I experienced few jawdropping moments in my gaming history, I have to say...
I do feel quite excited every time I launch a new game/demo for the first time, though.
Anyway, to name a few that impressed me...
Some game on Amiga I saw when I visited a friend. It had this wonderful intro.
You saw a car arriving at some kind of lab where there was a particle accelerator or something. After that, there was some kind of accident which made the main character travel through time or something. (all very vague, but it's been a while).
The first time playing battle chess (especially the queen killing a pawn was cool)
The first time playing wolfenstein3d (the danger lurking behind each corner, every door) and other Id games like quake and quake 2, single player and multiplayer (the sounds and movements of the enemies in quake 2, and its wonderful multiplayer maps; I still play quake2 online from time to time).
I admit, I'm maybe a bit of an Id "fanboy"
The first time I saw the intro of Final Fantasy VII on my then brandnew PC; the train that entered the station, the camera angles, Aeris and the echo of her footsteps, the music. That game has some of the best cutscenes ever...
The first time I saw Lara Croft in action.
The first cutscene and level of nolf2: the japanese with her katana, the wonderful environment a bit later; vegetation, water, bridge...
I loved the mood of that game.
In Grim Fandango, the cutscene where
Spoiler:Manny thinks he sees Meche, but it appears to be a scary bird and so on...
Max Payne 2 and its physics engine. I liked it more than the first game. Although not very realistic, I enjoyed the physics very much (more than in DX:IW or Painkiller)
edit: I forgot the intro of KQV: especially the fact that they zoomed in on the owl Cedric (I had a non talkie version so I didn't think he was annoying). Those were the best gfx I had seen (better than mi1, which I played at the same time), such nice colors and drawings
Guess I have a weakness for cutscenes which use different camera angles
