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[[quoteright:209:[[Webcomic/SequentialArt http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackmesacommute.jpg]]]]
->''Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel.''
-->-- '''Black Mesa Transit Announcement System''', ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}''
Any form of scene setting in a game that allows you to explore a very limited area of the setting while getting a tour of the level. Often gives you a small chance to get familiar with the controls and shows off the scenery. Sometimes throws the player right through an area of combat, or even drops him right into it. This section of the game generally helps to build the atmosphere and set the tone that the player can expect from the game in the hours to come.
Usually laden with SceneryPorn, or in contrast SceneryGorn, and {{Video Game Set Piece}}s, and can be used as part of a JustifiedTutorial. Occasionally overlaps with DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Expect to be given NoncombatantImmunity during this section.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Action]]
* ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' opens with {{Batman}} escorting SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker through the halls of Arkham, following the guards through the halls, broken up with an encounter with Killer Croc.
* Its sequel, ''BatmanArkhamCity'', has a similar sequence where you must control Bruce Wayne being brought into Arkham City itself as a prisoner. Add in the opening cutscene at the beginning of the game and you get a pretty good introduction to how completely messed up the situation has become.
* The tutorial levels in ''StarWarsRebelAssault'' later become action levels when TheEmpire attacks Tatooine.
* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has a short sequence of Cole [=McGrath=] walking through the crater created by the Ray Sphere.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]
* ''{{Half-Life}}'' is the TropeNamer and essentially the [[TropeCodifier codifier]] if not TropeMaker, beginning with a slow tram ride through Black Mesa. The player can move freely inside the tram and look in all directions, but the tram itself moves independently.
** ''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' was somewhat related, in that the player was introduced to the military's insertion and situation (even if Adrian awakes hours after his chopper crashes). ''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' starts in the same way, and, amusingly enough, once the ride is over it inverts the original game's opening sequence, as the player plays the role of the security guard who gets stuck just outside a door at the start, and can watch from the side as Freeman passes him by in another car.
** ''Half-Life 2'' also has the scene in the Citadel, where an immobile Gordon is transported the fortress for several minutes and giving the player some of the only glimpses of the inner workings of their adversary.
** Half-Life 2's intro also fits this, where you are introduced to City 17 by walking around in the train station and then the surrounding city. Admittedly, the cops provide a semi-enemy (they will attack you if you get too close), but you can't really be killed in this, so it still counts.
** Additionally, Half-Life's opening is split into the uncontrolled tram sequence and the controlled "get yourself to the lab" sequence. Both help introduce you to the controls, specific characters, and the current situation, and if you pay attention, certain plot points.
** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'': When you're in the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' Begins with a walk through the R&D Department of Sarif Industries. [[spoiler: Everything and everyone you see (with the exception of the Department of Defense representative) is important to the story.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' character creation and tutorial, which to some extent also introduce you to the AFGNCAAP you are, are done this way.
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison, but can look around on your own. The developers said it was their tribute to ''VideoGame/HalfLife''.
* ''{{Halo 2}}'''s opening level has Sgt. Johnson taking you on a short tram-ride tour of the Cairo space station after your JustifiedTutorial. The level design and Johnson's dialogue [[SceneryPorn draws your attention to the Human fleet sitting at anchor and the view of Earth from orbit]].
** Also in the opening cutscenes, the soon-to-be Arbiter's trial is shown onboard the High Charity, which becomes a level towards the end of the game.
** The original ''Halo'' also had this with the Master Chief waking up out of stasis before rushing off to the bridge to meet up with Captain Keyes and picking up his first weapons. He passes by several firefights with the Covenant en route.
** ''HaloReach'' also has this while Noble Team is traveling by helicopter in Winter Contingency and Tip of the Spear.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'''s Russian boot camp (which ends in an actual attack by Germans) and, in ''Modern Warfare,'' Soap going through the basics with Gaz at an SAS station, both of which are [[JustifiedTutorial justified tutorials]]. Also many of the levels start with a quick helicopter ride to the starting area. It's possible to shoot, but doing so is a waste of ammo so you're pretty clearly just supposed to kick back and hum [[Film/ApocalypseNow The Ride Of The Valkyries]].
** Also in ''ModernWarfare's'' 'The Coup', when Al-Fulani is driven through the streets of the city to his execution. [[ControlledHelplessness And you're watching through his eyes.]]
** Continues in ''Modern Warfare 2'', when the game opens with the player at an American base in Afghanistan, where he trains some local militia, runs an obstacle course, and can walk around and observe the other soldiers.
