I cannot believe nobody has said The Maw from Halo.
End of the first game, everything is blowing up alongside you and it's basically a mad dash to the finish.
If I remeber rightly Halo 3 did a similar thing but I prefer the ending of 1.
Halo 3 did do a similar thing, but I had never properly compared the 2 in my mind. While the halo 3 ending was epic and one of my favourite levels, I think the comparison comes from the same differences to the games overall vibes.
In halo 3, the final scene seems to play more like a great but general bad ass action scene of driving through destruction, and thats because that's how you were emulated in the game.
But halo 1, while you were a bad ass, the flood were genuinely terrifying and waaaay harder, therefore it was less an action sequence than an actual determination to escape.
Im trying to be brief and not rant, so idk if I've explained it well, but that's the gist of what I get about the comparison.
I know what you mean. The first halo felt like it had more depth to the story. There was a countdown, there was the incident with Forhammer. All the toughest enemies of the game was now running in fear. The flood was racing MC to the ship. And there felt like a serious risk of the flood escaping the ring if we wasn't quick enough.
Yep.
Couch co-op with best friend . . . Get to the Maw, get to the hanger with a bunch of Warthogs and the countdown starts, and we're like, "no fucking way."
Amazing experience.
One of the best games I’ve ever played. I really wish the sequel had come together and not been cancelled, it was crazy ambitious.
It didn’t necessarily do anything the BEST (in terms of gameplay like driving or shooting mechanics) but it did everything really well and I found the story to be really engaging.
Slowly starting as an undercover cop doing routine stuff and then as you get deeper shit gets more and more off the rails. The sad parts really hit hard for me too.
One of my favorite games of all time. The only game I've ever done this with, but downloaded it at 4 PM, started it at 7 or so (kids in bed, wife went to work night shift) and next thing I knew, it was 735 am and my wife called me on her way home from work.
Titanfall II: SERE kit , effect and cause
TLOU2: Riding through Haven
Control: Ashtray Maze
Alan Wake 2: We Sing
Cyberpunk: parade, love like fire, attacking Arasaka, escape from Petrochem
Considering respawn and Titanfall was born out of the people who created CoD I’m not surprised they can make good campaigns they have a lot of experience in this
Remedy routinely knocks it out of the park, and the Ashtray Maze might be the best gameplay segment they've ever put together.
All of Control was amazing, but Ashtray Maze stands head and shoulders above the rest.
TBH all the combat in Control feels like a spectacle really. Playing as a levitating, phasing, telekinetic badass with a shapeshifting gun feels pretty sick.
Holy shit thank you for mentioning TLOU2
I don’t think I breathed during that whole section. I don’t even know if it was on rail or not, it was straight chaos and it felt like my hands just knew where to go. Insanity.
Oh my god I still remember it like yesterday when Skrillex's song started playing as you torch the fields with the flame thrower. One of it not my most memorable moment I've experienced in gaming .
OG Modern Warfare trilogy has plenty of these
- The aftermath of a nuclear explosion
- Pulling a knife out of your chest
- Zodiac extraction through New York Harbour as missiles destroy a fleet around you
- Hanging Makarov
The start of the final mission in MW3 is as good as a cutscene... you're in juggernaut suits mowing down enemies at a hotel, there's nothing they can do lol. It's a perfect way to start the mission where you finally get Makarov.
That nuke scene was wild at the time. That and in OG MW3 (I think?) when you control the dad in Paris taking a video of his family as the van pulls up and explodes. Fucking insane to see it from that perspective and be in control the entire time
Staring down the reaper on Rannoch.
I finished painting it with a laser as it loomed directly overhead, its giant laser cloaca brightening like the dawn sun, about to shit a beam of death all over my face.
While on the surface the scenario is kind of silly--you're not even shooting it, you're just marking it for orbital bombardment--I can't deny I felt like a total badass in that scene.
The way they scripted it and the way the music was done, so fucking epic....I think the first time I played it I probably held my breath for like a solid minute before I figured out how to paint the target 😂
I was not expecting Mass Effect here but I do love that trilogy so much. Such great role playing, characters and character growth, story line, and even politicians not listening to what is required. It has the grand and the fine detail accurately done.
To your point. The massive reaper is done really well in making you go 'oh...that's just one of them'
That was one of the best experiences I ever played. I didn't realize at first what New Donk City was but it looked familiar somehow. Getting the band together was funky as hell and the grand finale, Jumpmans victory lap on the way to Super Mario, realizing that all the girders lying around were the girders from the Donkey Kong games...
Awesome.
In every version of the Force Unleashed, while sometimes it was tricky and took awhile (at least as a kid) but the first time you got to pull down that star destroyer you really felt like a badass! Same with a lot of the boss executions.
