Your biggest suprise this gen?

[MSI Magus]

At another board someone created a topic asking for games without a single dull moment. The game that instantly came to mind was Resident Evil 4....and you know what no matter how hard i tried I couldnt think of another game that I never had a single dull moment playing. Dont get me wrong I enjoyed FFX, Dark Cloud 2, Katamari and many others....but they had moments I thought uggg cant wait till this is over. Resident Evil 4 was a roller coaster ride that just never stopped.

After that popped in my head I realized that I would give it my vote for the best game this generation in a heartbeat. Iv always hated the series and dont really like Surviver Horror(yes I know RE4 is more action)so imagine my suprise renting RE4 and finding this amazing game that blew me out of the water to the point id give it the title best game of this generation.

Anyways. Thats mine, whats yours? KH CoM actually having a deep story? Dark Cloud 2 actually being a good game? PS3s price? Wii controller?

[javeryh]

Resident Evil 4 is the best game I've played in years. If they keep the pacing, difficulty and gameplay the same for RE5 I'm going to be very very happy...

[itspaidgasterblaster]

God of War. Although I love every minute of Final Fantasy X.

[daroga]

Shadow of the Colossus. The technical limitation of it (framerate!) almost made me stop playing, but I'm glad I didn't. Fantastic game. It won't hold up over time, but it was fun while it lasted.

[RegalSin2020]

What really surprised me was Beyond Good and Evil. From begin to end this game was worth it. It gave me the same feeling I had when I first played Geomon N64 or Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Never such a game just pulled me in and then said to be continued? I mean that is just not fair after giving me this great exprience and then I find out there is not going to be another one.

Goldensun also left me hanging. I do not accept the second game as a sequel.

Killer7 was dull at ifrst but once you get into the gameplay you be commiung back for more. After playing this I felt like laughing myself. Reminds of
GoldenEye N64 where the controller feels like a gun.

Well RE4 was super dull at moments. Half the time I was just walking around trying to find flaws in this near perfect 3d enviorment. I did find flaws besides that you could just run threw almost anything in this game also. Even in Ada's mini Quest you are able to run threw almost anything just to get to a certain point. However what I did like about the game was the Water World level for replay value.

Dramfall is a game I have yet played but from what it looks like it might just be the next Wonder Project.

Beyond Good and Evil is the biggest Surprise to me. RE4 just went too far with the Terrorist crap and pulled out so many great features and the Showdown with Umbrella or other Corperation.

[Allnatural]

I'd probably put RE4 at the top of my "best games this generation" list, but the biggest *surprise* for me (meaning, a game that far surpassed my low expectations) would probably be Xenosaga. I had read many reviews, but nothing about the game really captured my interest. I bought the first game on a lark when I saw it for $20, and after a few hours I couldn't put it down.

[Z-Saber]

Shadow of the Colossus and Katamari Damacy.

[Dead of Knight]

The Digital Devil Saga series. I didn't care for SMT3 very much so I was cautious about the first game, but still bought it. It kicked ass and I played through it twice before the second one came out. Excellent, excellent series.

[Roufuss]

RE 4 and Shadow of the Colossus, definitely.

[furyk]

The Legend of Shadow, Digital, Resident Katamari of War Hearts Calibur vs Viewtiful Raw Radio.

Oh and Sega dying. That upset me.

[CAG 79]

Okami and Metal Gear Solid 3 would have to be my choices.

[VanillaGorilla]

I would have to say Oblivion. Sure, RE4 was great, and I'm playing through it again, this time on PS2, but you don't run into too many games where, after 187 hours of play, you're still finding new things, trying out new stuff, all the while never once saying "I'm bored". RE4 would have to be a close second, and Shadow Hearts: Covenant slides in at #3 for me.

[jimbodan]

Katamari Damacy. I honestly don't see how people can call RE:4 a "surprise".

[paz9x]

ico

[VanillaGorilla]

Katamari Damacy. I honestly don't see how people can call RE:4 a "surprise".They call it a surprise because, after RE2, the formula got stale. It was surprising just how amazing the game was, graphically, and how a completely different perspective (3rd person over the shoulder), along with some more refined improvements to the infamous tank controls, revitalized a stagnant franchise.

[A Happy Panda]

Guitar Hero - Surprisingly fun, and way too addicting.

[dastly75]

RE4, Eternal Darkness

[lokizz]

how dissappointing KH 2 was and how it killed my interest in the series alltogether.they went from the awesomeness of KH and then took so many steps backwards and cut out and dumbed down everything that made KH great when they made kh 2. no hunting for hidden items, no mushroom hunting no real secrets or surprises and piss poor voice acting. hell the GBA kh game is better than KH 2.

i was suprised how great Gun was as far as games go. for a fan of wild west films it was an amazign game. the 2 companies that did gun and red dead revolver should team up and make a western game together because each of them have somethign they could bring that they did better than the other company did.

all in all the biggest surprises i had this year came from finding this site and getting in on some of the best online store deals imaginable. theres a real rush to being able to purchase games you were curious about or really wanted for way less thn you would have paid new when they first came out. it feels great for a while until it sinks in just how much money youve wasted over the years paying full price for games but eh shit happens what can you do if you dont have a time machine. im looking foward to see what comes to pass during and after the christmas season.

oh yeah God of war was an amazing game just too short and GTA San Andreas created the first really amazing game world that didnt need to load when you went from one place to another. its one of the few games you could have fun in just driving around and not doing any missions. and the races were awesome and difficult due to riding around in real environments so you could easily fall into a river or blow up or tip over and blow up.