* ''{{Prey}}'' starts you off at a bar owned by the main character's girlfriend, where you can talk to people, gamble on poker machines and headbang to Music/JudasPriest until the inevitable alien abduction occurs.
** Also when you are first abducted, you are restrained and taken by some automated system on a brief tour of a part of the alien vessel.
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose. It's one of the few versions of this trope that lets you slaughter your co-workers without consequence, ''before'' the big crisis even occurs.
* ''RedFaction'', the tutorial, and the early part in the mines just before the rebellion starts.
* ''[[CliveBarkersUndying Undying]]'', before too many mangled corpses begin showing up.
* ''FarCry 2'' begins with the protagonist being driven to his hotel from the airfield, with his driver giving some background exposition about the country he's just entered.
* ''Quake IV'' has Matthew Kane take a short stroll through a Strogg building before the actual combat begins.
* ''The Darkness'' follows the ''Half-Life'' tradition by starting in first person, while riding a vehicle you are not controlling.
* The third and fourth ''{{Myst}}'' games have something similar. Until the inciting action that kicks off the plot, you're present at Atrus' home as his guest.
* The first actual level of ''MedalOfHonor: Pacific Assault'' is Pearl Harbor. It involves a guided tour of the island by jeep by a friendly officer, before you are to report to the USS Arizona. [[DeathFromAbove You can guess what happens next.]]
* ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' has many segments seemingly designed to show off just how ''big'' Aperture Laboratories is:
** The game begins with Wheatley moving your room, with a crane, from the Relaxation Vault to an old testing track, allowing you to observe the dilapidation of the facility.
** Just before [[spoiler: the fight against [=GLaDOS=]]], you crawl into a pneumatic transportation tube that pumps you through a whole series of tubes, to show how massive the testing facilities are, and how elaborate the transportation system is.
** After [[spoiler: Wheatley takes over Aperture Science]], you fall down an elevator shaft in a sequence that is several minutes long, just to indicate how far down the labs go.
* The second and third levels of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' take place at Duke's Vegas hotel, and allow the player to walk around Duke's highrise condo (and see his awards and magazine covers) before going down the elevator to the bottom floor for a TV show appearance, allowing you to walk through the halls and talk show set. Interestingly, these levels occur ''after'' the GameWithinAGame JustifiedTutorial where you wield the Devastator and face off against a boss. Also notable because Duke gains a permanent health bonus for doing things like winning at pool or admiring himself in the mirror, meaning that skipping straight to the action is inadvisable.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' begins with Robert Jacobs being arrested by North Korean forces in his apartment and forced onto a bus that travels through a warzone (complete with images of families being gunned down on the street in front of their children and prisoners being marched into other buses).
* In ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
* ''{{Perfect Dark}}'' features the Carrington Institute. It houses the game's tutorials, as well as a shooting range, and is accessible at any time from the main menu. Later in the game, it must be defended from dataDyne.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' starts you off on a boat... all you can do is look around and listen to exposition, until you get to your destination. Once you have control, you meet the characters (The Spymaster, the Leader of the army, the Empress, and her daughter Emily), get a mini stealth tutorial, a fighting tutorial, and then the game begins.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Platformer]]
* ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' sort of has this. The first level is a fast forced-scroller where your character runs at the same speed as the screen, so you can get used to the basic controls and get a feel for the MercyInvincibility that enemies get without having any impact on how quickly you finish the level.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]
* The first several days of ''{{Persona 3}}'' gradually introduce the different areas the protagonist can visit. The effect is more obvious in ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', where the MainCharacter automatically walks with a friend through different parts of town, giving the player a good look in the process.
** ''{{Persona 4}}'' does something similar, introducing the player to the city of Inaba and some of the characters therein. The plot gets started much faster than ''{{Persona 3}}'', but the characters are understandably more cautious about getting involved in it, and it ends up taking about the same amount of time to get the game properly started.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years''). You have to find that out for yourself.
* VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII's opening in Midgar, and your explorations of it in Crisis Core. For all the very interesting and visually appealing scenery, the party never explores more than a small percentage of it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]
* ''Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2'', up until the first boss. And, to a lesser extent, before the planetary shield is destroyed.
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', you start off just cruisin' through space in your little ship, approaching the big mining-ship, having a bit of excitement on the landing, and then getting your first look around inside, while surrounded by friendly, heavily-armed Marines. Which is how you know that everything is going to go to hell in short order.