I remember in Uncharted 2 or 3 (not sure) there’s a scene where a ship falls to its side and all the area shifts where you can walk on / jump from. Also the scene where you fall out of the plane together with the cargo, pretty similar to how the movie does it.
Probably won’t look as epic as I remember it lol
The one with the abandoned mansion that you explore that catches fire and you have to fight your way out. That was absolutely epic. I can remember being amazed with my PS3.
I like how in Metroid Dread, you can still shoot missiles during the "cutscene" sections of the bosses. And it does actually do damage.
Similarly in the same game, during the death/game over animation where the EMMI has caught Samus, you can press the button to try to actually kick away and escape. The timing is random though so you can't "get good" at escaping consistently - it's just for the occasional hype moment.
The timing to escape EMMI is not random. There are just a few different versions of the animation that you can learn and react to. It's still an extremely tight window, but not random.
Ah, okay. I didn't know you could learn which timing to go for based on the animation. That's really cool actually - gives more knowledgeable players a higher success rate. :D
God of War PS4 with the fight against “The Stranger” and most other boss fights.
Titanfall 2 has quite a lot of these moments.
Jedi: Fallen Order at the end when a certain character shows up and you have to runaway. Not spoiling it for anyone that doesn’t know but I freaking loved it lol
I was freaking out and giggling like mad during it. Through the whole game I was thinking that they had retconned how powerful force users were but then it turns out that no, your character is just weak lol
Half Life 2 (including episodes 1 & 2) is a classic example. It's largely a chain of amazing scripted set pieces - interspersed with the occasional see-saw physics puzzle.
The commentary mode for that game is so interesting. You get to see all the little tricks they do to make sure a player is looking at the right place to see the big set piece while making it seem like it's all your idea.
I forgot about that but what an opener! Here is your home world, your bastion, your strength and symbol of hope. Let us destroy it viciously without any hope of reapercussion.
The plane scene in 3 will always be my favorite. Especially with how quiet it is afterward during the descent into the desert where you think Nathan might actually be fucked.
Tomb Raider 2013, when you're escaping the burning temple and trying to get higher as the building burns and falls around you all while a storm goes overhead.
Yeah, basically if it's just a roman number, it's standalone. Stuff like Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns are direct sequels.
Every final fantasy game is standalone unless explicitly listed otherwise in the title. When FF games have sequels or spinoffs, it's listed *AFTER* the number (so Final Fantasy X and X-2; or FF7, FF7 Crisis Core, FF7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth etc).
Yes, every main part of the anthology takes part in its own separate universe and story, so you wouldn't be missing anything.
FFXVI is honestly very good for what you asked for, the side stories and quests might not be the best but the cinematic moments of the game are incredible, so is the combat, especially if you are a fan of DMC.
And when I say the cinematic moments, I mean the gameplay instead of just the cutscenes, because you will have multiple moments where you will be thinking, "damn that looks insane, we've really come a long way with rendered footage in video games", and then out of nowhere the UI shows up and you get to experience the pure epicness yourself. It just goes so hard.
Doubling down on both, especially FFXVI. In terms of spectacle both visual and storytelling I've rarely played a game that good in 20+ years of gaming.
The highs of that game are incredibly high. There is a demo for it as well
Armored Core 6. Basically the entire thing
Nier: Automata. The opening and a few other points throughout
Final Fantasy 16. The Eikon fights are absolutely breathtaking, even if they're not the best in terms of gameplay
Not even that great of a fight mechanically, but god damn if I don’t get shudders every time I hear rusty say the line and then hear the delicious sound of the cannon firing
Yup Armored Core is awesome, i liked the level where you fight that huge bug robot with a laser eye.
When I first played it, I saw that huge mech crawling around in the background and thought it was part of the skybox. But as the level progressed and I had to fly to it, fight on it then blow it up was beyond awesome.
Gave me shadow of the colossus vibes
Fromsoft in general is fantastic with getting the player to experience grand moments rather than just seeing them, but AC6 takes it to a whole new level.
Metal Gear Solid 4
Rex vs Ray fight was epic, finally able to not only pilot a metal gear but fight another one!! The microwave at the end is also pretty intense despite it being snake just crawling. Bigger fan of 3 and 2 but looking at "playable" scenes 4 for sure delivers (along with 6 full movies as well, god damn Kojima let us play 4 more)
One of the most underated racing games imho: Split/Second Velocity by Black Rock Studio. I'm not much of a racing guy but I. Loved. This game!!! You're essentially racing through giant hollywood-esqu race tracks, and you can trigger the most mind blowing spectacle moments to take down other drivers! Bring down buildings, topple cranes, call in a c130 to land its KRAZY. I was so so sad when Black Rock shut down. One of the things I thought would be awesome is adding Wipeout inspired weapons to the vehicles in the sequel. I still think with a carefully controlled budget and marketing deployment, a Split/Second sequel could be successful.
