the best game in the series.
It’s a great mission, not
just because it’s fun to play,
but because there’s real stakes.
If you die, I guess big deal,
you just reload to save.
But if your friends and
allies die, and you win,
they’re kind of gone forever.
You really have to redo the whole game,
or at least they’re part of
it, to have them not die.
It’s all down to you to keep them alive,
and getting everyone
home isn’t guaranteed.
Basing an entire game around
pulling off one big mission
is a great idea,
and they just pulled it off
perfectly with this game.
At number two is “GoldenEye’s” Facility.
The mission every single person remembers.
Back in 1997, “GoldenEye” did
things a little different.
Instead of being a standard shooter
where you skated through
an arena-filled map,
blasting everything and everyone you see,
it made you think about what you’re doing.
It was stealth, mission
objectives, and tactical combat.
It looks primitive as hell these days,
but back then, it was
absolutely groundbreaking.
Anybody who had a Nintendo
64 had a copy of this game,
and the level everyone remembers
is this one, the Facility.
It’s hard to describe what
makes it so iconic these days,
but it really is.
The objectives, the
music, the exploration,
the final confrontation,
it’s burned into the memories
of everyone who played it.
These days, it looks a
little brown and clunky,
but back then, this was as
close to real as it got.
You also have to kind
of talk about the Dam.
It’s the first actual level.
And at the end, James Bond
jumps off the side of the dam.
And it’s technically a different level,
but it’s also kind of part of Facility.
I like combining them, personally,
when I’m thinking about
what I like to play.
In fact, sometimes I go back to the game,
and really all I want
to do is play the Dam
and the Facility.
There are other good levels in the game
but they’re just not on those level.
They’re amazing.
Really, that was such an
amazing thing for the time.
(guns blasting)
And finally, at number one,
is “Halo: Combat Evolved,”
The Silent Cartographer.
The island level,
where all the best parts
of “Halo” come together.
For some people, the
entire “Halo” series peaked
with just the fourth
level of the first game.
And I’m not gonna be quite that dramatic,
but it really is an awesome level.
Legendary is a good word for it.
It pulls together everything
that makes the “Halo”
games unique and exciting.
The objective is simple.
You find the map room
for the Halo installation
hidden somewhere in the
facility on this island.
To get to it, you need to
assault the Covenant beachhead
and break through their defenses.
It’s this level where
the open-end ended nature
of “Halo’s” combat
really comes into focus.
You can kind of use whatever weapons
and vehicles you can get your hands on,
and they all have different strategies
and it all contrasts itself really well.
The open and cut scene
is great all by itself,
for the big reason it has
an incredible soundtrack.
– We’re approaching the
LZ. It’s gonna be hot.
Get set to come out swinging.
Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!
– Visually, this level
isn’t particularly different
from the rest of “Halo,”
but in terms of gameplay
it’s so well-paced,
doesn’t go on for too long,
and it’s just got so many
interesting aspects to it
without it being a
completely closed experience.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
It’s kind of the platonic
ideal of a “Halo” level.
And while it’s probably not
the best in the whole series,
it’s definitely the most legendary.
And that’s all for today.
Leaves us a comment.
Let us know what you think.
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I’m Falcon. You can follow
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We’ll see you next time,
right here on Gameranx.
On Gameranx,10 of the most legendary video game missions ever
There are video game missions out there that just grab you from start to finish, and then they stay with you.
It’s not necessarily that they’ll shock you or do something totally off the wall, although they might,it’s just that they’re that good.
It’s Falcon,and today on Gameranx,10 of the most legendary video game missions ever.
Starting off at number 10,
it’s “Titanfall 2’s” Effect and Cause.
Now, “Titanfall” is a
relatively new series
for this kind of a list
because it really only has one
real single-player campaign.
And that makes it all the more impressive
that it happens to feature
probably one of the most brilliant
and iconic video game missions ever.
We’re talking about the mission
where you get the device
that lets you freely travel
between the past and present.
You only get it, really, for one mission,
and it’s cool as hell
(guns blasting)
(explosion blasts)
(guns blasting)
(men grunting)
because you do so much
with the limited amount
of time you have it.
You use it to avoid enemies.
You can get the drop on soldiers.
You can get around environmental hazards.
And every single time you
do any of these things,
it’s beyond satisfying.
It’s fun ’cause you can faintly see
the ghosts of soldiers in the past,
which makes it easy to reposition yourself
and get the drop on
them when they show up.
The whole thing is amazingly overpowered.
These guys can barely touch you
with the proper
application of time travel,
and it’s straight-up awesome.
The guys who created
“Titanfall 2,” Respawn,
were made up of former
Infinity Ward people,
which, that company did some of the best
“Call of Duty” campaigns.
