Video Game/Levels AF/Awesome

Ace Combat Series

 * Several levels from the Ace Combat series, for example, The Liberation of Gracemeria from Ace Combat 6 Fires of Liberation, taking back your capital city, with all your pilot, tank and navy buddies, all while the * BEST* track plays in the background? Heck yes.
 * Weapons Of Mass Destruction. The level starts with you and your wingman flying through a valley to avoid radar detection, taking out all the enemy outposts to prevent alerts from being sent out. You get to the enemy convoy, dispose of it, and receive orders to exit the combat area. As you attempt to escape, more and more planes appear from your rear to try and take you out, and you keep trying to outrun them to make it to the zone line... Which abruptly vanishes as a literal fleet of planes materialize in front of you, cutting off your escape. The next few minutes are spent futilely dodging missiles from no less than fifty enemy planes, unable to lock on to any one of them long enough to get a shot off due to the unending missile barrage. Finally, when the situation seems hopeless, every damn plane you have ever worked with over the entire game shows up in a Big Damn Heroes moment, your ally command bar fills to the max, and the biggest and most epic free for all dogfight ever witnessed in Ace Combat history commences.
 * Made even more awesome when you consider that for the entirety of the game, the battlefield is so immense, it's split into several simultaneous missions, which your allies are capable of completing on their own should you be preoccupied elsewhere. This mission just serves to remind you that while you are still a fantastic ace, you aren't a One-Man Army that can finish the war by yourself, unlike the previous games. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming at the moment your allies show up.
 * There's also "Megalith" from Ace Combat 04 Shattered Skies -- you are the Ace of Aces, to the point that.
 * "You're not gonna believe this, Jean-Louis! ALL of them have ribbon insignias!"
 * "All Mobius craft, follow Mobius One!"
 * All to Megalith - Agnus Dei.
 * Made all the more sad if you choose to abandon them mid battle and the entire sqadron is decimated.
 * S-ranking this mission requires a points threshold that can only be met by defeating Mobius Squadron's enemies, so it's an incentive for the player to help them out.
 * And "Emancipation" was great, too, fighting to liberate a historic city as civilian radio reports on how your efforts are going.
 * "Shattered Skies" too. It's purely air-to-air, not a ground target to pickle in sight, and a seemingly endless number of Erusean birds in the air. Simply delightful.
 * Before "Weapons of Mass Destruction," it was the biggest of the Ace Combat "furballs."
 * Ace Combat Zero the Belkan War's final level also deserves mention. After playing up the King Arthur motif the whole game (including many battles against other "Knights" of the sky over an area known as the "Round Table"), you have two former comrades fighting the aerial equivalent of a knightly joust over a dam called "Avalon". While epic music plays in the background and the countdown to the end of the world is ticking down. Epic!
 * Zero also has "Mayhem". You've returned from a mission to destroy Excalibur when a massive air brawl breaks out over the Round Table. Think of it as "Shattered Skies" with even better music.
 * Alect Squadron and Operation X for Ace Combat X Skies of Deception. The former is a massive air-to-air War Sequence to bring down the titular ace squadron before they get their mitts on the Fenrir superfighters, while the latter lets you finally go up against the AC-original fighters and kick the asses of a few ADF-01F Falkens. The rockin' BGM helps so much.
 * The final three missions, Sea of Chaos, Aces, and The Unsung War of Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War. Convincing half an enemy fleet to defect to your side? Check. Defending your newfound allies against their countrymen and yours in a massive naval battle? Check. Going in for an assault, only to have the first squadrons, from both sides, that come to intercept you decide to join you? Check. Tense aerial battle? Check. One of the longest tunnel sequences in the game? Tricky, but check . Escaping the tunnel while The Mole chases after you? Check. Finally getting to take out the evil bastards behind this war in an epic dogfight? Check. Being able to break the game and take out the evil bastards in about twenty seconds? Check. Sappy, heartwarming dialogue from your wingmen if you beat the villains fast enough? Check. Destroying a Kill Sat as it falls, while Crowning Music of Awesome plays? Check.
 * The final mission of Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere qualifies. To elaborate, you have played a long series of mission continued one after the other, involving shooting down both the Big Bad and Rena, a friend and copilot that became the Big Bad's Dragon. Both had planes with better specs than yours, and Rena's plane, Night Raven is supposed to be the best aircraft ever. Then the last mission begins. You start to play over your city and suddenly 12 enemy planes appear out of the frigging nowhere, not only that but as you approach to them, you realize that they have the same model of the Night Raven, the plane that took you 3 continued missions to shoot down and destroyed a whole city by itslef, well 12 of them and with slightly better specs. And that's not all, after shooting one, you can ahck into its system (as they're on autopilot) and for the rest of the mission you pilot both planes. Also, a Crowning Music of Awesome

Aladdin

 * The level in Aladdin Virgin Games that took place inside Genie's lamp. Good music, no enemies, and lots of stuff to bounce around on.

Alan Wake

 * Near the end of "Episode 4" of Alan Wake, Alan fights off wave after wave of the Taken on a heavy metal stage belonging to a pair of Badass Grandpa rockers. The stage area is loaded with ammo and a much-improved version of the flashlight, as well as blasting out a heavy metal song while Barry works the pyrotechnics.

Another Century's Episode

 * Mission 15 of Another Centurys Episode 3. Macross Plus has this really nice climactic scene involving the original Macross being hacked by an AI that happens to be a virtual pop idol. Okay, now take that sequence, add Yoko Kanno's incredible song "Information High" from the OVA, have Roy Fokker alive and well leading a strike on the ship he once died to protect, throw in a dash of ACE 3 original story after a pair of Big Damn Heroes moments from the Nadesico C and your main enemies from the game, upgrade the protagonist's original unit to the high-speed model just before the stage, and top it all off with The Reveal of your main rival's formerly masked face, and you get a panultimate example of how crossovers sometimes just work.
 * It's made by Banpresto, the dudes responsible for Super Robot Wars, of course the crossover works.
 * From ACE 2, there is the final stretch (three separate stages played back-to-back in Story Mode), which recreates the final battle of the original Macross. Countless hordes of Zentraedi mecha and ships attempting to Zerg Rush you, only for your entire team to fight back, with each of the playable heroes having dialog in the background of the battle. Then you break into Boddole Zer's flagship, perform a Trench Run through its corridors, and blast him as he recoils in terror from your Protocultre. Oh, and "Do You Remember Love?" plays over the entire sequence.

Ape Escape

 * All three of the "boss" levels in Ape Escape. Crumbling Castle: a huge, dilapidated medieval castle with dungeons, enormous vaulted ceilings, secret passages, and a cool boss fight at the end. TV Tower: You get to drive a tank and blow up stuff, and the end boss fight is awesome. And finally, the Very Definitely Final Dungeon, Monkey Madness, split into two huge areas: A Circus of Fear complete with mine cart roller coaster and a fight against your Rival Turned Evil in an armored go kart, and the Big Bad's giant floating Space Castle, which manages to be both Nintendo Hard and ridiculously fun. Even better, Crumbling Castle and the final part of Monkey Madness come with Crowning Music of Awesome.
 * Tomoki Tower in 3. First, a trek through a futuristic cityscape, then you enter a giant, golden statue of The Dragon which serves as his base of operations. As you climb, you have to figure out puzzles using your gadgets. And at the end, you face off with The Dragon in a Mini-Mecha battle! (His has a 'fro just like he does!) Did I mention it comes after you get the coolest transformation in the game?
 * Also, the kung-fu level (I forget the name), the western level, and the level where you run across planes that are floating real close to each other. Then you enter a huge airship and ride a TANK through it! Best level ever!

Armored Core

 * Armored Core 4 has "Breaking the White Lance" and "Marche au Supplice". The first has you piloting your AC through a vertible hail of missile fire lauched from an entire flottilla of ships to destroy the headquarters of one of the corporations controlling the entire world, made all the more awesome by the sunset in the distance. The second, aptly translating from French as "March to Torment", has you dueling four top flight enemy ACs in a ruined city solo when you play it on hard mode. It's an adrenaline-pumping high speed mech duel to make any anime fight scene pale in comparison, with absolute failure kept at bay only by your reflexes and intuition. If you somehow don't feel awesome from smoking the four best opponents the game will ever throw at you at once, they hand you a pair of angel wings that double as laser cannons for beating it. If that isn't cool, nothing is.
 * For Answer's first real boss, the Spirit of Motherwill. that thing is what you think of when someone says "Arms fort".
 * "Destroy Cradle 03" in For Answer. To describe the mission: You side with a Complete Monster, and cross the Moral Event Horizon-- and destroy 5 rather helpless flying cities. Unfortunately, this sends you straight to the Scrappy Level afterwards.

