Most Surprisingly Good/Bad Game?

[Hunter Hyena]

Many of us have played games that we knew very little about, or just had major doubts beforehand. Sometimes this can lead to us playing one of the better games we've come across. However, others could be a downright disappointment.


So I ask you, what game has surprised you, be it for the better or worse?


I'd have to say the one game that turned out way better than I expected was Metro 2033. At first, I thought it would be nothing more than a generic CoD clone with Fallout elements (I hadn't read the book at that time either). While the game had it's flaws, I was shocked at how well done the levels were, and the creativity behind a lot of the enemies and characters. The ending levels were nothing short of mind blowing.

As for disappointing, I'd have to go with Saints Row: The Third. I had loved the first two, Saints Row 2 being one of my most played games, but The Third seemed to distance itself from everything I loved about the other games. The story was shorter, city was smaller, less thought out characters, fewer activities/clothes/cars, and a horrid upgrade system. It, to this day, is the only game of mine I have given away/sold (gave it to a friend and she despises it).

 

[DoPo]

Second Sight - what I only got because it seemed amusing[footnote]it was on a single CD and had good enough graphics, in an age where pretty much any game was on at least 2 CDs[/footnote] turned out to be absolutely brilliant.

Arcanum - I had high expectations of the game and it still managed to bypass them so hard, I was amazed.

Heroes 4 - not really "bad", per se, but "surprising", at least -surprisingly...different, I suppose. It had its good moments, but it also had it's share of problems. Overall, the fact that it tried too many new things overwhelmed it, though.

 

[Ryotknife]

going to go with Kingdom Hearts. From an outside perspective, it had bad news written all over it. A game made by Disney/square featuring characters from disney and final fantasy? Sounds like blantant pandering. To top it all off the seemingly kiddy theme.

The fact that it turned out to be such a good game, a game that even ADULTS can enjoy, surprised the hell out of me.

 

[hazabaza1]

The concept of the Persona series (or at least 3+4) seems really fucking retarded.
"Japanese highschoolers use the power of friendship to summon monsters by shooting themselves in the head or smashing trading cards to fight demons."
But 3+4 are really good. Yet to play 1+2.

I also expected El Shaddai to be really bad. Biblically themed artsy hack'n'slasher? That can't be good, right? Turns out it is.

As for bad... Well, I expected Assassin's Creed 3 to be a lot better. After 4 games varying from "not bad" to "fucking good" AC3 is just... I dunno if I'd say bad, but dull. Really fucking dull, even when 'exciting' shit is happening.
It's a shame because under all the shit is an amazing game trying to escape but being help back by stupid decisions.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

Quantum Conundrum. Everything about the game, including the first few areas, made it seem like it was going to be excellent, and then suddenly the puzzle game stopped having puzzles in it in favor of execution challenges. Thus, the majority of the game wound up being dull, annoying filler.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Crackdown 2 was such a massive disappointment to me, it really made me feel bad about all that wasted potential.

Surprisingly good, I would have to say... Bayonetta. I wasn't expecting much from it and it ended up being quite awesome to play. Cheesecakey and sometimes frustrating but still really good.

 

[Blitsie]

Mine is NIER, I remember avoiding this game because I kept hearing bad things about it, cue a whole damn year later I find myself terribly bored and rummaging through a local game store's bargain bin only to end up pulling Nier out between all the other garbage games it was so neatly packed between. I initially hesitated but thought "eh, it's cheap anyway" and bought it.

Surprisingly enough, Nier turned out to be one of the best damn games i've ever played thanks to its amazingly dark story. Truly an underrated gem, if you ask me.

 

[Mikejames]

Deadly Premonition.

Consistent taste of combat feels like an unpolished RE4, and the driving could be incorrigible, but the surreal narrative and humor along with the dark psychological style has a way of presenting itself that makes it worthy of being a cult classic. Also York's probably one of my favorite protagonists ever.

 

[putowtin]

Enjoyed?

Fallout:New Vegas
I had tried, and tried, and tried to get into Fallout 3, but couldn't. It was to dreary, and I never really got any further than Megaton. Then someone bought me FO:NV for christmas, I thanked them and wondered how much I'd get for it on ebay, then my hubby got flu and that put paid to any christmas/new year parties we'd been invited to. So whilst he stayed in bed I got lost in the Mojave!

Disappointed?

As for disappointing, I'd have to go with Saints Row: The Third. I had loved the first two, Saints Row 2 being one of my most played games, but The Third seemed to distance itself from everything I loved about the other games. The story was shorter, city was smaller, less thought out characters, fewer activities/clothes/cars, and a horrid upgrade system. It, to this day, is the only game of mine I have given away/sold (gave it to a friend and she despises it).

Thanks for answering for me, I was so let down by SR3, the wackyness was turned up far too much for me and killing off the best character from the franchise at the begining... well I should have known from that point that the game would p1ss me off!

 

[Zantos]

To say I'd never heard of Darksiders before, and got it partially because it seemed to be fairly positive online but mostly because it happened to cost as much as I had on me at the time, it turned out to be awesome. Also pretty positive at the things going into some of the Humble Bundles, I don't think I'd heard of a single thing from 6 but it's got some fantastic games in there.

