Best Video Game Openings

[Tanis]

CHRONO -bleeping- CROSS

Say what you will about the game (I love it) but I saw this opening in a PlayStation gaming magazine and bought the game the next day...
No reading 'reviews' or watching 'game play trailers' or asking friends what they thought or any other kind of 'smart buyer' crap.

Just tossed my allowance down at Wal-Mart and hoped for the best.

First, and last, time that's happened...
Never regretted it and I STILL own the original discs, and strategy guide (thought after all these years it looks like crap)!

 

[DannyJBeckett]

Fallout 3 has a pretty damn good opening.

and the music in the opening to Oblivion fills me with epic every time.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

CHRONO -bleeping- CROSS

Say what you will about the game (I love it) but I saw this opening in a PlayStation gaming magazine and bought the game the next day...
No reading 'reviews' or watching 'game play trailers' or asking friends what they thought or any other kind of 'smart buyer' crap.

Just tossed my allowance down at Wal-Mart and hoped for the best.

First, and last, time that's happened...
Never regretted it and I STILL own the original discs, and strategy guide (thought after all these years it looks like crap)!

Oh dear me. I never thought I'd be ninja'd in this regard.

Taste. Methinks you have it in spades.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I'm going to have to side with Yahtzee on this one, and say Bioshock.

I don't normally like FPSs, but I played the demo of Bioshock when it came out on PS3.

I instantly left my house, pre-ordered Bioshock, and returned home to replay the demo 5 more times.

Someone showed me the intro to Bioshock. I immediately saved up money for an XBox 360 and bought one and Bioshock.

Bioshock 2's was pretty good. Not even close to Bioshock 1, but damn, man...it kicked you in the emotional balls three minutes into the game. I just sat there, dumbstruck, as the title came up.

 

[Elijah Ball]

i can't really think of any aside from the borderlands one. so i'll go with that. =]

 

[violent_quiche]

Arkham Asylum, I love you, but walking through that long intro gets really boring the third time you do it

Yes. It's not just a cutscene, but a cutscene that makes you do the walking, so you can't even wander off and fix a coffee while it runs through. Good thing they followed up with a great game.

I was going to nominate ME2 but I'm sick of talking about it, so I'll stump for the Half Life series instead. Both took their time to set the stage and generally did so with a minimum of exposition.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Homeworld, Super Metroid, and Half-Life 2, for similar reasons. All three flawlessly combine atmosphere and exposition in their opening level.

 

[juy56]

deadly creatures had a cool opening, anyone play it?

 

[Midnight Crossroads]

God of War


That's how you make an opening for a video game. I hate the five minute intro cinematic that so many games fall trap to. I want to play the game, and Kratos doesn't fuck around getting to the part where I tear some guy's arm off.

 

[Blood Countess]

I think Final Fantasy VIII has a great opening myself

 

[GartarkMusik]

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Don't believe me? Here:

<youtube=jEbvgiMRAmk>

Thanks for posting that, brought back some good memories of that game.

 

[ChupathingyX]

In terms of gameplay Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction will always be the best. The news broadcasts that introduce the story then go to the ExOps briefing room which then goes to the C-17. I don't know why but being inside the C-17 had such a good atmosphere and they introduce the three mercs really well in the plane. Then you drive out of the back of a C-17 while it is still flying and make your way past artillery fire and An and KPa troops fighting and finally arrive at the AN HQ where you are greeted by Apollo Cree...err, I mean Col. Garrett.

As for over the top cinematics, I will never forget Dynasty Warriors 5...

 

[Suijen]

To me, there are quite a few. I remember an experience in which I thought "this is an awesome opening" but I forgot which game, but I'll list a few games: Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy 8, and probably Front Mission 4.

 

[chawlie fair]

I really loved Star Wars: jedi outcast's intro, the dialogue was short and sweet and got straight to the point.

but yeah either HL2 or BioShock, those really are the BEST intros.

 

[KarlMonster]

I thought I was watching 'Lost', but it turned out I was playing Minecraft and got sleepy.


I love the opening for Half Life 2.
Very fine storytelling.

 

[octafish]

MW2, in fact all the Mechwarrior games had great cinematics for their time.

But all time? This one. It is the only one I never skip.

 

[mcattack92]

Quake 2 had a really good opening. The city fly over with the big gun was just epic (for being a 90s game)

 

[ecoho]

i like the intro to the tales games always well done.

 

[LittleBlondeGoth]

I'm another one who loved the opening to FFVII - it really threw me into the thick of the action from the start. I didn't know exactly what was going on yet, but boy, it looked exciting. Especially when combined with that opening Lifestream / Aeris cinematic and Uematsu's amazing soundtrack.

The other... well, series, really, would have to be God of War. I'll use Chains of Olympus on the PSP to illustrate my point here. Not only does it look incredible, but again, you're thrown in right at the deep end when an epicly sized monster storms in to attack you. "Oh crap", says I. Gearing up to fight this big bad, when it gets swallowed up by an even more epicly sized, even bigger bad. What I said at that point remains a matter of conjecture, but it certainly wasn't pretty.

 

[Rooster893]

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.

Don't believe me? Here:

<youtube=jEbvgiMRAmk>

Thanks for posting that, brought back some good memories of that game.

You're very welcome, mate. That game was awesome....should replay it....