Games that completely surprised you quality wise.

[ZeroAX]

Saint's Row 2 (expected an average GTA clone. Got the best GTA game of this generation...so far, the jury is still up on V)

DLC Quest (loved that game)

.....actually I think the list of disappointing surprises would be much much longer (list of games I expected to be amazing and turned up duds, or worse, boring)

[3DSStrider]

SoulCalibur V suprised me by being a complete waste of $80.
I also didn't think Dreamcast Centipede would be good, but I quite enjoyed it.

[Snatch1414]

Bocce ball using the PS Move. Seriously, that game is insanely fun. Only thing is there's only so many 'maps', but the ones that are there are varied and as long as you don't wear it out that game is great.

[SNKnicotine]

When I picked up Monster Party for the NES, I thought it was going to be just another generic scary/castlvania game. When I turned it on and began to play I soon realized I was playing something completely different and original.+1 for the changing backgrounds in mid stage.

[jay_red]

Saint's Row 2 (expected an average GTA clone. Got the best GTA game of this generation...so far, the jury is still up on V)

Agreed!

[RyaNtheSlayA]

It has been a long time since I bought without the help of the internet or a friend recommendation. So some of these might have been with outside help. They were still surprises though.

The Good

The Godfather

Ended up being one of the earlier titles I bought for my Xbox 360. At the time, I had never played any of the GTA games and so it was my first real foray into an open world game. It's certainly dated now, and not quite as good as I thought it was even back then. I played a ton of it though, and completed it 100%. As I recall, that took about 80 or so hours. Unfortunately, the game had a lot of cool ideas but they lacked depth. Once you set up a racket there was really nothing it offered you other than giving you cash. I heard the second one improved on the whole gang element. Some day I'll have to try it.

Half Life 2 GOTY

So. Before I had gotten an Xbox 360, and after my parents had divorced, I found myself heavily into PC gaming. I didn't have much of a PC, in fact, it was terrible. However, 12 year old me managed to get the game running in DX8 mode and so I was able to play pretty much the only recent release at the time I could. I bought it on a whim at GameStop. It was 20 dollars, had all sorts of awards on the cover, and included 4 or 5 different games. Probably the best purchase on a whim I ever made. I never made it past Ravenholm in HL2, but I made my way through HL1: Source and ended up spending quite a bit of time with friends in Counter Strike: Source.

Kerbal Space Program

This is a very recent one. The game was and is still in Alpha and it's not really a game as much as it is a software toy in the vein of Sim City, Sim Ant, and the likes. I didn't actually look much into the game, but I was constantly nagged by one of my best friends to get it. Boy was he right. It's a massive time sink, a bit buggy, and lacks features (as it is in Alpha). The core mechanics are so solid and so fun to play with though that there never seems to be a lack of things to build and do. The modding community has already gotten a strong hold on the game and because of this, the game basically seems limitless as it is now. I'd recommend anybody with a passing interest in space flight, rockets, physics, and little green men to give it a try.

The Bad

Orion: Dino Beatdown/Dino Horde

I bought this on a whim as well. Probably the last game I did. Boy did I learn my lesson. It looked enticing. Fight off hordes of dinosaurs ala L4D with multiple objectives in a level, awesome AI, and good graphics? Sign me up! Unfortunately, not only did I not get multiple objectives or good graphics, or good AI, I got a game that was broken in almost every way. Not to mention the whole scandal about the game's creator cheating workers out of money and using other games' assets, including some from another beloved game of mine, Natural Selection 2. Absolutely terrible. Even now, a year later, it's still complete and utter shit.

I can't really think of any others at the moment but I'm sure there are plenty. I might update this post later with a few more bads and maybe another good.

[SpoonyBard]

The new Tomb Raider is the only game that really comes to mind. I didn't like any of the previous games in the series, but I got this one for free, reluctantly played it and was shocked at how much I enjoyed it.

[ZeoDefender]

Well, there's Master of Orion 3. That game was certainly a surprise.

[Mad_Hatter]

Prehistork Man for Gameboy Advance. I actually found this game at work one day (at a restaurant), but nobody came back to claim it.

Zelda Links Awakening. I played the first 1 and a half levels of this game when I was 6-7 years old with no game guide. I got super mad at it's hardness (I was not smart enough to know you had to kill the rabbit, the something else, then the bat on level 2 dungeon!). But then a few years later when I discovered the internet, I found a free GameFaqs walkthrough to help me out. and the game turned out to be awesome. Keep in mind I played this game as a kid so I just bought games and hope they were good. I didn't read up on Zelda to find out it was one of the most popular Nintendo game.

This one game on the Sega Saturn that I do not remember the name of? I played it at my cousin's house. It was in Japanese so he had to do some cartage stuff and hotswapping to get it to work. I cannot for the life of me remember the name. it was kind of like dugeons and dragons or king of dragons. It was a "beat em up"/rpg game. It was one of the most fun I had playing a video game. And I only played it on time with one of my cousins and brothers.

[fastbilly1]

This one game on the Sega Saturn that I do not remember the name of? I played it at my cousin's house. It was in Japanese so he had to do some cartage stuff and hotswapping to get it to work. I cannot for the life of me remember the name. it was kind of like dugeons and dragons or king of dragons. It was a "beat em up"/rpg game. It was one of the most fun I had playing a video game. And I only played it on time with one of my cousins and brothers.

Most likely it was the Dungeons and Dragons beatemups, that were recently rereleased as the Mystara Collection. Both are excellent fun in multiplayer.