10 Unintentionally Hilarious Gaming Cutscenes
Gaming is supposed to be fun, but sometimes it's for entirely the wrong reasons.
Gaming has evolved considerably since the humble days of Pong.
With more and more mercurial writers and developers applying their talents to the craft of video games, a lot of focus has gone into making sure that gaming titles can tell a gripping, and emotionally moving tale.
Often, these stories have had the power to overcome the limits of the graphical capabilities of their day, with smoothly designed cutscenes that could convey harrowing, comforting, and genuinely touching themes. Improved technical wizardry over the generations has only increased the capability of the medium to be appreciated as a legitimate and beautiful art form.
Of course, even the most visually convincing cutscene is no guarantee of true quality. The power of even the most detailed and meticulously polished cutscene can be remembered for the wrong reasons due to a bad line of dialogue, or some awkward voice acting. Older games with blocky, jagged graphics had even steeper mountains to climb; since the visuals couldn’t convince us by themselves, it took even more special work to pull us into their worlds.
Inevitably, not every game is up to the task, and even the greatest titles have had their share of clunkers which certainly entertained, but not in the way it was likely intended. Here are ten cutscenes that, quite frankly, should have been cut.
10. Tali Singing - Mass Effect 3
Laughter is, supposedly, the best medicine. In any case, it’s certainly the most effective antidote we have for the agonising awkwardness of Tali serenading Shepard in Mass Effect 3. Romance rarely works in gaming, and an otherwise acclaimed entry from a beloved franchise doesn’t prove the exception to the rule.
The gentle scene featuring the constantly veiled Tali and bland Shepard starts out relatively inoffensively, as the two settle down to watch a movie from Tali’s childhood. Unfortunately, it’s then that we hear a line almost guaranteed to have anyone scrambling for the remote: “we can activate singalong mode!”
The painfully absurd sight of the faceless Tali crooning passionately, while a totally blank Shepard stares back at her completely bereft of comprehension is nothing less than risible. BioWare clearly intended the scene to be moving; indeed, you might well bury your face in your hands, but probably not to wipe away tears.
If you can’t let out a giggle to break the tension, you’ll likely want to sink into the ground in embarrassment, so laugh away.