Greatest intro movies ever?

JointStrikeFighter · Post by **JointStrikeFighter** » 2006-09-03 06:38am

And Black Mesa had a MEAT PACKING FACTORY. Sorry, that's stupid. Smile

it obviously wasnt a meat packing facility. It was meant to be the waste treatment facility for Black Mesa.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-03 06:48am

Yeah, hence the retarded layered platform-jumping conveyor system with huge chunks of meat, boxes, and whirling blades?

Yeah, it's a waste treatment facility. RIIIIIIIIGHT.

Hey, it's a game set in a secret research base! Let's set it in railroad stations, meat factories, sewers, cliffs and the desert! Nobody wants actual research bases, so get that out of the way in the opening!

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-09-03 07:13am

Stark wrote:And dammit, I just can't enjoy an intro that's so massively different to the actual game. I liked the DoW intro, but then yI played the game, and you just want to punch the people that made it: the intro makers knew what made a good game... but the actual devs just wanted a regular RTS with 40k on.

But in the game, you DO send marines to their deaths to put flags on hills

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-09-03 08:54am

Edi wrote:This is somewhat off topic, but if you want a look at good level design that ties all fields of a game together, the original Unreal still beats everything else I've seen. There is no confusion there and everything comes in sequence, logically and supporting the storyline. From what I've seen, that kind of effort and attention to detail should be the gold standard for level design. They did it in 1997, so there sure as hell is no excuse not to follow the example almost ten years later.

Edi

Yeah, the original Unreal had some sexy levels. I particularly liked the thunder god temple and Na-Pali spire.

It was just a pity the weapons and enemies didn't match up to the level design.

Julhelm · Post by **Julhelm** » 2006-09-03 11:18am

The HL1 intro is good, but I prefer the HL2 one because of the G-Man's presence: "Waaaake up Gordon, and smell theeeee ash-ees"

The little opening cut to Minerva:Metastasis is good as well in it's "less is more" way, and the level design is genious.

Vanas · Post by **Vanas** » 2006-09-03 11:49am

The Freespace 2 intro would be on the list, but I never really watched it. I spent more of my time just listening to it. I find the lines about Earth rather... haunting? That's probably the best word for it.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2006-09-03 02:07pm

Shroom Man 777 wrote:
Stark wrote:And dammit, I just can't enjoy an intro that's so massively different to the actual game. I liked the DoW intro, but then yI played the game, and you just want to punch the people that made it: the intro makers knew what made a good game... but the actual devs just wanted a regular RTS with 40k on.
But in the game, you DO send marines to their deaths to put flags on hills

No, not really. In the Tabletop game, you gain points from grabbing objectives with full units, not dead units. That means you have to keep your guys safe, not throw them away to complete the objective. In the game itself, again, you need to be able to HOLD the objectives. It's hard to hold something if all your guys are dead.

I'm sorry, but the Dawn of War intro had me up until they decided to bum-rush the enemy, leaving their defensible position and out into the open where they were cut apart. There were other ways to show off hand to hand combat and still have it look cool than by having the Space Marines act like morons. Orks come in huge numbers. They could have had the Orks storm the position, climbing over piles of their own dead jamming the bolters or what have you. Storm Boyz jumping behind the barricade and surrounding them.

Regardless, I stand by my previous analysis of it. It was stupid, had virtually nothing to do with the game itself, had zero exposition about what was going on. Hell, the only connection was that there were orks and the Blood Ravens were fighting. By the way, let's remember that Space Marines carry their own flags with them, so clearly this wasn't the first landing of Blood Ravens on the planet, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since in the game, the Blood Ravens JUST ARRIVED. So, yeah, intro has virtually nothing to do with the actual storyline. It's just a flashy sequence of combat designed to get people excited about the game, full stop. It did so in a way that made Space Marines appear to be moronic, which killed the "OMG AWESOME" for me faster than it took Daikatana to bomb when it came out.