On the disappointed front, I don't think I've ever bought a game then not liked it. Portal and Half Life 2 were over hyped but still pretty good, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is forefront in the category of unbelievably frustrating, but I wouldn't say they're bad games, just not what I was expecting.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I guess Okami, so far. I bought the HD rerelease thinking it would be good, but so far it's been one of the best, if not the best games I have ever played.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I seem to often randomly buy surprisingly great games for some reason. I have some sort of sixth sense on whether a game is going to be really good or not. I can just feel it without reviews or anything... It's weird.

I picked up Bayonetta at random with zero knowledge of what it was. I knew it was supposed to be a DMC type game but that was all. It's amazing.

Two days ago I picked up BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger just on a whim and i'm already waiting for the sequel Continnu, Contin... *sigh* Continuum Shift Extend (thanks Google!) to arrive from Amazon. Delivery date is tomorrow so that should be fun.

I love how the dialogue changes completely, almost every voice clip for both characters are changed if their relationship is close enough. Noel vs Jin is so cool to see...

And the ultimate example is Persona 4, my favorite game of all time. I honestly can't say what guided me to that game since i'm sure I didn't see any reviews or footage beforehand.

As for bad... Maybe Borderlands 2? The guns so far feel horrendous and I can't be arsed with it. Brink was disappointing but I still had fun with the parkour and playing the objectives. Bioshock 2 was lacklustre compared to the original but I still enjoyed it. The extra story DLC (Minerva's Den I think it was called) was far superior than the actual game and I would say it's worth paying for the game cheaply just to buy that DLC.

 

[R4ptur3]

Mass effect. I hadn't even heard of it until I saw it on steam, around the time mass effect was getting released, then realised it had a high metacritic score. It was on offer so I thought why not and well it was bloody awesome.

Also bastion, which I just finished today. I'm not normally into indie games but it was surprisingly good.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I guess Okami, so far. I bought the HD rerelease thinking it would be good, but so far it's been one of the best, if not the best games I have ever played.

Yes.

This pleases me

OT: Journey.

I was expecting something good, but what I got absolutely blew me away.

It's a symphony in motion.

 

[Signa]

The game that surprised me the most was the Neopets: The Darkest Farie. I thought it was going to be a shitty kids game, and in a lot of ways it was, but it also was a really decent Zelda clone that kept me entertained all the way through. Games that are aimed directly at my demographic or my personal tastes can't always boast a full playthrough from me.

 

[Kococoa]

Some games which suprised me in a good way would be...Binding of Isaac, this is a pretty small game and I didn't expect much of it but wow did I get addicted to that for a bit. Bastion is another, I expected the same thing but that game was great. Terraria was another, I expected it to be a bit of a shoddy minecraft clone but it turned otut o be pretty unique and I don't regret soaking time into it.

Games which disappointed me me when I didn't expect them to would be Empire: Total War, it was so buggy on my machine at release and it had issues and didn't feel like much of a total war game and also Warlords Battlcry 3 after I loved Warlords Battlecry 2, they weren't familiar at all and I didn't enjoy it.

 

[pikmaniac]

Most surprising good game is Black Ops 2. Played the heck out of Modern Warfare 1 and 2, a little bit of 3, and the only parts of the treyarch games that interested me was Zombies, so I only played those when at friend's houses, never owned Black ops or World At War. but Black ops 2 looks really good, and I plan on picking it up soon.

Most surprising bad game for me was LittleBigPlanet 2. Before I got a PS3, all my PS3 friends went on and on about how amazing the game is and everything, and they went and got just about every trophy and everything for it. They were obsessed with it. When I got my PS3 last Christmas and LBP2 came bundled with it, i was stoked to try it out for myself. I played through the story mode (I skipped all the cut scenes, which grated on my nerves so bad for some reason.) and dabbling a little in the online community, I came to the conclusion that the game was definitely not lived up to the hype. The jumping mechanics felt floaty, the level creaton is just too complex for my simple brain to wrap around, and most (admittedly not all though) of the player-created levels failed to entertain me. Just another overrated game...

Another most surprising bad game is Paper Mario Sticker Star. I don't actually own this, but my bro does, and as a huge fan of all three previous Paper Mario games (yes, even Super Paper Mario. ) this game just looks so incredibly generic and seems to be missing a lot of the charm and personality that literally oozes from the other games. Really don't want to pay full price for it.

 

[thesilentman]

Blown away by?

The Elder Scrolls Arena. I'm not kidding. I've played Skyrim, Oblivion, and Morrowind, but Arena has a certain charm that the others just can't seem to capture.

Then there's Chrono Trigger. If you haven't played it, get a copy right now! You won't regret it, especially if you like turn-based RPGs with good stories.

At last, Dark Souls. I bought it thinking it was some sort of fun hack and slash game that happened to be really, really difficult. What I got was the best game experience I've ever had, rivaling that of Amnesia and Silent Hill 2.

Disappointed by?

Modern Warfare 3. Someone had to say it. The multiplayer was the first that finally drove me to rage quit in a long time. To give a frame of reference, the last time I rage quit was when I was on World 7 in Super Mario Bros 3. When I was five.

Assassins Creed Revelations also disappointed me as it was Brotherhood set in Constantinople. That game suddenly became fucking boring when you shifted locations. I may try to sit through it again, just to see if any outlook would change after I learned about the Byzantine empire.

I'm going to stop here as I'd be here all day.