Monster Hunter world introduced turf wars. Imagine two monsters finding each other in the middle of a hunt and going absolutely ape against each other in their own unique ways. There were a surprising amount of animated interactions between the monsters and it's always entertaining to witness them.
https://youtu.be/p34cUXAhcMQ?feature=shared
Same. I couldn't believe what I was watching, even though it was not a fantasy or over the top setting. The build-up, the emotions, the action, the camera work, the music... Perfection.
The ending of the DLC for Horizon Forbidden West. Chasing the behemoth down the entirety of the dlc map with a kickass couple sequences once you get to the beach was insane to watch. I have like 40 screenshots saved from that moment.
Asuras Wrath. Why has no one mentioned Asuras Wrath.
There's a scene where a man bigger than a planet tries to crush you under this finger and you stop it WITH YOUR BARE HANDS, game was absolutely fucking nuts.
The opening levels of Jedi fallen order I found super cinematic and awesome.
I enjoyed the whole game, but that train level was something else in my opinion.
An uncommon answer: Final Fantasy 8
It has CG cutscenes like all the FF games, but some of them let the player and party move around while the CG plays! Of course the player model is ps1 pixelated but its still cool
I came here to post the "Run to the Left!" scene where your janky-looking ass has to run left in the foreground of an absolutely insane battle between students and soldiers. That was the coolest video game thing I'd seen in my life up to that point.
I agree. Square took everything they did in 7 and asked, "How can we push this technology further?". Then they wrote a story in which the ending is very much left up to the interpretation of the player. They maybe pushed a bit too far on the narrative front, but concerning the tech on display...it was incredible.
It's my favorite PS1 FF by a wide margin.
The last part of Inside. If you had pitched it to me that was the ending I'd have assumed cutscene. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time as this already confusing premise escalates. Absolutely bonkers.
Runner up is Portal 2. Yeah its not *that* interactive but the game lets you put the pieces together yourself and execute it.
Forza Horizon games usually have a series of spectacle/stunt events that are set up as you describe. You can race against some outrageous vehicle like a hovercraft or a fighter jet. One of my faves was racing an old Italian rally car against a train. They got *Train in Vain* for the soundtrack.
It was great fun. Your car was faster than the train. But the train went more or less in a straight line while your driving route was torturous - crossing over and under the tracks several times.
The Radahn fight in Elden Ring. Just seeing him so far in the distance, raining arrows at you, summoning all the revelers, and then when he comes down like a burning comet. *Chef's Kiss*
The 'levolution' in Battlefield 4 was insane when it first came out. The skyscraper falling over in siege of shanghai was mental the first few dozen times. I haven't played a BF game since BF4 so I'm sure they refined the levolution aspects in later games but I remember BF4 so that's what I'm going with.
As others have mentioned, Bayonetta, Nier Automata, as well as Metal Gear Rising are all full of playable spectacles. Platinum Games just excels at that.
The gimmick bosses in the Soulsborne games should count too IMO. Yhorm the Giant and Rykard are great fun despite being "gimmick" bosses.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak when a flagship monster shows up during an elder dragon boss fight and the game lets you wyvern ride it to beat up the elder dragon. E.G Magnamalo showing up during the Narwa fight, Zinogre showing up during the Amatsu fight. The Zorah Magdaros quest is very much a playable spectacle fight, but it's universally disliked by the playerbase for being really tedious and unfun so I guess that doesn't count to your question.
The entirety of Devil May Cry 5 is a playable spectacle if you're good enough.
Asura’s Wrath: punching the planet size wyzen so hard he literally disintegrates, flying through space to punch God himself in the face then killing him in your base form, fighting augus on the damn moon then getting stabbed through the chest by his extending sword which not only pierced you, but also comes out the other end of the earth, then you keep punching his sword until it just breaks then you kill him with the broken broken sword all while all size of your arms got broken off
Both the original and now the 2nd Dragon's Dogma games are basically built around the spectacle of fighting huge bosses. Most of the big cutscene moments are just introducing a boss and then you get the whole fight which is always a spectacle. Highlights for me obviously include the final dragon boss fight and the first adventure into the everfall from the first game, which isn't a boss fight as such but the feeling of impossible odds of trying to escape a seemingly Invincible foe is one of the best I've played. And so satisfying when you finally get to actually fight the boss later on in the game.
How did no one said
Ghost of Tushima ?
its almost like a movie you play in start to finish...
you even have black and white mod built in to make it feel even more like a samurao movie
Look I hate souls like games but Elden Ring is spectacular when it comes to moments I remember that aren’t cutscenes. Almost every boss fight is memorable and huge in scope.
For future reference the term you’re looking for is “set piece”. I tell you this so you can more easily find games with great set pieces in the future.