[MSI Magus]

how dissappointing KH 2 was and how it killed my interest in the series alltogether.they went from the awesomeness of KH and then took so many steps backwards and cut out and dumbed down everything that made KH great when they made kh 2. no hunting for hidden items, no mushroom hunting no real secrets or surprises and piss poor voice acting. hell the GBA kh game is better than KH 2.

Id say thats a bit harsh. KH2 really dissapointed me too, however it still was a great game and deffintly beat KH CoM. They just should have made the stupid little mini games reward you and ya it needed a little more item hunting too.

[rodeojones903]

The biggest suprise to me was the lack in number and quality of Nintendos first party games.

[zewone]

Biggest suprise?

DS being a better console than the PSP.

[lokizz]

Id say thats a bit harsh. KH2 really dissapointed me too, however it still was a great game and deffintly beat KH CoM. They just should have made the stupid little mini games reward you and ya it needed a little more item hunting too.

i think im being nice about KH 2 being that it was one of the few games i thought would be worth paying full price to get instead of waiting for i was completly letdown by it. yeah the action can be fun at times if not cheap and too easy except for a few boss and mini boss battles but the game has very little going for it. the peopel doing the voice overs soudn like theyre doped up and dont want to be doing what theyre doing.

hey made the battles too easy to win and it takes very little skill to beat the game overall. i remember trying to figure out every possible way to beat an enemy in kh 1 but with kh 2 it was all too easy with theose triangle commands. the one boss i had any trouble with was the gold chest enemy thats it everyoen else was a pushover.

remember malfecent in kh 1 or ursula or the grim reaper or kurt zisas? those were bosses who forced you to think on your feet and made every little spell , item or weapon mean something. not to mention goofy and donald were more helpful and useful in Kh 1 in kh 2 aside from form changing theyre an annoyance and useless.

in the end KH 1 was a game that set a high standard for what an action rpg should and could be and they fumbled the ball with kh 2. call me an angry old gamer but i enjoyed com more than kh 2 and i really enjoyed the card battle system. but ill agree the game could have and maybe should be added to some kind of bonus game if they ever remake kh 1.

and the worlds in kh 2 didnt have the same 3d explorable feel the ones in kh 1 had.

[lokizz]

The biggest suprise to me was the lack in number and quality of Nintendos first party games.

i agree the only game i was wowed by was metroid. mario sunshine sucked but its hard to follow up a game liek mario 64.

[Plinko]

I echo the sentiment about KH2 killing the interest in that series--I was SO disappointed by that game. I looked forward to that one for so long, and to get that kind of payoff...ugh.

My surprise game?

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy. I LOVE adventure games, and I really wasn't expecting anything from that game, and it ended up being one of the best adventure games of all time.

[MSI Magus]

i think im being nice about KH 2 being that it was one of the few games i thought would be worth paying full price to get instead of waiting for i was completly letdown by it. yeah the action can be fun at times if not cheap and too easy except for a few boss and mini boss battles but the game has very little going for it. the peopel doing the voice overs soudn like theyre doped up and dont want to be doing what theyre doing.

hey made the battles too easy to win and it takes very little skill to beat the game overall. i remember trying to figure out every possible way to beat an enemy in kh 1 but with kh 2 it was all too easy with theose triangle commands. the one boss i had any trouble with was the gold chest enemy thats it everyoen else was a pushover.

remember malfecent in kh 1 or ursula or the grim reaper or kurt zisas? those were bosses who forced you to think on your feet and made every little spell , item or weapon mean something. not to mention goofy and donald were more helpful and useful in Kh 1 in kh 2 aside from form changing theyre an annoyance and useless.

in the end KH 1 was a game that set a high standard for what an action rpg should and could be and they fumbled the ball with kh 2. call me an angry old gamer but i enjoyed com more than kh 2 and i really enjoyed the card battle system. but ill agree the game could have and maybe should be added to some kind of bonus game if they ever remake kh 1.

and the worlds in kh 2 didnt have the same 3d explorable feel the ones in kh 1 had.

I agree it had a number of flaws, but it was still atleast worthy of a high 8. I didnt plunk down $50 for it instead I rented it and im glad I did...but its still a really good game even if they did fumble the ball and let alot of people down.

And as far as Nintendo not making as many good games, again id disagree. I just think they were more spread out and made by more houses meaning some stinkers did get through. Really if you look at last gens and the number of good titles then look at this gen but not just at the GC but also GBA and DS....they put out ALOT of good stuff, far more then last gen.

[integralsmatic]

Biggest suprise?

DS being a better console than the PSP.y

QFT on that one

[Apossum]

definitely the insane success of the DS.

[VanillaGorilla]

Biggest suprise?

DS being a better console than the PSP.It's not a console, it's a handheld.

[VAD3R or Fro]

Guitar Hero was a great game. Also the DS lite I bought this summer was a great system.

[Duo_Maxwell]

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic

About the time that it came out I was beginning to think there would never be a decent Star Wars game on a console again (especially after Obi-Wan), I was never more glad to have been proven wrong.

[jacobv]

Timesplitters 2. Bought if 5 bucks and I was pleasently surprised.

[Pancake Rabbit]

Biggest suprise?

DS being a better console having much better games than the PSP.

fixed

the biggest surprise in terms of games for me was frequency. I picked it up for like 5 bucks at target during a clearance, had no idea what the game was I just got it because of the shiny cover art. I popped it in my ps2 and I was really addicted to it, I had never played anything like it. Also it led to amplitude and guitar hero both of which were very good games.