Assassins Creed

 * The final two levels in Assassin's Creed I are pretty awesome. First you hack your way through the Lionhearts, Saracens, AND the Templars, then
 * In Assassin's Creed II, the assassination mission "Town Crier" puts you in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano which is filled with towers. Your target is on top of the tallest tower, with archers posted around lower towers. You need to climb up each tower and yank the archers over the edge before dueling your target on a platform basically ten feet square and two hundred feet in the air. Have fun.
 * Or if you're like one guy, sneak up on him and poison the hapless target... or simply grab him and chuck him off of the platform.
 * And the final level of the game. This is undoubtedly awesome.
 * The mission wherein you use Leonardo da Vinci's Flying Machine.
 * The post-credits sequence where Desmond kicks Templar ass.

Atelier series

 * Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana has some absolutely gorgeous locations, but by far the most epic is  Atelier and library. Some downright nasty enemies, beautiful music, the ability to FINALLY pick up Eital the Light Mana, a bossfight that requires intimate knowledge of your character's abilities to defeat, and some downright heartbreaking character development. In the space of maybe an hour if you take your time gathering mana.
 * The Flawless Marvel, a gorgeous pyramid of pure marble containing Aion the Life Mana, some surprisingly tricky puzzles, more of the beautiful music that marks the vast majority of the game... and That One Smegging Boss. Beating said boss is a Crowning Moment all on its own.

Avernum

 * The Howling Depths in Avernum V. After you've completed the quests for the residents of the latest town and depart, they reveal that the Big Bad has extorted their cooperation in killing you, an endless stream of bandit Mooks pours out of the caverns behind you, and you fight an awesome running battle through the entire length of a huge cave. It really captures the overall tone of the game, that you're playing as soldiers deep in hostile territory, and everybody wants to kill you.

Backyard Sports

 * Backyard Skateboarding. Shark Belly Shores. The Kooky Kraken.

Baldur's Gate

 * It really is quite impressive how many cool segments Baldur's Gate has. The assualt on the Vampire Lair, Firkraag's Dungeon, and the most impressive of them all... Watcher's Keep itself. (That dungeon is larger than some games!) The Shadow Dungeon is atmospheric, nasty and contains an awesome optional boss.
 * The Elven city was pretty epic too.

Banjo-Kazooie

 * Banjo-Kazooie: Click Clock Wood. Coming right after the Scrappy Level from hell that is Rusty Bucket Bay, this tricky but satisfying level that cleverly uses the 4 seasons is made of awesome.
 * Witchyworld, Terrydactyland, Hailfire Peaks and Cloud Cuckooland in Banjo-Tooie.
 * Jolly Roger's Lagoon in Tooie as well. Such a beautifully designed level; an above water section with a charming town, with some very funny residents and an underwater level that lets you explore Atlantis! Almost let down by an irritating boss, but a masterclass in doing underwater levels.
 * It also avoids one of the most hated aspects of underwater levels by removing the Oxygen Meter and letting you swim for as long as you want.
 * And the submarine transformation, which is awesome incarnate.

Bastion

 * The Mind Screw sequence in the Bog, where you replay bits of previous areas with Ruck's narration slowly becoming more and more malicious and things slowly becoming more twisted, culminating with you killing a replica of The Kid himself and finding yourself in a campsite where you must...gather some ore and light a fire before going to bed, then waking up from the dream and facing the game's first proper boss battle in a while (against the plant whose toxins caused the Mind Rape and hallucinations).
 * The final level; you fight hordes of angry Ura, pick up a few new trinkets (Hop Scotch which allows you to jump from platform to platform, the Calamity cannon from the previous level) before dropping them in favour of a massive battering ram which allows you to smash your way through everything and clear the screen with its speacial ability. Finally, you prepare to confront Zulf...only to find that your misguided friend's managed to upset the other Ura and is near to death from being beaten by a mob. You can then choose to either leave him to his fate (taking your revenge) and fight an epic battle to the exit...or you can forgive him and try to carry him to safety (unable to jump, roll, attack or defend) and slowly walk through the gauntlet while the Ura's attacks slowly chip away at your health. Finally, when you're nearly dead and out of health tonics they stop attacking (impressed by your bravery) and allow you to leave with Zulf (apart from one who's killed by the rest for it).

Baten Kaitos

 * Baten Kaitos -- the first game's Cor Hydrae. After a Crowning Moment of Awesome from all five continents, you invade the floating castle of the gods on the back of the last dragon in existence, which has this in the background. You fight five minibosses (each of which gives you a powerful finisher), then you come to the final fight, which is viciously hard, incredibly climactic, and has Violent Storm blasting over the fight.
 * The level where you storm the Imperial Fortress is every bit as fun as it sounds.
 * Baten Kaitos Origins' Vega. It starts with the Heart-to-Heart scene, which is a true Crowning Moment of Awesome for storytelling; equal parts Tear Jerker, Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, Player Punch, and Wham! Episode all in one, and ends with you getting your Infinity Plus One Finisher. The rest of the level is you tearing the enemies to shreds with it, all the way up until the boss of the place,, who's on the Best Boss Ever page for a reason. And then there's the music. Le Ali Del Principio (a.k.a. Motoi Sakuraba's single best work ever, which is saying a LOT) in the Heart-to-Heart scene, this song used after said scene, and when you get the finisher...and then there's the boss music.

Batman Arkham Asylum

 * Every Scarecrow confrontation in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
 * The return trip to Intensive Treatment, where the gargoyles are rigged to explode when you climb over them. This comes after you've done a few rooms with gargoyles, and by this point using them has become routine, so being forced not to use them makes for a good challenge.
 * For sheer fun, the is just plain awesome. No Knife Nut inmates, no lunatic patients, no Stun Guns, no firearms. Just a truckload of mooks and The Bat. Start kicking ass, and watch your combo counter struggle to keep up with your awesomeness until you are a blur of kevlar and hate, flying across the room like a superball bent on revenge. Then, you leave the room, emotionless as ever. You're badass. You're Batman.
 * The Totally Insane DLC Challenge Map. Where You fight a literally endless supply of mooks. The combo multiplier begins to imitate the energizer bunny and keeps on going...and going.... and going.

beatmania

 * The video to the Beatmania IIDX song "Tranoid" starts off looking like the attract demo to an old NES game. And then, we see the "game" in action: Tran running through the Normal chart for the song. Some players, for a lulz-y Self-Imposed Challenge, play the song on Normal, and, at the speedup, play the rest of the song by the video.
 * The song "Scripted Connection" is divided up into three parts. When it first debuted in the arcade version of Happy Sky, the Normal version of the song was the beginning of it, the Hyper version was the middle, and the Another version was the end; put all three of them together and you have a full five-and-a-half song. The PS2 version of Happy Sky has a "Long Mix" of the song, which is basically IIDX's Free Bird, for an epic single-song experiencce.

Beyond Good and Evil

 * The roof-running sequence from Beyond Good and Evil.
 * The entire end of Beyond Good and Evil was absolutely amazing. The sequence of fights leading up to the climactic multi-tired final boss battle contained large amounts of awesome.

Bioshock

 * Bioshock: "An Evening With Sander Cohen".
 * Bioshock 2, "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day."
 * And meeting Andrew Ryan. And bringing an end to.

Blood

 * Blood II in most cases isn't as good a game as the original was. However, there's one level in the game that stands above all others in the series. Why? In the middle of dealing with fanatical employees of a cult-turned-Mega Corp or Eldritch Abominations from Another Dimension, there's one level where all combat is dropped in lieu of getting to take a boat through a fully-working canal lock.

Braid

 * The whole of World 4 in Braid, which has you manipulating time by, making for some really tricky puzzles.
 * Then there's the final level: World 1, Level 1. You and the princess help each other as she tries to escape from a knight, she opening doors and disarming traps for you as you run from a giant wall of fire. You reach the end. Everything changes.

Brütal Legend

 * Brutal Legend has your first encounter with Doviculus. First,  Then, while Eddie's all ready for vengence, Doviculus just snaps his fingers and giant coffins containing unstoppable, nightmarish monstrosities fall from the heavens and begin ripping apart the majestic city you just saved. What follows is a driving mission as you try to escape the collapsing city to fight another day, driving and smashing your way through buildings, towers, demons, and a giant statue's crotch. And all of this is set to Through The Fire and Flippin' Flames. Best Final Boss Preview ever!

Burnout

 * Road Rage on I-88 in Burnout Paradise. Insanely fast, it loops (so you don't have to worry about sudden dead ends), intense combat... grab your Aggression car of choice and get out there.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

 * The hotel escape level in Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. After a few establishing hours of realistic (no HUD, no medikits, not even any weapons at this point) gameplay, you find yourself delayed in the small town of Innsmouth by a broken-down bus. You investigate the town and find the locals distinctly unhelpful and somewhat sinister. With no leads panning out, you retire to a hotel room to wait for the bus to be repaired. You sleep poorly, plagued by disturbing dreams. And in the dead of the night, the townspeople come for you.
 * With no way to defend yourself, you have to run away and close every door behind you, lock them, and push tables in front of them if possible. All while your pursuers are running after you, breaking doors down. If you forget to lock a door, they'll break through it faster than you can get into the next room and hack you to pieces.