They just know how to
do a great FPS campaign,
and Effect and Cause is probably
one of the best of all time.
Honestly, basically, every level
in “Titanfall 2” is really great,
but that gimmick just
makes that level stand out.
At number nine, “Call of
Duty 4: Modern Warfare’s”
Death From Above.
Now, we’ve covered All Ghillied Up
pretty extensively on
this channel already.
We actually did an entire video
about it if you’re curious.
So that’s why we decided to talk about
another truly iconic mission
from “Call of Duty 4.”
This is the one with the AC-130 gunship.
The mission before it, Hunted,
actually sets things into motion,
where the SAS special forces
team led by Captain Price,
is shot down by a Stinger
missile over Russia
and they’re forced to
escape from hostile forces
that are hunting them down.
It takes a while, but once
the gunship gets a position
that’s when the perspective changes
from the guys on the ground
to the Spectre gunship’s TV operator.
You’re even given a bird’s
eye view of the entire area.
And you’ve gotta take out the enemies
and keep Price’s squad safe
until they can be extracted.
(guns blasting)
– Okay. He’s moving again.
– Movin’ in.
– You got him
– Copy. Smoke ’em.
– Yeah. Good kill.
I see lots of little pieces down there.
You gonna get him?
We got a moving vehicle here.
Negative, negative.
Do not engage, I repeat,
do not engage any vehicles
on the main highway.
– It is a tense and
strangely eerie mission,
where you’re destroying faceless
enemies from a TV monitor
while you’re given instructions
in a very professional
and detached way.
It’s a stark contrast to
the chaos on the ground
and calls to mind a lot of real-life
night vision bombing footage.
It also kind of makes a point
about how horrifying war is now.
Anyway, finding enemies,
determining whose friend and whose enemy,
that’s really what makes
the whole mission tense.
It’s just an all-around unique experience
that captures the feeling
of modern warfare,
maybe more than any other
mission in the game.
And number eight is “Grand
Theft Auto V’s” The Big Score.
Now, “GTA V’s” a game
all about pulling heists,
and these missions are, unsurprisingly,
the highlights of that.
They’re all great, from the first one,
which is a basic jewelry
store height, to the last one.
But in our mind,
the last one’s probably the
most memorable, obviously.
You get two options for how
you want it all to play out.
Either you take the subtle approach,
which involves robbing a gold transport,
or the obvious approach,
where you just bust into the vault itself
and take the gold that way.
Both versions of the mission
are totally different.
They’re also both really
fun in their own way.
But I’m gonna focus mainly
on the obvious approach
’cause it’s way more
bombastic than the subtle way.
You pretty much end up doing
a little bit of everything
in this mission.
It starts with using a giant drill
to bore into the gold vault.
Then you get into a massive
shootout at the dig site
while Trevor escapes with
a huge pallet of gold
hanging from his helicopter.
Then, then, then the real
meat of the mission starts.
– It was a whole lot less
successful than your lick,
but we needed to divide attention.
– Whoo, got it!
Hey, come on!
(dramatic music)
Gotta get across the bridge!
Move? I can’t move!
– Beam up to the mothership!
– There’s a massive shootout
where you run through
the financial district
of Downtown Los Angeles, blowing
anyone, anything, whatever.
If it stands in your way, you blow it up.
It’s like “Heat” times 100,
and it’s totally
ridiculous in the best way.
Once Michael manages to evade the cops,
you switch back to Trevor,
where you have to maneuver
close to the enemy helicopter
so Lester can hit them
with a rocket launcher.
At the end, you dump the
gold onto a moving train
and bug out.
It’s over the top. It’s fun as hell.
It’s just great.
And number seven is
“Red Dead Redemption’s”
And The Truth Will Set You Free.
Another Rockstar game
with some of the all-time
best-in-class missions is the
first “Red Dead Redemption.”
Now, there’s lots of options,
but when I think legendary
my mind just goes to this mission.
The one where you finally
hunt down Dutch van der Lind,
the leader of the old gang
and your final target.
Everything in this game
leads up to this very moment.
It’s pretty much the
climax of the whole story.
And where traditionally,
a lot of games would end,
everything about it really
feels like a final mission.
Like you, your agent
handlers, all mount up
and ride up to the mountains
of Dutch’s stronghold,
all while the game’s
epic theme song plays.
What follows is one of the
biggest shootouts in the game,
as you work your way up
before confronting Dutch.
– Hello, again, John.
– Hello, Dutch.
– We gotta stop meeting like this.
– Sure.
– I got a plan, John.
– You always got a plan, Dutch.
– This is a good one.
– I don’t doubt it.
