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Best game intros ever (Play By Play thread)
Stavren
Registered User
Registered User
Best Game Intros Ever Thread!
We've all been there before. We boot up a game, and, whether it's the pre-title cinematic, the start menu, or the "actual" beginning of the game, something about the way it starts, its sound and motions, gives us shivers and instantly informs us of the game and what it's about.
This thread is here to honour the best of game intros, an aspect of video-games often sorely neglected (unlike oft-discussed endings). Feel free to post your own screenshots in a Play-By-Play.
In the case of my current favourite, Super Metroid, the intro begins just after the main menu.
Fuck Yeah, Samus B!
A universal standard of intro screens.
Who could forget this moment? In an era of gaming when voice-acting was more a novelty than anything else, and usually sounded completely awful, we heard this haunting opening line with no pretensions or grandeur, no technological splendor, just a voice with accompanying words plainly appearing on a black background. It's the only spoken word in the game, and it is partially because of this that it resonates with us when we hear it.
Samus' upper torso appears on the screen, heavily shadowed in front of the black background. A simple blink with two frames of animation lends the image life, while green letters appear on the screen with accompanying "typing" sounds".
Significantly, when Super Metroid was released the text in this intro was Samus' only personal message in the series. The sparing use of text and emotion displayed motivation for the character while still allowing her the charge of mystery that helped make her a gaming icon. Also note the haunting score, making full use of an extremely limited digital range to create an ambiance of dark intentions with galactic consequences.
New players are introduced to the concept of the Mother Brain via a flashback from the original Metroid. The environment and characters are recreated with modern graphics, without any flashy, distracting deviations from the original game's visual style.
We are allowed an explanation of the Game Boy title Metroid II's ending. The personification of the Metroid larva as a "Confused child" is critical to the game, as it ensures the player has a desirable emotional connection with the Metroid, ensuring that its reappearance, attack, and subsequent yielding are fully explained in the player's mind when they occur. It also establishes Samus as a mother figure.
The "Motherly" aspect of Samus is especially interesting considering her nemesis: The "Mother Brain". (I couldn't help but be reminded by the movie Aliens when I noticed this.) Figuratively, Samus is on a mission to rescue her child.
The concept of a Metroid being not only capable of draining energy, but also producing it forms an important part of the series' story. It makes them a very interesting and malleable third party, and has provided the series a great deal of flexibility for plots in further installments (Samus' suits in subsequent Metroid games are sometimes partially "Metroid-powered").
This screen at firsts seems merely to be visual support of Samus' exposition, but the angle is worth noting: This is the first human in the series other than Samus to be seen, but the face is not shown. This helps the game maintain its cold atmosphere, and, since it is implied to be Samus' own memory, the lack of any distinguishing features of the scientist go towards implying that Samus is not a woman who forms any personal relationships. As the sole moving part of the screen, the Metroid inevitably becomes the most eye-catching part of it. If the option to animate the handshake was present, it was good that the developers chose not to, as the lack of motion elsewhere places emphasis on the Metroid's importance.
In a departure from series convention, instead of simply being evil, destructive monsters, the Metroids can be used to either build or destroy. This, coupled with the "Baby" personification of the Metroid larva, makes the Metroids interesting characters themselves: Ones with limitless power to change the fate of civilization, but no moral loyalties, only simple biological ones.
Again, no detail is revealed in the scientists' faces, their glasses are deliberately reflective to disallow any sight of their eyes, thus disallowing any sort of connection to them as people. Again, the Metroid is the only moving part of the screen. Coupled with Samus' simple "baby" association earlier, this actually gives the Metroid more personality than the scientists! This is partially thanks to the scientists' featureless nature: By displaying no more expression or individual distinction than the Metroid, the creatures personal connection to the player is ensured, rather than simply contrasting with the scientists as a monster.
The story of Super Metroid is finally initiated.
When this text appears, the steady, moody music suddenly cuts off, jolting the player and providing the exclamation with a more alarming quality.
After all these slow sequences, with little motion, the game cuts to a sudden cutscene. Our front view of Samus' ship is very brief, as it careens into the screen and (accompanied with a flash of white)...
