Games that surprised you.

[Chimpzy]

Ace Combat 7. But not in a good way, I'm afraid. Heard people says some really good things about it, and having just had a string of good experiences trying new (for me) franchises, so I was ready to add another. And ... it doesn't gel with me. At all. I played to mission 10 before deciding halfway through I wasn't having fun and quitting.

 

[Worgen]

Ace Combat 7. But not in a good way, I'm afraid. Heard people says some really good things about it, and having just had a string of good experiences trying new (for me) franchises, so I was ready to add another. And ... it doesn't gel with me. At all. I played to mission 10 before deciding halfway through I wasn't having fun and quitting.

I loved Ace Combat Shattered Skies, but I couldn't really get into 7 either. I mean the gameplay was mostly fine, but I did miss the close combat thing from Assualt Horizon (they did this thing where you could lock your plane into pursuit of another and riddle it with gunfire or close range missiles, it was really fun but overused for scripted pursuits where you couldn't actually shoot someone down till after the game showed you flying through something cool, but let you keep wasting missiles).

For me I think what really didn't gel was the story, its dumb enough in normal games where you are part of a penal legion, but for them to put prisoners in charge of multi-million dollar aircraft with heavy ordinance, ugh. So dumb.

Anyway, another game to add to this list is Darksiders 3.
I mean I always enjoyed the Darksiders series but it took me forever to get 3 since I kept hearing middling things about it, like it was buggy and not fun, plus it was a souls like and while I love Darksouls1/3, I tend not to really get into games that try and ape the series, such as the Surge. but, holy shit did I fall into Darksiders 3, it just works really well, the Darksiders aesthetic with souls like difficulty and design. It does have issues, like in some areas I will see my frame rate dip and this is with a 2080 card, plus you can feel the game straining against not having as much of a budget as its predecessors. But they still did a fantastic job with it and I loves it and am annoyed at myself for letting people dissuade me from waiting this long to play it.

 

[gorfias]

This game got 7s.. some 8s... but wasn't big on my radar till I played it. What fun... Some gameplay mechanics the most original since Bioshock Infiniate's roller coaster thing.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Bulletstorm's demo shot it in the foot. It consisted of what had to be one of the most boring sections of the game, and was absolutely crap at demonstrating the game's weapons and mechanics. When I saw a partial playthrough years later I was surprised at how much more the game had to offer (though not enough so to actually buy it).

 

[BrawlMan]

This game got 7s.. some 8s... but wasn't big on my radar till I played it. What fun... Some gameplay mechanics the most original since Bioshock Infiniate's roller coaster thing.

I bought this game twice. Once on 360 a couple months after it launched. It was already on sale for 40. use the Best buy $20 gift card and I only have to pay $20 for. I originally got the full clip edition for free on PSN. Ater completing it and unlocking new game plus I bought a used copy for $10 because I love the game that much. the game is even better on new game plus, because you get an actual weapon wheel and are not limited by the three weapon limit.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Mad Max.
You wouldn’t be able to tell that it has some of the best vehicle combat, physics, sound design, melee, and world building of this last generation from its 69 Metacritic score. Nooo, all they seemed to focus on was that it was repetitive in structure, which can be said for pretty much any open world game.

But then again, it does have a 90%+ very positive score on Steam. I only played on PS4 though.

 

[SilentPony]

I'll be a basic ***** here but OG Bioshock kind of shook me on my first playthrough

There is nothing 'basic' about Bioshock. Its a damned master-piece from the lighthouse to the end.

For me I'll go Amnesia A Machine for Pigs. This is controverstial, but I thought the Dark Descent was boring. I couldn't get into the story, and the monsters were pretty goofy looking. They reminded me of something out of Courage the Cowardly Dog, and the acting wasn't much better.
But A Machine for Pigs...maybe it was the steam-punk Victorian theme, or better voice actors/writing, or may because the pigs felt like actual threats as opposed to Gumby's fever dream, but that game scared the shit out of me the first time. I'll grant there is no replay value, but I'm more of the mind horror games can't have replay value because part of the horror is the unknown and once you know its not scary.
Also the story was much darker. The whole turning humans into Frankenstein Pig monsters and harvesting them to feed Europe in the hopes of preventing WW1, all while the sentient Machine powered by the souls of your dead sons is plotting to destroy humanity because it looked into the future and saw everything and determined humanity really is better off dead. Darker stuff than just our uncle wants to live forever.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Actually, now that I think about it, my first experience with the Yakuza franchise was Yakuza 4, and that was a game that I picked up on a random whim in 2014 or '15. A game store was having a sale on preowned games, buy-one-get-one-free. I'd picked up the three Uncharted games for a PS3 I'd gotten not long before, and needed another freebie; when I saw Yakuza 4 in the discount bin on top of being preowned, I was like 'yeah, let's give this one a shot'. Ended up playing it more than the Uncharted trilogy put together, and became a hardcore fan of the series just from that introduction.

