[Davies]

I thought The Dig intro was way too long, and long-winded. It included a lot of extraneous stuff, like the relationships between the characters, that should have been left to be worked into the story.

Yes, I agree with Monkey Island having one of the best intros. From a writer's point of view, it's all done perfectly -- introduces the island setting, gives some insight into the main character (not just his motivation, but his naivete), and gives a feel for the humour of the game, all in a few lines. And it not only gives a great big obvious "what to do next" instruction (go to the bar), but a more subtle hint of something you need to figure out later (return to this spot in order to reach other locations).

Starship Titanic is good, I think. You can mess around for a bit, getting the feel of the controls, and then WHUMP, an enormous spaceship lands on top of your house. Talk about getting dropped into the deep end.

To get away from adventure games, Cannon Fodder has probably my favourite intro of all time. Not just the song (which so many people never got the irony of) but the silly photo credits. How many credit sequences have you ever bothered to watch from beginning to end?

Dungeon Keeper's intro is perpetually amusing, too, and sets up the right feel for the gameplay to come.