Comments on: Rebel FM Episode 23 Pre-show question: What games have surprised you (in a good way)?

By: mr.x

mr.x — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:18:09 +0000

Every Day Shooter was way better than I thought it was going to be.

I also really liked MGS2, I thought MGS was cool but MGS2 was the game that turned me into a gamer for life. That and FFX

By: voodooray

voodooray — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:34:27 +0000

The 3D Picross looks great too, hopefully won’t be too long before its release.

By: Bob Barker

Bob Barker — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:26:19 +0000

Yeah I’m late to the party, oh well I figured I should say something anyway.

MechAssault, back in 2002 when I got it for christmas without ever even hearing about it before I just thought whatever, and didn’t even play it much before I moved on. Then I got Xbox Live. I still have yet to play a multiplayer game as good as it is.

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:05:12 +0000

I’d have to say Mercenaries 2. That game was like any Jason Statham movie mixed with every Mountain Dew commercial from the late 90s. I feel it capitalized on the sandbox genre better than Crackdown did where it had just enough story to give you a shove in the right direction from time to time. Granted I like Crackdown more, this game just happened to play better than all the reviews at the time eluded to.

By: Atomicfox

Atomicfox — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:43:34 +0000

I was really surprised with Burnout. I am in no way a fan of racing games, even the arcade style Cruisin’ games. But some how Burnout just clicked for me. It was probably the way a lot of the objectives were more like puzzles than anything else but even the true “racing” aspects I really enjoyed.

By: Tobizzle

Tobizzle — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:55:27 +0000

The game to surprise me most was Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts. I got it free with a 60gb console when my old one died. I never usually like this sort of game, so I popped it in thinking it’d amuse me for no more than an hour (might as well try it as it was free). And it really is so much fun! But what impressed me most was the design and style of the game. The different worlds look stunning and clearly had a lot of imagination and work put into them, and the game allows you to fully explore the environment in any crazy vehicle you can think to make. With tight controls and some nice little subtle touches the game just puts a big smile on my face and keeps me hooked for hours.

By: KeeBnuTs

KeeBnuTs — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:48:02 +0000

A game that surprised me in a good way was the XBOX Live Community game Groov. It’s structured like Geometry Wars, but is very laid back, for the most part. When you shoot enemies, they create the music that makes the level.

RE4 also surprised me. It surprised me that I no longer liked the series. I had high hopes for RE5, but then I thought back to the fact that I never finished 4, and that made my decision about buying 5.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:28:22 +0000

Stalker, Peggle and Freedom Fighters!

By: OrigiNull

OrigiNull — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:44:07 +0000

The game that has probably surprised me the most is Frequency. For those that don’t know it was the precursor to guitar hero and may be single handedly responsible for filling all of our houses with plastic crap! None the less, it is a superb game which really changed my view of what games could be. It also is the origin of a phenomenon I call the “Frequency” effect. This is a brief moment of time while playing a rhythm or puzzle game where you brain completely shuts off and your eyes are directly controlling your hands… you have no idea what your hands are doing but you are hitting every note.

By: manicmyna

manicmyna — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:34:41 +0000

surely they can’t look any more ridiculous than they already do?

By: Erik

Erik — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:18:54 +0000

I’d have to say TF2. I’m not a big FPS fan, but the lighthearted nature of the game combined with a significant diversity in playstyles among the classes keeps me coming back.

By: XaiaX

XaiaX — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:27:00 +0000

“shits me to tears”.

I … er …

LOL.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:50:19 +0000

Ok, I just woke up, so I realized I made several really ridiculous grammar / spelling mistakes in my comment. The first sentence should read, “Most of the games that I have been surprised by lately have been because…” Also, “high hopes” not “hi hopes” haha.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:45:56 +0000

Most of the games I’ve been surprised of lately has been because I didn’t like the older games in the series or by the developer. Something must be clicking recently to make these games more accessible or I’m giving them more of a chance.

Metal Gear Solid 4 – I didn’t like MGS1 or any of the stealth games much or watching cut scenes prior to playing. I got it free with my PS3, so I gave it a shot.

Fallout 3 – Didn’t like Morrowind or Fallout 1 much, and my 3 room-mates had been Bathesda fanatics.

Fable 2 – I hated Fable, but really enjoyed this one. I was jonesing for another RPG, so I gave it a try.

Bioshock – Didn’t like System Shock 2 or scary games before, but I loved this one.

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction – I was always turned off by the cartoony visuals and “Rude” protagonists, but also loved this game and then gave Resistance a try, and enjoyed that a bit.

Saint’s Row 2 – I was really turned off by the marketing and demo of Saint’s Row 1. I thought it would be too much “Gangsta” for me to handle, but again, the game was tons of fun and almost perfectly tuned. Almost all fun with little frustration.

I know all of these games are critical successes, but because of past experiences, I didn’t have hi hopes, and I really enjoyed them.

By: mors_d

mors_d — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:06:26 +0000

Likely late for this, but I have a few to add to the list.

Endless Ocean: I forget who at 1UP was evangelizing this game but it looked interesting. What I didn’t have at the time was a Wii, so I did the only natural thing: got it for my brother. When I finally got around to playing it on his console I was further impressed by the game’s simple nature. Even if I’m dicking around and not following what thin plot may be there I enjoy the exploration of the area.

Mad World: I wasn’t quite expecting this game when I slotted into my Wii. I thinking was expecting some bad low-budget hack’n'slash that had somehow weaseled it’s way through Nintendo’s licensing. What I found was a game with a very sharp wit that had me laughing at the commentators almost as much as in disbelief at how someone had gotten this game only rated M. Ultra Violence indeed.

Gears of War 2: Yes, GoW2. See, I don’t hold much love for GoW and that’s something likely to persist. While I found the first to be dull and frustrating, the sequel is a different beast entirely and grabbed me for the ride.

I’m sure there are others, some have already been covered above: Red Faction: Guerrilla, Mirror’s Edge and BF:Bad Company at the least.

By: Turner Joy

Turner Joy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:05:41 +0000

I know that their is a range of ages on this site but PS2/Xbox/360/Wii games being referred to as retro feels weird to me.

Maybe I really am getting old since I’m still getting over call pretty much anything 3d retro.

By: Scott K

Scott K — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:05:23 +0000

One of the most surprising games I played over the last year was God of War:Cains of Olympus. I had written it off as being another PS2 game stripped down and stuffed onto a UMD. I am glad I convinced myself to give it a try because it turned out to be one of the best PSP games I have played.

By: Turner Joy

Turner Joy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:44:59 +0000

I remember seeing preview shots of GTA3 on IGN and talking to my friend about how it looked like a more interesting game than MGS2, which was the most hyped game at the time.

I had played the computer version of the 2d ones and then thought about how amazing that would be in 3d.

But I guess I’m full of shit.

By: Lestaticon

Lestaticon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:03:52 +0000

Most recently it was the game Alpha Prime, http://www.alpha-prime.com . I picked it up for only $3 on Steam. I wasn’t expecting anything really, but the game has really surprised me and has been great fun. It was created by a small design team. It’s pretty challenging at times, even in easy mode.

By: voodooray

voodooray — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:13:13 +0000

I was always liked the way you had to defeat Psycho Mantis in in Metal Gear Solid.

Also, the way Psycho Mantis appeared to know what other games you had played by scanning your memory card was also a nice touch.

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metal_Gear_Solid_characters#Psycho_Mantis