What are your favorite camera angles in videogames?

Something that I've noticed that never seems to impress me in games are camera angles. You'd think that being able to bend the laws of physics would let developers play with some cool camera tricks, but I can't think of many games that have really wowed me. In movies, there can often be really cool shots of things like 2:15 in the Looper trailer below.

There's only really a few examples of things like this I can recall in videogames. One, the ending of Max Payne 1 (SPOILERS) at 0:15 in the video. I've seen shots like this in movies a bunch of times, but I can't think of any times I've seen it in a video game before I played Max Payne for the first time last year.

And second, the starting of Mass Effect 3 at 7:20 in the clip. There's nothing too special about this one. I just find the way the camera pans is really cool and is a lot more "action-y" than videogames tend to be.

So are there any camera angles that you can recall the impressed you? They can be from either cutscenes or gameplay (I just can't think of any examples from actual gameplay). Also I'm sorry about the volume of videos, but I thought some examples would be nice.

Third person, behind, but not over the shoulder. Pull back a bit so I can get a better view of both the character and the environment.

I'll say both best and worst for me:

Best

2D platformer view and also isometric pseudo 3D (Diablo view)

Worst

3rd person 3D if the camera is too close to the back of my character. Think Batman Arkham perspective when you aren't in crouch mode. I played the entirety of both Arkham games perpetually crouched just for the better camera angle.

1st person 3D aka the FPS view and also cockpit view in driving games. The reason is peripheral vision, lack thereof. In these perspectives you have an incomplete view in comparison to what you actually have with your own vision due to the limitation of viewing on a flat rectangular screen. This is why I'm really interested to see innovations in virtual reality goggles. If they can make a set of goggles that will allow a true first person view complete with full peripheral vision that works and doesn't make me nauseous, I will be all the way into that day 1.

edit----- as for the direct question asked, I don't recall any camera angle in particular from a game cinematic or cut scene that really caught my eye.

This thread topic reminded me of Brad's comment during Neverdead about the video game butt shot.

In all seriousness though, the one that comes to mind is during the slide in Journey.

Fuck the Mass Effect 3 opening. Remember Shepard shoving his way through the Normandy for the first time in the only good Mass Effect game, the first one? That was the shit. I still walk through crowds that way to this very day.

I always thought that that scene in Mass Effect 3 was trying too hard to be something else, and was stealing a lot from big sci fi TV show openings with a lot of kinda close shots and walk 'n talk, and it often looked kinda crummy. Just my personal opinion though. If you are going to try "traditional" shooting techniques in a game, you need to loose the video game sterility, and I never thought Mass Effect 3 achieved that in that scene.

Old Resident Evil style. Yes, I am serious.

Edit: Realized you were looking for specific angles in games and not angles in general. Um... I guess none have impressed me because I can't think of anything where I was wowed by an angle.

You'd think that being able to bend the laws of physics would let developers play with some cool camera tricks, but I can't think of many games that have really wowed me

I literally just quit out of Perspective because I needed to take a break. The camera angles needed in that game really did wow me.

Speaking of, everyone here needs to play Perspective. Fucking brilliant and it's free! They QL'd it and it gets a lot more interesting.

EDIT: On the topic of camera angles - video games aren't movies. This is why camera angles in games can't impress you the same way that movies can - because they have to keep track of your character on screen. To be honest, I'm not really sure what you're asking about - are you wanting good camera angles in cutscenes or weird ones in-game? Because weird ones in-game often tend to be distracting to me. Did anyone really think that the fixed camera angles in Resident Evil were something good? Are fixed camera angles ever good?

And camera angles in cutscenes are mostly just aping movies.

3/4 isometric

@Rainbowkisses: @aquamarin:

I can't think of any particular shot that I feel stands out as great. One camera effect that I really liked was in Shift 2 (and probably other racing games). When using the cockpit camera if you crash the camera would shake a lot and your vision would blur. It was less so for light collisions. It looked really good.

The camera shot that I feel is consistently done poorly is level flyovers. The sort of 5 or 6 second things that happens as you enter a level. It usually shows you the exit first and backtracks along the intended path until it gets to the player. It sweeps around so much in the short time that it occurs in that it is difficult to keep perspective. It also doesn't help that you haven't been to the area before. You haven't seen any of the landmarks from the flyover before so you have nothing as a point of reference to gain a perspective until the last two or three steps of the level when the player character enters the view.

@believer258: I'd take most of the angles in Resident Evil 1 over the one in RE5. They show the space you are in rather than the half of your back. God of War has also used fixed angles well to show the combat/puzzle area. All the spacial information you need is available on one screen. Another example of fixed camera angles being used to their advantage is older Final Fantasies. There are often times that items are hidden around the geometry (or Yuffie is hiding in that one section of FFVII) and you have to explore the space to find them. That exploration of the space would not exist if we had free control of the camera. Items couldn't be hidden like that so they'd probably be out in the open. At that point the game isn't searching for items, it's walking around to collect them. It's a very small difference but one involves a bit more brain activity than the other, which makes it less boring. Finally, there are games like Chrono Trigger, where the enemies are on screen and their positioning can determine your strategy.

