[pleunv]

Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition, hands down.

[BigDug13]

The Witcher 2's opening video was pretty bad ass.

[Sojgat]

I know a lot of people hate COD now, and the shock value stuff it does has become really tired and turned it into an absolute joke, but the MW intro was kind of amazing at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckT3iXx4jn8

[Durask]

Dawn of War 2
Granted, being a Warhammer 40K fan makes me biased but it is still epic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTjyO...eature=related

[Y2Kev]

That is such a great use of text. Combined with the score, it's really evocative of a certain era of sci-fi. And the pause between the end of the crawl and the title reveal, as the music crescendos, gives the whole universe such a wonderful feeling of mystery.

Bioware shit on the music in the rest of the franchise. IMO.

[Kinyou]

Bioware shit on the music in the rest of the franchise. IMO.

They also shat on the introduction of the logo. They had two opportunities to smoothly transition to the MASS EFFECT logo in the sequels, but they completley blew it.

Like in Mass Effect 2. Just mirror the image and you'd have a perfect opportunity to slowly fade to the Mass Effect logo.

And again, in Mass Effect 3, a perfect opportunity, just let the image fade out while the title is slowly appearing, but instead they just do some ugly ass hard cut.

I mean, I don't get it. Why even end each of the sequences with that iconic image of a planet's horizon when you're not going to do anything with it?!

[Yoshichan]

They also shat on the introduction of the logo. They had two opportunities to smoothly transition to the MASS EFFECT logo in both sequels, but they completley blew it. Like in Mass Effect 2. Just mirror the image and you'd have a perfect opportunity to slowly fade to the Mass Effect logo. And again, in Mass Effect 3, a perfect opportunity, just let the image fade out while the title is slowly appearing, but instead they just do some ugly ass hard cut.

Oh my fucking god, finally someone mentions this! This bugged the living crap out of me aswell!

[MuddyDonut]

That DMC4 intro is still fucking amazing.

[Tuck]

Oh yeah. Better than the Wind Waker one.

No.

Just... no...

[Pupi18]

Resonance of Fate Opening

[Wii Tank]

No love for the Left 4 Dead games?

Left 4 Dead 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbzyt79iSR0

Left 4 Dead 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sByyd5M2vYk

I always thought these intros were awesome and did a pretty good job of summarizing the game ahead

[Metroid Hunter]

Galaxy

Came here to post this. Mario Galaxy's intro was JAWESOME.

[Kinyou]

Oh my fucking god, finally someone mentions this! This bugged the living crap out of me aswell!

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The worst part is just how aware bioware seemed to be of this and how they just kept teasing their fans.
Like in ME3:
"Oh my god, here it comes, almost, we are actually going do it annnnnnnnd- NOPE"

[-GOUKI-]

I know a lot of people hate COD now, and the shock value stuff it does has become really tired and turned it into an absolute joke, but the MW intro was kind of amazing at the time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckT3iXx4jn8

yeah this is really underrated

[alba]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsMK6mwXUo4 Gran Turismo 5 spec 2.0 The grandeur of racing culminates in this opening. The true spirit of Gran Turismo.

This man speaks the truth.

[Cjdamon042]

Goldeneye and Blood Stone having 007 Movie style intros was good: Goldeneye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtaf7PZOjUQ Bloodstone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oykkoRHOUAc As well as both games having a bit of gameplay before the intro.

Goldeneye's is good but man I hated Bloodstone's. The song is good but the intro itself just looks so cheap which is a shame.

[Yoshichan]

I'm glad I'm not the only one. The worst part is just how aware bioware seemed to be of this and how they just kept teasing their fans. Like in ME3: "Oh my god, here it comes, almost, we are actually going do it annnnnnnnd- NOPE"

For me, the appearance of the logo is extremely important. FFVII is one of my favorite one!

[richisawesome]

Didn't post a video for Xenoblade earlier.

If you have even the slightest thought of maybe buying it, watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6FH_4guK5A

[bigdaddygamebot]

Mass Effect 1...man...it just felt so epic.

[Cjdamon042]

For me, the appearance of the logo is extremely important. FFVII is one of my favorite one!