Call of Duty

 * The final level in Call of Duty, featuring the Russian attack on the Reichstag. Fighting alongside tank support, sniping machinegun emplacements, with the operatic music and the joyful cries of your comrades pushing you on as you blast through the final Nazi defenses - it's a complete turnaround from the desperation and chaos of the first Russian mission.
 * The whole fucking Russian campaign.
 * Likewise, the Pegasus Bridge level for the British campaign was incredibly epic. Having to spend the entire level defending the namesake bridge against relentless hordes or German troops with just a small squad of friendlies, and slowly being forced to fall back. Finally, you're running low on ammo, you have nowhere left to retreat to, the Germans keep coming, and then you receive a radio message from your reinforcements that they're almost there. The last few minutes of that mission are just a desperate fight for survival to some of the most epic music the game has to offer.
 * For the Americans, it was the mission where you and a few squaddies pile into a tiny French Puegot in an attempt to make contact with friendly forces. In the meantime, literally the entire German army is trying to stop you, and you and your squaddies are desperately firing out the windows and cursing at each other every death defying turn and swerve.
 * Pretty much every level in United Offensive. The American campaign begins with you manning the machine gun on a jeep escaping a massive German assault in Bastogne, and then defending a valley with a machine gun. Then you run through artillery bombardment to take a town. Then you defend a chateau against an endless wave of German soldiers, including at least six tanks. Then you switch into the POV of a RAF bomber gunner fending off the Luftwaffe on a bombing mission over the Netherlands. Then you are shot down and rescued by the guy that you rescued in the first game, who happens to be leading several Dutch resistance members in blowing up a bridge right when a German train is passing. Said guy recruits you into the Special AirService, and lead you in a commando mission where you sneak into a bunker in Sicily to blow up coastal guns, and then escape with a motorcycle and eventually a German PT boat. And all of this are before the Russian campaign...
 * The Battle of Hill 400, The D-Day mission, the Pipeline, and the Brigade Box in the second game.
 * The Death From Above level in Call of Duty 4. Not because it's difficult, but in a game where you are always outnumbered and outgunned, having one level where you get to rain death on hapless bad guys and the difficulty lies in choosing whether to cut them in half with a minigun or blow them into chunky salsa with a howitzer makes a nice break.
 * "Alright, you got the guy. That might've been within two feet of him."
 * Also, the level Heat. It opens up with one of the most badass ambushes ever, followed by the SAS gradually falling back in the face a tremendous push by what feels like half the Ultranationalist army, with the Brits alternately using mines, RPGs, a Javelin, and even a salvaged minigun to delay the Ultranationalists all the way to the top of the hill....and then they find out their pickup is going to have to land at the bottom of the hill that you'd just conceded to the enemy. Cue a mad dash supported by United States Marine Corps Harriers dropping cluster bombs left, right, and center while the SAS charge down the hill, fighting off dozens of Ultranationalist rebels coming at them from every direction. Pure adrenaline.
 * All Ghillied Up; a Sniper Mission in Chernobyl that manages to portray the atmosphere of the location excellently, and a great feeling of infiltration.
 * What really does it is the sequence where you're crawling in the tall grass in a large field past a regiment of Russians and three tanks, and you can feel the ground shake beneath you as they roll past, completely unaware of your presence. Nothing else in the game is anywhere near as intense, and this is all done without firing a single shot.
 * And don't forget One Shot One Kill: an awesome sniper assasination,shooting down a helicoptor as it attacks, and then rappelling down as the floor you were just in EXPLODES. A tense escape - and then you shoot down another helicoptor -
 * The two Lt. Price levels just scream epic, and this is despite the fact they are not directly related to the plot, just flashbacks giving the background of the Big Bad.
 * "Crew Expendable" is damned awesome as well. The setting on the Bering Strait is awesome, with the storm so well-done you can almost feel the wind and rain. Price's smoking a cigar is a striking image in a game full of them, the fighting is awesome, complete with helicopter aid; the ending flight off the ship with Hans Zimmer providing the first example of his jaw-droppingly awesome music, and finally Captain Price's rescuing you from certain doom by falling off the chopper. As the screen fades out and "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" comes on, you know you're playing one of the best FPS games ever. Then "The Coup" starts, and the epic subversion/aversion of every military trope in the book begins (and it still hasn't let up, even with 3 coming in less than a week).
 * Call of Duty: World at War's final mission with the Russians, where.
 * For that matter, Reznov himself also shines in the same scene,.
 * In Modern Warfare 2, the Ranger campaign is definitely a highlight. From "Wolverines!", in which you engage in street-to-street combat while hiding from a tank and defend, to "Of Their Own Accord", in which you see , to "Second Sun" and, finally, "Whiskey Hotel", in which you . All while Hans Zimmer's epic score is blasting in the background. Oh hell yes.
 * In fact, every second level seems to have at least one memorable design element or unique trait. "Loose Ends" has you . "Just Like Old Times" is you and } and "Endgame" is a mad inflatable boat chase down an Afghan river as you take out enemy personnel with your machine pistol and avoid RPG fire and Minigun fire.
 * While those levels are all fairly nice, there were two that really stood out. The first is The Hornet's Nest, where you . It's a pretty simple concept, but incredibly tense, especially because of the music. The second is the opening to The Gulag, which requires you to snipe high-value targets from a helicopter as you storm a fortress.
 * Note that in the above description, when we speak of, we're not talking about a few soldiers. We're talking about  trying to kill you, while you have no firearms of your own. And they are right behind you.
 * Has no one mentioned Cliffhanger, The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday or Team Player yet? The first starts out with a tense ice-climbing section followed by some sniping in a snowstorm... and concludes with a pulse-pounding snowmobile escape. The second wins points for its brilliant slo-mo breaches, section with the smoke, AND awesome soundtrack. Team Player's vehicle ride really stands out for its suspenseful opening followed by all hell breaking loose - plus the awesome section where you ram into an enemy truck. And, oh yeah, The Enemy of My Enemy - infighting amongst Russians and Mercenaries, exploding vehicles, and a crazy escape in a jeep.
 * "Vorkuta" in Call of Duty Black Ops. You start out with only a knife, and join Resnov in leading a prisoner uprising, culminating in you wielding a fist of iron minigun against the guards. And it's only the second level.
 * "SOG" has you on the receiving end of a wonderfully epic NVA human wave assault, the likes of which aren't very often seen throughout the series. You can obliterate them by the dozens with Fougasses mines, but if that's not fun enough for you, the game is kind enough to provide you with an M60.
 * Can we talk about the level where you get to pilot a ridiculously overpowered PT boat down a river blasting other boats, enemy safehouses and garrisons while Sympathy for the Devil plays in the background?
 * No Russian

Castlevania series

 * The intro to Castlevania III Draculas Curse opens with a mysterious figure on an altar amidst ruins. Upon shedding his cape, he reveals that he is none other than Trevor Belmont. What follows is a level with possibly the catchiest song in the Castlevania series playing while Trevor navigates the ruins, climbs cathedral steps, and squares off against an evil knight. That's how you make an opening!
 * The first stage in Castlevania 3, which has the best NES music ever.
 * Block 5 from Super Castlevania IV. The thousand-times-larger-than-life feel of the whole thing as you ascend the grassy hills blowing in the wind and traverse the cave that gradually dwindles into the courtyard and finally, finally enter the castle to the unbelievably epic music that changes to the ultra-dramatic riff of the altered between-levels map screen music when you make it just in the nick of time through the door under the tight time limit. It's an indescribable feeling. You just have to play it to understand.
 * Block 4 is also pretty good. Partially because of the music, but it also has some interesting stage designs, such as when the screen rotates and you have to use the whip to hang on. Super Castlevania IV also has the last two levels, which have awesome remixes of the main themes from the three NES Castlevania games.
 * The final stage of Castlevania Chronicles. Not only does it have the best rendition of Simon's theme ever, you are blasting your way through Animated Armor, giant bats, and ninja demon maids while a falling chandelier sets the stage (And the armors) on fire.
 * Condemned Tower in Castlevania Dawn Of Sorrow is a peaceful ambient climb up this lost, abandoned and sad feeling tower with not that many enemies, soothing music, and a great atmosphere. Then you fight Gergoth, who completely loses his shit after halfway through the battle and you both fall all the way back down to the bottom.
 * Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin's 13th Street, for one reason: Iron Blue Intention.
 * ...and the Westminster Palace/Abbey inspired backgrounds.
 * 13th Street because it starts with you
 * Portrait also has Dark Academy, the second version of Forest of Doom, which is this old school style area. Except it is now in a thunderstorm, and the music is dramatic and epic as hell.
 * Both circus levels are quite memorable as well,
 * In Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, finally reaching Dracula's Castle in the last half of the game, with Shanoa's Leitmotif playing in the background. This plays in the entrance, and also the library, which is the biggest library you have ever seen, with books all over the shelves, and the entire floors are just covered in paper which is blown away as you walk through it. Then in one area, it links directly to the biggest kitchen ever too, with plenty of mad butchers, hanging meats, and massive stocks of food.
 * Clock towers in general are a mix of this and That One Level. They usually have incredible music, and feature the most challenging platforming in the game, particularly in the Metroidvania entries.
 * Most of the levels in Rondo of Blood are very good, particularly Stage 2 Alternative.
 * Olrox's Quarters in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Beautiful song and nightly atmosphere.
 * Royal Chapel and Anti Chapel in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Mostly because of the atmosphere.
 * Does anyone else remember the first time they entered Nightmare in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Finding a distorted save room while exploring some collapsed mine ruins... the cutscene leading into the fight... the creepy subtext when you realize you just fought a Succubus... It was just perfect.