These are all examples of games where fixed perspectives or a fixed amount of visual information are integrated in the game in such a way that they would be lesser games if the camera was fully controlled by the player.

@MordeaniisChaos: I get what you mean, but I'm really only talking about that 4 second shot at 7:20. The rest of the video is just generic shots of, like you said, walk 'n talk stuff.

@believer258: I'm making the comparison to movies because I'm mostly talking about cutscenes. There are certainly points in games that have interesting angles during gameplay like the part in Journey mentioned above. And the point I was trying to make was that games don't do enough interesting things through cutscenes when, from my perspective, the developers are given a great opportunity to do something special. And although I think it's a good idea to experiment with camera placement during gameplay, I've heard enough complaints about running towards the camera in games like Uncharted so I guess developers will have to keep trying with that.

DAT ASS SHOT

I only know a handfull of camera angles (I never went to film school or anything) but VATS from Fallout 3 & NV always brought a smile to my face. Just the way it'd always find the best shot and pan around in slow motion was awesome to watch and I cant think of another game that does anything similar. (Besides Skyrim but that's basicly just a lesser version of VATS)

The Max Payne games in general had great cinematography because they were influenced by Hong Kong action movies. (at least the first 2 were) Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit may have had some good ones but I cant remember them.

@ChinaDontCare: It must be the best if it's used so much, right?

The down low ass shots that games seem to do pretty often these days.

Chin down, eyes up all the way.

anyone say up-skirt yet? O.K. then

@TyCobb said:

Old Resident Evil style. Yes, I am serious.

Agree!!!! And if you are looking for a spesific shot the first that comes to mind is inn RE code veronica. where you enter a baraks like thing early inn the game and a zombie passes right in front of the camera

@MordeaniisChaos: Hate to break it to you, but Mass Effect is all about trying really fucking hard to be other things. Just look at how frequently science fiction masterpieces like Blade Runner were mentioned prior to Mass Effect's launch (between the years of 2005 and 2007). They wear their inspirations on their sleeve.

Um.... I really love it in.... um.... GTA IV with the ship?

Can't think of any examples man I feel unoriginal and stupid right meow.

Panty shot. Nosebleed every time.

For realsies though, I love the wide pans in Dark Souls when you enter a new area. Seeing how big and interlocked the world is is awesome.

I enjoy games in the second person perspective. (Worst idea ever.)

The video game butt shot was popularized in comic books.

Hood cam.


Not in racing games.

While not necessarily a camera technique, I thought the stuff in Donkey Kong Country Returns where you're controlling DK's silhouette in the distant sunset was really cool.

@tourgen said:

anyone say up-skirt yet? O.K. then

How sad is it that all I did was click on the topic and do CTRL+F "skirt"?

Always crotch shots.

@believer258:

Oh god. Is Perspective your what-my-El-Shaddai/Katawa-Shoujo/Fragile-Dreams-is?

@believer258:

Oh god. Is Perspective your what-my-El-Shaddai/Katawa-Shoujo/Fragile-Dreams-is?

@believer258:

What do you mean? My blogs haven't gone anywhere. Hell, I already have my next blog queued up for Thursday. It's just that nobody paid attention to my last blog, for whatever reason.

@project343: A) Blade Runner is WORTH being inspired by. B) there's a difference between trying really hard, and doing a pretty good job of it. My point was the quality, nothing else. Poorly emulated is poorly emulated, end of story.

@Hunter5024 said:

The video game butt shot was popularized in comic books.

Came in here wondering about that, thanks for the answer =D

A camera angle I particularly remember is one from Silent Hill (and maybe other survival horror games of that style too) where the camera is following the player character and is set so high that it spins around when the character passes under. It's a bit disorienting but it looked cool.

I love the camera angles in Uncharted whenever your squeezing through a tight area and it zooms right in and follows Drake through the crack.

@Rainbowkisses said:

@aquamarin said:

Mortal Kombat, because you don't have to worry about it too much. ;)

Third person camera but with the character in the middle and not over the shoulder as well as the ability to pan the camera around the character.

@Video_Game_King said:

@believer258:

What do you mean? My blogs haven't gone anywhere. Hell, I already have my next blog queued up for Thursday. It's just that nobody paid attention to my last blog, for whatever reason.

Huh. I must have missed it, or didn't remember it. Sorry.

Yep, the reverse but shot.

cg_fov "120"

This whole sequence is brilliant, but those shots towards the end from Poseidon's perspective are especially brilliant. Really shows you what a fucking monster Kratos is.