12 Greatest Opening Video Game Sequences Since 2000

11. Batman: Arkham Asylum

For developer Rocksteady, Arkham Asylum was a pretty big deal. Having their own previous title be the lukewarmly-received 'Urban Chaos: Riot Response' (Exactly), the studio's reputation went from zero to ten thousand when they managed to not only deliver a solid Batman game, but one that would revolutionise the way we look at superhero properties in video game form forevermore. Opening in the most perfect of ways with an already-defeated Joker resting in the back of Bats' car, his towering stature dominates one of the most iconic opening shots as he presents the Clown Prince to Jim Gordon and the authorities of the titular prison. However as can be expected all is not what it seems, and after a fantastically slow-burn build of walking a tied-up Joker through Arkham - encountering a plethora of villains along the way - the idea that your all-powerful Batman is actually pretty overwhelmed starts to sink in. It's then that Joker reveals he wanted to be caught all along (as he always does), letting loose a group of thugs on you and unleashing that maniacal laugh for good measure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvCLqEhZP3U Discovering the game's combat - itself another revolutionary feature for third person action titles - was an absolute joy, and we instantly set about dispatching the entire room in a blur of broken bones and knockout punches. What was to come after was one of the greatest - and some say best in the series - superhero tales of all time, something that definitely got started with a bang.