Cave Story

 * Cave Story gives us the Sacred Grounds, a ruined temple area that combines That One Level, Nightmare Fuel, Crowning Music of Awesome and Nintendo Hard into a hectic jetpack race against the clock. It's memorable even if you never make it to . Though many are partial to the Outer Wall, where your gravity is inexplicably different than everything else's - not to mention the awesome Moonsong music.

Chrono Cross

 * Chrono Cross: when Lynx is playable, you wander alone through a setting that first looks like an expressionist painting, and then heavily M.C. Escher-inspired illogical landscapes.
 * The Dead Sea. Not only do you get to play as the above-mentioned Lynx, but you get to do it in a place frozen in time. You get to see waves standing still, the ruins of a future that was erased from existence, and get a good amount of plot exposition handled in about as straightforward a way as the game will give you. Plus, you top it off by fighting Miguel in a battle set to Prisoners of Fate. As far as RPG levels go, it's easily on par with the Black Omen, if not quite Ocean Palace caliber.
 * Chronopolis. Yes, it's basically a glorified Info Dump, but to get there, you had to hunt down the six Dragon Gods and fight them, which brought the main plot to a screeching halt. It's nice to have the story moving forwards again, even if it is showing the game's severe pacing issues as it does so. Plus, the music is great and the boss at the end is one of the game's best.

Chrono Trigger

 * Magus' Castle in Chrono Trigger is the definition of "atmospheric", and culminates in one of the most awesome Climax Boss fights in the history of gaming.
 * Some would argue that, at that point in the game, Magus' castle is more satisfying and challenging than the final boss rush!
 * The Ocean Palace is at least as good as Magus' Castle, if not better. Awesome music (that plays over all the battles), an ominous atmosphere, and the Final Boss Preview at the end make this one easily Trigger's best level.
 * The Black Omen, while not as good as the Ocean Palace, is still an excellent level.

City of Heroes

 * The Frostfire level in City of Heroes. There is a half-pipe made of ice.
 * On the same ice note, skiing in the Christmas level. It may be Nintendo Hard to get the achievements, but you can't deny you slid down that slope for a half an hour once you got there.
 * The entire Imperious Task Force in the endgame is one of the most fun, epic and fairly challenging series of missions there is.
 * Every mission released since Issue 17 has been amazing, but the best has to be the final stretch of the Warden Story. Heartbreak, humor, and one of the most epic boss fights in the game all rolled into one. And Praetorian Penelope Yin is just adorable.

Command & Conquer

 * Command & Conquer 3: GDI Campaign Stuttgart: The Scrin have just royally curbstomped GDI territory; the entire city is falling apart and the GDI presence is decimated. At the start, all you have at your command is Lt. Fullerton, and you're tasked with reorganizing your scattered troops, rebuilding a defense, and kicking some alien ass.
 * Nod Campaign Ayer's Rock: Kane is back, and he's pissed. Starting with four squishy engineers and a Fully Upgraded Avatar, you have to take over a Nod base run by an alleged traitor, then deal with GDI.
 * Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge expansion features three notable ones for the Soviets, including one where you get to use Tanya and Boris together to beat one of Yuri's bases.
 * Then you get the level on the moon where you get to use jetpack soldiers that carry lasers, and modified tanks on the moon's surface.
 * In the final campaign, you face off against mind-controlled Allied and Soviet bases deep in the heart of Trannsylvania, then finish Yuri, who is living in Dracula's Castle.
 * What makes it awesome is that the Dracula's Castle is located on a small cliff with just 2 extits - one guarded by a Soviet, another - by an Allies base. So, it's a 3 vs 1 fight against you with Super-weapons. However, both flanking bases are mind-controlled by a single building, which (be it a programming mistake or not) can be taken out with a single nuke. 2 Nukes later, Yuri is stuck on his tiny cliff with both exits blocked by YOUR bases!
 * Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Rising Sun Campaign features the levels where you get the giant walker that literally stomps all over the Soviets. Turns every level that features it into a Curb Stomp Battle.

Commander Keen

 * Commander Keen 5. Blowing up the Armageddon Machine  Plus, the music is Mars, Bringer of War.

Company of Heroes

 * Company of Heroes has several levels that can be easily considered CMOA. For instance, the FIRST level of the game IS the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan," right down to "blowing the shit out of the bunkers and killing every last German in the area." Then there is the Mortain two-pack in which you first defend a hill again a seemingly endless wave of German tanks, infantry, and artillery, then take your battered units in the very next level that survived the night and CHARGE the Germans. And then, of course, there is the last level, in which what seems like the entire Wermacht is poised to go through your pitiful little base in a desperate attempt to retreat out of the Falaise pocket. In a game where having just five tanks on a map is enough to pwn anyone and anything in your way, the Germans come at you on this map with endless streams of Tigers, Panthers, Panzer-IVs, and only Hitler knows how many armored cars and halftracks. There is nothing more epic than watching your thin line of American armor and infantry about to get blown over by the grey wave, and then-HOLY SHIT THAT WAS A P-47 WITH ROCKETS.

Condemned

 * Condemned 2: Bloodshot has Black Lake Lodge. Overall it's a rather controversial level, as you spend most of it blasting SWAT guys and throwing bombs out of windows in an (extremely creepy) dilapidated hunting lodge. But hardly anyone can deny that the first part of the level is one of (if not the) highlights of the whole game. After an extremely suspensful buildup, you get chased by a huge rabid grizzly bear through a service station. Once again: You get chased by a HUGE RABID GRIZZLY BEAR through a service station. It's terrifying, exhilarating, and awe-inspiring all at once. Hell, it's so cool it almost makes up for the huge increase in goofiness the plot has not too long afterward.

Conker's Bad Fur Day

 * Conker's Bad Fur Day features Spooky, a stage where you get turned into a vampire bat and have to hunt down zombies with a shotgun in a faux Dracula's castle, among other things.
 * Then there's War! Coming across the Tediz discussing the game over cigarettes, getting a frigging tank and using it to fight a giant mechanical one of the Tediz, who you kill by shooting rockets up his ass, the laserbeams, and even hearding the exploding imps over in the beginning of the level. And of course, Conker, with twin machine guns, and a cigar.
 * As soon as you saw the trenchcoats in Heist, you knew this was gonna be fun.

Crimson Skies

 * The grand finale in Crimson Skies. Basically, you have to stop a weather-control monster Zeppelin from destroying Chicago, by blowing up crackly lightning-orb generator thingies, while the sky fills up with Die Spinne planes. Just grab the controls of your Devastator or Brigand, and get ready to wreak some havoc.

Crysis

 * Crysis. The harbor infiltration and the large tank battle levels are giganormous, epic and very open in how you accomplish them.

Daytona USA

 * The beginner course in the original version of Daytona USA 2 is set in a huge, breathtaking forest dome. Sadly, Daytona USA 2 Power Edition substitutes this with a more generic-looking NASCAR-like track.

