Games you were 'meh' about that blew you away.

Tomb Raider Definitive on PS4 I got it as a present September last year and dipped in and out of it but never really gave it much time.

I've been playing it a lot the last couple of days and I really think this game is just absolutely amazing. It doesn't do a lot in terms of innovation but the graphics are just fantastic and the gameplay is really compelling considering it's just a third person shooter.

I get the Uncharted comparisons but for me the gunplay is MUCH better than in any Uncharted game I've played and even the contrived set piece cinematics which really have no right to impress anyone as they are so scripted totally amazed me the production values are so high.

I've never been a Tomb Raider fan but I LOVE this game it's just such a joy to play.

Have you wandered into any game expecting nothing and come out the other side thinking 'wow'?

The Last Remnant. It's not perfect by any means, but it's one of the best JRPGs I've ever played.

Lately? Shadow Warrior, went it expecting a regular shooter, loved killing everyone with the katana.

Persona 4.

Tomb Raider 2013 on PS3 when it was free on PS+. I was like "It's free, why not?"

About just a year later I bought the game on every single platform it was available on. (360, PS3, PC, PS4 both digital and physical, Xbox One)

Depends what you mean by "meh". Most of the games that blindsided me I'm entirely ignorant of (two examples....Arkham Asylum, and Ori and the Blind Forest). Most of the time games that I enjoy are on my radar for months prior to their release, but as there are so many, some slip through to surprise me. I wouldn't say it was meh apathy though, just my lack of paying attention.

CS GO

always thought counterstrike was boring as shit until I played it.

best mp shooter I've ever played

@blueinheaven:

the tomb raider reboot for $4 on steam. got it to try out since it was so cheap.

Was very impressed, finished it in two sittings

Dynasty Warriors 8.

Didn't really blow me away, but I did play 100 hours.

Spec Ops: The Line.

Meh gameplay but great voice acting, characterization and themes.

far cry 4

The Last of Us. Trailers and gameplay videos gave me the impression it was gonna be really dull.

Hotline Miami

@blueinheaven: So far Mad Max is looking pretty incredible. I wasn't too excited about it when it was announced, but after seeing the gameplay, it's on my pre-order list.

Rayman Origins

The Last of Us before release. It's now in my top 10 of all time.

Terraria, I told my friend who was trying to get me into it that I'd never play some little stupid game like that, well it ended up being one of the best games I have ever played.

A recent one would be Pillars of Eternity... kind of. I wasn't "blown away", but it was a game I had zero hype for and it turned out pretty great.

Actual meh to blown away status would be Ground Zeroes. I know it sounds absurd seeing as it's more of an awesome demo than a full game, but it did the job. MGS4 straight up killed my interest in the series. I wasn't even going to play Peace Walker, but a friend of mine handed me his HD collection and was like "bro at least check it out!"... fun enough game, but only a little faith restored. I took a gamble on GZ though, and the pay off was big. I expected it to be the final nail in the MGS coffin for me, but it actually got me more hyped for MGSV proper than I've been for any game in years.

I guess maybe Shovel Knight. I expected myself to enjoy it honestly, but more in a nostalgic kind of way. Instead it turned out to be its own thing, one hell of a game and a classic in its own right.

^

Definitely this. I thought it looked like another bullshit indie title to add to the mountain of retro cash grab nonsense. Word of mouth was good though, but the tipping point was when I saw an article about how the dev team were helping some of the bros on Pirate Bay get it up and running haha. That intrigued me. I'm the kind of guy that will pirate anything except video games, but in that instance I just had to grab a torrent.

I enjoyed the game so much in the first 30 minutes that I just went ahead and bought it.

Alpha protocol sucked me in. It was short but I loved it

Wolfenstein

Dark Souls

Dark Souls 2. I didn't even played the first one because it was so hard I stopped trying after the first boss, but after seeing a Let's Play of DS2 I decided to give it a chance and now it's my most played game ever.

Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag. I did not enjoy most of the other games in the series but this one literally took my breath away.

The Mad Max game.

I thought it looked like shit, but then I saw it in motion and the game looks amazing. The character models could do with some more detail though, but the car combat looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!

Divinity Original Sin.

I started the game like 5 or 6 times because I just couldn't get into it.

Woke up one evening when I couldn't sleep and decided to give it another go.

Played for hrs on end. Played it for several days after that when I had time to kill.

Put in close to 40 hrs into it and realized that I barely scratched the surface of what Cyseal had to offer.

the feeling of this realization...was pure bliss.

@PurpleMan5000: Was it fixed on 360?

Oh also, Pokemon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire.

Bayonetta, mgs3.

GTA V

I never was interested in the GTA games until Rockstar introduced first-person camera view. Now I know why (love it or hate it) every GTA that comes out is big news.

Persona 4 Golden

I don't think it was. I played the PC version (8800 GTS ran the game well, for reference). As far as I can tell, the major difference was the PC version was more stable and also allowed you to speed up the battles. Speeding up battles doesn't sound like much, but I couldn't imagine finishing the game without them. They get really long and drawn out in the second half of the game.

