Best game openings?

[StreetBushido]

Escape from Butcher Bay had a nice playable intro sequence, which is nice.
The intro cutscene for Dawn of War was really cool too, gave me goosebumps.
The Fallout series also did a good job setting the mood with Ron Pearlman's gravelly voice rumbling out the backstory.

 

[mushroomyakuza]

FF8. Awesome music, the best of any game, and an amazing intro movie, for ps1 standards anyway.

Agreed, FF in general always pull spectacular intros (and in the recent games then spiral downwards sharply thereafter).

I think Uncharted 2 had an awesome opening though, and I'm surprised no-one mentioned it. Fallout 3's opening is also very engaging, for an opening in which very little indeed happens. Shadow of the Colossus and God of War also have great openings.

 

[Verrenxnon]

Bioshock's opening (considered so until you leave the bathysphere) is deeply affecting. Ryan's speech is one of the most haunting monologues I've ever heard. And coupled with knock-you-on-your ass graphics...

Metroid Prime also had a great sensory overload opening.

However, the Resident Evil Remake's cutscene remains one of my favorite to date; it has the creepy exposition and varied use of camera and filters that gives it a 'high class schlock' feel, complete with genuine tension. Good stuff, really.

 

[Axeli]

FF8. Awesome music, the best of any game, and an amazing intro movie, for ps1 standards anyway.

This, definitely this.

It's ambigious, epic and promises great from the story. Exactly what an opening should be about.

 

[Hiphophippo]

Indigo Prophecy / Farenheit probably has the most intense opening of a game I've ever played. The same is true for "most" of the game. "Most" being the key word there.

 

[mr.aravaro]

half-life2 had a good opening

 

[gamefreakbsp]

Left 4 Dead. That intro cutscene was pure gold.

 

[Admiral Stukov]

The WoW opening cinematics are vastly underestimated.

 

[ssgt splatter]

I liked the opening in Prototype. I don't know why but I just found it so...satisfying.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

Soul Reaver 2

 

[Flour]

American McGee's Alice.

Spoiler: Easier to just post the intro than trying to explain.

 

[Saphire]

half-life2 had a good opening

"Wake up.... Mister, Free..man. Wake up... and smell the ashes". Haha, I was thinking the same.

I have to say, one of the more cinematic openings I've seen in recent memory would be that of Mass Effect (obviously, think about the game as a whole).

I also enjoyed Fallout 3's opening, mostly because Liam Neeson is the fucking man.

 

[Lord_Duke]

L4D, Just cause they didnt care to explain anything

Obviously, in the zombie apocalypse, no one would know what the hell happened anyway.

Well in zombie movies they give a reason for the apocalypse mostly, A certain virus outbreak, Here you just get dropped in the game with no backstory, Which i like cause i couldnt care less about the story in zombie games

 

[Dangernick42]

Guitar Hero: Metallica
The band simply jus walkin to that epic song by Ennio Morricone, ecstacy of gold, just wow!
And none of faffing about u normally get at the start of a GH game, jus play these 2 awesome songs, and faff about in 10mins or so! AWESOME

 

[Caligulove]

Half Life 1.

Seriously. At the time when there wasnt that much real narrative beyond a text scroll in a lot of FPS games, it did an amazing job of conveying how much of an ordinary day this was and for the player to know as much or as little about what was going on, usually not very much at all.

Thats what I love about Valve's storytelling. The same goes for Half Life 2 and its dystopia thats all mundane and business-as-usual to everyone else besides you


that and the opening of Brood War:
did a good job making mystery out of the new Terran characters, but made sure you knew they were dicks

 

[AdamG3691]

rise and shine missster freeman.... rise and...shine.
also
HELLO. AND AGAIN; WELCOME TO THE APERTURE SCIENCE ENRICHMENT CENTRE.

oh and Zelda OoT's opening, just because we see navi hit her head on a fence (the only time we see her hurt in the game, why does a fence get to do what I always wanted to do to her.)

 

[Pingieking]

I always enjoyed the opening to Shadow of the Colossus. The music is what does it for me.

Seconded.

Indigo Prophecy / Farenheit probably has the most intense opening of a game I've ever played. The same is true for "most" of the game. "Most" being the key word there.

Also seconded.

BTW, Dawn of War, anyone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFkFo5SBx-g

 

[Ekonk]

L4D, Just cause they didnt care to explain anything

Obviously, in the zombie apocalypse, no one would know what the hell happened anyway.

Well in zombie movies they give a reason for the apocalypse mostly, A certain virus outbreak, Here you just get dropped in the game with no backstory, Which i like cause i couldnt care less about the story in zombie games

I know they do, I'm just saying that in the event of a real zombie apocalypse no one would have the foggiest what's goin' on - except that people have gone completely beserk everywhere.

 

[Tiny116]

The first opening which i ever thought was amazing would have been the Final Fantasy 8 intro (Hey it was my first encounter with squaresoft{enix} alright, thats always going to be a "wow" moment!)
Recenty
L4D and soulcalibur 4 (sorry but the Yoda scene cracks me up!)

 

[Afrik]

warcraft 3 cinematics. Waaaay ahead of their time. And the intro sets just the right atmosphere