* ''DeadRising'' starts with a helicopter ride into the city. You can see the first signs of the zombie infection, along with taking some pictures of it. Nailing all the pictures and doing the first escort mission (right outside the start) ad nauseum is actually good way to grind the first few levels.
* ''DarkVoid'' starts you off as a random Resistance member flying around in your jetpack, in a quick JustifiedTutorial of the flight controls, followed by a short aerial battle before you even see the actual protagonist.
* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' has much gameplay ''before'' the opening credits/theme song. Then you get Tony taking a somewhat leisurely drive to his lawyer's office.
* Duke's base in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem: Zero Hour'', which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs gets overrun]] in the [[BadFuture post-apocalyptic future]].
[[/folder]]
----
->''Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel.''
-->-- '''Black Mesa Transit Announcement System''', ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}''
Any form of scene setting in a game that allows you to explore a very limited area of the setting while getting a tour of the level. Often gives you a small chance to get familiar with the controls and shows off the scenery. Sometimes throws the player right through an area of combat, or even drops him right into it. This section of the game generally helps to build the atmosphere and set the tone that the player can expect from the game in the hours to come.
Usually laden with SceneryPorn, or in contrast SceneryGorn, and {{Video Game Set Piece}}s, and can be used as part of a JustifiedTutorial. Occasionally overlaps with DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Expect to be given NoncombatantImmunity during this section.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Action]]
* ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' opens with {{Batman}} escorting SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker through the halls of Arkham, following the guards through the halls, broken up with an encounter with Killer Croc.
* Its sequel, ''BatmanArkhamCity'', has a similar sequence where you must control Bruce Wayne being brought into Arkham City itself as a prisoner. Add in the opening cutscene at the beginning of the game and you get a pretty good introduction to how completely messed up the situation has become.
* The tutorial levels in ''StarWarsRebelAssault'' later become action levels when TheEmpire attacks Tatooine.
* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has a short sequence of Cole [=McGrath=] walking through the crater created by the Ray Sphere.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]
* ''{{Half-Life}}'' is the TropeNamer and essentially the [[TropeCodifier codifier]] if not TropeMaker, beginning with a slow tram ride through Black Mesa. The player can move freely inside the tram and look in all directions, but the tram itself moves independently.
** ''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' was somewhat related, in that the player was introduced to the military's insertion and situation (even if Adrian awakes hours after his chopper crashes). ''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' starts in the same way, and, amusingly enough, once the ride is over it inverts the original game's opening sequence, as the player plays the role of the security guard who gets stuck just outside a door at the start, and can watch from the side as Freeman passes him by in another car.
** ''Half-Life 2'' also has the scene in the Citadel, where an immobile Gordon is transported the fortress for several minutes and giving the player some of the only glimpses of the inner workings of their adversary.
** Half-Life 2's intro also fits this, where you are introduced to City 17 by walking around in the train station and then the surrounding city. Admittedly, the cops provide a semi-enemy (they will attack you if you get too close), but you can't really be killed in this, so it still counts.
** Additionally, Half-Life's opening is split into the uncontrolled tram sequence and the controlled "get yourself to the lab" sequence. Both help introduce you to the controls, specific characters, and the current situation, and if you pay attention, certain plot points.
** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'': When you're in the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' Begins with a walk through the R&D Department of Sarif Industries. [[spoiler: Everything and everyone you see (with the exception of the Department of Defense representative) is important to the story.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' character creation and tutorial, which to some extent also introduce you to the AFGNCAAP you are, are done this way.
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison, but can look around on your own. The developers said it was their tribute to ''VideoGame/HalfLife''.
* ''{{Halo 2}}'''s opening level has Sgt. Johnson taking you on a short tram-ride tour of the Cairo space station after your JustifiedTutorial. The level design and Johnson's dialogue [[SceneryPorn draws your attention to the Human fleet sitting at anchor and the view of Earth from orbit]].
** Also in the opening cutscenes, the soon-to-be Arbiter's trial is shown onboard the High Charity, which becomes a level towards the end of the game.
** The original ''Halo'' also had this with the Master Chief waking up out of stasis before rushing off to the bridge to meet up with Captain Keyes and picking up his first weapons. He passes by several firefights with the Covenant en route.
** ''HaloReach'' also has this while Noble Team is traveling by helicopter in Winter Contingency and Tip of the Spear.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'''s Russian boot camp (which ends in an actual attack by Germans) and, in ''Modern Warfare,'' Soap going through the basics with Gaz at an SAS station, both of which are [[JustifiedTutorial justified tutorials]]. Also many of the levels start with a quick helicopter ride to the starting area. It's possible to shoot, but doing so is a waste of ammo so you're pretty clearly just supposed to kick back and hum [[Film/ApocalypseNow The Ride Of The Valkyries]].
