When was the last time your jaw dropped/you were genuinely amazed by something gaming related?

[simms]

I get a feeling I'll be resurrecting this thread come May once I get to play my own VR headset properly for the first time

[carlospie]

Walking dead season 2. First time ever Iv felt emotional at all over a games conclusion. And I made it all happen.

[mechamonkey]

re: Borderlands 2

Lol, so memorable I've completely forgotten.. What bit?

The part with Angel where she sacrifices herself to help you and Roland comes off quite badly, especially if you played through the first one as him.

Also the ending of the Tina Tina DLC is amazing (as is the entire DLC)

[Scruff]

Dragon Age: Inquisition. When I first went to the Storm Coast, with the waves rolling, the rain lashing the (most impressive use of tessellation I've seen) rocky beach and then, to your left, a giant having a ruck with a dragon in the distance.

It was so well done. You could almost taste the salt in the air and feel the lash of the waves. Amazing stuff, especially on a £300 console (ps4).

[Cosmic_Guru]

The last two moments would be:

Emotionally speaking, Life is strange - end of episode 3 onwards really but particularly at that point.

WTF???!!!!!!

Then in a more general sort of balls-out action way it would be the opening and closing sequences of MGSV (that would be the true true but possibly not the true true true ending ). Both pack a considerable punch.

Earlier ones would be the likes of escaping from the prison in Oblivion* (far better than leaving the vault), racing through St James Park and Piccadilly in the rain in MSR (already mentioned above) and the hitherto unprecedented attention to detail in Shenmue (also nominated above) - those hands!!!!

Dragon Age: Inquisition. When I first went to the Storm Coast, with the waves rolling, the rain lashing the (most impressive use of tessellation I've seen) rocky beach and then, to your left, a giant having a ruck with a dragon in the distance.

It was so well done. You could almost taste the salt in the air and feel the lash of the waves. Amazing stuff, especially on a £300 console (ps4).

That was indeed lovely, another real standout sequence.

*except I didn't have a daylight emergence having picked around too much to get there and thus spoiled it a bit for myself, but even so, the whole idea of a gentle world which would be pleasant to explore (rather than unremittingly hostile) was so powerful.

[Broker]

Man, I wish I was as excited about new games as some of you guys are.

[Timmo]

For me I think it was that heist in GTA:V where you get to wear the armour suit and use a minigun. Police cars, helicopters, tanks just exploding every which way, all to that excellent crunchy soundtrack. One of those moments of unbridled joy. There was a lot about that game that I wasn't particularly enamoured with (the 3 main characters being a big part of that) but at its best it was incredible. As one of the most scripted parts of the game it's also perfectly contrasted with my other favourite moment from it was completely unscripted -- cruising along the beach at night time to Pure Shores, dodging (most) pedestrians.

[JimmytheMook]

Probably playing Mario 64 for the first time.

Hoping PSVR gives me a similar special vibe!

[Qazimod]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today when another moment came into my head - working your way through Ghost Trick when (possible gameplay mechanics spoiler)

you suddenly find yourself in control of another character

and you have a slight mindblow moment when you see the environment and puzzles in a completely new way. Despite reading previews and watching trailers I didn't even know it was a possibility, and so it was kind of amazing for me.

[mushashi]

3D vision for me. Actual 3D rather than faked 3D, and at a rock solid frame rate was wonderful. Twine(?) 2 just looked stunning; racing games with bonnets sticking out in front of cockpits similarly (though often the depth mapping wasn't quite right). Just ruined by Nvidia not really supporting it all that much, and needing a much better PC than I've got to keep up...

Yup, last time I was impressed too. Proper stereoscopic at a solid, silky 60fps per eye Slap on some motion sensors and it'll probably be the next time I'm impressed too.

Is 3D vision capable of 1080p? I wish I could use it but my stupid laptop doesn't support it.

It's the same as normal rendering, whatever resolution your display device can handle, some people have even got it working at 4K with a suitable display. Your laptop would need a fast refresh display (120Hz+) and the Nvidia sync device to make it work, and a fast GFX card too.

[Max Damage]

Yup, last time I was impressed too. Proper stereoscopic at a solid, silky 60fps per eye Slap on some motion sensors and it'll probably be the next time I'm impressed too.

It's the same as normal rendering, whatever resolution your display device can handle, some people have even got it working at 4K with a suitable display. Your laptop would need a fast refresh display (120Hz+) and the Nvidia sync device to make it work, and a fast GFX card too.