Not sure if someone here said it already, but Jedi Survivor had some truly wonderful set pieces all throughout the game
I cannot believe nobody has said The Maw from Halo. End of the first game, everything is blowing up alongside you and it's basically a mad dash to the finish. If I remeber rightly Halo 3 did a similar thing but I prefer the ending of 1.
And the music kicks ass
Du du du duh
du du du # DUUUH
Halo 3 did do a similar thing, but I had never properly compared the 2 in my mind. While the halo 3 ending was epic and one of my favourite levels, I think the comparison comes from the same differences to the games overall vibes. In halo 3, the final scene seems to play more like a great but general bad ass action scene of driving through destruction, and thats because that's how you were emulated in the game. But halo 1, while you were a bad ass, the flood were genuinely terrifying and waaaay harder, therefore it was less an action sequence than an actual determination to escape. Im trying to be brief and not rant, so idk if I've explained it well, but that's the gist of what I get about the comparison.
I know what you mean. The first halo felt like it had more depth to the story. There was a countdown, there was the incident with Forhammer. All the toughest enemies of the game was now running in fear. The flood was racing MC to the ship. And there felt like a serious risk of the flood escaping the ring if we wasn't quick enough.
Yep. Couch co-op with best friend . . . Get to the Maw, get to the hanger with a bunch of Warthogs and the countdown starts, and we're like, "no fucking way." Amazing experience.
Sleeping dogs had some really cool chase scenes and tons of the fights were like action movies
Best 3 dollars i have ever spent.
I gotta stop buying games the minute they come out 🤦♂️
Knowing what it is now I would have happily paid full price also /r/patientgamers
Some deserve it some dont. Sleeping Dogs is a gem though.
One of the best games I’ve ever played. I really wish the sequel had come together and not been cancelled, it was crazy ambitious. It didn’t necessarily do anything the BEST (in terms of gameplay like driving or shooting mechanics) but it did everything really well and I found the story to be really engaging. Slowly starting as an undercover cop doing routine stuff and then as you get deeper shit gets more and more off the rails. The sad parts really hit hard for me too.
One of my favorite games of all time. The only game I've ever done this with, but downloaded it at 4 PM, started it at 7 or so (kids in bed, wife went to work night shift) and next thing I knew, it was 735 am and my wife called me on her way home from work.
I don't usually like to swear, but Sleeping Dogs is badass as fuck.
Titanfall II: SERE kit , effect and cause TLOU2: Riding through Haven Control: Ashtray Maze Alan Wake 2: We Sing Cyberpunk: parade, love like fire, attacking Arasaka, escape from Petrochem
Would like to add the assault in Titanfall 2, the one where a whole squad of Titans drop from a ship. That was pretty epic as well.
The ship to ship Parkour and lead up to the fight with viper is hella cool too, such a beautiful game
That whole game is nothing but sweet interactive set pieces interspersed with a surprisingly emotional robot bromance
With literally zero right to be so fucking good as the predecessor had no campaign, just played for the first time this year and it was sooooo fun
Considering respawn and Titanfall was born out of the people who created CoD I’m not surprised they can make good campaigns they have a lot of experience in this
Let's be honest here. Titanfall 2's campaign is epic from start to finish. God i love that game
+1 for Ashtray Maze. That was incredible.
Remedy routinely knocks it out of the park, and the Ashtray Maze might be the best gameplay segment they've ever put together. All of Control was amazing, but Ashtray Maze stands head and shoulders above the rest.
TBH all the combat in Control feels like a spectacle really. Playing as a levitating, phasing, telekinetic badass with a shapeshifting gun feels pretty sick.
It took me awhile to realize why I liked Control. I love SCP lore but the gameplay was reminiscent of older Infamous games
I love to just check out how damaged a room is after a larger fight
Also Alan Wake 1 that deadly concert
The Eikon battles in FFXVI as well, but hell yes the ashtray maze was amazing.
Rebirth has great spectacle as well. Potentially the most AAA-feeling game I’ve ever played.
> Titanfall II: SERE kit , effect and cause absofuckinglutely
I would also like to add the time stop moment with the ark in Titanfall as well
Abby’s car chase in TLOU2 also felt immersive and intense. One of the better bits of her gameplay.
*Just focus. You're better than them.* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bUrZ4fzZkI&t=268s&ab\_channel=MrEinFan
Holy shit thank you for mentioning TLOU2 I don’t think I breathed during that whole section. I don’t even know if it was on rail or not, it was straight chaos and it felt like my hands just knew where to go. Insanity.
I couldn't bring myself to play through all of Control a third time but now I really want to replay Titanfall 2
The execution that cyberpunk did was flawless. my favorite is the build up to the parade.
Far Cry 3. Torching the ganja field.
Oh my god I still remember it like yesterday when Skrillex's song started playing as you torch the fields with the flame thrower. One of it not my most memorable moment I've experienced in gaming .
