"Wow" moments in games?

[Elliot B.]

Just wondering what moments in games made you think 'wow'.

The only 'rule' is that you have to post an accompanying image (screenshot, artwork, anything) explaining the point that made you think 'wow' if possible (so don't go re-playing a huge game just to take a screenshot of a certain part of the last level :p).

EDIT: Two recently moments that come to my mind are in...

• Hitman: Blood Money when you're at the festival are there are literally 100s of people on screen all moving independantly and not impacting game performance at all (although I imagine you'd need a decent system for that).
  
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars when you're on a GDI level towards the end of the campaign in which you have to assist a few vehicles from the top of the map to the bottom. Graphically, it's stunning. Rain, lightning lighting effects, amount of units on screen, gameplay-tension etc. Oh, and the first time you see the superweapons and visual effects (heat haze etc.) are nice, too.
  

I would screenshot the both games, but there is no level select from what I can gather and I'll passed those levels now.

Edited August 12, 2007 by King Mustard

[Lingwo]

Lost Valley in Tomb Raider (the original)

The moment you step out of the cave and the ground starts shaking and then in the distance you see a massive T-Rex come running towards you. First time i got there i just turned around and ran like mad :p

[Rogue`]

Got loads of them, but the one that popped in to my head first was the first time I seen a boss in Painkiller, they are huge and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor :)

I'll come back with a screenshot in a mo (it has level select) :p

[Setnom]

Normandy beach in Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault.

[Veritas 1]

The first time I fired up Half-Life 2 Lost Coast HDR demo and walked from an indoor hallway out into the sunlight and iris adjusting effect worked like a real eye and I was monetarily blinded by reflection and sunlight and then I adjusted. It was amazingly lifelike experience.

[Kerm]

Omaha beach on Call of Duty i think it was.

Amazing, especially on hard.

[balupton]

Halo, in the "Two Betrayles" map, where there is the huge outdoor war going on with everybody, amazing, totally captured me.

Playing HL2 on the brand new computer for the first time and noticing how great games have gotten.

NFS:MW (360): When I pulled off the most amazing drift ever!!!!

Intro beach scene in Medal of Honour, the D-Day one. Felt like you were there, and so crazy with all the explosions and bodies being shot up, bullets flying everywhere, insane.

That's probably it.

[Dark Ride]

Normandy beach in Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault.

That was definitely one of the biggest wow moments for me too in the more recent past. The oldest wow moment I can remember was when I saw Mortal Kombat on the SNES back in the early 90s. Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES was stunning too when it came out.

The most recent wow moment I had in Resident Evil 4 on the GC when I encountered the first big boss "El Gigante". When I tried to hide in one of those huts he ripped out a tree and blew the hut away with one blow ... while I was in it. :o

[TheFlusher]

Oooooh PC..

I'd say first taste of a mmo game in Shattered Galaxy...team vs team. that was fun times....

[richardsim7]

Most of the clips in the Metal Gear Solid series, some of them were just :o !!! :D

-Rich-

[The2]

Omaha beach on Call of Duty i think it was.

Amazing, especially on hard.

That, and Stalingrad...

and if you haven't played Serious Sam ...

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

When Morrowind ran more than 15mins without locking up.

yes it still was an amazing game :p

[iconboy]

ANY boss in shadow of the colosus, but really the first and the last one really hit me lol

[Green_Eye]

Playing Bioshock for the first time... More specific the intro to it...

Much like my first playthrough of Halo CE... to be specific the very last level where you have to drive to the spaceship. Ive never been so close to falling of my seat in tension... Ever.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

ANY boss in shadow of the colosus, but really the first and the last one really hit me lol

Infact.... /thread.

[andrew_f]

Half Life 2 : Episode 1 at the end with the citadel exploding... that was amazing the first time I saw it, not so much the second.

Also Normandy on MOH:AA

[Liandros]

a more recent moment was playing through stalker for the first time and reaching the garbage level for the first time. it was night time and storming pretty bad. defending the garbage during a stormy night was intense.

[NateB1]

Oblivion when I arrived at Cloud Top at sunset - the vegetation, the immense view, the colors, the city - it looked amazing.

[sundayx Veteran]

ANY boss in shadow of the colosus, but really the first and the last one really hit me lol

(Y)

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Half Life 2 : Episode 1 at the end with the citadel exploding... that was amazing the first time I saw it, not so much the second.

Was as good as the ending of HL2 (Y)

[Fourjays Veteran]

The Omaha Beach in MoH:AA and also the one in CoD2.

[DrCheese]

The ending of Zelda 64, just after you think you've defeated Ganon and fled the castle, only to see him pop up and Navi insisting she'll fight no matter what. That was sheer class and I don't think I've been so pumped in a single player game for a long time.

Multiplayer def has to be when I was in the first guild kills for Raganos and nef. The tension as the % of health on the boss goes down and the massive cheers on ventrilo afterwards are like no experience I've had in a game.

[Glassed Silver]

when i first saw the ps3's graphics (dont remember the game it was demo-ed in the store though) for example

Glassed Silver:mac

[Minifig]

When the credits rolled on The Longest Journey. *I was actually upset the game ended.*

The Opera scene in Final Fantasy 3/6.

I'll think of more...

[Jase]

The End of Half-life 2... I was like wow.. what is going on :|