Games that surprised you (in a good way)

[Michael Hirst]

You know browsing these forums has let me see a lot of pessimism, maybe not as much as on ohter forums but still quite a lot. So I thought we should have a thread about games we tried recently that turned out to be better than expected. I know it's bit of a generic topic but I'd like to see some people being positive and give me ideas for games I should look into.

Naturally I'll go first.

Amnesia The Dark Descent, I was told by many people that this game was scary, even terrifying, I thought it might just be exaggeration. I have enjoyed other horror games before but never been truly scared by them until Amnesia. Holy shit was I getting freaked out, I didn't start screaming or anything but the game definitely kept me on edge with its oppressive atmosphere and creepy as hell monsters, working off that classic horror logic of making your mind do most of the work rather than showing you the monster all the time.

I honestly believed Yahtzee was just sitting in his I <3 Indie camp when he said how good it was, now I know it wasn't hyperbole, it was actually frightening and very entertaining.

TLR If you want to be scared half (or full way) to death buy Amensia.

 

[Panzervaughn]

Aquaria

Singing mermaid solves puzzles? sure i guess.
Now i have laserbeams? Cool
Shit just got sinsiter and dark? Okay, yes sold.
Every single thing is mindblowingly pretty? Damnit stop i said yes already stop filling my head with awesome

Secret upsidedown lobsterboss throwing bombs at me as i dash between pockets of floating water to tackle him on the roof? What is words dont now yes.

 

[Michael Hirst]

Aquaria sounds rather unusual, I'll download the demo and give it a go. Strange really I used to dismiss Indie games all the time, wish I hadn't been so ignorant now.

 

[go-10]

Make Shift Makers on the N64, my cousin told me its a game about shaking stuff
wasn't really sure but it sounded weird and new enough
started to play it and OMG THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

 

[Davidm4]

Darksiders surprised me. I bought it because I like Zelda games, although I think there hasn't been a great one. Most reviews I read just kept on about its lack of originality. The first two hours were purely combat, which was simplistic and repetitive. If the demo was just this section, then I wouldnt have been surprised if it turned people off the game. However, the temple side of it was pretty enjoyable and it was my first taste of portal. I liked the portal temple so much that I decided to get portal 1&2 straight after. I know that the "black throne/portal temple" had the repetitive portal boss you have to fight three times, which the devs appologised about due to time constraints and it never let up on the puzzles, but it was the highlight of the game for me. It had something original too: the ability to shoot portals through portals. No review gave credit for that.

 

[Leemaster777]

Persona 4.

I had heard that the game was amazing, but I still wasn't particularly sold on it. I saw it in my local Gamestop for $40, so I thought "eh, I'll give it a shot".

It is currently my second or third favorite game ever. SOOOOO freaking glad I got it.

Also, No More Heroes. Picked it up while I was waiting for Brawl to come out. I had never even HEARD of the game before I saw it in the store. I bought it, and found out that it had actually come out THAT DAY.

I don't think I need to say it, but much awesome was beheld that day.

 

[BiggyShackleton]

Bioshock. I knew next to nothing about the game (or even System Shock) at the time, figured it was just a run of the mill FPS with some weird shit going on. Played it at a friends house and man was I in for a surprise.

 

[Phlakes]

Enslaved. It didn't get great reviews and I hate hack n' slash games (yes, I know it was a platformer too), but I actually enjoyed it quite a bit.

Also, fucking Crayon Physics. I had more fun with that than all the other HIB games combined, and I hadn't even known it existed.

 

[Kwatsu]

Enslaved. I saw the previews and was never really moved by it since nothing I saw of Heavenly Sword really excited me. Then I tried the demo and really enjoyed the game. More dragonfly chasing!

 

[Michael Hirst]

Persona 4.

I had heard that the game was amazing, but I still wasn't particularly sold on it. I saw it in my local Gamestop for $40, so I thought "eh, I'll give it a shot".

It is currently my second or third favorite game ever. SOOOOO freaking glad I got it.

