It's the little things...

[Daniel Cygnus]

The deer that you occasionally see while wandering through a forest in Oblivion... And then the twang of the bow as I recreate the meadow scene from Bambi.

I prefer setting them on fire. Mmm, roast venison.

The sound of throwing a turret through a Paticle Field on Portal, switching to the Scout's Bat just to see the animation(Same with the Spy's Knife.), and defending anything as a Heavy.

Oh, thank God. I thought I was the only one who did that.

Every single sound effect in Dead Rising is absolutely perfect. Be it eating an apple or decapitating zombies with a scythe, everything sounds exactly how it does (or at least how you'd imagine it does) in real life.

 

[Editos]

The music in Mass Effect.

So, so epic.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Viewing battles in Gratutious Space Battles. When you quit Alpha Centauri and it says, "Please don't go. The Drones need you. They look up to you."

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Fallout 3 - The way my character flicks the top of the Combat Shotgun with 2 fingers at the end of a reload.

.

This is also on the assault rifle, and yeah it looks really nice. click

Seriously, i need to play that game again, Fallout New Vegas better have Vats.

I'd be very surprised if it didn't, given how well it worked in F3.

I was always fond of the way the main character in Shadow of Colossus interacted with the environment. If one foot was on a slightly raised platform, his leg would bend to accommodate the new stance.

I noticed that too, it was a nice little immersive touch. The horse animations were gorgeous in it too.

Another:

In Ico, the way there's a tiny delay each time you run while holding Yorda's hand, as if to suggest you're tugging her along and she's like 'whoa! ok I'm coming!'

 

[Soushi]

Having nice, pitch black humor that is actually funny, rather than just dark. Portal did this well, as did Bioshock.

 

[SamuelT]

That there is no sound-track for Bad Company 2 ingame. Normally the online FPS has a 'standard gunfight track' for every map, but in BC2 every shot you hear can actually kill you. It's really cool to hear dull gunfire while you're perched up on a hill as a Recon.

And several minutes later you're right in the thick of it.

 

[Sonicron]

I really enjoy subtle musical variations within a single theme, depending on either your condition or your exact location in a larger area.

Also, one thing that still sticks out of my mind is from 2004's Transformers game on the PS2 - when you fragged an enemy, they didn't just blow up, no, they actually desintegrated into dozens of mechanical parts which could be seen and heard bouncing off the terrain; if you used Optimus (in truck mode) to plow through an entire horde of weaker bots it looked like a brightly-colored elephant on wheels was rampaging through a hardware store specializing in spare parts.

 

[silver wolf009]

The way you can influence your allies in KoToR 2. just love screwing with peoples minds.

 

[Walkchalk]

I really like it when your character climbs up stairs and it actually looks like they are climbing stairs, not just walking up a ramp or something. Just the little touches that win me over sometimes.

Oh, and realistic shadows.

 

[TyroSe7en]

@Wakizashi74: I just stared at your picture for 15 mins before snapping out of it...

OT: I always feel like "job well done" when I just finish taking out a couple massive hordes in left4dead 1&2

The final mission in halo: CE I thought was actually pretty fun thrill, last mission in H:3 (being pretty much the exact same style of mission) was pretty good too. Maybe I just like jump out, at high speeds, of a crashing, giant freaken ship, thats exploding in every nook and cranny possible =D

 

[Hobo Joe]

Bethesda games always have nice things like that; the fact that I could forget everything that was going on for hours and just hunt deer; the little comic touches to the environment in Fallout three...

 

[PDizzle418]

red faction guerilla

after carefully deconstructing to the point where just det packs will drop it

pulling the trigger and just seeing the building drop at all once is extremely satisfying

and bridges I love destroying bridges

also
dropping a nuke MW2
that moment when everything slows down it's always satisfying to throw yourself off a cliff while the world turns to fire

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

The satisfying crack as Batman's cape drifts to cover what's actually happening in AA.

The little notes you receive in ME2, sent by people you helped in ME1 (If you were a nice guy).

The way the various weapons in GUN actually produce different levels of feedback on the controllers.

Seeing a vampire turn to dust in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (What, I like it!)

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I really enjoy subtle musical variations within a single theme, depending on either your condition or your exact location in a larger area.

Also, one thing that still sticks out of my mind is from 2004's Transformers game on the PS2 - when you fragged an enemy, they didn't just blow up, no, they actually desintegrated into dozens of mechanical parts which could be seen and heard bouncing off the terrain; if you used Optimus (in truck mode) to plow through an entire horde of weaker bots it looked like a brightly-colored elephant on wheels was rampaging through a hardware store specializing in spare parts.

That was actually a pretty great game, and the boss fight with the giant ship was really well done.

 

[THEMANWHOIS]

I love the reload animation of the FAL in MW2.

 

[jobu59749]

The sweet satisfaction of knowing that I pimped all the women on Mass Effect 2 while my fiance watched and shook her head with dissatisfaction that I picked Miranda instead of Jack...lol.

I spose it's not a game mechanic but still great.

 

[Disaster Button]

The sound and look of someone shattering after you freeze someone then explode them with your spear gun in Bioshock 2.

 

[x0ny]

The sound of a shot from a silence M4 in Counter Strike Source.

 

[Julianking93]

Finally mastering the combat of the PS2 Shinobi game.

Took me forever but finally being able to kick ass in that game was awesome

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The sound and look of someone shattering after you freeze someone then explode them with your spear gun in Bioshock 2.

I went with Incinerate on my first playthrough, but I'm so trying that.