Gongreash Void's List: Top 10 Game Intro

Recently while reading a top 10 list it occurred to me that I have yet to write one of my own. A list of the 10 best game intros sounds like fun. So let’s get started.

For a game intro to be in the list, the following merits are taken into consideration:
1. Pulls you in. A good game intro has that certain magic of grabbing its audiences’ attention and never letting go.
2. Current impression over nostalgic impression. An intro that makes it to this list has to look good by today’s standards.
3. Presented with flair. More style equals higher standings.
4. Personal preference. Otherwise it won’t be considered as a Gongreash Void’s List now would it?

Just so you know I’m using the one intro per game franchise rule. Alright let’s begin with number 10.

10 Mario & Sonic at the Olympics Games

Did I raise eyebrows with this one? Oh yes, I’m serious and I’m placing this at number 10. Excellent animation work, nicely thought transitions, good pacing, and a semangat music to boot. What I like in particular about this intro are how characters’ face brightened after a successful attempt at the sport (I especially liked Knuckles’s facial expression after he threw the javelin).

9 DJ Max Portable 2

Alright I admit, this one made it to the list mostly because of personal preference. It wasn’t in the list originally and I felt bad about it, so I decided to put in the list by kicking out Kingdom Hearts 2 (did I just raise more eyebrows?). Such an uplifting intro! The addition of attractive chicks helped me decide this was better as well.

8 Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

This intro is very well done in that it throws a very curious question mark to the player: what will happen when the keys are united? On a separate note, it is funny how this intro still looks good compared to other Septerra Core’s cinematics (especially the characters).

7 SkyGunner

The music and the visuals in this one go so well together. It’s almost as though the animation were made first and the song composed later to follow the tempo and mood of the scenes.

6 World of Warcraft

As just about any gamer would tell you, Blizzard is the leader in game cinematics. So do I really need to elaborate how this intro made it to this list? But you know, I always felt some kind of emo thing going on with any Blizzard cinematic. Kinda like the Spider-Man movies. No wonder they hired Sam Raimi.

5 Thief: The Dark Project

Thief proved back then that there was more to an intro as oppose to making a high quality render of the game you are playing. As though the uncanny fusion of artworks with tiny bits of animation plus some live footage was not enough, the accompanying music went against all expectations of how music for a fantasy/medieval inspired game should be and yet fits the game so well.

4 Metal Gear Solid 2: The Sons of Liberty

When the current master of opening sequences, Kyle Cooper, was hired to make this intro it’s almost as though Hideo Kojima had engaged a cheat mode by wearing the best game intro of all time bandana. It’s the kind of intro that makes you want to buy the game the minute you saw it before realising you don’t even own a PS2.

3 Wipeout 3

Is this me trying to be artsy? Oh no, trust me, I’ve seen works that are too artsy for my taste---even some of The Designers Republic (TDR) other works are too artsy for me. But their work on this one really clicked with me that I prefer this intro above all the other Wipeout intros. TDR seem to have a good sense of how a particular vector shape should move---I especially liked how the Piranha type appeared on the screen, a small but significant mirror movement of the preceding logo. It goes to show that TDR put a lot of thought to their work right down to the motions of the graphics.

2 Homeworld

From the very start of this intro, I could already sense what a great story this game is about to tell. While using artworks to convey the story of a fantasy/medieval game like Thief makes sense, using the same technique for an epic science fiction story does not. It turns out the cinematic team at Relic not only managed to pulled it off, but also end up making one of the best game intro ever. There’s something sublime about the monotone coloured artworks, similar to how one would feel when observing a black and white photograph. And it somehow enhances the narrative as well, drawing the viewer into the tale it wishes to tell.

1 The Beatles: Rock Band

When the guys at Passion Pictures were given the opportunity to make an intro for a game inspired by The Beatles, they looked at each other and said, “Look, this is not some band which chose to represent themselves as cartoon characters. This is a band that defined modern music as we know it. We better do them justice and give it all we got!” So unlike Kyle Cooper and TDR which has arguably done better work in other mediums, this game intro is Passion Pictures’s best work yet. From the Fab Four running past their iconic album covers to the satirical portrayal of how they went from one concert to the other when they were in the States, Passion Pictures have thought about every detail in this footage with great creativity.

All kinds of game intros have been made after all this years and yet someone still manages to come up with something fresh and exciting. There is always space for new and good creativity after all.

Thanks for trudging through this long post. Hope you enjoyed the list.

Happy Raya

Maaf zahir dan batin.

Compulsory: went to my uncle's house, like every raya. A little different this time: meet an old friend (real and a nice dude this time) later and made some acquaintances while that. Had some friends coming to my house the following day. Pretty neat.

For the past month my creative cerebral activity was all focused on real work. To not burden my thoughts too much, I relieved myself from making some crazy post for raya. So pardon this simple post. And thank you for visit to become visitor.

Liking the Lake District

This is Lake Ullswater. A spread of daffodils near the lake inspired the poet William Wordsworth to write one of the most well known English poems I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud. It would have been nice to catch those very daffodils when we reached the lake. Instead out of nowhere a troop of car-boats was what welcomed us at the lake. Uninspired to write poems about car-boats sailing through water, we moved on and stumbled upon some ducks.

Rozanna and Suraya were throwing stones into the lake when the ducks came. Like every other lake we encounter the girls would start throwing stones in hopes of making the stones skip on the surface. The ducks rushed in thinking the girls were throwing food. Later however Suraya would give them real food: bread crumbs. The lake would send waves to its shoreline and the ducks would glide up and down with every passing wave like they were happily bouncing about.

At the recommendation of a brochure we trekked through a section of the forest near the lake to see Aira Force. The walk along the river stream towards its source reminded me of jungle trekking back home. But unless there was such a thing as a wild forest growing on a golf course in Malaysia, then I guess the highland grasses gave it away that it was in fact an overseas forest.

As you may have already known or guessed, Aira Force is a waterfall. For those of you who had guessed incorrectly, I hope you are not too disappointed to not see a line of fighter jets on an airfield.

On our way out of the forest, we came upon a fallen tree with glittering scales. Upon closer inspection, they were actually coins shelved straight into the trunk. It looked like a lot of fun so we joined in and stabbed a Malaysian coin into it. Perhaps every night a poor man would come and relieve the tree some of its coins. Our coin would be safe of course since it would be ignored.

We paid a visit to William Wordworth’s home, called Dove Cottage. It was already closed by the time we reached it so there is not much for me to say about the house other than that it was white in colour. Well, I could comment a bit about the name. I mean, it sounded a bit too feminine to me. I would have called my home Cybernova Fortress. Or maybe Technostrike Tower. Or how about...the Smooth Loft. Oh yeah ladies, you know what I’m talking about.

The rolling hills of Lake District were so inviting that it wouldn’t do our visit justice without us traversing through one of them. We found our opportunity near Lake Windermere (not all hills are open to the public as many of them were private farm properties).

While on our way back, Mama spotted a dramatic view by the hill we were passing through and told me to pose. Now this is more like it. Time to be inspired. Yes, I can feel a poem coming.

Sunbeams From Afar

Sunbeams stream down from the skies
Into light and shadow that rests on rolling hills,
Through the clouds and through the trees,
The hills rejoice like gleaming steels;
These beams may not belong to me,
But for a brief moment I felt almost free.

Thank you to Uncle Pasku, Auntie Hamidah, Suraya, and Rozana. I am glad my mum and I joined you guys to go sightseeing around Britain. Visiting all these places wouldn’t be the same without you guys.

And that last picture of Lake District concludes the article series of my brilliant UK trip. Thanks for reading.