Also, No More Heroes. Picked it up while I was waiting for Brawl to come out. I had never even HEARD of the game before I saw it in the store. I bought it, and found out that it had actually come out THAT DAY.

I don't think I need to say it, but much awesome was beheld that day.

I know the feeling on Persona 4, I wasn't exactly sold on the idea at first and I even found the intro a bit tedious but once I got into it I was very surprised how much fun I had with it. I've won it twice so far and I'm like 1 persona away from max compendium (I never maxed the Hanged Man arcana)

 

[ssgt splatter]

I'd have to say that one moment in Gears 3 where you-know-who kills a shit-load of grubs and lambent with that truck.

I don't want to go into any more detail than that as it is a huge spoiler for those of you who haven't played the game.

 

[Davidm4]

Aquaria sounds rather unusual, I'll download the demo and give it a go. Strange really I used to dismiss Indie games all the time, wish I hadn't been so ignorant now.

Have you tried Braid? It seems to split peoples opinions between brilliant and pretentious rubbish, but it is my favourite indie game at the moment. Quite a few of the doppleganger puzzles were pretty trippy. Guess i'll look into Aquaria too.

 

[Rooster893]

Red Faction on the PS2. I was expecting another generic, run of the mill FPS from the Bargain Bin, but what I got was actually an enjoyable experience. I'd put it in my Top 100 games.

 

[Michael Hirst]

Aquaria sounds rather unusual, I'll download the demo and give it a go. Strange really I used to dismiss Indie games all the time, wish I hadn't been so ignorant now.

Have you tried Braid? It seems to split peoples opinions between brilliant and pretentious rubbish, but it is my favourite indie game at the moment. Quite a few of the doppleganger puzzles were pretty trippy. Guess i'll look into Aquaria too.

I have tried Braid and won it, while I do agree it is pretentious it's also very charming and the puzzles got rather extreme late game, took me a long time to finish the last 2 worlds. I also reccomend it to others who want a good if rahter unusual puzzle platformer.

 

[Xearin]

Wild 9 on the Playstation. Damn that was funny, original and nice to play. Good music too.

 

[Davidm4]

Make Shift Makers on the N64, my cousin told me its a game about shaking stuff
wasn't really sure but it sounded weird and new enough
started to play it and OMG THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Do you mean Mischief Makers? I played that along time ago on N64, don't remember enough to have an opinion on it, but I think I remember enjoying it.

 

[M920CAIN]

Gears of War 3, Act 3 & ending.

 

[Zetatrain]

Alpha Protocol.

Generally, I heard that it was a game with great ideas, but dragged down by some horrible bugs that made it nearly unplayable. So one week I was bored and rented the game on a whim. To my surprise it was pretty enjoyable. I loved the dialogue system, and the story, while not really being original,was competent and had a good cause and effect system. As for gameplay, the combat may not have been the game's strong point, but IMO it was not nearly as bad as some people claimed. As for bugs, I did not encounter many and the only noticeable one involved the AI which I will admit was very glitchy and exploitable. In the end, I enjoyed the game enough that I rented it a second time so I could do a second playthrough.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

With everything I've heard about Mirror's Edge, I didn't expect it to be so awesome. Sure, it's hard, and dying a lot breaks the flow slightly, but it's still an incredible game.

 

[lobster1077]

Alpha Protocol.

Generally, I heard that it was a game with great ideas, but dragged down by some horrible bugs that made it nearly unplayable. So one week I was bored and rented the game on a whim. To my surprise it was pretty enjoyable. I loved the dialogue system, and the story, while not really being original,was competent and had a good cause and effect system. As for gameplay, the combat may not have been the game's strong point, but IMO it was not nearly as bad as some people claimed. As for bugs, I did not encounter many and the only noticeable one involved the AI which I will admit was very glitchy and exploitable. In the end, I enjoyed the game enough that I rented it a second time so I could do a second playthrough.

I loved the AI fighting tactics employed by every footsoldier in that game. That of running across a room into heavy gunfire to punch you in the face once and then retreat.