See, to me, a great intro sets up the feel of the game, sets up the story, AND has some pretty cool stuff. Far as I'm concerned, the DoW intro did just one of those, and didn't do it as well as it could have. But hey, that's okay, we all know that Relic's last good storyline was Homeworld 1.

In fact, I don't think any RTS game can really match what Homeworld's "Return to Kharak" mission 3 managed to achieve, but that's a slightly different discussion.

The only time senseless smoke and mirrors intros even rate as being "okay" are when they are for games specifically designed without a story, or without a significant singleplayer component (or any at all), designed entirely for online play, like, oh, I dunno, Unreal Tournament, MMOs, etc.

I mean, an intro is supposed to be an introduce the storyline to a game, isn't it? Isn't that kind of the point? It's not like Dawn of War didn't have a storyline (that it had a bad one is another point entirely), so it doesn't have an excuse. There's no mention made to the events in the intro at all during the campaign. I think it's just a case of "Hey, let's make an intro that has lots of shit blowing up with some cool models and awesome detail. That'll give the rabid 40K fans something to drool over." Well, if you take that into account, then I guess it was the best damn intro ever, because it succeeded in getting people used to static minis to see them in action and actually blowing up.

I wonder if the people who first saw chess pieces fight it out on a huge board had the same reaction...

Balrog · Post by **Balrog** » 2006-09-03 02:19pm

Mech 2 Mercs was pretty cool, and really helped set the tone for the game. "Look at the bright side. You get to keep ALL the money."

Sweet, I'm not alone in loving that intro

Another cool one that hasn't been mentioned is the Warcraft II intro. The huge Orc fleet with dreadnoughts and flying blimps coming up towards the Human castle as cannons roll out and the defenders arm themselves. Considering it was the first I'd ever seen, it's a bit more memorable then others.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-09-04 10:07am

Metal Gear Solid 2:
The music just kicks so much ass and that's before Snake jumping off a bridge is factored in.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-09-04 10:33am

Shit, I so totally forgot Snake Eater. It was like James Bond...combined with Rambo!

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2006-09-04 04:10pm

Hotfoot wrote:I mean, an intro is supposed to be an introduce the storyline to a game, isn't it? Isn't that kind of the point?

No, not particularly. An intro, especially a pre-title screen one, is supposed to introduce the game itself. Wether it does that by giving you a taste of the story, the action, or just the universe is up to it. The Soul Calibur III into is excellent, even though it's primarily a bunch of set-pieces to show off the main characters.

That's where the Dawn of War intro suceeds. If you look at it, you can see where the game provided inspiration. The brutal combat, the planting of the flag, taking the area despite the total losses, and of course, the Dreadnought manhandling that Ork(which Blur has gone on record as saying was a direct reference to the Synch kills). You get the shooting, you get the combat, you get the brutal finishing moves, all without the (in)conveniences of game mechanics.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-09-04 04:19pm

Stark wrote:And dammit, I just can't enjoy an intro that's so massively different to the actual game. I liked the DoW intro, but then yI played the game, and you just want to punch the people that made it: the intro makers knew what made a good game... but the actual devs just wanted a regular RTS with 40k on.

Rumor has it that Games Workshop explicitly told Relic that Dawn of War was to be a standard RTS with resource gathering and all the trimmings, and that in no way whatsoever was it to even resemble the gameplay found on the tabletop.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-09-04 06:21pm

Uraniun235 wrote: Rumor has it that Games Workshop explicitly told Relic that Dawn of War was to be a standard RTS with resource gathering and all the trimmings, and that in no way whatsoever was it to even resemble the gameplay found on the tabletop.

Of course. Can't tempt people away from paying over the odds for little bits of metal and tiny pots of expensive paint, after all...

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-04 06:26pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Rumor has it that Games Workshop explicitly told Relic that Dawn of War was to be a standard RTS with resource gathering and all the trimmings, and that in no way whatsoever was it to even resemble the gameplay found on the tabletop.

