via gameinformer

when you think of great video game endings, what do you think of? Portal 2? Metal Gear Solid 3? how about Call of Duty: Black Ops? you know, the ending with a bunch of jets and stuff flying over you with some awesome rockin' guitars in the background?

..no? well, that's too bad. it looks like the Guinness Book of World Records Gamer's Edition says otherwise. out of 13,500+ voters, people voted that Black Ops had a better ending than all the games listed previously, plus games like Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Red Dead Redemption.

i think it's safe to say that those 13,500 voters have never beaten Call of Duty: Black Ops. thanks to aurahack for posting it on twitter.

for those who don't know what the ending was:

you infiltrate some underwater base, strangle the antagonist in some lame QTE then you swim out to a bunch of american ships as jets fly over to you, before the credits roll.

Thats not the real ending those voters know about.

The ending they know is when you get asked to Prestige or not.

The average male only cares about Call of Duty and FIFA. 
 
Because guns...and balls.
 
Has to be said this list means absolutely nothing to me.

All I have to say is... WTF?!

I...I...what? This is quite possibly the most depressing thing I've read all day.

...shit, that ending had such an impact I don't even remember it

I actually really liked Black Ops story mode the "twist" was pretty cool. Its a twist that has been done before and better but it was still a pretty interesting thread for a military shooter where the main threads are usually TERRORISTS OH MY.

I actually enjoyed the Black Ops campaign, but when I think of best endings I wouldn't even consider Black Ops. Shit's crazzzzzy.

I hate the internet.

I wouldn't say it was the best, but in my opinion it was pretty fucking good, but I'm also easily impressed... so there's that. I'd still have to say that Red Dead Redemption left me speechless all throughout the ending and the credits and no other game has ever done that to me.

I don't remember how it ended at all, or do they mean the presidentzombiekilling? Because that was dope, not that dope, but dope indeed.

I want to slap the shit out of the entire planet right now.

@Milkman said:

I hate the internet.

this.

I never seen it so maybe it's great.

I enjoyed the campaign of Black Ops better than most COD campaigns, but the best ending? Really...?

@Demoskinos: the campaign was a neat twist, but that ending was so bad that it soured the entire thing for me.

COD is the most popular game in the world. It would make sense that a bunch of those stoner COD players voted that as the best ending which is surprising considering most COD players don't even bother to finish the single player. Anyway I think we all know that CODBlops doesn't even belong on the list. Portal 2, Red Dead Redemption, MGS3, Gun, a reader mentioned Sonic Adventure 2 on GI's forums and he makes a good point, and Wind Waker are some games with good endings that I can think of off the top of my head.

@MistaSparkle: The Red Dead ending was blatantly obvious but the impact of it still was with me for days afterwards. Amazing game.

You mean 'best' right? Like 'nudge nudge wink wink let's drink this PBR best' right?

@AjayRaz: I thought the implication that Mason was JFK's assassin was pretty neat. Fit in nicely with the very "conspiricy theory" overtones that the game was filled with.

Now I'm no Call of Duty hater, but haha, what? Sure, it wasn't bad as far as video game stories go, but there are far better examples of game stories/endings. That's the problem with having the general public voting on 'best of' categories for entire mediums. Only a very small percentage of those who have voted will have experienced all of the contenders and be capable of fairly judging them. It's just another popularity contest.

How can they include such a subjective concept in a book of world records? That's like including best color in the Guinness Book of World Records Artist Edition.

Wow. I found Black Op's story to be boring as hell.

I played all the way through and remember about 3% of it. Such memorable characters and non-cliche plot twists... Pffft (fart noise)

Maybe I'm missing something, but what has "best ending" to do with a world record?

To be fair, this is according to the Guinness Book of Records -- the book that also determines which man on Earth can fit the most ping-pong balls in his mouth. So let's all take a breath before we all take Black Ops' new accolade super seriously...

Here's a screenshot of the ending for those who can't remember:

This is kinda sad when you think about it.

Halo Reach number 2...

Don't get me wrong, I love Halo Reach but the campaign was terrible ans so was the ending.

Completely agree, Black Ops is the Citizen Kane of our generation. The ending in particular make it the best ending and best video game of all time. No questions asked.

@Hailinel said:

I want to slap the shit out of the entire planet right now.

Shall I enact Operation: Majora's Mask for you?

To be fair I really enjoyed the ending in Black Ops so I don't see why this is a bad thing.

Lame that a subjective thing could be made a world record. That just hurts the credibility of the Guinness Book of World Records to me.

It's also wrong. Off the top of my head, a really good game ending was Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. I don't say it was the greatest nor most original, but it was better than any of those listed.

I could also see Halo: Reach being on there. That was a pretty awesome and powerful thing at the end the first time you see it.

when black ops gets voted best anything apart from "one of the best selling games of all time", it pretty much discredits whatever poll it was in, so far as I'm concerned.

@Demoskinos: the campaign was a neat twist, but that ending was so bad that it soured the entire thing for me.

@Wrongz said:

To be fair I really enjoyed the ending in Black Ops so I don't see why this is a bad thing.

Because it's terrible and you are wrong.

I thought it was because of the whole

I thought that was a great twist. I suppose it wasn't part of the ending though.

The only real problem with that list is that it is not solely comprised of Metal Gear Solid 3.

@Hamz said:

To be fair I really enjoyed the ending in Black Ops so I don't see why this is a bad thing.

But would you honestly consider it the best video game ending of all time?

the ending to nier was pretty great, i think the ending to COD 4 was better than blops.

Blops had a really fun story with a great twist, but it was the equivalent of an 80s action film. Not exactly the apex of interactive storytelling.

It's a good ending, but it's not really even as good as the ending to CoD 4 or MW2. I saw this earlier today, and I was not pleased.

But, I mean, Guinness is done now, right? If this is the kind of pandering they're doing to appeal to genre fans, imagine what they're doing to keep the people who care about ping pong balls and hot dogs.

@Stubee said:

I played all the way through and remember about 3% of it. Such memorable characters and non-cliche plot twists... Pffft (fart noise)

That's sort of how I felt as I was playing through the game. It's not that it was too complicated or I just couldn't keep up with the plot. It was just poor.

That better be an ironic 'best.' Just as Ghost of Mars is the 'best' action movie.

@Hamz said:

To be fair I really enjoyed the ending in Black Ops so I don't see why this is a bad thing.

I enjoyed it too. But best ending in video game history?

I really liked KOTOR's story and ending(s) personally.

This poll should be totally ignored however because it's not aimed at you or anyone on this site who is the least bit informed and could be recognised as an 'enthusiast.'

It's the same way romcoms will be plastered with 4 star reviews from glossy women's mags but not a single review from actual film critics.

@SlightConfuse said:

the ending to nier was pretty great, i think the ending to COD 4 was better than blops.

And yeah, finding out that

Do people still care what GBWR publishes? They could write that Dead to Rights is the greatest game of all time and I wouldn't care any less about them.

I dont want to live on this planet anymore....

@Jaytow said:

THE GAME WAS TRICKING YOU ALL ALONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems that your keyboard was tricking you during the typing of that post.

I cant believe some of you people even care about this.