Sublime gaming moments

[Canadave]

Ever have one of those moments when you're playing a game, and everything just comes together really well? So much so that it's almost like you're not playing a game anymore?

I had one of those moments last night, while I was playing Silent Hunter III. I was commanding a Type IX U-Boat (long range boats which often crossed the Atlantic) in early-1942. I'd been assigned to patrol off the coast of Nova Scotia, but after having no luck there, I went south and was hunting a couple hundred kilometres off the American coast.

Anyway, I was between New York and Norfolk when we spotted an American destroyer in the distance. I dove, but it seemed to be too late, as he'd changed course towards me and was picking up speed. But as he got close to me, he began to slow down, like he wasn't sure I was there. Eventually, he came across my stern, still moving slowly, and was perfectly positioned for a quick hit from my aft torpedoes. Needless to say, I launched one and sent him down.

Minutes later, however, when cruising on the surface, I was ambushed, depth-charged, and sank by a couple of search planes. It was both extremes of gaming luck within an extremely short span! And despite being frustrated at sinking, it was still an incredibly cool moment.

 

[captcalhoun]

Modern Warfare 2, TDM. High Rise map.

match starts. I charge out the building without the cubicles. toss my frag over into the middle passage.

a guy coming the other way, slaps his claymore down, shoots me.

my grenade hits his Claymore. and detonates it, killing him after he shot me.

i get the 50XP for the kill, plus i get bonuses for payback and for 'afterlife' - killing someone when dead.

pure, dumb luck.

 

[Mr Light]

I'll always remember the third stage of Halo 2 where you get up to the top of the hotel and look out into the street as the massive Scarab tank appears, destroys a tank, then starts walking towards you.... then plants a foot right in front of your face and walks right over the top of the building. That was a seamless woah moment.

 

[clint g]

Call of Duty 4 had a few of these moments. The first one being when you get shot in the head, the second one being when the nuke went off, killing your character. Those were some pretty awesome moments. Theres a few more out there, I'll post them as I think of them

 

[Jax]

Personally a moment, which made me forget I was playing a game and just had me in its grasp was near the end of Heavy Rain...

I was playing the character of Ethan Mars with posion killing me slowly and I was simply out of time but still had several possible locations of where his son Shaun could be (I refused to take a life so failed 1 test). I just sat staring at the map on the screen judging all the geographical differences on the map and using what I already knew about the killer to try to guess the location. Near Train Lines, Near a river and out of the way somewhere so not to be disturbed like a warehouse/dock yards...I picked a location on the map nearly 10 minutes later and got it right .

I just loved how I got emotional involved into the game and I was so nervous making the choice but at the same time composed using all the evidence to make a choice that would see if everything I did was going to pay off or end in failure, it made the game feel a lot more real.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

It's very rare that a game produces the odd kind of emotion you're describing, but that only makes it super special for me when it does. I was playing Metal Gear Solid on the PC, and the scene where Grey Fox was fighting Metal Gear was just so emotional for me... Greg Eagles, the original voice actor for Grey Fox, really got the emotion across in a way that the dude from the remake just couldn't replicate. It was all just perfect, it couldn't be better if it was rendered with 3D technology from the future on a console from the same.

 

[Mistral]

I think Robotron(if you know what that was) had one of the coolest moments for me. I had just re-spawned and swung my gun in a 360. Every shot hit and I cleared a busy screen in about .25 seconds. Priceless!

 

[SPCTRE]

I'll always remember the third stage of Halo 2 where you get up to the top of the hotel and look out into the street as the massive Scarab tank appears, destroys a tank, then starts walking towards you.... then plants a foot right in front of your face and walks right over the top of the building. That was a seamless woah moment.

Oh yeah, Scarabs were scary as hell back then. (Don't get me wrong, fighting and destroying them in many different ways in Halo 3 was extremely fun, but it also made them less intimidating.)

I've been playing Reach for what, one and a half week now? - and I've already had plenty of similar moments.

Some of them story- and generally campaign-related, but most of them in cooperative gameplay. Saving a teammate from certain death by assassinating an energy sword wielding Elite General at the last moment feels extremely rewarding

 

[TEH BABA]

Wing Commander 3 blair learning of rachel's death and kidnapping of Imoen in bg2.

 

[Niorah]

Meeting the Vigil VI on Ilos in Mass Effect gave me massive goosebumps. The whole journey through the Archives was spectacular, because of the background story, because the Protheans couldn't win, because you were looking at the probable near future of civilization as a whole, because it had been happening all before and it would happen all over again, and again, and again... definitely goosebumps.
I just loved the whole storyline of Mass Effect, science fiction at its best.

Taking down my first Dragon in Neverwinter Nights was pretty cool too.

 

[The Doctor]

I'd have to say that the ending to HL2: Episode 2 was probably the most invested I've been in a set of video-game characters but the moment was not so much sublime as it was moving and arresting. It was shockingly effective when a game like HL:2, which never takes perspective away from the player, held you captive and made you watch something so grim.

As for sublime moments, Dragon Age's combat system made for some serious 'gotcha' moments when I played as a dual-wielding Rogue with the 'Momentum' attribute. The sight of a diminutive elf stabbing the ever-living fuck out of an enemy three times his size while never once getting hit in return was pretty rewarding.

 

[Canadave]

^ Whenever HL2 immobilizes you and forces you to watch something (such as the end of Episode 2), I find it to be very engaging. You feel utterly powerless; unlike a normal cutscene where you're just watching something happen, you feel very much like you're there. Yeah, the whole "Gordon Freeman is silent" thing can get silly sometimes, but when it works, it really works.

 

[Dac]

The end of Mass Effect 2. Yes, it was a cutscene, but considering it was based on all your decisions and featured every character you were invested in, I absolutely adored it. Can't wait for ME3.

Oh, and this

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TOmvjXxlSE[/yt]

 

[FPAlpha]

Way back i was playing Aliens vs. Predator 2 - The Colonial Marine campaign

You have to enter a settlement alone and look for something.. when you enter the building you engage your motion tracker just like in the movie and go on.
I can't describe the feeling or why but it totally pulled me in almost to the point where i felt like a Marine who has to enter an extremely hostile area.

As you make your way in there are several instances of scripted events like ceiling panels falling down and similar stuff designed to give you a heart attack until you reach a room full of alien eggs.

Shortly after Aliens are bursting into the room and i was rushing backwards to the entrance all the while firing every weapon i got until it was dry.. assault rifle, shotgun and down to my sidearm and the last few bullets when i suddenly emerged out of the building.

I made it.. barely.

Remember the scene in Aliens when the Marines are ambushed by the Aliens and are fighting for their lives? That's about it in a nutshell how i reacted

One of the best gaming moments in my life!