- Black
It was 2006. I had just become old enough to legally drink vote. What better way to celebrate than to play this exciting new game for PS2 and Xbox. 11 years later I'm using its first level as an example of good first levels. It made an impression, to say the least.
You start in a crumbling office building. Gunfire and explosives can be heard outside. Your first objective is "Find the Shotgun". Basic. But from the direction you start at, you have to move the right analogue stick to see the shotgun. From where you are in the room you have to use the left analogue stick to get to it. As a person with two thumbs and a brain somewhere between them the game leaves you to sort that much out yourself.
You're instructed on how to pick up the shotgun, then fire it. There is a locked door that you are told the shotgun can open. Now, this is communicated via text on the screen. I know I said this was crap but it was the mid-00s. It was a simpler time.
Up ahead is an enemy who fires at you in some kind of attempt to end your game. When you're hit for the first time the game explains that the reticule that appears not only indicates damage, but also the direction the damage came from. A few more creeps ensue and your ammo depletes into them and the surrounding scenery. Now the game tells you to reload. A sane person would find cover to do this. Stay in the open like a renegade maverick and you'll discover that the camera focuses on the gun and blurs out the rest of the screen. I thought this was a clever way of making the player think about the use of cover and being aware of their environment. You then have to take into account how long it takes a certain gun to reload. You can be blind and in the open for life-threatening seconds.
Throughout the level is at least one example of each of the games side missions. Blueprints, Intel, and enemy munitions to name a few. These are set in plain sight to familiarise the player so that in later levels the game can challenge you more by hiding them in a bush, or the back of a truck. The list goes on...
- Bioshock
It's 1960! A plane crash has me stranded in the middle of nowhere. Through the smoke of the burning wreckage, I can make out a lighthouse. A beacon of hope and potential safety. I remember swimming past the flames, getting to the top of the stairs and turning to look around. Aside from the burning waves, I had just emerged from there was nothing. I was alone.
Bioshock does a fantastic job making you feel alone. You are in frequent contact with people in the city of Rapture but meetings are rare and almost always violent. Before you even leave the relative safety of the bathysphere (think underwater elevator) you witness the murder of an unknown person at the hands (or hooks) of a mutated monster. Being unarmed and with no obvious help in sight, you are then instructed to venture through the dark hallways until you come across a wrench to defend yourself with.
An initial survey of the environment reveals the city itself isn't passing any health checks. Every corner of Rapture is a shadow. Every glass corridor and window threaten to unleash the ocean on top of you. Electricity and fire are common hazards from broken pipes and wires. Every person you meet face-to-face in the first 30 minutes has a tendency to whack first and ask questions never. You have one instruction: find Andrew Ryan (creator of Rapture) and kill him. Only a few miles of buildings and glass tubing filled with murderous crazies between you and him.
Sebastian the crab, of The Little Mermaid fame, was wrong. It is NOT "better down where it's wetter".
Chrono Trigger was a 1995 release for Super Nintendo. Its opening hour of gameplay is perhaps one of the best of any RPG I've played. I've played a few so that's quite high praise indeed.
Your hero starts as he does in any good RPG; asleep. You are awoken by your mum and told to head on over to the Millennial Fair in town to meet your friend. So far, so normal.
Leaving the house sets you on the world map. You are free to go anywhere you can walk to but the game makes a good point of repeatedly pointing you towards the fair. Once your adventurous curiosity is sated you head to the fair. Now here is where the game sneaks a tutorial on playing the game right past you. Almost every aspect of the fair teaches you something about the game, from combat to timed responses to events that will happen despite your participation.
Probably the first thing you'll notice is a group of people running in a circle. These racers are people you can bet on to win. Now the clever thing about them is the race will run whether you've placed a bet or not. The game is showing you that there will be events in the game that will occur without your direct input. Elsewhere there's a "Test Your Strength" mini-game. No strength is required however, this is an example of time-sensitive button prompts. (Quick-time events before they were overused and intrusive) That's two quick and easy tutorials done and dusted and with the minimum amount of text. There's a robot that eases you into the basics of combat. The area is sprinkled with additional, seemingly innocuous events; a lost cat, a free lunch, a dropped medallion. You don't know it yet, but the game is giving you just enough rope...
