Best game openings

[Mount Suribachi]

So we've had best endings and best moments, all thats left is best openings

Half Life - A wonderfully cinematic opening, riding the monorail with the public address announcer cheerfully welcoming you to Black Mesa. It all seems so normal, yet you have that feeling of impending doom. For 5 minutes or more nothing happens as you wind your way along, though there is always something to look at. The Black Mesa complex really *feels* like a sprawling Military/Industrial complex which only further adds to the atmosphere. And of course its even better once you've fininshed the game as you go back and re-start the game and recognise various features.........and characters :D Brilliant.

Half Life Opposing Force - If the original opening was all tranquility and subtle hints of disaster, this is a wonderfully constructed piece of chaos. Riding into Black Mesa in an Osprey with all your Marine buddies, its very Predator-esque with all the banter going on amongst your squad. Smells like a baysittin' mission one of them declares, moments before an alien ship blows an Osprey out of the sky and your plane is filled with lightning bolts and screams and shouts and then you black out...................................................................................

Only to come to in the middle of a viscious firefight between Marines and Aliens, theres a crashed Osprey in the middle, you black out again.................................................

Wake up in a doorway, more shouting, screaming, gunshots. A medic runs out to rescue a wounded comrade, but as he returns to his position carrying his buddy, he's gunned down from behind by an Alien and you black out again...........................................................................

And wake up in a blood spattered 1st aid room with a scientist trying to revive a dead Marine. The level name fades into the screen, in white letters, Half Life style.



Welcome to Black Mesa




Simply awesome.



NHL 99 - had the best FMV intro of any sports game, ever. Instead of a montage of 1.2 second clips set to a suitably high tempo rawk soundtrack like 99% of sports games, this had the courage to do something in a non MTV-2-second-attention-span style. It was footage of 5 or so highlight plays - goals and saves - from the previous season, set to the tune of We Could Be Heroes by David Bowie. It was truly inspirational. It made you want to play a game of Hockey soooooo bad. How many games can you say you watched the loading movie *every time you played the game*? I played hundreds of games on NHL 99 and I watched that sequence on every one of 'em. Fans of Hockey games still talk today about *that* opening sequence of NHL 99.


An honourable mention must also go to Baldurs Gate for its wonderfully inspiring music. I would watch its otherwise so-so into sequence just to hear that uplifting soundtrack.


I guess for me, what makes a good opening is that it makes me want to play the game, which all of the above did.

[John86]

Half-Life would win my vote. The monorail ride really adds atmosphere in the game and makes it feel as though its alive.

[MalibuMan]

Half Life is of course up there.

Also Red Alert:

'But Professor Einstein, with Hitler gone...'

'Time vill tell, sooner or later, time vill tell...'

Cue sound of chronosphere powering up, and Hell March starting up in the background...

And I completely agree about BG music - both BG1 and BG2 had *amazing* music. I too would leave the menu screen of both games up just to hear it. And then towards the climax of both games, you're treated to new tracks which are variations on the main theme, but even more dynamic and exciting, building up to the final showdown...

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Sorry to be a broken record, but Ocarina of Time again...

We are in Link's dream. It is a dark night. He confronts Ganondorf, and is struck down. Cut to the great Deku tree, who dispatches Navi, a fairy, to assist Link in the trials ahead of him. You get a cinematic view of Navi flying into Links house. Then...

'Link? Wake up, Link'

Wonderful. It still gives me a warm glow just thinking about it.

I rather liked the KOTOR opening as well, where you just get chucked into the action. I felt really bad when my guide threw himself at the Dark Jedi to buy me time.

[Monk]

The best would be the Kotor opening imho, it is to bad about that Republic soldier though.

But for the sake of it, here's another good opening:

Call of Duty - Russian Chapter: It starts off that you are on a boat trying to cross the river Volga, while your pushed onto the boat you hear the shouts of propaganda of the officers as you huddle wondering if you'll live to see another day. Suddenly you hear the sound of planes, Your eyes shoot to the sky as Stuka dive bombers make a pass at your boat, jumping to the floor you manage to get out of the way, but a few unlucky comrades of yours go down, a few retaliation shots are given off by the officers, but then you notice one of your compatriots has had enough. He dives over board and tries to swim away but is gunned down by his own countrymen for deserting.