– He’s not so much your enemy,
though, as a broken old man,
and instead of facing you,
he just kills himself.
Even though he is barely in the game,
he’s a character that
leaves a huge impression
on anyone who played “RDR,”
so it’s no surprise
that his character plays
such a huge role in “Red Dead 2.”
Some people might think that
the actual final mission
is a little more legendary than this one,
but the shootout combined
with the amazing soundtrack
is really what makes this
one stand out, in my opinion.
And number six is “Dynasty Warriors 2,”
the Battle of Hu Lao Gate.
Now, if you were a PlayStation 2 kid,
you probably at least
rented “Dynasty Warriors 2.”
If people remember
anything from this game,
it’s the objective that simply
says, “Do not pursue Lu Bu.”
And when they say “Do
not pursue,” they mean it
because this guy will mess you up.
The line itself is legendary,
but the mission itself
deserves a lot of recognition as well.
It’s a lot more basic
than a lot of the entries on this list,
but it still deserves mention,
simply for being one of
the most iconic missions
in any game of its era.
It’s always the battle at Hu Lao Gate,
and it occurs not just
in “Dynasty Warriors 2,”
but in a lot of future “Dynasty
Warriors” games as well.
And the general events of the mission
are basically the same.
There’s a gate and you gotta battle at it.
(explosion blasting)
(men grunting)
(blows thudding)
(men grunting)
At a certain point,
a badass warrior named Lu Bu will appear,
and you have no chance
of beating this person,
so you have to avoid him.
The mission, for whatever reason,
just keeps showing up again and again.
And if you’ve played just
the second game though,
you remember it.
Now, if you’ve played the whole series
it’s permanently embedded in your brain
and you cannot escape.
When it first came out,
“Dynasty Warriors 2”
is a truly unique game.
Getting to play as this unstoppable badass
who can plow through hundreds of soldiers
felt completely awesome.
But this mission, you
suddenly find this enemy
who’s not just a total chump.
And compared to you, who are
just able to destroy so many,
it actually has some weight, you know?
It’s a badass mission for
different reasons than the others,
but still badass nonetheless.
At number five is “Half-Life
2,” We Don’t Go To Revenholm.
(tense music)
“Half-Life 2” isn’t a game
with traditional missions, exactly,
but each part of the
game is distinct enough
that it feels all right
separating them out.
It’s another game with a
lot of standout moments,
and a great game as a whole,
but Revenholm just really
sticks in people’s memories.
First, it’s the first place you go
after getting the Gravity Gun,
and they also really
just cut you loose here.
It starts off as kind
of a horror experience,
as you’re learning how to fight enemies
without just shooting them.
Ammo’s really scarce in
this section of the game,
so the best way to kill them
is to make makeshift projectiles
and launch them at them,
which definitely takes
some getting used to.
But once you do, it’s beyond awesome.
There’s explosives
and saw blades littered
all over the place.
You can use them to slice and
blow up swarms of enemies.
And strategically placed
traps can be incredibly fun.
What starts off as a “Resident
Evil”-style horror experience
turns into kind of a
sandbox of destruction,
as you find new and interesting
ways to kill your enemies.
I think it’s even that
transformation that makes it so wild.
But what further makes this
place stand out is the Grigori,
the only guy still alive in this place.
His boisterous attitude
and his mad ramblings
pull you through the level
just to see what he’ll do
or say next.
He’s a great character
that you only spend a little time with.
This guy’s so beloved,
that they were actually going to make
an entire expansion pack with him.
It got canceled,
as did a lot of “Half-Life” related things
through the years, but
it still goes to show you
how much people liked this dude.
– Ah! Who is this?
Another life to save?
I’ll keep my eye on you.
More than that I cannot promise.
– At number four is
“Uncharted 2’s” Locomotion.
That’s the train level
if you’re not familiar with the naming.
The “Uncharted” series, arguably
peaked with this mission.
There’s tons of amazing
set pieces in this series
after this mission,
but if we’re talking legendary missions
this is really the only possible answer.
It stands out so hard
from all of the games.
It’s amazing.
As usual with these games,
Drake’s in a race with the bad guy
to get to some ancient city,
and in this one, it’s the
law city of Shambhala,
hidden somewhere in
the mountains of Nepal.
In an attempt to catch
up with the bad guys
and rescue Chloe, Drake
jumps onto the train.
And from there, simple goal, right?
Make your way to the front of
the train and rescue Chloe.
(dramatic music)
Of course, this is “Uncharted”
we’re talking about,
so things spiral way out of control fast.
The whole mission is a massive set piece,
where you’re fighting
soldiers and helicopters.
You’re hanging off the side
of a constantly moving train.