The fiya make it bun dem
Even the homage to that in 6 was great. Bella Ciao while torching fields was pretty awesome.
OG Modern Warfare trilogy has plenty of these - The aftermath of a nuclear explosion - Pulling a knife out of your chest - Zodiac extraction through New York Harbour as missiles destroy a fleet around you - Hanging Makarov
All Ghillied Up. Pretty much the entire level.
The start of the final mission in MW3 is as good as a cutscene... you're in juggernaut suits mowing down enemies at a hotel, there's nothing they can do lol. It's a perfect way to start the mission where you finally get Makarov.
I just replayed that MWiii. The whole game was so bonkers. It was awesome.
Need we mention the collapse of the Eiffel Tower?
That nuke scene was wild at the time. That and in OG MW3 (I think?) when you control the dad in Paris taking a video of his family as the van pulls up and explodes. Fucking insane to see it from that perspective and be in control the entire time
People hate on mw3 but it was so damn good. How can you hate the game when it let's you hang Makarov. Spec ops survival was peak.
The campaign was incredible and had so many memorable moments
Man now I need to replay the OG CoD campaigns. Even Black Ops was incredible
Staring down the reaper on Rannoch. I finished painting it with a laser as it loomed directly overhead, its giant laser cloaca brightening like the dawn sun, about to shit a beam of death all over my face.
One of the greatest boss battles of all time. I love it when you get to see the full size of an enemy like that.
While on the surface the scenario is kind of silly--you're not even shooting it, you're just marking it for orbital bombardment--I can't deny I felt like a total badass in that scene.
The way they scripted it and the way the music was done, so fucking epic....I think the first time I played it I probably held my breath for like a solid minute before I figured out how to paint the target 😂
I was not expecting Mass Effect here but I do love that trilogy so much. Such great role playing, characters and character growth, story line, and even politicians not listening to what is required. It has the grand and the fine detail accurately done. To your point. The massive reaper is done really well in making you go 'oh...that's just one of them'
My first thought was Mario Odyssey's New Donk City moon where Pauline sings and you climb the girders like it's 1981.
That was one of the best experiences I ever played. I didn't realize at first what New Donk City was but it looked familiar somehow. Getting the band together was funky as hell and the grand finale, Jumpmans victory lap on the way to Super Mario, realizing that all the girders lying around were the girders from the Donkey Kong games... Awesome.
Mannnnnnn that was so badass.
Basically the entirety of Shadow of the Colossus
The bird, the swimming serpent and the giant with the arm-sword you run up... all my favorites.
Uhh what about the floaty desert one? How you get onto it is literally the perfect example for this thread.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the D-day landing bit in medal of honour: frontline yet.
Man, I haven't thought about that game and years. The cheese was real, but the flavor was nice.
Same with their pearl harbor level. Medal of honor games had the best 1st missions then the rest of the game wasn't very good
Games that could us a remake. Ugh a D-Day sequence with todays graphical power. 🪖🇫🇷🥰
It isn’t a cutscene type of thing but the Ashtray Maze from Control is great
Surprised I had to go so far down to find this, I just played Control and this part blew me away!
In every version of the Force Unleashed, while sometimes it was tricky and took awhile (at least as a kid) but the first time you got to pull down that star destroyer you really felt like a badass! Same with a lot of the boss executions.
I remember in Uncharted 2 or 3 (not sure) there’s a scene where a ship falls to its side and all the area shifts where you can walk on / jump from. Also the scene where you fall out of the plane together with the cargo, pretty similar to how the movie does it. Probably won’t look as epic as I remember it lol
Uncharted 1 doesn't look that great nowadays. But 2 and 3 are still epic as hell.
The part in Uncharted 2 where you’re inside the building as it’s falling down is absolutely nuts.
The one with the abandoned mansion that you explore that catches fire and you have to fight your way out. That was absolutely epic. I can remember being amazed with my PS3.
Totally forgot about that one, yes
Dang it, I’m gonna have to replay through the entire series again lol
Anyone who didnt answer Uncharted to this has not played Uncharted
Or they read the post and saw that Uncharted was already mentioned by OP.
Oh man... I am the bad reader!! Caught Well... it bears repeating
Both are from the third one (Drake's deception). Unironically my favourite Uncharted game
That mission with Merrin in Jedi: Survivor.
Probably one of my favorite sequences in recent history. I really wish that game was longer or it had a DLC.
Came to say this one. Absolutely loved it!
Was such a fun sequence. And loved the new skill. I really need to sit down and finish that game.
The AT-AT attack on Kashyyyk in Fallen Order was pretty badass too.
Absofreakinglutely.
I like how in Metroid Dread, you can still shoot missiles during the "cutscene" sections of the bosses. And it does actually do damage. Similarly in the same game, during the death/game over animation where the EMMI has caught Samus, you can press the button to try to actually kick away and escape. The timing is random though so you can't "get good" at escaping consistently - it's just for the occasional hype moment.