Dawn of War

 * The final mission from the original Dawn of War is badass. Basically an all-out attack against a warband of Chaos Space Marines upon a planet in the grips of a violent Warp Storm. It helps add to the tension that your enemy commander is a newly ascended Daemon Prince. An unholy demi-god of nigh limitless powers. It also helps that your character, resident Badass Gabriel Angelos, is gifted with a mighty Daemonhammer to brandish against the traitors.
 * The Exterminatus of Typhon Primaris from the sequel is a frantic race against time, as the planet is being bombarded by massive Inquisitorial fleets and being transformed from a verdant, green world into a blackened, flaming hell pit. And despite this, all races present upon it are locked in furious combat as they try to find some way to escape. At the end of the level is massive Colosseum were a particularly Deranged Chaos Champion awaits you, bellowing his anger that you would even think of escaping Typhon and such a glorious death amidst the destruction of a plant. The remaining portion of the level is engaging in gladiatorial combat against Orks, Chaos and Tyranids until you draw out the Champion who reveals himself with a massive explosion of fire, your main character and he then share some particularly badass one liners and then engage in a Duel to the Death. And to top it all off? At the end of all this madness, you have but a minute to escape your destruction.
 * The final battle against Azariah Kyras from the same game also counts. It begins with Kyras ascending to daemonhood by submerging himself in a pool of flaming blood and rising as a Balrog on steroids. Then fading to black and the screen reappearing with a badass narration from Gabriel Angelos before the screen turns to the player character's heroes. And then then fun begins. Your commanders/honour guard fight their way past an army of Chaos Space Marines defending Kyras and the towers of offerings he has erected to the Blood God, Khorne. After destroying the first one, we see that Gabriel has already fought his way to Kyras. The Daemon Prince attempts to weaken his adversary's faith in the Emperor of Man by telling him that his soul has already been devoured by the Chaos Gods, Gabriel has none of it and calls him a liar as he rallies his battle-brothers to destroy him. Kyras then crushes Gabriel underneath his fists, leaving him a burnt husk. The Player Characters must now fight their way to the final two towers, facing tremendously impressive enemy fortifications on the way, until they finally undo Kyras' invulnerability. They then face him in one of the most impressive boss fights ever, with an entire army at their back as Kyras summons daemons to flank them from all directions and rains down fire from the skies until he is finally overwhelmed. He then dies in a wonderfully gore filled combination of Death From Above and Boom! Headshot!.

Deus Ex

 * The Templar's Chapel Level in Deus Ex. The architecture is incredible for a sniper and by this point in time the character's skills, weapons and implants are just badass. Smooth, quiet, and in a weird way, relaxing. Much more enjoyable (although easier) than the levels that followed it.
 * Hong Kong from the same game is a sprawling underground with atmospheric loactions, rivaling triads and one of the best merges of storyline and player freedom.
 * The first mission to Hell's Kitchen, for its sub-quests, sheer amount of NPCs to talk to, including basement-dwelling conspiracy theorists and random bums calling you Masonic passwords, and the feel that there's something wrong with how the things are.
 * The OceanLab. Very haunted house terror.
 * The final level in Area 51. For a game that does a fairly good job in giving you enough ammo, health, etc that you are never really deprived but have to play it smart anyway, the idea of an endless mook hoard, especially ones with karkian super-mooks, at the end of a nasty series of levels, is about enough to make you whimper in fear no matter what your playstyle is.
 * The Nameless Mod, having a good level design overall, gives us two levels that stand out: The Air Traffic Control Tower (Big level, with a mindblowing number of different ways to complete it, including crashing a hovercar in the tower to get inside. The other is Aunt Betty Industries, an even bigger level that, rarely for a Deus Ex-like game, takes place in daylight (With a nice-looking exterior in the valley that surrounds the base), during a war between two different factions, includes some of the most satisfying opportunities to use stealth and and awesome combat setpiece, you really have to use all of your tricks to finish the level.
 * Tai Yong Medical in Deus Ex Human Revolution. A grand climb from Lower Hengsha to the top of one of Upper Hengsha's tallest towers, in broad daylight, with chances to shoot, sneak, and bluff your way past Belltower mercenaries, culminating in one of the best combat setpieces in the game.

Devil May Cry

 * Devil May Cry 3 has a short mission Hunter and Hunted, in which the player's health is slowly drained in exchange for unlimited Devil Trigger. The poor Mooks barely stood a chance before. Each Mook you kill coughs up health restoration.

Diablo

 * The Hell Levels of Diablo. The most atmospheric hell ever (if you prefer Gorn hell over firey hell), and you fight the Devil at the end.
 * The Bloody Foothills of Lord of Destruction began with a town under siege and its residents hating you. As you progress you rescue Barbarians, repel demon hordes, and destroy catapults as you go, ending it all by destroying the commander of the attack and gaining a socket to place in almost any weapon. No other level throughout the game gave you such a specific goal, or immersed the player so well.
 * The Arreat Summit, and, perhaps, the entirety of Act V stands as a crowning level of awesome... even before considering the region's Crowning Music of Awesome.

Diddy Kong Racing

 * Diddy Kong Racing: Future Fun Land is absolutely made of racing course win, with intricate space-themed courses (often with various things shooting at you) that are also visually impressive (including Shout Outs to the Death Star trench and Disneyworld's Epcot Center) and feature Crowning Music of Awesome.
 * Also from this game is Boulder Canyon, which turns from a wild hovercraft trip down rapids into a trip through a castle. You enter the castle from a drawbridge, and you can hit a bell at the end which will actually raise the drawbridge, potentially screwing over some of the racers behind you. Mwa ha ha.

Dinosaur

 * The sole River level in the Dinosaur GBC game. The last few levels have been gruelling treks through volcanic areas, raptor-infested deserts, and a cave where nearly everything can kill you. The River level, by contrast, is a cheerful level (it is the first time in the game you've found drinking water, after all), with cheerful music (which only plays in one other level). In comparison to the immediately previous levels, it is also refreshingly free of random things coming out of nowhere to kill you, save the very visible mosasaurs.

Dinotopia

 * Now, this might seem a bit less awesome than some of the above, but the Skybax riding level of Dinotopia: The Sunstone Odyssey was pretty darn cool, and easily the best part of the entire game.

Disgaea

 * The Item World in Disgaea. Note: creating massive destruction with Geo Symbols is really fun. The fact that you can choose any music to use for the levels is cool, but the music it automatically goes to every 10th level is cooler.
 * As fun as the Item World is, it has nothing on Chapter 6, the Blair Forest Stages (of which there are 6, making it the first in the game to have more than 4 maps). Here's a list:
 * Stage 1:
 * Stage 2:
 * Stage 3:.
 * Stage 4:
 * Stage 5:
 * Stage 6:

Donkey Kong

 * "Mine Cart Madness" is one of the best known and most loved levels of Donkey Kong Country. Of course, all of DKC's levels are awesome. Especially because of the Awesome Music.
 * The roller coaster levels in Donkey Kong Country 2.
 * The mine levels are pretty awesome too.
 * Any Donkey Kong Country 2 level with Stickerbush Symphony as the BGM.
 * Donkey Kong 64's Hideout Helm qualifies. It's the final dungeon. Your mission is to disarm the superweapon that's been pointing at your island for the entire game. You'll need every single one of your party members (and their special abilities) to do it. Your main opponent is a timer that ticks down whenever you aren't in the pause menu. Disarming it entails completing specific minigames that you can't find anywhere else, including one involving Rambi. And the music is completely appropriate.
 * Donkey Kong Country Returns' is pretty sweet, too. Even for.

Doom
Doom: DOOM II: Hell on Earth:
 * Episode 2 Map 8, the infamous first encounter with the Cyberdemon. Enough to scare a newbie's socks off and have them running around in circles like a chicken, and immensely fun to replay time and time again.
 * "Mount Erebus" from the "Inferno" Episode. If Hell exists, this is what it looks like.
 * MAP08, "Tricks and Traps". Sandy Petersen is a god when it comes to clever and creative level design. The whole thing consists of an octagonal room surrounded by doors leading to its on unique gimmick scenario. Simple, yet brilliant. The fact that it introduces one of the best pieces of music in the series ("The Dave D. Taylor Blues") is just icing on the cake.
 * MAP28, "The Spirit Realm". Arguably the most chillingly designed level in the game, with similarly terrifying and climactic music (Bobby Prince comes as close as possible to replicating a baroque orchestra in MIDI form, and actually pulls it off). The architecture pushes the DOOM engine, with all its clearly visible limitations, to the limit, creating an almost believable cavern that really could come straight out of Hell itself. Plus, it's damned hard to boot. The fact that it isn't the lead-up to the Final Boss is a real disappointment, especially considergn MAP 29, "The Living End", is rather conventional in comparison.
 * Thanks to the massive amount of content generated by Doom fans, you can find loads of amazing levels available for download.
 * Deus Vult II has been called "the best WAD ever made." Including levels inspired by Indiana Jones and The Mummy Trilogy, Stargate (sort of), Chuck Norris, Japan, and two levels based on The Lord of the Rings ("Minas Morgul" and "You Shall Not Pass!"), it has some of the most diverse and stunning architecture to be seen in a video game, as well as ludicrously balanced gameplay. The amount of planning and work put into it is truly astonishing; it may truly have the best level design of any video game.
 * Map 29, "Ticket to Eternity", of the megawad Plutonia 2. A huge level, with over 500 monsters (at least, on Ultra-Violence) allowing for a few fantastic instances of monster infighting, and an utterly nonlinear design allowing you to hunt for the three keys you need to reach the exit individually. Throughout the level, there are also five very well-hidden alcoves, each containing a hung Commander Keen, not listed as actual secrets, and neither is . Even exploring the stage with noclip after beating it gives a fantastic feeling, seeing every little nook and cranny that was put in. An absolute Crowning Moment of Awesome of stage design.

