We all love a good cutscene. It’s the way in which the vast majority of developers decide to deliver their story and we don’t know about any of you, but we sure love our stories around here.

In the third festive Top 5, we turn out attention to the year’s greatest cutscenes, either using the in-game engine or CGI cinematics to deliver their message. To make our Top 5 this year, you had to do one of three things, either; deliver an action packed cutscene that’s stunning to watch, try something new or last but not least, appeal to our emotional side. Hopefully all three, but that’s probably a little too much to ask. Join us as we take a look at the year's best as we countdown our 5 favourite cutscenes.

Oh yeah, this one is pretty much spoilerific as well, so unless you’ve played all the year’s top titles, you may want to wait and come back here when you have. You’ve been suitably warned.

Slipping in at 5th for the second time in our festive Top 5’s is Resident Evil 5. The cutscene in question took place near the beginning of the game and it wasn’t long after you took on the crazed chainsaw Majini for the first time.

Our choice cutscene  from Resident Evil 5 involves some crazy motorbike Majini, Chris & Sheva in a spot of danger and BSAA  agent, Josh, makes a stylish appearance to save the day. This scene is the only one in the top 5 that makes the cut entirely on action alone. It’s too early in the story to have a lasting impact on us in any other way, but the cinematography in it and camera angles are the stuff of Hollywood. It’s got explosions, suspense filled clichéd gun jams, a bit of gore and of course, a happy ending. Hollywood would be proud.

For our fourth favourite cutscene we move from the intense action of Resi 5 to a more emotionally engaging scene from Rockstar’s latest downloadable GTA IV adventure, The Ballad of Gay Tony.

The scene in question takes place towards the climax of the game’s main story and after being left to pick up after club mogul, Anthony “Gay Tony” Prince, for so long, Luis has been offered an easy way out... to kill Tony and defect to a more grateful employer. Someone who can make his dreams of being more than a two-bit hitman come true.

Luis, a self confused nut job, goes through the notions of killing long time business partner and friend Gay Tony to save his own back, and at one time, you thought he might actually pull the trigger. Thankfully Luis's inner puppy got the best of him and Luis opted for a more fitting response instead. A tense and equally as gripping scene.

The third Arkham Asylum Scarecrow encounter was the scariest cutscene of the year, but not for the usual reasons, something entirely new. If you played Arkham Asylum on a 360, then it’s probably a fear that you didn’t want to face again. We’re talking about the illusion of Arkham Asylum crashing your console and instantly making you look at the rings of the 360, praying to the gaming gods that those red rings hadn’t returned. Thankfully they hadn’t and it was all a clever tool by Rocksteady. A devious, evil, ploy to introduce the third Scarecrow cutscene... and we loved it.

Granted, we panicked at the time, but watching it back, all the signs are there; the cough, and the voice asking whether you’d caught the game are huge giveaways. The scene itself was quite a surreal one after the initial panic has subsided and Rocksteady did a fantastic job in switching the tables. Kudos.

Check back tomorrow for our penultimate festive feature where action takes the front seat.