Feature: My Favourite Game Adverts
I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in my state of confusion when gamers, with all out many avenues of advertising available to us with YouTube, Websites like this, and all the rest, that we light up the boards and trend the social networks for a TV advert. It may be something to do with the size of the publicity machine behind these games, but when an advert is advertised in advance, it does make this writer wonder why this excitement occurs.
In truth, it's because these adverts have become more than the standard gameplay trailer or the over excited, Haribo infused child gripping a SNES controller like it's connected to a helicopter pulling him away from a huge explosion. They are actually very good. Artistic, clever and alluring with showing very little of the game itself. You'd have noticed and will continue to see the new Gears of War 3 advert across the television doing exactly that. So here are a few other game trailers that fit the bill just nicely for you to reminisce over.
Gears of War
(Song - Mad World performed by Gary Jules)
I got this game for Christmas from my parents for two reasons. 1) I asked for it. 2) They really liked the advert and the way it used the song to show the melancholy atmosphere of armageddon and extinction whilst still instilling hope and a sense of enjoyment. Something that Gears has very obviously stuck to since.
Halo 3
This advert is terrific for many reasons. It predicts a battle and moment that isn't even in the game and therefore doesn't spoil the ending of arguably to date the most influential console FPS trilogy. It also has some pretty music. But more than that, the model in it is real. The diorama of the battle was actually lovingly constructed (check the Halo Waypoint for behind the scenes videos) and even had fictional ageing war veterans in tears over the sacrifice of our hero, Master Chief. Evocative stuff.
Dead Island.
(Song - Dead Island Trailer Theme performed by Giles Lamb, feat. Mairi Campbell, Peter Nicholson & Guido De Groot)
Of course this was going to be in here. Even though, if we're honest, it doesn't really do anything that original. This is advertising, let alone game advertising, as art. As a lovingly constructed piece of horror and beauty juxtaposed into something that made your jaw drop lower than Madonna's knickers in the late 80s. Just watch it again and enjoy it, even if the game had mixed reviews.
Bioshock
(Song - Beyond The Sea performed by Bobby Darin)
The first Bioshock advert was great because it didn't give away anything of the story but just made the game look cool with a nice nod to art deco and a lovely bit of Bobby Darin. You don't have a clue if it's a future underwater FPS with quite possibly the best twist in any entertainment since The Sixth Sense first came out.
Xbox - Life
Ok so this isn't a game, this is for the console itself. But this banned advert was fantastic. Creative and funny.
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
(Song - I Ran (So Far Away) by A Flock Of Seagulls)
This helps because the game was good and it was a sequel to one of the best games ever made. But it arguably created an 80s revival trend and became the most successful part of it. There are songs that you hear now and can only relate to them because of this game. Something that advert does perfectly (and better than any other GTA advert to date). The ad takes everything we remember about a time that was pretty crappy (recession, criminality, dire pop music, terrible fashion... or is that now?) and makes us strangely nostalgic for it.
Have you got any that we've missed that you'd like to have seen? Make a comment below and we can discuss them!