** Also in ''ModernWarfare's'' 'The Coup', when Al-Fulani is driven through the streets of the city to his execution. [[ControlledHelplessness And you're watching through his eyes.]]
** Continues in ''Modern Warfare 2'', when the game opens with the player at an American base in Afghanistan, where he trains some local militia, runs an obstacle course, and can walk around and observe the other soldiers.
* ''{{Prey}}'' starts you off at a bar owned by the main character's girlfriend, where you can talk to people, gamble on poker machines and headbang to Music/JudasPriest until the inevitable alien abduction occurs.
** Also when you are first abducted, you are restrained and taken by some automated system on a brief tour of a part of the alien vessel.
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose. It's one of the few versions of this trope that lets you slaughter your co-workers without consequence, ''before'' the big crisis even occurs.
* ''RedFaction'', the tutorial, and the early part in the mines just before the rebellion starts.
* ''[[CliveBarkersUndying Undying]]'', before too many mangled corpses begin showing up.
* ''FarCry 2'' begins with the protagonist being driven to his hotel from the airfield, with his driver giving some background exposition about the country he's just entered.
* ''Quake IV'' has Matthew Kane take a short stroll through a Strogg building before the actual combat begins.
* ''The Darkness'' follows the ''Half-Life'' tradition by starting in first person, while riding a vehicle you are not controlling.
* The third and fourth ''{{Myst}}'' games have something similar. Until the inciting action that kicks off the plot, you're present at Atrus' home as his guest.
* The first actual level of ''MedalOfHonor: Pacific Assault'' is Pearl Harbor. It involves a guided tour of the island by jeep by a friendly officer, before you are to report to the USS Arizona. [[DeathFromAbove You can guess what happens next.]]
* ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' has many segments seemingly designed to show off just how ''big'' Aperture Laboratories is:
** The game begins with Wheatley moving your room, with a crane, from the Relaxation Vault to an old testing track, allowing you to observe the dilapidation of the facility.
** Just before [[spoiler: the fight against [=GLaDOS=]]], you crawl into a pneumatic transportation tube that pumps you through a whole series of tubes, to show how massive the testing facilities are, and how elaborate the transportation system is.
** After [[spoiler: Wheatley takes over Aperture Science]], you fall down an elevator shaft in a sequence that is several minutes long, just to indicate how far down the labs go.
* The second and third levels of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' take place at Duke's Vegas hotel, and allow the player to walk around Duke's highrise condo (and see his awards and magazine covers) before going down the elevator to the bottom floor for a TV show appearance, allowing you to walk through the halls and talk show set. Interestingly, these levels occur ''after'' the GameWithinAGame JustifiedTutorial where you wield the Devastator and face off against a boss. Also notable because Duke gains a permanent health bonus for doing things like winning at pool or admiring himself in the mirror, meaning that skipping straight to the action is inadvisable.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' begins with Robert Jacobs being arrested by North Korean forces in his apartment and forced onto a bus that travels through a warzone (complete with images of families being gunned down on the street in front of their children and prisoners being marched into other buses).
* In ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
* ''{{Perfect Dark}}'' features the Carrington Institute. It houses the game's tutorials, as well as a shooting range, and is accessible at any time from the main menu. Later in the game, it must be defended from dataDyne.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' starts you off on a boat... all you can do is look around and listen to exposition, until you get to your destination. Once you have control, you meet the characters (The Spymaster, the Leader of the army, the Empress, and her daughter Emily), get a mini stealth tutorial, a fighting tutorial, and then the game begins.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Platformer]]
* ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' sort of has this. The first level is a fast forced-scroller where your character runs at the same speed as the screen, so you can get used to the basic controls and get a feel for the MercyInvincibility that enemies get without having any impact on how quickly you finish the level.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]
* The first several days of ''{{Persona 3}}'' gradually introduce the different areas the protagonist can visit. The effect is more obvious in ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', where the MainCharacter automatically walks with a friend through different parts of town, giving the player a good look in the process.
** ''{{Persona 4}}'' does something similar, introducing the player to the city of Inaba and some of the characters therein. The plot gets started much faster than ''{{Persona 3}}'', but the characters are understandably more cautious about getting involved in it, and it ends up taking about the same amount of time to get the game properly started.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years''). You have to find that out for yourself.
* VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII's opening in Midgar, and your explorations of it in Crisis Core. For all the very interesting and visually appealing scenery, the party never explores more than a small percentage of it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]
* ''Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2'', up until the first boss. And, to a lesser extent, before the planetary shield is destroyed.
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', you start off just cruisin' through space in your little ship, approaching the big mining-ship, having a bit of excitement on the landing, and then getting your first look around inside, while surrounded by friendly, heavily-armed Marines. Which is how you know that everything is going to go to hell in short order.
* ''DeadRising'' starts with a helicopter ride into the city. You can see the first signs of the zombie infection, along with taking some pictures of it. Nailing all the pictures and doing the first escort mission (right outside the start) ad nauseum is actually good way to grind the first few levels.
* ''DarkVoid'' starts you off as a random Resistance member flying around in your jetpack, in a quick JustifiedTutorial of the flight controls, followed by a short aerial battle before you even see the actual protagonist.
* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' has much gameplay ''before'' the opening credits/theme song. Then you get Tony taking a somewhat leisurely drive to his lawyer's office.
* Duke's base in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem: Zero Hour'', which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs gets overrun]] in the [[BadFuture post-apocalyptic future]].
[[/folder]]
----
to:
->''Good morning, and welcome to the Black Mesa Transit System. This automated train is provided for the security and convenience of the Black Mesa Research Facility personnel.''
-->-- '''Black Mesa Transit Announcement System''', ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}''
Any form of scene setting in a game that allows you to explore a very limited area of the setting while getting a tour of the level. Often gives you a small chance to get familiar with the controls and shows off the scenery. Sometimes throws the player right through an area of combat, or even drops him right into it. This section of the game generally helps to build the atmosphere and set the tone that the player can expect from the game in the hours to come.
Usually laden with SceneryPorn, or in contrast SceneryGorn, and {{Video Game Set Piece}}s, and can be used as part of a JustifiedTutorial. Occasionally overlaps with DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Expect to be given NoncombatantImmunity during this section.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Action]]
* ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' opens with {{Batman}} escorting SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker through the halls of Arkham, following the guards through the halls, broken up with an encounter with Killer Croc.
* Its sequel, ''BatmanArkhamCity'', has a similar sequence where you must control Bruce Wayne being brought into Arkham City itself as a prisoner. Add in the opening cutscene at the beginning of the game and you get a pretty good introduction to how completely messed up the situation has become.
* The tutorial levels in ''StarWarsRebelAssault'' later become action levels when TheEmpire attacks Tatooine.
* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has a short sequence of Cole [=McGrath=] walking through the crater created by the Ray Sphere.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]
* ''{{Half-Life}}'' is the TropeNamer and essentially the [[TropeCodifier codifier]] if not TropeMaker, beginning with a slow tram ride through Black Mesa. The player can move freely inside the tram and look in all directions, but the tram itself moves independently.
** ''Half-Life: Opposing Force'' was somewhat related, in that the player was introduced to the military's insertion and situation (even if Adrian awakes hours after his chopper crashes). ''Half-Life: Blue Shift'' starts in the same way, and, amusingly enough, once the ride is over it inverts the original game's opening sequence, as the player plays the role of the security guard who gets stuck just outside a door at the start, and can watch from the side as Freeman passes him by in another car.
** ''Half-Life 2'' also has the scene in the Citadel, where an immobile Gordon is transported the fortress for several minutes and giving the player some of the only glimpses of the inner workings of their adversary.
** Half-Life 2's intro also fits this, where you are introduced to City 17 by walking around in the train station and then the surrounding city. Admittedly, the cops provide a semi-enemy (they will attack you if you get too close), but you can't really be killed in this, so it still counts.
** Additionally, Half-Life's opening is split into the uncontrolled tram sequence and the controlled "get yourself to the lab" sequence. Both help introduce you to the controls, specific characters, and the current situation, and if you pay attention, certain plot points.
** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'': When you're in the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' Begins with a walk through the R&D Department of Sarif Industries. [[spoiler: Everything and everyone you see (with the exception of the Department of Defense representative) is important to the story.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock 2'' character creation and tutorial, which to some extent also introduce you to the AFGNCAAP you are, are done this way.
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison, but can look around on your own. The developers said it was their tribute to ''VideoGame/HalfLife''.
* ''{{Halo 2}}'''s opening level has Sgt. Johnson taking you on a short tram-ride tour of the Cairo space station after your JustifiedTutorial. The level design and Johnson's dialogue [[SceneryPorn draws your attention to the Human fleet sitting at anchor and the view of Earth from orbit]].
