I wrote recently about the intro to V Rally 3 and how it introduced me to the band A. That got me thinking, over the years there have been many games that utilised music and video to great effect when introducing the games I've played. Namco's Tekken series has always had excellent intro videos, Tekken 2 especially does an excellent job of introducing each fighter while utilising a brilliant energetic piece of music. It's a real shame that i can't find a video of Eidos Interactive's All Star Soccer, a game that for my money was one of the funniest sports related releases on the original Playstation with an Intro to match.
In essence i think a good game intro should get you amped up to play the game, it should represent everything that the game is about and make you enthusiastic to get stuck in. In my opinion each of the intros I've picked out here do just that.
Fifa 98 - Road to the World Cup
This was the last FIFA game that i owned, partly down to the 5 a side option and partly because Pro Evo kicked it's arse in the years that followed. The highlight of EA's world cup edition of the FIFA franchise was Blur's visceral anthem Song 2, a song that would be good enough to get into this list on it's own. If there's one tune that's guaranteed to get your blood pumping and the adrenaline flowing it's this one. Add to that the fact that the accompanying FMV follows all the rules of video game intro 101 and you have a great sports game introduction package. The cinematic shows you exactly what to expect in the game, the stadiums, the player animations, the gameplay and it even sums up the truly international nature of a world cup, It's all here in a perfect 90 second video package
Pro Evolution Soccer 2
There's only one song that can top Blur's song 2, there's only one band that could create a better football anthem. Maybe it's the stomp-stomp-clap backdrop to We Will Rock You that makes it so right for a football game, whatever the reason, there hasn't been a better Football intro since. The video follows the same rules as FIFA 98 with footballers from different countries all playing, scoring and getting booked. While there was no actual game play in this intro it didn't matter because this was all about telling a story and getting an emotional response from those who watched it.
It worked, They rocked me.
Gran Turismo 5
This intro tells such a fantastic story, the first half shows us the life of a car before it's a car, the ore is dug out of the earth, it's turned into metal, it's made into body panels etc. The piano accompaniment to all this is perfect, it has a sense of organisation, urgency and natural power, something that really compliments the educational material you see in front of you. It's like the soundtrack to a well oiled machine. It's also a welcome change to have a car racing game use a piece of classical music instead of going straight into a hectic piece of rock/pop.
That's not to say that a more energetic piece of music isn't welcome, My Chemical Romance's Planetary Go! kicks in at the start of the second half and it suits the racing portion of the movie down to the ground. It's a well implemented change of pace and shows that game designers don't have to choose one type of music over another when putting together an intro, they can use as many genres as they want.
This is another of those occasions when a game intro has made me go out and buy an album, and a very good album it is too.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
This is Hideo Kojima's tribute to the countless Bond intros that have become as much a part of the franchise as Aston Martins or Vodka Martinis, and it's beautifully executed. Just like Bond the intro actually comes after a short amount of game play, it really is just like playing as 007.
The song Snake Eater, sung wonderfully by Cynthia Harrel is classic Bond fare, trumpets punctuate the sweeping strings and snare drum arrangement at various points giving it a real On Her Majesty's Secret Service feel.
The video is abstract art at its best, but while being great to look at it also serves a function. It sets up the time frame in which the game takes place, in seconds we know that the Cuban missile crisis and US tensions with the Soviet Union form a part of the back story. Credits in the video snake across the screen accompanied by a few real but curiously skeletal snakes. Bomber planes flying over camouflage patterns give it a military feel while you get a few shots of Snake in-game to remind you who the star of the show is.
Every time i watch this intro it makes me smile, not only is it a great tribute to a certain British Secret Agent but it's also one of the finest video game intros ever.
Final Fantasy VII
Come on now, if you've read this blog for any length of time you'll know that i have a massive hard on for FFVII but it's for good reason. Since first watching the intro video for the game in dumb struck awe way back in the late nineties I've been a fan of it's cutting edge (at the time) graphics, brilliant use of FMV, and amazing score by Nobuo Uematsu.
The intro to Final Fantasy VII crystallises everything that was great about the games audio-visual presentation, but more than that it introduces us to the characters and the universe in which the game takes place in such a way that we're instantly immersed in it. It doesn't just show you characters, but the world they live in, it shows the hustle and bustle of the streets, the dingy alleyways, and then zooms out to reveal the sprawling city in all it's gigantic glory. it gives the whole game extra depth.
This game also led me to buying the OST, Uematsu san's stuff really is that good.
V Rally 3
The game that inspired this column to begin with. I was pretty excited to play the game when i first got it anyway, so imagine how amped for it i was after watching the intro posted above!
It had everything. Cars going at break-neck speed on brilliantly rendered dusty/snowy/muddy courses in far flung countries (including wales) and a thumping soundtrack that instantly made you want to bury your foot into the floor. There's something about thrashy guitar led tunes that suits rally games, it just fits. I bought A's album soon after i first saw the intro for V Rally 3, but to think that if it wasn't for gaming I wouldn't have even heard of them.
Great intros make you want to play the game they front up, all of these intros did that for me and there are loads more out there that do exactly the same. So next time you boot up a new game and it has an introductory video, give it a watch, because sometimes they can enhance the experience more than you might think.
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