10 Totally Out Of Place Video Game Intros

First impressions count for a lot, and that's as true in video games as it is in anything else. The opening moments of a game will crystallise the player's opinion moving forward, and in extreme cases might even make them consider asking for a refund.

And while we're all familiar with gaming's many great opening cinematics and FMV sequences, what about those intros that just felt so aggressively divorced from the rest of the game itself?

Perhaps these intros were inconsistent with the style, tone, and aesthetic of the main game, suggested it would be something it wasn't, or otherwise bamboozled players with its off-the-wall content.

Whatever the reason, these 10 video game intros felt completely out of place for better or worse, some immediately lowering players' expectations while others taught them to expect the unexpected for the rest of the experience.

As much as most video game developers design intro videos that hype the player up and immediately convey what their game is all about, these games all did basically the complete opposite of that, preferring instead to leave customers scratching their damn heads...

Don't feel bad if you haven't even heard of Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. It is admittedly a deeply terrible Mortal Kombat spin-off released in 2000 - a third-person brawler-shooter in which players take control of Jax as he pursues Kano.

The bulk of the game itself is a fairly gritty and self-serious action title, yet you'd scarcely believe that from its gut-bustingly hilarious, tonally off-kilter intro video.

The shamelessly campy opening, which showcases the game's various characters against colourful backdrops while set to peppy music that'd feel more at home in Austin Powers, couldn't feel less accurate a representation of what Mortal Kombat: Special Forces actually is.

Given that many prominent members of Midway - such as Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias - left the company before development was complete, it's perhaps little surprise that the game's identity feels so schizophrenic right from the jump.

Ultimately Special Forces sold so horribly that it caused the mainline franchise to be put on ice for a few years, and that jarring opening surely didn't help shift a single damn unit.