Towards the space station. The purplish space in the background provides the station with a somewhat eerie, threatening glow, and the asteroids suggest danger.
The ship disappears into the small hole on the top of the station, giving the player a sense of a massive scale, and the words "Space Station" firmly place the player in the setting of the first playable section.
And so begins Super Metroid! In a time when most "Text exposition" intros in video-games were extremely basic and impersonal, Metroid provides an understated stylization, and uses its sole moment of direct narrative to provide the player with personal connections to things in the game that display no human emotions or characteristics whatsoever.
Here, discuss your personal thought on this and other great gaming intros (as well as, if you so choose, the worst gaming intros). While I'm thinking about Metroid intros, Metroid Prime has a fantastic title screen.
We've all been there before. We boot up a game, and, whether it's the pre-title cinematic, the start menu, or the "actual" beginning of the game, something about the way it starts, its sound and motions, gives us shivers and instantly informs us of the game and what it's about.
This thread is here to honour the best of game intros, an aspect of video-games often sorely neglected (unlike oft-discussed endings). Feel free to post your own screenshots in a Play-By-Play.
In the case of my current favourite, Super Metroid, the intro begins just after the main menu.
Fuck Yeah, Samus B!
A universal standard of intro screens.
Who could forget this moment? In an era of gaming when voice-acting was more a novelty than anything else, and usually sounded completely awful, we heard this haunting opening line with no pretensions or grandeur, no technological splendor, just a voice with accompanying words plainly appearing on a black background. It's the only spoken word in the game, and it is partially because of this that it resonates with us when we hear it.
Samus' upper torso appears on the screen, heavily shadowed in front of the black background. A simple blink with two frames of animation lends the image life, while green letters appear on the screen with accompanying "typing" sounds".
Significantly, when Super Metroid was released the text in this intro was Samus' only personal message in the series. The sparing use of text and emotion displayed motivation for the character while still allowing her the charge of mystery that helped make her a gaming icon. Also note the haunting score, making full use of an extremely limited digital range to create an ambiance of dark intentions with galactic consequences.
New players are introduced to the concept of the Mother Brain via a flashback from the original Metroid. The environment and characters are recreated with modern graphics, without any flashy, distracting deviations from the original game's visual style.
We are allowed an explanation of the Game Boy title Metroid II's ending. The personification of the Metroid larva as a "Confused child" is critical to the game, as it ensures the player has a desirable emotional connection with the Metroid, ensuring that its reappearance, attack, and subsequent yielding are fully explained in the player's mind when they occur. It also establishes Samus as a mother figure.
The "Motherly" aspect of Samus is especially interesting considering her nemesis: The "Mother Brain". (I couldn't help but be reminded by the movie Aliens when I noticed this.) Figuratively, Samus is on a mission to rescue her child.
The concept of a Metroid being not only capable of draining energy, but also producing it forms an important part of the series' story. It makes them a very interesting and malleable third party, and has provided the series a great deal of flexibility for plots in further installments (Samus' suits in subsequent Metroid games are sometimes partially "Metroid-powered").
This screen at firsts seems merely to be visual support of Samus' exposition, but the angle is worth noting: This is the first human in the series other than Samus to be seen, but the face is not shown. This helps the game maintain its cold atmosphere, and, since it is implied to be Samus' own memory, the lack of any distinguishing features of the scientist go towards implying that Samus is not a woman who forms any personal relationships. As the sole moving part of the screen, the Metroid inevitably becomes the most eye-catching part of it. If the option to animate the handshake was present, it was good that the developers chose not to, as the lack of motion elsewhere places emphasis on the Metroid's importance.
In a departure from series convention, instead of simply being evil, destructive monsters, the Metroids can be used to either build or destroy. This, coupled with the "Baby" personification of the Metroid larva, makes the Metroids interesting characters themselves: Ones with limitless power to change the fate of civilization, but no moral loyalties, only simple biological ones.
Again, no detail is revealed in the scientists' faces, their glasses are deliberately reflective to disallow any sight of their eyes, thus disallowing any sort of connection to them as people. Again, the Metroid is the only moving part of the screen. Coupled with Samus' simple "baby" association earlier, this actually gives the Metroid more personality than the scientists! This is partially thanks to the scientists' featureless nature: By displaying no more expression or individual distinction than the Metroid, the creatures personal connection to the player is ensured, rather than simply contrasting with the scientists as a monster.