[jkam]

Prince of Persia Sands Of Time and Resident Evil 4. Both games kept my interest throughout.

[ViolentLee]

The biggest suprise to me was the lack in number and quality of Nintendos first party games.
To quote Jack Black in High Fidelity, "That's so good; it should have been mine!" I tell ya, there are some insighful SOBs on CAG -- no wonder I spend too much time on here.

I guess my biggest surprise was Final Fantasy totally ditching its formula and going MMO. It was definitely not a good surprise, either.

[rabbitt]

Ending up owning a PS2 & Xbox (and 360). During the N64 days, I was a pretty big Nintendo fanboy. I'm glad I stopped caring about 'company loyalty' and now play video games indiscriminatingly.

[wubb]

Man I really need to pick up RE4.

Katamari Damacy I guess would be mine, although I had heard only good things about it before playing so I wasn't truly surprised. I did find myself imagining rolling up stuff as I walked around IRL, truly the sign of a great game.

POP making the leap to current gen/3D while ingeniously keeping some ties to it's roots is another great one. (Shamelessly ripped from jkam.)

[tangytangerine]

RE4 & Viewtiful Joe.

RE4, because the series was becoming pretty stale until this came along and revamped the series.

Viewtiful Joe for almost the same reason. Most 2D games felt stale to me since the SNES days(except for Tomba, which I enjoyed). Then this came along with it's 2.5D style and very unique story that had me playing it for months.

On the bad side:

Nintendo's treatment of Star Fox- When the GC launched, I thought that a excellent SF game would be released for it and would play like SF & SF64. Boy, was I wrong with that.

[Supercake]

Never seen a gen where gamea have been so artistic and deep as this one. Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Shadow of the Colossus, Katamari, Ico, Gungrave 1, Okami, and Killer 7. This gen has really showed me just how powerful games can be.

[nyprimus4]

Playing through the Call of Duty 2 campaign on 360. I was completely WOWed by it. Then after that I rented PDZ and was probably one of the biggest dissappointments this gen, the original was great on N64, and after the Gamespot video review for PDZ I was salivating.

[zewone]

It's not a console, it's a handheld.
A handheld what, dick? ;)

[VanillaGorilla]

A handheld what, dick? ;)A handheld dick!? Stop spying on me!

[62t]

Phoenix Wright

[AshesofWake]

Quake 4. I was blown away by how much fun I had with this game. Easily my favorite game of this gen. It was just simple plain fun.


Katamari Damacy: the most insane game i've ever played, pure hilarity + fun, hard to pull off usually.


Metroid Prime: Totally a new type of gameplay mechanics while still retaining the Metroid feel.

[psiufoxx2]

Liberace turning out to be GAY!!! I mean.. who saw that coming?!!? :shock:

[sprintsucks5892]

Fatal Frame. I never thought it was that good until I played it. The 1st one is definitly on my Top 10 games of all time.
Also how much Parappa the Rapper 2 sucked.

[FriskyTanuki]

Sony's complete domination of the platforming genre and the emergence of great movie games.

As for specific games: Burnout 3, Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 3, Star Wars KotOR, Katamari Damacy, and Metroid Prime.

[MSI Magus]

Sony's complete domination of the platforming genre and the emergence of great movie games.

As for specific games: Burnout 3, Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 3, Star Wars KotOR, Katamari Damacy, and Metroid Prime.

Sony dominating platformers is a great one....who would have thought Sony would beat Nintendo in that genre....

[evilmax17]

-GTA becoming one of the biggest powerplay franchises in console gaming (GTA1 was my favorite game for a long time, but it was often considered to be an obscure title).

-DS winning against the PSP.

-Katamari Damacy becoming a major mainstream success.

-The Gamecube not doing better than it did.

-Guitar Hero becoming as popular as it became.

[Kaijufan]

Resident Evil 4 being so good. I hated the standard Resident Evil gameplay, and even when I heard RE4 was much different and much better I was still a little skeptical. Now RE4 is in my top 10 games of all time.

[onikage]

Shadow of the Colossus - Deserves a sequel, this is an incredible game.
Mario Baseball - Simply the best baseball game I've ever played. I've probably spent more time playing this than anything else in the last year.
SMT: Nocturne + DDS - I had heard of the series, but didn't know much about it until I played Nocturne, which is now my most-played RPG this gen. I've also enjoyed both DDSagas and will try Devil Summoner once it gets a little cheaper.
Suikoden V - Going opposite Final Fantasy, this series redeemed itself after a couple of lackluster outings.

Final Fantasy - IMO this series went straight downhill this generation. I played through X, didn't like it at all, then tried playing X-2 and only lasted a few hours. Both games were very disappointing and have turned me away from the series, which until this generation was one of my all-time favorites.

[Chacrana]

How much of an improvement we saw in the action genre. PS1 action games feel obsolete for the most part now just because we moved so far forward with games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2/3, etc.

[captainfrizo]

God of War - despite the great reviews and everyone's praise, I was still amazed by how great the game is.

Resident Evil 4 - in my opinion the most all-round enjoyable experience this generation.

Nintendo DS - I dismissed it at first as a cheesy gimmick; it's now my favorite hand-held of all time.

[Prepster]

Wow, as much as I agree with a lot of what everyone else has posted, I must say I can not believe no one else brought up Halo........This was the sole reason I got interested in video games again.

And since I hated FPS before I played Halo, I was almost in shock of how well a game it actually was.

