Games which exceeded your expectations

[PeteJ]

Condemned also, still the best horror of the past few years imo.

[Yoshimax]

ICO - Had no idea about this game prior to getting my hands on it - The atmosphere was pratically dripping off the screen - one of the PS2's best.

Psi Ops - I'll give a shout to this as well - utterly fantastic use of physics and some sublime gameplay moments.

Oddworld Strangers Wrath - Does this work on 360 ? If so I'll be picking it up again - I enjoyed the older oddworld games but as already mentioned this is up there in the xbox premier league with halo and Ninja Gaiden.

Tony Hawks American Sk8land - The daft name and cel shading made me think this was just another hawk game with novelty graphics - It kinda is but it's easily the best Hawk since TH3 - sublime.

[blizzard]

Super Metroid SNES
Amazing absorbing game i bought the huge box version came with a book everything about the game oozed quality you really wanted to push that bit further.

Resident evil 2 PS1
WOW can this get any better i thought then i completed disc1 and started disc 2 and because i had completed it nemesis was now introduced to the game chasing me about TERRIFIED at the time.

The Bitmap Bros Games -Speedball2 Xenon2 Cadaver Gods The Chaos Engine AMIGA.
If you havent played those get them no introductions needed.

Super Mario 64 N64
Technically amazing when i first saw this running in a games shop i couldnt beleive it was for home consoles

Elder Scrolls Oblivion X360
Need i say more

So many more i could list through my 20years of gaming

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

I agree with Speedball 2 & Chaos Engine & u can add Gunstar Heroes. It was like SNES/MD Probotector (which is also a fave of mine!) on speed!!
I wasnt sure about Castlevania SOTN only because I expected a 3D version, but when I played it it was & still is a fave of mine.
Silent Bomber for the PSone was another I wasnt sure about but is fantastic too!!
Ape Escape.
Silent Hill series too. I thought it was just going to be a rip off of Resi, but its much more twisted & atmospheric!
GTA Vice City. I played GTA 3 & wasnt quite convinced, but I got Vice City & I love it!!
Brothers In Arms series. Such a great & authentic battle system. A breath of fresh air in 1st person Military shooters.
Prince Of Persia SOT. Wasnt sure what I was gonna get, but was so pleasantly surprised.
Grandia 2. The 1 & only RPG for me. Plays totally different to any I've ever played & the battles are actually a joy to control & watch.
Syphon Filter - PSone. I played the US version & it was so new & different to any other game I'd played. It was so fast & action packed with great weapons. Taking out the street lights to darken the area so that your enemy couldnt detect u was such a great ability at the time of this game.
Tail Concerto. This is the weirdest, cutest, funniest & enjoyable game that I've played on the PSone.

[dataDave]

Perfect Dark"

This game still exceeds my expectations today. Games between me and my mate still hurt our chest when we play, it's that sickening.

The last time me and my mate Justin Goodwin played I surprised him with an unexpected magnum shot that literally sent him flying backwards off of his chair into my other TV.

The finest display of skill in a videogame ever is held by my friend Liam Simpson (So Solid Simp). He fired a single golden DY357 LX shot through two circular straffing human opponents on the Car Park roof from around 100meters away.

Still enjoy playing through PA mode and having a dabble with Perfect Dark mode (custom difficulty). The music is spot on and I don't think the engine has aged, if anything it makes all of today's FPSs seem mediocre in comparrison.

Name me any FPS where you can shoot between the bollocks of a team mate straight into the face of an enemy mate with the sniper rifle, or under the armpit, between neck and shoulder etc. Nothing registers that precisely these days.

THE marksmanship game.

EDIT: Just to add, anyone who thinks there is anything wrong with this game is a ****, anyone who thinks Goldeneye is better is also a ****. The only game worthy of a 10/10 IMO.

[Yoshimax]

Name me any FPS where you can shoot between the bollocks of a team mate straight into the face of an enemy mate with the sniper rifle, or under the armpit, between neck and shoulder etc. Nothing registers that precisely these days.