Now waiting on Yakuza 7 to come out in a few weeks.

 

[gorfias]

Actually, now that I think about it, my first experience with the Yakuza franchise was Yakuza 4, and that was a game that I picked up on a random whim in 2014 or '15. A game store was having a sale on preowned games, buy-one-get-one-free. I'd picked up the three Uncharted games for a PS3 I'd gotten not long before, and needed another freebie; when I saw Yakuza 4 in the discount bin on top of being preowned, I was like 'yeah, let's give this one a shot'. Ended up playing it more than the Uncharted trilogy put together, and became a hardcore fan of the series just from that introduction.

Now waiting on Yakuza 7 to come out in a few weeks.

I'm advised to give it a try. I have 4 and 5 from PS plus on PS3 and I think yet another version on PS4. Long cut scenes as I recall from giving it a try once before. I'll have to do so again soon.

 

[happyninja42]

Mad Max.
You wouldn’t be able to tell that it has some of the best vehicle combat, physics, sound design, melee, and world building of this last generation from its 69 Metacritic score. Nooo, all they seemed to focus on was that it was repetitive in structure, which can be said for pretty much any open world game.

But then again, it does have a 90%+ very positive score on Steam. I only played on PS4 though.

I love that game...right up until the end. I found the setting entirely perfect for the material. Vast swaths of nothing but sand....yeah well, welcome to the mad max franchise. Small pockets of people trying to scrabble out a life in a hellscape? Yep, that checks out.

The massive storms were fun as hell, and scary as shit. I loved my mechanic sidekick and his little chatter. My favorite line being when he commented on me getting in on the left side of the car (I live in the US, so I reflexively go to the left side to drive in games, but it's an Australian setting, so right side). He comments on this, and it kind of drives him nuts as he can't figure out WHY you would do that so often. The story was interesting if minimal, but again, it's mad max, they aren't really in depth narratives.

I really have nothing I dislike about the game....except the ending. Which I don't really understand why they went there with it.

Spoiler

So, the handful of nice people that are your supporting cast/focus of protection, all fucking die. One by your own hands, the others by the big bad guy at the end. This being the woman you are trying to reluctantly help, and the little girl. I don't understand why they went there with this, as the movies more often end on positive notes, after max is done doing his thing. Beyond thunderdome has a group of children having been rescued, directly by his actions, set up in a reasonably safe place, and rebuilding society somewhat. Fury road ends with a tyrant toppled, and a handful of relatively decent people put in power, theoretically now steering the society to a better future. But the game? Nope! Your dog dies, your sort of female love interest dies, the child dies, crying that nobody will remember her and she will be forgotten. And then, you kill your own mechanic friend, because you decide to ram your newly built car into the badguy, and that car is literally the focal point of his mechanic religion, and he refuses to leave it. But heyyy, it's all good, because I get my original, franchise branded car back! You know, that car you totally forgot about, and didn't spend the ENTIRE game fixing up from a junker into a sweet apocalypse roadbeast? I genuinely forgot about that car at the end, and was frankly more invested in MY car. The one I spent hours building up. And then....it just ends. He rides off, exactly where he started. Nobody's lives improved by his actions, in fact they are worse off, what with being dead and all.

So yeah, few games made me feel genuinely ill from so many negative aspects in the conclusion of the game. God of War 3 is the only other one that comes to mind, where I was not having fun by the end, and felt like I was being forced to finish something distasteful. Max Max was similar, in that I felt like everything had just ended in a pile of shit, that made me regret playing it up to that point.

 

[Worgen]

I love that game...right up until the end. I found the setting entirely perfect for the material. Vast swaths of nothing but sand....yeah well, welcome to the mad max franchise. Small pockets of people trying to scrabble out a life in a hellscape? Yep, that checks out.

