Mummelmann 8 hours ago
Half-Life 2, and for me it's not even a contest. It sets the mood, presents characters, motives, shows story, world-building and then tosses you straight into frantic action from out of nowhere. The lack of a direct, fully storied connection from the ending of the first game only serves to heighten the atmosphere. Absolute genius.
The original Call of Duty has a terrific opening as well, it did things that no other FPS had done at that point. The sudden change from sneaking and hiding and into full-on warfare was brilliantly done.
