Games That Completely Lived Up To Your Expectations And Then Some

[AvsJoe]

GTA: San Andreas

I wanted that game so freaking badly and was expecting something amazing. And that's precisely what I got.

 

[CrysisMcGee]

I'd say Diablo 2 did that. Half-Life 2. No one lives forever 2. Thief 2. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Oblivion and Fallout 3 came pretty damn close.

Bioshock FAIL. I totally agree with Yahtzee in his review.

 

[Darktau]

Mass effect, I thought it was going to suck.

 

[Pendragon9]

The Armored Core series.

I want mecha games where I can design my own robot, but instead Armored Core gives me... just that. :/

It's a barrel of monkey's worth of fun.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I'd say Diablo 2 did that. Half-Life 2. No one lives forever 2. Thief 2. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Oblivion and Fallout 3 came pretty damn close.

Bioshock FAIL. I totally agree with Yahtzee in his review.

Bioshock is actually the one game that matched my expectations exactly- it looked great, story wasn't stupid but it wasn't great, and Big Daddies are annoying.

Fun, but I'll probably pick up The Orange Box before it again. (I will say, the Sander Cohen part WAS surprising, and indeed the best point of the game.)

 

[Sieni]

[SPOILER\]Fallout 3
Bioshock (Both of them)
Team Fortress 2
Modern Warfare 2
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (The best GTA game in my opinion.)
Half-life 2 [/SPOILER]

That's pretty much it.

 

[natster43]

Fallout 3, I originally didn't much care for it, but after playing it, it became one of my favorite games ever.
Burnout 3 Takedown and Burnout Paradise,
Okami,
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2,

 

[DSEZ]

Assassin's Creed II.

I was so excited for that then I played it and I had a total nerdgasm.

seconded
and devil may cry 3 after devil may cry 2 i wasnt expecting much i loved it and still play the special edition to this day

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Okami. Seriously, the music, the art style, the characters, the story. If there was a recipe to create the perfect game there would be 3 table spoons of Okami in there for good measure.

 

[dragdev]

saints row 2
feeding frenzy
bad company 2

 

[hazabaza1]

Mass Effect 2.
It makes me cream myself. It's a brilliant game.

 

[xDarc]

Heroes of Might and Magic III
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries
Goldeneye for the N64
StarCraft
FallOut 3
PlanetSide 2004

 

[xDarc]

While not completely over-hyped, Silent Hill 2 would fit this slot for me.

Yeah the first 3 silent hill games were all pretty good. I also feel like the original RE games deserve an honorable mention. I didn't feel they were amazing, but definitely good and kept me sucked in for hours.

 

[hyperdrachen]

Porta. What I saw before release made me excited, but I had no idea the game would be so hilarious and well designed.

Portals a funny one for me, saw a preview waaaay back when it was still a roughed out tech demo, thought to myself. Hmmm neat concept, but whatever. Game comes out and blows me away with its polish, level design, and humor.

I'd like to add Mirrors Edge to the list. I remember seeing previews and thinking, oh that looks pretty fun, when i got it i sunk into a loop of beating it multiple times addicted to how fast and smooth I was getting at using the system. Story was kinda meh to be sure but it worked well enough and the real focus, running, jumping, climbing walls... was beatifuly executed.

 

[Twad]

Okami, super metroid and magic carpet 2.

L4D too was great for a while.

 

[cheese_wizington]

Fallout 3 and Assassins Creed 2.

 

[ldbmikey86]

Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, and Planetside. Think that's about it.

 

[BolognaBaloney]

These are the games that where hyped as being near perfect, only to have them be...

near perfect.

judging by the sheer number of "overhyped games" threads, I thought this would be a nice change of pace.

Personally, there have only been 2 games that have ever had this effect on me: Starcraft and Warcraft 3 (and then only because of the amazing mapmaking community)

so what about you guys? any games that made you squeal with excitement and then actually make you squeal even more after you bought it?

How ironic, my friend and I just finished talking about this not 10 minutes ago, and these two games were our conclusion.

 

[Grey_Focks]

MGS 1-3 (still haven't beat 2, though..)
Warcraft 3 + TFT
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Mass effect 1 and 2