I was well surprised to find that GRAW online allows this kind of precision !! Haven't actually lined up that scenario but you can aim pixels below a team-mates scrote and the shot will miss them.

[Wil]

I'll second Tail Concerto. I was initially drawn in by Noboteru Yuki character designs but the game was really charming, quirky and cute.

[dataDave]

Fair play to it then. I do remember it being pretty precise, but not polygon-tracing precise. I'll have to experiment.

[parkinho]

Metroid Prime - Was never a fan of the 2D games, and when I saw Dave Fallows playing on this at Greg Moss's house I wasn't really impressed. Still, I bought it on PAL release and played through a somewhat lacklustre opening section before leaving it for a few days.

When I went back and started to explore Tallon IV, it all clicked into place - the control system was perfect, the scanning was a revelation, and the atmosphere was like nothing I had ever experienced. I was literally blown away when I reached the beautiful Phendrana Drifts

The second best game of this generation, just behind Echoes.

[eastyy]

I do agree with Metroid prime i remember seeing some ealry footage and thought it looked terrible

Thankfully it turned out great

[MikeRox]

Metroid Prime - Was never a fan of the 2D games, and when I saw Dave Fallows playing on this at Greg Moss's house I wasn't really impressed. Still, I bought it on PAL release and played through a somewhat lacklustre opening section before leaving it for a few days.

When I went back and started to explore Tallon IV, it all clicked into place - the control system was perfect, the scanning was a revelation, and the atmosphere was like nothing I had ever experienced. I was literally blown away when I reached the beautiful Phendrana Drifts

Sums up my feelings on the original Prime perfectly. If you havn't got this (or a cube) it's worth picking up the system for at like ?40 with the game. One of this generations true must have games for me. People found scanning a chore, but on a game with practically nothing in the way of narrative, it was actually the developers way of adding one of the deepest background stories to what you were exploring I've ever come across, some of the information you "discovered" about experiments and stuff was truly chilling.

The game which most exceeded expectations for me has to be Jet Set Radio. I remember flicking through page after page of previews and watching various videos on gamespot and the like before it came out and just really couldn't get my head around what sort of game it was. When I finally had the money to pick it up however, I was most certainly not dissapointed. The game was packed it so much charm and some awesome characters, and the best bit is Professor K was really just so cool. He shudn't have been in the slightest, but for somereason Smilebit just really pulled it off perfectly.

The game is a true labour of love though, not happy with having an original concept for a game, they also just HAD to perfect it. They crafted it in a perfectly fitting visual style, chucked om some off the most crazy music I've ever heard and finished the whole package with gameplay which is just as mad as the rest of the package. Jet Set Radio is quite simply my favourite game of all time.

[EDDIE M0NS00N]

I'm playing Kameo at the mo.
I got it thrown in when I bought my 360. I thought I'd just sell it on eBay seeing as I had a quick go on it in Gamestation when the 360 was 1st released & it looked a bit ****e, but I've started to play it & I'm really liking it.
That Major Ruin morph is a bit of a rip off of the Morph Ball ability in Metroid Prime 1 & 2, but it seems to be used quite effectively & isnt some kind of gimmick.
I dont know why but the way the characters move kinda feels a bit like Giants & Armed & Dangerous. Theres a great soundtrack to it aswell. Kinda LOTR sounding!

[Akira]

Also for anyone who was intrested but wanted to wait for a review EDGE gave it a favourable review buth then scored it 6/10.

Sorry to got OT,but they gave GTA III a 6/10??

[unleashedmaniac]

Syphon Filter - PSone. I played the US version & it was so new & different to any other game I'd played. It was so fast & action packed with great weapons. Taking out the street lights to darken the area so that your enemy couldnt detect u was such a great ability at the time of this game.

Definitely agree with you, at the time it was a great game. I might have to revisit it with the arrival of my PS.

[Zaki]

Sorry to got OT,but they gave GTA III a 6/10??

That's what I remember.