Games with the best pacing?

I don't think we have done this thread. What games have the best pacing? There is an art to the sort of ebb and flow of a game. To not tire players out from certain types of gameplay. Which games do it best? Feel free to discuss why they are getting this aspect right. Or what makes a game in general well-paced to you.

Half-Life 2 does it best. It's a bit of a slow burn for some people but I love how it takes it's time. All of the major moments are just so satisfying, it varies the gameplay in clever ways, and it makes you feel like a total badass as you enter the final chapters.

Pretty much any recent Naughty Dog game does it well too. Except for Uncharted 3. Too many huge setpieces. They just started to get less impressive over time.

I don't know if you can say a multiplayer game has pacing but this was one of my biggest complaints about Walker Assault in the new Battlefront game. It's obviously meant to have a clear direction, but the intensity starts at about 8 and only goes up so it feels extra directionless to me.

Metal Gear Solid for the PS1 for me has the best pacing ever. I to this day never skip dialogue in that game, so even when that gets lengthy I'm fine with it.

Resident Evil 4, Uncharted 2, The Last of Us, Halo 2, Portal, and Donkey Kong 94 off the top of my head. Really only can bring up linear games here though because once exploration or level select factor in you create your own pacing.

I'd throw in ochery Ratchet game too. They give you so much action, and you're always rewarded with a cool quick story moment at the end of a level. The enemies always get slightly harder, but your weapons are always about to level up to make things easier.

Lots of great choices in here. Playing Uncharted 2 is what made me think of the topic. It is just masterful. Using things like the temple areas and village/mountain platforming areas as breathers between the big setpieces is just handled perfectly.

Not sure if I'd agree with Ratchet. None of the games have bad pacing, it's just you can put the levels in almost any order you want so long as the levels are balanced. It's not like Uncharted 2 where everything feels like it's building on top of one another.

Uncharted 2 was actually the first game I thought of, that game is masterfully paced and they tried to do it again in Uncharted 3 but it felt so forced and...yeah, anyway.

Last of Us is also excellently paced (dat opening though!). Half Life 2...I mean, you guys hit a lot of my major points.

I'll also throw in Final Fantasy VII as well because knowing nothing about it I thought the game would be a smaller story set within Midgar and it gets you really acquainted and invested in the characters before opening up the whole game and larger story.

I'd also like to add in Skies of Arcadia. There's a great sense of progression, whether you upgrade your ship or make new discoveries in the world, the game is always making you feel like the characters are growing as both people and adventurers while dishing out plot twists at a great pace

*sigh* where's the HD re-release of that one? Never got to play it!

I don't know but that game's the only reason my Dreamcast stays plugged in.

Final Fantasy VII, hands down. It throws you right into the thick of things without assuming this is the first time you've ever played one of those new-fangledy vidyagaems and keeps the plot moving along nicely. There's also plenty of stuff in-game to take a break with.

I think Shadow of the Colossus has good pacing—provided you don't get lost in the mountains for half and hour.

Most of the game is the constant cycle of setting out through the peaceful world. Then the peaceful cinematic that let's you know you've found the place. Then the rush as you actually start fighting this mountain. Rinse and repeat, with a steadily growing suspicion that you might just be killing innocent creatures.

Then towards the end there's the cinematic that reminds you that there's other things happening in the world.

Finally, some pretty epic climax anticipation as you head towards the last colossus.

To go off Aja's comment on MP games having good pacing, I'd say Warzone in Halo 5 does just yhat. Starts with just taking out AI enemies then you duke it out with the other team using standard weapons and as the game allows  you to equip crazier weapons and drive bigger vehicles while deploying stronger AI opponents, it just gets nuts.