Yeah the appearance of the logo is important to me too. Final Fantasy IX's comes to mind. The tweaked version of the Final Fantasy theme, the airship pulling up to the castle and logo fading in always sends shivers down my spine. Love it.

[HueyFreeman]

Great gen for intros, but the Team Ico HD collection reminds us that no one has ever really done it like them, before or since.

SOTC.

[Like the hat?]

Borderlands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3fj7ySNEZo

my vote, too.

[PK Gaming]

Kid Icarus: Uprising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tTpI3Ro96I

I watch this intro every. single. time.

[Bisnic]

For any Warcraft fan, i'm sure they all loved the Wrath of the Lich King intro :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCr7y4SLhck

[Myriadis]

No. Just... no...

Yes. A wonderful Orchestral track that really fits. A more interesting artstyle that allows for more interesting animations instead of a bunch of pictures and a excellent beautiful ending of this intro. The intro video of Wind Waker is also good, but Skyward Sword's is definitely better.
The first 30 playable minutes, however, are done better in Wind Waker than in Skyward Sword.

Resonance of Fate Opening

Woah. I didn't know that there are additional 5 minutes to the opening which even explains some important story bits if you just decide to leave the title screen running. Awesome.

Came here to post this. Mario Galaxy's intro was JAWESOME.

For the next 3D Mario game, I just want Toad Town to be the hub world.

[zlatko]

Not gonna lie that Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition intro they put out is some of the most raw and bad ass shit I've seen in any game. Just keeps driving home the point that Witcher 2 is the best game of last year for me, and best RPG in more years than I can count.

Aside from that though I'd pick the MGS4 intro like others. It sets a great tone and at its time was extremely visually impressive.

[Raging Spaniard]

The only one that made me say wow holy shit this is fuckawesome was Uncharted 2.

Made me feel like I had never played videogames before, or that this was the new standard for perfect marriage between game and movie

[Seventy_X_Seven]

Killzone 2- The opening speech reminds me of something that would open a film. Brian Cox is amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...TEOpyDm8#t=29s

Came here to say this.

[Allonym]

Came here to say this.

Haha me too. Brian Cox as Visari did work. My god, that whole "though they sweep over our lands like the sands of winter... never again will bow before them" keep in mind that was paraphrased so its not exact but speech was riveting and coupled with the brutality of the Helghast and their imagery...it left me with goosebumps!

[Medalion]

Portal 2's interactive intro was pretty cool.

Yep
Good set up for story and tone

[Y2Kev]

For me, the appearance of the logo is extremely important. FFVII is one of my favorite one!

Well that entire sequence is just genius. The music, the camera, the train cuts, everything.

[delta25]

Infamous

(Press start)

[Y2Kev]

I think the common theme is the music. The RoF intro is also incredible...because of Tanaka, for me. The imagery is also neat. Somewhat evocative of FF7 even, with the way you get the city panovers.

[Allonym]

Infamous (Press start)

Extremely good choice. The last words of Cole always get me pumped, "I just hope I'm not too late". Jesus say what you want about sales but Sony's first party games have been on it...sooo good. Infamous 2 from a narrative perspective to me dropped the ball.

[PoopShooter]

4 pages and this hasn't been posted yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX2v_cTG3K8

Completely changed my view of fantasy adventure when I saw that intro video

[entrement]

MvC3

The music, art direction, and epic match ups. They really cheaped out for Ultimate.

[Brandon F]

Resonance of Fate Opening

What are those kids 10? Completely lost me there.

[Cramoss]

Bioshock's intro was really really good.

Infamous (Press start)

Oh shit! I was like "oh god, what did I do?"

[offtopic]

BioShock x 1000.

There have been other great intros this generation but they don't really come close.

[BrokenSymmetry]

"This is the 27th of Last Seed, the year of Akatosh, 433.
These are the closing days of the third era, and the final hours of my life".

Goosebumps. Oblivion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGyw_0IG5s0

[Myriadis]

What are those kids 10? Completely lost me there.