For the prosecutor of your trial to hang you with! See that, I butchered grammar for dramatic effect. It's not big or clever but there you go. So yeah, at some point you will find yourself on trial for kidnapping. Heavy stuff. During the trial, the prosecutor calls forward a few character witnesses (I've watched The Good Wife, I know all the technical terms) and they will testify to your actions from the day of the fair. Did you help find the cat? Did you steal the lunch? Did you give the medallion back straight away? The trap is sprung. You are at the mercy of your own choices. Cause and effect baby!
The introduction has you walking in a straight line listening to (excellent) dialogue. Big whoop, you say. Big whoop, I say. The corridor you're being lead down is a dilapidated wreck. One cursory glance around shows exposed leaking pipes, flimsy wire fences and bad lighting. Not the expert and secure psychiatric hospital you would hope to contain dangerous criminals. Are you feeling apprehensive at all? You can bet The Joker isn't. You're stopped for a moment to allow Killer Croc to be transported to his cell. This interaction, despite the fact you are Batman and all the guards around, is pretty tense. Croc comes in at around 2ft. taller and 200lb heavier than you. Not a showdown you should be looking forward to. (Probably the tensest part of the game)
I think this game looks gorgeous. The character design is excellent (concept art by Jim Lee). You are placed in an environment that you have little control and fewer friends. Events transpire and you are placed in a combat situation. The tutorial is pretty standard. You're introduced to two button prompts, attack and counter. Later you get shown how to utilise gadgets in and out of combat as you get them but these are simple button taps. The game makes an easy job of putting you in the role of Batman without you having to have trained with the League of Assassins beforehand.
Timesplitters 2 is in my top 5 games of all time. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it has solid controls and enough replayability (That'stotallyawordshutup) to keep you entertained until the year 2401. (When the game is set)
The opening level sets you in 1990s Siberia. The setup for the level shows two soldiers discovering and being attacked by a zombie. You are at the fictional Oblask Dam and are given instructions to retrieve a time crystal from somewhere within. You start in a secluded spot with a silenced pistol and sniper rifle placed in front of you. It has given you a scope with which to survey the immediate area. From your position, you can see a few patrolling guards and a number of cameras, depending on difficulty. You are advised to avoid cameras in the mission briefing but at no point are you explicitly told to use stealth to take down the guards. The game nudges you in the direction of stealth with its choice of starting weapons. I love that even on the hardest difficulty there is no "Set off an alarm and FAIL" criteria at this early stage of the game.
Timesplitters 2 is an objective based game. Plot-wise it keeps it short, limiting most of the story to short cutscenes and mission briefings. This doesn't harm the game in any way, however. In the first level, you understand that you will be facing soldiers and zombies. From the first 2 minutes you know you should use stealth from the guns you're given and your starting location. Your objectives are clear and simple; deactivate the communications dish, investigate the secret digging site, retrieve the Time Crystal, access the top of the dam, burn all evidence in the filing cabinets, restore power, destroy the biohazard container, don't allow any mutants to survive, destroy the gunship, escape through the Time Portal. All of these are straightforward, involving the player to investigate the immediate area or follow an enemy-packed pathway to the next goal. Yes, other games do this. But fewer games (more specifically FPSs) make it so fun.
These are a few of the games I think do an excellent job of easing a player into the rest of their game. I have more that could be examined at another time. If there's a game close to your heart that opened with a bang you can't get over please leave a comment.
An initial survey of the environment reveals the city itself isn't passing any health checks. Every corner of Rapture is a shadow. Every glass corridor and window threaten to unleash the ocean on top of you. Electricity and fire are common hazards from broken pipes and wires. Every person you meet face-to-face in the first 30 minutes has a tendency to whack first and ask questions never. You have one instruction: find Andrew Ryan (creator of Rapture) and kill him. Only a few miles of buildings and glass tubing filled with murderous crazies between you and him.
Sebastian the crab, of The Little Mermaid fame, was wrong. It is NOT "better down where it's wetter".
- Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger was a 1995 release for Super Nintendo. Its opening hour of gameplay is perhaps one of the best of any RPG I've played. I've played a few so that's quite high praise indeed.
Your hero starts as he does in any good RPG; asleep. You are awoken by your mum and told to head on over to the Millennial Fair in town to meet your friend. So far, so normal.
