Games that you liked more than you thought you would in '09?

A really fun occult WWII campaign with awesome headshots. The heads pop sooo good. Story was out there, but that's what makes Wolfenstein enjoyable. Hub world to explore. The graphics looked pretty freaking nice for being the Doom 3 engine. A lot was done to update the engine. Cool setpieces galore. Nice level design once you enter a mission.



I had some faith in this one, but I was VERY hesitant after Pandemic released such disappointments as Mercs 2 and Conquest. Luckily, however, The Saboteur is a great looking and playing (for the most part...) game. It has its fair share of quirks, but this game makes sandbox gaming and WWII gaming feel fresh again. It doesn't take a normal WWII storyline and put you in it. Instead it's a game about revenge, not because of what the nazi's have done, but because of what one man did to Sean's best friend. It builds up from there. It's a good, over-the-top, slightly cheesy, Tarantino-esque, thrill ride. Great setpieces like escaping through a burning zeppelin, making your way on top of a train (which reminded me of Uncharted 2), and multiple other kick ass moments.



It may come off as slightly repetitive, but it's fun all the way through. Wet also goes for the Tarantino-esque feel. It's absurd, over the top, and balls to the walls crazy. Rubi is one kick ass main character. She's got killer moves, killer looks, and killer weapons. This is another game with some great staged setpieces that provide quite a thrill.

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These are just a few. I'll post some more later.

I expected greatness.

What I got was excellence.

I think it's only The Saboteur for me.

Batman: AA and Assassin's Creed 2. Both are excellent games, but I didn't think they would be that great to be honest. Luckily I went against my better judgement and bought them. So glad I did!

All good picks, Gamespot community!

:D

I had a lot of hype for Arkham Asylum, but even I was amazed when my hype came through as justified.

Blazblue is one of the finest fighters in years. And the online system is just tops. No disrespect to Japanese devs, but I haven't been blown away by their attempts at online multiplayer, then Blazblue came along.

- Excitebots: Trick Racing.
- Madworld.
- Batman AA.
- Uncharted 2.
- Assassin's Creed II (Even though I loved the first one).

I think that's it.

borderlands

Demon's Souls. I expected AAA what I got was AAAA prime. Best game I played in years, completely engrossing and uncompromising in it's basic design. Love it.

Batman AA, Uncharted 2, MLB '09 The Show all suprised me how good they were.

Forza 3, man that game is just awesome

Dragon Age Origins really suprised me, but that is what I should really expect from Bioware.

Defense Grid: The Awakening. Fantastic tower defense game, very replayable.

infamous

Bionic Commando was the only game that truly surprised me this year. I was expecting a mediocre experience and, while what I played through was far from revolutionary, I still found the game to be very worthwhile. Also, the mutli was great, hectic funwhile the community lasted.

Batman AA, expected it too be another average mediocre hero game, that turned out to be 09's biggest surprise.Racer850

4 more.

All very impressive, especially, and surprisingly Extraction.

Dragon Age..I never got into Mass Effect, or for the most part Oblivion, so I really didn't expect to like DAO.

Batman AA also was a surprise. I really am not into superhero games, so it was a surprise that it was so good.

Batman and Little King's Story. I honestly did not care about the new batman at all, but my ebgames had it for 40 dollars on the first day, so I bought it. One of the best games of the year. I expected a fun little strategy games from LKS and I got one of the best games ever made. Seriously people, buy it.

Resident Evil 5. RE4 felt like it was a compromise between horror and action, RE5 needed to decide what it wants to be and to my surprise it did. I think many people were dissapointed it went in the direction of action, but I'm not because it's now one of my fav action games this gen.

infamous

stereointegrity

This and Demons Souls,I was expecting really crappy stuff,but it turned out to be better than theones I was EXPECTING.

Batman AA. Holy crap did that game catch me off guard.

inFamous. I got it through a "buy two get one free" deal as a throw in and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I've only played the good side and I want to go back and play the evil side.

I rented both Batman:AA and Brutal Legend and came away wanting to own them.

Cryostasis is a flawed masterpiece. It should come as no surprise that it's from a Ukrainian developer, then. Much like other flawed masterpieces such as STALKER, Cryostasis offers a very atmospheric and harsh setting full of tense moments. The story is seen through flashbacks of characters, which you can bring back to life if you survive the sections they died in. It's a game so hard, so harsh, and so revolutionary in some aspects, that it's truly a shame it didn't get the support of a bigger publisher. But for coming from such a small place, Cryostasis has managaed to sell great for an indie PC release and its received quite a few awards this year.



This game gets crapped on by critics like it's the worst game ever, yet they gave it a Metacritic score of 70+. Yeah, I don't get it. Anyways, I dug the story and gameplay. The "twist" was pretty stupid and way out there, but did I expect Bionic Commando to have a serious and non cheesy story? Nah. This game was fun and that's all that matters.

Brütal Legend. The gameplay videos looked like absolute crap, but it's the most hilarious game I've ever played.

Just finished Batman: Arkham Asylum last night. Definitely have the agree with the majority about this one; wasn't expecting much when I first heard about its existence. Planning on going through the story mode one more time starting tonight; it is just that good of a game.

I also found myself enjoying the PC version of The Last Remnant more than I thought I would. Complicated game, but very rewarding once you figure out how everything works.

This game gets crapped on by critics like it's the worst game ever, yet they gave it a Metacritic score of 70+. Yeah, I don't get it. Anyways, I dug the story and gameplay. The "twist" was pretty stupid and way out there, but did I expect Bionic Commando to have a serious and non cheesy story? Nah. This game was fun and that's all that matters.

BioShockOwnz

Hell no.

Oh, and I would also like to add Sacred 2 with Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Batman: AA and Demon's Souls

I had very low expectations for DS until the Eurogamer review and even then I was doubtful when I bought it the first day. It ended up being my GOTY :D

Shirokishi_

Became my 2nd favorite fighting game this gen.

Demon's Souls. I wasn't expecting much it surprised me by how fun it was to play.

Im surprised TC didn't list killzone 2.....

for me: demon's souls

Demon's Souls.

I'm surprised that's not on your list Bioshock, considering you seemed to hate it, but you seem to be playing it now. Did it grow on you?

I wasn't hyped for Dragon Age Origins. Have to say it is one of my favorite games that I've played this year. If you love KotOR I would definetly recommend them to play this game.

Demon's Souls.

I'm surprised that's not on your list Bioshock, considering you seemed to hate it, but you seem to be playing it now. Did it grow on you?

Alpha-Male22

seems like he inherintly hates ps3 excusives, but then can't deny their awesomeness when he gives them more playtime, or once they get GOTY

infamous

stereointegrity

Dragon Age: Origins, Risen, Torchlight, and surprisingly Uncharted 2 since the first one didn't appeal to me at all.

Batman AA, expected it too be another average mediocre hero game, that turned out to be 09's biggest surprise.Racer850

Wolfenstein

Prototype

And finally