That wouldn't surprise me, but it's still sad. It's SADDER, however, that fans of the tabletop game seem hell-bent on 'enjoying by association' DoW, even though it's related in only the most superficial way to the tabletop. I'm a fan of the tabletop game, but GW can fuck off and die if they think I'm stupid enough to buy their models, so I was looking forward to DoW before it came out. Then I spent five minutes wearing down a Commander's hitpoints.

The Shroom wrote:Shit, I so totally forgot Snake Eater. It was like James Bond...combined with Rambo!

LOL!

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-09-04 06:30pm

Ground Control II. It had plenty of mood, and prettiness, as well as showing a Sci-fi universe with a colder, desolate feel.

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2006-09-04 07:13pm

Stark wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:Rumor has it that Games Workshop explicitly told Relic that Dawn of War was to be a standard RTS with resource gathering and all the trimmings, and that in no way whatsoever was it to even resemble the gameplay found on the tabletop.
That wouldn't surprise me, but it's still sad. It's SADDER, however, that fans of the tabletop game seem hell-bent on 'enjoying by association' DoW, even though it's related in only the most superficial way to the tabletop. I'm a fan of the tabletop game, but GW can fuck off and die if they think I'm stupid enough to buy their models, so I was looking forward to DoW before it came out. Then I spent five minutes wearing down a Commander's hitpoints.

That's why there are Dreadnoughts.

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2006-09-04 07:14pm

From the "So bad, it's good" category:

Metal Wolf Chaos

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2006-09-04 07:28pm

I think we can safely say that the gents at From Software have been watching Megas XLR whilst ripped to the tits on fine cocaine. Again.

Rawtooth · Post by **Rawtooth** » 2006-09-04 08:54pm

SAMAS wrote:From the "So bad, it's good" category:

Metal Wolf Chaos

That is awesome!

"Let's paarrttyy!"

Shadowtraveler · Post by **Shadowtraveler** » 2006-09-05 12:54am

I'll have to second the Deus Ex intro. Sure there really wasn't much action, but it had Bob Page talking about taking over the world, and that's all that matters.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2006-09-05 01:07am

Stark wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:Rumor has it that Games Workshop explicitly told Relic that Dawn of War was to be a standard RTS with resource gathering and all the trimmings, and that in no way whatsoever was it to even resemble the gameplay found on the tabletop.
That wouldn't surprise me, but it's still sad. It's SADDER, however, that fans of the tabletop game seem hell-bent on 'enjoying by association' DoW, even though it's related in only the most superficial way to the tabletop. I'm a fan of the tabletop game, but GW can fuck off and die if they think I'm stupid enough to buy their models, so I was looking forward to DoW before it came out. Then I spent five minutes wearing down a Commander's hitpoints.

That's a problem that can be solved with gratuitous plasma!

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-09-05 07:28am

SAMAS wrote:From the "So bad, it's good" category:

Metal Wolf Chaos

...That wins the justice. And if any of you get THAT reference, I'll be shocked.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-05 07:51am

I played the DoW:DC demo earlier, and I never noticed that the suicidal charge of the Space Marines was prompted by the news that reinforcements were coming. Holy shit, we'd better all get slaughtered before they get here! Or are we to believe the whole lame flag thing was essential to the landing of easily 40 drop pods? Were the two dozen lightly armed orks holding up the landing?

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2006-09-05 08:17am

You know, I always took that to refer to the assault-cannon-spewing Dreadnought that rolls up to, uh, reinforce them. It made the sudden decision to attack make more sense, too. I always saw it in the light of 'Okay, we've got a dreadnought, and they haven't been reinforced yet. Let's own them bitches before something rolls up to counterbalance.' Stupid? Quite possibly. But more reasonable in light of the expectation of possible Ork reinforcements. For that matter, barring Stupid McLucky and his Bomb o'Hugeness, it would have.

EDIT: Hit submit too soon, added stuff.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-05 08:18am

Yeah, I bet it had nothing to do with the hundreds of space marines 'inbound' in drop pods eh? I bet that dreadnought had been walking all day to get there!