I bought the Titanicus rules out of interest (though I'll never afford the minis!) and when experimenting with them I found myself thinking "this is really cinematic!"
But... what is "cinematic" (n: similar to what you will see in a film) in a wargame?
In Titanicus, it when the titan is destroyed it doesn't just get removed from the table, but it can be:
Silenced - grinds to a halt, weapons hanging slack, engines silenced - any further hits knock it over
Laid Low - stumbles like drunkard, then fells - move randomly, then falls - possibly colliding with other units
Wild Fire - fires indiscriminately, crashes to ground - spins in a random direction, then fires each weapon into the closest target (friend or foe!)
Detonation - ripped apart in cascade of explosions - roll a ton of damage and apply to all titans close by
Catastrophic Meltdown - reactor breach, containment fields collapse, titan goes supernova - even bigger boom!
This is cinematic. It tells a story - or allows you to tell a story.You can picture what is happening. It brings the plastic minis to life in your head. Even when your unit dies, something cool happens - a mini story is told. Like in Battlefleet Gothic - when a ship can explode and take nearby ships with it. It's a "wow" moment even if you are the one bearing the brunt. I'm not a huge fan of the Doomed/Grimlite (so abstract it's barely a game) - but it does something interesting with its hit mechanics. Pretty much every hit causes a critical (or shall we say 'cinematic effect'?). A damaging hit can even trigger positive effects - free actions for the victim ("crawl away" "opportunity attack") or allies ("saviour"/"vengeance") as well as giving more normal status effects ("push back" "knock down" "bleeding"). Getting hit is interesting. It's not just ticking off hitpoints or removing models from a block of troops. It's like a Bloodbowl player tripping just before the touchdown and injuring themselves.
So does "cinematic" just mean having a good critical hit table?
Well, no. It's the story attached to the action. You don't just remove a titan in a sterile manner; it spins, wildly spraying lasercannon blasts into an ally, which then explodes. Kaboom! The rules allow and encourage you to create a story.
Movement can be cinematic. Carnivale doesn't have crits but it does have parkour - movement and jumping rules which allow you to chain jumps (and get free jumps) so you can do Prince of Persia/Assassin's Creed stunts to cross the table. A mini can leap from a lamp post to a gondola back to a rooftop - it doesn't need descriptive text to picture it in your head. Being pushed and falling off buildings in Necromunda and Mordhiem create some of the most memorable moments.
Interacting with terrain can be cinematic. My sleeper pick of last year (Zone Raiders) has not only cinematic movement (wallrunning, ziplines/grapels, and power assisted jumps) but also a focus on toxic and hazardous terrain and monsters, sentries, triggers space-hulk swarms, gravity changes and time warps; giant machinery can shake models off catwalks and ladders.
Activation can be cinematic. In ME:SGB, heroes can alter the activation sequence and go first, with any nearby allies: "Yelling dwarvish insults, Gimli lead his kinsmen into the goblins before they could react." Plain predictable IGOUGO is considerably less cinematic.
Morale can be cinematic. OK memory is hazy here, but in old-school Song of Blades, a model who died due to a critical/overkill triggered a morale test in nearby allies. Basically, the model died so messily it freaked out its buddies. It's very easy to assign a mental "story" to this merely based on who is doing the damage - "the troll tore the adventurer in half, showering his companions in gore" or "the greatsword ripped into the goblin from shoulder to navel - his companions chittering and cowering back in fear." While not specifically cinematic, it certainly encouraged assigning a story to an action.
Some things are more cinematic than others...
Some mechanics aren't naturally cinematic. Hitpoints (OK, you knew I would say this) aren't. "The adventurer lost 9 of 12 hitpoints" isn't particularly cinematic. It's kinda sterile and mathematical. Like watching damage numbers on a videogame RPG. Satisfying, maybe? But not cinematic.
Saving throws (ok, mechanically they are a bit clunky) can be quite cinematic - you can assign a story to the save "He throws a 6 - not just effortlessly dodging the arrow, but swatting it from the air with his sword." Given the defender often throws the save dice, it gives a feeling of agency - even if you are unlucky. "He throws a 1 - the arrow hits him right though the eye socket of his helmet." While saves aren't cinematic in themselves, like say the Titanicus crits, they allow you to be cinematic.
Obviously, some genres tend to be more cinematic. A fantasy, quasi RPG skirmish game with its personalized, individually acting minis will probably more inbuilt storytelling ("cinema") than two regiments of Napoleonic troops firing at each other; and the rules should reflect this by allowing for cinematic moments.
So if being cinematic is the ability to create cool stories or movie-like moments in your imagination in a game....
What games (or game mechanics) are the most cinematic? What are the most sterile? Do you have ideas to make existing games more cinematic?
What mechanics are overtly cinematic (i.e. Titanicus crits explicitly describe the cascading explosions) and what others merely allow you to be cinematic (like a humble saving throw).
