Great moments in games

[LMan]

Hehyo, I thought it might be fun to make a thread about those great moments in games that you fondly remember years after. Unexpected story twists, wow-effects, or simply great atmospheric settings. Here are some for starters.

- Seeing the Commando titlescreen with Rob's great music for the first time
No explaination needed.

- Taking the first careful steps in Ultima Underworld
... and playing the game in whole. Breathtaking new technology (first fully texture mapped 3d environemt with real 3d objects and physics engine), amazing atmosphere because of the dark setting, great story, and everything. It is still worth a replay, better than many modern games.

- GTA Vice City intro
It hits your soft spot with the c64 boot screen intro video already, but as soon as the story begins with "Broken Wings" playing in the background you're totally caught up in the 80s.

[trace]

- Ofcourse I have to say The Way of the exploding fist, the first game we loaded up
I can stil see us sitting there watching it load and then when the classing tune starts, heck I get sentimental

- Ah, Sanxing loader tune
I was just stunned over the tune...

- Armalyte
Do I need an explanation? That game was a really big WOW factor, grafic, music, the whole thing!

[Romeo Knight]

The Last V8
When I finished it.....I even had the C-128 version with the first level on Mars.

Barbarian (Psygnosis) on Amiga
Mouth open when I first watched the intro animation.

Marble Madness
My friend's father worked at a facility where they repaired arcade machines. So sometimes we went
there and could play on the readily set up machines. Imagine 2 little guys, a Marble Madness arcade
and a whole day in 1984!
(I just watched a playthrough@youtube and jesus, the minimal music and SFX of it bring back memories!)

Half-Life 2
After the first 30 minutes playing I realized that this was the first time I was like
"playing" a game with a setting not less plausible than a top scifi movie.
Today they call it "immersive gaming".

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Yes, I had a N64. There have been so many emotional moments
during game progress that I think it's simply one of the best games I ever played.
Like the scene when you meet your horse for the first time...(no I'm not a girl )
You actually developed empathy for all those characters you got to know in the game.

and of course Halo
That opening choir theme still makes me goosebumps. Not to forget the
horror when the Flood first show up.....great moments....

[beyond]

Thrust
A small game that cost almost nothing. But again, the number of possibilities were enormous with the simple physics. And the title screen theme by Rob... !

Elite
This game had me captivated for a long time. Not that I ever got even close to elite status but the open gameplay was just stunning. And the 3D graphics - whoa! The title screen theme was awful on the C64

Dallas Quest
Not the best adventure game ever but it has some nice things to it. Maybe it was the celeb factor, I don't know. But I played it through... a couple of times - stupid me

Defender of the Crown (and other CinemaWare games for the Amiga for that matter)
The open gameplay again and the beautiful graphics made this something really special. Wonder how they are doing with all their new plans.

[omoroca]

Arkanoid

Visited a friend bc he had told me he just got a diskette with Arkanoid on it. I was'nt interested in the game, I was only keen on the music bc I knew it was by my favorite SID musician Galway and got 91 out of 100 points in the German "Happy Computer" magazine, more than any other piece of music ever before.

Was amazed by the digidrums and had to listen several times bc I had the feeling the piece has 4 voiced although I knew that was impossible bc the C64 only has 3 voices (now I know better). I thought it was just a trick, like a very fast arpeggio or something.

[Ziphoid]

Turrican II (Amiga)

When the game started and you could hear the claps, bassdrum, bass, synth... ...and then another synth voice... ...and another... ...and another... I don't know how many times I relistened it through, trying to figure out how they did it.

Eureka (C64)

Getting my hands on this game with a promise that if you could beat it, you'd get a prize of £25.000, was a cool feeling. The adventure itself was really cool too. Dang, I must play that again. I never finished more than 50% of any of the 5 adventure parts.

Castle of Wolfenstein (Apple II)

The power of imagination came to good use in this one, since you KNEW that the Gestapo enemies wore big trenchcoats even though you really couldn't see it... Soo much tension and thrills came from this game.

// Ziph

[kjetiln]

What a great thread!

Moonstone
WOW, how disgusting... cool!

Cannon Fodder
WOW, she actually sings! And the gameplay is awesome too!

Dessert Strike
WOW, a helicopter game where you don't win the game by just flying around and destroying you see? WTF??

Mortal Kombat
WOW, they actually bleed.. alot!

Transport Tycoon Deluxe
WOW, a new railway set!

Diablo
WOW, that butcher killed me with one hit!

Half Life
WOW, it's a tenctacle!!

God Of War
WOW... A Giant 3 headed hydra!!

[Jan Lund Thomsen]

The intro on Fallout + Fallout 2 + Fallout 3.

"War... War never changes."

Still get goosebumps whenever I hear that phrase.

[Max Levin]

Just look at you...