Doom 3:
 * The Hell levels qualify for this trope.
 * The fight against the Maledict in the last level in Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil was just awesome.

Dot Hack

 * .hack//G.U. has the climatic attack to Moon Tree's headquarters in Vol. 2. It makes you forget that the characters are just playing an MMO, just because of how awesome it is.

Dragon Age

 * The Gauntlet from Dragon Age: Origins. Seeing the spectral Guardian appear and ask each party member a piercing question concerning their past, encountering the spirits from Andraste's own past, encountering the spirit of your friend/family member from the prologue, fighting the duplicates of the party...truly a haunting and atmospheric masterpiece of a level.
 * For that matter, the entire final sequence at Denerim. Especially the bit with Ogres, who had previously been at least mini-bosses, are powered down enough that you can slaughter through them like Mooks.
 * The Dead Trenches is one of the most terrifying levels in video game history. "First day they come and catch everyone...." will haunt your dreams.
 * Dragon Age II has the Qunari invasion of Kirkwall at the end of Act II, that first introduces you to Meredith, sees the leader of the city murdered (following the death of his son, no less), and can potentially end with Hawke facing the military leader of the Qunari, the Arishok, in single combat to determine the fate of the city and one of Hawke's companions. Act III follows this up by ending with the opening salvos of the Mage-Templar War, Hawke possibly losing some of his/her partymembers depending on which side he/she takes, then What's particularly awesome about the final battle is not only in addition to your regular party, the REST of your remaining partymembers fight too (but not under your control) as well as a few other allies you may have made along the way (Such as ). Both are incredibly epic and awesome.
 * The Act III quest in  haunted mansion is beautifully creepy...walking through the rooms one after another as ghosts float objects through the air and hit your party, all of whom are spooked, builds such a sense of tension that it's a relief when a fight finally breaks out in the end.

Duke Nukem

 * Duke Nukem 3D's moonbase. In particular, the gigantic domed crater around which you must run like a madman while shooting down the thousand-odd kamikaze drones that swarm out of the ceiling.
 * Most of Episode 4 levels too. You get to visit Area 51 and blow up a nuclear power plant.
 * Every level in the unofficial expansions Duke It Out In D.C., and the Land of Forgotten Toys from Nuclear Winter.

Dungeon Siege

 * The last section of Dungeon Siege III. It takes place in a forest that is on fire

Dynasty Warriors

 * Dynasty Warriors 6's Battle of Hu Lao Gate (Lu Bu's version) for one simple fact: It's Lu Bu (and whoever the player character is if not him) versus almost everyone else in the game at once.

The Elder Scrolls

 * The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The moment you step out of the Census and Excise into Seyda Neen and look around. As you explore the little village and realize that pretty much everyone you see has a house within the town or at least to place a sleep. Quests that bring you back to the town from later in the game can be staggering when you realize that no, that little self-contained village is not self-contained, and those characters have histories that make them part of the larger world.
 * The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has the Dark Brotherhood quest in which you attend a party at which one person is a murderer (you!) To complete it properly, instead of just going mental on everyone you must lure them off one by one to kill them without the others seeing who did it, then slipping seamlessly back into the party to react with shock when told that one of the guests is dead, and swap theories on who the killer might be. For extra awesome points, you can convince one guest that another is the killer, and have them kill each other for your amusement. So much fun.
 * Especially when leaving the young, dumb nobleman for last. If you talk to him then he will whimper about how since you and him are the only two left that the killer must be slipping in and out of the manor somehow.
 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has Blackreach, a massive cavern/underground city that connects all the Dwemer cities in Skyrim from below. Your jaw will drop the first time you see it.
 * Sovngarde. After chasing Alduin all over Skyrim, you follow him into what's basically Valhalla, where he's set up soul-trapping mist and is eating the souls of the warriors there to regain his strength, you run through this mist (finding a few familiar faces along the way, depending on your actions in other questlines) and, after proving your strength in a duel with its guardian, enter the great halls of Sovngarde, reunite yourself with the heroes that defeated Alduin the first time, clear away his mist, and bring down the world eater together. An awesome ending to an awesome game. Not to mention you can hang around to enjoy the Scenery Porn afterwards.
 * With this as the background music.

Empire Earth

 * Empire Earth, the first game had many major historical battles to fight, but certainly Waterloo takes the gold. You have to make do with a scant few units, trying to hold back Napoleon's forces from taking your castle or flanking you and heading for the city, while desparately praying that the Prussians manage to reach the battlefield before it's too late. You also get the chance to carry out operation Sea Lion (the planned but never executed German invasion of England), which normally starts out with a Blitz of massive proportions. This time around, however, there's little the RAF can do to stop Buckingham Palace from being reduced to rubble.

Epic Mickey

 * Ventureland. You get to go through a pirate town, a jungle, a broken-down version of the Pirates of the Carribean ride, a beach with Skull Rock on it, and ultimately to the Jolly Roger to fight a mechanized version of Captain Hook, who can be defeated three different ways, the most difficult but rewarding of which has you climb the rigging of the ship all the way up to the top. And all with epic music!

Fable

 * Fable, the arena level, to which the rest of the game pales in comparison for the sheer staggering scale of combat brought to bear.

Fallout Series

 * Fallout 1's assaults on either the Cathedral or the Military Base if you opt for the guns blazing method are pure awesome.
 * Fallout Tactics Brotherhood of Steel. Non-canon, and all the bad things that bad people say about it, but there's one mission that stands out - Mardin. You are tasked to deliver a Humvee with food and medicine to the next Brotherhood outpost. Duh. Why you are tasked with such errand? Soldiers before you were ambushed in the Mardin city, you have to assist them. When you arrive...only one soldier is alive. He hands you the car keys and runs away. Why? The WHOLE city is dying because of starvation, then they see a car filled with food - guess what happens? THE WHOLE FRIGGIN' CITY WANTS YOU DEAD. You are not shooting bandits - you're shooting FAMISHED people who are doing it for their survival. Most of them are civilians, who don't know how to use firearms, so most of the time you just run over people rushing to the car with their bare hands. Kids throw rocks and grenades at you. The level is awesomely designed, you have an armored vehicle, and a CITY full of desperate people to kill. You feel awesome...but they just want help. You kill them. Awesome. You got to try if you have the chance, you'll see. Too bad the rest of the game is not so good.
 * The last mission of Fallout 3 has the player HOLY CRAP!
 * One of Prime's lines upon encountering your first laser fence sums up why this sequence is awesome. "PROBABILITY OF MISSION HINDRANCE: ZERO PERCENT!"
 * You can muck around with the terminal connected to Liberty Prime earlier in the game - one of the options is a test of its voice systems. "PROBABILITY OF COMMUNIST CHINESE VICTORY... ZERO PERCENT."
 * In the revamped awesome ending of Broken Steel,  Of course in the traditional game one can't leave out the cool gun fight you can start up in Paradise Falls against the slavers. Its very visceral and since everybody is armed with some powerful weapons it makes for an exciting fight. There is, of course, an added bonus though if you head into the fight using Lincoln's Repeater to blast them all away. Consider it your very own Emancipation Proclamation.
 * Escape from Raven Rock. Holy shit, Escape from Raven Rock. Explanation: If yer Speech is good enough, you can convince Pres. Eden to self-destruct with a bit of logic. As he does this, he offers robotic companions to aid you in escaping from his base, Raven Rock. So. You're running like hell out of a highly advanced military base, with Sentry Bots firing missiles at Tesla Armored Enclave Soldiers while you're running about with hopefully a very big gun at this point, totally eradicating everything in your path. Awesome.
 * The Sacred Bog of Point Lookout. The freaky hallucinations after you start tripping balls off punga seeds are both morbidly hilarious and Nightmare Fuel.
 * The entire Operation Anchorage simulation. Best quest in the game by far, right in front of "Take it Back!"
 * Fallout: New Vegas' final battle. Holy crap. Whoever you're fighting with, it's awesome.
 * Et Tumor, Brute? from Fallout: New Vegas. Put simply, you get to display your awesome Medicine skills by operating on Caesar himself's freaking brain tumour!
 * From the other side of things, storming the Fort and wiping out Caesar and the Praetorian Guard, especially if you bring Boone with you.