[msdmoney]

Resident Evil 4 - I know it has been mentioned by half of the people in the thread, but I was blown away by how good this was. The RE franchise had gotten pretty stale after so many repeats of essentially the same formula with minor tweaks. RE4 brought the series back fresh and new, and was one of the best games of this generation. I had no interest in this until I started reading the reviews and seeing peoples impressions.

Beyond Good and Evil - One of the first games I beat this gen. I had heard good things but only picked it up because it dropped so quickly in price. I started a game just to try it out for a few minutes, I was already working through Metroid Prime. Once I started I beat the game in two days, I couldn't put it down. The developers did a great job of immersing you in the story, without the beat a boss watch a cutscene style rewards, and there was so much variety in gameplay.

I wasn't suprised by some of the games mentioned like, God of War and Shadow of the Colossus, I expected those to be good.

[cochesecochese]

-GTA becoming one of the biggest powerplay franchises in console gaming (GTA1 was my favorite game for a long time, but it was often considered to be an obscure title).

Yep, that's my answer. No one, I mean no one, could have possibly predicted by playing GTA 1&2 that the third was going to be such a success later on. Until the demos started to come out it was looking to be another generic game but then boom people who haven't played games for years pick up a PS2 because they found out there's a 'steal car' button.

It changed the whole model up, defined a pseudo-genre, and sucked in a boatload of casuals. I don't think there's going to be anything like it (the phenomenon anyways) in the next gen.

[mzbagel]

Out of the games I've managed to play from this generation (which isn't as many as I'd like to have played) so far, Beyond Good & Evil takes top prize. I read the reviews but nothing prepared me for how immersive the story was. I had a hard time putting the controller down and can't remember a single time I was frustrated with the game.

On the flip size, God of War was a let down after all the hype. It played well, but it felt like a Devil May Cry rehash...by the end of the game it felt like work to play. The story was great though, just the gameplay started to get stale. As many have stated, the game was very short, so for it to turn tedious in such a short period of time was really disappointing.

[willardhaven]

The DS not sucking.

Final Fantasy getting its first sequel and it completely blowing.

Disgaea becoming a success.

Sly Cooper getting a sequel (not the greatest game, but still good).

Contra returning from the dead w/ Shattered Soldier.

Kingdom Hearts actually being good.

The surprise disappointment of this generation goes to Nintendo, for completely dropping the ball w/ the GC. I love the system and its games, but there were too few titles too late. I hope the Wii gets some solid traditional games and doesn't revolve solely around swinging a baton.

[halu102]

I would also have to agree that the ds did not becoming another virtual boy was my biggest surprise. I simply thought that it's hardware inferiority to the psp could not make it, but it shined in the end, mostly due to it's immersive game library.

[lordxixor101]

Hmm, am I the only one who thinks that Nintendo is taking an unfair beating here? Let's be honest, Nintendo is what it is, it has an amazing game or 2 each year that is worth playing, but it isn't going to have 3 solid games a month. It isn't a great only system, but it fits right in if you have another system or 2 (I love my Cube, but it'll go 6 months at a time without being turned on between great games).

Greatest surprise was the "living" world concept really taking forward steps in console gaming (non online console gaming). This is something we've heard of for awhile with the Playstation, but with games like Morrowind and Grand Theft Auto, there were large steps taken in this.

I was also shocked by Ico. To me, that is a great game to put up for the people who say there is no deeper meaning to games or games aren't "art" like movies and books. Ico is beautiful on levels beyond graphics (which were awesome for the time and still easy on the eyes). I hate seeing people say games aren't art because of Grand Theft Auto or Doom. That's like saying a movie isn't artistic because Showgirls sucks (though, different since I like GTA and Doom).

[MSI Magus]

Hmmm now that GTA is mentioned I have to agree. That was by far the biggest suprise this gen! As you said no one could ever have guessed after GTA 1 and 2 that GTA3 would turn the series into the most popular of the gen.

[Shmitty]

licensed games that didn't suck. biggest example is probably chronicles of riddick. i never kept up with the game, so it just came out of nowhere for me. i picked up an x box magazine and they'd rated the game a 9, and i actually thought it must have been a joke. then i actually played it and was blown away.

[Scobie]

Lots of great suggestions so far... definitely agree with stuff like Katmari Damacy, Guitar Hero, etc.

For me, though, the biggest surprises software-wise were:

Chibi-Robo -- Didn't expect that much but it turned out to be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Great story line with a nice sense of humor, plus superb gameplay.

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat -- Fully justified the bongo controllers for those who were skeptical about the Donkey Konga games.

Wario Ware series -- Really, who in the hell saw these games coming or expected them to be as much fun as they turned out to be?

Lego Star Wars I & II -- There's no way these games should be as good and as much fun as they are. Beautiful stuff.

Outside of specific games, obviously the DS like others have said. Going from "what the hell?" to "must have" status says it all. Even Nintendo got caught off guard by this one. Home to some of the best and most ridiculously fun games around these days.

[GuilewasNK]

My biggest surprise this gen was Indigo Prophecy. I really didn't know what to expect but it is just and engrossing game. Phantom Dust came straight out of nowhere with fun gameplay.

[onikage]

Chibi-Robo -- Didn't expect that much but it turned out to be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Great story line with a nice sense of humor, plus superb gameplay.


I agree, I don't know how I forgot to mention this. I'd put this in my top 10 of the last generation in terms of fun-factor.

[Trakan]

Shadow of the Colossus.

This game would have went right under my radar, but a couple of people told me how great the demo was. I was still skeptical, but a few days later the demo came in the mail outta nowhere. I was pretty surprised. I tried it, and it was probably the most fun I've ever gotten out of a demo. A couple of weeks later I bought the game and it turned out to be one of the best games I've ever played.

