Greatest Game Openings

[Thursday Next]

GoW 3 and Uncharted 2 were great as playable intros go.

 

Abe's Odyssey was a brilliant cinematic one.

 

[staySICK]

fuck the haters.

[Thursday Next]

 

fuck the haters.

 

You rock! Also, love the name.

[WTF]

I have no problem with BS, I'm just waiting for a drop in price because I dislike GFWL

 

Edited to add: I think the game is fun, it's pretty much burnout paradise the FPS in my eyes. It's one of the few games where I dislike the OTT dialogue but know is fun to play.

Edited March 15, 2011 by WTF

[TheMightyEthan]

I tried it, played it for about an hour and a half and lost interest.

[deanb]

I quite liked it, not used the Echoes yet, nor finished the game. But I enjoyed it. Just dislike the dialogue. I look forward to more "kill with skill" games.

[Masonvrocks]

This comes after the actual "opening" movie which is also pretty cool, but I just really like this whole thing.

[Mr W Phallus]

http://www.ugo.com/games/the-best-first-levels-in-video-games

 

Some suggestions courtesy of Ugo.

[Hot Heart]

Hehe. I saw that but I was thinking 'No! I want people to submit their own choices'

 

I think we did actually cover a lot of them.

[TheMightyEthan]

Good article. It asks a question about Mass Effect 2 that I have also always wondered about, but figured out this last time I played it:

 

The article asks why the release for the escape pod is outside the pod, in the ship you would normally want to be escaping, thus requiring Shepard to stay behind while he saves Joker. It's a good question. The last time I played it, though, I noticed that the reason Shepard didn't get in the pod was not so he could hit the button, it was that an explosion blew him away from the pod door, then the Collector cannon fired, cutting him off from access to the pod. Joker was refusing to leave without him, so Shepard hit the release inside the ship. So it wasn't that it HAD to be launched from outside, just that it could be.

[Hot Heart]

Oh, yeah, I saw that but just didn't bother with it. (Someone on the internet is wrong? Oh well! *xkcd comic*)

 

I'd already figured that was the case. Seemed pretty obvious to me the first time.

 

Well, the second time really, because I restarted the game after the first bit because I'd put my Shepard's eyes ever so slightly too close together and figured it would continue to bug me for the rest of the game.

[TheMightyEthan]

I restarted the game after the first bit because I'd put my Shepard's eyes ever so slightly too close together and figured it would continue to bug me for the rest of the game.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I have like 4 save files in Mass Effect 1 that I started, got about 1-1.5 hours in, decided I really fucking hated my Shepard, and started over. I've always imported a Shep in starting ME2 though, so I never had that problem in that game.

[SomTervo]

I love how it starts by putting players in such an intense, cinematic, and thrilling position.

 

I love that. I do not love that, for some reason, they make you play through it again...

 

I dunno, it skips out the more infuriating bits of having to play it again, and also adds his sardonic/ pissed off/ in pain comments as you're climbing the train again.

 

Mmmm I'm going wet at the lips thinking of how they're gonna one up that opening in Uncharted 3.

 

Also I'd like to add Dead Space to the list. Seminal opening, it's like a much more entertaining version of Half-Life's opening scene where you don't have control, but can look around, and it's so frigging cinematic.

[Mister Jack]

This is something I've been thinking about lately. First impressions are important, and the first hour or so of a game can either psych you up or bore you to tears. So out of all the games you've played , which ones had the most memorable intros to you? How you liked the rest of the game is irrelevant. This is just about games that started out strong and got you interested in seeing the rest.

[toxicitizen]

Maybe not exactly what you're talking about, but off the top of my head, the way the cutscene at the beginning of MGS4 just seamlessly zoomed in on Snake and the HUD appeared, that blew me away the first time. 

 

Also, the entire opening section of God of War III was pretty amazing, especially after years of hype.

[Hot Heart]

Hey, I remember making this topic ages ago, but I guess it was deleted or something.

 

Off the top of my head, Mass Effect 2 always sticks in my mind. That one was pretty cool.

 

I liked the openings to Halo 1 and 2, as well. And I'll always remember FFVII.

 

EDIT: Oh, and Uncharted 2!

Edited May 5, 2013 by Hot Heart

[UnstableArk]

I was more partial to Mass Effect 1's opening than 2. I really loved how the title showed playing to that awesome synth.

 

Other standouts I can think of include Assassin's Creed 2 and Persona 3. Actually, all three of those start out with some damn fine music playing alongside the intro. I suppose that's what makes it more memorable to me.

[TheMightyEthan]

I'll second Mass Effect 1 & 2, and Halo 1 & 2.

 

A more recent one that comes to mind is Dishonored.

[Strangelove]

God Of War 3, Dead Space 2, pretty much every Killzone game, Uncharted 2, also the 4 main MGS games. I suppose ME2 too.

[Mister Jack]

Rather than repeat what others have already said I'm going to say Far Cry 3.  I've never seen more intense mood whiplash in a game than when the silly rap music and douchey vacation video is suddenly pulled away and it's revealed that you're in a cage while Vaas taunts and threatens you like the unstable lunatic he is.  It was dark, unsettling, and brilliant.

[BrainHurtBoy...2]

Kingdom Hearts 2.

 

Okay, but really: SMT: Nocturne, FFX, half of Dragon Age: Origins, Final Fantasy VI, probably Bioshock, HL2, Xenogears, Dark Cloud 2.

 

This topic makes me really wistful, for whatever reason. I powerfully associate games with their openings and endings.

[Waldorf and Statler]

I first want to point out what I considered a really bad game opening that did not tell me shit about the rest of the game: Darksiders.

 

That out of the way my favorite game opening? Shit tough to say I've loved so many. I mean there's the Witcher series because I love the books so being in this world was an orgasm. Believe it or not I also love Bioware openings for the most part [you know, peaceful life ruined and slowly showing you game mechanics]. And this is hypocritical slightly since I make it known how much I currently dislike shooters, but Modern Warfare's whole ship level was fantastic.

[CorgiShinobi]

Hmm, this is kinda a tough one for me. Usually I'm already invested in a game because I've been keeping track of it in gaming media.

 

I guess I would say Borderlands 2, Mass Effect 2, and BioShock Infinite off the top of my head. Maybe even Asura's Wrath, though I knew I was going to be getting into some crazy stuff, so flying through space exploding gigantic red beasts of evil wasn't as thrilling as it could have been to me.

 

As for a more personal game opening: Pokemon.

 

See, I was 10. I was getting better at video games, but some things still flew over my head in terms of game design. For the first 20 minutes of Pokemon, I could not figure out how to leave the house. I eventually handed it over to my father who, by chance, left the house. I immediately interrogated him to where he said he did something around what looked like a carpet.

 

I could also tell you about when I finally learned what Bill's PC did, you know, after having a team of Blastoise, Raticate, Pidgeotto, Nidorino, Nidorina, and Raichu.

[TheMightyEthan]

God Of War 3, Dead Space 2, pretty much every Killzone game, Uncharted 2, also the 4 main MGS games. I suppose ME2 too.

 

I never played Killzone 1, can't remember Killzone 2's intro (so shows how much that impacted me), and thought Killzone 3's was boring.

[Strangelove]

The first two killzones start with megalomaniacal Brian Cox speeches. They're awesome.