The massive storms were fun as hell, and scary as shit. I loved my mechanic sidekick and his little chatter. My favorite line being when he commented on me getting in on the left side of the car (I live in the US, so I reflexively go to the left side to drive in games, but it's an Australian setting, so right side). He comments on this, and it kind of drives him nuts as he can't figure out WHY you would do that so often. The story was interesting if minimal, but again, it's mad max, they aren't really in depth narratives.

I really have nothing I dislike about the game....except the ending. Which I don't really understand why they went there with it.

Spoiler

So, the handful of nice people that are your supporting cast/focus of protection, all fucking die. One by your own hands, the others by the big bad guy at the end. This being the woman you are trying to reluctantly help, and the little girl. I don't understand why they went there with this, as the movies more often end on positive notes, after max is done doing his thing. Beyond thunderdome has a group of children having been rescued, directly by his actions, set up in a reasonably safe place, and rebuilding society somewhat. Fury road ends with a tyrant toppled, and a handful of relatively decent people put in power, theoretically now steering the society to a better future. But the game? Nope! Your dog dies, your sort of female love interest dies, the child dies, crying that nobody will remember her and she will be forgotten. And then, you kill your own mechanic friend, because you decide to ram your newly built car into the badguy, and that car is literally the focal point of his mechanic religion, and he refuses to leave it. But heyyy, it's all good, because I get my original, franchise branded car back! You know, that car you totally forgot about, and didn't spend the ENTIRE game fixing up from a junker into a sweet apocalypse roadbeast? I genuinely forgot about that car at the end, and was frankly more invested in MY car. The one I spent hours building up. And then....it just ends. He rides off, exactly where he started. Nobody's lives improved by his actions, in fact they are worse off, what with being dead and all.

So yeah, few games made me feel genuinely ill from so many negative aspects in the conclusion of the game. God of War 3 is the only other one that comes to mind, where I was not having fun by the end, and felt like I was being forced to finish something distasteful. Max Max was similar, in that I felt like everything had just ended in a pile of shit, that made me regret playing it up to that point.

Kinda makes me glad I got bored of it near the end and didn't finish it.

 

[happyninja42]

Kinda makes me glad I got bored of it near the end and didn't finish it.

Yeah it's a real shame, because it had a lot of little touches that I loved. And a lot of humor peppered through it. My favorite being if you don't kill the war boy who is suspended in the harness, beating the drum and giving his allies a buff....he just....sits there. And starts chatting with you, in that sort of "sooo....how about that weather huh?" kind of way two people have in an awkward social setting. Lots of little things that really did it for me. But, man that ending. I will defend it's gameplay, as being no more/less well designed as any other sandbox game, but the narrative? Yeah, it shits the bed at the end in my opinion.

 

[Worgen]

Yeah it's a real shame, because it had a lot of little touches that I loved. And a lot of humor peppered through it. My favorite being if you don't kill the war boy who is suspended in the harness, beating the drum and giving his allies a buff....he just....sits there. And starts chatting with you, in that sort of "sooo....how about that weather huh?" kind of way two people have in an awkward social setting. Lots of little things that really did it for me. But, man that ending. I will defend it's gameplay, as being no more/less well designed as any other sandbox game, but the narrative? Yeah, it shits the bed at the end in my opinion.

The gameplay was pretty top, it did feel really good to drive. I was kinda disappointed with the combat, I mean it worked really well but thats because it just copied Batman's combat. Feels like Max should have a harder time fighting even one guy, instead of being able to take on a group without much trouble.

 

[happyninja42]

The gameplay was pretty top, it did feel really good to drive. I was kinda disappointed with the combat, I mean it worked really well but thats because it just copied Batman's combat. Feels like Max should have a harder time fighting even one guy, instead of being able to take on a group without much trouble.

*shrugs* I found I was injured more often in that game than any batman game. The war boys would hit pretty hard if you weren't alert. Yeah it used the spiderman combat system, that batman improved on, but, well so have hundreds of games at this point frankly. To me that's no more worthy of note than to say an FPS is being derivative because it used spacebar to jump, shift to sprint, and ctrl to crouch. It's just, the basic combat mechanics adopted by the industry for the top down/over the shoulder, group combat type of game, that we like to play. So personally I don't really have an issue with that. To me, it's not just "copying the most popular thing out there." It's just realizing what system of button inputs, are most easily adopted by your player, given the limited number of options your controller has. Frankly I get annoyed when games try and shake up basics like that, especially when everything else in the game tells me "this plays like batman." You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every game.

