Biggest wow moment in gaming

[rhodos]

Quake 1996. Stumbling in to the multiplayer section, firing up a game and realising those others were real people. Could not believe it possible.

 

[voronus]

Half life I think and it's story based design

 

[squared80]

Super Mario Bros. - NES

 

[Rev0Knuckle]

I don't think anything will ever top Half-Life for me, and Half-Life 2, they raised the bar so much back in the day with so many "wow" moments all the way through.

Got to agree. So may iconic moments, the story telling was so far ahead of it's time and it really is criminal that Valve never bothered to finish the story.

As for other wow moments. I've always loved it when the music in a game perfectly matches what is going on. For example the fight scene at the farm in Alan Wake and any time the Halo theme kicks in on any Halo game!

 

[Jackass]

Jet Set Willy and Manic Minor

 

[MarkW]

The standouts would be The Division on PS4 with the eery feeling of wandering NY in the winter with next to no human generated noise and those graphics.

Then last year Ghosts Of Tsushima on the PS5 brought back that feeling with what I think is the best looking game I’ve ever seen on console and a damn good game behind the looks.

Special mentions to Gran Turismo 2, COD: MW2, The Witcher 3, The Last Of Us and Death Stranding some of which I played and some of which I watched the wife play.

 

[brianj42]

Gosh, Prince of Persia and Doom, Red Alert then onto Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, SSX and Gran Tourismo. Fast approaching 60 now and a long break from gaming but thought I would splash out on a 90" TV , XBox and give UHD F1 2021 a try with a steering wheel.........After 48 hours to download an update, then an hour to get to gameplay......I must be getting old and think I'll revert back to SSX, Driver and Crash Bandicoot

 

[steviedr]

Tomb Raider on PS1, 3D gaming and we all loved it.

Ico on PS2, art direction was stunning

MGS2 trailer at E3 in 2000

Hands on Killzone 2 after the E3 trailer when many doubted Guerrillas abilities

Stuntman - being a fan of driver, just loved the idea of being a stuntman in a film

The Last of Us when they looked out over the giraffe, stuck with me

The last of us part 2 - numb / heartbroken, such a great story

This gen while looking great has yet to leave a lasting impression on me.

 

[Kamakazie]

I don't think anything will ever top Half-Life for me, and Half-Life 2, they raised the bar so much back in the day with so many "wow" moments all the way through.

Same here. The original will always be my most memorable gaming experience.
That tram ride intro.... Wow.
And levels like Surface Tension with the soundtrack really raising the threat level.

 

[Captain Ron]

Discovering Link's Divine Beast dungeon in Breath of the Wild was a moment of pure awesome.

 

[p3x289]

some of my wow moments were quake, half life but best one was Pro Pinball:Timeshock

 

[gazzaboy]

Batman, Shadow of the beast or turrican 2 on the amiga. Going back a long time but great visuals.

 

[kenshingintoki]

Trails in the Sky FC. I'd finished playing it and realised just how incredible it was without being in my face. It had led me down a beautiful story with pacing which really suits my tastes.

 

[Flynch191]

Some great memories there, especially half life 1/2… original doom also had some moments.
When the map opened out in fallout 4.. I realised how big that game was.
One wow‘ish moment was in GOW 2 when you are climbing up that titans arm.. The scale was very impressive.

 

[Ftorek]

War, War never changes... started my Fallout odyssey in F2, somehow skipped F1 and then the rest...
UFO as well - the first X-Com...

Jagged Alliance - Ivan and Fidel...

f.

 

[Mister Tea]

I just wish more people could experience Half Life: Alyx. Especially those who grew up loving the series. The whole experience was a WOW moment. I kept talking to my other half about it after each session until it was over but think she thought I was mad.
I can't wait to see what Valve release next

 

[Xenomorph]

I just wish more people could experience Half Life: Alyx. Especially those who grew up loving the series. The whole experience was a WOW moment. I kept talking to my other half about it after each session until it was over but think she thought I was mad.
I can't wait to see what Valve release next

Portal 3!!!

 

[Petey20]

I just wish more people could experience Half Life: Alyx. Especially those who grew up loving the series. The whole experience was a WOW moment. I kept talking to my other half about it after each session until it was over but think she thought I was mad.
I can't wait to see what Valve release next

I've never played the half life games but have always heard great things. Hopefully it comes to console eventually so I can see what all the fuss about.

I'm currently playing through the Mass Effect legendary edition having never played the first two before and I'm hooked! Andromeda was a shambles compared to these two.

 

[markmgk]

Tomb Raider on the Saturn for me. Think it was the first big chamber with water in it and the camera pulls out so you see it all. Was jaw dropping (although I'm probably misremembering it lol). Also on the Saturn was Resident Evil. Near the start of the game when the dogs burst in through the window. Scared the sh*te out of me! More recently it has to be the first time i tried VR Worlds on the PS4. Blew me away

 

[Lin3ar]

The first time I fired up SM64 on my Japanese import N64. Cost me a small fortune back in the day but well worth it.
It was an incredible gaming experience.

 

[Darko]

Tekken 1 on the PS1 blew my mind
then Unreal tournament on the PC,

 

[NorvernRob]

Tomb Raider on the Saturn for me. Think it was the first big chamber with water in it and the camera pulls out so you see it all. Was jaw dropping (although I'm probably misremembering it lol). Also on the Saturn was Resident Evil. Near the start of the game when the dogs burst in through the window. Scared the sh*te out of me! More recently it has to be the first time i tried VR Worlds on the PS4. Blew me away

Was going to post the same thing regarding Tomb Raider on the Saturn - stood at the top of that waterfall then diving into the pool below. Also the scene with the T Rex when the disc drives pauses, then spins up and you knows what’s coming…

Goldeneye on the N64. Not so much of a single ‘wow’ moment, but the entire thing was just sublime and every level was ’wow’.

And Zelda OOT on the N64. Riding across the world on the horse, back then it was massive for a sandbox game.

Come to think of it, the N64 and Saturn/PS1 eras were the golden age for me, just so many unbelievable games. I tried playing TLOU recently and just couldn’t get on with it, I found it clunky and just nowhere near as good as I was expecting. Played probably 10 hours and gave up on it.

 

[gunner84]

Most of mine are on PC as I started out on PC before moving to console.

A couple stand out for me.

Operation Flashpoint: cold war crisis
Amazing, it felt very organic, and the enemy ai were pretty decent as well from what I remember.

Interstate 76
I look back at this and has it aged, but at the time it was brilliant, the open world felt huge and the story was pretty good as well. Proper mad max style game.

Delta Force
Another classic of mine I played over and over again.

I guess on console as mentioned GTA (original), that was something so original and broke so many boundaries with what you could do.



As already said as well, not many games now offer these moments of greatness and originality, and its nothing to do with getting older, devs and studios are just lazy, all it's about now is making as much money as possible by milking the gaming community with in game purchases/cosmetics, and releasing a rehashed version of the game the following year, and a lot of gamers gobble it up.

That said there is devs out there that still make some great games.

 

[Ftorek]

Interstate 76
I look back at this and has it aged, but at the time it was brilliant, the open world felt huge and the story was pretty good as well. Proper mad max style game.

This - loved it! It seemed like nobody played it...

 

[Ruffuz]

This - loved it! It seemed like nobody played it...

+1 Interstate 76 was amazing game.

Soundtrack and movies also, just wow.

Full soundtrack here