Games that you did not see the potential off when first played

[bingowings]

another one was the original Biohazard/Resident Evil, i seem to remember buying it relatively cheap after it came out. after an hour or so i arrived at the frankly ludicrous conclusion it was ****e and that 'nothing happened' - magic boxes? zombies? giant spiders? dogs and pool tables?

what an arse.

so for years i completely disregarded it until i bought REbirth and suddenly it all made sense - not because of the super-fresh makeover or the tweaked scenarios but something just clicked. all in all, it took me over 10 years to see the potential of pegging it round a spooky mansion armed with nothing but a knife and a beret worn at a jaunty angle.

[mr_sockochris]

It's gotta be Streetfighter 3 for me. I bought them all on the DC years ago but never really got into them that much. I didn't like most of the new characters and it just felt really different to the SF2 I'd loved for so long.

Then I got the JPN PS2 version that was released in Summer'04 and something just clicked with it. The Xbox version with online on increased my love for it, amazing game.


More recently I would have to go with Perfect Dark Zero's multiplayer. Really didn't like it at first but I'm quite enjoying it now for some reason. Single player is still utter **** though

[vertigo]

Bangai-o - thought it was an utterly annoying pile of crap when I first played it, then I realised it is all about the size of your explosion - and since then it is wheeled out on a regular basis.

Oh come on, by default your attitude should be towards big explosions and even bigger weapons

Soul Calibur took me aaaaaages, I'd say well over 2 years to even discover that it was any fun. I massively preferred Soul Edge over it on release. Then I started playing SC with someone else and got into the Edge Master mode too, finished that including the two hidden levels and unlocked everything and did it. I barely touch it now though, I'm more inclined to play Soul Edge more instead. What a bizarre little person I am. Still, at least I didn't prefer Tekken

Didn't get Mr Driller at first either.

Sanvein felt a bit like a rubbishy, floaty shooting game then I sussed it out and it's ace in its own unique way.

Also really didn't like Panzer Dragoon Orta at first, but it's still wicked now. It felt far too fiddly compared to Rez but, you know, I'm sure I can work out an extra button or two without my head exploding. I really should play it some more.

Actually, I still can't get any fun out of NiGHTS. I just don't find it fun. The framerate is horrid, the camera's too close and it's basically just a memory test to grab lots of things and do lots of loops in as short a time as possible. Simply not fun for me at all. Doesn't help that the manual and game refer to paraloops and other moves without actually telling you what they are or do. It just unceremoniously dumps you into the first level and expects you to work it out for yourself and makes you feel like a wanker when you get an F at the end of the level and then get battered by the stupid dragon because you try to grab it and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Have tried playing it three times now since it was released and I still don't get where the fun is. Perhaps it appeals most to time trialers and I'm not one of those by default. And I own 4 copies of the bloody thing!

[Ork1927]

Resi 4 on the Cube.

Highly anticipated, had some awareness of a great opening in the village and a big fan of the series.

Went into the village and as the villagers came after me I ran back down the path and proceeded to take them out one at a time, using all my ammo and nearly all my health until the bell rang.

Disapointed, I went to the next area, saved and decided to stop playing for the night while wondering what all the hype was about.

Next morning, before work, I decided to restart and try the village again. Twice got my head lopped off by a chainsaw and never looked back. Ended up playing through the whole game three times back-to-back

[Btang84]

I'd say Virtua Fighter 4. That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the game, but it did require me to play for hours and hours to fully understand the mechanics of the game properly. It's also one of those games where the training is definitely required and helps improve your play. For me, it's the best fighting game out there. Once you get two fairly equal-level players in versus, it becomes a game of strategy rather than a beat-em-up.

I'm guessing that most people have probably given up on digging further. Though I haven't touched the game for ages now, I know there's still loads I could learn playing the game. It really does separate the best players from the weak.