What's your favourite level from a video game?

Mine's either Palace Midas from the original Tomb Raider or Fuel Station Launch from Jedi Knight.

Palace Midas; Great puzzles and set pieces. There's a bit where you look out onto the top of a huge Roman building and some really atmospheric music plays, with creatures running out of the shadows towards you. The first time you play it you're also, constantly, on edge because until that point Pierre has kept appearing (and then vanishing) and the longer it goes without you meeting him, the more you suspect he'll be around the next bend. Scary stuff.

Fuel Station Launch; Probably because it was the demo to Jedi Knight. I hadn't even seen Star Wars when I played this, and I remember I was just awestruck by it. Massive level too.

Most of the levels from TR1 could have easily made the cut.

Yoda's House. Duh.

Jedi Academy: Cult Sighting - Chandrila
Star Fox: Titania
TF2: Whoaaaaaaa

Probably walking down the long staircase from the Pandemonium Fortress to the Outer Steppes in Diablo II. The art is still gorgeous today.

Tie between MP_Carentan in CoD1 and MP_Carentan in CoD2.

I thought of the Hong Kong levels in Deus Ex immediately after reading 'favourite level' so I guess that's my immediate choice.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Lightsaber and Fuel Station.
Sand Ruins of the game Sonic Riders, Wolverines! Second Sun and of the game Modern Warfare 2, and several others I can not remember.

Seconded.

imperial city in DF

de_piranesi

Drazen Isle for JK (if player made levels count)

UT99 - CTF - FacingWorlds

Unreal - Nyleve's Falls

Deus Ex - Hong Kong

Counter-Strike - de_cpl_mill

Battlefield 1942 - Battle of Midway (Multiplayer Version)

Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight - Double Cross on Nar Shaddaa

Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos - Final Campaign Map (the one where all 3 races unite to defend the tree against the undead onslaught)

Very pretty level, even in 1.6, but it plays like **** thats why I never even see public servers host this map.

But I did load it up the other day for mapping inspiration, I just always refer to it in my head ass "The map with the outside science stuff"

Level 9 of JK
Executor in DF
Goldrush in TF2
Surface Tension in HL
The uhh, prison one in HL2

This, or



this.

Runners up: Katabatic from Tribes 2, Facility in Goldeneye.

Ravenholm from HL2 was impressively atmospheric; I really enjoyed that.

really? i felt the 100% opposite about ravenholm. that entire section of the game felt artificial, forced, and unimpressive to me

System Shock 2. When you go to meet Dr. Janice Polito the first time. First thing I thought of.

Near Champs-Elysees in Deus Ex. There's this courtyard being patrolled by MJ12 troopers - you sneak past them and break into an office. The lights are off, the TV is showing static, and then Icarus calls you on the phone.

I've never been in more awe at a video game than I was the first time I played the first level of MoHAA: Spearhead. Sticks in the wind, sticks in the wind!

A close second is mission 3 in MoHAA, Invasion of Normandy @ Omaha beach.

I had a difficult time narrowing things down, and even still, it's hard to pick based on level design alone.

PROFESSIONAL:

PC

• The training and beginnings of the Half-Life/Portal series. They all set up the 'stage' for the games in general so well, and I'm just speaking from a 'level' perspective. If I had to pick one, I'd probably say HL1: Opposing Force.
• Valley of the Jedi Tower in Jedi Knight. I rather like duels on bridges and high places in general, as you'll likely see in some other choices.
• Beginning of the Marine campaign in Alien Vs. Predator 2. While I liked playing as the Alien the best, the first levels for the Marines I seem to recall really set the mood, the vast and confined ominous spaces, and the like.

Atari 2600

• Yars' Revenge - all. It's pretty much just 1 level for the game (2 if you count the reworked enemy shield), but the design of the space itself is elegant, with 'your' side and the enemy side and the neutral zone of sorts in the middle.

NES

• Half the levels in Battletoads. They were just so crazy, and the Revolution in particular is still a neat take on adding "3D" to a 2D game.
• Start of Super Mario Bros. 2 (U.S.) - Starting off by falling!
• The 'retro' level in Kirby's Adventure. It's neat to see throwbacks in games, and this was the first I encountered.

SNES

• Most of 10,000 B.C. in Chrono Trigger. I liked the jump between the two aesthetics and how you traversed.
• The first few levels of Donkey Kong Country for the mood, and Mine Cart Madness for the 'gameplay' part of the level design.
• The start of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I'm not only a sucker for mood-setters, as you've notice, but for rain as well. It was nice starting off with the 'sneaking' feel of the layout.

Genesis

• Chemical Plant for Sonic 2 - rushing downwards WOOSH!

N64

• Dragon Cave and Deadly Fall for 1080 Snowboarding. Something about the drops, and in the first, the nighttime. I'm going to go ahead and lump Diesel Disaster and Sick with It from the Gamecube's 1080 Avalanche here too, though overall, the levels in the Gamecube version were better than the N64 version.
• The cylinder tracks in F-Zero X. It gets an absurd amount more points now that I own a 64DD with the expansion kit -- making my own levels, woo!
• The Caverns in Goldeneye 007. The singleplayer had a nice flow to it, and I found MP to be great too and didn't suffer from the "where am I?" syndrome the MP-specific levels did (though I generally think that of a lot of the older FPS MP levels - the ones pulled from SP levels I always found better - not as sure with modern FPS games since I haven't played one for both in a long time)
• Bowser's Castle in MarioKart 64, though really, any Bowser's Castle in just about any Mario game is typically fun.
• The Rock track from San Francisco Rush (though I enjoyed most of those tracks in general) and the second "trick" arena in Rush 2049. Jumps!
• Macbeth from Starfox 64, because of its generally rocky terrain. Macbeth in the original Starfox was neat too in its own way.
• Tall Tall Mountain in Super Mario 64, as I enjoyed feeling like I was 'scaling' the mountain. In that regard, levels like the Lost Coast in Half-Life 2 were neat too, though it's always a little awkward when in first-person.

Gamecube

• The Endor battle Rogue Leader - it really felt like I was living the movie at the time! Though I still recall wishing I had the true 3D movement I did from the Skyhook battle in Shadows of the Empire.

Wii

• Pretty much all of Super Paper Mario, since the main game mechanic was tied in a lot with the level design, though if I had to pick, I'd say the 8-bit World and the Underwhere world.
• Pretty much all of Lost in Shadow, again, because the main game mechanic tied in a lot with the level design. If I had to pick a part, I'd probably say the beginning area before you enter the tower proper.

Playstation

• The rooftop of Twisted Metal. I love high places.

COMMUNITY-MADE:
Since I've only really played community-made levels in Jedi Knight...

Atlantis & Morpheus: bug was a damn good level maker
Siege on Derra IV (though I liked the similarly-based SP level for the same reasons - scale!)
Purgatory (it was just so HUGE and so much to explore!)

UT Classic HiSpeed (the train assault map). Most maps of American McGee's Alice. Some maps of Serious Sam. Turin Castle of M&B: Warband. Lots I forgot.

Morpheus for JK was one of the most fun multiplayer experiences I've had. It was designed to support the excessively fast movement speeds of JK, and tamed it down to the point where it felt paced properly.

Oddly enough, I don't have a favorite level. I guess they all sort of blend in after a while. I'll remember the games, but not specific levels.

Excellent choice, the map was well bit, a bit too linear for my tastes (obviously its a train ha), but the fact that if you werent an idiot and could use jump boots and blast a few turrents you could jump all the top to the end car and pop down at the end was awesome