Video game trailers are important. People won’t buy a game if the trailer tells too little and they won’t buy it if it tells too much. It has to be exactly right. It has to intrigue an audience and tantalize them. Oftentimes, a trailer is a video game’s first impression and it has to be good.
I’m talking about trailers because this weekend, Capcom released a new Street Fighter IV trailer–and I personally don’t want to buy the game anymore because of it. Okay, I’m being hyperbolic, the other trailer was great, but still. For some reason, Capcom decided to make the trailer stereotypical anime in design and focus on Akuma, an old nemesis of Ken and Ryu. Now it’s cool and all they have a nemesis, and they want him dead, but let’s be honest: if you’re playing Street Fighter for a story, you’re an exception. It’s all about the combos, the Hadoukens, and Chun-li looking beautiful in blue.
Instead of griping further, however, let’s look at some trailers that get it right for completely different reasons. Let’s look at some eye candy!
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past trailer
This trailer is amazing. The music, the terrible special effects, the music again—it’s a total piece of work. It actually hypes me up for a release out of its cheesiness. If only I could understand what they were saying…
Resident Evil 2 trailer
This trailer wins simply on principle. It’s made by the living legend, George Romero—you know, from Night of the Living Dead–and it stars a porn star as Claire Redfield. Short and sweet, this live-action commercial does make you want to fight zombies in Raccoon City. It’s a shame it sells the game completely differently from what it is.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade trailer
Blizzard is way too good at CG effects and voice acting. This is a trailer that made me try out the beta, and made me come back as a Blood Elf. Unfortunately they don’t look that good in-game and unfortunately Illidan was nowhere near as cool when I killed him. Still, it sold me.
Diablo 3 trailer
Again, Blizzard is way too good at CG effects and voice acting. Stunning and haunting, this trailer sets the stage for the third game of the series—as well as giving me chills
.
Team Fortress 2 “Meet the Sniper” trailer
As an ad campaign, Valve Software released (and is releasing still) trailers of their game characters introducing themselves for their hit sequel, Team Fortress 2. “Meet the Sniper” is my favorite of the series because of the dry humor and general introduction to the game it provides. TF2 is dynamic and challenging, but still humorous—and this trailer ensures everyone sees that. It’s perfect.
Okay, fine, I’ll tell the truth. I just like when the Demoman gets sniped in
the eye and blows up the building.
Resident Evil 5 trailer
Released at Captivate, this trailer is a success. It shows the gameplay and the setting better than any other trailer I’ve seen. It also seamlessly introduces another character and some of the biggest and ugliest enemies of the game; a feat that is not easy to do, especially so flawlessly.