Final Fantasy Series

 * Many of the boss-party fights in Final Fantasy Tactics, especially with that kicking soundtrack. Assuming they weren't That One Level, ironically.
 * Final Fantasy III, the Forbidden Land of Eureka, simply for the visuals, the music, and the effect the setting has on Geomancer abilities. Just a lovely part to wander around in.
 * The defense of Fabul in Final Fantasy IV. It starts with airships bombing the castle, then you're gradually pushed back further and further inside. What really puts it over the top is that the music plays continuously throughout the whole sequence, making it seem like more than just a series of random fights. Finally you're forced all the way to the crystal room, and the music suddenly cuts out when Kain walks in. He proceeds to kick Cecil's ass, and we then see Golbez for the first time, who effortlessly takes care of everyone else before leaving with the crystal. Perhaps the greatest villain introduction of the franchise.
 * Inside the Giant of Babil; you descend form its mouth down to its midsection, refight the Four Fiends, regain a party member, and receive the crucial plot twist for the last part of the game.
 * And, while we're here, the battle on the Big Bridge on Final Fantasy V.
 * The Magitek Research Facility in Final Fantasy VI, featuring one of the best music tracks in the game, several intense boss fights and, finally, a frantic mine cart chase.
 * Or, of course, the Opera, perhaps the most perfect blend of story-telling and gameplay in an RPG.
 * What about the Phantom Train? The music here is one of the best as well, and culminates with perhaps the biggest example of Crazy Awesome. Sabin can suplex a friggin' train!
 * In Final Fantasy VII, the whole Shinra tower level. You get to raid the enemy HQ, fighting through the security floor by floor (assuming you chose not to sneak in), pick up a crapload of new useful weapons and materia as well as Red XIII, and you get to see Red XIII maul Hojo and then fight one of Hojo's monsters in the first of 4 awesome boss fights. On the way out, you're captured by the Turks and locked up. Everyone talks for a bit then falls asleep. When you wake up, the door is unlocked and you find everyone in the place has been slaughtered. You follow a blood trail to the top floor in one of the creepiest bits of the game. When you reach the top, you find the Shinra president impaled on Sephiroth's sword. Then the president's son shows up and proclaims himself the new boss of Shinra. Your party then splits up for two more bosses: Barret, Aeris and Red XIII take on the awesome but super hard Hundred-Gunner while Cloud goes head to head with Rufus. Then they all meet up again and steal a truck and a bike in an awesome CGI sequence and then comes one of the best mini-games ever: driving at breakneck speed down the freeway with Shinra troops in pursuit and you have to protect the truck as Cloud. On the bike. By slashing Shinra troops off their bikes with the Buster Sword. And this game determines how much health you have going into the next boss fight which starts immediately after against the Motor-Ball. And when you win, you get to leave Midgar and explore the world properly.
 * How about when the party returns to Midgar for the last time? The entire section of that game as the party comes back to more or less finish what they started the game doing; destroying Shinra for good. Something about knowing the truth about Shinra and all the atrocities they committed made systematically taking down their hierarchy and eventually killing Hojo, the game's biggest monster, made the collapse of Shinra so rewarding.
 * The summit of Mount Gaia also qualifies (following That One Level of climbing the damn thing) for the FMV reveal of the Northern Crater and the section's place in the plot. For the whole game so far, you've been chasing Sephiroth around the world, and then you get to the end of the path and find out that . Then the game itself has a BSOD and when it comes to everyone has been separated, some of the party are going to be executed in an attempt to appease the public, manifestations of the planet's wrath are walking the earth, and a giant meteor is coming to kill everyone in the world. It's still a letdown.
 * Climbing Mt. Gaia is annoying, but getting there is pretty fun too. The Great Glacier is truly massive but the game gives the players an ambiguous map beforehand in the town beforehand letting them know the general locale. Whether you successfully interpret the map and head straight for the summit or simply explore the place to your heart's content, picking up the treasures along the way, the Great Glacier is a well-done sequence.
 * The final battle of Crisis Core. Zack Fair against the entire Shinra army. The music, appropriately titled The Price of Freedom, the endless struggle against the end all players know is coming, the use of the DMW System as a storytelling tool, the final memories of Aerith, unbroken, even when Zack's body refuses to acknowledge its owner. He can't even remember Angeal or Cloud - those two have disappeared along with all the other rolls - but Aerith remains. However, the battle goes from an entire army, fully equipped and ready to fight, to three soldiers and a helicopter. Was it worth it, Shinra?
 * The Nibelheim Reactor. C'mon, we were all waiting for this one.
 * Also the final dungeon of Crisis Core. An eerie cavern with underground lakes, crystals, laboratories (with evidence of human experiments), machinery, etc. all culminating in the final battle with Genesis, who pulls power from the very Lifestream itself. The track has a nice mix of desperation & determination, too.
 * The final levels on each disc of Final Fantasy VIII (Deling City, Galbadia Garden, Lunatic Pandora, and Ultimecia's Castle) were all excellent and exciting, always ending with battles with the Big Bad and/or The Dragon. Galbadia Garden in particular is made of awesome.
 * While Deling City is probably the best city design in the game (though most of the game's cities are generally very fun to play through), Esthar City is wonderfully quirky, has brilliant music and perhaps above all, is nice to look at. And then...
 * Also from Final Fantasy VIII, the Seige of Dollet. Arguably THE most awesome music in the entire game, Foe-Tossing Charge against a few waves of Mooks, a couple of awesome boss fights... the entire sequence is just TV Tropes Made of Win Archive.
 * Memoria in Final Fantasy IX. The monsters are challenging but not annoying, the music is awesome and the scenery very interesting.
 * The alternate world of Terra. Beautiful music, amazing visuals, and great character development.
 * The Iifa Tree toward the end of Disc 2 was awesome as well.
 * At the start of Disc 3 in Final Fantasy IX the player is treated to the chance to use a Beatrix, who had been wiping the floor with the entire party for the entire game up until that point, along with a highly cinematic scene and a rock version of her theme that is never heard again in the game. The real CMOA is when Steiner, who has basically been beat on for the entire game to that point, confesses his love and goes Super Saiyan.
 * Zanarkand Ruins in Final Fantasy X. Monsters are challenging as above, the haunting music continues throughout the battles and the characters don't do their traditional Victory Poses afterwards, which would have been too much Mood Whiplash.
 * Also, Bevelle. From crashing a wedding in epic fashion to a showdown with the ever-persistant Seymour, this level definitely stands in one's memory.
 * And you get Bahamut. AWESOME!!!
 * To top it all off, it ends with a combination "behold the power of the Playstation 2" and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming where Tidus and Yuna share their first kiss in a beautiful, peaceful spring while this is playing.
 * The Omega Dungeon.
 * Pharos in Final Fantasy XII. Despite being the Marathon Level to end all Marathon Levels it's truly epic. It's huge, winding, gorgeous to look at all over, and the monsters are challenging and fun but not overly difficult. Plus you have Reddas as a Guest Star Party Member! And the scenes at the top were just gold, and then you get to beat down Dr. Cid who reveals that he's managed to get his hands on an esper... Best Boss Ever indeed.
 * Earlier in the game, there's The Leviathan airship, where you get both Ashe and Penelo, fully completing your party, are assisted by Vossler as you fight wave after wave of imperial soldiers, and finally take on your first Judge Magister, Ghis. The Shiva airship later on, where you  is equally awesome.
 * Final Fantasy XIII has lots of these:
 * Palumpolum, which contains 2 awesome boss fights and Hope's Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Nautilus, which is beautiful, has awesome music, one of the best CG in the game and
 * The Palamecia, where you finally assault the government that's been chasing you all this time, crowning moment upon crowning moment, culminating with
 * Gran Pulse, where you get your first sense of freedom in the game. Not to mention
 * Eden,, is one of the most breathtaking landscapes in-game, it starts off with this awesome cutscene (spoilers at your own risk) and contains too many moments of kickass to mention.
 * The Vile Peaks sequence where Hope . It is such an awesome sequence that turns an otherwise boring and grinding area into pure glee. This sequence is also immediately followed by the appearance of.
 * In Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Crystal Bearers, the game opens with a luxury airship getting attacked by Zus. The escort for the cruise, a bearer named Layle, responds by grabbing a gun twice as big as him and jumping from the escort craft, shooting monsters out of the air during freefall.

