Whats the most shockingly good game you've played?

[Chal]

Riven. I guess I had some expectation of quality thanks to playing Myst, but Riven still absolutely blew me away. She's purty, too.

Spoiler: The Rotating Room

Spoiler: Village

Spoiler: Gehn's Throne

Guess what folks? Just came out on Steam for only $5. If you got the brains for a puzzler, give 'er a whirl! Steam gives a warning about playing on XP, but it works fine in compatibility mode for me. Purchase at your own discretion.

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

Mount&Blade. I was expecting a little diversion and tried it mostly on the insistence of people who played it before I did...and it ended up being one of my top ten all-time favorite games.

have you tried warband? the multiplayer can be infuriating and addicting at the same time, and the graphic/animation improvements are nice too

 

[Draksune]

When I first saw advertisements for Saints Row 2, I thought to myself, oh no, a GTA rip-off that's going to be horrible, racist, and poorly constructed. Then, Zero Punctuation gave it a good review, so I gave it a whirl. Glad I did. Had a blast playing that game.

 

[II2]

"First time plasmids kick like a mule, but there's nothing like a fist full of lightning, is there?"

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Peter jackson's King Kong: The Official Game.

I got it expecting some fighting game similar to Godzilla games, and what I got was a really good survival horror FPS. Very good, considering weapons are scarce and enemies are numerous.

 

[SimuLord]

Mount&Blade. I was expecting a little diversion and tried it mostly on the insistence of people who played it before I did...and it ended up being one of my top ten all-time favorite games.

have you tried warband? the multiplayer can be infuriating and addicting at the same time, and the graphic/animation improvements are nice too

Pay attention, kid. I tirelessly advocate for that game when the subject comes up around here. But Warband wasn't exactly a revelation like the original game was, for obvious reasons. And multiplayer is the bane of all things good in gaming. Pay attention.

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

Mount&Blade. I was expecting a little diversion and tried it mostly on the insistence of people who played it before I did...and it ended up being one of my top ten all-time favorite games.

have you tried warband? the multiplayer can be infuriating and addicting at the same time, and the graphic/animation improvements are nice too

Pay attention, kid. I tirelessly advocate for that game when the subject comes up around here. But Warband wasn't exactly a revelation like the original game was, for obvious reasons. And multiplayer is the bane of all things good in gaming. Pay attention.

first off, I am no kid.

there's no need to get all worked up over it. I was just asking if you had tried warband, and commenting that I liked some of the improvements and commented on the multiplayer.

No need to resort to insults.

 

[pretentiousname01]

Little red riding hood's zombie bbq.

Seriously its like 5 bucks. totally worth it

 

[bad_dog14]

Red Dead Redemption. I knew it was gonna be good (open-world Rockstar games being what they are), but I didn't expect it to be so damn amazing.

 

[gamepopper101]

A little game called Go Go Cosmo Cops, I thought I buy it for a laugh but I ended up enjoying it more than expected.

 

[noble cookie]

Red Dead Redemption, I bought it mostly for multiplayer with friends. I was never expecting the campaign to be one of the best I've ever played.

 

[Tattaglia]

Don't know if it counts, but Pandemic 2 had me going for hours.

Damn madagascar.

"Sir, a man is coughing!"
*begins to shake with rage*
"SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING."

 

[KrazyShrink]

Kung Fu Panda on the DS.

What? My cousin had it.

 

[sun_and_earth]

Adventure games have been starting to suck lately but Jonathan Boakes' The Lost Crown is my vote for the best game ever. And I wasn't expecting too much of it to be honest.

 

[Dapper Ninja]

At first I dismissed Mad World as a mediocre No More Heroes knock-off, but I decided to give it a try after I found out that it was developed by a studio made up of former employees of the now-shut-down Clover Studios. It actually turned out to be pretty damn good.

 

[TPiddy]

I gotta go with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. I got a demo of it, thinking it would be average at best and I was surprised to find it totally rocked my socks off, so I went out and bought it and have never looked back.

I second this.

OT: I was blown away by how much fun I had with Saints Row 2, and how much story there was to that game. Well exceeded my expectations.

 

[Captain Epic]

Spiderman 2. I was over at my friend's place and he bought it at a garage sale for around $10. we popped it into the gamecube and had a lot of fun. It wasn't great but it ecceded my expetations.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Shockingly good? I really wasn?t expecting that much out of Borderlands but I?ve gotten a hell of a lot of play out of that game and I keep wanting to play more. I still play with my maxed out character (and my second will max out soon) just to find cool equipment. The only games I have played more of this generation are Warhawk and Fallout 3.

 

[Daedalus1942]

For me its X Men Origins Wolverine and Arkham Asylum. Origins is the only movie game (other than Spiderman 2) to actually be fun and I did not expect AA to be fun because no other superhero game has been that fucking awesome.

Alpha prime. it's an indie developed game from Steam, but I was quite surprised how good it is.
It has a bullet time mechanic that doesn't replenish. You have to acquire this stuff called Hubbardium (L. Ron anyone?) which allows you to warp other peoples minds and sense of speed.
For some strange reason the main character has a built up resistance to it's effects so it doesn't drive him insane.
It's a little like Half Life (one) meets FEAR in terms of game mechanics.
I expected it to be bad, but it's actually in fact quite a decent little game with an interesting enough story that makes me want to finish it.