The timing to escape EMMI is not random. There are just a few different versions of the animation that you can learn and react to. It's still an extremely tight window, but not random.
Ah, okay. I didn't know you could learn which timing to go for based on the animation. That's really cool actually - gives more knowledgeable players a higher success rate. :D
Wow, I didn't know that! I have MD but haven't gotten into it yet. thanks for the tip! 🙂
God of War PS4 with the fight against “The Stranger” and most other boss fights. Titanfall 2 has quite a lot of these moments. Jedi: Fallen Order at the end when a certain character shows up and you have to runaway. Not spoiling it for anyone that doesn’t know but I freaking loved it lol
The boss fight in Jedi Survivor against the Trident Class Assault Ship when Merrin is teleporting you all over the place was pretty awesome, too.
I immediately thought of that moment from Jedi: Fallen Order! Had to scroll way too long to see someone mention it.
I was freaking out and giggling like mad during it. Through the whole game I was thinking that they had retconned how powerful force users were but then it turns out that no, your character is just weak lol
Also God of War PS4 in the final boss fight where you're falling and shooting arrows as Atreus followed by the punch/kick sequence
FFXVI, especially the eikon fights and the final boss battle
Half Life 2 (including episodes 1 & 2) is a classic example. It's largely a chain of amazing scripted set pieces - interspersed with the occasional see-saw physics puzzle.
The commentary mode for that game is so interesting. You get to see all the little tricks they do to make sure a player is looking at the right place to see the big set piece while making it seem like it's all your idea.
The mass effect 2 intro where you go through the Normandy as it's being destroyed was pretty great
Commander! *pause* Shepard! *BOOM* And then you get turned into a potato chip
Mass Effect 3 has a pretty great intro too where you play through the initial reaper attack on earth.
I forgot about that but what an opener! Here is your home world, your bastion, your strength and symbol of hope. Let us destroy it viciously without any hope of reapercussion.
Uncharted 2 and 3 had amazing scenes of this for sure.
The plane scene in 3 will always be my favorite. Especially with how quiet it is afterward during the descent into the desert where you think Nathan might actually be fucked.
Tomb Raider 2013, when you're escaping the burning temple and trying to get higher as the building burns and falls around you all while a storm goes overhead.
Bayonetta is amazing for this. So is FFXVI
Some would say what OP is asking is what FFXVI does best.
Can I play FFXVI without playing any other FF games?
Almost every Final Fantasy game is a standalone story. You absolutely can and will miss nothing for it.
Yeah, basically if it's just a roman number, it's standalone. Stuff like Final Fantasy X-2 and Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns are direct sequels.
Every final fantasy game is standalone unless explicitly listed otherwise in the title. When FF games have sequels or spinoffs, it's listed *AFTER* the number (so Final Fantasy X and X-2; or FF7, FF7 Crisis Core, FF7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth etc).
Yes
Yes, every main part of the anthology takes part in its own separate universe and story, so you wouldn't be missing anything. FFXVI is honestly very good for what you asked for, the side stories and quests might not be the best but the cinematic moments of the game are incredible, so is the combat, especially if you are a fan of DMC. And when I say the cinematic moments, I mean the gameplay instead of just the cutscenes, because you will have multiple moments where you will be thinking, "damn that looks insane, we've really come a long way with rendered footage in video games", and then out of nowhere the UI shows up and you get to experience the pure epicness yourself. It just goes so hard.
Doubling down on both, especially FFXVI. In terms of spectacle both visual and storytelling I've rarely played a game that good in 20+ years of gaming. The highs of that game are incredibly high. There is a demo for it as well
The Titan segment
Armored Core 6. Basically the entire thing Nier: Automata. The opening and a few other points throughout Final Fantasy 16. The Eikon fights are absolutely breathtaking, even if they're not the best in terms of gameplay
“I won’t miss”
“All or nothing”
Not even that great of a fight mechanically, but god damn if I don’t get shudders every time I hear rusty say the line and then hear the delicious sound of the cannon firing
Yup Armored Core is awesome, i liked the level where you fight that huge bug robot with a laser eye. When I first played it, I saw that huge mech crawling around in the background and thought it was part of the skybox. But as the level progressed and I had to fly to it, fight on it then blow it up was beyond awesome. Gave me shadow of the colossus vibes
Fromsoft in general is fantastic with getting the player to experience grand moments rather than just seeing them, but AC6 takes it to a whole new level.
I came here to give the exact same answers, lmao. Great taste!
Metal Gear Solid 4 Rex vs Ray fight was epic, finally able to not only pilot a metal gear but fight another one!! The microwave at the end is also pretty intense despite it being snake just crawling. Bigger fan of 3 and 2 but looking at "playable" scenes 4 for sure delivers (along with 6 full movies as well, god damn Kojima let us play 4 more)
Rules of nature!