Honestly, the game has a ton of issues. You equip one character, and the others in your party equip themselves. They ask you vague questions about what you want them to focus on, and without a guide, it's hard to know how you should answer. Even with all of the issues the game has, though, it's still an RPG that lets you battle with multiple squads and leaders in each battle, with a wide range of skills, abilities, and specializations. In my opinion, it's the most unique game of last gen. The main problem the game has is that it goes out of its way to streamline itself. You have to learn tricks that the game doesn't give you (pressing x to view what each party member will do with various commands, switching targets to get different attacks, the flanking system, etc), and it has major difficulty spikes. I had a blast with setting various team compositions, formations, etc though. If you can find a cheap copy of the 360 version and you like turn-based RPGs, it's probably worth a try. There is a demo on Steam if you have a PC. Not sure if there is one on Xbox Live or not.

Mount and Blade Warband

Fallout 3

Dragon Age Origins

Gears of War 2 (for the horde mode mostly)

Alpha Protocol

Ass Creed 2

Batman Arkham Asylum

Chrono Trigger

Far Cry 3: Thought it'll be another boring game like Far Cry 2. Was surprised to have so much fun with it. Drugs, Animal Hunting, Lush forests, Great optimization and so on.

Tomb Raider reboot: Expected a full Uncharted clone. Instead, it had its own survival elements that made the game really good. I also liked new Lara's character a lot. I'm glad that sequel will have more survival elements and more exploration.

Divinity: Original Sin: The game looked interesting visually from the moment I saw its beta trailer but wasn't sure I'd like it because it was turn based and I expected outdated game that people praise because of nostalgia. Was impressed to see modern execution of cRPG genre and amount of content, love and care in this game is just amazing. Ended up being my GOTY.

AC 4: Black Flag: I expected this game to be AC3 with ships. I hated AC3 and wasn't interested in Black Flag but after hearing good things about it, I gave it a try. Was blown away by it. It also ended up being my GOTY.

Wolfenstein is an exceptional game it surprised me a lot i wasn't expecting much from the game and overall I'm very impressed with the game.

The last of us. I managed to avoid pretty much all build up for it. Wasn't excited for it. Had a Friday off work went shopping and realised it was release day, so I picked it up. Played a few hours, got the save bug so had to start again and loved every fucking minute.

bayonetta 1 I guess? I bought the game largely on how well received it was and how over the top it looked. I figured I would like it and enjoy it. I probably didn't expect it top be "best game of generation 7" good though, and probably didn't expect to replay the game as much as I did.

Dishonored and Vanguish. Didn't know anything about those games, but they both had pretty flawless mechanics, and other aspects that blew me away. Dishonored basically came out of nowhere, and Vanguish was my first PlatinumGames game, so I just didn't expect much from such under-hyped games. Both are at the top of my list from last gen.

• Bayonetta
• Minecraft
• Rayman Legends
• Batman: Arkham Asylum

Dead Space. I was really impressed by that game and I was not expecting anything.

DOTA2 - When a friend of mine suggested I should get the game, I was like 'nahh man not interested'.. Glad he managed to convince me cause its one of my favourite games and is the game I've played most (1322 hours)

Antichamber, I was expecting something a little different and it ended up being a masterpiece of mind fuckery that I thoroughly enjoyed. Another game I expected to be decent and turned out to be excellent was Legend of Grimrock and then I expected more of the same excellence with Legend of Grimrock 2 only to find that the game was far better than the first in almost every single way.

I agree with this. Dead Space is one of the best survival horror action games ever. Resident Evil 4 beats it, but Dead Space is pretty close. If I remember correcly I had just seen a few screens and didn't expect much. I was blown away.

TLOU, after Uncharted 2 a great game, but didn't blow my socks off I wasn't into the ND hype as most were. I don't even think I bought it at launch but It was the last big release of the gen so I said F it and bought it and then I was like wow, it blew me away because I simply wasn't expecting it.

Earthbound.

I normally get quite hyped when I buy games so there aren't many. :P Recently I got Everybody's Golf for the vita though and I've actually been hooked on it. That is a real surprise! Last golf game I played was Microsoft Golf 98 and I'm not really a fan of golf as a sport. I just grabbed this on a whim as I thought it would be a good game to play with my friend on the plane when we go away.

Can't really think of any others. I get carried away with hype so games either meet it or disappoint in general haha.

The Witcher 1. I got the regular(Red) version first and I thought the game was mediocre. I didn't get very far and put it down for a while. When the Enhanced Edition patch came out, I gave it another shot. The improved dialog made the beginning segments more tolerable and the game got better and better as I played it. When I finished it, my opinion had flipped.

This gen: The Order 1886 but it could be because I didn't pay for it.

Crackdown & Lost Odyssey come to mind.

Upcoming games, wasn't much interested figuring it would be "phoned in" but after seeing the game-play trailer..... Mad Max looks like it could be phenom, me loves open world games with vehicular combat :D

We shall see.

With Just Cause 3 coming, I'll say Just Cause 2.

I hated the first Just Cause. And my brother bought me JC2 for my birthday. I thought it was a horrible joke, but I ended up loving it. So much better than the first, and I'm very excited for JC3.