12 Greatest Opening Video Game Sequences Since 2000

8. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty

MGS 2 is one of those games that when you mention it, people either love it more than their children, or despise it with the fire of a thousand Watch Dogs graphics-comparisons. Either way though, the reason such a strong divide exists, is because of the very poignant shift from playing as fan-favourite Solid Snake i.e. The Coolest Mother Fudge-Packet In Western Game Design, to that of the foppy-fringed, effeminate whinge-bag Raiden. It didn't help that the preceding 45-odd minutes of cutscene and gameplay from Snake was an exercise in how to deliver on fan-hype with laser-precision. Everything is just so on the money if you're either an action movie or Metal Gear fan; the opening scenes of Snake diving off the George Washington Bridge, the dispatching of guards through all manner of (at the time) next-gen ways, and facing off against his thought-dead brother Liquid - albeit in something of a new form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxRQXxzvDSI The atmosphere and cinematic direction here are unsurpassed, and was exactly what we wanted after the previous PSone title was regarded so highly by fans and critics alike. It's something of a shame that the same level of unabashedly unanimous love couldn't carry to the rest of the game, but regardless, Hideo Kojima's opening salvo of Hollywood-level cutscenes and unique gameplay is now the stuff of legend.