What are your 5 biggest gaming surprises of all time?

These are games you knew little to nothing about beforebuying , but loved.Mine are

1. Countermeasure Atari 5200
2. The TRON Trilogy Intellivision
3. Impossible Mission Commodore 64
4. Zillion and Zillion 2 Sega Master System
5. Toe Jam and Earl 3 Xbox

1. Crackdown. Effing amazing.More than just a way to play the Halo 3 Beta. It's one of the best Sandbox games I have ever played. I play it to this day just to drive around in co-op and pull off some crazy stunts and make some insane explosions. This game is awesome.

2. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Score seemed low, talk about it seemed low. I found it in the cheap bin in a store once. I had heard about it so I bought it. That is an amazing sword combat FPS. Seriously, it's so underrated. The story was weak but who cares? The action was fun and epic. And the morale decisions seemed smooth and well implemented.

3. Dead Rising. Played the demo over and over. Loved it, but I thought that's all there was to the game. But once I bought it I saw how awesome all the different bosses, weapons, enemies, and locations were. Not to mention the story was epic and serious yet satirical and funny at the same time. There was so much more to the game than the demo. And I loved it. Not to mention this game has some of the best graphics this gen.

4. Conflict: Desert Storm. Back in the day when I didn't even look at gaming sites for reviews and just listened to word of mouth and what my friends played (back in the day, there weren't any well established franchises just yet, other than the real old-school ones, so we bought lots of games just off impulse). This game was some of the most fun co-op experiences I've ever had in my gaming life. I'd sit on the sofa with 3 of my friends and we'd all just play for hours on end. I remember it to this day and I see similarities in many games today to Conflict: Desert Storm.

5. Pepsiman. Some of you may not know this game. But it was huge back in the early-mid 90s and especially in Japan (where I lived). I got it as a bonus gift for buying a 24 pack of Pepsi from a convenience store. Popped it into my PS1, and I was blown away. It's like Mirror's edge in some ways. You have to keep running and avoid obstacles. And Pepsiman was an amazing parkour athelete too so he could pull of all the moves. But the thing was, this game also had some great humour. Pepsiman was like an anti-hero. He tried to do great things, but in the end failed. Man I miss this game. They should totally bring it back. Here's a clip on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkvSLzug3Nk

5. Halo 3 Overrated - When this game get 9.5 on GS, I immediately bought it, and WTF is that graphics? It looks worse than Gears!! And the gameplay and story too.....Dissappointed. Halo and Halo 2 was one of my favourite games. Luckily, the multiplayer is still a little bit fun

4. Call of Duty 4 - Biggest enjoyment playing FPS Multiplayer since Counter Strike

3. Little Big Planet - The new gameplay mechanix just WOW

2. Crysis - First time I see the graphics.... I can't describe it with words. its just like....the real thing. I mean, the forest is... It's just like I actually is in the real forest, not just my eyes see a good graphic

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - I never thought that there is a game that can be better from movies, but MGS 4 change that. If movies have The Godfather, than games have Metal Gear Solid 4. Of course, it's just my opinion ;)

5. Halo 3 Overrated - When this game get 9.5 on GS, I immediately bought it, and WTF is that graphics? It looks worse than Gears!! And the gameplay and story too.....Dissappointed. Halo and Halo 2 was one of my favourite games. Luckily, the multiplayer is still a little bit fun

4. Call of Duty 4 - Biggest enjoyment playing FPS Multiplayer since Counter Strike

3. Little Big Planet - The new gameplay mechanix just WOW

2. Crysis - First time I see the graphics.... I can't describe it with words. its just like....the real thing. I mean, the forest is... It's just like I actually is in the real forest, not just my eyes see a good graphic

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - I never thought that there is a game that can be better from movies, but MGS 4 change that. If movies have The Godfather, than games have Metal Gear Solid 4. Of course, it's just my opinion ;)

ihsanqueen

your halo 3 opinion is out of place in this list.

I won't argue with your opinion, albeit to say that you seem kind of biased.

5. Fire Emblem

4. Ratchet and Clank

3. Freedom Fighters

2. Tales of Symphonia

1. Final Fantasy 7

1. Kingdom Hearts - A good Disney? Gasp!

2. Halo: Combat Evolved - It was back when I was a stupid kid that acted like hype made something bad. Kinda like how most people seem in game forums. But I was blown away by how awesome the game was.

3. Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 - A good Dragon Ball game? Wu-what?

4. Gears of War - Taught me to stop acting so negatively about hype

5. Rockband - I was starting to think rythm games couldnt get much better and that full band support was a crazy idea. I was wrong

5. The whole Tales of Series (Didn't think it would be good since I am not a fan of FFs)
4. Pikmin 2 (Wasn't a fan of the 1st one so wasn't expecting it to be so good)
3. Super Mario Strikers (Just thought it wouldn't work)
2. Advance Wars series (Hadn't like Fire Emblem so was unsure of this series)
1. Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg (Thought it would be crap, but it was waaaay better than I thought)

1. Zelda: OOT. I'd been told by my dad that I can have one game to buy, and I'd originally went into buy mario kart, but the store didn't have it. That, or it was probably £60 and I couldn't get it. Either way, I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I just grabbed OOT for £7, knowing nothing about what it's like. It turned out to be one of my favourite games of all time.