[Reality's Fringe]

Time Splitters:Future Perfect. Totally thought this was going to be a generic FPS, but was surprised by the variety and great character cast. I didn't even miss the lack of a "jump" button.

Also surprised at how awesome RE4 was. My initial reaction was "Come on, what the fuck?" but now I can't go back.

[danny-o]

Your all gonna say Im nuts but....Sniper Elite is my favorite game on xbox. I really Love MGS3 Substance with MGS online too.

[javeryh]

I just started Shadow of the Colossus tonight. I got to the first Colossus but got my ass kicked about 5 times and gave up - I need to watch the Mets... I'm going to play it tomorrow night and try to get into it more. I like what I've seen - I just need to learn the controls a little better...

[GuilewasNK]

Oh, add kill.switch to this for me also. I didn't like the save system, but the combat was superb IMO.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

Biggest suprise?

DS being a better console than the PSP. Accepting the award for least surprising thing mentioned in this thread ... :lol:

[Kawnhr]

Shadow of the Colossus and Katamari were plesant surprises for me in terms of originality.

Metal Gear Solid 3 and Sonic Adventure surprised me with their amazing graphics.

Tales of Symphonia was a big surprise for me too, because it was one of the first real-time RPGs I've played, and I mostly went into it simply because it was a Gamecube RPG, and people said it was good. And it was just so awesome.

Jet Set Radio Future wasn't a surprise, but it was still a cool and very stylish game with quite possibly the best OST ever.

Lastly, Shenmue 1 and 2's horrible voice acting. ("I'm looking for a place where sailors go")

[RedvsBlue]

Xbox

When I first heard about Microsoft doing a console I trash talked the hell out of it. A year after it came out, with games like Mech Assault and Splinter Cell coming out, I had to have it. I owned all 3 consoles but Xbox was by far the one that got the most use despite it being the last one I purchased.

[2Fast]

Xbox

When I first heard about Microsoft doing a console I trash talked the hell out of it. A year after it came out, with games like Mech Assault and Splinter Cell coming out, I had to have it. I owned all 3 consoles but Xbox was by far the one that got the most use despite it being the last one I purchased.
Same thing here. I bought it roughly three years after my PS2 and one year after my Gamecube and ended up it playing it the most and owning more games on it than my PS2 and GCN.

I have to second what RvB said because I was in the same boat as he was. I laughed at Microsoft, hated Halo, laughed some more at the huge controller, and then later on was compelled to buy one and loved just about every game I bought for it right away. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic became probably my favorite game of all-time, all multiconsole games had to be bought for my Xbox, I played Halo 2 for god knows how long, and I just loved every second of it.

[RedvsBlue]

Same thing here. I bought it roughly three years after my PS2 and one year after my Gamecube and ended up it playing it the most and owning more games on it than my PS2 and GCN.

I have to second what RvB said because I was in the same boat as he was. I laughed at Microsoft, hated Halo, laughed some more at the huge controller, and then later on was compelled to buy one and loved just about every game I bought for it right away. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic became probably my favorite game of all-time, all multiconsole games had to be bought for my Xbox, I played Halo 2 for god knows how long, and I just loved every second of it.

Oh god, I forgot about the original controller... It made it so easy to make fun of. Halo was the only game that made me originally even look at the system at all but it definetly didn't make me want to buy it. Despite it being one of the games I bought the system for, it was almost a year after I got the system that I got the game. I refused to pay $50 for a game that was over a year old (at that point) so I waited til the next holiday season when it was $15 at a Black Friday sale.

[2Fast]

Oh god, I forgot about the original controller... It made it so easy to make fun of. Halo was the only game that made me originally even look at the system at all but it definetly didn't make me want to buy it. Despite it being one of the games I bought the system for, it was almost a year after I got the system that I got the game. I refused to pay $50 for a game that was over a year old (at that point) so I waited til the next holiday season when it was $15 at a Black Friday sale.

I ended up getting it with the Halo Xbox. I played Halo a ton with friends before I got my Xbox, but I mainly just bitched the whole time because I sucked and thought the game was just sort of a mindless distraction. Once I got my Xbox and my own copy of Halo, I came full circle (or you could say, I did a 360 har har).

[jwg]

Oblivion is the biggest surprise for me.

I'm not much of an RPGer. I bought the game not expecting much from it. "I'll play the game till I'm done with the main quest then trade it in," I told myself.

I'm now working on 80 hours plus on my first time playing through the game and am nowhere near getting tired of it.

[mentos888]

for me, once i start any gta game, i can't put it down, so san andreas gets my vote. also, probably re4 (ahem, when i get it). and i'm playing psi ops right now, which is pretty good surprisingly.

lastly, no one mentioned half-life 2?!? great game and great multiplayer (i really can't get enough of the gravity gun)

[Namelessloser]

SH 1 and 2. They are great RPG's. Two of my faves of this generation. Such a wonderful story line, great gameplay, and the cut scenes were awesome.

[Roufuss]

Actually, I'm changing my answer to the Xbox 360.

I hated the Xbox, most of its games disappointed me (I only own 5 of them now, probably the only 5 worth owning imo) and wasn't a fan of the 360 when it came out.

Dead Rising looked amazing though, and I told myself that if it ended up being awesome and I could find some other games worth it, I'll take the plunge.

Well, a few months ago, the system really started to get awesome in my eyes... Dead Rising was turning out great, Saints Row looked awesome, the demo for Fight Night Round 3 amazed me, my computer couldn't really handle Oblivion that well.