As the boat ride continues your eyes stray from side to side as you see another boat like yours go up in flames. Finally you reach the ruined city as more shouts of Propaganda fill your ears The one with the Rifle shoots you don't like the sound of that as your shuved into line to grab yourself a weapon hoping that by the some chance you'll be the one to get a rifle. Unfortunately, you end up with ammo in hand. You give a look up to the ruins of the city as the machine gun bursts and artillery barrages fill your ears...

i'll never forget that moment looking at the ruined city..

[econ21]

I liked the opening cinematic to Arcanum - it starts with a faded brownish video clip of what appears to be a turn of the century airship ride. The ship is then attacked by two biplanes ridden by ogres with flying helmets and crashes in flames. You wake up as a survivor and then discover a mortally wounded gnome who tells you to find the boy and give him his ring. He dies as a hooded figure approaches you through the mist. Original, intriguing and full of atmosphere, it had me hooked from the start.

I also like the opening to System Shock 2. After uneventful training, you awaken to the ship's hull appearing to decompress. You make it to safety but then through a large window you see a woman run past. She is pursued by a loping zombie who levels a shotgun in the direction she ran, shoots and you hear her scream. When you have composed yourself, you explore a safe area littered with corpses. However, as you approach the next door, a ghost appears saying he has lost he keys, can someone let him out. You realise he may be one of the corpses, perhaps locked in the area and left to starve to death. Once you get the key he needed, you open the door and this amazing rapid techno music pumps up, as two zombies come rushing towards you... I had to quit and summon up some courage to go back to that game...

[The Tuffen]

Hmmm, a hard choice,

There are so many games with good openings.

I think Half Life would win my vote with MOH AA or OOT coming a close second.

MalibuMan, have to agree that Red alerts opening was pretty cool.

[FesterShinetop]

Mafia. Great music and the camera flying through town ending up at the subway where the main character steps out of the train... it blends over perfectly and before you know it the game has allready begun
Absolutely amazing

[Knight_Yellow]

Dark Colony's opening cinematic.

You see a squad of marines organising their new base ordering resource collectors to go south and squad b etc... to check the west....

then an alien fires his weapon and takes out a marine....

his freinds return fire and all hell breaks loose, bigger aliens with massive claws charge the humans and rip them apart, one jumps on a guy and slowly bites his head off.

then the Human reapers show up and start firing their auto cannons taking out dozens of alien troopers...

Artillery from both sides starts vaporising troops...

then it closes in on a Marine grabing an alien by the neck and shouting at it.....

pasty faced maggot

hey hits it with his gun then screams and blows its head off.

the screen fades to red and the game starts.

[Xecthilor]

Does the Half-Life opening really count? If it counts as an opening, it should recieve double points just for being so unique: its not an opening movie, you can move around, look around while your riding in the rail deeper into Black Mesa. It just adds an extra realism that the whole game is full of: its not a game, its an experience.

[John86]

Quote[/b] (Monk @ April 28 2004,17:30)]Call of Duty - Russian Chapter: It starts off that you are on a boat trying to cross the river Volga, while your pushed onto the boat you hear the shouts of propaganda of the officers as you huddle wondering if you'll live to see another day. Suddenly you hear the sound of planes, Your eyes shoot to the sky as Stuka dive bombers make a pass at your boat, jumping to the floor you manage to get out of the way, but a few unlucky comrades of yours go down, a few retaliation shots are given off by the officers, but then you notice one of your compatriots has had enough. He dives over board and tries to swim away but is gunned down by his own countrymen for deserting.

As the boat ride continues your eyes stray from side to side as you see another boat like yours go up in flames. Finally you reach the ruined city as more shouts of Propaganda fill your ears The one with the Rifle shoots you don't like the sound of that as your shuved into line to grab yourself a weapon hoping that by the some chance you'll be the one to get a rifle. Unfortunately, you end up with ammo in hand. You give a look up to the ruins of the city as the machine gun bursts and artillery barrages fill your ears...

i'll never forget that moment looking at the ruined city..
Ah yes call of duty russian opening was good. But the first 2 levels are WAY to much like Enemy at the gates. i was even expecting to see sasha come out of a hole at one time. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif

[RisingSun]

Yeah, but most WWII openings are ripped straight from Saving Private Ryan or Enemy at the Gates these days.

