Do you ever get that feeling, after finishing a movie or a game that you didn’t quite get what you were expecting?  Of course you do, sorry that’s a stupid question; how else would the Hobbit trilogy have made so much money without everyone expecting Peter Jackson to rekindle the magic of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy?  Of course Peter Jackson isn’t to be blamed for every disappointed nerd in the world, a lot of them but not all.

Unless you’ve been dragged to the cinema, the decision to see a film can sometimes be swayed by a trailer and the same can be said for games.  Alas, these two and a half minute build-ups can also trigger a full blown nerdgasm that only excites you for the next, seemingly unstoppable force of squees.  Long gone are the days, where audiences would be persuaded by a gruff voiced male telling them exactly what’s happening on screen and the only way they would get to know what happened next was to go to their local cinema, “this holiday season”.  No, nowadays trailers have to be smart, informative and intriguing without giving away the entire plot.  As the audience grows smarter, the trailers grow with them.  That’s no bad thing and I have come to enjoy trailers almost as much as the entire film sometimes.  The danger for the studio is stepping over the line and accidentally making the wrapper taste better than the chocolate bar itself.

Avengers : Age Of Ultron –

It’s fair to say that this movie had everyone a little bit excited and the first Avengers had a lot of film goers saying, “I don’t know how he’s going to top that”.  With Joss Whedon admitting, he only did the first one to get to the second, maybe there was hope.  While it didn’t quite blow me away as much as the first film, Avengers: Age Of Ultron still did it’s job.  But when it comes to the chills, this trailer is where I got all of mine.  With James Spader’s amazingly creepy voice over, Bruce Banner looking terrified, just the right amount of Hulkbuster, ballerinas (wtf?), Cap’s broken shield and that hauntingly beautiful rendition of the Pinocchio song this is a trailer that had me watching over and over up until the release.

Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Unity –

Remember when Assassin’s Creed games where something to look forward to, rather than an expected let down of the year in gaming?  There was a time that I would buy an AC game without having to know anything about the game.  Now, maybe I’ll buy them if they are on special, maybe, when I’ve finished everything else.  Don’t worry though, I think Ubisoft is still doing fine and if there’s something they always make mighty fine it’s their trailers.  Fair enough, they essentially put a really cool indie track over the top of a cinematic that they just ram into the game somewhere but hey, old Ezio kicks arse.  Even if he does look a bit like Russell Brand, whose given up on starting a revolution through Youtube and taken things in to his own hands.  I have to mention the Unity trailer as well because even though I never played the game, that revolution scene had me blaring Lorde’s awesome cover of Everybody Wants To Save The World for days.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Now don’t get me wrong, Days Of Future past is the best of Fox’s attemps at an X-Men film, no very high praise, I know but it was a pretty good film.  The thing that really impressed me about this movie though, was it’s trailer.  This trailer made it seem like it was going to a very emotional battle for every single one of the mutants and finally do what an X-Men movie needed to do for a long time, putting the focus on someone rather than Wolverine.  Turns out, it basically was just Wolverine kicking arse…again.  Ok, he did it in the past and ok Mystique, Magneto and Professor X do a bit more than sit in the background but I wanted this movie to make me cry, like the trailer promised.  It didn’t but again to be fair, it did provide a much cooler Quicksilver than the Avengers.

Transformers : Fall Of Cybertron

I’m pretty sure this is what Transformers fans have been wanting as a Transformer’s film ever since they heard “You Know Who” was going to bring the Autobots and Deceptacons to the big screen.  Seriously, this trailer is better than all the Transformers movies combined.  It has it all, Cybertron, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, explosions and a lack of Shia Labeouf.  Now I know, when it comes to the game it was quite well received but I never could get past the first few stages.  If I’m honest I don’t really know what it was but I was never too impressed.  The only thing that stopped me from returning the game was the beauty of the trailer, High Moon deserved to keep my money just so they could keep whoever made that trailer employed.

Day Of The Doctor(Honourable Mention)

Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down I’m not going to rip into The Day Of The Doctor, the 50th was fucking amazing right?  I mean, it really was all Whovians had been hoping for and more.  Before the event, I remember people had been criticising the BBC for not doing enough for the upcoming milestone.  But you have to give it to them, they really did an amazing job, with The Day Of The Doctor, An Adventure In Space And Time, The Five-ish Doctors Reboot and a whole heap of specials on TV, the only reason Whovians had to complain was because they very much enjoy complaining.  Really, I just wanted to put this trailer in the list because it’s just so damn cool.  The rocked up version of the theme tune, Matt’s awe inspiring speech and a cavalcade of references that would have had every hardcore Whovian through out the universe pausing and replaying to see what they missed, this is nothing short of breathtaking.

Have any others to add to the list, or just downright disagree with me feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

Article by Dan Priman