I made the plunge, bought the system, and I love it, so yea, I think loving the 360 after I hated the original Xbox was my biggest surprised this gen.

I semi kind of count 360 as this gen since it came out at a time when the old gen was still pretty popular... to me, next gen will start when every company has a new system out and support for the old ones is barely there. We won't see companies porting to 360 from the PS2 anymore, for instance, and all games will be built ground up for a new generation.

[Gameboy415]

Off the top of my head:

-The Fatal Frame series. Killing ghosts with a camera? Sounds lametastic. But the games all have incredible atomosphere and interesting stories and they're creepy as hell!

-Nintendo DS. I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy so I knew I'd love it regardless, but for it to become such a HUGE phenomenon in Japan is pretty incredible. Nearly EVERYONE in Japan has, or wants, a Nintendo DS. Madness.

-XBOX 360 doesn't suck ass. I've owned nearly every console released over the past 23 years and none pissed me off more than the original XBOX. It was RIDICULOUSLY huge, you could ride the controllers and still have trouble hitting some buttons, and so many games were a huge letdown. Dino Crisis 3, Ninja Gaiden, Silent Hill 2 all made me want to vomit.
BUT, the 360 has completely changed my opinion of Microsoft. Great games, tons of free downloads (demos, trailers, arcade games, etc.), a great wireless controller, and I absolutely LOVE the achievement system.

-PS2 lasting as long as it has and having so many amazing games. The PS2 is the weakest of the 3 consoles of its gen but it just keeps plodding along and hosting so many incredible games like Okami, the Katamari series, and the Final Fantasy games.

-The Gameboy brand seemingly dying! GBA is out, DS is in. Tons of GBA projects are being "upgraded" to DS games and the GBMicro all but tanked in the market. No big games are in the forecast after FFVI and Nintendo hasn't said a word (lately) about a successor. Truly brings a tear to the eye.

[daroga]

Chibi-Robo -- Didn't expect that much but it turned out to be one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Great story line with a nice sense of humor, plus superb gameplay.
I have to make myself sit down and finish this. I've put in almost 3 hours and have REALLY enjoyed it and the story is even a lot more fun than I was expecting. Just seems that portables get more attention lately.

[ajh2298]

I-Ninja & Metal Arms: A Glitch in the System

[richbastard]

Katamari Damacy. I honestly don't see how people can call RE:4 a "surprise".

I agree this series already had a fanbase and a big name.

if you talk about surprise must be games that have no name yet they are complete master pieces for me are.

Games from
Team ICo- SoTc & Ico. :applause:
Level 5- Dark Cloud 1,2 ,Dragon quest 8 & the coming Rogue Galaxy.
Clover Studios- Vietfull joe (2D games can still be fun) and Okami.
and

God of War !!!!!!!!!!!
:applause:

there is probably more i cant remenber right now.

[PapiChullo]

My biggest surprise for PS2 is Winning Eleven 9, simply because I've slept on the series for so long, and it's a great soccer game.

[Z-Saber]

I might have to pick up Chibi-Robo. It sounded fun, but was out of my price range. I think there was a drop recently though.

[MadFlava]

My biggest surprise for PS2 is Winning Eleven 9, simply because I've slept on the series for so long, and it's a great soccer game.

Glad to see that you finally discovered the WE series. I've been playing it since WE6. Before that I was emailing Konami everyday telling them to bring WE5 to the USA. The great thing about WE coming to the states is that it force EA to start making a FIFA game with good gameplay. Anyway, I have been working on a really awesome option file for WE9. If you have an Xport or Action Max Replay I can post it or send it to you.

For me, my biggest surprise was Viewtiful Joe. When the game was announced and didn't think much of it at all. Then I picked it up at Kmart for $7 on clearance and was amazed by the awesomeness that is Viewtiful Joe.

[PapiChullo]

Glad to see that you finally discovered the WE series. I've been playing it since WE6. Before that I was emailing Konami everyday telling them to bring WE5 to the USA. The great thing about WE coming to the states is that it force EA to start making a FIFA game with good gameplay. Anyway, I have been working on a really awesome option file for WE9. If you have an Xport or Action Max Replay I can post it or send it to you.
I'm thinking about getting it for my PC now that I have one that could actually run it, and make some goal compilations. I sent you a PM about the option file.

[KaneRobot]

A few things stand out...

*Resident Evil games exclusive to the GC....although that didn't last
*GTA III & VC finally being announced for XBox, and coming out just weeks later
*MGS3 skipping XBox (since MSG2 came out on it)
*MS nabbing Rare from Nintendo
*Guitar Hero being the best reason to own a PS2

[ViolentLee]

*Resident Evil games exclusive to the GC....although that didn't last

Remember the much-hyped Capcom 5 -- five games supposedly exclusive to GameCube? They were: Viewtiful Joe (PS2 port), Dead Phoenix (cancelled), RE4 (PS2 port), PN 03 (sucked), and Killer 7 (PS2 port).

[evilmax17]

Dead Phoenix (cancelled)
Considering that they already had a lot of GCN code written, and given the genre of game it was supposed to be, I wouldn't be too surprised if this rose from the ashes in the form of a Wii game.

[anonymouswhoami]

For me, it has to be the utter lack of quality games for the PSP. Despite its flaws, the machine is a technical marvel. I can only imagine the great games that could be created if developers used the full potential of the machine and didn't just dump horrible ports on the market.