Fire Emblem

 * Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword's penultimate stage sends wave after wave of mooks for you to squish. If you play defensively, it's an epic siege map. If you play offensively, it's a Foe-Tossing Charge to the boss. This leads to...
 * The final stage, which mixes this with a Boss Rush. Besides the awesome music, you have to fight 8 leveled-up bosses. Then you have to kill the Big Bad while reinforcements flood the place. THEN you have to fight a dragon he released, while getting bombed with status ailments.
 * You want "wave after wave of mooks"? You want Cog of Destiny. The fact you have advanced units spawning every turn and then attacking you from the rear makes it insane. What made it even stranger was the realization that having less units made the level easier instead of maxing out the headcount.
 * The final stage is actually rather a letdown when you realize it doesn't really get any harder on the harder difficulty levels. If anything, it gets easier, because your characters are higher-levelled. Also Cog of Destiny, which on HHM is INSANE - especially if you aren't prepared for a level where almost every enemy is a high-level magic user.
 * Fire Emblem: The Sword of Seals. Chapter 22. You start out with your team spread out, and you have to send units to two switches. Then a bunch of reinforcements show up when you hit the switches, and you have to gather your troops to take on Big Bad Zephiel. Absolutely amazing.
 * Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones, Rausten Court. You must defend the center of the castle from enemies coming in from multiple places. Most of the early enemies are kinda weak, but they get stronger as you go. Not to mention the optional boss waiting for you outside the castle, if you so choose to hack through all the enemies to get to him. It's dark (literally), but fun.
 * And, of course, while we're on the topic of Fire Emblem games, how about 3-13 in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn? It's a Scrappy Level at times, to be sure, but if you're properly prepared, it can be awesome. And it has the archer.
 * Also, 4-5 and 4-E-3. Seriously, all of those dragon laguz just make it better.
 * 2-E. For one thing, you have almost as many ally units as you do normal units, and they're actually competent. One of them even gets Bolting, to complement your own Meteor tome. But perhaps the best thing about it is the fact the extent to which you can play this level your way. Want to play defensively? Take advantage of those perfectly placed chokepoints. Want to play offensively? Go right ahead! Either way, you'll certainly have a lot of fun abusing the fact that you just received what is arguably the single best weapon in the game, free of charge.
 * Add to that, if you play it right, you can get your first third-tier BEFORE the boss. Nephennee impaling Ludvek with a silver greatlance is one of the most satisfying moments in any game.
 * 3-6 in Radiant Dawn. Nothing is better than wiping Gallia's forces with seriously underleveled troops.
 * Except 3-E: nothing beats turning around after a Scrappy Level and beating the ever living hell out of your own units (specifically the ones that you were using in the aforementioned Scrappy Level) and their Redshirt Army of Mooks, in an all out brawl with troops that are going to be seriously powerful.
 * The kill counter. You know, the one that pulsates, counts up whenever any unit dies (and you have NPC allies, so the kills probably won't all be enemy units), and causes random chaos at various points until it reaches 80 and the dark god is on the verge of escaping from the medallion? Yeah, 3-E is the coolest level ever.
 * All this talk of Foe Tossing Charges and Boss Rushes and all-around hardness leads inevitably to the fourth installment (Genealogy of Holy War)'s "Final Holy War". So, you've fought your way all the way back to Calphy, where it all started, and avenged the game's first main character... but wait, that cute girl has gone missing and said first main character's spirit appeared and told you "It's not over". Cue this chapter: It starts by having to: Not kill your own unit (she's possessed by Manfroy's evil magic and is key to killing the Final Boss (note: She tries to kill you for a huge chunk of this mission), killing the Final Boss' lover (who's wielding one of the game's most powerful weapons, and has a Bolting as well for kicks), killing off 2 Complete Monsters after that (Including that Chessmaster who plotted the entire ordeal in the first place, and is number 1 in "Let's play: Feed the kids to the Dragon") (Both of which are incredibly powerful bosses), then turning around to get your unit back (possibly only to find that you can't (For certain reasons)) then taking on 12 Max level, near max stats Bosses, AT ONCE, then the final showdown with the final boss himself, who unless faced by his sister and her Infinity Plus 20 Tome, Naga, will halve your stats when engaged (and he has Vantage/Wrath, so once he's below 40HP, he's nearly unstoppable.) Epic indeed.

First Encounter Assault Recon

 * F.E.A.R 2 has the Wade Elementary School, with some of the best scares in the game including the locker room, Alma messing with entrances and exits, and the piano playing Remnant.
 * Wade Elementary also features the best of the games Nightmare Fuel. Seriously, how about a dark hallway where your flashlight doesn't work, the only light is dim and flickering, the soundtrack is really really eerie, and to top it all off, it comes just when you think you're through the whole horror build up. The creepy stuff has stopped for a little while as you go through a few deserted, nicely lit rooms. Suddenly, you are faced with a very long hallway that has been trashed severely. The lgihts are all still working so it doesn't seem too bad. But then, you go further and get attacked by a couple ghosts. You then move forwards again, and this huge eruption of vehemence just obliterates the hallway, blowing everything around and breaking almost all the lights.
 * Don't forget the gun battle on Still Island. You get to use the APC's automatic grenade launcher turret against enemy mooks! After all the difficulty that the last few levels have posed, especially on Hard, it feels great.

Flower

 * Flower is a composite of best levels ever, but the one that really stands out has to be the city level. Flying through at breakneck speed, smashing black metal and laving flowers and trees in your path, restoring beauty to what was a ragged hellscape.

Freelancer

 * The PC game Freelancer, once the Liberty send the whole damn navy after your tail. You have about 20 ships chasing you at full speed, firing, bent on destroying you. Your objective basically is to get to a warp gate approximately 3 - 4 minutes away at full speed. (It even says so right in your quest log - "Mission: Escape to the wormhole. Reward: Your life.") This mad rush runaway is a blast dodging fire going all around you. And, actually, is the first hard part of the game.
 * Another moment is just before

Freespace

 * Free Space 2 has a number of these, but 'Into The Lion's Den' is truly world-class: you get the best fighter in the game (an enemy one at that), three (competent) wingmen, a horde of enemies and the objective of just causing as much mayhem as possible in 15 minutes. Oh, and of course the intro:


 * 'Bearbaiting' showcases the other area where Freespace excels: dwarfing you with an enormous super-ship, then telling your handful of bombers to run the gauntlet of the defences to hit it where it hurts. Repeatedly.
 * The user-made campaigns have plenty more. Where to begin? "The Number of the Beast" in Derelict, where you must attempt to keep the peace in the middle of a riot? The Battle of Jotunheim from Silent Threat: Reborn? The defense of a Karnak-class installation from the same campaign, complete with flying inside it to defend the main reactor? The final two missions of Blue Planet, which contain some of the most epic music ever put into Freespace, and one of which has a in the background?
 * Special mention also goes to "Delenda Est" from Blue Planet. Although, there is the gorgeous backdrop of Saturn for the battle, which mostly consists of your fleet smashing one obstacle after another and generally demonstrating why they're called the "Wargods". And the music... let's just say the HSQ was at a perpetual high.
 * The previous installment has "Forced Entry". It's hard. Dear Lord, is it hard. But nothing beats the satisfaction of pulling it off as your entire fleet smashes through the Shivan blockade in a chaotic rolling furball and escapes by the skin of its teeth.
 * Much earlier in the main game, you're fighting the fascist Neo-Terran Front, and frankly they're a pain in the ass. Some of the missions are cake-walks, some of them are struggles against the futility of the entire universe. You're finally pulling up to what your told is the decisive battle; and it sucks. Oh it's not unfair, it's just a slug-fest to end all slug-fests. The whole time you're being told that reinforcements are on the way. You're finally starting to wish you had never put on a flight suit, and suddenly, "GTVA Colossus is on station!" This WMD of a ship is multiple times larger than the apocalyptic flagship of the Shivan fleet in the first game, and has so much firepower it chews up and spits out the juggernaut of a capital ship that you've been nibbling at for the last who knows how long over multiple missions. And dear god is it glorious to see that bastard go up in a series of titanic explosions.

F-Zero

 * Original F-Zero had Red Canyon II. While the course itself wasn't THAT awesome, it featured the best jump in the game, which required you to hit one jump plate at high speed then aim for another arrow shaped plate on the terrain to get back on the track. It was the only such jump in the game and was a real blast. Also, the level wasn't so hard, so it was a nice breather before Fire Field.
 * F-Zero X has the X Cup. The courses that are generated can range anywhere from simple short runs to courses with killer jumps that half the field won't survive to ridiculous half-pipe courses that make White Land 2 look easy. It's always entertaining to see what course the game will throw at you next.
 * As far as regular courses go, the first Silence course is golden, particularly the first half which has multiple dash arrows that can be hit consecutively.
 * There's also Rainbow Road. Yes, that Rainbow Road.
 * Too bad the North American version doesn't get the Expansion Pack, which has THIS BGM.
 * F-Zero GX has the Trident course, which has many very narrow roads without guardrails. In a game where falling off forces you start the whole race over (and lose a life), this could easily be a Scrappy Level, but once you get used to it, it's possible to send over half of the grid (of 30) to their demise before the race is over, for great fun and profit.
 * Fire Field: Cylinder Knot. Crowning Music of Awesome + driving upside-down + lava everywhere = epic win.
 * GX's Dragon Slope - a course which includes three consecutive long-ass drops, which, if you time it just right, can be taken in one single, epic flight and a top speed of over 3000 kph.
 * Green Hill: Spiral. A long course with a crapload of twists and turns. It's made even better if you're playing on an F-Zero AX cab with a moving seat.
 * Ordeal, a brief but exhilarating ride through a Mute City crafted out of pure Scenery Porn and touched with a Crowning Music of Awesome.