A few weeks ago, Editor Mof bombarded you with some of the greatest music from the history of video games. He steered clear of some of the more obvious titles, sometimes favouring good soundtracks over good games.

However, as technology in gaming marches on, leading us down ever more beautifully decorated linear corridors like lambs ripe for the slaughter, we’re led to ask- what are the greatest video game opening sequences? Those opening movies that draw you in like a moth to a flame or Justin Bieber to a fan’s vagina.

With the release of Harry Gregson-Williams’ collaboration with the London Philarmonic Orchestra which even manages to make a reworking of the Angry Birds soundtrack sound utterly epic, we started to think about the best opening “FMVs” that we had ever seen. The ones that really capture the essence of a game without giving too much away. So here’s ten of the best…

Worms

Worms, as well as being one of the most enjoyable multiplayer games ever made (in its 2D form, thank you very much), has always had the very best opening and incidental sequences to boot. Who can forget the Looney Tunes-esque sound effects and the sheer sense of fun of Team 17, the Yorkshire developer with a sense of humour? No-one. That’s not even to mention the soundtrack.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

Live action openers were pretty commonplace in the early 2000s and Command & Conquer have stuck with their formula throughout the life of their games. Whether you’re a fan of Real Time Strategy or the thought of micro-managing units and tactics leaves you wanting to tear out every follicle of hair on your body, you can’t deny that the opening to Red Alert 2 featuring Ray Wise (out of Twin Peaks) and Barry Corbin (from One Tree Hill, you sad bastards) evokes a sense of the sheer scale of the game. Paratroops over the land of the free and the home of the brave? Crack out the rifles, Marjorie. We’re off to war!

Red Alert 2 was critically acclaimed and with good reason. Giant squid.

Half Life

Your mundane life might not be a million miles away from your trudge to work but the five and half minute opening sequence of Dr Gordon Freeman heading to work in the morning is one of the most memorable movies in the history of video gaming. Not once is there any indication of the sheer level of shit that is about befall the Black Mesa facility. What it delivers in spades is the notion of a man having a seriously bad day.

Battlefield 1942

For the FPS fan boys who will sit and argue until the day that time stops over the minute differences in the Call of Duty & Battlefield series’, we have one of the greatest openings to any game. Ever. The evocative music and historically accurate(ish) depictions of the theatres of war were enough to anoint a new generation in the blood and violence of the first person shooter. The sight of a squadron of bombers flying over a sniper’s hide still sends shivers up the spine to this day.

What it lacked in impressive graphics, Battlefield 1942 more than made up for in charm that was almost instantly lost with the release of Battlefield 2 (despite it keeping the soundtrack). Perhaps there’s something more romantic about World War II. Actually, that’s a bit sick.

Starwing

Starwing’s opening is remarkable on two levels. The first being that it is remarkably similar to Star Wars in its direction and also that, in 1993, it was released on for Super Nintendo. A console that wasn’t capable of supporting 3D graphics. That is, except in Starwing. The antics of Fox McCloud and his supporting cast straight out of a drug addict’s version of Wind & the Willows have gone down in Nintendo folklore and it is due in no small part to this opening.

Bioshock

While more of an opening sequence than an opening movie, the introduction to Bioshock perfectly balances tension with an introduction. Not much is given away and it owes much to the afore-mentioned train sequence from Half Life. Everyone knows that something is bound to go horribly wrong but no clue is given as to what awaits.

The first sight of Rapture is one of the most affecting images in recent years of console gaming and will have given many the awestruck sense of “what could possibly go wrong?”. Little did they know they’d be playing one of the most enjoyable, if flawed games of its generation.

Future  Cop – L.A.P.D.

Remember this one? Mech suits were big news back in the Playstation 1 days and Future Cop was one of the first games to really give them their due. This classic opener explains the both the tone of the game while beautifully satirising popular opinion of LA’s finest. Note the moment when the Police mech blows up a car in the middle of telling it to stop.

Appropriate force? Most certainly.

Dead Rising

What’s not to love about Dead Rising except pretty much everything once you’ve got through the opening half hour of gameplay? It doesn’t matter. We never said that these games had to be much cop. What we love at hecklerspray is a good bit of peril and there’s never anything more perilous than a jaunt through zombie-infested countryside with a small child and a gas guzzling station wagon. After all, what’s a zombie game without some utter idiots around to set the scene?

GTA2

“Isn’t that Jack Branning from Eastenders?!” We hear you scream. It certainly bloody is. Before Scott Maslen made his way onto the UK soap scene, he was the archetype of the Grand Theft Auto franchise- Claude Speed. Ever wondered why the main protagonist in GTA III looked like a spiky-haired prick who was built like a farmhouse covered in a tarpaulin? Scott Maslen is the reason- that’s what he looks like.

This sequence, while being choppy and confused, gives you an excellent idea of what GTA is all about. Running, gunning, driving, dealing drugs and changing the colour of your BMW. The only drawback of course is that GTA2 was set in a ‘near future’ Liberty City where a BMW 5-Series might have been considered a tad out of place. Not to worry though, it was the 90s’. No-one cared.

If you enjoyed that, there’s a short film version where Scott Maslen gets chased by rednecks and steals a van. Super!

Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

One of the strangest games of the Playstation generation was, without a shadow of a doubt, Oddworld where the player took on the role of Abe and had to guide him through one of Charlie Sheen’s trips, saving the enslaved populace of a meat processing plant as he went. The title was appropriate because this game was fucking odd. Still, it had a lot of charm and a really noir little intro sequence.

