With an onus on spectacle and selling you on a mood, instead of a stage or actual footage, video game trailers have become an artform unto themselves.
That being the case, we thought we would, as usual, look back on some of the year’s best.
These aren’t necessarily the trailers for the best games (though big ones do feature). Nor are they the trailers which best showed off what a game could do (though sometimes that’s the case). They’re just the best trailers, the most entertaining, the funniest and/or the most polished.
If there’s one you think we missed, drop it into comments and it we’ll see what we can do about getting it in the gallery.
Dead Island
Star Wars: Old Republic
Portal 2
Prey 2
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Grand Theft Auto V
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Overstrike
Forsaken World
Battlefield 3
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Diablo III
Tomb Raider
Team Fortress 2
Side Effect
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:19 PMBioshock Infinite
weresmurf
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:25 PMAnd the award for most deceiving trailer goes to…….DEAD ISLAND!!!!
MrBS
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:50 PMLol yeah. Dead Island is my pick. It certainly got people talking about the game and stirring up interest. Also I loved Dead Island! As for how it represented the final game though…..
weresmurf
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 6:16 PMI like Dead Island a lot, but the trailer represents a completely different game, right down to the actual zombies and how they move…
Lone Wolf
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 4:30 PMAnd the winner is…Meet the Medic!
TUALMASOK
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 5:06 PMMost are teasers, not trailers.
Chazz
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 7:47 PMTeasers are a short trailer hence why they are called teaser trailers.
TUALMASOK
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 5:06 PMMost are teasers, not trailers.
Stephen
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 5:55 PMAhh Dead Island… I remember it coming out and myself trying to find a copy of it for three weeks I don’t know how the PR got its hype started.
lambomann007
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 6:31 PMOverstrike! I forgot about that game! Is it out yet?
yufgyuvyu
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 7:55 PMno child of eden?
Simon
Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 8:22 PMtrine 2 was pretty good, it just showed off how beautiful that engine was. but I think I got excited the most over old republic’s sith trailer even though I’m not playing the game
Huh?
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 12:53 AMI think Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s Cinematic trailer deserves a mention – awesome music, great images and really evokes the feel of the game.
Thom
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 7:53 AMThe Dead Island trailer stopped me from buying a game I probably would have otherwise. I’m told its like Borderlands, which I love, but after that trailer, anything but an emotional rollercoaster could only disappoint.
shodannet
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 9:46 AMWow, I never saw the Prey 2 clip before 0_o A little concerned as the game seems to (still) be completely not what Prey is (seems to be more a space bounty hunter game :/)
psyman
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 10:05 AMBF3 really should be represented by the Caspian Border trailer. Excellent choreography for in-game footage and some classic trailer moments like the EOD bot crashing into that barrier.