Best Game Trailers of the Generation

Best Game Trailers of the Generation 

You might not realize it, but a trailer can make or break a game (at least as far as sales go). Whether it’s the game industry or film, a carefully constructed trailer should endeavor to entice the audience just enough to encourage them to spend their hard-earned money to experience the entertainment. A proper trailer does not spoil; it does not reveal the big twist at the end or the death of major characters. It simply ignites a passion, an interest in those seeking adventure into faraway worlds where dragons roam, or alternate history where an assassin is king of the meager.

The best trailers are good enough to excite even the disinterested: a shooter fan may become an RPG fan, or a sports fan may become a strategy fan. The best that this medium has to offer begins with the building blocks of a well-made trailer. It has become the cornerstone of any decent marketing campaign within the last two generations, and today, people anxiously await the release of new trailers for their most anticipated game. We live in a time when a simple mash-up of clips and music can satiate the hunger for a game still a year away from release.

Trailers have only become a fairly recent commodity. As the industry expanded, the need for these marketing devices rose. And so in this list I’ll sign off on some of my favorite trailers from the last few generations. These trailers do not necessarily represent the quality or success of the game, or my opinions of them, but they were simply so good that they got me excited to play. 

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

The song has absolutely nothing to do with the context or themes of this game. In fact, that’s a common thread you’re going to find for most of these trailers. But there’s just something about putting together a well-made montage or cutscene with an excellent piece of music. Puscifer’s “The Humbling River” is an amazing song that shows off Tool-frontman Maynard James Keenan’s more tender vocal potential, and when you have the backdrop of giant sentient machines killing each other, it just makes for one hell of a spectacle. 

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

While not the best in the series, Revelations did have one thing going for it that every other Assassin’s Creed game has yet to match, before it or since: an outstanding trailer. “Iron” by French neofolk musician Woodkid captured the tone of the presentation so well. It was dark, yet anxious. A weary and fatigued Ezio, whose age has finally caught up with him, journeys to the burial place of Altair, his ancestor. The words “A million miles from home/I’m walking ahead/I’m frozen to the bones/I am/A soldier on my own/I don’t know the way” so perfectly encompasses Ezio’s saga, I can’t think of a better song to introduce this game. And that is the mark of an excellent trailer. 

Dead Island

Everyone remembers this one: that soft, somber music; the effective use of playing the whole thing in reverse; and a zombie game that had a whole lot of promise and potential. It’s unfortunate that the final product didn’t deliver on what was a superb setup. 

Borderlands 2

I’m no fan of dubstep, but if there’s any game that could make it work in a trailer, it’s Borderlands. The off-the-wall outrageousness of the series perfectly marries the uncontrollably and often schizophrenic pace of a typical dubstep “song.” The icing on the cake is Claptrap. It’s always Claptrap. 

Gears of War

The word “sadvertismenet” didn’t exist until this trailer. Gary Jules’ rendition of “Mad World” had already become semi-relevant nearly 5 years prior as the accompanying song during the dénouement of Richard Kelly’s sci-fi end of the world thriller Donnie Darko, but it was its use in Gears that really sold it as an extremely depressing track. And it actually fit. Unfortunately the machismo of the series and its fascination with over-the-top violence belied what could have been an interesting post-apocalyptic setting. 

Bayonetta

The queen of hack-and-slash deserves a trailer of equal majesty. La Roux’s “In for the Kill” wasn’t just catchy synthpop-techno babble, but it represented the equal parts class and chaos of the titular character. 

Lost Odyssey

Often overlooked simply because it was a jRPG released in the early years of the Xbox 360, Lost Odyssey wasn’t just a modern classic because of its heartfelt “1000 Years of Dreams” segments, but because the launch trailer was so bizarre and so tantalizingly at odds that it only made the game that much more interesting. Who would have ever thought Grace Slick’s “White Rabbit” would have been used for anything other than an Alice in Wonderland game?

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex is a touchy subject with many people who have fond memories of playing it when they were younger. So when they announced a modern-day sequel, fans were understandably uproarious. But once this trailer came out, many of those fears were subdued and replaced with pure excitement. 

Dark Souls

When you think dark fantasy RPG, you usually hear loud, operatic-style chanting, orchestral music, and dark, brooding tones. So when Dark Souls publisher NamcoBandai decided to use folk rock band The Silent Comedy’s “Bartholomew,” most people were shocked at how ingenious it was. Not only did the song have coherency with its lyrics, but in a sort’ve obsessive, analytical kind of way, even captured the Dark Souls experience, which is one of unexpectedness and surprise. Leave it to Namco, then, to release a follow-up trailer featuring another song by The Silent Comedy called “All Saints Day,” this one of equal quality. 

Sony’s “Michael” Ad

And just for fun, while not strictly a game trailer, I’d feel incredibly disingenuous if I didn’t at least acknowledge Sony’s brilliant marketing commercial during their “Long Live Play” campaign.