The story of Super Metroid is finally initiated.
When this text appears, the steady, moody music suddenly cuts off, jolting the player and providing the exclamation with a more alarming quality.
After all these slow sequences, with little motion, the game cuts to a sudden cutscene. Our front view of Samus' ship is very brief, as it careens into the screen and (accompanied with a flash of white)...
Towards the space station. The purplish space in the background provides the station with a somewhat eerie, threatening glow, and the asteroids suggest danger.
The ship disappears into the small hole on the top of the station, giving the player a sense of a massive scale, and the words "Space Station" firmly place the player in the setting of the first playable section.
And so begins Super Metroid! In a time when most "Text exposition" intros in video-games were extremely basic and impersonal, Metroid provides an understated stylization, and uses its sole moment of direct narrative to provide the player with personal connections to things in the game that display no human emotions or characteristics whatsoever.
Here, discuss your personal thought on this and other great gaming intros (as well as, if you so choose, the worst gaming intros). While I'm thinking about Metroid intros, Metroid Prime has a fantastic title screen.
Stavren on
johnalexmobley wrote: »Bitch-ass stav is on my d, i-c-k
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- borat, borat the video game (2013)
hm yes. the ultimate game intro.
dude has a citizen kane sig, don't dictate terms to him
War never changes.
oh wait it's just j grant
You think it's better to talk to people in G&T about this?
Really?
Kingdom Hearts had a pretty good one, too.
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I thought Metroid Prime's intro was good as well, but a little derivative of Super Metroid's
THE ALIEN
TO LIVE
I'm searching my mind for other things that stand out as being awesome like that.
EDIT: Ooooooh shit, that's right, the Dawn of War intros
Fun fact: First time I saw the original DOW intro, at the part where the dred picks up an ork and shoots the hell out of it, my friend chimed in "you know, they actually do that sort of stuff in game." And I though "Fucking AWESOME"
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yeah that too, but maybe nostalgia has clouded my mind, as I got it for christmas when I was pretty young
I can recite that entire thing
I love it so much
Soul Storm is either out in an hour, or the day after tomorrow.
Edit: Goddamit, the 5th, so 25 hours.
No, you're wrong, OOT's opening was awesome and still is awesome.
I refuse to hear anything to the contrary.
Oh, and you know what game had a good preview teaser? Starcraft Broodwar had this trailer that came with Warcraft 2, I think, that was pretty much this big awesome FMV of the zerg completely fucking up the terrans, all set to opera music. I even liked it more than the actual game intro. I remember that as being very cool at the time.
Warcraft III also had a teaser with that same disc that was equally awesome. Maybe I'll poke around for them on youtube later when my boss isn't here.
Best game intro.
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THe narration is amazing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wjN6kEo8-Ss
Secret Satan
I love Ori's openings
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I prefer the myth ending(s) though
marathon infinity had a great ending as well
great now you got me thinking about marathon which has the best narration of any game ever
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i hope the new red alert still uses cut-scenes like those
Or a bigger letdown of a game.
Because of the song.
kingdom hearts had a pretty awesome intro
so did...uh I guess that first WoW cinematic, then the gate was pretty amazing
YES
Man, I just checked by Warcraft 2 CD. It didn't have anything of the sort. Just a really, really short teaser that was basically some ships flying through space, off-screen, then one floating back covered in some purple goo I think.
It also had a description of Starcraft's features, including the "Biomechnical Zurg," Heroes, and Newtonian physics.
No
Also that Dawn of War intro is the best. Even the add-ons couldn't top it.
Red Alert 1 was amazing.
"Time will tell. Sooner or later... time will tell"
I also like the intro to Hitman: Blood Money, great use of Ave Maria. The tutorial level, not so much.
If I could, I would do a play by play for Deus Ex and cap it off with an mp3 of the opening song.
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Mostly because Amon Tobin has some bangin music.
I actually told my girlfriend she had to go home because she was distracting me with questions
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