9. Press Triangle To Fist Pump (Ace Combat: Assault Horizon)
On the other end of the spectrum is the infamous final scene from Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, a no less jingoistic but arguably more fun series than Call Of Duty. Namco's Ace Combat franchise has been around for ages, with each successive release building a little more complexity on the arcade fighter pilot action, until the seventh (seventh!) in the series boasting its very own needlessly complicated plot involving rising tensions between Russia, NATO, and an East African country embroiled in a civil war. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY9NO4GQJRk Nobody pays attention to the story in games in general, but especially not when they're arcadey shooters - which is a shame, because the plot of Time Crisis 2 is positively Brechtian in its sweeping theatricality - but attentions were definitely piqued by the climax of Assault Horizon. The player character, Bishop, has shot down a nuclear-equipped Russian jet fighter headed straight for the White House. Landing to a hero's welcome, out of the plane and in first person, the player is urged to press triangle to, erm, put their fist in the air and have everyone applaud. What's the fail state of that?
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
