- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
The Silent Cartographer: Combine a relatively non-linear outdoor area that you can fully explore with unique encounters and where the plot starts to get really interesting, and you have yourself an awesome level. The opening is unforgettable, and driving that warthog around the edge of that fully developed island never gets old. It also made one hell of a multiplayer level, matches on Death Island are always full of surprises.
343 Guilty Spark: Brim ming with atmosphere and suspense, then the twist that changed everything you knew of this universe, etc. Great devices that drive the narrative are everywhere, and as you journey further underground, the gravity of the situation builds. In my opinion it's easily the best Flood level in the game.
Honourable Mentions:
Truth and Reconciliation: The beginning of the level is among my most fond of memories of this game. Making your way across the dark cliff edge, marines in tow, and then Under Cover of Night plays, damn, it's a moment that induces nostalgia every time. The outdoor portion of the level was awesome, the indoor ship section felt slightly claustrophobic and repetitive. But those outdoor sections, they're simply timeless.
Assault on The Control Room/Two Betrayals: Again goes to the outdoor sections, the indoor sections and repetitive series of bridges and corridors bring the other sections down. But the outdoor sections are superb, interesting encounters are commonplace, and your weaponry and vehicles change and shift as you go along. Attacking the entrance to the Control Room and hearing the electric piano come to life as you grappled with Hunters and Zealots is a Halo classic experience.
Edit: Argh, it censored "brim.ming" :p
[Edited on 05.05.2008 11:47 PM PDT]