Okay, so everyone's covered (or will cover) the expected classics. So I'll just mention Dead Space: You watch a log from Nicole. Then you find yourself on a shuttle, hurtling through hyperspace. The window opens up to a breathtaking view of the Ishimura. Did a great job of setting the scene, and snagged the player with a little emotional hook (Finding Nicole)
And who am I kidding; here, have a few oldies:
Thief: The Dark Project. "I was a... kid."
Grim Fandango: "Sorry for the wait, Mr. Flores"
Call of Duty 4
Queue the endless MW sucks comments.
I hate side quests. If you can't be bothered to write a decent enough story to fill a game, then just hire a writer that can. Enough of these filler quests that really turn an interesting game into a grind.
Oh the first Silent Hill. Back in a day when internet is scarce. When I first played it Im like "WTF Im dead @ the first 5 minutes.."
Add me: Steam, Raptr: mnem
All the Mass Effect games (seriously). 1 did a great job at setting you up for the game; the "Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?" "That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy" conversation with the theme music building was simply amazing. The second and third games don't really need an explanation.
Saints Row 3. Even ignoring the skydiving, how could you not love that heist scene?
Star Wars: Republic Commando. The intro scene is really cool, watching your clone grow in a tank in the Kamino facility and go through training.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 had a sweet first mission as well. You play the grandfather of one of the main characters during a secret operation in WW2. The singleplayer is pretty much downhill from there though.
I have to say that Oblivion's opening was pretty good but I have tosay that Skyrims was ten times better though...
Being Perfect is simple....
Just don't do anything ever and you should be good to go.
Autograph the gun and put it down :pOriginally Posted by westyfield
I hate side quests. If you can't be bothered to write a decent enough story to fill a game, then just hire a writer that can. Enough of these filler quests that really turn an interesting game into a grind.
FF7 was amazing and holds up well today.
Silent hill : the whole opening of the game : from where you first pick up the radio up to where you get in the alternate school.
Half life, the tram ride and up to where shit hits the fan and even up to where you meet your first headcrab, just amazing.
people actually played bfbc2 singeplayer? i didnt even know it had one before i bought it
How bout The Witcher 2? You wake up next to a naked red-haired godess, pop outside the tent to find yourself in a massive military camp, follow the king into a huge tower, and storm the battlements with an army of knights. Then because that apparently wasn't enough excitement, they throw a dragon in too. Gravy.
Planescape: Torment, waking up in the morgue and having the strangeness unravel around you was a nice sedate start compared to most of the madcap offerings so far this thread.
You can't rightfully call that the opening. In the first edition, it's preceded by the flashback to the start of the Witcher 1 at Kaer Morhen. Then Geralt wakes up in a prison cell. Then he gets taken away for interrogation, and that's when you begin the sequence in the tent. In the Enhanced edition, you first see the CGI movie of the assassination of King Demavend before going to the main menu, then when you start the game, some introductory text that really doesn't do a lot to inform you if you're really new to the Witcher games.
The first edition isn't much to write home about regarding the opening, but I think that if I'd played the Enhanced edition first, I'd be pretty blown away by that CGI movie. It's the most detailed and realistic piece of CGI I've ever seen, for visuals as well as animation. I'd love to hear what kind of a first impression it makes on someone who's never played the game before.
I liked Metal Gear Solid. Snake basically rides a torpedo (ok, SDV) then swims through the arctic sea to his objective with absolutely nothing on him except a pack of cigarettes he hid in his stomach. All three of those things could be the foundations of Chuck Norris jokes which is how you know Snake is fucking hardcore.
I can't believe no-one's said it yet, but Bioshock! That opening will stay with me forever.
No Gods or Kings, Only Man
You're number three.
You know what? The opening for Portal 2 was pretty awesome as well.
I said it on the first page =D
Excellent thread this!
Jedi Knight - the cheesy but wonderful opening FMV really sets the tone for the game. Just the right balance between silly and gritty. The opening level also captures the general look and feel of the game. Gigantic levels, tons of secret areas, bottomless pits, insane verticality/vertigo and excellent atmosphere that somehow captured Star Wars just right.
Conflict: Freespace 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hftP3c01Gwc - captures the game so, so well. You are essentially ambushed into an open war by the Shivans and the opening video got the manic fear just right. Most of the first game is essentially a battle for survival and the video set the tone from the very start. Brilliantly, your very first briefing in the game you are de-briefed about the aftermath of that video and firmly put in your place as just another pilot in the war effort. I'm glad they maintained that throughout both games.
Conflict: Freespace 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khIWdolT9xY - arguably my favourite opening. The sense of scale, the lunacy and chaos of space battles, the Hercules being shot down, the time skip and the voice over maintaining a very sombre and sad tone. And just when you think that you're in for an even tougher time, the voice drops a hint of optimism and hope. Suddenly the Colossus and its fleet flies into view and you simply mouth the words "Holy Shit!". The first game was about survival and scraping through by the skin of your teeth, the second game right from the very start establishes a different purpose; that space is your home and you are damn well gonna fight tooth and nail for it this time and proactively take the fight to the Shivans for much of the game.
I can't say enough good things about the Freespace series!
FF6 - Most people mention FF7 but 6 and 8 are my preferred games in the main series and their openings are so good. FF6's opening lays out the current state of the game world very well, especially that its on the brink of chaos. Here's the opening in its entirety - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDMWp1oLoA0 - skip to 3:40 for my favourite part, when Wedge, Biggs and Terra make their way to Narshaa and the music...it makes my hair stand on end.
FF8's cgi opening was a gigantic leap in terms of CGI I thought and the pure bombastic nature of the song used in its opening is stunning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pZ2ibvZb2Q - VETHOS LUSEC VETHOS VENOSEC *cue drums* It just gets better and better. :) Its amazing how well the cgi holds up even today. I don't even want to know who's responsibility it was for the gunblade to feather transition back then!
Most people have already mentioned the Fallout series and Half-Life 1 and 2 already. Mass Effect 1 as well! I'm sure there's more but these come to mind atm.
Last edited by khaz; 16-07-2012 at 11:13 PM.
Driver also had that rather good (But rather tough) opening intro/tutorial level in the underground parking lot. What many people don't know is that it was a direct homage to the Ryan O'Neal movie of the same name. The movie had a scene where he shows of his skills for some thieves in a similar parking lot and scares the shit out of them. Great movie, good game.
I've always been really partial to the StarCraft: Brood War intro video. The SC intro was good, and gave a brief glimpse at what was happening before you got into the game itself(the events of the intro were even referenced in the Terran campaign), but the Brood War opening did all that and more. It showed that the war wasn't going well, had one commanding officer berating another for being ignorant about the challenges they faced, portrayed the hopelessness of the soldiers, and had some great music to go with it. And it did it in something like 3 minutes.
Neat, thanks for pointing that out. I always liked the way that tutorial was done.
For all its faults, I think Dragon Age 2 had a really good opening, introducing you to Varric as the not entirely reliable narrator of the game (argueably one of its strong points) and giving you the opportunity to play around with some high level abilities.
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