Call of Duty: Black Ops Tops Guinness' "Greatest Videogame Ending" List

[Mike Kayatta]

Call of Duty: Black Ops Tops Guinness' "Greatest Videogame Ending" List

Black Ops beats out Halo: Reach and Ocarina of Time for best game finale of all time.

Many well-known series earned multiple slots of real estate on Guinness World Records' 2012 list of the top fifty videogame endings of all time, but Call of Duty led the pack with four winning titles, and 2010's Black Ops on top of the pile. Following just behind was Mario with four, then Assassin's Creed and Halo at three a piece. Here's the list in its entirety, bottom to top.

? 50. Resident Evil 4
? 49. Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic
? 48. Ratchet & Clank: a Crack in Time
? 47. Crysis 2
? 46. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
? 45. Call of Duty: World at War
? 44. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
? 43. Half-Life 2: Episode Tow [sic]
? 42. Super Metroid
? 41. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
? 40. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
? 39. inFamous
? 38. Fallout 3
? 37. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
? 36. Gears of War 2
? 35. Bioshock
? 34. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
? 33. Sonic Adventures 2
? 32. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
? 31. Kingdom Hearts II
? 30. Mass Effect
? 29. Super Mario Galaxy
? 28. Sonic the Hedgehog
? 27. Metal Gear Solid
? 26. Assassin's Creed II
? 25. Assassin's Creed
? 24. Shadow of the Colossus
? 23. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
? 22. Kingdom Hearts
? 21. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
? 20. Super Mario Galaxy 2
? 19. Mass Effect 2
? 18. Grand Theft Auto IV
? 17. Portal 2
? 16. Assassins Creed: Brotherhood
? 15. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
? 14. Halo: Combat Evolved
? 13. Halo 3
? 12. Pokemon Black and White
? 11. Super Mario Bros
? 10. Heavy Rain
? 9. Final Fantasy VII
? 8. Metal Gear Solid 4
? 7. Portal
? 6. Red Dead Redemption
? 5. God of War
? 4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
? 3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
? 2. Halo: Reach
? 1. Call of Duty: Black Ops


The list was assembled from the polled opinions of "13,000 videogame fans" for publication in the Guinness World Records 2012 Gamers Edition book. The reasoning behind these selections will not be included in print, however Gaz Deaves, the tome's editor, had this to say about the process: "Everyone has an opinion on how to end a game whether it's an epic boss fight, a clever plot twist, or a 90-minute movie."

"This list recognizes some of the greatest endings and hopefully will get gamers talking about what are their favorites and why," he continued.

Obviously, this is a list that won't upset anyone, nor cause even one person to disagree with anything on it. But I jest; clearly this index has at least one glaring omission. I mean, seriously, where's Ghostbusters for NES? [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCO35b47wUQ ] I'm calling shenanigans.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-13-call-of-duty-black-ops-has-best-game-ending-ever-says-guinness-world-records]

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[Random berk]

Seriously? Of all the games that I have played on that list, almost every one of them had a better ending than Black Ops. Partly because I had to think fairly long and hard to remember which scene from that game was actually the end. Did it even show what happened after you strangled whatever 2-dimensional Russian was the villain for that particular game? Or did it just fade to black? Goddamn it.

 

[NooNameLeft]

Fallout New Vegas is missing... somewhere in the first place.

 

[Swyftstar]

This is an odd list. Most of those games have crap endings and a few have endings that last only a few seconds. Do they mean the last portion of the game or the ending after all gameplay is done?

 

[Electrogecko]

First of all, since when are Guinness records determined by a vote?

Second, this list is pretty shoddy.....I haven't beaten a CoD campaign since CoD 4 (which had a pretty good ending when I think about it) but I have a hard time believing so many of the series deserved a top spot.

And, Super Mario Bros.? For any Mario title at all to be up there is questionable but Super Mario Bros.?!?!?

Is this including the gameplay segments that preceded the ending? The final level and the final boss, or just the narrative, story-driven component?

 

[Sparrow]

Ooooh, boy. I can just hear the hate incoming... but still, I think there are some real stinkers in there. I mean, of all the videogame endings to feature... they picked Pokemon Black and White? Seriously? Are you fucking kidding me?

I myself would have put Red Dead near the top place, along with Assassins Creed and maybe CoD 4.

 

[HavoK 09]

13,000 videogame fans is in no way accurate when you have a planet filled with millions of them...

and i can picture quite a few posts saying WTF NO SKYRIM?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Force Unleashed 2's ending is on that list? You mean the game that literally ended on a canon destroying cliffhanger with no signs of a sequel being made?

 

[Baresark]

Wow, the Guinness folks... I thought they were better than that. No offense, but that isn't nearly a large enough sample of the gaming population to define anything. That is 0.0197% of the total gaming population, and that is based only on ones who own a 360.

 

[KAPTAINmORGANnWo4life]

But...Oblivion didn't really have an ending. If it did, what was it? The end of a Guild? The video from after the end of the Main Quest? The end of Shivering Isles?

Too loose. Too obvious in its pandering. Nothing to see here.

 

[Riobux]

What was the ending of Call Of Duty: Black Ops again?

 

[Zhukov]

I suppose I should be angry about this. You know, "CoD sucks! People are stupid (except for me)! Gaming isn't good anymore!" And all that.

But mostly I'm just wondering when Guinness World Records started doing things by popular vote. Aren't they supposed to deal with measurable stuff?

Not that it matters. After all, every Real Gamer[sup]TM[/sup] knows that Solitaire has the best ending ever.

 

[Agent Larkin]

That list is just wrong.

If for no other reason then Mafia (The first one) isn't even up there and that had a brilliant ending.

 

[Best of the 3]

I agree with this list utterally and completely. Well, at least for the CoD BO. When I finished the story of that game, I was so damn happy that it was finally over, any ending was a godsend at that point.

 

[vrbtny]

What was the ending of Call Of Duty: Black Ops again?

My response exactly.

Halo : Reach has a far better ending than it. Using perfect balance between emotions from the concluding story, and nostalgia for Combat Evolved. Black Ops had none of that.

 

[Erttheking]

inb4 COD hating shitstorm

P.S. Halo is #2? AWESOME!

 

[Astalano]

I swear, everytime I read a news item about gaming I just want to slit my wrists.

 

[NLS]

So Ocarina of Time is on third place, while Black ops is in 1st place. Soooo, how big are the chances of Black ops being number 3 on that list in 2026? Yeah that's right.
I thought Guinness was all about setting world records, but how do you really measure the greatness of a video game, especially compared to games that are fresh and recent in memory? And how does that even tie into world record?
Yes, you could say the world record for voting on a video game ending as the best one was taken by Black Ops, but the original concept is so dumb, because it has really nothing to do with a WORLD RECORD.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Haha, I loved the Back Ops campaign yet even I think this is utter horseshit. I can't even remember the ending, just the bit with the American ships everywhere which may or may not have been subtle satire.

Mass Effect 2 at 19? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm