Games that Lived up to the Hype

[Trull]

I was surprised Skyrim lived up to the hype I built around it. I made it a throne of hype, in a room with hype walls, hype floors, and a hype ceiling. And then I gave it a hype lollipop - and it still won.

Borderlands 2 definitely. It delivered all that was said in the trailer (along with the extra wub wub)

 

[B5Alpha]

A lot of games I either over-hyped and got bored of quickly (Most shooters) and didn't return often or came back later and really enjoyed (F:NV). A lot of great games I wasn't following before their release but I have loved since; Borderlands 2 (before it became grindy), The Walking Dead, and Far Car 3.

I know the danger I take in typing this, but the only game I ever put on a pedestal that never crumbled is probably Mass Effect 3. The ending was botched a little (though the EC healed that wound), but the closure of many character plot lines (Mordin, Legion, Grunt, Tali), and the -gasp- addition of Day 1 DLC character Javik brought engaging and emotional gameplay. No game is ever perfect even in it's best attributes (James, Ashley, Kaidan, and Miranda all needed to be fleshed out more), and it delivered an experience that has brought me back many times.

Before I post this, I almost forgot XCOM:EU, the other game that lived up to the hype. A friend pointed it out to me several months before release and convinced me to buy the original. Best advised I ever took.

 

[OblivionSoul]

Sleeping Dogs, I got so hyped for that game when I first heard the premise (as True Crime: Streets of Hong Kong). Then it got lukewarm reception at e3, so I was nervous. Now I own it and it's everything I had hoped it would be.

 

[Weaver]

Probably "To The Moon" for me.

 

[TrevHead]

There are two devs for me who constantly deliver.

#1 Platinum Games, I only bought a 360 18 months ago, and Vanquish and Bayonetta were already out. Back then Platinum Games didn't have such a following like they do nowadays but they were still very highly regarded in the niche online gaming circles I frequented. When I finally got to play the games I wasn't disappointed in the least. Anarchy Reigns and the MGR demo delivered too.

#2 CAVE Interactive Co, While not hyped up in wider gaming circles they are very highly regarded some. The devs who are the kings of the Bullet Hell genre (inc Deathsmiles, Akia Katana, Esp Galuda 2 and Mushimisama Futari), compared to others in the genre and in the wider Arcade genres too CAVE shmups have that extra je ne sais quoi, Great pacing, deep score mechanics even for a shmup which are generally very deep when it comes to scoreplay and forming strategies to maximise scoring pertential.

They are also top tier in both 2D visuals, where their use of colour both in the palettes they use and how they contrast them is something other devs can hope to mimic. Also their excellent upbeat soundtracks are by some of the best old guard Japanese Video Game musicians like Ryu Umeoto, Namiki and Noriyuki Iwadare.

Sadly since shmups are a super niche genre, CAVE remains somewhat under the radar even with 2D retro gamers who lauded Outlander for it's 2D visuals and contrasting colours even though it's a simpiler clone of CAVE's techniques. Certanly up there with Metal Slug and Vanillaware in terms of presentation that's second to none within their own genre.

Other recent games that lived up to the hype and praise surrounding them.

Dark Souls
FTL
Recettear: An Item Shop
Rayman Origins

Older games i've only recently played
Mirrors Edge
Chrono Trigger
Ninja Gaiden Black
DMC 3

 

[ASan83]

Back in the day, I remember seeing ads for Final Fantasy VII in comic books and magazines talking about how it could do what cartridge games couldn't, and I remember thinking something along the lines of 'Yeah, right. I don't need that crappy game on my Nintendo 64 anyway.'

Then I played it, and immediately regretted my console decision.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Skyrim and Fallout 3 are pretty up there.
Portal 2 is up there too.
I'm hoping Bioshock Infinite will as well but I'm currently assaulting it withe absolutely zealous it-can-do-no-wrong hype. I hope I'm right.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Persona 4: Golden.
[small][sub][sub][sub]I know it's practically the same game as the original but with minor changes. Shut up.[/sub][/sub][/sub][/small]

Borderlands 2 exceeded my amount of hype. I certainly did not expect the story to make such of a big impact, considering how lackluster the first one was in terms of plot.

Portal 2 also matched my expectations. Valve improved upon the first game in every way possible and now it's one of my top 5 favorite games of all time.

 

[Kef10]

I don't really buy into the hype, Heck I barely read any gaming news at all..
I just pick up games as I see them get released without expecting gods gift to earth like some people do.

