My god......

[Mugen Weston]

All of Shadow of the Colossus (the world, the battles e.t.c.).

Just too awesome.

 

[BoredDragon]

Why can I never shut up about Bioshock. I I must have mentioned it in at least 3 or 4 last week alone. However, the twist at the en... err I mean middle, took me so much by surprise that I could not do anything besides move the joystick and sit their with my mouth agape.

To me, Bioshock is similar to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in the sense that I can go back and play/watch them and have a heightened experience because I can see the subtle hints leading up to the big twist.

 

[InnerRebellion]

Playing Minecraft at my friend's house. I decided I was going to play with his really complicated train system. I hopped onto one of the trains... only to get shot down a track into the most breathtaking valley ever.



Then I got blown up by TNT he hid under the bridge.

 

[Light 086]

I got awestruck while I was playing Oblivion. I was climbing the mountains and I turned to the side when something got my attention. It was the sun setting behind the main city with the lakes surrounding it and the forests at your base... It was stunning. Just Cause 2 as many brought up, also had a stunning scenery.

The only other thing a game truly fascinated me with was the rag-doll. I thought to my self "WOW!!! This is awesome, I can't believe they actually took the time to put this in the game". I'm still fascinated by it, I occasionally screw around with it in games like Just Cause 2 and Saints Row 2.

 

[SsilverR]

the skyrim trailer blew me away ... also i get what you mean about minecrafts size

MvC3 gave me many romantic explosion faces when i booted that baby up LOL .. too many to name

 

[GenericAmerican]

Just about anything in Shadow of the Colossus. Especially some of the environments. That game also gets my heart racing, dodging death by mere feet as a Colossus tries to squish you for fun...epic.

Also, using emulators and some hacks you can reach parts of the map that were never finished but not removed from the game. There is the absolutely HUGE dam like thing that just took my breath away...HUGE doesn't begin to describe it...maybe HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT IS ENORMOUS!!(that's what she said)

 

[Melian]

Every few months, I make sure to start a new file in Fallout 3 to get that feeling again. I thought nothing could ever make me feel the same way, then I got Oblivion. Then I got an HD TV, and felt it all over again.

That's the best part with next gen graphics: The fact that you can get awed and stunned simply by looking at the surrounding land. Really looking forward to Skyrim now...

 

[MisterGobbles]

It doesn't get any more atmospheric than Metroid Prime, let me tell you that.

But in terms of sheer awe, probably Just Cause 2...just because of the sheer scale of everything.

 

[AroLombardi]

Shadow of the Colossus once I got the the Garden of Eden (Or whatever it's called.)

 

[Tdc2182]

I am simply awesturck Escapist, just awestruck. Minecraft's world is estimated to be 8 times the size of the earths, I thought I had colonized a relativly large chunk of it when I decided to venture off into the distance with nothing on me just to recon the sorrunding area near one of my bases. I climbed over the nearest hill top and simply felt my breath leave me. Facing me, sitting there for what must have been miles, was a desert. Infinite and unyeilding, sitting there staring at me. I quietly slipped back down the hill and retreated into my base for the remainder of the day.

So my question to you Escapist, have you ever been simply awestruck by a game? Recount your tales for us.

You know that "Our brains only use ten percent of it's total capacity" myth?

That is what the Minecraft "8 times the size of the earth" thing is similar too. Minecraft has the ability to make a world that is huge provided you have lots of time and a good enough computer, but the world it generates is not 8 times the size of the earth. The original world it generates is about the size of a city Block. The farther you go the larger the land it generates.

Not trying to argue or crush your dreams, just wanted to quash that myth.

 

[SonicKoala]

Two nods to the Silent Hill series coming - for one, in Silent Hill 2, when you watch the videotape in the hotel; without a doubt, the best twist I have ever encountered in a video game.

Second, in Silent Hill 3, in the hospital when you enter....well, that fucking room with the big mirror - I still get chills thinking about it.

 

[superbatranger]

A fairly recent game, Just Cause 2.

Casually parachuting around, I get to the top of a nearby mountain and turn around and get punched in the face by this spectacular world.

Just Cause 2 definitely has one of the greatest looking game worlds created in a very long time.

I remember flying over a mountain and just as I crested, I could see for miles into the ocean as the sun was setting. The orange mixed with the blue, and the amazing lens flares... the cities down below on the land... it was just incredible.

I once set off walking across the game world.

I gave up after an hour.

I always get distracted by things I could potentially blow up and destroy.

 

[Still Life]

First time I stepped outside the vault in Fallout 3. I mean, it got diminished over time, but that first glance at the desolate landscape... Wow.

I remember that moment with particular fondness.

 

[SckizoBoy]

The first few times I synched at viewpoints in Damascus in AssCreed 1. Oh the view was awesome (fuck off eagle, you're cramping my style). Sure it got a bit stale once you'd done it 30 times, a bit of me always wanted to go through it all again. Couldn't, and probably better for it, 'twas a shite game after the first few hours.

AssCreed II, however...

For battles: RTR, with unit settings at the max. 4000 hoplites, archers, peltasts and cavalry vs. 4500 (mid-Republic) legionaries, mercenaries and equites... fucking awesome sight. Lasted a reasonable amount of time, too. Ten paces... charge... smash... epic. Then enter reinforcements.

 

[Blitzwarp]

First time I saw Rapture in Bioshock. It was my second ever Xbox game after Alan Wake, and I was gobsmacked. Ditto for the first time I wandered around the Citadel in Mass Effect.

 

[Mrrrgggrlllrrrg]

DnD sessions with my friends of course
EVE Online
Skyrims trailers and probably Skyrim itself
Dead Islands Trailer, I loved it.
Fable
Halo
yadda yadda yadda

Many have their moments to appreciate.

 

[Mechsoap]

When I 4 years ago, went out the servers of the imperial prison... I was breathless...

 

[ExileNZ]

Climbing up to the top of the highest tower in the original Gothic. The world's not huge by today's standards, but at the time it was practically unheard of. Also, you can see a huge chunk of it from that tower.
Sure Morrowind's world was bigger, but Gothic had no loading zones, except for 2 caves. The overland map was all just one, enormous level.

Later I played Gothic 2 and regained some of that sense of awe as I stepped out of Xardas' tower. I got even more of one when I climbed up to the top of the lighthouse.