The intro happens in the past, the real thing beings some years later. Zephyr, the boy, is 17 years old then. The girl, Leanne is 21 years old (over the game, she becomes 22) and the real main character (at least for me) who doesn't show up in the first minutes of this video (but in the last) is Vashyron who is 26. Some of the antagonists are quite older, mostly around 43 years old.
And yes, I've met girls who look extremely young and are actually 18+ years old.

[Kinyou]

4 pages and this hasn't been posted yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX2v_cTG3K8 Completely changed my view of fantasy adventure when I saw that intro video

What is it with Warhammer games and great intro cinematics?

Warhammer: Mark of Chaos

[kinoki]

Brütal Legend's intro has a special place in my heart.

- Don't you wish you were born in a time when music was more pure. - Like the 70's? - Nah, man. Earlier. The early 70's.

Unlike most people I enjoy this game and the dead-pan attitude really sells it. No other game intro has made me smile so much.

Oh, and ofcourse Mass Effect, Portal 2, and BioShock.

[Danny-Boy]

Dead heat between Metal Gear Solid 4 and God of War 3.

Honorable mentions;
Bioshock
Mass Effect
Killzone 2

[Grisby]

They also shat on the introduction of the logo. They had two opportunities to smoothly transition to the MASS EFFECT logo in the sequels, but they completely blew it. Like in Mass Effect 2. Just mirror the image and you'd have a perfect opportunity to slowly fade to the Mass Effect logo. And again, in Mass Effect 3, a perfect opportunity, just let the image fade out while the title is slowly appearing, but instead they just do some ugly ass hard cut. I mean, I don't get it. Why even end each of the sequences with that iconic image of a planet's horizon when you're not going to do anything with it?!

I love that they just do the cut to the logo. Feels way more dramatic to me.

Count me in as putting ME2's intro as one of the best.

[Vulcano's assistant]

I completely forgot about blizzard, yep, they are up there, they make amazing stuff. Its incredible how ominous they manage to make the single moment when the shot fades to black (or white) and the text "Blizzard Entertainment Presents" appears.

[WiiredShawn]

Yes. A wonderful Orchestral track that really fits. A more interesting artstyle that allows for more interesting animations instead of a bunch of pictures and a excellent beautiful ending of this intro. The intro video of Wind Waker is also good, but Skyward Sword's is definitely better. The first 30 playable minutes, however, are done better in Wind Waker than in Skyward Sword.

While I enjoyed Skyward Sword's intro from an aesthetic angle, I would argue that Wind Waker's intro is better if only for being more thematically meaningful. WW's intro is really quite brilliant: it establishes a narrative mood and framework while allowing new players to catch up on the significant plot details from Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask. The intro gives the definite impression of an old story, with the careful pacing, the "medieval"-sounding instrumentation, and the 'textual artifacts' that immerse you with their foreign language and "ancient scroll" art style. The game then progressively works toward giving meaning to this mood, peppering the experience with details that draw you back to the intro and its implications, until you reach the finale and see how deeply the present depends on the past.

Skyward Sword, while attempting some of these same qualities, ultimately fails to realize the full potential of its intro. There is an evident backstory implied by the intro, but it has no inherent meaning because 1) it is not something the player could have experienced, unlike the games featuring the Hero of Time; and 2) SS only barely touches on the deeper themes implied by the intro. The game could have used certain plot moments to explore that backstory, to give it meaning in the present, but refuses to do so most of the time. For that reason, Wind Waker's intro speaks to a more cohesive experience.

[Acheron]

Deus Ex Human Revolution

[dralla]

Uncharted 2 is my favorite in recent years, one of my favorite ever. Just goes to show you don't need in your face action to grab your attention. The intro in 3 was a huge let down after the brilliance of the hanging train car.

God of War 2 and 3. Colossus or Rhodes, Poseidon. both incredible.

Mass Effect 2. Short and sweet, but awesome.

Portal 2. Not really sure where the intro 'ends', the whole game is incredible, and i loved the humor in the very beginning when talking to Wheatley.

Deus Ex: HR had a good one too, though not on the level of those^^

one thing they all have in common, you actually control the character, no movies.

[Jzero]

Borderlands http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3fj7ySNEZo

My favorite as well