...pathetic creature of meat and bone



I'll probably get a banwarning for this post unless the site-admin is a huge System Shock 2 fan who sympathises with me on this matter. S.H.O.D.A.N's revelation wasn't something that flew by our heads when it hit us. Personally I found myself in a terrified, submissive state when this female videogame-character by a rather smashing entrance convinced me (shortly put)"You better follow my orders". For once a game-cinematic that wouldn't work better in a movie.
Before this becomes an essay I must make an input for the music, which I suspect has a deeper role than being just music being stressed through the corridors of von Braun to. Notice there's no music in The Many-level? S.H.O.D.A.N told us she wouldn't be able to contact you while there. I say she's beaming dnb into your brain to keep you from slacking, that's how it works! Really!
Here's a link to the music, btw. Bleed, maggots.

[Steve B]

Elite
getting the Constrictor mission ... It was TRUE !! not just a myth !!

W.o.t.E.F
crapping my self the first time it screamed at me when loading

Paradroid
realising it WAS that good

Monty o.t.R
God Hubbard. say no more

Jet Set Willy
playing it on a Spectrum emulator on a C64 emulator on an Amiga emulator on the PC.

Ultimate Play the Game
Seeing a new advert in Crash or Zzap (ohmygodohmygodohmygod a new Ultimate game !!!!)

Back in Time Live
Meeting you lot

[Infamous]

system shock 2

Me and max share a huge enthusiasm for this game, it immersed you scared the living shit out of you and then made you feel godlike when you did something you didnt think you could, shodan will live on as one of the most sinister yet strangely compelling characters in gaming history, you know she's a bit naughty but you still "get" what she's trying to do and in a twisted sense what she had done was good for us, making us better, harmonic... one. Oh and the cyber ninja's call of "come on coward" .. best goading in a computer game EVER.

World of warcraft

There were games before it that did much the same thing, but nothing has come even close to the sheer epic scale of this game, the way that it rewards you for doing things just drags you along and the fabricated yet compelling back lore is just so amazing, so many characters to relate to or simply go "wow!!!" when you see them in the flesh, a game that many will copy for years to come.. a modern day elite.

elite

On the subject of elite, this wasted hours of my life and I cannot express just how incredibly pissed off I was when i opened the god damn tribble box and had to endure them little fuckers flapping about over my screen for days on end, but it kept me coming back. I had my trade route that made me tons of money, I had all the top gear but what i really wanted was that god damn thargoid ship and i looked.. oh did i look.

Rockman

The vic 20 game not the japanese version of megaman, that was the FIRST game that i ever played and it did my tiny little mind an injury, but even at the tender age of 5 or 6? i was still pretty damn good at it and to this day i still love to have a quick bash on it with my emulator.

Jet set willy 2

This game pissed me off for all the right reasons, and had me coming back time and time again to just try and get a little further, change my route avoid that annoying banyan tree room like the plague and maybe.. just maybe i might get past maria just once and go to bed.

back 2 skool

The joys of punching all the girls in the face as a young boy were maybe a little too high, but at least i only did it in the game world and nowere else, and the sheer elation when you finally got the bully in trouble for once.. or the swot in the shit for trying to grass you up..awesome, another one of those games that you had to be there to truly understand why it's so great.

creatures 2

I have a massive love affair with this unfair bastard of a game, but surely nothing else on the c64 was quite so cute AND full of blood as this? and soooo much fun, would have been nicer if they'd let you pick your worlds rather than lead you by the hand so you could avoid the more harder/cryptic levels (snow cap anyone?).. but overall a stand out classic.

dynasty warriors

The arcade version not the acrid and demented home versions.. god only knows what went wrong there, but the arcade one with its 4 players on a horse.. with a stick.. hitting men in the face.. and they'd clutch at them screaming merry hell.. and your drunk at the time.. and finding it all incredibly funny.. oh happy day's. arcade games were never like that again.

[trace]

W.o.t.E.F
crapping my self the first time it screamed at me when loading

OMG, How did I forgott about that, holy crap that was scary!!

[Makke]

Oh, there are so many moments, but to narrow it down a bit...

Intro screen and music to Desert Strike
First time loading the game, and seeing the screen with the helicopter come on and hear the music start. My jaw dropped. Instant love. The game was/is really good as well, still play it every once in a while.

Monkey Island 2
The whole shebang. Loading it up still feels like coming home, every time.

Intro screen and music to Skate or Die!
That sound. Mmm. I prefer the slower, flawed-by-crack version, though.

GTA 3
The freedom. The missions. The potential mayhem and havoc. The first time I piled up 20 cars, and blew them up with a rocket launcher, I felt like a kid again.

[LMan]

RE: System Shock 2 (SPOILER) : Oh yes, the scene where you walk into that door to meet your contact and then reality kind of collapses around you was a GREAT moment. Really great.

[LMan]

Oh and as a friend pointed out recently:

Doom 1 - first LAN party. The feeling of chasing (or being chased by) your best buddies with a virtual chainsaw. *Rnngdnnngdnngdnng*