[Fragony]

No one lives forever.

[MalibuMan]

Quote[/b] (Simon Appleton @ April 28 2004,17:50)]I also like the opening to System Shock 2. After uneventful training, you awaken to the ship's hull appearing to decompress. You make it to safety but then through a large window you see a woman run past. She is pursued by a loping zombie who levels a shotgun in the direction she ran, shoots and you hear her scream. When you have composed yourself, you explore a safe area littered with corpses. However, as you approach the next door, a ghost appears saying he has lost he keys, can someone let him out. You realise he may be one of the corpses, perhaps locked in the area and left to starve to death. Once you get the key he needed, you open the door and this amazing rapid techno music pumps up, as two zombies come rushing towards you... I had to quit and summon up some courage to go back to that game...
Yeah, the SS2 opening is also brilliant, the way you wake up to a computer voice advising you your chamber will decompress imminently...

I have to admit to SS2 being my most embarrassing computer gaming story I always play first person games with the lights off and headphones, and despite trying several times, I can't get past that first zombie fight - I'm too scared. My brother hasn't got much further either. He started playing and got quite far, then when he stopped for the day and came back the next day, he found he couldn't hack it any more I thought after getting through Half Life this way, I could do any game... but not SS2

[Efrem Da King]

Hmmm

About the halflife intro..... I've seen it and well it certainly wasn't anything special.

Arcanum I liked the first half with the air ship BUT the second half pisses me of. WHAT SORT OF GNOME IS RED?? GNOMES AREN'T RED


OOT Now that is a classic, FANTASTIC beggining.




BUT FF8's begginging is just soooooooo amazingly good that it wins best ever by MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES


It is simply AMAZING

*hums music of theme to himself*

I am know of to dl it to see it again

[Cazbol]

Half-Life gets my vote too. Really original and well done.

A video that I'd give an honourable mention is the intro video to the expansion pack to Starcraft. A terran base under attack by the zergs while the command ship hovers above. The intro to Longbow 2 was also good.

[Fragony]

Quote[/b] (MalibuMan @ April 29 2004,03:30)]
Quote[/b] (Simon Appleton @ April 28 2004,17:50)]I also like the opening to System Shock 2. After uneventful training, you awaken to the ship's hull appearing to decompress. You make it to safety but then through a large window you see a woman run past. She is pursued by a loping zombie who levels a shotgun in the direction she ran, shoots and you hear her scream. When you have composed yourself, you explore a safe area littered with corpses. However, as you approach the next door, a ghost appears saying he has lost he keys, can someone let him out. You realise he may be one of the corpses, perhaps locked in the area and left to starve to death. Once you get the key he needed, you open the door and this amazing rapid techno music pumps up, as two zombies come rushing towards you... I had to quit and summon up some courage to go back to that game...
Yeah, the SS2 opening is also brilliant, the way you wake up to a computer voice advising you your chamber will decompress imminently...

I have to admit to SS2 being my most embarrassing computer gaming story I always play first person games with the lights off and headphones, and despite trying several times, I can't get past that first zombie fight - I'm too scared. My brother hasn't got much further either. He started playing and got quite far, then when he stopped for the day and came back the next day, he found he couldn't hack it any more I thought after getting through Half Life this way, I could do any game... but not SS2
You wuss http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Try playing it on impossible as a psi-ops purist. So damn scary this game becomes when a simple hybrid can kill you instantly.

[[DnC]]

Always with these sorta questions I try and try and try to remember what I liked, but I can't think of anything other then what others have already said.

Most likely I'll think of something when going to sleep (YURIKA I GOT IT - or something like that http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wacko.gif ), then wake up and forget all about it.

Anyways I also really liked the opening of the Half-Life ones

[Matt Deckard]

Quote[/b] (Big King Sanctaphrax @ April 29 2004,05:02)]Sorry to be a broken record, but Ocarina of Time again...

