10 Most Iconic Opening Sequences In Video Game History

8. Halo

Chances are, anyone who played the original Halo vividly remembers the moment they stepped into Master Chiefs shoes for the first time. As the ship Pillar of Autumn approaches the mysterious Halo ring, it comes under attack by Covenant forces, forcing Captain Keyes and the synthetic intelligence Cortana to wake the Chief from cryostasis.

Eventually, Keyes gives you a pistol, and from the very first moment you fire a shot into the back of a hapless Grunt it dawns on you just how good Halos shooting feels. It didnt really matter that the initial set up was vague and unclear; at the time gamers immediately became smitten with Halo. The first level wastes no time showing off how fun and fast paced the shooting is, proving that console shooters could compete with their PC counterparts.

It is a hell of an introduction to a game that nobody expected to explode in popularity the way it did. This was the best way for an unknown property to strut its stuff and sell the Xbox as a console worth dropping cash on. And it worked, birthing what would become Microsofts biggest franchise. Any original game always has greater pressure to make a good first impression, and Halo knocked it out of the park, with an opening level that in many ways defined the entire Halo experience.