And on top of it just being
high octane and enjoyable,
it’s also visually an amazing achievement.
You can pretty much see the
entire train at any given time.
And the way everything
transitions seamlessly
from a dense jungle to this open lake
to a snowy mountaintop,
it’s still impressive.
Even now the escalation of the action
is just about as expertly paced
as I’ve ever seen in a game.
(explosions blasting)
(tense music)
(train crashing)
– Ah!
(train crashing)
Ah! Ah, ah.
– At number three is “Mass
Effect 2,” the Suicide Mission.
In terms of literal missions,
the climax to mass “Mass Effect 2”
might be the best one of them all.
Literally, the entire game
is about preparing for this mission.
You need to get the right people,
get the proper upgrades for your ship,
and learn everything you can to get ready.
In all seriousness,
the suicide part, also,
it’s not there to sound scary.
Depending on your choices,
characters can and will die,
and they don’t come
back in “Mass Effect 3.”
It’s not 100% clear every time
why or how some of this happens,
but for the most part,
it really is your fault
if you make the wrong call
and some character does have to die
because you could have gotten
somebody better at some skill
or you failed to properly
upgrade the ship, whatever.
There’s a lot to take into account,
but what really makes this mission great
is just how thrilling it actually is.
The presentation is fantastic
and every part of it really
gives you the feeling
that what you’re doing is life or death.
The chances that you actually
die is pretty much impossible
if you actively try to do the mission.
But there’s such a great
job done building tension,
it feels like failure’s
possible at any moment.
It’s an amazing climax
to what’s often considered
the best game in the series.
It’s a great mission, not
just because it’s fun to play,
but because there’s real stakes.
If you die, I guess big deal,
you just reload to save.
But if your friends and
allies die, and you win,
they’re kind of gone forever.
You really have to redo the whole game,
or at least they’re part of
it, to have them not die.
It’s all down to you to keep them alive,
and getting everyone
home isn’t guaranteed.
Basing an entire game around
pulling off one big mission
is a great idea,
and they just pulled it off
perfectly with this game.
At number two is “GoldenEye’s” Facility.
The mission every single person remembers.
Back in 1997, “GoldenEye” did
things a little different.
Instead of being a standard shooter
where you skated through
an arena-filled map,
blasting everything and everyone you see,
it made you think about what you’re doing.
It was stealth, mission
objectives, and tactical combat.
It looks primitive as hell these days,
but back then, it was
absolutely groundbreaking.
Anybody who had a Nintendo
64 had a copy of this game,
and the level everyone remembers
is this one, the Facility.
It’s hard to describe what
makes it so iconic these days,
but it really is.
The objectives, the
music, the exploration,
the final confrontation,
it’s burned into the memories
of everyone who played it.
These days, it looks a
little brown and clunky,
but back then, this was as
close to real as it got.
You also have to kind
of talk about the Dam.
It’s the first actual level.
And at the end, James Bond
jumps off the side of the dam.
And it’s technically a different level,
but it’s also kind of part of Facility.
I like combining them, personally,
when I’m thinking about
what I like to play.
In fact, sometimes I go back to the game,
and really all I want
to do is play the Dam
and the Facility.
There are other good levels in the game
but they’re just not on those level.
They’re amazing.
Really, that was such an
amazing thing for the time.
(guns blasting)
And finally, at number one,
is “Halo: Combat Evolved,”
The Silent Cartographer.
The island level,
where all the best parts
of “Halo” come together.
For some people, the
entire “Halo” series peaked
with just the fourth
level of the first game.
And I’m not gonna be quite that dramatic,
but it really is an awesome level.
Legendary is a good word for it.
It pulls together everything
that makes the “Halo”
games unique and exciting.
The objective is simple.
You find the map room
for the Halo installation
hidden somewhere in the
facility on this island.
To get to it, you need to
assault the Covenant beachhead
and break through their defenses.
It’s this level where
the open-end ended nature
of “Halo’s” combat
really comes into focus.
You can kind of use whatever weapons
and vehicles you can get your hands on,
and they all have different strategies
and it all contrasts itself really well.
The open and cut scene
is great all by itself,
for the big reason it has
an incredible soundtrack.
– We’re approaching the
LZ. It’s gonna be hot.
Get set to come out swinging.
Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!
– Visually, this level
isn’t particularly different
from the rest of “Halo,”
but in terms of gameplay
it’s so well-paced,
doesn’t go on for too long,
and it’s just got so many
interesting aspects to it
without it being a
completely closed experience.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
It’s kind of the platonic
ideal of a “Halo” level.
And while it’s probably not
the best in the whole series,
it’s definitely the most legendary.
And that’s all for today.
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