Abe’s adventure was one of the most enduring Playstation platformers due in no small part to the utterly sympathetic characters and often infuriating gameplay but unfortunately, it never successfully made the jump to later generations of consoles.

So what have we missed? Let us know in the comments, you sick puppies.

Britney Spears sealed her comeback at the MTV VMAs last night, opening the show by powering out a breathtakingly choreographed medley of her biggest hits.

Which is obviously a massive lie. Everyone knew that Britney Spears was opening the MTV VMAs last night – the press release, endless media coverage, MTV VMA promo spots and commemorative ‘Hey, Did Anyone Mention That Britney Spears Is Opening The MTV VMAs This Year?’ noddyheads made sure about that – but nobody knew how she’d do it.

And the answer was simple – by walking onstage, reading about three sentences mentioning that she was opening the MTV VMAs and then walking offstage again. And best of all, Britney Spears only messed up one word of it. Welcome back, Britney. You’re so much nicer when you’re robotically dull.

The MTV VMAs are always a big deal, provided you’re 13 and still care about MTV, but last year’s show was perhaps the biggest deal ever – it was the year when Britney Spears threw away her entire career by not hiding her hair extensions very well and looking confused.

But what a difference a year makes. That performance jolted Britney into concentrating on her comeback, which she did by failing to promote her album, having a breakdown on a pavement, locking her son in a bathroom with her until the police were called , getting taken to a mental hospital, being medically diagnosed as Gravely Disabled, losing custody of her kids forever and going on a sitcom a couple of times. It’s basically the same way that Sylvester Stallone prepared for his fight against Dolph Lundgren in Rocky 4.

But all of that paid off last night, when Britney Spears made her massively-hyped comeback at the VMAs. What would it involve, we wondered beforehand. A song? A surprise walk-on spot during someone else’s performance? Or would Britney Spears go all out and give us all what we wanted – a stiffly-delivered spoken word introduction that barely lasts ten seconds and yet still manages to mangle the word ‘anniversary’ into a completely brand new form?

Oh Britney, you never let us down, do you?

“Thank you so much. Thank you for all the love. I’m here tonight to celebrate a very important birthday, the 25th anniversity of the VMAs. This is the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and it starts right now.”

But that wasn’t the last sighting of Britney Spears at the VMAs, though – she also triumphed in the awards themselves, winning Best Video, Best Pop Video, Best Female and the unofficial Oh Christ How Many Awards Do We Have To Promise Her To Make Sure She Turns Up award.

Other highlights of the MTV VMAs included Christina Aguilera wanting to be Katy Perry so badly it was sort of awkward to watch, Kanye West debuting his new single – a brave new mix of dance music and accidentally off-kilter singing, and a virgin throwing a tantrum at Russell Brand because Russell Brand said virgins were stupid or something.

But the night undoubtedly belonged to Britney Spears, who showed what an incredible turnaround her life has gone through since last year’s debacle. Who knows, give it another decade or two and Britney might even be ready to actually sing.

Make no mistake, Britney Spears is the MTV VMAs, whether she’s writhing with a snake, kissing Madonna with tongues or obliterating her entire career forever.

An MTV VMAs show without Britney Spears isn’t an MTV VMAs show – it’s just an excuse for Chris Brown to wobble around like his knickers are filled up with puffer fish. So imagine how thrilled we are to learn that Britney Spears will not only be appearing at this Sunday’s MTV VMAs, but actually opening them!

It’s wonderful news, and the perfect chance for Britney Spears to erase the painful memory of her stumbling around and failing to mime to her own song at last year’s show. Now she gets to replace that with a new memory of her having a giant panic attack onstage and ending up lying in the fetal position, rocking backwards and forwards, yanking fistfuls of hair out of her scalp and screaming abuse at a monster that only she can see.

We’re guessing.

Say what you like about Britney Spears but she isn’t a quitter. Nope. She definitely isn’t a quitter. Britney Spears never quits. Not even when it’s blindingly obvious to everyone that quitting would probably be the most dignified and medically sensible thing she could do. No way, that’s not Britney Spears.

Case in point – Britney’s embarrassingly lacklustre performance at last year’s MTV VMAs. The hair was bad, the dancing was sloppy, the abdominal muscles were crayoned on and – although the feeling of sad desperation was actually quite convincing – the whole thing was so bad that people were calling it Britney’s lowest moment of all time.

But Britney’s not a quitter. Contrary to a statement by her own manager last week, Britney Spears has just announced that she’s going to take to the stage once more and dramatically open the 2008 MTV VMAs on Sunday. Reuters reports:

“MTV has long played an important role in my career,” Spears said in a statement. “How can I not be there to kick off their 25th VMAs? I’m excited to open the entire show, to say hi to my fans and to be nominated.”

Now, you might think that Britney Spears has lost her mind for opening the MTV VMAs – after all, she hasn’t performed in public at all since last year and she’ll be under more scrutiny than ever before on Sunday – but you have nothing to worry about.

Last year’s trainwreck? That was the old Britney Spears. On Sunday you’ll see the brand new Britney Spears, a woman who’s spent the last year being kept in a mental asylum and constantly getting reminded that she’s a dangeously unfit parent. See? Nothing to worry about.

We don’t know what Britney Spears has planned for the MTV VMAs on Sunday – details are being kept tightly under wraps at the moment – but we honestly hope it goes well for her. Our advice to Britney Spears is that if she wants to make people love her again, she should remind them of why they loved her by doing something genuinely popular that she’s already done before.

That’s right, we want Britney Spears to take her knickers off and divorce Kevin Federline again. It’ll go down a storm, trust us.