12 Most Epic Character Introductions In Gaming History

6. Leon/Claire (Resident Evil 2)

Resident Evil 2 took the bold step of allowing you to play as either Leon S. Kennedy or Claire Redfield, two new characters to the franchise who would soon enough become iconic staples (especially in Leon's case). Each character gets their own cut-scene which differs to begin with, but culminates in the same sequence. Leon is the rookie cop arriving in Raccoon City just as the zombie outbreak begins, and ends up retreating into a diner, where he very narrowly avoids capping Claire. The two run to a police car and begin driving to the police station. Claire's sequence has her arriving in Raccoon City on her motorbike in search of her brother, Chris, and as she appears through the diner, she spots a zombie. Claire runs through the back door, to be greeted by Leon, and the two scenes then join up for the finale. Sure, it has come cringe-inducing dialogue ("You're a cop, right?"), but the climactic moment, as Leon and Claire are attacked inside their car by a zombie and crash, is marvelous. They just barely escape before a zombie-driven lorry destroys the cop car and causes a huge explosion, which ends up separating the two in admittedly rather convoluted fashion. Still, Resident Evil started off as a homage to corny B-movies, and proved from this opening cut-scene that it was now going to be bigger and badder, just as all sequels need to be.