[anonymouswhoami]

lastly, no one mentioned half-life 2?!? great game and great multiplayer (i really can't get enough of the gravity gun)

The OP asked for the BIGGEST surprise of this generation. Given the quality of the first title and Valve's history of delaying projects in the name of quality control, Half-Life 2 was bound to be an excellent title. Now, if Drake 2 is ever made and turns out to be a great game...that would be a surprise!

[MadFlava]

That Rockstar made a game based on the Warriors movie. Playing it right now on my Xbox and it's awesome. I remember first watching the Warriors on cable around the time I was really into Double Dragon in the arcades. I love the movie and was convinced the creator of Double Dragon got inspiration from the Warriors. That it was finally turned into a game was beyond my wildest dreams come true.

[whoknows]

Indigo Prophecy.

A truly unique and innovative game.

[mcroa7]

Your all gonna say Im nuts but....Sniper Elite is my favorite game on xbox. I really Love MGS3 Substance with MGS online too.

I agree with Sniper Elite on xbox. I can't stop playing this game at all, I love it:drool: and I will be playing this for a long time.

[Wolfpup]

Hmm... when does the current generation start and end? Let's say the Dreamcast to the X-Box 1, and PC games that came out in that period? These are the games that SURPRISED me, but not all my favorites (since obviously many of my favorite games DIDN'T surprise me).

Okay, so:

-Deus Ex (PC)
-Shadow of Destiny-brilliant
-Eternal Darkness-one of the best survival horror games ever, and the first one with (gasp) a great battle system. An absolute must play if you like the genre.
-Luigi's Mansion-loved every minute of this. It's like 50% Resident Evil, 30% Ghost Busters, and 20% Mario game.
-Pikmin-I didn't like the second one, but the first was amazing. Great graphics and totally new gameplay. Also the first and only great RTS for a console.
-Final Fantasy X-brilliant, and a big surprise to me, because for some reason I wasn't expecting to like it. I guess I thought equally Final Fantasy 9 was impossible, but they did it.
-Metroid Prime. I was 99.9% certain they couldn't pull off a real Metroid game in 3D. Thankfully I was wrong. (Though that hideous "Metroid Prime Hunters" on the DS plays like I thought Metroid Prime would play like)
-The Collective's Buffy game. The first and (only?) actually great licensed game, and the best scrolling fighter in years (can't think of a better one off hand). Unfortunately the Eurocom quasi-sequel was just ho-hum...about what you'd expect from a licensed game.
-The continuation of 2D Metroid style Castlevania games on the GBA and DS. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm sure happy about it! (I can't list the 3D ones stinking as being a surprise though...)
-Metal Gear Acid-wasn't expecting a card based strategy game! But it sure came out great!

Big surprises...in a bad way:
-Kingdom Hearts 1-hated this. The gameplay is just tedious IMO. I really enjoyed the sequel Chain of Memories on the GBA though (but I haven't even tried the next one on the PS2 yet).
-Jak II-the first one was a solid Rare platformer clone, the second mucks up the gameplay, making it hardly even a platformer. Sets it in a dreary, boring, tired "post apocalyptic" setting. And makes the main character hidiously unappealing by making him "cool".
-The Warriors-after all the hype, I was surprised that I hated this dirty, poorly controlling little game.
-Silent Hill 2. The first one was brilliant IMO, and not something I thought a game would be capable of for years. Unfortunately the second one just seemed gross. The sequels seem like marketing driven things, rather than art.

Industry Surprises:
-Microsoft enters the game industry-so far I think it's a detriment. They've hurt Nintendo (who I think would have had at least as much market share as Nintendo and Microsoft combined ended up with). They've also neglected the PC (while pretending they're not) which is hurting creativity in general-they've fragmented the market further, shown a complete disregard for older games, etc.

-Sega exiting the hardware business-and possibly more shocking-Sega's quality going down terribly since then. It seems like they're beginning to recover, but they just don't seem like Sega anymore. This is a house that used to compete with Nintendo on quality and innovation-and now releases broken Sonic games :-(

-Microsoft bought Rare (!) So far I think their quality has gone way down. Loved Starfox Adventures, hated Kameo, and I've thought their other recent games have just been "okay".

-The bizarre DS hardware...and the fact it's done so incredibly well (I expected the PSP to slaughter it).

-Microsoft's forced registration on PC software

[GuilewasNK]

Katamari Damacy. I honestly don't see how people can call RE:4 a "surprise".

Probably because it was so totally different from previous RE games. People didn't know what to expect until they actually played it.

[Ranger Rick]

Big Suprises in a GOOD Way

Beyond Good and Evil -Really Immersive Storyline, Great Budget Priced Title
Def Jam: Fight For NY - Picked this up on the cheap, enjoyed the short story and gameplay
Day of Reckoning 2 -Best Wrestling game of all time on IMO many hours of fun multiplayer
Killer 7 - Love Surreal Games
Metroid Prime- Did not expect to like it as much as I did
Guitar Hero - This came out of nowhere... I can't believe how good this game was
NBA Street Volume 2 - Really good gameplay, fun multiplayer, and just felt kind of cool, Picked this up budget priced and wasn't expecting much.
Super Mario Strikers - Holding off on this game because of mediocre reviews, I was suprised to find how good the multiplayer was when I picked it up (marked down)

Big Suprises in a BAD Way
Metroid Prime 2 - While I would consider Metroid Prime one of my favorite games of all time, I was extremley dissapointed when I stopped playing the second one after two hours. I simply hated it.
NBA Street Volume 3 - Once again a sequel that just didn't have the same awesomness about it
Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 - Just didn't do it for me. No doubt they were good games... but not as good as I expected after reading such high reviews
Splinter Cell Pandora Tommorow and Chaos Theory - Just didn't do for me what the first one did. More of the same. Didn't like the multiplayer either (which seemed to be the huge difference)

[Jewelz23]

ico
same here.

