FunkMiller
Member
The opening of The Last Of Us is the single best set up for a game ever created. It establishes the themes, setting and tone of the entire game, and has one of the most emotionally resonant moments in video games history.
Hell yeah! The OST of that game was glorious.You forgot to mention that Rules of Nature song playing while you're fighting that Rex just to make one's pee pee hard.
God of War 3 had an incredibly impressive opening back in the day.
This right here, was top notch this generation.
The whole sequence, until the moment you jump out of window and exactly experience the number one thing you wanted to see most and see how amazingly well they nailed that feeling.
Man, it's difficult to top this.
Of course, until you decide to murder the main character's face on the PS5 remaster, that is.
I was looking at Sonic 1 and once again remembered how amazing Green Hill looks:
The overall visual design, the color choices, the pattern, the parallax scrolling, the weird plants with their silly animations, everything. I think it's the most iconic looking introduction to a video game. And despite later Sonic games having better graphics, i think this particular level is still the best looking in the series. Later levels don't look that good and it's almost as if the developers spent most of the time making sure the game will grab your attention from the first moment.
Even the 3D/modern versions look great:
And concept art ot it always looks good:
Post other games that have the best looking or most iconic introduction levels you can think of.
Uncharted 2 did it for me
FFVII. Always, and always FFVII.
Introduces character arcs, also develops character personalities. Shows the basics of the combat (including a boss fight). Includes potential future story development (Cloud flashbacks). Also; the damn music lets the player know s/he’s up for one helluva ride.
This right here, was top notch this generation.
The whole sequence, until the moment you jump out of window and exactly experience the number one thing you wanted to see most and see how amazingly well they nailed that feeling.
Man, it's difficult to top this.
Of course, until you decide to murder the main character's face on the PS5 remaster, that is.
No no no...Metroid Prime
Uncharted 2 did it for me
God of War 3.
But I'll also throw in Killzone Shadow Fall. Mediocre game, but man that opening looked great.
Axelay.
Couldn't believe how awesome that Mode 7 effect looked. Ya I know scales in a weird way not like real life, but it was sweet.
True.
Not everything about the game holds up visually but the initial city view holds up extremely well:
Yeah, MGSV is guilty as charged for this.I really hate a solid opening level when the rest of the game looks nothing like it, it's like they spent all their time on something that everyone will play and then the rest of the game is mediocre or below because they know few will play it, OR they "ran out of time". It makes the experience lopsided, more often than not, late game content NEVER matches the quality of a solid first level.
A solid opening level followed by trash is huge letdown in gaming.