10. Battlefield 4
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One just came out, and they already have what will likely be one of their best games of the decade. When nearly every single small trailer for this game is more jaw dropping and exciting than the very best trailers for other games out in stores right now, you know you have a legend in the making. Which trailer did I choose to represent BF4 on our list? It wasn’t hard to pick the one that nonchalantly ends with a player driving a vehicle out of a collapsing skyscraper . . . into a helicopter . . . before splashing into the waters below and detonating bombs on jet skis. The graphics will continue to get better every few years, but with BF4 we’re starting to hit some FPS team gameplay ceilings that will challenge the industry to outdo. Whether it goes down as one of the best games of the new generation or not is up to millions of online gamers who are already considering its potential spot on the throne until something else comes along to convince them otherwise.
9. Thief
Move over, Assassin’s Creed, there’s a thief trying to stab you in the back and steal your crown. It’s always great when similar games come out and try to compete with one another for the same target audiences because while one game has the potential to lose, the gamers always win. To see an entire series rebooted to take that challenge is all the more exciting. Its decision to make its stealth gameplay not third person is a huge drawing factor for those who could never enjoy Assassin’s Creed, and the tone of the game is a darker shade that could be even more enjoyable for many people who are looking for something new. This trailer could have been even half as good as it was to get us excited, but the more we see the better it looks.
Not much is known about this game yet, but since it’s scheduled for its cybernetic release sometime in 2015 we have plenty of time to hope for updates and stay over abundantly excited. To keep us even more impatient, it couldn’t be more different of a genre and setting from what CD Projekt RED has worked on in the past with their Witcher games. Can they pull off the biggest creative design 180 the industry has ever scene? Given the jaw dropping trailer of their other game deeper on this list, yeah, I’m pretty certain they can.
Given Final Fantasy XIII’s harsh launch reception and Final Fantasy XIV’s need to throw in the towel and relaunch with a wave of improvements, my gut tells me FFXV is going to be a flop. However, judging purely based on its trailer – which is what this list is all about – Square Enix definitely continues to put massive amounts of render farm money where its mouth is at. The trailer for FFXV is so epic that I’m already wondering how they’ll be able to top it with their next few games’ launch trailers. I wish the Final Fantasy series would return more to its fantasy roots, or at least make a sequel or spinoff to a game that’s not FFVII, but with trailers this epic it’s easy to keep trusting in them even if they burn us from time to time.
Keep in mind that even though that’s a trailer for the game, it’s actually an in-game playable scene with realtime graphics. Pretty friggin’ impressive. And nope, those aren’t real actors green screened into a video game. It becomes more apparent after a few seconds, but admit it, you had to think about it twice. Can you imagine when every game’s characters look that amazingly real without the curse of being uncanny? As cool as the mysterious time travel plot looks, they have plans to make an accompanying live-action TV show that changes based on your in-game decisions, which means the graphics might even prove to be the second best thing about the game if the story delivers.
5. The Crew
Um, what? There’s a brand new driving game coming out next year, and it looks better than every longstanding racing staple that both the PS4 and Xbox One have to offer? I know, I was shocked as well, but there’s no denying the gorgeous graphics and unmatched potential a game like this is going to boast when it’s complete. With over 5,000 miles of roads to explore, players can literally drive from one coast of a pseudo America to the other coast in ninety minutes of gameplay. If that’s what the first game is setting out to accomplish, imagine what a sequel could try to achieve on your console in a few years! Definitely keep your eyes on Ubisoft Reflections and Ivory Tower while they continue to develop this massive racing crime game.
Go ahead, it’s okay to cry. Something this beautiful doesn’t come around too often; we won’t judge you. Jeez, and we thought Red Dead Redemption and Skyrim would be some of the most expansive journeys we’d experience for the next few years? How foolish of us. It’s been reported that this game will be about 20% larger than Skyrim, and coming from one of the most loyal game companies in the industry – who also happen to be some of the best storytellers in the business – and there’s no reason not to have this game towards the top of our “most anticipated games of 2014” list. Given how many other amazing games are on this list, we’d probably be lucky if it’s not released until 2015.
3. Titanfall
The game everyone’s talking about, and for good reasons. Hawken and others have slowly pushed the mech-FPS infusion forward as a genre that needs to finally go mainstream. With Titanfall it’s likely that Respawn Entertainment (formed by two developers who helped start the Call of Duty franchise) will accelerate the untapped genre more in a single launch weekend than the entire last two decades combined. Whether it’s the best mecha game of the next decade or merely the first giant stepping stone to an even brighter future is an answer we’ll eagerly receive in March 2014. To call it the game industry’s equivalent of the Avatar film would be a stretch, but even if it just settles for being the next Halo or Call of Duty then we’re in for an exciting next gen console lifespan.
The beta feedback for this game isn’t very positive so far, but as far as game trailers go, it’s video game trailers like this that have made the craziest, highest budget, most insane trailers we’ve ever seen in 2012 and earlier . . . no longer even look that impressive. Take the best Square Enix and Blizzard cinematic from . . . ever, and at the end of 2013 it’s now just commonplace and quickly falling behind the standards of this and other trailers on this list. 3D art like this is so indescribably impressive that it’s not the other game studios that need to be nervous, it’s the entire movie film industry that needs to watch its back. I dream of the day when a jaw dropping trailer like this one is viewed as outdated and inferior to in-game footage of current games. Given what Elder Scrolls Online gameplay already looks like, it might not take long.
1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
This isn’t just the best video game trailer of the next generation of gaming, it’s one of the best trailers – of ANY art medium – that I’ve ever seen. I don’t even enjoy stealth games and have skipped the entire MGS series up until now, knowing full well that I’ve been missing out on plenty of great moments, but I can’t resist a game like this. With so much effort and detail put into an adventure game I actually plan on going back and playing the past games just to prepare for Phantom Pain’s release so I can get the full experience.
One screenshot from this trailer is more exciting than half the games that came out on the PS3, and judging by this series’ past successes you can be sure that its launch week will be one of the most talked about events of the next gaming year. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will come out first, but only be a tease of the greater game that’s on its way. Phantom Pain will redefine open world gaming, stealth gaming, in-game weather, time mechanics, and provide one of the most real games the industry has ever had the privilege to play. Metal Gear Solid V has changed me as a gamer, and it’s not even friggin’ out yet!
Oh yeah, and remember that rule about each game series only getting one spot at most in this list? It’s because of Metal Gear Solid. This Ground Zeroes trailer is so amazing that I would have had to bump something else off the list. If Phantom Pain can achieve a 2014 release date then it’s looking like next year will be the year of the Snake.
What are the top five trailers that you’re most excited about? Let us know! The one thing we can all agree on is that 2014 should be an incredibly exciting year for the game industry!