2. Oblivion: I'd never played an elder scrolls game before, and had no idea what they were like. The game was getting some hype here, and the only thing I knew about it was that it was first person, which seemed very weird to me. Either way, I didn't care for it, but the day it came out, I randomly bought. I still don't know why, but I don't regret it. One of my favourite games of this gen.

3.Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3: This game is my favourite fighting game, though I've bearely played any, Still, me and my friend sunk tons of hours into this game.

That's all I can think of right now...

5. Sonic the Hedgehog - my very first video game. of course i've played the consoles that came before the Sega Mega Drive, but that was when i already know what video games are all about. Sonic is my very first CONSOLE game (Spear od Destiny is actually my very first game; played it when i was in kindergarten, it's the prequel to WOlfenstein XD) and i was totally blown away by Sonic, leading me to play SOnic 2, 3, sonic and Knuckles, and everything in between.

4. Uncharted - i just got my new PS3 and i was thinking of buying some games with it over a year ago, i wasn't really reading websites like GS or iGN for news and stuff since i still don't ahve a next-gen console. and whoa! the story belw me away. twist in almost every chapter. that's why i love the adventure genre sicne you can go to different places and explore stuff (to explore not in the Fallou 3 sense where you have to search every inch)

3. MGS1 - the scene where you had to change the controller to Port 2 to continue playing, Psycho Mantis knowing what games you've played (by accessing your memory card), the 'put down your controller and i'll move it' and the damn controller vibrates, the code where you have to search at theback of the CD box, need i say more?

2. Final Fantasy Crisis Core - never have i expected an awesome game i nrecent years. it's a handheld game, but it's just as deep as Disgaea: Afternoon Darkness, the story is amazing, cutscenes are awesome, and the real-time battle system is just neat.

1. MGS4, my very first ps3 game and i was totally blown away. a top-notch quality game. after playing this, i was bored with almost every third-person shooter that i played (Assassin's Creed, im looking at you). the story is just as awesome as mgs3, the cutscenes are not CGI (holy cow, and it's done in motion-capture which is sick!), the gameplay, the octocamo suit, the variation of things to do, and of course, the sneaking. awesome game.

There was only one game in my entire life that I bought and knew absolutely nothing about it : Jak and Daxter : The Precursor Legacy

1. RPG's

2. RTS

3. Online gaming

4. PS3

5. Bioshock

1.Super Smash Bros Melee: I didn't think I'd like it but last gen I played it more than any other game.

2.Street Fighter 4: Can't stop playing it because I didn't expect it to be that good.

3.Super Mario Galaxy: I knew it was gonna be good but the best Mario game in years very surprised.

4.Little Big Planet: Very fun and creative playing peoples levels online.

5.Ratchet and Clank series: When I first heard about the series I felt cool but when I played through the original trilogy I just fell in love with the series.

I usually dont buy games unless i really 'have a good feeling' about them, or play them somewhere and enjoy them (on a lesser note, if all reviews are coming in AAA), Theres still a bunch of games that I bought that surprised me but one's that really stand out include Pepsi-man (awesome), castlevania (the original, which I bought knowing nothing about but ended up to be one of my favourite franchises), and various other games spanning many consoles whose names I must have forgotten (surprisingly, I remember getting a JRPG as a gift from a friend on the PS1 and I loved it even though I had never heard of it).

Sonic Adventure(DC): I had only owned a SNES before, so going from super mario world to this was amazing.

Pokemon Red: My first game boy game also happened to be my favorite. The biggest dissapointment? catching all 151 pokemon(gameshark:D) and having Professor Oak tell me "Congratulations" and nothing else.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: Before this game I had looked down on every sports game. Grinding was so easy and fun, even if it was incredibly unrealistic, or at least until Skate came out.

Halo 3: This was one of my first 360 games and my first Halo game. I was blown away by the art style and fun factor of the single player. Multiplayer may not have been as satisfying as Cod 4, but it was clearly more competitive in the long run.

Sonic Heroes: This. Game. Sucked. I was so excited to play the true next gen sequel to Sonic Adventure 2, and this is what we got. All I know is that I fell off the edge. A lot. I could never even finish the game, and so traded it in.

When i first got my ps1 i knew little about video games and didnt know what to buy so i just went with hyped games not knowing what to expect.

1. Final fantasy 7: first RPG ever and when i started playing it i thought to myself wow this game sucks its boring you just run around and read, out of bordom one day a few months later i picked it up again and loved it, I was blown away!

2: Metal Gear Solid: my cousin told me this was the only game he wanted to play on playstation so i picked it up for him to play it but found myself in love with it.

3: Silent Hill: Not really a fan of the horror series at the time i picked it up and realised that its not a game that just focuses on things that jump out at you but it messes with your head with an amazing story and great character devopment.

4: Devil May Cry: I didnt know anything about this game, my brother in law was talking to me one day and just told me it was a good game he couldnt explain why tho he just said "2 guns unlimited amo" and i decided to see what he meant... I was impressed

5: is a tie between Shadow of Destiny and ICO, both these games are very diffrent, Shadow of destiny i read the back cover in blockbuster and decided to try it out and was amazed that it was like a choose your own adventure book about you being able to travel back in time to stop your own death.

Ico was just a great game loved the enviorments.

And thats that:)