Most Pleasantly Surprising Game of 2010

[JoJo]

We've already had threads such as most disappointing game of 2010, however I thought it might be nice to have a more positively themed thread:

So my question to you today is: which game was the best surprise for you this year?

By this I mean either a game you weren't expecting to like, which was actually great fun, or a game you didn't know about until you found you loved it.

For me it had to be Dragon Quest IX, I was looking for an RPG for my DS but couldn't find one that looked interesting enough for me to buy, however a friend convinced me to buy this one at the same time he did in London so we could play it multiplayer on the train back... a couple of months later and it's one of my favourite DS games, bought completely on a whim.

So Escapists which game has pleasantly surprised you?

 

[Enemy Of The State]

Call of Duty: Black Ops. It was actually pretty good

 

[Koroviev]

Mass Effect 2. I hadn't played the first installment, so I had no idea what to expect from the series. For some strange reason, I thought it would bear an unfortunate similarity to Gears of War.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Who'd thought a Tomb Raider game could be fun, let alone this much fun?

 

[Sixcess]

Minecraft. It's pretty much the ultimate triumph of gameplay over graphics.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Final Fantasy XIII and Alan Wake. Both were just a "spur of the moment" buy, so I didn't really have an idea of what to expect even though I had seen at least one trailer each for the two games. Both were really entertaining and fun and Alan Wake is on my Top 5 Games list for this year.

 

[oreopizza47]

Minecraft. It's pretty much the ultimate triumph of gameplay over graphics.

Yeah, this pretty much. I know I'm addicted. Also on the list of really awesome games I found this year is The Path. Yes, I know it's a 2009 game, but I just got it in the Steam sales a few days ago, out of the Indie Fright Pack, expecting it to be an "art game" that really wasn't a game at all. I was right, but in a really awesome way, and it's currently on the top of my list for favorite games.

 

[Warachia]

Easily NIER. I loved the theme, visuals, world, characters and the final ending which can teach the player more about themselves than they want to know.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Probably Alan Wake. I had completely forgotten about it and it only came up on my radar shortly before it was released. Thought it was great.

 

[DND Judgement]

in terms of it being a surprising... it has to be Dark void i picked it up cheap a few weeks after it's release and i loved the crazy dog fighting and jetpacking around but it was a little short

 

[OrdinaryGuy]

I really didn't expect much out of Vanquish but it was a blast.

 

[gee666]

red remover, this is the only level or Depict

 

[demoman_chaos]

I was expecting Gran Tursimo 5 to be great, but I wasn't expecting HUGE updates and how much they added (like mechanical damage).

I wasn't expecting the Deadliest Warrior game to be any good. I was pleasantly surprised that it was ok. Needs more content and some tweaks but was fairly decent useage of money.

I wasn't expecting Scott Pilgrim the Game to be much of anything, especially due to the movie. But it was really really great. Best 2D beat 'em up I've played in a very long time. It also had some of the best music (I am a sucker for 8/16-bit retro tunes, I listen to 16-bit Sonic music quite frequently).