I find cliffhangers are used when the producers realized the game/movie was getting weak and repetitive, so to keep people anxious to play/watch their creations, they made a cliffhanger, which gives you a need to see the ending, whether the game/movie is good or not. Sometimes it works well, others it doesn't. I really never liked the old cliffhangers where the superhero would look as if he were about to die and the narrator would say, 'Will this be the end of Superman?! Find out next time!'
OT: The worst cliffhanger I seen was when I watched an old Batman episode for the first time as a kid. He was in 'danger', and I sat in front of the television thinking, 'Why do I care whether he dies or not? I'm going to have a sandwich'. No joke. :/
