Yesterday my wife put on Avengers: Infinity War as "background noise" while we cooked dinner and did some work around the house. The scene where Thor shows up in Wakanda and turns the tide (until Thanos arrives) for the Avengers is one of my absolute favorite scenes in any movie. We went right into Endgame after that and watched that as well. Similarly, when Doctor Strange and the rest of the Avengers and the army from Wakanda appear at the end it is an absolutely epic moment with a fantastic finale/final act.
The roller coaster of emotions those two movies take me on during their final acts is something else. It got me thinking about what games do the same thing. I feel like JRPG's are good at this, but I haven't spent a ton of time in that genre in years so nothing is jumping out at me. Here are a few that come to find, but I'm interested in others people may have in mind.
Mass Effect 1: When I first played this game, Virmire was the last mission I did prior to Ilos and the attack on the Citadel. I always play Virmire last before going to Ilos. So for me, I find that whole sequence on Virmire, going to Ilos, meeting Vigil and the trek through the Citadel to be one of the best end sequences in any game ever between Shepard's crew and the battle taking place above us.... It had me on the edge of my seat the first time through the game, and even to this day I still get chills during that sequence.
Batman: Arkham City: Climbing Wonder Tower trying to stop Protocol 10 and knowing that if I didn't, worse things could happen to Gotham was an adrenaline rush. The sequence after that trying to take down the snipers on the building before going into the theatre to confront Joker was a ton of fun and just a stamp on the gameplay that Akrham City had perfected. I also found the end sequence with Joker and the cure to be kind of a cherry on top of the Sunday
Dying Light: While I found the villain and overall plot of Dying Light to be relatively lackluster, the gameplay made up for it and I loved climbing the tower to square off against Rais. The confrontation itself was fine, but I thought the build up making your way up the tower dealing with the Parkour environment really helped build the tension for the final showdown. The final series of exchanges with Rais (I think they are QTE's but I can't remember) weren't overly special, but I think they were more impactful from the suspense building I felt climbing the tower.
What other games hit this sweet spot for you?
The roller coaster of emotions those two movies take me on during their final acts is something else. It got me thinking about what games do the same thing. I feel like JRPG's are good at this, but I haven't spent a ton of time in that genre in years so nothing is jumping out at me. Here are a few that come to find, but I'm interested in others people may have in mind.
Mass Effect 1: When I first played this game, Virmire was the last mission I did prior to Ilos and the attack on the Citadel. I always play Virmire last before going to Ilos. So for me, I find that whole sequence on Virmire, going to Ilos, meeting Vigil and the trek through the Citadel to be one of the best end sequences in any game ever between Shepard's crew and the battle taking place above us.... It had me on the edge of my seat the first time through the game, and even to this day I still get chills during that sequence.
Batman: Arkham City: Climbing Wonder Tower trying to stop Protocol 10 and knowing that if I didn't, worse things could happen to Gotham was an adrenaline rush. The sequence after that trying to take down the snipers on the building before going into the theatre to confront Joker was a ton of fun and just a stamp on the gameplay that Akrham City had perfected. I also found the end sequence with Joker and the cure to be kind of a cherry on top of the Sunday
Dying Light: While I found the villain and overall plot of Dying Light to be relatively lackluster, the gameplay made up for it and I loved climbing the tower to square off against Rais. The confrontation itself was fine, but I thought the build up making your way up the tower dealing with the Parkour environment really helped build the tension for the final showdown. The final series of exchanges with Rais (I think they are QTE's but I can't remember) weren't overly special, but I think they were more impactful from the suspense building I felt climbing the tower.
What other games hit this sweet spot for you?