Leaving the house sets you on the world map. You are free to go anywhere you can walk to but the game makes a good point of repeatedly pointing you towards the fair. Once your adventurous curiosity is sated you head to the fair. Now here is where the game sneaks a tutorial on playing the game right past you. Almost every aspect of the fair teaches you something about the game, from combat to timed responses to events that will happen despite your participation.
Probably the first thing you'll notice is a group of people running in a circle. These racers are people you can bet on to win. Now the clever thing about them is the race will run whether you've placed a bet or not. The game is showing you that there will be events in the game that will occur without your direct input. Elsewhere there's a "Test Your Strength" mini-game. No strength is required however, this is an example of time-sensitive button prompts. (Quick-time events before they were overused and intrusive) That's two quick and easy tutorials done and dusted and with the minimum amount of text. There's a robot that eases you into the basics of combat. The area is sprinkled with additional, seemingly innocuous events; a lost cat, a free lunch, a dropped medallion. You don't know it yet, but the game is giving you just enough rope...
For the prosecutor of your trial to hang you with! See that, I butchered grammar for dramatic effect. It's not big or clever but there you go. So yeah, at some point you will find yourself on trial for kidnapping. Heavy stuff. During the trial, the prosecutor calls forward a few character witnesses (I've watched The Good Wife, I know all the technical terms) and they will testify to your actions from the day of the fair. Did you help find the cat? Did you steal the lunch? Did you give the medallion back straight away? The trap is sprung. You are at the mercy of your own choices. Cause and effect baby!
- Batman Arkham Asylum
The introduction has you walking in a straight line listening to (excellent) dialogue. Big whoop, you say. Big whoop, I say. The corridor you're being lead down is a dilapidated wreck. One cursory glance around shows exposed leaking pipes, flimsy wire fences and bad lighting. Not the expert and secure psychiatric hospital you would hope to contain dangerous criminals. Are you feeling apprehensive at all? You can bet The Joker isn't. You're stopped for a moment to allow Killer Croc to be transported to his cell. This interaction, despite the fact you are Batman and all the guards around, is pretty tense. Croc comes in at around 2ft. taller and 200lb heavier than you. Not a showdown you should be looking forward to. (Probably the tensest part of the game)
I think this game looks gorgeous. The character design is excellent (concept art by Jim Lee). You are placed in an environment that you have little control and fewer friends. Events transpire and you are placed in a combat situation. The tutorial is pretty standard. You're introduced to two button prompts, attack and counter. Later you get shown how to utilise gadgets in and out of combat as you get them but these are simple button taps. The game makes an easy job of putting you in the role of Batman without you having to have trained with the League of Assassins beforehand.
- Timesplitters 2
Timesplitters 2 is in my top 5 games of all time. It doesn't take itself too seriously, it has solid controls and enough replayability (That'stotallyawordshutup) to keep you entertained until the year 2401. (When the game is set)
The opening level sets you in 1990s Siberia. The setup for the level shows two soldiers discovering and being attacked by a zombie. You are at the fictional Oblask Dam and are given instructions to retrieve a time crystal from somewhere within. You start in a secluded spot with a silenced pistol and sniper rifle placed in front of you. It has given you a scope with which to survey the immediate area. From your position, you can see a few patrolling guards and a number of cameras, depending on difficulty. You are advised to avoid cameras in the mission briefing but at no point are you explicitly told to use stealth to take down the guards. The game nudges you in the direction of stealth with its choice of starting weapons. I love that even on the hardest difficulty there is no "Set off an alarm and FAIL" criteria at this early stage of the game.
Timesplitters 2 is an objective based game. Plot-wise it keeps it short, limiting most of the story to short cutscenes and mission briefings. This doesn't harm the game in any way, however. In the first level, you understand that you will be facing soldiers and zombies. From the first 2 minutes you know you should use stealth from the guns you're given and your starting location. Your objectives are clear and simple; deactivate the communications dish, investigate the secret digging site, retrieve the Time Crystal, access the top of the dam, burn all evidence in the filing cabinets, restore power, destroy the biohazard container, don't allow any mutants to survive, destroy the gunship, escape through the Time Portal. All of these are straightforward, involving the player to investigate the immediate area or follow an enemy-packed pathway to the next goal. Yes, other games do this. But fewer games (more specifically FPSs) make it so fun.
These are a few of the games I think do an excellent job of easing a player into the rest of their game. I have more that could be examined at another time. If there's a game close to your heart that opened with a bang you can't get over please leave a comment.
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