Prompted by a passion for forumers’ personal top gaming charts storming the Arcade Zone like a nightmarish Hollywood-budget reconstruction of the Siege of Badajoz whilst the entire production team was doped up on crack cocaine ( 
), I was considering how I myself would respond the the great phenomenom that is taking control of STC-O. I could resurrect my “Precious Gaming Memories” thread there for the umpteenth time (and I’ll return to it… someday), but for the time being I thought I’d present my own unique slant on the chart frenzy, and ask for your own opinions.
It’s a sad fact of life that as production costs and commitments required to generate a game have skyrocketed in recent years, more and more emphasis has been placed on graphics and presentation rather than the meat of gameplay that any veteran knows is the true standard which defines a magnificent game. I myself am a firm exponent of the Leadbetter Axiom - “graphics maketh not a game”.
However, when appropriately handled, it has to be admitted that graphics can certainly be a great augment to a definitive game - I doubt that Panzer Dragoon would have been accorded such critical acclaim and acquired a consort of passionate fans if it hadn’t been for its unique aesthetic style.
So, in this brief mediatation on the role of graphics in computer gaming, I thought I’d turn to the ultimate example of frippery and indulgence - F.M.V.
Most ‘cinematic’ sequences in computer games are the very definition of a set-piece, intended to amaze, astound, transfix and arrest with something that (usually) has only limited depth but nonetheless is mesmerising. To state the intention of this topic, then - what top-5 examples of FMV have you found the most shocking, entrancing, and/or impressive? Which have made you weep (But please, in the name of God, the whole communion of Saints and choirs of Angels, please don’t say Aeris’ funeral in Final Fantasy VII)? Which have made you scream for joy? Which have simply rendered you dumbstruck?
My own countdown begins…
5 - Infiltrating the Discovery
GAME: Metal Gear Solid: Substance (The expanded edition of Sons of Liberty)
FORMAT: Microsoft X-Box
Oddly enough, it wasn’t the pinnacle of FMV splendour that proved to be the hardest choice for me to include in the list, but this lowest constituent. I dislike writing chart tables immensely because I’m not the most proficient person at making clear, absolutist decisions on matters of taste. Any one of a dozen cinematic sequences could have been included here, so this particular selection shouldn’t be considered a final statement of my affections.
This isn’t, however, to denigrate Hideo Kojima’s extremely proficient directorial abilities (but why, Konami? Why did you have to whore yourself out to Sony? :’( ), for the opening to the Tanker Chapter to Metal Gear Solid II should be considered a milestone in the maturing of gaming into a true art form. The deft acrobatics of Solid Snake as he vaults off the George Washington bridge are standard fare for action films, but this was rendered with more subtlety, restraint, and artful expression than the efforts of a thousand such films combined. An excellently atmospheric commencement to a game with undoubted personality.
4 - Opening Cinematic
GAME: Guardian Heroes
FORMAT: Sega Saturn
Treasure are one of the select cadre of non-Sega development houses that I will readily tip my hat to - and as all of you know that I’m so much of a Sega purist that by comparison John Calvin would make a good Pope, that is high praise indeed. Treasure have produced sterling titles from the moment their founding members splintered from Konami, and Guardian Heroes was no exception. This cheerful, well-rendered, well-paced, varied and stylish anim? that heralded the game proper wasn’t just the icing on the cake, it was like a ‘buy-one-get-one-free’ deal at the wedding planner’s establishment. 
3 - The Inaugeration
GAME: Starcraft
FORMAT: PC
*My fellow Terrans, I come before you in the wake of recent events to issue a call to reason. Let no man deny the signs of our time. While we battle one another - divided by the petty strife of our common history - the tides of a greater conflict are turning against us, threatening to destroy all we have accomplished. It is time for us as nations, and as individuals, to set aside our long-standing feuds, and unite! The tides of an unwinnable war are against us, and we must act quickly lest we be swept away by the flood - the Confederacy is no more! Whatever semblance of unity and protection it once provided is a phantom, a memory. The devastation wrought by the alien invaders is self-evident. We have seen our homes and colonies destroyed by the calculated blows of the Protoss. We have witnessed, firsthand, our friends and loved ones consumed by the nightmarish Zerg. With our enemies left unchecked, who will you turn to for protection?
The time has come, my fellow Terrans, to rally to a new banner! in unity lies strength - already many of the dissident factions have joined us. Out of the many, we shall forge an indivisible whole, capitulating only to a single throne, and from that throne I shall watch over you.
From this day forward let no human make war on any other human, let no Terran agency conspire against this new beginning, and let no man consort with alien powers, and to all enemies of humanity seek not to bar our way, for we shall win through… *NO MATTER THE COST!
All the above was from memory, without prompting (although I admit there’s a couple of errors). Evidence enough, I think!
Unfortunately, I’ve run out of time - I’ll post my final two entries tomorrow - what about yours?
) for the sake of burnishing my credentials on a PD fansite. This scene in the abyss of Excavation Site