We are in Link's dream. It is a dark night. He confronts Ganondorf, and is struck down. Cut to the great Deku tree, who dispatches Navi, a fairy, to assist Link in the trials ahead of him. You get a cinematic view of Navi flying into Links house. Then...

'Link? Wake up, Link'

Wonderful. It still gives me a warm glow just thinking about it.
How did i know another zelda wank-a-thon would posted by you http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif .


Quote[/b] (Efrem Da King @ April 29 2004,05:02)] BUT FF8's begginging is just soooooooo amazingly good that it wins best ever by MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES AND MILES


It is simply AMAZING

*hums music of theme to himself*

As far as FF intros go, I personally prefer the bltizball intro in FFX, but the squall - seifer fight certainly isnt without its charm http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[FesterShinetop]

Oh, I also liked the opening sequence for Star Trek Voyager Elite Force... you just start out playing a level and at the end there is a bit of a surprise, then the opening credits and titles begin playing just like in the television series and then the game really starts Very nicely done, you really get a feeling like your playing the TV series there http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Dhepee]

Cossacks has a great opening, even though I spent much of a post complaining about certain aspects of the game, I love the opening. The music, the waving grass, the cavalry, the cannons, the infantry, it's awesome. Looks a lot like the move Waterloo.

[Aymar de Bois Mauri]

Quote[/b] (Mount Suribachi @ April 28 2004,16:06)]So we've had best endings and best moments, all thats left is best openings

Half Life - A wonderfully cinematic opening, riding the monorail with the public address announcer cheerfully welcoming you to Black Mesa. It all seems so normal, yet you have that feeling of impending doom. For 5 minutes or more nothing happens as you wind your way along, though there is always something to look at. The Black Mesa complex really *feels* like a sprawling Military/Industrial complex which only further adds to the atmosphere. And of course its even better once you've fininshed the game as you go back and re-start the game and recognise various features.........and characters :D Brilliant.

Half Life Opposing Force - If the original opening was all tranquility and subtle hints of disaster, this is a wonderfully constructed piece of chaos. Riding into Black Mesa in an Osprey with all your Marine buddies, its very Predator-esque with all the banter going on amongst your squad. Smells like a baysittin' mission one of them declares, moments before an alien ship blows an Osprey out of the sky and your plane is filled with lightning bolts and screams and shouts and then you black out...................................................................................

Only to come to in the middle of a viscious firefight between Marines and Aliens, theres a crashed Osprey in the middle, you black out again.................................................

Wake up in a doorway, more shouting, screaming, gunshots. A medic runs out to rescue a wounded comrade, but as he returns to his position carrying his buddy, he's gunned down from behind by an Alien and you black out again...........................................................................

And wake up in a blood spattered 1st aid room with a scientist trying to revive a dead Marine. The level name fades into the screen, in white letters, Half Life style.



Welcome to Black Mesa




Simply awesome.
Agreed. The Half-Life intros are really pieces of cinematic art. They add enourmously to the immersion of the game.

But there is another very good one:

-Fallout 2 intro video.

It has such a dark moody sarcastic humour. Corrosive humour I would say... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wink.gif

In the final moments of the video, I almost fell of my chair laughing. Awesome http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

[Teutonic Knight]

Quote[/b] (Big King Sanctaphrax @ April 28 2004,18:02)]Sorry to be a broken record, but Ocarina of Time again...

We are in Link's dream. It is a dark night. He confronts Ganondorf, and is struck down. Cut to the great Deku tree, who dispatches Navi, a fairy, to assist Link in the trials ahead of him. You get a cinematic view of Navi flying into Links house. Then...

'Link? Wake up, Link'

Wonderful. It still gives me a warm glow just thinking about it.

I rather liked the KOTOR opening as well, where you just get chucked into the action. I felt really bad when my guide threw himself at the Dark Jedi to buy me time.
and a great big AMEN

ditto to everything he said...

[Phatose]

Deus Ex

We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again, a new age. Aquinas spoke of the mythical City on the Hill. Soon that city will be a reality, and we will be crowned its kings. Or better then kings. Gods.

[MalibuMan]

Deus Ex is good second time round I think. Maybe I'm just a bit dense but it was so cryptic first time round I had no idea what it was talking about. Second time round you already know the plot and the things they say all make sense in hindsight...