** Also in the opening cutscenes, the soon-to-be Arbiter's trial is shown onboard the High Charity, which becomes a level towards the end of the game.
** The original ''Halo'' also had this with the Master Chief waking up out of stasis before rushing off to the bridge to meet up with Captain Keyes and picking up his first weapons. He passes by several firefights with the Covenant en route.
** ''HaloReach'' also has this while Noble Team is traveling by helicopter in Winter Contingency and Tip of the Spear.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'''s Russian boot camp (which ends in an actual attack by Germans) and, in ''Modern Warfare,'' Soap going through the basics with Gaz at an SAS station, both of which are [[JustifiedTutorial justified tutorials]]. Also many of the levels start with a quick helicopter ride to the starting area. It's possible to shoot, but doing so is a waste of ammo so you're pretty clearly just supposed to kick back and hum [[Film/ApocalypseNow The Ride Of The Valkyries]].
** Also in ''ModernWarfare's'' 'The Coup', when Al-Fulani is driven through the streets of the city to his execution. [[ControlledHelplessness And you're watching through his eyes.]]
** Continues in ''Modern Warfare 2'', when the game opens with the player at an American base in Afghanistan, where he trains some local militia, runs an obstacle course, and can walk around and observe the other soldiers.
* ''{{Prey}}'' starts you off at a bar owned by the main character's girlfriend, where you can talk to people, gamble on poker machines and headbang to Music/JudasPriest until the inevitable alien abduction occurs.
** Also when you are first abducted, you are restrained and taken by some automated system on a brief tour of a part of the alien vessel.
* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose. It's one of the few versions of this trope that lets you slaughter your co-workers without consequence, ''before'' the big crisis even occurs.
* ''RedFaction'', the tutorial, and the early part in the mines just before the rebellion starts.
* ''[[CliveBarkersUndying Undying]]'', before too many mangled corpses begin showing up.
* ''FarCry 2'' begins with the protagonist being driven to his hotel from the airfield, with his driver giving some background exposition about the country he's just entered.
* ''Quake IV'' has Matthew Kane take a short stroll through a Strogg building before the actual combat begins.
* ''The Darkness'' follows the ''Half-Life'' tradition by starting in first person, while riding a vehicle you are not controlling.
* The third and fourth ''{{Myst}}'' games have something similar. Until the inciting action that kicks off the plot, you're present at Atrus' home as his guest.
* The first actual level of ''MedalOfHonor: Pacific Assault'' is Pearl Harbor. It involves a guided tour of the island by jeep by a friendly officer, before you are to report to the USS Arizona. [[DeathFromAbove You can guess what happens next.]]
* ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' has many segments seemingly designed to show off just how ''big'' Aperture Laboratories is:
** The game begins with Wheatley moving your room, with a crane, from the Relaxation Vault to an old testing track, allowing you to observe the dilapidation of the facility.
** Just before [[spoiler: the fight against [=GLaDOS=]]], you crawl into a pneumatic transportation tube that pumps you through a whole series of tubes, to show how massive the testing facilities are, and how elaborate the transportation system is.
** After [[spoiler: Wheatley takes over Aperture Science]], you fall down an elevator shaft in a sequence that is several minutes long, just to indicate how far down the labs go.
* The second and third levels of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' take place at Duke's Vegas hotel, and allow the player to walk around Duke's highrise condo (and see his awards and magazine covers) before going down the elevator to the bottom floor for a TV show appearance, allowing you to walk through the halls and talk show set. Interestingly, these levels occur ''after'' the GameWithinAGame JustifiedTutorial where you wield the Devastator and face off against a boss. Also notable because Duke gains a permanent health bonus for doing things like winning at pool or admiring himself in the mirror, meaning that skipping straight to the action is inadvisable.
* ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' begins with Robert Jacobs being arrested by North Korean forces in his apartment and forced onto a bus that travels through a warzone (complete with images of families being gunned down on the street in front of their children and prisoners being marched into other buses).
* In ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
* ''{{Perfect Dark}}'' features the Carrington Institute. It houses the game's tutorials, as well as a shooting range, and is accessible at any time from the main menu. Later in the game, it must be defended from dataDyne.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' starts you off on a boat... all you can do is look around and listen to exposition, until you get to your destination. Once you have control, you meet the characters (The Spymaster, the Leader of the army, the Empress, and her daughter Emily), get a mini stealth tutorial, a fighting tutorial, and then the game begins.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Platformer]]
* ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' sort of has this. The first level is a fast forced-scroller where your character runs at the same speed as the screen, so you can get used to the basic controls and get a feel for the MercyInvincibility that enemies get without having any impact on how quickly you finish the level.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]
* The first several days of ''{{Persona 3}}'' gradually introduce the different areas the protagonist can visit. The effect is more obvious in ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', where the MainCharacter automatically walks with a friend through different parts of town, giving the player a good look in the process.
