Ok, every gamer has had them---those awesome or scary, or simply defining moments in a PC game that made you suddenly exclaim: Holy crap--I can't believe that this is just a computer game
Some of those moments for me.
European Air War----Maybe the 5th or 6th mission of the Battle of Britain campaign when the Germans have switched from bombing airfields to the city of London. Your squadron of Spitfires is racing at top speed to intercept. Suddenly your flight leader announces bandits at 12 o'clock.
You see a sky filled with Heinkel 111 bombers, and just behind them, their Bf109 escorts. Then your wing commander, in his best English manner says: Tallyho, Let's get them chaps---Look out for the escorts I cannot describe the immersive rush I felt, when I first experienced this moment in EAW.
Shogun Total War---It was at the end of a very hard defense of some mountain valley---one of those maps in the middle of Japan that you seem to battle on more than any other.
The enemy had just broken, and I released my cavalry to chase routers. I started to pan my camera forward to watch. I must have had the camera speed perfectly matched to the speed of the cavalry and the sound turned up too loud. It just seemed like I was riding with them as they over-ran the fleeing enemy. It's hard to explain, but it felt truly immersive and cinematic.
Aliens versus Predator 2----The start of the colonial marine campaign in this game is right out of the second Aliens movie. You are alone walking down a dimly lit, deserted, desolated installation corridor. Steam is escaping from pipes, and there are blood smears everywhere. The only sound is an occasional scream off in the distance and the beep of your motion detector.
Every once in a while your motion detector registers a blip, but you never see anything. You turn a corner---suddenly the grating you are walking on collapses and you think you are sliding towards your doom. You come to a stop and----nothing but silence.
You regain your composure and move on. Bang---an overhead panel drops down and steaming hoses burst swirling from of the ceiling. Another false alarm. Time to change your underware again.
I don't think one ever even sees an Alien to near the end of the level, but the suspense is absolutely terrific. I swear, I must have started and stopped this level about ten times before I had the nerve to see it through to the end because it creeped me out so. Playing this in darkened room is a real trip.
Well, those are some of mine---what are yours?
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