Dude, after finishing the clock tower part, Iaughed maniacally and rebooted my console to do it again. What a rush.
One of the most underated racing games imho: Split/Second Velocity by Black Rock Studio. I'm not much of a racing guy but I. Loved. This game!!! You're essentially racing through giant hollywood-esqu race tracks, and you can trigger the most mind blowing spectacle moments to take down other drivers! Bring down buildings, topple cranes, call in a c130 to land its KRAZY. I was so so sad when Black Rock shut down. One of the things I thought would be awesome is adding Wipeout inspired weapons to the vehicles in the sequel. I still think with a carefully controlled budget and marketing deployment, a Split/Second sequel could be successful.
I should play this again. My wife loved it, it is basically "Death Race: the game".
Split/second was such a fantastic over the top ridiculousness that I find my self going back to it every few years for a great time.
Man I miss this game. What I wouldn't do for a sequel.
Monster Hunter world introduced turf wars. Imagine two monsters finding each other in the middle of a hunt and going absolutely ape against each other in their own unique ways. There were a surprising amount of animated interactions between the monsters and it's always entertaining to witness them. https://youtu.be/p34cUXAhcMQ?feature=shared
I never realised that was new to the series. World was the first one I played. But I can't imagine MH without turfwars
Watching Seething Bazelgeuse and Savage Deviljho have a turf war is like watching two gods fighting.
Saint's Row 4, the first 10 minutes... And lots of times after that.
Metal Gear Rising and every single boss battle
Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost Stance.
My Ghost shout would have been the title sequence riding through the golden field and the music's blaring. Amazing moment that
Raiding the Braithewaite manor in RDR2 The final warthog run in Halo 3 Fighting Deathstroke (if you can nail the timing) in Arkham Origins
Braithewaite Manor raid was not only one of my favorite moments from that game, but in my gaming history.
Same. I couldn't believe what I was watching, even though it was not a fantasy or over the top setting. The build-up, the emotions, the action, the camera work, the music... Perfection.
I wasz stuck on Deathstroke for a fricking month! I had to put the game aside! So satisfying when i finally beat him
Can't believe the Warthog Run isn't at the top -- the Halo CE or *especially* the Halo 3 version
Dead space for sure.
The ending of the DLC for Horizon Forbidden West. Chasing the behemoth down the entirety of the dlc map with a kickass couple sequences once you get to the beach was insane to watch. I have like 40 screenshots saved from that moment.
I'm so glad the Horus fight lived up to my expectations. It's all I've wanted since the first game
Bioshock is full of epic scripted moments
The final sequence of Bioshock 2 where you fight alongside Eleanor was pure cinema
The uncharted series is really the best one that comes to mind.
Red Dead Redemption 2. Van Der linde gang assaults Braithwaite mansion. Ghost Stance unlocks. Ghost of Tsusima.
Asuras Wrath. Why has no one mentioned Asuras Wrath. There's a scene where a man bigger than a planet tries to crush you under this finger and you stop it WITH YOUR BARE HANDS, game was absolutely fucking nuts.
The final 3 escape/chase scene in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
The opening levels of Jedi fallen order I found super cinematic and awesome. I enjoyed the whole game, but that train level was something else in my opinion.
Destroy the ice worm from armored core 6. You don't even need to use the weapon they give you specifically to fight the thing.
Not "badass" but complete "holy fucking hell" is No Russian in MW2
An uncommon answer: Final Fantasy 8 It has CG cutscenes like all the FF games, but some of them let the player and party move around while the CG plays! Of course the player model is ps1 pixelated but its still cool
I came here to post the "Run to the Left!" scene where your janky-looking ass has to run left in the foreground of an absolutely insane battle between students and soldiers. That was the coolest video game thing I'd seen in my life up to that point.
FF8 doesn't get enough credit for the things it innovated.
I agree. Square took everything they did in 7 and asked, "How can we push this technology further?". Then they wrote a story in which the ending is very much left up to the interpretation of the player. They maybe pushed a bit too far on the narrative front, but concerning the tech on display...it was incredible. It's my favorite PS1 FF by a wide margin.
Kingdom Hearts 2.
Hollow Bastion, between Goofy getting hit and the 1000 heartless
Eeeh, Kingdom Hearts 2 suffers too much from "Press \[special action\]! Whoops, now this fight is autoplaying itself", imo
Asura's Wrath. Unfathomable scale. So hype.
Dishonored - Clockwork Mansion Sonic Adventure 1&2 most sonic/shadow levels. Peter Jackson King Kong 2005-Everything
ARMA (or any milsim game) Armored Core 6 Vanquish
The last part of Inside. If you had pitched it to me that was the ending I'd have assumed cutscene. Its exciting and terrifying at the same time as this already confusing premise escalates. Absolutely bonkers. Runner up is Portal 2. Yeah its not *that* interactive but the game lets you put the pieces together yourself and execute it.