** ''{{Persona 4}}'' does something similar, introducing the player to the city of Inaba and some of the characters therein. The plot gets started much faster than ''{{Persona 3}}'', but the characters are understandably more cautious about getting involved in it, and it ends up taking about the same amount of time to get the game properly started.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years''). You have to find that out for yourself.
* VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII's opening in Midgar, and your explorations of it in Crisis Core. For all the very interesting and visually appealing scenery, the party never explores more than a small percentage of it.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Third Person Shooter ]]
* ''Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2'', up until the first boss. And, to a lesser extent, before the planetary shield is destroyed.
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', you start off just cruisin' through space in your little ship, approaching the big mining-ship, having a bit of excitement on the landing, and then getting your first look around inside, while surrounded by friendly, heavily-armed Marines. Which is how you know that everything is going to go to hell in short order.
* ''DeadRising'' starts with a helicopter ride into the city. You can see the first signs of the zombie infection, along with taking some pictures of it. Nailing all the pictures and doing the first escort mission (right outside the start) ad nauseum is actually good way to grind the first few levels.
* ''DarkVoid'' starts you off as a random Resistance member flying around in your jetpack, in a quick JustifiedTutorial of the flight controls, followed by a short aerial battle before you even see the actual protagonist.
* ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' has much gameplay ''before'' the opening credits/theme song. Then you get Tony taking a somewhat leisurely drive to his lawyer's office.
* Duke's base in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem: Zero Hour'', which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs gets overrun]] in the [[BadFuture post-apocalyptic future]].
[[/folder]]
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Usually laden with SceneryPorn, or in contrast SceneryGorn, and {{Video Game Set Piece}}s, and can be used as part of a JustifiedTutorial. Occasionally overlaps with DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Expect to be given NoncombatantImmunity during this section
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Usually laden with SceneryPorn, or in contrast SceneryGorn, and {{Video Game Set Piece}}s, and can be used as part of a JustifiedTutorial. Occasionally overlaps with DevelopingDoomedCharacters. Expect to be given NoncombatantImmunity during this section
section.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' starts you off on a boat... all you can do is look around and listen to exposition, until you get to your destination. Once you have control, you meet the characters (The Spymaster, the Leader of the army, the Empress, and her daughter Emily), get a mini stealth tutorial, a fighting tutorial, and then the game begins.
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* ''[[TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years''). You have to find that out for yourself.
to:
* ''[[TheElderScrollsVSkyrim ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years''). You have to find that out for yourself.
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** ''{{Persona 4}}'' does something similar, introducing the player to the city of Inaba and some of the characters therein. The plot gets started much faster than ''{{Persona 3}}'', but the characters are understandably more cautious about getting involved in it, and it ends up taking about the same amount of time to get the game proper started.
to:
** ''{{Persona 4}}'' does something similar, introducing the player to the city of Inaba and some of the characters therein. The plot gets started much faster than ''{{Persona 3}}'', but the characters are understandably more cautious about getting involved in it, and it ends up taking about the same amount of time to get the game proper properly started.
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* ''{{Bioshock}}'': When you're in the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
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* ''{{Bioshock}}'': ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'': When you're in the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
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* ''{{Perfect Dark}}'' features the Carrington Institute. It houses the game's tutorials, as well as a shooting range, and is accessible at any time from the main menu. Later in the game, it must be defended from dataDyne.
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* ''{{Homefront}}'' begins with Robert Jacobs being arrested by North Korean forces in his apartment and forced onto a bus that travels through a warzone (complete with images of families being gunned down on the street in front of their children and prisoners being marched into other buses).
* In ''SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
* In ''SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
to:
* ''{{Homefront}}'' ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'' begins with Robert Jacobs being arrested by North Korean forces in his apartment and forced onto a bus that travels through a warzone (complete with images of families being gunned down on the street in front of their children and prisoners being marched into other buses).
