Top 5 Video Game Openings that Tell you Nothing About the Game you're Playing

I'm starting up something new now:  I liked writing that 5 Wii Games article, and there's enough content I can do to warrant adding an extra article each week.  So, this one will be every other Thursday, for starters.  If I can keep it up, it will become a weekly column here.  So anyways, to start this blog off, here's:

Top 5 Video Game Cinematics that Tell you Nothing About the Game you're Playing

#5: The Pinball of the Dead (GBA)

 The Pinball of the Dead was an odd little spin-off game that basically turned the arcade shooter House of the Dead 2 into a pinball machine.  You'd fight the bosses, kill zombies, and other mayhem like that.  The only thing was, its opening didn't tell you about ANY of that.

It really was cryptic at best.  However, there was one thing that caught my attention with this cinematic:  it's comprised entirely of clips from HotD2, and with a surprising level of quality.  The GBA really had some power behind it.






#4: Digimon World (PS1)
Metalgreymon and Metalmamemon duking it out on a digital landscape.  Interesting? Sure.  Flashy? H*** yeah! Tells the viewer about saving File Island? Whut?  I'll let the video speak for itself from here on.

#3: Duke Nukem Forever (360, PS3, PC)
Now, DNF was over-hyped to begin with, so that's nothing new.  However, the intro doesn't tell you anything about DNF.  It just gives you small slices of the previous Duke Nukem games.  I suppose 13 years of development hell means you have to remind everyone what the Duke did.  Perhaps that's why they put "forever" in its title.  I really wish there was more to this game than the developers put through to the publishers.  Shakespeare describes this game the best: "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

#2: Dance Dance Revolution (Series)

I'm using the DDR series in general, but I'm going to target the early mixes specifically.  I get that it's a dancing game, but dance battles? Live performances? Seriously?  You gotta be kidding me...

Don't get me wrong, I've been playing DDR since before it came stateside.  This game series is a sacred cow to me.  The game is fantastic, but the cinematic really doesn't tell you much at all.


#1: Katamari Damashii

Naaaa na na na na na na na na-KATAMARI DAMASHIIIII!!!  This is another favorite game of mine, simply because it's so simple to pick up and play.  The controls are intuitive, the soundtrack is wacky, and the characters are larger than life. Literally.  However, I still scratch my head at what Namco was aiming for with the opening to their title game:

Does that look like a "roll around a ball and pick up things" game, or what?  Anyone?  Just the crickets?  Thought so.

And that concludes my first round of Top 5 lists.  Check back in 2 weeks, when I post my next lineup.

Also, if you have ideas for more lists, please leave them in the comments section.  I have some ideas, but I'm willing to entertain some other topics.