Top 10 Cinematic Video Games

Many gamers recognise this series as the birth Cinematic games starting as early as Final Fantasy VI on the SNES. Though When “Final Fantasy” jumped to the Playstation with “Final Fantasy 7”, the scope of video game storytelling changed forever. “Final Fantasy” has given us some of the most sweeping, fantastical tales in gaming history, and just to name a few iconic scenes: Sephiroth and Aeris in 7, the ballroom scene in 8, And the Sending in 10. With beautiful soundtracks by Nobuo Uematsu, amazing visual works and engaging stories, Final Fantasy always delivers in the visual department.

Bioware first’s foray into space operas was with “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, an epic licensed adventure that implemented groundbreaking branching narratives. Nobody imagined that Bioware could weave an original sci-fi tale on par with the Star Wars mythology, but they created an equally gripping universe with “Mass Effect”. Every character felt important and developed, and every decision had its consequences. With nuanced narrative trees, amazing visuals, atmosphere, and fantastic soundtrack, the “Mass Effect” series truly felt like AAA blockbuster sci-fi movies, with you as the star.

The first two “God of War” games were awesome Hack and Slashers, but lacked a bit of storytelling depth, often feeling like style over substance. “God of War III” changed that dynamic. The boss fights in particular were totally insane, and truly made you feel like you were a crazy bad-ass facing insurmountable odds. “God of War III” combined sweeping, movie-like camera work, an absurd sense of scale, punishing action-packed cutscenes and gameplay to create a cinematic experience that most action movie directors would envy.

The “Metal Gear Solid” games are some of the first to embrace a mature, complex aesthetic, employing professional actors and weaving a complex story of intrigue, conspiracy, and espionage. Cutscenes in these games are really long with the ending alone for MGS4 clocking in at over an hour, and the sheer amount of voice-acting, dialogue, and story-telling in this series is almost unheard of. Things can get a little complicated, but matched with the tense stealth sections and riveting action sequences, Hideo Kojima has created one of the most compelling universes in all of gaming.

Innovator of the now standard duck-and-cover system during gunfights, the “Gears of Wars” series threw you into the most realistic and visceral battles to date. Yet beneath its insanely detailed and realistic graphics, punishing gun-play, and macho charisma lies an emotional and enthralling story about desperation, survival, and brotherhood. Gears pulls us into a grim sci-fi universe where humanity is fighting on its last legs, and reminds us of the very best action sci-fi movies.

With a tone-setting ambient soundtrack and action-packed cutscenes, the “Halo” series makes us feel like we're in the middle of a large-scale intergalactic battle. The “Halo” series is packed with memorable characters, intense fire-fights, and a winding, sweeping narrative that brings us around the universe and back again. It all feels like a big budget Hollywood blockbuster – and its impressive array of live action trailers certainly fuelled the desire to see this series on the big screen.

Naughty Dog took all of the lessons learned from the also highly regarded “Uncharted” series and gave us one of the most profound and thought-provoking zombie narratives of all time. Incredibly acted, with beautiful environments and some of the most realistic character design of all time, this game is a truly masterpiece of digital storytelling. Bleak, uncompromising and difficult, “The Last of Us” has incredibly rewarding gameplay, but its the depth and complexity of Joel and Ellie's companionship for which this game will be remembered.

Now we’re getting into what I like to call the “absurdly cinematic games” as with Beyond: Two Souls, the balance between Cinema and Video Game was completely one sided. Tracing the coming of age of a young woman with supernatural powers played by Ellen Page, and co-starring Willem Defoe, this game wasn't afraid to rely almost exclusively on an intricate, detailed story. Switch between the protagonist and her ghost-like partner, Aiden, is interesting, but this game's real strength is its ability to suck you into an interactive drama.

With “L.A. Noire”, Rockstar created a tense, slow-moving crime thriller with pacing that was almost completely opposite to their zany and frenetic Grand Theft Auto series. “L.A. Noire” implemented MotionScan, one of the most detailed facial rendering graphical technologies seen to this day – and we were left with characters that felt like real fleshed-out human beings. The combination of these startlingly realistic characters with a sweeping hard-boiled crime thriller helped recreate a very convincing version of the 1940s.


Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Alan Wake” (2010)

“Grand Theft Auto” series (1997-2013)

“Call of Duty” series (2003-)

“Mafia II” (2010)

“Red Dead Redemption” (2010)

“Heavy Rain” showed that video games could take the best aspects of film – the plot, the acting, and the ability to weave and manipulate narrative arcs into an intriguing branching story. QuanticDream is hesitant to label “Heavy Rain” as a video game, but rather, they call their masterpiece an “Interactive Drama.” We prefer to call it as Cinematic as a game can get, creating a realistic, believable experience, one that throws you right into the middle of the action and has you on the edge of your seat every step of the way.

There’s quite a lot of cinematic games out there, so it’s likely some of your favourites didn’t make the list. So let us know what games made you felt like you were watching a film, and For more gripping top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.