I recently played through The vanishing of Ethan carter in 3D, the framerate sucked but not really important for a game like that. Needless to say but it looked amazing, jaw dropping stuff.

[NEG]

Undertale, Genocide route.

Spoilers:

Before even the last encounter, there is certain dialogue by Flowey that comments on the nature of watching Let's Play's. It's so out there, even as 'knowing' as the game generally is about these things, that I had to stop and say 'Did he just say what I think he said?'. Because Flowey said this as I was being watched by a friend, whom would never do the Genocide route himself.

Then the last encounter happens, and my mind is blown even more.

As for non-narrative and simply visual astonishment, it has to be Mario Kart 8.

It.

Is.

Beautiful.

[krenzler]

The one that sprang to mind was stepping out of the ship and on to the big green world of the first Halo. It just felt like something new at the time.

There have been games since I rate higher overall but that was special. Must admit that the Gamecube was my last console so some big ones have passed me by.

Also more recently I was impressed by the sense of scale in the giants' world in Brothers.

[therearerules]

I was thinking about this thread earlier today when another moment came into my head - working your way through Ghost Trick when (possible gameplay mechanics spoiler)

you suddenly find yourself in control of another character

and you have a slight mindblow moment when you see the environment and puzzles in a completely new way. Despite reading previews and watching trailers I didn't even know it was a possibility, and so it was kind of amazing for me.

The ending made my jaw drop. Such a lovely game, and so playful & clever.

[probotector]

Dreamcast Soul Calibur...wow that was a long time ago. I think that was the last generation where graphics wowed me.

Lost count the amount of times I was blown away between 1990-2003

[Fury4k]

Last time for me and first time in a long time was when I tried Oculus Rift at EGX a year or two ago. Played Alien Isolation and then Eve: Valkyrie and the 3D effect was amazingly realistic. I think VR is going to be for games what the jumps between consoles used to be and if it takes off the possibilities for new experiences are massive.

[dataDave]

Seeing Mario Kart 8 in action, probably.

Other than that I'd have to say my laptop. I'm sure you've all heard me gush over how it performs with the likes of Batman and Skyrim at least once. It's really proven to be the best tech investment of all time, for me. Whenever I try out a last gen title on it I can pump it out on next gen settings without any issues. Not bad for a piece of kit from 2011.

[Vorgot]

A fair few of mine have been mentioned.

MSR, I could drive past my office in London. It was weird.

Mario 64 for the first time, but I was so pumped for that game (and the console) that it may not count.

Rogue Leader on the Gamecube. Mission 1 is the Death Star battle and is suddenly amazing. It was just such a step up in graphics, sound, everything. Loved that game.

[AlwaysBeClosing]

Some of the visuals in Fallout 4 were great, but nothing wowed me on current gen consoles. Oblivion and Geometry Wars really took me by surprise early in the life of the 360. Shenmue was probably the first big "What" moment as I looked up to the CRT hung from the ceiling of EB all those years ago and saw the bird and Shenhua. Downloading the games now (since emulation seems to work!) as I never got round to finishing Shenmue 2.

[Anne Summers]

Omega Agent on Gear VR, first free movement VR game I've played since the Virtuality days. Ok so the graphics are just slightly ahead of N64 standards but the sense of motion and space is amazing.

Before that, it was probably Bloodborne - I was anticipating disappointment on loading up my PS4 for the first time as I wasn't expecting the graphics to be that much of an improvement over what I was used to on 360 and 3-year-old PC. But the level of detail in the design blew me away.

Before that, probably Dark Souls, when it "clicked", about 10 minutes after I reached Firelink Shrine.

[SteveH]

Running around the castle garden in Mario 64.

Stepping out onto Hyrule Field for the first time in Ocarina of Time

And flying around Little States in Pilotwings 64. It felt real at the time. Never really get those feelings from games anymore sadly.

[Vimster]

Have to mention the opening race in Driveclub. By this point I'd got a bit jaded and thought the best I could expect from racing games now was "hmm, that's not bad", but the race you do before starting the career is such a great opener. Starts off at night, you drive up a mountain in the rain and snow, by the time you get to the finish it's daylight, you've driven through this sunny rainstorm in the early morning with the rain on the windscreen. It's spectacular and really shows off what the graphics are capable of.