The best video game trailers of all time

By James Plafke

 

The video game industry has grown enough over the past 30 years that it has developed a key trait that earlier generations of games initially lacked: taste. Games have always been able to convey complex stories, but something needs to let people know that in order for them to make the purchase. Obviously, trailers are a way to capture people’s attention. Sometimes, though, developers go so far above and beyond creating that mini-commercial for their game that they ultimately create a tasteful, self-contained narrative all on its own that’s able to be delivered in just a couple of minutes. Many trailers are good, but only a select few can survive on their own as a separate piece of flash video fiction, and these are the best out there.
 

Valiant Hearts

Warning: the above trailer for UbiArt’s upcoming game is nearing the depression level of the infamous Futurama dog episode. You know the one. Aside from being instilled with the power to put tears in the eyes of the most hardened, bitter soul, the narrative not only conveys what the game is about, but you can show it to your grandma and she won’t feel lost. The trailer works on its own, regardless of its video game roots.
 

Dead Island

When the Dead Island trailer dropped a handful of years ago, for a brief moment, it engulfed the internet. From Twitter feeds to Facebook posts, and gaming outlets to sites that have nothing to do with media, the digitally connected world was interrupted. Once you saw the trailer, it made sense — it’s simply one of the best trailers from any genre of media. Thanks to its clever use of editing the chronological flow of time and mixing that with a tragic, self-contained tale, people still talk about this trailer today — even though the game ended up having no emotional value relative to the trailer’s.
 

Halo 3

The final installment in the original Halo trilogy, Halo 3 not only picked up where the previous game’s very controversial cliffhanger left off, but — at the time — was viewed as the last “real” Halo game. Three more were made after that, and Microsoft has already unveiled Halo 5. Though the series has enjoyed some stellar trailers and commercials over the years, nothing comes close to the famous “Believe” trailer. It features an intense battlefield scene, but everything is still as a camera pans and zooms through the paused action. On its own, it tells the story and havoc of war — it doesn’t matter that you don’t necessarily know who the armor-clad soldiers are or why they’re battling aliens. The meticulous, tragic detail speaks volumes on its own.
 

Dying Light

Debuted last year, the same producer behind Dead Island — and thus its magnificent trailer seen above — is developing another zombie apocalypse game, Dying Light. Where Dead Island was more or less an open-world action title, Dying Light seems to be an open-world parkour title — but with zombies. The trailer, as seems to be the trend when Techland is involved, is great, and can stand as a self-contained short about the tragic story of a group of agile zombie apocalypse survivors, and the hell they have to go through just to survive.
 

 

Battleblock Theater

Once upon a time, there was a trailer about two guys who were the best of friends and going on an adventure. It release back in 2011, and had so many trailers between that and its 2013 release date, that it was actually a bit difficult to find this original version. While most memorable game trailers are serious affairs, Battleblock Theater’s is one of the funniest, from its unique narration style to the mimicry of wooden stick puppets. Whereas many trailers have been funny, this trailer is not only hilarious, but tells its own story, albeit a prologue. When your mom can enjoy a trailer about a game she knows nothing about, you know something went right.

The above trailers aren’t the only memorable game trailers – Metal Gear Solid trailers are always long and amusing, and one time Kratos was murdering enemies in a forest map that turned out to be the back of an enormous Titan climbing up mount Olympus. However, they’re perhaps the best instances of game trailers that can stand on their own. They have a proper beginning, middle, and end, and aren’t primarily focused on showing off how you’ll level up in a game, but instead effectively convey their games’ narratives by telling their own.