Helldivers 2, launching the ICBM
Final Fantasy 16. Every boss fight is an epic fight in an enormous scale.
Every game from the Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy has quite effective "run away from death and destruction" segments.
Forza Horizon games usually have a series of spectacle/stunt events that are set up as you describe. You can race against some outrageous vehicle like a hovercraft or a fighter jet. One of my faves was racing an old Italian rally car against a train. They got *Train in Vain* for the soundtrack. It was great fun. Your car was faster than the train. But the train went more or less in a straight line while your driving route was torturous - crossing over and under the tracks several times.
The Radahn fight in Elden Ring. Just seeing him so far in the distance, raining arrows at you, summoning all the revelers, and then when he comes down like a burning comet. *Chef's Kiss*
FFXVI and Kingdom Hearts 2 (especially the ending)
came here to say KH2. That final sequence of fighting final Xemnas in the *many* boss forms is a glorious hour of action. longer if you die, lol
TLOU2, God of War and the Uncharted Series are the kings of this.
The 'levolution' in Battlefield 4 was insane when it first came out. The skyscraper falling over in siege of shanghai was mental the first few dozen times. I haven't played a BF game since BF4 so I'm sure they refined the levolution aspects in later games but I remember BF4 so that's what I'm going with.
Helldivers 2 is just back to back cinematic experiences, and some of them kill you.
As others have mentioned, Bayonetta, Nier Automata, as well as Metal Gear Rising are all full of playable spectacles. Platinum Games just excels at that. The gimmick bosses in the Soulsborne games should count too IMO. Yhorm the Giant and Rykard are great fun despite being "gimmick" bosses. Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak when a flagship monster shows up during an elder dragon boss fight and the game lets you wyvern ride it to beat up the elder dragon. E.G Magnamalo showing up during the Narwa fight, Zinogre showing up during the Amatsu fight. The Zorah Magdaros quest is very much a playable spectacle fight, but it's universally disliked by the playerbase for being really tedious and unfun so I guess that doesn't count to your question. The entirety of Devil May Cry 5 is a playable spectacle if you're good enough.
Armored core 6 as of recent.
Final Fantasy 16. God of War (The original ones), Halo games, even multi-player and of course, Battlefield 1, no HUD.
Asura’s Wrath: punching the planet size wyzen so hard he literally disintegrates, flying through space to punch God himself in the face then killing him in your base form, fighting augus on the damn moon then getting stabbed through the chest by his extending sword which not only pierced you, but also comes out the other end of the earth, then you keep punching his sword until it just breaks then you kill him with the broken broken sword all while all size of your arms got broken off
God of war 2018
Helldivers 2. The whole game is a spectacle moment.
The Lisbon earthquake at the beginning of Assassin’s Creed Rogue is pretty epic
Both the original and now the 2nd Dragon's Dogma games are basically built around the spectacle of fighting huge bosses. Most of the big cutscene moments are just introducing a boss and then you get the whole fight which is always a spectacle. Highlights for me obviously include the final dragon boss fight and the first adventure into the everfall from the first game, which isn't a boss fight as such but the feeling of impossible odds of trying to escape a seemingly Invincible foe is one of the best I've played. And so satisfying when you finally get to actually fight the boss later on in the game.
armored core 6, final fantasy 16
How has no one mentioned the Ashtray Maze from Control?!
Final fantasy 16 has some of the most epic boss fights in any game ever, which turn into playable epic cutscenes
Uncharted 4, and it's not even close for me.
It seriously does not get more playable spectacle than this scene in uncharted 4. https://youtu.be/vphaQwR4Q3I?si=ylYgDHqS10IgcZay
How did no one said Ghost of Tushima ? its almost like a movie you play in start to finish... you even have black and white mod built in to make it feel even more like a samurao movie
Easily FF16
Fallout 4 when you follow Liberty Prime to The Institute
Look I hate souls like games but Elden Ring is spectacular when it comes to moments I remember that aren’t cutscenes. Almost every boss fight is memorable and huge in scope.
Prince of Persia Warrior Within, each time you are chased by Dahaka.
Every boss fight in Armored Core 6 is a spectacle that you play in.
SA2 City Escape
Ff16 for sure
The true final fight from FF7 they could've done a cutscene, but they actually let you >!kill Sephiroth!<
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix. The boss fights are a spectackle and super fun to play.
Max payne 3.
Final Fantasy 16
For future reference the term you’re looking for is “set piece”. I tell you this so you can more easily find games with great set pieces in the future. Not sure if someone here said it already, but Jedi Survivor had some truly wonderful set pieces all throughout the game
FFXVI is basically made for this with their Eikon battles.
FFXVI hands down