[diaeresis]

Video games becoming a widely acceptable justification for assembling a home theatre.

[mentos888]

ico feels like jumpman (yes, JUMPMAN) with all the jumping and swinging around.... know what i'm sayin?
just without the bullet. haha

[alongx]

It's a toss up between Shadow the Hedgehog and Shining Force NEO. I was surprised that Sega managed to find new lows, after already raping several of my favorite franchises' corpses.

[Blind the Thief]

My biggest surprise was Guitar Hero. I was only kind of keeping an eye on it leading up to release, and now, a year later, I'm still playing it. Completely out of left field, and utterly fantastic.

My runner-up would be Katamari Damacy, for obvious reasons.

[Zenithian Legend]

omg... this thread.... no one has mentioned....

ANIMAL CROSSING!!!

Goodness, gracious my carrots!

I mean seriously, this game was supposed to be an N64 game, yet it was released on the GC anyway. Somehow or another despite having inferior graphics and no *real* storyline, it became one of the most addictive games ever. I still wonder how my animals are doing from time to time even to this day.

The other big shock would be my gamecube dying... I've never had a system crap out on me before, and I definitely didn't expect the gamecube to die after only 2 and a half years. I still think the GC is a better built system than the xbox and ps2 though... I just got unlucky.

[Wolfpup]

Metroid Prime 2 - While I would consider Metroid Prime one of my favorite games of all time, I was extremley dissapointed when I stopped playing the second one after two hours. I simply hated it.

Yikes! What's wrong with it? It's sitting on my "to play" pile 'cause I sold my Gamecube last year 'cause the Wii is backwards compatible.

It's a toss up between Shadow the Hedgehog and Shining Force NEO. I was surprised that Sega managed to find new lows, after already raping several of my favorite franchises' corpses.

Ditto, what's wrong with Shining Force NEO? I loved Shining Force 2, probably would have loved 3 had I had the chance to play it. I know NEO was sort of a regular RPG? I was really hoping it was going to be good, but actually I didn't even know it was out. I remember waiting for it to hit, and then...?

[alongx]

Ditto, what's wrong with Shining Force NEO? I loved Shining Force 2, probably would have loved 3 had I had the chance to play it. I know NEO was sort of a regular RPG? I was really hoping it was going to be good, but actually I didn't even know it was out. I remember waiting for it to hit, and then...?

NEO is a painfully average Action RPG, whereas Shining Force 2 stands as one of my favorite Strategy games. Shining Force 3 was excellent. After how ambitious the three part SF3 was, and how good Shining the Holy Ark was on the Saturn, any lesser Shining game (read: all subsequent Shining games) are insults.

[Wolfpup]

NEO is a painfully average Action RPG, whereas Shining Force 2 stands as one of my favorite Strategy games. Shining Force 3 was excellent. After how ambitious the three part SF3 was, and how good Shining the Holy Ark was on the Saturn, any lesser Shining game (read: all subsequent Shining games) are insults.

Darn :( Think it might still be worth a rental? I could add it to my Gamefly Queue I guess.

[MadMrBacon]

Industry Surprises:
-Microsoft enters the game industry-so far I think it's a detriment. They've hurt Nintendo (who I think would have had at least as much market share as Nintendo and Microsoft combined ended up with). They've also neglected the PC (while pretending they're not) which is hurting creativity in general-they've fragmented the market further, shown a complete disregard for older games, etc.


I do share your sentiment regarding Microsoft's entry into the hardware market to an extent, but if Microsoft hadn't entered the market, I think it's very possible that Nintendo wouldn't have gone with their current strategy in order to differentiate themselves from Sony and Microsoft. This need for differentiation has arguably led to the development of the DS and now the Wii. Without Microsoft's presence, who knows what Nintendo might be doing right now.

[Wolfpup]

I do share your sentiment regarding Microsoft's entry into the hardware market to an extent, but if Microsoft hadn't entered the market, I think it's very possible that Nintendo wouldn't have gone with their current strategy in order to differentiate themselves from Sony and Microsoft. This need for differentiation has arguably led to the development of the DS and now the Wii. Without Microsoft's presence, who knows what Nintendo might be doing right now.

Interesting point! I hadn't thought of that.

Well, except...
I'm not sure the DS had much to do with Microsoft, and seemed to be more a reaction to the PSP. And so far I've found the touch screen to be a gimmick that at best I ignore, at worst am forced to use (I'd gladly trade it for an analog stick). Though I do like the dual screens-at least when they get utilized decently.

And the Wii...I'm not sold on it in terms of it being a better move than a traditional uber console. It hinges completely on that controller which may or may not be great. And Nintendo would have had a lot more money to spend IMO, as the Gamecube would have made them a ton too. :-(

[neudog]

It definately has to go to Beyond Good and Evil. This game had so many various game elements and the characters/story were superb. Just one of the few under the radar titles; Psychonauts, Oddworld Stranger, etc.

[Wolfpup]

Beyond Good and Evil was a great game (I enjoyed it more than Zelda), but I can't call it a "surprise", because it got great reviews, and was just as good as the reviews said.

I guess the surprise is that it didn't sell. I'm not totally sure why (beyond the typical, it's not "Nascar Presents Roster Update Theft Auto 07")