If there's one thing that can get us desperately gagging to play a game before it's even out, it's a good trailer.
OK, they often aren't representative of what the general experience you find when you actually play the game, but boy, can they get us excited.
Take, for instance, the just-released, absolutely stunning trailer for Far Cry 3: the only annoying thing about it is that it reminds us the game won't come out until September.
So here's our pick of the digital mini-epics that will always stick in our minds. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few of the trailers that stick out in our minds, let us know your personal favourites in the comments below...
Far Cry 3
This could well serve as a graphical illustration of the perils of booking a holiday through a dodgy travel-agent. A bunch of alternative-looking tourists pitch up on a seemingly idyllic tropical island (how often do they feature in the best game trailers?), video themselves messing around, then doing shots in a bar. Inevitably, given that it's a game trailer, things then go considerably pear-shaped. The trailer does a fine job of showing Far Cry's new, OTT direction. And it even ends in a blast of dubstep.
Comments
22 comments so far...
Amoeba88 on 16 Feb '12 said:
best EVER? surely it's about the feeling you get when you watch them, I count most from the past year and don't match up to the pure excitement of seeing trailers such as MGS E3 '97, THAT Halo 3 teaser, Resi 5 TGS '08, Devil May Cry.. I could go on, any one else got any better suggestions?
jm3811 on 16 Feb '12 said:
ICO
Space Channel 5
Gran Turismo
Battlefield: Bad Company "Bad World"
SSX Tricky
Hogs of War
The Last Guardian
Speedball 2
grimlock047 on 16 Feb '12 said:
No Deus Ex Human Revolution or ANY Metal Gear Solid 2,3 or 4.
I agree, I remember several trailers or TV ads that made me want to buy the game even if I don't like the game itself (i.e. Halo):
Halo 3 teaser, Halo diorama TV advert, the first ever Assassins Creed trailer, Ocarina of Time N64 TV ad, RE5 teaser, Half-Life 2 teaser, Warcraft 3 teaser.
kabber on 16 Feb '12 said:
Dead Island was not my kind of game but that trailer. god that was horrifying, in a good way. i think it was the trailer of the year, and the feeling that i got was imense and intense. it was a small story that could've happend before or in the game. it was clear though that the game wouldn't be like that at all, but danm that was a goosebumping and heartbumping trailer.^^
Balladeer on 16 Feb '12 said:
Pretty much this. Probably the best trailer I've ever seen. No way I'd buy the game though.
Imaduck on 16 Feb '12 said:
No offense CVG but I'm not a fan of this list personally.
What of the original Gears of War "Madworld" trailer. The Halo 3 "Believe" trailer. Something to do with Warcraft damn it!
Blizzard know how to sell stuff ! 
That ME2 trailer that was all the rage for a while was really good too, the "Launch Trailer". Also the Dead Space "Twinkle Twinkle" trailer was memorable. Trailers have only really started to come into their own in the last ten years or so really but there's been some brilliant trailers made.
KK-Headcharge78 on 16 Feb '12 said:
I agree with the Batman and Dead Island trailers, the Far Cry one is all a bit typical of trailers at the moment IMO. Here are some of my faves (even though I don't have a PS3);
Gran Tourismo 5
The recent Wipeout trailer
The last of us
Gears 'Mad World' trailer
Resident Evil 4
COD Black Ops (the one with the Stones music)
Forza 2
Dark Souls
and the best for me is the Gears 2 'Rendezvous' trailer;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMvMcwHdOgs
Thane64 on 16 Feb '12 said:
For me the best CGI trailer has to be the one for Mass Effect 2
i was nearly drooling when i saw it when i went to see Avatar!
Amoeba88 on 16 Feb '12 said:
What a hauntingly beautiful trailer/tv spot, I liked the nod to it in Gears 3 in THAT scene when it bursts into mad world instrumental and is preceded by a track called "Full Circle" I believe
toaplan on 16 Feb '12 said:
1. Mario 64 trailers
It was still the early days of the WWW-internet and it was so amazing even to be able to download Mario 64 preview clips to your PC before the game was unveiled at E3! I thought SMB World on the Snes was as good as Mario was ever going to get, but the Mario 64 clips made me think again.
2. MGS2 E3-trailer
I was a die-hard Sega fan and a proud owner of a Dreamcast console, but the MGS2-demo that they showed at E3 2001 was enough to make me yearn for (and soon buy) a PS2. Such pretty weather effects...
3. Battlefield 3 -trailers
I thought they were all incredibly stylish and made me very, very excited about BF3. The PC version (almost) lived up to the high expectations.
Noobsaibot on 16 Feb '12 said:
The Twilight Princess 2004 E3 trailer was pretty epic (largely because of the reactions)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98VjTbC4gC4
dicky1993 on 16 Feb '12 said:
the trailer at e3 for tomb raider was pretty sweet i thought, and IMO trailers for games are misleading unless it's gameplay footage
++++ all halo trailers are great and RAAMS shadow traILER is insane
dicky1993 on 16 Feb '12 said:
also aren't all these trailers the past year or so?
alan666 on 16 Feb '12 said:
best ever, erm nope don't think so.
one of the best ever (if not the best) games trailer is the original Final Fantasy VII for the PS1.
mix of in-game footage, CGI & perfect music, to one of the defining games in gaming history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEN-p5e2WkM
Selanmere on 17 Feb '12 said:
My favorite has to be the Skyrim trailer. It made 2011 a VERY long year...
The 'Sacred Ashes' one for Dragon Age: Origins was pretty cool too.
Imaduck on 17 Feb '12 said:
Good call, forgot those 2. I actually modded my Skyrim to have the exact "FUS RO DAH!" from the early trailer, I use it on EVERYTHING
Tokyojonnybravo on 17 Feb '12 said:
As much as I enjoyed wind waker...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEF9Utdu ... re=related
fyckfaco on 17 Feb '12 said:
Most of the people disagreeing with the list are posting trailers made from ingame footage... The title of this topic is CGI - rendered footage trailers.
toaplan on 17 Feb '12 said:
Yes, but at least I thought the topic I was replying to was: "the best game trailers ever". Possibly out of carelessness... or CVG has subtly edited their article headline since then
On this page the headline is without the word CGI...
Beebop10 on 17 Feb '12 said:
The far Cry 3 one is actual gameplay not CGI, no?
The others from the ones watched are third party commissioned - meaning pure pre-render jobs, that are unrelated to real gameplay . Similarly, Bioshock 2 also had a pretty epic CGI trailer commissioned .
dicky1993 on 18 Feb '12 said:
you sneaky cvg you added "cgi" in the title sneakyyyy
ste hicky on 21 Feb '12 said:
Best Game Ad ever for one of the best Zelda games in existence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Mf2mp6fms
Younger fans may not get this reference but it's the Zelda equivalent of Roger Waters' Radio Kaos, Specifically Four minutes.
I'm still partial to Ocarina's "Whilst though get the girl or play like one?" as well.
Misogyny from Casual Loving, Pink DS selling Nintendo.