* In''SoldierOfFortune ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
* In
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* ''DynamiteHeaddy'' sort of has this. The first level is a fast forced-scroller where your character runs at the same speed as the screen, so you can get used to the basic controls and get a feel for the MercyInvincibility that enemies get without having any impact on how quickly you finish the level.
to:
* ''DynamiteHeaddy'' ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' sort of has this. The first level is a fast forced-scroller where your character runs at the same speed as the screen, so you can get used to the basic controls and get a feel for the MercyInvincibility that enemies get without having any impact on how quickly you finish the level.
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** The FanRemake ''BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
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** The FanRemake ''BlackMesa'' ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
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* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose. It's one of the few versions of this trope that lets you slaughter your co-workers without consequence, ''before'' the big crisis even occurs.
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[[quoteright:209:[[WebComic/SequentialArt http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blackmesacommute.jpg]]]]
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-->-- '''Black Mesa Transit Announcement System''', ''HalfLife''
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-->-- '''Black Mesa Transit Announcement System''', ''HalfLife''
''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}''
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* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' You start off just cruisin' through space in your little ship, approaching the big mining-ship, having a bit of excitement on the landing, and then getting your first look around inside, while surrounded by friendly, heavily-armed Marines. Which is how you know that everything is going to go to hell in short order.
to:
* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' You ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', you start off just cruisin' through space in your little ship, approaching the big mining-ship, having a bit of excitement on the landing, and then getting your first look around inside, while surrounded by friendly, heavily-armed Marines. Which is how you know that everything is going to go to hell in short order.
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* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison, but can look around on your own. The developers said it was their tribute to ''VideoGame/Half-Life''.
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* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison, but can look around on your own. The developers said it was their tribute to ''VideoGame/Half-Life''.''VideoGame/HalfLife''.
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* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'' has a scene where you are being led into the prison but can look around on your own. It's not quite the beginning as there was a short dream sequence tutorial first, but it's the opening of the game proper. The developers even said it was their tribute to ''{{Half-Life}}''.
to:
* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick: VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'' has a scene where VideoGame/EscapeFromButcherBay'': The opening of the game after the tutorial with you are being led into the prison prison, but can look around on your own. It's not quite the beginning as there was a short dream sequence tutorial first, but it's the opening of the game proper. The developers even said it was their tribute to ''{{Half-Life}}''.''VideoGame/Half-Life''.
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* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has Cole [=McGrath=] walk through the crater created by the Ray Sphere. (Granted, it's a bit short, and it leads to an expo cutscene.)
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* ''VideoGame/InFamous'' has a short sequence of Cole [=McGrath=] walk walking through the crater created by the Ray Sphere. (Granted, it's a bit short, and it leads to an expo cutscene.)
Sphere.
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* ''{{Bioshock}}'' has one of the most memorable such sequences in recent memory, thanks in part to the inital shock value of seeing Rapture in all its underwater glory for the first time through the bathysphere window.
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* ''{{Bioshock}}'' has one of the most memorable such sequences ''{{Bioshock}}'': When you're in recent memory, thanks in part to the inital shock value of seeing Rapture in all its underwater glory for the first time through the bathysphere looking at the underwater city of Rapture through the window.
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** The FanRemake ''BlackMesa'' hung a rather humorous {{Lampshade}} on the whole thing: one of the ads within Black Mesa reads: "Our tram system is really cool!"
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* ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' opens with {{Batman}} escorting TheJoker through the halls of Arkham, following the guards through the halls, broken up with an encounter with Killer Croc.
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* ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' opens with {{Batman}} escorting TheJoker SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker through the halls of Arkham, following the guards through the halls, broken up with an encounter with Killer Croc.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base.
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* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' does this with the player character's arrival to the Mars base.base, up until all Hell literally breaks loose.
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* Duke's Base is toured in the first level of ''Duke Nukem: Zero Hour'', and becomes a combat level in the BadFuture.
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* Duke's base in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem: Zero Hour'', which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs gets overrun]] in the [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic future]].
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* Duke's base in ''VideoGame/DukeNukem: Zero Hour'', which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs gets overrun]] in the [[AfterTheEnd [[BadFuture post-apocalyptic future]].
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* Duke's Base is toured in the first level of ''Duke Nukem: Zero Hour'', and becomes a combat level in the BadFuture.
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* In ''SoldierOfFortune II'', the first level after the prologue mission in Prague takes you on a tour of the Shop headquarters, which [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs becomes a battleground]] in the game's final mission.
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** Also in the opening cutscenes, the soon-to-be Arbiter's trial is shown onboard the High Charity, which becomes a level towards the end of the game.
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** ''HaloReach'' also has this while Noble Team is traveling by helicopter in Winter Contingency and Tip of the Spear.