Yes, they didn't implement it that well at times, as the combat did feel kind of clunky and unresponsive. Like trying to get max to change direction mid action could be troublesome sometimes, but overall I loved it.

 

[Worgen]

*shrugs* I found I was injured more often in that game than any batman game. The war boys would hit pretty hard if you weren't alert. Yeah it used the spiderman combat system, that batman improved on, but, well so have hundreds of games at this point frankly. To me that's no more worthy of note than to say an FPS is being derivative because it used spacebar to jump, shift to sprint, and ctrl to crouch. It's just, the basic combat mechanics adopted by the industry for the top down/over the shoulder, group combat type of game, that we like to play. So personally I don't really have an issue with that. To me, it's not just "copying the most popular thing out there." It's just realizing what system of button inputs, are most easily adopted by your player, given the limited number of options your controller has. Frankly I get annoyed when games try and shake up basics like that, especially when everything else in the game tells me "this plays like batman." You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every game.

Yes, they didn't implement it that well at times, as the combat did feel kind of clunky and unresponsive. Like trying to get max to change direction mid action could be troublesome sometimes, but overall I loved it.

My complaint isnt that it doesn't work, it does. I just found it easy after I've done that kinda combat as much as I have. Plus, it seems weird for Max to be an ass kicker like that, Max isn't the sort of character that gets into a fight with 5 guys and wins in a fight like that.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I love that game...right up until the end. I found the setting entirely perfect for the material. Vast swaths of nothing but sand....yeah well, welcome to the mad max franchise. Small pockets of people trying to scrabble out a life in a hellscape? Yep, that checks out.

The massive storms were fun as hell, and scary as shit. I loved my mechanic sidekick and his little chatter. My favorite line being when he commented on me getting in on the left side of the car (I live in the US, so I reflexively go to the left side to drive in games, but it's an Australian setting, so right side). He comments on this, and it kind of drives him nuts as he can't figure out WHY you would do that so often. The story was interesting if minimal, but again, it's mad max, they aren't really in depth narratives.

I really have nothing I dislike about the game....except the ending. Which I don't really understand why they went there with it.

Spoiler

So, the handful of nice people that are your supporting cast/focus of protection, all fucking die. One by your own hands, the others by the big bad guy at the end. This being the woman you are trying to reluctantly help, and the little girl. I don't understand why they went there with this, as the movies more often end on positive notes, after max is done doing his thing. Beyond thunderdome has a group of children having been rescued, directly by his actions, set up in a reasonably safe place, and rebuilding society somewhat. Fury road ends with a tyrant toppled, and a handful of relatively decent people put in power, theoretically now steering the society to a better future. But the game? Nope! Your dog dies, your sort of female love interest dies, the child dies, crying that nobody will remember her and she will be forgotten. And then, you kill your own mechanic friend, because you decide to ram your newly built car into the badguy, and that car is literally the focal point of his mechanic religion, and he refuses to leave it. But heyyy, it's all good, because I get my original, franchise branded car back! You know, that car you totally forgot about, and didn't spend the ENTIRE game fixing up from a junker into a sweet apocalypse roadbeast? I genuinely forgot about that car at the end, and was frankly more invested in MY car. The one I spent hours building up. And then....it just ends. He rides off, exactly where he started. Nobody's lives improved by his actions, in fact they are worse off, what with being dead and all.

So yeah, few games made me feel genuinely ill from so many negative aspects in the conclusion of the game. God of War 3 is the only other one that comes to mind, where I was not having fun by the end, and felt like I was being forced to finish something distasteful. Max Max was similar, in that I felt like everything had just ended in a pile of shit, that made me regret playing it up to that point.

Yeah I have to agree the ending was a bummer. Was really hoping he’d wake up from a dream and end up saving the chic and her kid, then ruling the wasteland together after going though all the hassle of building all the territories up. Not sure why they thought they had to go all totally grimdark. If they were trying to make some serious artistic statement it kinda fell way flat.

 

[happyninja42]

Yeah I have to agree the ending was a bummer. Was really hoping he’d wake up from a dream and end up saving the chic and her kid, then ruling the wasteland together after going though all the hassle of building all the territories up. Not sure why they thought they had to go all totally grimdark. If they were trying to make some serious artistic statement it kinda fell way flat.