But I was pretty stoked for skyrim because a friend insisted on spamming the trailers to me, And it certainly lived up.
And with pretty stoked I mean preordering the game, Calling in sick the day it was released, and going dark from skype/facebook and my cellphone was left uncharged on my bed

 

[AbiSage]

Journey. Heard a ton of praise about it before playing it, and looking at a little bit of gameplay thought it looked pretty but that was about it. Went in half thinking it would just be a neat little game that kinda got blown out of proportion...

But playing it was amazing. For something that was mechanically so simple it was incredibly enjoyable. The music, visual, subtle bits of story were all great, even got chills at some point and teared up at the end. For a game to do that with only around two hours put into it was really pretty amazing.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Minecraft (I'm surprised no one else has mentioned it yet). As soon as someone described it to me as 'Like Lego, but...' I wanted it, and it was even better than I expected, mainly due to the multiplayer experience (and partly due to me not expecting it to actually run on my laptop).

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Dark Souls. Not that I bought it straight away, I only got it a month or so ago, but I've heard good things about it since it was released and it has instantly shot into my top three games/franchises of all time, which used to be a top two with Monster Hunter and Armored Core.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Red Dead Redemption - I spend so many hours in the game world and it was a blast. After watching all those developer diary vids and previews this game still delivered and was great fun.
Uncharted 2 - The first was fun and good looking but the second was just awesome.
Batman Arkham Asylum - Finally a super hero game done right. There`s not much to say besides "I am BATMAN".

There are many great games but i try to avoid any form of hype or getting hyped these days. Those three games are the ones that got me in the past. The next upcomming title i simple couldn`t avoid to get hyped about is GTA5. Sometimes it still gets me.

 

[Mikejames]

Probably The Walking Dead.
I heard people going "it's so emotional!" and "Best characters ever!" And I just thought "psssh, it's a point and click, it can't be that good."

Well fuck me sideways after I played it.

Episode 1: I guess it seems interesting enough.
Episode 2: Wow, this is getting tense..
Episode 3: W-What are these? Tears?
Episode 4-5: I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry...

 

[Tom_green_day]

Obviously Skyrim.

There's nothing obvious about that.

I meant it was obvious to someone who had read all the other comments.
Or if you're being sarcastic, DAMMIT why do I always fall for these -.-
Oh and would CoD games count? Because everyone expects them to be samey... and they more or less are?

 

[FoolKiller]

GTA III for the win.

I could not stop playing that game, whether for story or just shits and giggles. It was like drugs in video game format.

Mass Effect.

I heard it was good and then I got sucked in and beat it in 58 hours in just 11 days.

Biggest Letdown:
Portal 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction

 

[BrotherRool]

Planescape Torment -I'd heard people call it one of the best games of all time and eventually I decided to check it out and-Holy crud I'm dead? And my past self has written a note on my own flesh? And there's items which do radically different things depending on a dice roll? ... I had so much fun with the game.

Saints Row 3 - I don't really like sandbox games, I heard this was fun but I never really believed it. Then I got it in the bundle and wow. I think it's all about the character customisation. I was having so much fun with it, I actually bugged up all the beginning quests by taking over every shop in the city before they even did the tutorial on stealing shops. (So that tutorial ended up me walking into a shop I owned and being told to go steal the deeds and then the game just randomly instantly cutting to a new objective point)

EDIT: Oh and Arkhum Asylum. Although I do agree that it's right on the line of Batman is awesome and a slightly worrying wish fulfilling territory.

Katawa Shoujo and To The Moon would have been on this list, but I didn't realise they had such a good reputation before I'd played them and found out for myself

 

[Morsomk_v1legacy]

For me it would probably have to be Bastion and Darksiders 1 and 2 in recent years.

I remember when Bastion first came out for the pc and everyone was praising it like it was the second coming of christ or something along those lines. I didn't like when I first saw Bastion, I thought it was kinda charming and kinda dull when I first saw the trailer, boy was I wrong when I played the game.

The original Darksiders was somewhere in the same boat as Bastion was, thought it was a hyped up game and I also didn't care much for it. Then few months later a friend of mine decided to buy a X-box 360 and about a dozen of games for it, one of them was Darksiders. I think I spent the next 5 day's hogging the 360 from him just so that I could play Darksiders. I also had sort of expectations from Darksiders 2 and it didn't fail them, it was brilliant.

 

[scorptatious]

Lets see here:

Halo 3
MGS4
Batman: Arkham City
Journey
I would probably say New Vegas as well, but it didn't take until my second playthrough to make me realize how freaking awesome the game was.

 

[mad825]

Starcraft 2.

I already had a feeling it would be good. But I think it deserves credit for being the sequel to the best RTS of all time, and still managing to please most people. When the expectations are that high, the most tiny things can piss off half a fanbase.

Not many people play it for the single player...It had no LAN, the story was contrived...Yeah, the story was bad compared to SC and SC:BW.