Opening cinematics used to perform an important function in games: they showed us the vision. They invited us to form a beautifully-rendered mental image, based on the jumble of text and sprites we were actually about to play.
Dawn of War fanatic? Try another great strategy game.
Nowadays, PC games aren’t hideous – and we can appreciate cinematic intros merely as the pieces of short cinema they are. There’s no Oscars category to honour them just yet, so we’ve celebrated eight of the best here.
Since we’re never getting a mass-market 40K movie without confiscating everyone’s R-rated chainswords, Dawn of War’s intro is likely to stand as the finest Warhammer action sequence ever animated. There are lesser-known classics, too, and we’re more than happy to introduce you to them in today’s video.
For more high-brow gaming cinema, subscribe to the PCGamesN YouTube channel. We’ve been beavering away on videos over there and we’re quite proud of it.