Honestly I would've been fine with the "and then he drives away", as that's pretty standard for max. It was the whole "and everything is worse than how he left it" that turned me off. I mean, I recall very distinctly playing that game, a few years after it came out, and thinking "man I really don't see why people are shitting all over this. it's really fun. it feels fitting for the source material, I'm enjoying the progression, the storms are awesome and terrifying.....oh....oh that ending...ouch...um....wow."

 

[BrawlMan]

I love that game...right up until the end. I found the setting entirely perfect for the material. Vast swaths of nothing but sand....yeah well, welcome to the mad max franchise. Small pockets of people trying to scrabble out a life in a hellscape? Yep, that checks out.

The massive storms were fun as hell, and scary as shit. I loved my mechanic sidekick and his little chatter. My favorite line being when he commented on me getting in on the left side of the car (I live in the US, so I reflexively go to the left side to drive in games, but it's an Australian setting, so right side). He comments on this, and it kind of drives him nuts as he can't figure out WHY you would do that so often. The story was interesting if minimal, but again, it's mad max, they aren't really in depth narratives.

I really have nothing I dislike about the game....except the ending. Which I don't really understand why they went there with it.

Spoiler

So, the handful of nice people that are your supporting cast/focus of protection, all fucking die. One by your own hands, the others by the big bad guy at the end. This being the woman you are trying to reluctantly help, and the little girl. I don't understand why they went there with this, as the movies more often end on positive notes, after max is done doing his thing. Beyond thunderdome has a group of children having been rescued, directly by his actions, set up in a reasonably safe place, and rebuilding society somewhat. Fury road ends with a tyrant toppled, and a handful of relatively decent people put in power, theoretically now steering the society to a better future. But the game? Nope! Your dog dies, your sort of female love interest dies, the child dies, crying that nobody will remember her and she will be forgotten. And then, you kill your own mechanic friend, because you decide to ram your newly built car into the badguy, and that car is literally the focal point of his mechanic religion, and he refuses to leave it. But heyyy, it's all good, because I get my original, franchise branded car back! You know, that car you totally forgot about, and didn't spend the ENTIRE game fixing up from a junker into a sweet apocalypse roadbeast? I genuinely forgot about that car at the end, and was frankly more invested in MY car. The one I spent hours building up. And then....it just ends. He rides off, exactly where he started. Nobody's lives improved by his actions, in fact they are worse off, what with being dead and all.

So yeah, few games made me feel genuinely ill from so many negative aspects in the conclusion of the game. God of War 3 is the only other one that comes to mind, where I was not having fun by the end, and felt like I was being forced to finish something distasteful. Max Max was similar, in that I felt like everything had just ended in a pile of shit, that made me regret playing it up to that point.

Sorry, dude. That just sucks! I can see why fans hated the ending. I guess the developers were hoping not to make a sequel. If I need Mad Max game that badly, I'll just stick with Fist of the Northstar, Double Dragon, Undercover Cops, or Violent Storm.

 

[happyninja42]

Sorry, dude. That just sucks! I can see why fans hated the ending. I guess the developers were hoping not to make a sequel. If I need Mad Max game that badly, I'll just stick with Fist of the Northstar, Double Dragon, Undercover Cops, or Violent Storm.

Honestly just don't finish the storyline. I mean like most sandbox games, it rewinds the narrative to right before the final fight, so you can tool around and do the side stuff you didn't do. So if you find yourself wanting a max sandboxer, it really is very good. Or at least I think it is. Like the GAME I have little to no real issues with, it felt desolate, which is what I expected. Just, the story....ugh....or at least the ending. All of it leading up to that was very fun and enjoyable mad max stuff.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

My complaint isnt that it doesn't work, it does. I just found it easy after I've done that kinda combat as much as I have. Plus, it seems weird for Max to be an ass kicker like that, Max isn't the sort of character that gets into a fight with 5 guys and wins in a fight like that.

It was definitely in the Arkham vein of beat em up mechanics but it still felt more grounded in MM to me, literally. It made you feel just powerful enough that you could take on groups if you weren’t completely careless and worked great for what it was, which is a simple brawler not pretending to be any more complex than it needed to be. He had some effective counter moves and the finishers felt fucking brutal and crunchy. It complimented the car combat very nicely and was pretty satisfying, even next to the Batman variant it was almost certainly based off of.